You are going to be choosing a topic to write about for your final assignment.

Your essay does need to be true, and must be about some kind of event that changed things in some ways. It can be a small event – just a realization that you have been wrong about someone – or a big event, like a fire in the community.

It may be a memory you were reminded of when you did your ‘I remember’ poem. And it may be something that happened in your neigbourhood that you were reminded of when you wrote your ‘That’s where I’m from’ poem.

The essays below may give you some inspiration!

Here are links to two essays with the theme of ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. In one story the writer himself was judged, in the other it was the writer doing the judging: Condemned by the cover and The girl in the park

Here is a link to an essay about the memory of a phone call with bad news: Bitter wine

Here’s a link to a memory of getting something special: Pedal Forward

Here is a link to an essay about a local community hero: Paul the saviour

Your turn!
Try to think of something for each of the following topic ideas. Jot them down in your book (a few key words for each one)
1. A memory that means something special to you – and why
2. An incident where you realized that you were being judged by outward appearances – or when you or someone else judged someone else and realized you or they were wrong
3. Someone in your community or family who changed your or someone else’s life in some way

You are going to choose ONE of these for your final writing assignment. Look carefully at each idea, and choose the one that you feel most interested in. Write a sentence or two in the box below outlining your topic.

It could be something like: I am going to write about when I was little, and my uncle visited and made me feel really special, and inspired me to want to be a writer.