Grade 9 English – Lesson 180

Lesson 180: Your Autobiography, Part 5

No reading assignment

Background materials

The movie about Maria von Trapp. (Click the X to get rid of the half-screen ad to rent the movie. But maybe you would like to rent this 1965 movie: the Academy Award winner for best picture. It is historically inaccurate to a degree that would make a best-selling book. But probably no one is alive who could — or would — provide the footnotes. I was told some of the story by her son-in-law, Ernst Florian Winter. He died in 2014.)

Next, watch the greatest dance team in history, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This was a 1936 movie.

Next, watch an early fusion of a cartoon and a live person. Gene Kelly dances with Jerry the Mouse in Anchors Aweigh (1945).

I will explain why I am assigning these videos in my lecture.

This summer, you should continue to work on your autobiography. This is why you need Scrivener. If you use this project to master Scrivener over the summer, you will have a real advantage that will remain an advantage for the rest of your life.

Please trust me on this. You will need proficiency at writing for the rest of your career. Make use of every tool that will help you become a better writer. Scrivener is such a tool.

You also need a meaningful project to get started. Beginning your autobiography is such a project. It’s worth doing. So, do it.

Here is motivation. Don’t fail to do what these two people failed to do.