Post #35 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
By Promptly Portland
I’ve noticed that it has become commonplace for some of my students to tell me that they are interested in making teaching their profession when they complete college. Keeping this in mind, I occasionally try to talk with them about the life of a college instructor. Last week, feeling swamped with grading, teaching, and meeting the college’s requirements, I found myself discussing the three time frames that an instructor has to keep in mind at all times.
The Past: I give writing assignments and the students turn them in. Their minds are on to the next class or assignment. Meanwhile, I still have to grade those papers from the past and determine how I need to adjust my teaching to ensure that they’re all learning what they should. Oh, and did I mention grading the papers? Somehow the piles seem to grow between the time the papers are handed in and when I can get them graded.
The Present: I need to be in the present when I teach. I can’t be thinking about the ungraded papers or next weekend’s plans or the assignment I’m working on for my Ph.D. I have to stay focused on the present when I’m working with the students and that is much more than just being prepared for class. I need to execute as well.
The Future: I have to be looking ahead to make sure that I have the students covering all the material that the college requires. In addition, I have reporting responsibilities and office hours to keep. I have a role in relationship to my college as well as to my students.
This continual concern for the past, the present, and the future is a bit like juggling and I can never be very far away from any of the three at any time. If I let even one of these balls be forgotten, then the other two spin out of control. It is a delicate balancing act.
500 Words (or more): Memoir Writing Prompt
On my way home from class, I realized that I just might have the makings of an interesting memoir writing prompt. Think about three envelopes. Each will contain a story. By the time you have filled all three envelopes, consider how the perspectives may free you to explore the topic in a new way.
Think about a specific time in your life. Then:
1. Write a couple of paragraphs about it in the past tense. Know that you can’t walk away from the incident or time in your life, but acknowledge it is in the past with just some continuing responsibilities.
2. Write about the same episode as if it is current, going on right now. This changes your perspective.
3. Write a couple of paragraphs, again focusing on the same episode. This time look at it as if it is still to happen in the future. What lets you know that something is going to happen? What was it like to live in that time before it happened even though you knew it would happen?
How are these three descriptions different from each other? Did you learn something about yourself just by the way you varied the time reference? Did you notice the “legs” that the episode had — ways that it continued to occupy your mind long after it was over.
memoir writing prompt
writing tips
craft of memoir
memoir writing
writing
