Blog and Final

Though we're going to have 1:1 computing next year (meaning you'll have your own laptops), we might not get them until as late as December. Because of this time crunch, I want you all to have a blog that will meet the needs of our class assignments up and going and ready for 1:1. The blogs we tried earlier this year were not making me happy and they did not allow you all to have the freedom and individuality that you need. Therefore, we are setting up new blog accounts and you all are going to have time today to customize your blog. 

You final can be found on our class wiki page. Note that I've promoted you all to senior level because, well, you're basically seniors now! The description and requirements for the final are listed on this wiki page. We'll be working to set up the blogs in today's class and we'll have next class and the day of the final to complete the requirements listed for the final. 

Please let me help you when you need help. Please feel free to help one another when help is needed. I am only one person and some of you are more comfortable with technology than others; share your expertise!

Countdown to End of Genre Project

We have two class periods after today. That's it.

Your genre projects are due on the day of your final. We'll have a peer-review and sharing session as part of our final.

Your final is scheduled for June Friday, June 12th at 10 am. Please don't be late.

Vignette Eight

Today you have a choice of vignette topics to write about. The first choice allows you to choose a tattoo you might like to get when you get older. For this one, you'll describe the tattoo and the significance it holds for you.

The other choice requires you to look up your Chinese zodiac symbol and write a found poem about who you are according to the Chinese zodiac. This is similar to the traditional zodiac poem you already completed.

Body Projects & Goodbye Seniors

We're finished with the Body Projects. You did a great job, though the final products finale came down to the wire, so to speak.

Goodbye seniors. I loved having you in my classroom and in my life for the past four years. I am going to miss all of you. You're each so unique, so amazing in your own special way. Good luck and keep in touch!

Body Project

The rain has finally ended and we've finally begun our body project. We have today and next class and we're done with this project and seniors are done FOREVER. Well, unless they don't pass and then we'll just have to welcome them back next year. Just kidding. Sort of.

If you have extra time or free periods, you may want to come in to put in some extra effort toward completing this project.

House on Mango Street and Vignette #7

Today we read to page 90 in The House on Mango Street. We saw more examples of women being kept locked in by their husbands and the expectations of their culture. We also learned that Esperanza plans to escape her neighborhood when she is older but still plans to give back to those she's left behind.

With her vignette about the rich who sleep in the stars versus those who live on the earth, we're going to write vignette #7, which is Dreams vs. Reality. In one paragraph or stanza, you're going to write about your dream life, the life that is an impossibility. In the next, you're going to write about the reality of your life.

Make sure to be descriptive and imaginative in your writing.

Letter to the Reader

Though you are not all ready for it, I explained the format and purpose of the Letter to the Reader this period. Some of you are done with your genre and art pieces and all caught up with your poems, but others have more to complete before this step can be finished.

I was impressed with the few completed letters I saw this period. In particular, some of you dug deep and talked about the emotional process of writing the poems and genre pieces in this project.

We have three gold day period left to go; make sure that you're working steadily to finish this project on time!

Let it Rain!

Yes. It's raining worse today than it did last time we met. Therefore, we cannot work on our Body Projects. Instead, we're going to complete a found poem activity using tarot cards. I've already emailed you all descriptions of the meanings of the tarot cards that you have to choose from. Please choose one quality and one figure that align with who you are as a person. You will write one or two found poems using the words provided to you in the email.

Have fun and be creative on this rainy Friday!

Tarot Card Vignettes

In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza visits a psychic who reads Tarot cards for her. Today, you're going to read the meanings behind Tarot card figures and qualities and choose one of each that relate to who you are and who you'd like to become. Once you've found a figure and a quality that fit you, you can use the descriptions and the image of these cards to form a vignette or a found poem about your Tarot card self.

Independent Work

Because we're officially done with our poetic forms and the poetry writing portion of this unit, we're moving on to the part we're you're all going to be choosing what you're working on during class. Today, some of you wanted to catch up on missing poems, others decorated binder covers, and still others decided that today was a good day for finger painting.

Keep up the good work. I'm excited to see your completed genre projects!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Because it's raining and the paper versions of our bodies cannot withstand such abuse, we're going to postpone the actual putting together and creation of our bodies to Friday.

Instead, we're going to use our time to write a letter to our bodies. This idea comes from a creative writing tool I have called The Diary Deck. This deck is filled with cards that contain stories from teens as well as questions for the reader. The prompt that we're going to respond to today asks us to:

Write a letter to your body telling it how you feel about it. Include your best features and those that you might change if you could. Think about physical characteristics as well as unique or familiar aspects of your body, like scars and genetic inheritances. For instance, I could write about my fingers, which are the same as my mother's. It's weird putting them next to one another because they are so similar.

Be creative with your letter: it will be placed in the center of your body project. Feel free to decorate it with drawings or magazine clippings.

Your Post Secrets

Here are some of the fine post secrets you created in today's class. Good job.

Post Secret Artsy Activity

In addition to the vignettes and poetry that you'll have collected in your House on Mango Street project, you will also include some artwork in your final product. Today you're going to have an opportunity to create a piece of visual word art to add into your project. The inspiration for this project comes from a website called postsecret, where people upload images of postcards they've made. As the name of the website suggests, these postcards reveal some sort of secret.

For your purposes, the secret you include does not need to be Earth-shattering or even all that secretive. I could write a postsecret that reveals a love for something dorky or a guilty pleasure. I've included a couple of examples that may help you in this post.

Villainous Villanelle

And we're done. With poetry forms, that is. We completed our last (and most difficult) poem this morning. The villanelle is a bit like the pantoum, but more complex in that it has six stanzas rather than three and the difficulty of the repetition is increased by the fact that the repeating lines need to rhyme.

From what I saw this morning, you all were able to complete this poem with very little difficulty, which is awesome.

Next class we'll continue to work on incomplete poems, genre pieces, and artwork. Next week we'll work on our Letter to the Reader.

Sweethearts by Lara Zarr

Though the title of the book Sweethearts, by Sara Zarr sounds like a romance, it is actually more of a mystery. Sweethearts is about two young children, Jennifer and Cameron. They are friends because they are both outsiders in school. Jennifer is overwieght and often teased by classmates about her size. Cameron's father drinks too much and he lives in constant fear of his father's abuse. Because of they're different they bond together and form a tight friendship. Suddenly, though, Cameron disappears one day and is not heard from again.

Fastforward ten years. Jennifer, now Jenna, has transferred to another school. She has lost weight and is extremely popular. She has tons of friends and a popular boyfriend. Still, though, she thinks about her old friend Cameron and wonders if the rumors that he died are true. Her whole new perfect life is turned upside down when Cameron suddenly reappears after being gone for a decade. Where did he go? Why is he suddenly back? Will Jenna be able to fit Cameron back into her life? Will her new friends find out about the unpopular, overweight Jennifer that she's worked so hard to hide?

This is probably more of a book for girls, though I can see how the mystery might entice some boys to read it. It is not a super long read and it goes pretty fast once you get into it because of its suspenseful plot. Most of the characters are pretty realistic, though some are pretty flat. I think that Sara Zarr is a solid new writer of young adult lit and that we'll be reading more of her books in the future! (She has another book called Story of a Girl. I have couple of copies if you're interested in that title.)

Twelfth Night is Toast

Or not. It was an entertaining romp of a play and now it's over. We ended with Feste on the stage, singing a little nonsensical ditty, lots of married people hugging and drinking offstage, and Malvolio cursing everyone as he ran off into the sunset. Who could ask for a better ending?

After the end of the play, we continued on with our fearless cutting of magazines for the Trace Your Body Project. We'll (hopefully) complete this project next week.

Have a happy, safe LONG weekend!

Vignette #5: Metaphor/ Simile

Today we're going to read from The House on Mango Street to page seventy-five and write vignette number five. The prompt for vignette number five is included in this post as a photo.

Please make sure to complete any vignettes that you've not passed in as of yet; we're running our of class time!

Happy LONG weekend!

Catch Up, Catch All

Because of the sunshine, warmth and general laziness of today, I felt like maybe we needed a "deep breath" day, where we had a chance to just catch up on work and get some poems edited and completed.

Next week we'll work on villanelles, which are similar to pantoums but more complex. We'll also have another catch up, catch all day.

We're winding down. Make sure that you're working on genre pieces and artwork for your final product.

Who Are You Today? Who Were You Yesterday?

Today we're going to write poems that describe who we are today and who we were yesterday. We're going to use newspapers to do this activity. What you'll do:

Look up your zodiac sign on the horoscopes provided to you.

Highlight key words/ phrases that relate to you from "today" and from "yesterday."

Arrange the words/ phrases into a found poem with two stanzas 1) yesterday and 2) today.

Write your poem out on a sheet of white paper and use colored pencils to decorate.

Happy half day!

* * *

Here's a student sample:

Today is a 7
Next four weeks: Soul-search
Take time, make decisions
Sleep soundly again
Take a deep breath from my hectic pace.

Yesterday was an 8
Had a conversation with an old friend
Did me a world of good
Couldn't see him, so I called.
We laughed the whole time;
We center each other.

Zodiac Poem

Today, you're going to write a Zodiac Poem to add to your vignette project. This poem will be created using descriptors found in your Zodiac sign. You may agree with what your sign says about you or you may not. Either way, you're going to use the words and images provided to you and shape these descriptions into a type of found poem. This will be included in your vignette project, but is not a vignette.

Feel free to be creative with this activity-- use color and/ or images found online.

Pantoum Pantaloons!

One of the last poetic forms we're studying this year is the pantoum. This is a French style of poetry that was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. It's comprised of three quatrains and follows a strict pattern of repetition. It seems difficult at first, but if it's done correctly, even the simplest poem turns out to be pretty spectacular.

We are reaching the end of our journey through the various poetic forms; make sure to continue developing your theme in your genre and art pieces!

End of Act IV and Image Search

Today we finished Act IV in Twelfth Night. You all did an excellent job staying in character. In particular, the exchange between Feste and Malvolio left us feeling a bit sorry for the poor sucker.

After this, I gave you all envelopes and magazines so that you could start collecting images, letters, and words to include on your body tracings. Some of you found a lot of material and others of you still need some more time to work. We'll finish the play and continue cutting next class.

House on Mango St. and Vignette #4

Today we read from The House on Mango Street to page sixty-two. If you were absent, you need to read this section of the text to catch up before next class.

After we read, you all had the opportunity to choose from two topics for your fourth vignette. They are:

Your First Job: This does not have to be an actual job where you're taxed and paid by the hour, because most of you have not had a "real" job yet. Several of you, though, have worked for relatives and/or have had babysitting or chore-related jobs that you either were or were not paid for doing.

Born _________: In the text, Esperanza tells us that she was "Born Bad." She relates this notion to a time when she made fun of her Aunt Lupe, who had a debilitating disease. You may choose a posititive or negative quality to describe the personality you were born with. I read some rough drafts from those of you who claim to have been born "weird" and "stubborn." Interesting vignettes so far!

Remember: Only 7.5 Blue Days Left!

Epistle Poems

Today we completed our seventh poem form, the epistle. An epistle poem is a series of short, powerful notes written in a very personal tone. Some of you chose to write about loved ones who've passed away, others of you wrote to or about famous people you'd like to meet, and the rest of you chose a variety of other topics for your epistles.

After you all finished your epistle poems, you worked on genre and artwork pieces or finished incomplete poems.

Trace Your Body Project

Today we started the Trace Your Body Project. For this project, you all brainstormed some descriptive words related to the various roles you play in your life. The categories you needed to fill are: who you are with your family, with your friends, at school, and when you're alone.

This project is related to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night because many of the characters in this play are duplicitous, meaning they portray themselves as being one way in front of certain characters and they act completely different in front of others or when they are alone.

After you each had at least five words for the four categories listed, you all journeyed to the Tech Center lobby to trace and cut out the shape of your bodies. As we were completing this task, several of you mentioned that you had never thought of the variety of roles you play in your daily life. We'll have a bigger discussion about this as we continue this project.

Next class, we'll act out a little more of Twelfth Night and start to fill the four quadrants of our tracings with images, words, and symbols that represent all of our personalities!

NWEA and Vignette Revision/ Catch-Up Day

We're finished with NWEA! YAY! We'll go over your scores and what they tell us in Study Skills soon.

In addition to finished NWEA, you all had an opportunity to get some feedback on your vignettes and pass in corrected versions for credit and so that your final product is that much betterer.

If you were absent, you need to find a way to make-up your test and you need to check powerschool to see which vignettes are completed and which are not yet done.

Swirling Thoughts and NWEA

Today we finished NWEA testing. Yay! We'll go over your results during Study Skills as soon as they are available.

Because we were testing today, I thought that a Swirling Thoughts poem would be a good creative outlet for your excess imagination and energy. Judging the final products I've received so far, you all did an excellent job.

Please continue to update your tracking sheet so that we know which poems you've completed and which you're missing. Also, if there are any grades you'd like to improve upon, you're welcome to edit or rewrite any poem before you turn in this completed project at the end of quarter four.

Poetic Photo Day!

Today we completed our poetic photos with the lines we found in Twelfth Night. We created our photos using all sorts of funky items and the creativity displayed in your photos was impressive. I will be submitting your pics to flickr for potential publication. I'll let you know if any are accepted!

Here are several powerful examples of creative thought:

Gender Roles and The House on Mango Street

Today we read The House on Mango Street. We read from page 28 to page 46. While we read, we noticed a lot of examples of gender roles and stereotyping. We discussed these and wrote down the positive and negative experiences that we've heard in Esperanza's narration thus far.

After reading and discussion we began a new vignette. Here is the prompt:

I Give You...

Today we wrote an "I Give You" poem. This poem uses similes and metaphors.

A simile compares two unlike things and uses the worlds "like" or "as".
For example: Her eyes were as blue as the sky.

A metaphor also compares two unlike things but does not use "like" or "as".
For example: Her eyes were a blue sky.

There are examples of this poem and a template to help you, so if you missed class see Ms. G. or Mrs. DeRaps.

Catch Up

Today we played catch up. Everyone had the opportunity to make up missing work for our class or for another class. Ms. G answered questions about grades and missing work and we used the period to get caught up!

Visual Poetry Project

Today we went outside and worked on our poetry projects. We each took a line from the vignettes we've been writing in class and we wrote it out.
Below are a few examples of the ones we made and what we made them with.

We used puzzle pieces.









We used dirt.









We used buttons.









We used chalk!

Make Your Mama Happy Day

This Mother's Day, why not make your mama happy and proud by creating a special poem-covered card for her? Thanks to the folks at poets.org, you can choose a mama-themed poem to help create a beautiful keepsake for your mother. Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, so don't waste any time in creating your card!

Dada Poetry, Twelfth Night, and The Beatles

Part of the point and most of the comedy of Twelfth Night is that it is absolutely crazy and absurd. Like Shakespeare, Dada poets and the infamously famous Beatles have also played with jumbled messages to create a sort of absurd art. The Dada movement, which existed in the early 1900's, had some impact on freeing up creative expression to allow for other movements like punk rock and surrealist art.

Today, you're going to create your own Dada-rific poem about a character (maybe even your character) from Twelfth Night. You're going to work to keep the fancy free feeling of completely absurd images and preposterous language can create while referencing your character specifically.

To do this, you're going to find a character summary in the front of our Twelfth Night text and type all of the important, descriptive words for your character into a Dada Poem Generator. You may also add-in some words of your own that are not contained in the summary. For example, I may want to add "yellow" in Malvolio's Dada poem because of the garters he wears for Olivia. From this generator, you should get a poem that relates to your character on the one hand, but makes very little sense on the other. If you don't like the original poem your are given, simply repaste and press "create poem" over again. Pretty simple, yet pretty crazy.

Continuing Vignettes

Today we are writing vignettes again. This time you have two new options of topics to write about:

- Think about a place you have lived. How old were you? What was it like? Think of a specific memory you had there.

- Write about a birthday you remember. How old were you? What happened? What do you remember most from that birthday?

Remember not to give all of your information away too easily. For example, instead of saying "I was ten" as your first sentence, weave it into your vignette by including language and thoughts a ten year-old would have.

NWEA Testing

Today we completed the first of the two NWEA tests we'll take this spring. The NWEA reading test is the longer of the two, but we now have it out of the way. We just need to take the language test on Thursday and we'll be done!

Twelfth Night Poetry

You need to find 1 or 2 lines from Twelfth Night for our poetry project.

Here are some websites that should help:

http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/quotations/pmTwelfth01.asp

http://quotations.about.com/od/shakespearequotes/a/bard30_2.htm

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/quotes-quotations-play-twelfth-night.htm

When you find the line(s) you want to use, email or drop a word file into my folder with the following information:
- Line(s) you're using
- What materials you want to recreate your lines with

After we found our lines we read Twelfth Night to page 181. The plot has thickened and become more complex as we are seeing some confusion between characters. Stay tuned for more to come!

Test Day

Today we had NWEA testing. We will be taking 2 tests and we will finish on Thursday. We took the reading test today (which is the longest one) and we will take the language test on Thursday!