week of 5/14/13

Thursday:

Goal: Portfolio time!

HW: I need portfolio links and hard copies. Just send a link to aspare@lps.k12.co.us 

Check it first!

First Step: non-seniors, I need your hard copies.

If you have a Wix site, bring it up on a lap top. If you went low-tech, take out your portfolio.

1. Open you web site
2. Open up a word document
3. Five different rotations. Find someone else's site. Look it over. Read some poetry and/or some fiction. 
4. Write the person a note on the word document about your overall impressions of the site. Try to make at least one comment about something specific. 

5. Seniors get ready to read something out loud!

week of 5/7/13

Thursday:

Goal: Begin/Continue reflecting on your development as a writer (for the portfolio).

HW: On-line Portfolios are due Thursday. No extensions. There's not time. 

First Step: Come up with three metaphors that describe your artistic style. This should be about your writing, but feel free to expand. There is art to virtually anything we do really well: drawing, cooking, lying, playing basketball, being a family member, etc. Often our approaches to other things will affect our writing style. 

Examples: Maybe your poetry is "quilted." Maybe it's a "buzzsaw." Maybe your prose "crossing guard" prose.  




Then, 7 rules.

Example:

Quilted Poetry Rule #1: When putting pieces together, make sure to wear a thimble so the needle doesn't stick you.

Quilted Poetry Rule #2: It's not just how the individual pieces of a poem look, it's about the combination once everything's sewn together.

If time--do some work on your portfolios.

Once you finish: Add this assignment to your portfolio.

week of 4/30/13

Thursday:

Goal: Get a hold on the portfolio assignment

HW: Begin Portfolios

First Step: 

Emotional Landscape Warm-up:

• Listen to "A Blessing" by James Wright
• Write down all the words you can remember from the poem.
• Listen to "A Blessing" again, writing down the words that jump out at you during the second reading.
• Now think of a familiar journey that you take (e.g. riding the bus to school). Write a poem about the journey, integrating the words you just wrote down.
• Share some writings.

Portfolios

week of 4/23/13

Thursday:

Goal: Examine some 2nd-person writing. 

HW: Imitate either "Theme for English B" or "Girl" 

Option 1: Write a story/poem that is a list of advice to someone.

Option 2: Write a story/ poem that is a letter to a teacher. If you're angry about something, be tactful and don't use the teacher's real name, as that would be a little awkward for me.

First Step: "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes.

Make a three-column chart on piece of paper. 

Walk around the room and talk to three different people. 

Left column:

1. Person's Name
2. Name of the city they'd visit if they could visit any city in the world.

Middle Column:

1. Their favorite line in the Poem

Right Column: 

1. Explanation of why it's their favorite line.

Then...

"Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, read by Edwidge Danticat (4:00 to about 9:30 in the podcast)

If time: A few short stories?

week of 4/16

4/18/13

Goal: Short Story Day 1

First Step: Who's accountable? 

Options for the day:

Option 1. Peer Review/Appreciation

Option 2. No story? You get a "missing" grade for today. This will end up being 20% of your story grade. Get to work. If you get me something today, I will give you half of those points back. Works the same way if you are absent and don't have a good reason.

Peer Review

1. Groups of 3 or 4. 

Step 1: Fill out your rubric, briefly but thoughtfully. 

Step 2: Get in groups that I assign. Sorry, but you will be sharing out of your comfort zone today.

Step 3: Find a comfortable spot. Don't go too far, but if a few groups want to go in the hallway that's fine. 

Step 4: Go over the "active listening" questions as a group so you know what to listen for. 

Step 5: Take turns reading your stories aloud. Use the "active listening" questions on the sheet to guide your listening and feedback. Make sure everybody gets lots of feedback!!!

Active Listening Questions -- Short Stories

1. How does the story open? Is it a satisfying opening? How could it be improved?

2. Did you get an overall impression of the protagonist? What is it? Come up with two memorable facts/impressions of the protagonist.

3. Comment on how the protagonist is developed though dialogue, thinking, actions, speech, or the thoughts of other characters.

4. Does the dialogue sound natural? If not, where can you fix it?

5. What conflicts does the protagonist confront? Is the protagonist's struggle believable? If not, how could you improve it?

6. Is the story's end satisfying to readers? If not, how could you tweak it?

7. What are two significant questions you have after reading the story?

Tuesday, 4/16

Work Day on your short story. 

HW: Complete Story is due Thursday. Please bring a Paper copy. 

Here is the rubric. (Link)

week of 4/9/13

4/11/13

Goal: Look at another fiction example and work on your story.

HW: Complete Short Story due a week from today. (4/18/13)

Requirements: Your short story must have well developed setting, plot, conflict, point-of-view and theme, and at least one well-developed character.

First Step: Review Plot types. Which one would fit your character?

1. Quest
2. Adventure
3. Pursuit
4. Rescue
5. Escape
6. Revenge
7. The Riddle
8. Rivalry
9. Underdog
10. Temptation
11. Metamorphosis
12. Transformation
13. Maturation
14. Love
15. Forbidden Love
16. Sacrifice
17. Discovery
18. Wretched Excess
19. Ascension
20. Descension.

Reading: "The Bass, the River, and Shiela Mant"

If time: Work on stories. 

____________________________________
4/9/13: The snow day we got away with...

week of 4/2/13

4/4/13

Goal: We've got a character. Now, let's develop some plot.


First Step:

1. Review the character you've been developing for two or three classes now.
2. On a note card, come up with one adjective to describe your overall impression of the character. Use your phones for a thesaurus if you need to.


HW: Come in with two possible plans for a plot. Include the following in two brief outlines:

1. Character/s
2. Setting (Think about last class and be true about detail)
3. Goal, conflict or problem (inciting incident and/or trigger
4. Major events (4 or 5--rising action, climax, falling action)
5. Ending/Resolution/Denouement
6. Theme (What would an English teacher say about what your story means)


Tim O'Brien and Character/Setting Interaction

20 Plots:

Tobias, Ronald B. 20 Master Plots. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1993. (ISBN 0-89879-595-8)
This book proposes twenty basic plots:

1. Quest
2. Adventure
3. Pursuit
4. Rescue
5. Escape
6. Revenge
7. The Riddle
8. Rivalry
9. Underdog
10. Temptation
11. Metamorphosis
12. Transformation
13. Maturation
14. Love
15. Forbidden Love
16. Sacrifice
17. Discovery
18. Wretched Excess
19. Ascension
20. Descension.

_____________________________________

Tuesday:

Goal: Begin to flesh out characters. Consider setting. 

HW: Finish the Character Map (see below)

First Step: Sherman Alexie! Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Review the characters you developed in the weeks before spring break. Find the person I assign to you. Take out a lap top. Share something about your character from your blog with this person. (One assignment, for example)

Setting Map: 

Draw a map of on setting that your character inhabits. Really consider the space this character occupies. 

This is a map, but I care much more about the words than the drawings. Don't stress about making this look good unless you really want to. 

If you'd prefer to make a list, make sure that you are showing not telling. In other words, give the reader a hint that is based on an image or detail.

The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about showing details rather than telling them. 

Your map must include the following:

1. A hint as to the location (town, city, state, country, etc.)
2. A hint about the time of year (season)
3. A hint about the time of day
4. A hint about the mood (example: lighting)
5. A hint about the climate or weather
6. A hint about the time period (present, past, future)

Specifics: (Be as detailed as you can possibly be)
7. A hint about the mode of transportation that the character uses
8. A hint about some personal grooming habit that the character has
9. A hint about this character's sense of cleanliness or lack thereof
10. A hint about a relationship this character has with a family member, romantic interest, co-worker, or someone else
11. A hint about an inner conflict this character has.
12. A hint about something that makes this character happy.
13. A hint at some "dark" element of your character
14. A hint about something this character believes in deeply. 

week of 3/19/13

3/21/13

Goal: Outwit, outplay, outlast. More on characters.

Homework: Catch up over break if you need to. Don't wait on Infinite Campus! Go back over the blog ( http://ahscreative.blogspot.com/ ) and make sure you've done all assignments!

First Step: Think about the character you have been working on. Describe your character's face and body in as much detail as you can. 

Then, have the character describe his or her own face and body in 1st person.

Then, on the top of a separate sheet of paper, 
Write one interesting line of dialogue. Make it something your character would say. 

For example, if my character was a "sixty-year old man" who "cut his finger off on a table saw today,"
the line of dialogue might be, 

(Yelling up from the basement)"Hey honey! You pick up that wood glue?"  

Dialogue activity based on A Clean Well lighted place. 

Make a circle of about 4 or five people.

This is a "write and pass" activity based on your first line of dialogue.

1. First piece of dialogue
2. Response from the next person's character
3. A line or two of narrative.
4. Line of dialogue
5. Line of dialogue
6. Line of dialogue
7. Line of dialogue
8. Line of dialogue
9. A line or two of narrative
10. A line of dialogue.
11. Give it a creative title.



3/19/13

Goal: Revisit Character Sketches, talk about dialogue.

First Step: Some character sketches to read?

HW For Thursday: Post on your blog: Dialogue sketch using the character you wrote over the weekend.

Example of Dialogue:

A Clean Well-Lighted Place


Listening for Dialogue:

Watch for how Hemingway does the following: 

The following tips come from "Top 8 Tips for writing dialogue"

1. Really listening to speech: notice how people basically communicate. Do they have to explain a lot, or is much understood? Do they talk in complete sentences or fragments? How does rhythm come into play in everyday speech? Also pay attention to how little it takes for you to understand what they're talking about.

2.  Not exactly like real speech: Alfred Hitchcock said that a good story was "life, with the dull parts taken out." This very much applies to dialogue. A transcription of a conversation would be completely boring to read. Edit out the filler words and unessential dialogue

3. Not too much info!  It should not be obvious to the reader that they're being fed important facts. Let the story unfold naturally. You don't have to tell the reader everything up front

4. Break it up with action. Remind your reader that your characters are physical human beings by grounding their dialogue in the physical world. Physical details help break the monotony of dialogue.

5. Don't overdo the dialogue tags. Veering too much beyond "he said/she said" only draws attention to the tags — and you want the reader's attention centered on your brilliant dialogue, not your ability to think of synonyms for "said."

6-8: Read widely, avoid stereotypes, and punctuate properly. 

3/12/13 (TCAP Week)

One Day Only This Week...

Tuesday:

HW: Post a brief 1st person character "voice sketch" on your blog. 

Goal: Begin to delve into characters.

First Step: Papers due. Remember that I need a paper copy this time. 

Characters. Back to this. "Carnivorous Plants"

_________________ is ___________ years old.

He/she ____________________ today.

(Then continue in first person). Go for voice. How would this character actually talk?

week of 3/5/13

Thursday:

Goal: Continue character writing.

Computers: Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease return computers neatly to their proper slots. (Number is on the bottom).

First Step: With the person next to you:

Help each other improve. Trade either paper drafts or computers. Help each other with the following

1. Did the author answer the question clearly with a specific argument and reasons?
2. Did the author stay organized? (Paragraphs, topic sentences, evidence, explanation, transitions?)
3. Are there any distracting errors in CUPS?
4. Are the comparison examples creative and sophisticated, or are they obvious? How could they improve?
5. Does the author write with honesty, courage and conviction, or are we going through the motions still? Don't be afraid to say, "This paper bores me, and you can fix it by...."

I will come by and check drafts again. People who had it to me by Tuesday get a 5 for the draft. People who have it today will get a 3/5. People who don't have it today will not get draft credit, but you can still do a final for the bulk of the credit.




Time with drafts

Carnivorous Plants (Short Story)
_______________________________________
Tuesday:

Goal: Begin to explore characterization.

New Seating Arrangement. Rationale.

HW: We will look at drafts of essays on Thursday. Please make sure you post by tomorrow and/or bring a hard copy to class Thursday. 

First Step: Quick freewrite. 

Option 1: What lies in the basement of your mother's heart?

Option 2: Write a sarcastic love letter to someone/something you hate.

Option 3: What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and you had wings?

Characterization Slideshow 

Characterization Questions

Character-based fiction versus plot-based fiction. 

week of 2/26/13

Thursday:

Goal: Begin to synthesize "I Am," Poetry, , Change Poems, etc. Introduce paper.

HW: Draft of Paper (post on the blog for Tuesday). 

First Step: Homework update/change poems.

"I Am" reaction on the white board (silent chalk talk)

Introduce paper and time to work. (This is a link to the assignment.)



________________________________
Tuesday, 2/26:

Goal: Finish "I Am" and Discuss.

HW (for Thursday): Change Poem

First Step: Back to the "I Am" Sheet for a minute.

Finish Movie

Change Poem:

week of 2/19/13

Thursday, 2/21:

Goal: Continue I Am

First Step: Hand out "I Am" Response Sheets. Return to movie.

_____________________________________



Tuesday 2/19:

Goal: Begin to address/wrap up some of the fundamentals of the poetry unit. 

First Step: Sweet Like a Crow Poems. Where are they? Why has this assignment been difficult? (I got some emails over the weekend, and it seems that many of you have not bothered to do it.)

Share a couple from people who get it. 







For the rest of today and Thursday, we’ll watch the movie “I Am.” 

Get a lap top. There will be a back channel discussion during the movie. This means that you should post at least two times during the movie. You can ask a question, respond to a question, make a point, respond to a point, express confusion, clarify a point, etc. Just make sure that you post three times, and don't be anywhere on the internet besides our Edmodo page.

As a six-week culminating assignment, you are going to write an essay based on the movie of about 300-400 words (which means about a page or two, typed, double-spaced, normal-sized font and margins). Here’s your prompt:


Is Tom Shadyac a poet? Why or why not? This question sounds simple. It is not.



In answering this question, you must address specific topics that we've covered in class. The more specific you are with examples, and the more interestingly and sophisticatedly you compare our class work to ideas and events in the movie, the better you’ll do. 

week of 2/12/13

Day 2 (Thursday, 2/14/13

Goal: Build an image poem that hangs together, either because of a theme or because of categories of images.

First Step: A Valentine's Poem:

Remember the 2 C's of Poetry!

Taylor Mali "How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog"


Sweet Like a Crow Poem.

First: 

Use Whitman Quote to model the exercise. 

3 Themes
2 categories of imagery that fit the theme

1. Choose the quote from your "three" that most inspires you. 

• Make a Lucid chart that breaks down your quote into themes. 

Step one: Use Google Chrome to get on the internet. Google Lucidchart or go to http://www.lucidchart.com

Step two: Make a flow chart on lucid chart that contains your quote, a major theme, five minor themes, and 20 GOOD images.

Step three: Turn your lucid chart into a poem that resembles "Sweet Like a Crow," with a title, an epigraph, and at least 20 separate images.




https://www.lucidchart.com/documents/edit#4422-4908-5050eac6-985e-7db90ad2361f?template=331&parent_id=&branch=f688b36d-5164-4f33-880d-3409a4e3771c

HW: Type your poem and submit it. Attach to Edmodo as a document. Please don't just cut/paste.


________________________________________
Day 1 (Tuesday, 2/12/13): 

Goal: Continue to discuss what it means to have conviction.

HW: For Thursday, Bring in at least three quotes you like.

First Step: O Me, O Life!

Conviction: Who has it? 


Share some poems if you want.

Now, back to...

"Sweet Like a Crow" 

here's a link: http://mareeblogblogblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/sweet-like-crow-michael-ondaatje-for.html

With a partner, answer these five questions about the poem: (Did this happen on Thursday?)

1. Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with).
2. Briefly describe the central tension of the text
3. Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.)
4. Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text.
5. Ask one key question about the poem.

What was your favorite image and why?

Making categories of images.

Read through "Sweet like a Crow." Put the images into five categories. Be ready to share them.

HW: For Thursday, Bring in at least three quotes you like.

week of 2/5/13 - done

Thursday, 2/7

***HW due next Tuesday. Turn one of your free writes from this week into a poem and post on your blog. There are no specific requirements for length or structure.

1. 15 minute free write:


Requirements: 
1. Start with one of the following lines and keep going! Don't stop writing!

• You're indignant...
• It embarrasses you, this...
• You can embrace...
• A battered sign bleeds...
• At first touch it may certainly...
• So you say you're ninety-nine percent...

2. Read the poem "Sweet Like a Crow" There should be copies. If not, here's a link: http://mareeblogblogblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/sweet-like-crow-michael-ondaatje-for.html

With a partner, answer these five questions about the poem:

1. Make one or two absolutely literal statements about the text (ones that no one could disagree with).
2. Briefly describe the central tension of the text
3. Make one interpretive statement about an image in the text (one in which you ascribe meaning or investigate a meaning beyond the literal. Be prepared to defend your interpretation with evidence from the text.)
4. Make a central assertion that captures the most valid meaning/message of the text.

5. Ask one key question about the poem.

6. What is your favorite image and why?

***HW due next Tuesday. Turn one of your free writes from this week into a poem and post on your blog. There are no specific requirements for length or structure.

___________________________________________

Tuesday, 2/5:

"There is hurt here that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry." --Sarah Kay

Goal: There are so many poems up on the blogs. We need to honor some of this work.

First Step: Grab a computer. Let me know your number.

--Freewrite on your blog. The goal is to keep typing for 5-10 minutes.


Option 1: Something that irritates you.

Option 2: Something you love.

Option 3: Something you're anticipating with excitement.

Option 4: Something you're dreading.

Post your free write on your blog.

Then, go to http://ahscreative.blogspot.com/

Choose three people. Read their work and comment on their blog.

Let's find a few that we need to hear.

week of 1/29/13

1/31/13

Hello Creative Writing/Poetry. I can't be there today--sick kid again. I know!

Work hard and get creative. Follow these directions:

First, read, watch, and listen to some examples of the "Art of" poem that is one of your assignment options.

1. Watch and Read "The Art of Drowning" by Billy Collins. (If sound is not working on the laptops, watch it together on the big screen.)

• Watch "The Art of Drowning" on youtube (link)

• "The Art of Drowning" (text) (link)

2. Now read and listen to "The Art of Disappearing."

"The Art of Disappearing" by Naomi Shihab Nye. (link to read and listen)

3. Now check out the "Narrative Portrait" Assignment"

Narrative Portrait Poem (link)

4. Okay, now you're ready to start the homework. Make sure to post it on your blog when you're done.

Homework: (Due next Tuesday):

Option One: "The Art of___________________"

Steps:

1. Fill in the blank with something you're an expert at. Pick whatever skill you want, but realize that your topic does not have to be something that would impress your teacher. For example, if you are an expert liar, you might want to discuss lying. Good at listening? Ignoring? Faking paying attention? Being someone you're not? Being yourself? Running? Cooking? Taking care of little kids? Making lasagna? Eating lasagna? (Anything goes.)

2. Poem should contain at least ten pieces of advice to someone who would want to learn the art of _________________."

Option 2: Narrative Portrait Assignment (see above)

5. If you are done and bored, go check out some poems on this site: http://movingpoems.com

If you find any good ones, let me know!

(Some will be blocked, but some won't!)



_______________________________________________________________________________


1/29/13

Goal: Review Imagery. Continue to write about our experience.

First Step: Anyone care to share a poem?

IB 5: On Becoming Closer Readers.

Moving Poems (Flames by Billy Collins)

Freewrite: Think of something you do really, really well. Something you know you're an expert at. Describe how you do it.

In Malcolm Gladwell's essay "Outliers," he claims that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. Just for the sake of argument, let's see if I should be an expert at teaching, at least based on my contracted hours as high school teacher.

7 hours per day x 180 days = 1,260 hours per year.

1,260 h.p.y. x 11.5 years= 15,750 hours. I should be an expert. In fact I become one 3.5 years ago! (and no one even told me. Dang it!)

Pick whatever skill you want, but realize that your topic does not have to be something that would impress your teacher. For example, if you are an expert liar, you might want to discuss lying. Good at listening? Ignoring? Faking paying attention? Being someone you're not? Being yourself? Running? Cooking? Taking care of little kids? Making lasagna? Eating lasagna? (Anything goes.)

Week of 1/15/13

1/17/13

Goal: Continue to forget the rules and write for enjoyment (see quote below)

HW: Write an Awesomely Bad Poem and post to the blog.

First Step: Write from a photograph:

Option 1: What is this person trying to forget?

Option 2: What is this person trying to remember?

Option 3: DYT

Bad Poetry: Intro:

week of 1/8/13

Day 2: (1/10/12)

Goal: Pick up where we left off with thinking, feeling, believing, knowing. 

HW: Inner Poet for Tuesday. Post it on your blog. (See below or click here)

First Step: 

Groups of five or six (assigned by me).

Each group gets two sheets of paper. Assign a note taker. 

1. Create a list of many common traits or qualities that members of the group have in common. Avoid writing things that are immediately obvious (e.g. don’t write down something like “everyone has hair” or “we are all wearing clothes”). The goal is for everyone to dig deeper than the superficial. This is "Creative" writing, not "Uninspired" Writing.

2. Share lists. 

3. Assign a new note taker. On a second sheet of paper, record Unique traits and qualities; that is, items that only apply to one person in the group. Find at least two unique qualities and strengths per person. Again, strive for qualities and strengths beyond the superficial and past the obvious things anyone can readily see.

4. Everyone share an individual trait.

5. Debrief

Next Step: How did Edmodo and the blogs go? If you blew it off, please do this. After today, favorite song explanations will need to go in the "Late Work Drop Box"


Okay: Back to Poetry Intro:

• Belief, Thought, Knowledge, Feeling, Action ppt. (Attached)

So...Good poetry expresses a feeling. Easy, right? No. Very difficult, but so potentially satisfying. See ee cummings again.

HW: Inner Poet: You have them. (Due Thursday) (This is a link to the assignment!)

____________________________________________________

Welcome!

Day One:

Goal: Get Settled. Introduce a topic or two.

First Step: 
On a note card, write your name and then answer the following questions. 
1. When you become wildly wealthy, what will you name your yacht?
2. What's an item you own that you should probably throw away but won't.
3. In general, are you a better talker or a better listener?
4. What's your guilty pleasure? Keep it school appropriate.



Two URLs you'll need for this class. (I am a computer-y teacher):

1. www.edmodo.com: Your constant feed to this class.

2. http://ahscreative.blogspot.com: Daily Agendas - feeds to Edmodo


1st Assignments (for Thursday, doing them in this order is easiest)

1. Make a new blog on blogger and give it a clever title the alludes to your name. Example: "Joey's Slow Jams" or "Kaitlyn Kicks it Old-School"

2. Log into our Edmodo group using the code  v9bjmu

3. Under the assignment marked "Post Your Blogger Address Here," click on "Turn in" and post your blogger address. It should end in .blogspot.com, for example "joeysslowjams.blogspot.com"

4. Post on the feed in Edmodo that asks about a favorite song by clicking the reply button (The thought bubble with the "plus" sign).

Okay, let's get going and see what we can get done...

• Why am I here? Why are you here? Because everyone can love writing and can do it well! Because writing saves people! Because creative writing is not to be feared! 

e.e. cummings on feeling