How to make use of a model ("shadow sentences")
   Why you should make use of a model ("shadow sentences")
   What's the difference between this and plagiarism?
          An example (citing source and showing the changes you made)
    Tips for presenting your play
    Upper-level: a shadow essay

  Most people learn in a slightly different way from most other folks.   The approach I have adopted emphasizes freedom while trying to reduce the fear that sometimes arises from open-endedness.  The Germans have a phrase:  "The anguish of too many options (Die Qual der Wahl)".   That may be what you're experiencing, and there are several profitable ways for you to respond.

     One way is to come talk to me, and say (if this is the case): "I don't like open-ended assignments.  I like to come to closure quickly.  Rather than doing the assignment your way, I would find it more helpful to _______________ ."   Now if all of that is true, you might not feel comfortable naming your own assignment.  So you don't have to.  But come and tell me the first part.  There are a lot of ways that we can work together, if you'll trust me enough to tell me about your qualms.

     Another possiblity is: The above qualms hold true for you, but rather than switching assignments, you'd like to be successful at the assignment as written.  Good.  That's an excellent attitude, too.  The remainder of this site is addressed to the person who wants to try to write the dialogue (or do the realia assignment, or complete whatever open-ended project it happens to be -- where the exact nature of what you're doing is up to you).

    Let's say you're looking at the following assignment:
 

  (a)  Please choose one  role from the following list:    police(wo)man — desk attendant (hospital emergency room) — student — journalist — parent of one of the other characters.
  (b) Create a dialogue based on the expressions on page 318 (Sprechsituationen).  Include your new character and one or two of the other characters listed above.
  (c) Bring enough typed copies for everyone in the class (including me).

    And you're sick at your stomach.

     This is probably because you think there's a right answer.  Or you think you're not creative.  Or you're afraid to make a mistake.  Or you're afraid to make a mess.  Whatever the particular fear, we're talking about fear.

     My job is to help you relax.  Your job is to trust me for a couple of weeks, or months, while you try to learn to trust yourself.   If you're really interested in all of this, and perhaps becoming a little more creative in your other courses and in other aspects of your life besides school, let me recommend that you ask somebody to give you a book for your birthday some year:  Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way (Putnam Penguin 1992).

     But if you're just trying to get this dialogue written as quickly as possible, let me share a few excerpts with you from her book.  And let me repeat:  I can help you a lot more if you come to me after class and ask for help.

     Here are a few of my favorite passages from The Artist's Way (adapted slightly for use in this context).

            Most of the time when we are blocked in an area of our life, it is because we feel safer that way.  We may not be happy, but at least we know what we are -- unhappy.  Much fear of our own creativity is the fear of the unknown.

            If I am fully creative, what will it mean?  What will happen to me and to others?  We have some pretty awful notions about what could happen.  So, rather than find out, we decide to stay blocked.  This is seldom a conscious decision.  It is more often an unconscious response to internalized negative beliefs.

            Here is a list of commonly held negative beliefs:

            I can't do creative assignments like this one because:

            1.  I can't spell.

            2.  I don't know German.

            3.  I don't have enough good ideas.

            4.  It takes too much time.

            5.  Artists live unhappy lives and they're broke, so I don't want to be an artist.

            None of these hidden negatives need be true.  They come to us from our parents, our religion, our culture, and our fearful friends.  Each one of these beliefs reflects notions we have about what it means to be creative.

            What you are is scared.  Core negatives keep you scared.

            Try forgiving yourself in advance for whatever "mistakes" you might make (or truths you might discover).  Just rewrite the assignment so that it reads:  "Make a mess on the page in German.  Write stuff, whether it's "right" or not.  Whether it's interesting or not.  In fact, it probably won't be at first.  But we'll look at it together, and find the occasional nugget that's worth saving."

            Promise yourself you won't be any rougher on the mess you make than I am.  And I promise not to be very rough.