Guided Fantasy

I like teaching: it's creative, it feels important, and I'm never, ever bored. I don't talk about teaching university writing much here, but I love my job. Here's a quick activity we did the other week in our class if you want to try it...I claim it shows how sometimes writing can reveal things we didn't realize consciously, although I really do it just because it's fun. And it worked for me when I did it in a class. Let me know if it works for you if you try it!

So. You start out by pretending you're walking on a path. You walk and walk, and soon enough you see that your path goes into the forest. What is the first image for the forest that comes to mind? How do you feel about the forest? (This is the first question I ask my students, and I have them write a brief description of their answer).

You go into the forest (no choice on that part!) and walk for a while. Then you come to a clearing. There's a lake in the clearing. What does the lake look like? How do you feel about it? What do you do there? (Question 2!)

After your lake escapade, you go back on the path. You see something shiny on the side. What is your shiny object? What do you do with it? (Question 3)

You continue on the path until you see a house up ahead. What does your house look like? What do you do there? How does it feel to you? (Question 4)

You go back into the woods, and you meet a bear. What is the bear like? How do you respond to it? (Last question!)

If you survive, go back past the house, shiny object (if it's still there), lake, and out of the woods in your mind. Hooray! Done!

Leave your answers in the comments if you dare! (Question 2 is potentially the most embarrassing, so you can skip that one--but it's not THAT bad:). I'll go over the answers in the next couple days.

It'll be fun!

Mmm...I love forests. I could go for a walk like this right now.