Guided Reading
As you finish reading our essay on essays, focus your analysis and discussion on the following details. Use the comment section here to ask questions, and monitor the comments for my replies and and any feedback from your peers. You will be asked to attach your answers to an assignment on Google Classroom.
¶33 — “Err on the side of the river.” | Break down the river metaphor into actionable language. This is probably the most important metaphor for us in the essay, so make sure it’s clear to you.
¶40 — “At sixteen I was about as observant as a lump of rock.” | This is worth highlighting for a simple reason: You have to be more observant than this, regardless of age. It’s good not to know things, too; that’s the starting place for the next idea.
¶42 — “[T]he more you learn, the more hooks you have for new facts to stick onto — which means you accumulate knowledge at what’s colloquially called an exponential rate.” | Unpack this idea using the next quotation and Graham’s surrounding logic. Again, focus on actionable language — what we can do with this idea.
¶44 — “When it comes to surprises, the rich get richer.” | In context: What does it mean to get richer? How does it connect to writing?
¶45 — “I find it especially useful to ask about things that seems wrong.” | Connect this to the later idea of disobedience. What are you looking for when you search for subjects and approaches for an essay?
¶51 — “Whatever you study, include history — but social and economic history, not political history. History seems to me so important that it’s misleading to treat it as a mere field of study. Another way to describe it is all the data we have so far.“ | Put this in the context of the entire essay, which you’ll remember starts with a history lesson. Then reflect on your own habits here — your approach to history as Graham describes it, not as a subject in school.
The Main Ingredients
¶38 — “[I]f you want to write essays, you need two ingredients: a few topics you’ve thought about a lot, and some ability to ferret out the unexpected.”
This quotation is separated, under its own subheading, and out of order, so you can focus on it. First, discuss this idea of “ferret[ing] out the unexpected,” connecting it to the idea of “get[ting] deeply enough into it” in ¶39 and “mak[ing] a habit of paying attention to things you’re not supposed to” in ¶53.
Then see what you can do reach back to the start of school, when you got this course’s culinary metaphor:
View at Medium.com
I want you to see how things connect, and I want you to think about how we’re going to approach writing for the rest of the year. Take the time to reflect on this. Analyze your own habits, including what you think about a lot, what you’re “not supposed to” pay attention to, etc., and write some of this insight in the comments here to start an interstitial discussion.
Quick update: Below is an essay that fits this idea of river-writing almost perfectly. It’s also an example of the outside limits of what’s possible in a makerspace like ours. If you have the time, read it, and then fold it into your discussion of Graham:
View at Medium.com
If you want to see what essays in the real world look like, why they matter, etc., start with that.
