FIRST DAY WRITING

Please write me a brief (3 paragraphs, more or less) introduction to yourself. You don’t have to follow any sort of formal essay structure, but try to make your writing as grammatically correct and as interesting as you can.

You want to follow a THREE-STEP WRITING PROCESS with this: 

1)	Read the questions below, jot down every idea you have about what you might want to say.  Jot down ONLY enough so that you’ll remember what your idea is – for instance, if you want to talk about baseball, and how much you like it, and that Bartolo Colon is your hero because not only is he a great player, but he’s also a great person who gives back to his community, just write “Baseball – Bart.”
2)	Pick the most interesting ideas you have, the ones that you think tell us the most about who you really are. Jot down details about those ideas, and whatever else comes to mind as you think about these best ideas. Ex. “Baseball – Bart – gives back, always calm and happy.”
3)	Express those ideas clearly, and in an interesting way, using at least some of the details about them that you’ve jotted down.  Make sure to include all the background information somebody not familiar with you needs to know – for instance, “Baseball is my favorite sport. I watch every Dodgers game on TV, except when I go to them with my family, which we do three or four times a year. Of all the players I follow, my favorite is Bartolo Colon, who’s not only a great pitcher but a great man. He grew up poor, in a house without running water in the Dominican Republic, and now, having made millions of dollars, he gives back to his community by building baseball fields and gyms to help other young men and women in the Dominican develop their athletic talent. Also, Bartolo is always relaxed, calm and happy. It’s clear he’s really doing what he loves, and looking at him on the mound, it’s impossible to tell whether he just struck somebody out or whether he just gave up a home run. I’d like to be more like that because I get too stressed out sometimes about things that aren’t all that important.”  

Here are some questions to help you develop something to say. You should NOT include answers to all of these in what you write; just use them to brainstorm/sketch out ideas: (Step 1 above).

a.	What are you most interested in?
b.	How would a friend describe you to somebody you haven’t met?
c.	What are your favorite movies/books/TV shows/sports teams, whatever?
d.	What’s an interesting or unusual experience that you’ve had? 
e.	What would you like to do once you graduate college?
f.	Who’s someone that all of us would recognize that you really like, and why do you like that person?

ONCE AGAIN: Jot down EVERY idea that comes to mind as you look at these questions. Everything that goes through your head that you can capture, get down on paper in a brief form so that you can remember it. 
Then go back, choose the ideas you think are best, and jot down details about those ideas, again in rough form. 
Then select the best details and use those to develop a more finished piece of writing.

IDEAS first, in rough form  DEVELOP details/supporting ideas (again, rough)  DRAFT your piece (less rough).
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