Thursday, 11/20

Homework Due:

People who were absent Wednesday showed me their Autobiographical poem rough drafts.

Otherwise, nothing was due today.

Warm-Up:

We had eight more people stand up today, and each of us wrote three nice things (or things we noticed) about them.  

Discussion:

We talked about the following questions.  You guys brought up lots of good ideas during discussion--thank you!

What's the difference between abstract and concrete?

• Concrete things (pens, desks, people) can be observed with the five senses; abstractions (feelings, ideas) cannot.
  

What are abstract concepts?  

• love, regret, joy, hatred, happiness, jealousy, unity....
  

What is the difference between LITERAL and FIGURATIVE language?

• The literal meaning is the straightforward, word-for-word meaning.  It says what it means, and it means what it says.  It's concrete.

• The figurative meaning is meaning beyond the words themselves; it's saying one thing, but meaning the other.  It's figures of speech:  similes, metaphors, irony, symbolism, hyperbole....
  

Writing Experiment:

Our discussion lead us to Writing Experiment #10--Love is Like a ___________.  We read and discussed three or four models, and then we took fifteen minutes to create our own Love is Like (or Hope is Like, or Loneliness is Like) poem.

Writing Lesson and Assignment:

I handed out the rubric for the Autobiographical Poem, and I went over the first four areas, using examples from the rough drafts.  We discussed diction, line breaks, title, and concrete detail.

Workshop:

We had about fifteen minutes in third block, and twenty-five minutes in fourth block, and most people worked on revision their Autobiographical Poems.

Homework:

Autobiographical Poem (due at the end of the block tomorrow)

Early Memory Memoir (due at the end of the block tomorrow)