December 20, 2000
Writings recall Christmas past
Central High students pen holiday reminisces essays
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Pat Weber's students made her cry last week.
But it was a good cry for the Traverse City Central High School language arts and humanities teacher.
Students in Weber's Integrated Language Arts, Honors Section, wrung tears out of her with their Christmas Reminisces essays, whose telling details and poignant observations celebrated family togetherness and traditions.
Starting from a childhood photograph, the students wrote about the memories behind the two-dimensional picture. They wrote about sights, scents, sounds and feelings; the textures of life that a picture can only hint at.
"Some students used their picture as a jumping off point and did not use the picture too much," Weber said. "Others stayed with the picture. They all did a wonderful job."
Weber first had students read a Christmas story by Truman Capote where he delved into one of his childhood photos featuring himself and his father. In his story, Capote described the snapshot in detail, setting the scene for the reader. Then he gave what he termed a 'thoughtshot,' narrating for the reader the story surrounding the picture and what he was thinking at the time.
Weber challenged her students to complete the same process as Capote, first setting the scene of their photo then telling about it.
"The students really had to flash back and remember what they were thinking about at the time," Weber said. "They had to think and write about the story in the photo."
Before writing anything, students first brought in a photo to share with the class. Any pain of seeing their younger selves sporting now-embarrassing clothes or hairstyles faded once the memories started flowing. Many found that once they began writing about the scene in the picture, more and more details emerged from their memories. From smells of special foods to colors of wrapping paper and decorations to who said what, students remembered a rich array of details in their stories.
"I think about traditions every Christmas but writing stuff down really brought back more memories," said Melissa Ambs, a student in the class.
Starting from a picture helped some writers get started, avoiding any writer's block sometimes brought on by research papers or other essays.
"Looking at the picture really brought the memories back," said Christina White, whose story talked about her family cutting down and decorating a Christmas trees. "We described physical features of the picture and what we were thinking at the time."
Mitsu Gardner represented Jamaica with her Christmas memories, relating stories of large family gatherings featuring tables loaded with special holiday foods and punch. Relatives living out of town or even out of the country all returned to their brightly decorated family home during the Christmas holidays.
"Our families mean a lot and traditions, too," Gardner said. "I also learned that every country has different traditions."