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Grades level iconsGrades 9–12
Session time icon60+ Minutes
Genre information iconMemoir, Narrative
Video resource type iconVideos

Write With. . . Life Stories: Your Future, Your Vision with Wyatt Cenac

by 826 National and Life Stories
Imagine your life in five to ten years: What does it look like? In this lesson, you will have the chance to plan, reflect, and take steps towards achieving your goals.
About the Author

Wyatt Cenac is an award-winning comedian, writer, and producer. Born in New York City and raised in Dallas, his love for comedy began as a child watching The Cosby Show. He started performing at open mics in Raleigh while attending University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. After interning for Saturday Night Live  in New York City and graduating UNC, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his comedic dreams. Cenac began his writing career on FOX’s King of the Hill, but his big break came in 2008 when he returned to New York and joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as both a writer and correspondent, becoming the first Black man to do so.

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.

Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.C Common Core Standards Icon
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.D Common Core Standards Icon
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.C Common Core Standards Icon
Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.3.D Common Core Standards Icon
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
What You Will Do

Before You Begin 

Content Note:

  • In this video, Wyatt Cenac speaks about his time studying at The Groundlings. The Groundlings is a well-known theatre and improv comedy school in Los Angeles, California.

Editor’s Note:

  • This lesson aligns with the following CASEL Standards:
    • Self-Awareness
      • Developing interests and a sense of purpose
    • Social Awareness
      • Taking others’ perspectives

 

Introduction

Writer and comedian Wyatt Cenac, formerly a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, details the struggles of being a Black man in a predominantly white professional field. This episode of The Thread is a conversation with Wyatt Cenac whose story is one of frustration, introspection, and ultimately, a determination to help us all learn “to do better by one another.” To see the full lesson created by Life Stories, please visit: Wyatt Cenac: A Writer’s Life.

Inspired by Wyatt Cenac’s professional path, in this lesson, you will identify the goals you have for your future and then reflect and take steps towards achieving those goals. 

 

STEP 1

To begin, watch this clip of Wyatt Cenac’s The Thread video: 1:10-13:17. Then, freewrite your answer to this question in your writing journal: Wyatt Cenac saw himself in Eddie Murphy, and he tried to follow Murphy’s path as he started his career. What dreams and goals do you have for your future? Who do you look up to as a role model in that work or space? 

 

STEP 2

Next, begin imagining your life five to ten years from now. Answer the questions on page 1 of the Your Future, Your Vision with Wyatt Cenac— Handout to help you get started. 

 

STEP 3 

In the video, Wyatt Cenac shared some of the steps he took to achieve his goals, including sending a letter to Saturday Night Live that indicated his interest in working there one day. Choose one of the goals you wrote about in Step 1; then, try to identify 3-5 tangible steps you could take to help you achieve that goal. These can be big, life-changing steps (e.g., “Move to NYC”); or, they can be smaller, more manageable steps that you can start doing now (e.g., start studying Spanish).

 

STEP 4 

Finally, choose one of the writing prompts below.

  1. Imagine Your Future. Revisit your answers on page 1 of the Your Future, Your Vision—Handout. Write about a day-in-the-life of your future self, as if you are living it. Then, reflect: How easy, or difficult, was it to imagine yourself in this future? If it was difficult, also write about why.  
  2. Dear, Mentor. Write a letter to one of the role models you identified in Step 1. Answer the questions on page 2 of the handout before you write, to help you generate the content of your letter. Bonus: Consider sending the letter (or email, direct message, etc.), like Wyatt Cenac did. You never know what doors might open! If you plan on sending your letter, we suggest you write a draft in your writing journal and then type it up. Before sending, make sure to edit for punctuation and sentence clarity!

Materials

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