5.
Write an article for a school magazine (serious and/or
light-hearted)
about your experience of education over the last number of years.
(2009)
The
article vs the personal essay
·
An article is trying to make a connection with
readers
·
It should focus on ‘we’ ‘you’ and
‘us’
·
The personal essay simply recounts your own views on a
topic
·
It is entirely from the ‘I’
perspective
·
A useful way to ‘mark’ your piece as an article is to use
quotations / anecdotes from “real-life” people
eg
o
Mary, 24, from Dublin, has suffered in just this way. “It was a
nightmare,” she said. “I just couldn’t tolerate those awful neighbours any
longer. They even began to dig a swimming pool in the front
lawn!”
·
A personal essay would never include such a
technique.
-
School magazine
-
Your experiences of
education
-
Past number of years
Plan / order /
ideas
-
Opening paragraph – explain purpose of article “As a high and
mighty sixth year, I am obviously incredibly busy at the moment. Between study
and CAO choices, I haven’t a spare minute. But frankly, all of that is a bit
stressful, so I thought I’d take a bit of time to look back on my years in St.
John’s and see how far I’ve come in six long years.” … “From lowly beginnings as
a tiny first year, to a proud sixth year with a prefect’s jumper, I can hardly
believe how far I’ve come. The journey wasn’t without incident, however!
Needless to say, lots of names have been
changed!”
-
Body paragraphs –
o
Take 2 paragraphs (or so) on 1st Year – fears,
expectations, daft things that you did, things you can’t believe now that you
did, uniform, bag (weight) etc.
o
A few paragraphs on the Junior Cert – the hype, the stress, the
results night… was it all worth it… the proposed abolition of the
exam…
o
Section on where you are now – top of the pile, setting an
example (hopefully a good one!), how relationships with teachers have changed,
how expectations have changed, what you hope to be able to do
next
-
Concluding paragraph
o
Some comment to tie it all together… talk about how your
experiences have made you who you are, have prepared you (or not!) for what lies
ahead etc
Write an article for a school magazine (serious and/or
light-hearted)
about your experience of education over the last number of years.
(2009)
The
article vs the personal essay
·
An article is trying to make a connection with
readers
·
It should focus on ‘we’ ‘you’ and
‘us’
·
The personal essay simply recounts your own views on a
topic
·
It is entirely from the ‘I’
perspective
·
A useful way to ‘mark’ your piece as an article is to use
quotations / anecdotes from “real-life” people
eg
o
Mary, 24, from Dublin, has suffered in just this way. “It was a
nightmare,” she said. “I just couldn’t tolerate those awful neighbours any
longer. They even began to dig a swimming pool in the front
lawn!”
·
A personal essay would never include such a
technique.
-
School magazine
-
Your experiences of
education
-
Past number of years
Plan / order /
ideas
-
Opening paragraph – explain purpose of article “As a high and
mighty sixth year, I am obviously incredibly busy at the moment. Between study
and CAO choices, I haven’t a spare minute. But frankly, all of that is a bit
stressful, so I thought I’d take a bit of time to look back on my years in St.
John’s and see how far I’ve come in six long years.” … “From lowly beginnings as
a tiny first year, to a proud sixth year with a prefect’s jumper, I can hardly
believe how far I’ve come. The journey wasn’t without incident, however!
Needless to say, lots of names have been
changed!”
-
Body paragraphs –
o
Take 2 paragraphs (or so) on 1st Year – fears,
expectations, daft things that you did, things you can’t believe now that you
did, uniform, bag (weight) etc.
o
A few paragraphs on the Junior Cert – the hype, the stress, the
results night… was it all worth it… the proposed abolition of the
exam…
o
Section on where you are now – top of the pile, setting an
example (hopefully a good one!), how relationships with teachers have changed,
how expectations have changed, what you hope to be able to do
next
-
Concluding paragraph
o
Some comment to tie it all together… talk about how your
experiences have made you who you are, have prepared you (or not!) for what lies
ahead etc