A TECHNIQUE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

• We decided to develop the idea of autobiography using graphics as a way to generate writing. We used drawings of trees as a starting point. There were three trees. The first one represented the past; the second one, the present; and the third, the future.
• First, David, the project facilitator, drew three trees on a large white board in the class. The trees are presented below.

• Each one of the three facilitators (David, Cathy and Susan) took turns providing personal information for one of the trees. David did all the actual writing to model the process. First, David described some memories of his past as a child. He wrote down the names of people who were important in his life in the past. Then he described activities or places or things that he’d enjoyed in the past. He wrote these words and phrases all around the past tree. When this was finished, David asked Cathy the same questions about her present life and used this information to fill in the present tree. Finally Susan provided information about her future for the future tree. We had three completed example trees, past, present and future (presented below).