Updates and Due Dates for Assignments (Reading, Classwork, Homework, etc.)
Due dates will be updated (and possibly adjusted) as we progress through the unit.
Current Unit: Poetry
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CHECK OUT the Download Documents page for the sheet on Finding Mentor Texts, as well as a list of terms you should know for the poetry test. These sheets were supposed to be in your packet but somehow did not make the transfer. Thank you to those who pointed out the omission!
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Tues-Thurs. Nov. 17-19: Review Sessions for poetry test
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Fri. Nov. 20: Poetry Terms Test.
Come to class prepared with an idea for a free verse poem. You will be writing this period after the test.
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Mon. Nov. 23: Be prepared to discuss the handouts: Poetic Advice and Distinguishing Strong Poetry from Weak Poetry. Come to class with a completed draft of a free verse poem.
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Tues. Nov. 24: Be prepared to discuss your mentor texts.
(Find at least two mentor texts from the locations provided on pp. 74-75, and bring them to class. A mentor text is a poem that makes you think, “Wow! I wish I had written that!” It is a poem with which you identify, a poem that makes you want to cut it out and put it in your notebook or carry it around in your pocket. Include authors’ names and where you found the poems. Pages 74-75 provide places to search, but I cannot be responsible for the content on over a hundred Web sites. Poets can be a rowdy bunch who “push the envelope” or “rock the boat,” so to speak, so if you encounter poems you think is offensive or inappropriate, please just don’t read them.)
Ongoing Tasks
Writer's Notebook: Continue to put seed ideas in your Writer's Notebook.
Writing Folder: Please continue to put your writing into your Writing Folder. You NEED to save your work in the folder. Otherwise you will not have a piece to revise for the final exam.
Disclaimer:
I support artistic truth and creative expression 100%. However, please make sure that the writing you submit is appropriate for the high school classroom setting. Aim for PG-13. Writing that could be interpreted as remotely offensive, demeaning, degrading, vulgar, threatening or contains gratuitous or graphic depictions of sex, violence, or vulgarity will be deemed ungradeable. That doesn’t mean that you have to write about bunnies and rainbows. I am familiar with and have even enjoyed Tarantino films, Puzo novels, and Bukowski poems. I watch South Park and The Whitest Kids U Know. However, please do not submit writing that by comparison makes these works seem like Blues Clues, Sesame Street or the Teletubbies! I’m confident that you will have plenty to write about and will not have to compromise your artistic integrity!
