A Timeline of Memories and Past Reflections
Medea E. Lamberti-Sanchez
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Classroom Activity Two: A Selective Memory
Omar continues his story about his trip to Florida, but stops when he talked about what happened to his Grandfather while he was on vacation. Omar did not want to reveal any information about what happened to his grandfather, so he decided to leave it out. It was a short period of time, in which he was asked to talk, so he really could not go into much more than whatever he shared. Instead, Mrs. Sanchez asked Omar to draw the rest of the story, so that he could decide what he wanted to expand on or reveal little of. The process of selection was made easier for Omar because he chose to share what he wanted to graphically and was not forced to reveal verbally that his Grandfather suffered an accident and was hospitalized.
The next part of this lesson would be to write the five paragraph expository essay using as much elaboration as needed to express the details of the events. Omar would then be asked to select three different parts of his Florida trip that he would like to talk about in the body of the essay and use graphic organizers to vividly explain his trip. When Omar's essay was finished, Mrs. Sanchez asked him to share his essay with John and Maria in order to hear their responses and, in turn, create an interview of questions in which John and Maria will write their biography of Omar. John and Maria have asked Omar three questions about his trip to Florida: (1.) what activities did you enjoy during your trip and what do they say about your personality? (2.) What kinds of foods did you enjoy on your trip and how do the foods you ate describe your personality? (3) And lastly, what items did you bring with you to Florida and what do these items say about you? Mrs. Sanchez told both John and Maria to decide what they would like to include in their biographies of Omar. The process of selection plays a role in objectivity.
