On Aug. 1, the last full day of the MIPA summer journalism workshop, students in The Bobby Hawthorne experience worked to find their true identity when they completed their personal writing assignment. Hawthorne required them to turn the story in by the end of class and have about 600 words.
“Today they are working on personal writing/opinion columns,” Hawthorne said, “so they are writing about themselves, some glorifying moment or some powerful anecdote.”
According to Kyle Culp, a junior at Lakota East High School and member of the class, Hawthorne is pretty laid back. However, he said. even though Hawthorne goes with the flow, Culp said he’s a great teacher who pushes the students to write their best, working them especially hard when they are column writing about themselves.
For his part, Hawthorne said some parts of the assignment will be tough.
“I’m not sure (the assignment is) easy to do, but you know yourself better than you know anyone else, so it’s easy to find something to write about” Hawthorne said. “However, the actual writing part is more difficult, but they shouldn’t have any difficulty coming up with something to write about.”
After covering literary devices, minor sentences, leads, quotes and other items needed to put together a well written story, the students in Hawthorne’s class said they learned more than they expected and worked harder than they ever expected for summertime. Several MIPA campers in the class said they also feel that Hawthorne can grab their attention better than other teachers.
Culp said, “(Hawthorne) he is probably one of the most interesting guys I’ve ever heard speak of his profession.”
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