A Literal Wall
As it turns out, I tutor things.
I have a student — we'll call him Captain — who usually works on math with me. However, we've worked on just about every subject. I think all students should devote time to reading, writing, and arithmetic, so I am always trying to find ways to encourage these.
I wanted to share with you one of the exercises I gave him.
One session, I had Captain write an imaginary story. I don't remember what it was about because he didn't transcribe and send it to me. The next exercise I gave him was to describe his wall. One of the things I've learned over the years about writing is that, to write well, you must see well.
Seeing can be literal in the sense that being observant helps, but seeing can also be a matter of noticing relationships or comparisons or memories or examples or analogies or what have you. I don't recommend writing about walls too often, but it's a good exercise because, if you can write when you're literally staring at a wall, you can write anytime.
So, um, yeah, I'm doing the assignment here just as a sort of example/practice deal thingo.
Most of the stones in the wall have a pretty tan color with a couple patches of black — like burnt rubber from car tires. In between the stones is a nice darker tan — almost a slate color. The first stone I notice hovers near the top; its shape resembles the emblem on Superman's clothing.
There are some smaller stones cluttered near the middle that almost remind me of a turtle shell. At the very bottom is probably the biggest one of all just sitting there like a boulder. The bottom left corner holds a rounder stone whose smudges are a dim grey, and it's not streaked like a tire; it's just mottled.
Also near the middle is a long stone that has one tiny dot at its bottom end — a sort of exclamation point. I don't like it though: its edges seem too squished.
I think my favorite stone is the boulder at the bottom; its top-left corner has a bit of smudge that looks like an opening as if to a cave or a dragon egg or something.
I have a student — we'll call him Captain — who usually works on math with me. However, we've worked on just about every subject. I think all students should devote time to reading, writing, and arithmetic, so I am always trying to find ways to encourage these.
I wanted to share with you one of the exercises I gave him.
One session, I had Captain write an imaginary story. I don't remember what it was about because he didn't transcribe and send it to me. The next exercise I gave him was to describe his wall. One of the things I've learned over the years about writing is that, to write well, you must see well.
Seeing can be literal in the sense that being observant helps, but seeing can also be a matter of noticing relationships or comparisons or memories or examples or analogies or what have you. I don't recommend writing about walls too often, but it's a good exercise because, if you can write when you're literally staring at a wall, you can write anytime.
So, um, yeah, I'm doing the assignment here just as a sort of example/practice deal thingo.
Most of the stones in the wall have a pretty tan color with a couple patches of black — like burnt rubber from car tires. In between the stones is a nice darker tan — almost a slate color. The first stone I notice hovers near the top; its shape resembles the emblem on Superman's clothing.
There are some smaller stones cluttered near the middle that almost remind me of a turtle shell. At the very bottom is probably the biggest one of all just sitting there like a boulder. The bottom left corner holds a rounder stone whose smudges are a dim grey, and it's not streaked like a tire; it's just mottled.
Also near the middle is a long stone that has one tiny dot at its bottom end — a sort of exclamation point. I don't like it though: its edges seem too squished.
I think my favorite stone is the boulder at the bottom; its top-left corner has a bit of smudge that looks like an opening as if to a cave or a dragon egg or something.
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