Ep. 94: The Teacher As Filmmaker/ David Lynch
David Lynch Photo Credit: Sasha Kargaltsev
Transcript
Melissa Milner 0:09
In this Teachers As Filmmaker minisode, I'm going to share a little helpful tidbit from director David Lynch. He talks about catching ideas for writing. He talks about time to daydream, and use what's in the hopper. So let's start with catching ideas for writing. There's so many ways we can have students do this. They can keep their own little journals that they bring from home. You can provide a composition notebook or a spiral for them to catch their ideas...their writing notebooks. Some students are so into writing that they keep a Google Doc. I had a student last year that already had stories from the year before that he had in his Google Doc. And then he would always ask, Can I Can Can I jump on the Google doc to free write or to plan stories? So Google docs are great for that. If you have MasterClass, you really you really should watch this part of his MasterClass especially, he has a metaphor to fishing, and catching those ideas, and then how to develop those ideas all related to fishing. And it's it's beautifully done. He's obviously very talented.
Melissa Milner 1:24
So catching ideas for writing, I think the most important message for teachers is giving time for that. And speaking of giving time, the time to daydream is another thing that David Lynch talks about that really inspired me, I don't know how I will do this. I don't want it to get gimmicky. But I really want to be I you know, at the beginning when they have to, especially with fiction, if they have to write a fiction story, along with catching ideas, like catching ideas is really go ahead and just daydream, you know, what's your first memory of being surprised by something? What's your first memory of a loved one, your dad or your mom? You know, what's the best trip you've ever been on. And really just catching those ideas by daydreaming, I think is so major. And we really need to give time for that. And then using what's in the hopper, that's that whole idea of using past experiences. Well, you can't use past experiences, if you haven't caught the ideas, and you catch the ideas...by having time to daydream.
Melissa Milner 2:32
I'm already thinking of different ways I could do that in the classroom, catching ideas by giving students time to daydream, and use what they know. When you write about what you know, it takes away all the cliches of what you've seen in movies, or what you've read in books, and you sort of write more, in my opinion, you write more realistically, and it's the characters, I think it's gonna ring more true to people, if you're writing from somewhere that you know. It comes easier when it's something you've experienced or something you know a lot about. So being able to give them the time, and then they'll be able to have writing that just means more to them and to their audience. Thanks for listening.
Melissa Milner 3:24
For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacher as.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.