Koch- Chapter 1: "Beginnings"

• Two sentences in the introductory paragraph resonated with me most out of this entire book: "You've already got in mind some human situation that matters to you. You need nothing more," (3). In my Introduction to Creative Writing class last semester, my instructor used several prompts and exercises to help us find something to write about. I want to dot his, but focus on finding issues that students care about and want to write more about.
• Koch says to use a notebook "as a seedbed," (10). I would like students to have notebooks in class that students can use to produce informal writing, such as journals and responses to the prompts. However, I have talked about this with my mom, who was a high school English teacher prior to getting her Master's degree in Special Education. She said sometimes students would shock her with what they wrote in their journals, so it may be best to stick with prompts.
• Koch inspired me to think about my own childhood and what stories I can create from my childhood memories, since he says: "Childhood is, in every sense, the cradle of narrative." I can think of several moments in my childhood that have defined me, bothered me, inspired me, or just became a lasting memory. This is also a great place to begin with students in order to inspire some creative writing.
• Creating characters is something that can be very fun. Koch inspired me to think of some activities that my class can do with creating characters, such as: the entire class creating a character with a character web. The most important part would be to follow Kurt Vonnegut's advice about giving characters some sort of motivation, even if it's just the character wanting a glass of water.