Time Exercises

1. Take an incident of no more than five minutes--an experience you feel strongly about (this makes it easier to remember sensory details) and write a page or more about it.  Label this “Time Stretch” 

2. Think of a long period of time you feel strongly about--three years of being afraid of a bully, two years of a bad (or good) relationship, a month at summer camp or boot camp, a soccer season.  Capture the essence of that time in a paragraph.  Label this writing “Time Shrink”. The key is to include specific details.  This tends to be harder to do, so they may need some examples. See the examples below:

[For one summer] I was a gopher on a heavy construction crew.  We laid 60” reinforced concrete pipe through the swamps of Southwest Georgia, sixteen-inch polyvinyl chloride water main next to I-20, 25 feet down in red Georgia clay.  My dad would wake me up around 4:45 every morning so we could be at the office by 5:30.  Trying to stay awake during the long drive through the unlit back roads of North Augusta and Richmond County was a whole new kind of heel.  Every time I drifted off to sleep, Dad would punch me hard in the biceps… Dad would offer a chew of Levi-Garrett.  I didn’t hate chewing because of the taste, I got used to the gasoline flavored juice--it was mostly the stale piercing smell of tobacco that permeated the truck that made mw sick.  By the time the sun rose, we would be slinging pipe.  Sunrise comforted me because I could then look for water moccasins instead of feeling for them.  By lunch time my hair was crunchy from all the dirt trapped under my hard hat and my lips were parched from the sun.  Shade was no relief because the swamp mosquitoes seemed oblivious to repellent.

I will always remember the regulars, that’s to be expected.  I will always remember the hustling and harassment, that is, after all, why I left in the first place.  Unfortunately, these are not the memories I would prefer to leave with as I look back on my job waiting tables at the Shaker Inn.  This had started the summer of my sophomore year and ended the summer of my senior year.  I will never go through such a hassle again the next time I need money.  I hadn’t even had any experience bringing food to rich people, but that was OK, none had been needed.  The first time I was yelled at for not writing a check up right by the cook, my trainer threw a pencil at my head.  It’s safe to assume the atmosphere was pretty hectic.  It wasn’t long thought before I was gliding my sandal-clad  feet across the hardwood floor to well-dressed people bearing either bloody marys or veal medallions.  If the steak was too tough, or the eggs were too runny, I would smile like a trooper and return to the kitchen for a barrage of complaints.  However, I soon found my dream summer job when I quit--I went to work at a general store where the coffee was self-serve.

3. Share examples of each type of writing in class. Talk with students about how they have control over how they choose to present events—what would they choose to stretch out and why? When would it be more appropriate to use a time shrink? How can they use these techniques in their writing?