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.

 

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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.

 

 

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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

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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

 

 

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