Wednesday, 12/12/2012

CREATIVE WRITING

Wednesday 12/12—Day Thirty

1:10 Dismissal Schedule

When You Come In

1.      Staple the Fifty-Word Story worksheet ON TOP of your typed fifty-word stories.

2.     Put it in the drawer.

3.     Grab your folder off the front table, and start logging in your stuff.

FYI

·       Don’t put anything in the drawer except on-time work from now until the end of the term.  If you have make-up work (not late work, but make-up work), check the gradebook to make sure you can still turn it in for points, then give it to me.  From now on, I will put a note in Powerschool for every assignment, and it will contain the relevant information to show you what the deadline is for completion. 

·       If you’re concerned about your grade, check Powerschool and/or the blog for starters.

·       From now until the end of the term, we are using the WHS Student Handbook policy for make-up work, which states you have two days to make up an assignment given when you were gone.  If you don’t make it up and give a printed copy to me in that time period, you are not eligible for any points on that assignment.

·       Why?  I am spending too much time tracking these things.  It means I have less time to read and respond to the work you hand in on a daily basis. 

Poetry Revision:  Autobiographical Poem

1.      We are revising today to a second, almost-final draft.

2.     Pull out the rubric for this assignment, but remember we are not filling it out until FRIDAY when we create our final draft.

3.     This piece is an assessment performance, so I’m grading it in a targeted way.  This may also be a piece you can use in your portfolio.  So take your time today with revision.  Make it the strongest you can.

4.     If I didn’t read your poem yet, I WILL read it before we revise to the FINAL DRAFT on Friday in class.

5.     If I did read your poem, please read my comments carefully, and think about them.

6.     I’m going to go over the requirements for today’s revision time now.

7.     When I hand out the revision directions and models, you should this page as a checklist for your revising today. 

8.     Keep this  handout in your folder for Friday as well.

9.     You’ll make AT LEAST ten changes, and probably many more.

Autobiographical Poem Revision to Second,

Almost-Final Draft

1.           Think about everything I’m saying as it relates to YOUR POEM and the changes you might make to it to make I stronger.

2.          Look at the following snippets, and consider the following in your own poem:

·       Am I using vivid detail (appealing to one of the senses)?

·       Am I being creative in my responses—not just throwing down the first thing that comes to mind?

1)               Title

·       Raise your hand if you have the word “Me” in your title.

·       Look at the following titles that do NOT have “Me” in them.  What makes them strong?

·       A Whole Different Window

·       Casting Into Carissa’s Life                  

·       Just Like the President

·       More Than a Blonde Cheerleader

·       The Name I Got, the Name I’ll Keep

2)              Line Breaks

We have talked about line breaks a lot, but I’m wondering how carefully you’ve considered how and why you are breaking your lines.  When you have four details on a line, it’s hard for the reader to absorb all that.  Look carefully at your breaks.  Is the word at the end of each line a powerful one?

Unfortunate older brother

                  Who is always blamed for everything

                                    Every time

*   *   *   *

Who gives hugs to the people I love

And nothing to the people I don’t particularly like

3)              Concrete Detail—SPECIFICS!

(SHOW who you are; be specific and descriptive; the reader can hear a PERSON there!)

Who needs a faster internet connection

         Some ice cold Mt. Dew

                           And mostly, crispy, stuffed, Hot Pockets

Who feels great after a long run by myself

Who gives feed to his cattle food to his grandpa’s fat dog when he is in Texas

Who would like to be a sous chef at the Hyperian Golf Course in Des Moines

Who would like to see a Christmas wedding, tinkling lights in the dark cold night.

Lover of the rain

The sweet country air in the Fall

Sweet-and-sour filled Twizzlers

                  And stargazing on those beautiful summer nights

4)              Order—what’s first?  Second?  Third?  It matters!

Who fears staying home alone at night,

Drowning in a lake when it’s dark,

And making wrong decisions throughout my life.

Who fears being alone

Pennywise the Dancing Clown, you know—IT!

And Randy Schrader

                                                                                        

5)              Strong Diction

·       Lover of large rooms illuminated with dim candlelight.

·       Who fears being an outlier

·       A prisoner of Washington, Iowa

·       A speck of dust in Washington

·       He is the denizen of a glass box (instead of “resident of”)

6)              Sibling of….

Sometimes a best friend,

Sometimes a complete enemy

But always a sister of Anne, John, and Michael

Sibling of a future engineer (Alfonso)

Brother of a librarian (Angel)

Brother to an annoying younger sister (Aylin)

The mature, older (even if younger) sister to a college freshman,

6)              Alliteration

·       Who fears seeing spiders scamper across my floor….              (s)

·       Queen of quirky                                                                                             (q)

·       With two smaller siblings                                                                          (s)

·       Who needs to sleep as much as a sloth                                              (s)

·       Fat from wrestling                                                                                       (f)

General Reminders

·       Are all the important words in your title capitalized?

·       Are your lines broken where you INTENTIONALLY broke them, for greatest effect?

·       Have you included specifics:  examples, colors, textures, sounds, details?

IF You Finish Revising

1.     On google drive, star at least FIVE pieces you are considering for your portfolio.

2.    Open one of them, and start making revisions—changes to make the piece stronger.

3.    If you finish one, open another to work on it, and so on.

College-Prep Reading 

12/12/2012

Day 29

                                                       

College-Prep Reading

The Renaissance and Reformation

1.      Review your worksheet from yesterday.  What can we note on our whiteboard timeline?

2.     Please turn this worksheet in when we finish with it today.  Make sure your name is on it first though.

Foster “Sonnet” annotations

1.      Words you didn’t know?

a.     Astute

b.    Sagacity

c.     Ubiquitous

d.    Idiosyncratic

e.     When did the sonnet originate?

2.     What can a sonnet be?

3.     What are its limitations?

4.     What clues or tips did Professor F. give you about reading a sonnet, then examining it more closely?

5.     What does he say about the difficulty of writing something short?

6.    Please turn this in when we finish with it today.  Make sure your name is on it first though.

Reading:  A sonnet!  J

Edmund Spenser:  “Amoretti LXXV:  One Day I Wrote Her Name

1.      Read it aloud one time through.

2.     Begin again, and annotate, line by line as you read.

3.     Begin again, and note the form:  rhyme, rhythm.

How are We Doing on Our Plan for the Week?

1.      Finish viewing and note-taking on The Dark Ages.                             DONE 

2.     Understand the big picture of The Renaissance and Reformation.  

3.     Differentiate one era from another.

4.     See similarities between eras, where applicable.

5.     Continue culture discussion.

6.    Read English Renaissance poetry, mainly sonnets.

7.     Examine and apply techniques for how to explicate poetry.

8.    Consider the pendulum….

Sonnet Work Time--You and a Partner

1.      Complete the Sonnet Comparison Chart.

2.     Read, annotate, and explore Shakespeare’s Sonnet LXXIII.

3.     Do not take the butt-weasle way out and just google, “What does Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet LXXIII’ mean”.

4.     Keep both these completed items until tomorrow (but remind me to take them for a daily grade).

Vocabulary

·      13,000 grains by classtime Friday

Before You Go

1.      Turn in your Professor Foster annotated blue pages, please.

2.  Due Tomorrow

a.     Annotated Shakespeare poem

b.    Completed Sonnet Compare/Contrast Chart