Thursday Paragraph: Fall
First: An explanation:
In high school, my senior English teacher was a guy named Bruce (we called him by his first name – I went to a pretty progressive high school). I just Googled him and learned that he is now a well-published poet and a professor. He was an amazing teacher, and I was lucky to have him. What I remember most about his class was that every week, he had us write and bring to class a Thursday Paragraph. Your Thursday Paragraph could be (and usually was) scribbled out just before class or be the product of long deliberation the week before. It was one paragraph – not longer than a hand-written notebook page – and could be on any topic of your choosing. Bruce would read our paragraphs aloud for the first 15 minutes of class, and although I was shy, I remember the pride I felt in having my words read aloud. Read more