Grades 9–12
Fantasy/SciFi, Informational, Memoir, Narrative, Persuasive, Poetry, Playwriting
VideosViet Thanh Nguyen is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, literary scholar, and Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. Born in Buôn Mê Thuột, Vietnam and raised in the U.S., his family was among the 130,000 refugees who fled to the U.S. after the Vietnam War in 1975. He’s also the author of The Refugees and the children’s book Chicken of the Sea, co-written with his son Ellison and illustrated by Thi Bui and Hien Bui-Stafford.
About Life Stories
Life Stories is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media organization that creates and distributes documentaries, interviews, and educational resources about people whose lives inspire meaningful change. These stories address issues of civics, history, politics, the arts and culture by shining the spotlight on relatable human stories of purpose and meaning in times of change. They provide open access to all our content for communities and classrooms through our curated website and YouTube channel.
About The Thread
The Thread is a documentary interview series exploring what it means to live a purpose-driven life through conversations with multi-faceted people who have helped shape our society. Each 30-minute episode takes viewers on a personal journey into the life of extraordinary people who candidly share their triumphs and failures. The Thread is available on the Life Stories website and YouTube channel, and as a podcast across all major platforms. Teaching The Thread brings the series into the classroom with episode lessons designed to strengthen social emotional learning and media literacy skills and expand the scope of subject matter in Social Studies and English Language Arts.
Before You Begin
Content Note:
Editor’s Note:
Introduction
Viet Thanh Nguyen arrived in America as a four-year-old refugee after the 1975 fall of Saigon and has gone on to become one of our nation’s most distinguished novelists and academics. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, The Sympathizer, Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen honors us with a candidly personal interview on this unique and timely episode of The Thread. To see the full lesson created by Life Stories, please visit: Viet Thanh Nguyen: America Through My Eyes.
Inspired by Viet Thanh Nguyen’s interview, in this lesson, you will break writing rules and think about how creativity and a reader’s expectations work together.
STEP 1
To begin, watch the clip of Viet Thanh Ngyuen’s The Thread video: 9:37-12:13. Then, freewrite your answer to this question in your writing journal: Do you think creativity can exist with boundaries and rules? Why or why not?
STEP 2
In the clip you just watched, Viet Thanh Nguyen talks about playing with his writing and breaking the rules of standard conventions. “Why not?” he says. “Why can’t I make my prose look like poetry? What are these definitions?” These questions serve as inspiration for your writing today!
Next, find pages 1 and 2 of the Breaking the Rules with Viet Thanh Nguyen— Handout. You’ll notice the word “poetry” in the center of page 1 and the word “prose” in the center of page 2. On each page, write what you already know about each genre:
STEP 3
What you just wrote about were the basic genre conventions for poetry and prose. Genre conventions are the technical elements that readers expect when they pick up a book. If you’ve ever read a book (or watched a TV show or movie) and have been able to accurately predict what happens at every turn, that’s because you are familiar with the conventions of that genre!
For example, poetry is often written in stanzas; whereas prose is usually written in paragraphs. Poetry is usually known for using sentence fragments and rhyme schemes to create a musical tone. Prose is generally written in full sentences, but those full sentences show the reader the action so that they have a full picture of the scene. They both utilize sensory language to help the reader feel immersed in the world that’s being built.
These are fairly well-known conventions, but they do not encompass every type of poem or every type of prose. Often, the most exciting pieces of writing find a way to break or blend those rules in some way!
STEP 4
Which brings us to the fun part: breaking the rules. Go back to pages 1 and 2 of the handout and examine the conventions and opinions you shared. Think about how you could blend or break the rules to create a unique piece of writing. For example, if you wrote that you think poetry is boring, what could you do to make it more interesting? This is a time to experiment and play with your writing, without worrying about “getting it right.” Who knows—you may stumble across an incredible combination!
If you need help getting started, try one of the prompts below:
STEP 5
Finally, reflect on the process of breaking writing rules. In your writing journal, answer these questions:
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