Dec. 11, 2014

Ongoing:

1. Keep revising and polishing your short story. Final story is due December 18th. I have loved reading your rough drafts!!!

2. Take pictures and send your favorites to Sister Johnson.

3. Post your poetry and pictures on your literary arts blog.

4. Read and comment on each other's literary arts blogs.

Specific assignments by unit:

PHOTOGRAPHY

I LOVE seeing the photos you've been taking!! Kudos to each of you!! You are doing so well! Keep ​on snappin'!

For this week, keep on with the assignments from last week's post, which are:

• Choose themes that you want to explore for each week of this unit and write them down on the paper I gave you in class a couple weeks ago. You can choose one theme per week, or more than one, and you can choose from the list below or choose themes of your own. Be creative, but purposeful!
• Take photos practicing your composition skills and pay attention to lighting. Remember to Stop and Think! :)
  
• Choose 2-4 of your favorite photos and email them to me by Wed. Dec. 10 so we can all admire them in class! Hopefully everyone will have photos to share, so in the interest of time please choose just your top 2-4.
  
• And Have Fun!
  

Theme Ideas:

Tell a story

Do a series
Light
Laughter

Trees

A collection of opposites

Relationships

Emotion

Beauty

Perspective

POETRY

For this week:

Read the following poems from your Writer's Workbook and note and highlight literary devices we've studied, such as sensory imagery, symbolism, metaphor, simile, and personification. Does the poem help you see something in a new way? Does it spark your imagination? What do you like about it?

Constancy and If , p. 93

The Summer Day, p. 80

The Swan, p.82

Song of the Builders, p. 83

A Dream Deferred, p. 91

Finish Previous assignments: see post for Dec. 4th for previous assignments. By now you should have about 4 or 5 poems that you've written in preparation for selecting 4 to revise and present to the class on January.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Dec. 4, 2014

In preparation for our class on Dec. 4th, spend about 3 hours on the following literary arts assignments:

Ongoing:

1. Keep revising and polishing your short story. Final story is due December 18th. I have loved reading your rough drafts!!!

2. Take pictures and send your favorites to Sister Johnson.

3. Post your poetry and pictures on your literary arts blog.

4. Read and comment on each other's literary arts blogs.

Specific assignments by unit:

PHOTOGRAPHY

What a royal treat it was to view so many of your photographs in class this week! What terrific photographers you are and are becoming! Yay for you!

During our Thanksgiving Break and in preparation for our next class on Dec. 4, your photography assignments are as follows:

• Choose themes that you want to explore for each week of this unit and write them down on the paper I gave you in class. You can choose one theme per week, or more than one, and you can choose from the list below or choose themes of your own. Be creative but purposeful!
• Take photos during these next two weeks practicing your composition skills and pay attention to lighting. Remember to Stop and Think! :)
  
• Choose 2-4 of your favorite photos and email them to me by Wed. Dec. 3 so we can all admire them in class! Hopefully everyone will have photos to share, so in the interest of time please choose just your top 2-4.
  
• And Have Fun!
  

Theme ideas:

Tell a story

Do a series

Light
Laughter

Trees

A collection of opposites

Relationships

Emotion

Beauty

Perspective

POETRY

1. Write a poem about a feeling or an emotion. You can keep working on the one you started in class or write a new one. Remember, don't say the emotion or feeling in your poem but let the reader experience it with you through your sensory details (imaginitive language using the sense of smell, sight, sound, touch, and sound). Post your poem on your blog.

2. If you haven't done so yet or want to write another, write a poem where a concrete object, person, place, or experience is also a symbol of something greater. Refer to The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost in your Writers Workbook p. 92. Post it on your blog.

3. If you haven't done so yet or want to try another, write a poem using personification. Read the poem by Sylvia Plath from Nov. 20th's post and notice how the mirror and the lake is personified. Try it in your own poem. Choose an object, animal, feeling, or concept and play with the idea of giving it human character traits. Post your poem on your blog.

4. If you haven't done so yet, write a list in your writer's journal of some of your personal, specific poignant experiences you've had, such as: walking in the rain, reaching the summit of a mountain, the death of a loved one, a time you were disappointed or felt heartache, a time when beauty has touched you deeply, a time you felt loved, secure, or affirmed, a time you felt exhausted, were struck with the starkness of a scene, or the grandeur of a scene, or the bleakness of a scene. It could be your expereince with something beautiful, ugly, stinky, stunning, scary, majestic, funny. You get the idea.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Nov. 20, 2014

Ongoing assignments:

1. finish your short story rough draft if you haven't

2. read and comment on each other's rough drafts to return on Thursday

3. read and comment on each other's literary arts blogs

Additional assignments by unit:

PHOTOGRAPHY

Today we began our photography unit and what a blast we're going to have!!! Photography is so fun and exciting! I hope you gain a love for it as much as I do!

This week your photography assignment is to practice gaining skills in the things we talked about in class. Take pictures to practice using:

• the Rule of Thirds
• Framing (Sorry I forgot to talk about this in class today. Just read from the link and you'll be good to go!)
  
• Filling your Frame
• Clearing the Clutter
• Getting Your Backgrounds Right (Nothing unsavory sticking up out of your subject's head! :)
  
• Leading Lines
• Straight Lines
  
• Horizons
  
• and just work at becoming really familiar and comfortable with using your camera.

Choose 2-3 of your favorite photos that you take this week and email them to Sister Johnson by Wednesday morning, November 19, so we can all view them in class and talk about the good things we are doing! The photos you choose to share can deal with any of the above topics. HAVE FUN!

POETRY

1. Write a poem where a concrete object, person, place, or experience is also a symbol of something greater. Refer to The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost in your Writers Workbook p. 92. Post it on your blog.

2. Write a poem using personification. Read the following poem by Sylvia Plath and notice how the mirror and the lake is personified. Try it in your own poem. Choose an object, animal, feeling, or concept and play with the idea of giving it human character traits. Post your poem on your blog.

 

Mirror, by Silvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful--

The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long

I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.

Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.

I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.

She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.

I am important to her. She comes and goes.

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.

In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman

Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Nov. 13, 2014

Sometimes writing can feel like an uphill climb, like climbing a mountain and it takes all your effort to get over that summit. Keep at it! Nothing worthwhile has ever been easy. YOU CAN DO IT! And when you finally have it down on paper it is sweet victory!

Assignments due Nov. 13: You're first priority is to Fiction #1 and #2 and then start working your way through the poetry assignments. Ideally you will get it all done :) With 3 hours set aside each week for this class you should have time to do these assignments. Go for it!

FICTION

1. If you haven't finished your rough draft, DO IT! Push through it and get a working draft done of your story. Make 12 copies and bring them to class next week. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! [Remember. This is the rough draft. You will revise and revise after this so don't be so concerned about getting it RIGHT. It won't be right until after several revisions. The important thing is to get a rough draft written so you have something to work with, and written in a timely way so that you have time to work through the revision process.]

2. Read eachother's short story rough drafts. Give helpful feedback. Tell them what you love, what is working and why, and also what isn't working as well for you and why. Write your comments right on the story copy. These are some of the things we are looking for:

• Beginnings that catch your attention, make you want to start reading because it peaks your curiousity.
• Characters that you care about, feel a connection to, and that feel real.
• Effective use of showing and telling in their narration.
• Dialogue that feels real, that creates character voice, and moves the story along.
• Use of imaginitive words and figurative language to create a picture in the reader's mind.
• Plot structure that has a beginning, a conflict, steps of action or suspense leading up to the climax, a climax where the character is at a win or lose crossroads, and a satisfying ending.
• Successful ending: ties up loose ends, gives reader satisfaction for emotional investment in the story.

POETRY

Since many of you weren't able to get to this last week, here are the first assignments in poetry to do:

1. Poem Assignment #1: Tree Poem (We did this in class and some of you chose to write a poem about it at home).
2. Write a list in your writer's journal of some of your personal, specific poignant experiences you've had, such as: walking in the rain, reaching the summit of a mountain, the death of a loved one, a time you were disappointed or felt heartache, a time when beauty has touched you deeply, a time you felt loved, secure, or affirmed, a time you felt exhausted, were struck with the starkness of a scene, or the grandeur of a scene, or the bleakness of a scene. It could be your expereince with something beautiful, ugly, stinky, stunning, scary, majestic, funny. You get the idea.
   
3. Poem Assignment #2: Choose one of these Poignant Experiences and write a poem about that experience. Just have fun, playing with the words and trying to create an emotional experience for your reader. This part is so FUN! Find words that use the 5 senses. Play with the literary devices we talked about in class that make great poetry (picture below of our class discussion notes on the dry erase board).
4. Poem Assignment #3: Write about another one of your poignant experiences, or draw inspiration from a picture, and write a poem using simile and/or metaphor where you compare your subject or experience to something else. Here are some tips we talked about in class for using simile and metaphor:

5. Read the following poems from your Writer's Workbook. Take note of the Elements of Good Poetry you see in them (see photo above). Actually take notes and underline right in your workbook on the poems, noting the devices you see the poet used to create a great poem.

• The Hummingbird p.90
• The Dream Deferred p.91
• How Could Young Love Know? p.77
• The Summer Day p. 80

Poetic Devices

Poetic Devices

Posted with Blogsy

Nov. 6, 2014

Assignments:

***If you have to prioritize this list, DO FICTION #1 AND #2 NO MATTER WHAT! :)

FICTION

1. FINISH your short story rough draft through to the end. This is due next class period on Nov. 6th. Make this a priority. Remember. This is the rough draft. You will revise and revise after this so don't be so concerned about getting it RIGHT. It won't be right until after several revisions. The important thing is to get a rough draft written so you have something to work with, and written in a timely way so that you have time to work through the revision process. Don't procrastinate!

2. Make 12 (or did we say 15?) copies of your short story, staple them together, and bring them to class. We will hand them out so we can read each other's work and give feedback. This is an IMPORTANT step in writing. DON'T MISS THIS OPORTUNITY!!!

3. Read The Cactus (p. 31), Punch and Cookies Forever (61) and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Caleveras County (p. 54) from your Writer's Workbook. Look for how the authors were successful in the following:

• Dialogue that feels real, created character voice, and moves the story along
• Successful endings: ties up loose ends, gives reader satisfaction for emotional investment in your story (refer to your notes from our last class about what makes a fabulous ending)

 

POETRY

1. If you haven't done this yet, do it this week for sure: write down a list in your writer's journal of some of your personal, specific poignant experiences you've had, such as: walking in the rain, reaching the summit of a mountain, the death of a loved one, a time you were disappointed or felt heartache, a time when beauty has touched you deeply, a time you felt loved, secure, or affirmed, a time you felt exhausted, were struck with the starkness of a scene, or the grandeur of a scene, or the bleakness of a scene. It could be your expereince with something beautiful, ugly, stinky, stunning, scary, majestic, funny. Get the idea?
2. Choose one of these experiences and write a poem about that experience. Just have fun, playing with the words and trying to create an emotional experience for your reader. This part is so FUN! Find words that use the 5 senses. Play with the literary devices we talked about in class that make great poetry (picture below of our class discussion notes on the dry erase board).
3. Read the following poems from your Writer's Workbook. Take note of the Elements of Good Poetry you see in them (see photo below). Actually take notes and underline right in your workbook on the poems, noting the devices you see the poet used to create a great poem.

• Root Cellar p. 88
• The Hummingbird p.90
• Those Winter Sundays p.89
• The Dream Deferred p.91
• How Could Young Love Know? p.77
• The Summer Day p. 80

Poetic Devices

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

October 30, 2014

Assignments:

1. Keep working on your short story rough draft through the end. This is due next class period. Make this a priority. Remember. This is the rough draft. You will revise and revise after this so don't be so concerned about getting it RIGHT. It won't be right until after several revisions. The important thing is to get a rough draft written so you have something to work with, and written in a timely way so that you have time to work through the revision process. Don't procrastinate!

2. If you liked where your tree poem was going in class, finish it up and post on your blog.

3. Make a list of specific poignant experiences you've had: such as walking in the rain, reaching the summit of a mountain, the death of a loved one, a time you were disappointed or felt heartache, a time when beauty has touched you deeply. Choose one of these expereiences and write a poem about that experience.

Tips:

• poems don't have to rhyme
• poems use powerful words that say just what you mean
• show don't tell
• poems don't have to have a "moral lesson"
• poems don't have to be about beautiful happy things
• poems DO need to express experience and emotion
• Poems say the most in the least amount of words
• Use imagery

4. Read through several poems from your Writers Workbook. Take your time. Reread them. Let them sit with you. Come prepared to talk about how the poem affected you. What worked in the poem for you?

 

5. Read and THOUGHTFULLY COMMENT on each other's blogs. Writer's don't write in a vacuum - we need inspiration and feedback.

Here is the process for writing a poem that we tried in class:

Remember: there is no right or wrong process for writing a poem, but here is one approach you can try. (From Creative Writing Now, Essentials of Poetry: creativewritingnow@williamvictor.net)

1) The first step is to observe your subject -- in real life, or in your imagination. Let's say you're writing about a tree. Explore this tree, get to know it. What does it look like up close, far away? How does it move in the breeze? What does the bark feel like under your hand? What different smells does the tree have? What kinds of shadows does it make?

• Consider your subject in different ways. Try to find out its secrets. What insects or other animals are living inside that tree; what do you think the tree would look like from the inside? If the tree had dreams, what would it dream about?
• By paying close attention, you become an expert in this tree, or whatever the subject is of your poem. You can discover aspects of it that no one has ever described before.

2) Now, your task is to capture the subject on paper. The trick here is to keep your mind focused on the subject the whole time you write. As Ted Hughes explains in POETRY IN THE MAKING, "When you do this, the words look after themselves, like magic."

• Don't worry yet about choosing the right words. Don't worry about sounding "poetic." If you start worrying about what's happening on the page, you'll take your mind off the tree, and the magic will stop working. Concentrate on your subject and let the words look after themselves for now.

3) The creative process is delicate, and if you start editing too soon, you can cut off the flow of ideas. So give yourself time to get everything down on paper. You might decide to live with the poem for a while, writing down more ideas as they come to you.

When you feel like you've gotten everything down, then you can start revising. Be sure to read your poem out loud as you're working and listen to how it sounds.

• Are there words that don't seem quite right for what they're describing? Are there words that don't serve a purpose? If you can remove something without hurting the poem, it's usually better to remove it.
• Is there anything there that doesn't feel genuine, that's only there because it seems "poetic," to impress the reader? Remove or replace anything that is just "showing off."
• Are there parts of the poem that you like better than others? Are there parts that don't quite fit, that should be cut out or integrated better? Is there a particularly interesting part that might suggest taking the poem in a new direction?

4) Experiment with the poem. Try putting the ideas in a different order. Try dividing the lines in different ways. Try different forms, different approaches.

***Save each version of your poem that you write. Compare versions; see what works better. You might decide to combine parts of one version with parts of another. Work to come up with the ideal version of your poem.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

October 23

ONGOING ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Write in your Writer's Journal 10 minutes everyday (except Sunday if you prefer). Writing your story or working on character profiles etc. counts for this. Writers write everyday. See "Writing Prompts for Daily Writing" on page 6 of your writing workbook for inspiration.

2. Work on your blog. Add your character profiles, scenes from your story, your writing prompts and any writing you'd like to share and get feedback on. Make your blog a storehouse for your creative bursts of inspiration!

3. Keep working on your short story. By the time we meet again next week you should have have your storyline details worked out using your Story Structure workbook pages and you should have the story written through to the climax. 

4. Read and comment on half of the blogs in our class (see the schedule and blog address list Sister Johnson sent out). Remember if your blog is private send out invitations. If you are supposed to read and comment on someone's blog that is private it is your job to remind them that you need an invitation. This only works if you can get on each other 's blogs! :)

ASSIGNMENTS FOR THIS WEEK:
 
1. Rough draft through climax, using Story Structure Worksheet numbers 15-17 to assist you.

2. Daydream Technique blog post: write for 10 minutes about the "footsteps behind you" scene we "daydreamed" about in class. Or, if you'd like, take 5 minutes to daydream about a scene in your story, take another 5 minutes to list the details from your imagination - sights, smells, feelings, sounds, tastes, thoughts. Then, take 10 minutes to write the scene from your story and post on your blog.

3. Read the Pesky Little Brother of the Bride (p.23) and This Could be the Big One (p. 28) and come prepared to talk about the literary devices you can see in them that we have talked about in class.