Finals Week Fall, 2012

12/21/12

Poetry Final

1st Step: A word about grades

2nd Step: Share Poems

3rd Step: (If time) What Poetry Is (Carl Sandburg)

Week of 12/11/12

12/13/12

Goal: Wrap Up.


First Step: Housekeeping. Disclaimer.

Go to Infinite Campus. See if you have any "blanks" or "M" grades. Then, on a piece of paper, everybody answer the following questions (even if you've already told me these things.)

1. Do you have any missing poems (old work)?

2. If you turned them in, where are they? (Edmodo, your blog, your portfolio?

3. Is your 6-week paper missing? If you turned it in, where is it?


8. Did you turn in your portfolio as a hard copy or a Wix site)?

9. If it's a Wix site, What is your Website URL? 

10. If it's a Wix Site: where did you post the URL?

11. Give me your paper copy of a poem for the final packet.

12. Did you submit to Muse on Edmodo?

13. Anything else you need to tell me about your grade? Last chance!

Portfolio viewing.

Now, Carl Sandburg:


12/11/12

Goal: Wrap up Portfolios. 

HW: Duh. Portfolio due on Thursday. 

First Step: "So You Want to be a Writer" by Charles Bukowski

Time to work on portfolios.

Examples from the other class first. 



________________________________________ 

Research and contemplation activity: Zen Drawing (theater)

Pick an object from all of the options and find a quiet spot.
Sketch it in as much detail as possible. Think of the drawing as meditative. Silence is an absolute must. The quality does not matter, only getting in touch with the object through the enjoyment of drawing it matters.

If you finish before time is up, think of and list everything your object is made of and all its previous incarnations back to the beginning of the universe. (Coke cup example). Nothing created, nothing destroyed. 
"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles." (Walt Whitman).

week of 12/4/12

12/6/12

Goal: Revisit Tuesday's topic and share some work. Spend some time on the portfolio. 

First Step: 

10 groups: 

1. read your poem in your group and mark your favorite moments. 

2. Be ready to read the poem with the class and talk about one specific thing you really like about it.

Portfolios

An Online option:

http://www.wix.com/ (some examples and advice)

Friends website

Time to work on portfolios


______________________________________
12/4/12

Goal: More Wrap-up. What's the connection between love and poetry?

Don't forget your portfolios! You have 9 days. I had to change the due dates 

Portfolio


Homework (for Thursday): Write a love poem to an abstract concept. (Example: "Love Poem to Justice" "Love Poem to " or "Love Poem to Envy" of "Love Poem to Sadness")

• Needs to contain at least five concrete images (descriptions that appeal to our senses)
• Needs to ask one rhetorical question (a question that is not meant to be answered)

First Step: "Love" by Stephen Dunn. (On the doc camera)

Now Your small Edmodo groups, discuss these concepts. Post your answers on Edmodo. Be ready to discuss in 15 minutes or so.

1. How do you measure love? How does society measure it? Is it about excitement and pleasure or about commitment and emotional connection? Explain.

2. How do you think popular images of love influence you as a teenager? Do you think it might be different with other age groups? Explain.

3. Do you think popular contemporary images of love reflect your own experiences of love? If so, how? If not, how?
4. Last class we talked about the connection between poetry and our place in the universe. What is the connection between love and poetry.

Discuss

Talk about "Love Poem to an abstract concept" assignment. Brainstorm a list of abstract concepts to consider.

Week of 11/27/12

11/29/12

Goal: Learn some more traditional poetic structures:

First step: 

Solar System: How small are you really? Calculations and a demonstration.

Note: Scientists estimate that there are between 100 and 500 billion galaxies in the universe. So, the number of people on earth times about 36 (if there are 250 billion galaxies).

Writing time: You are one of 7 billion people (we passed that number sometime last year) crammed on a tiny speck. What's your next move?

Haiku day. Background and practice.

Haiku structure: 
line 1 has 5 syllables, 
line 2 has 7 syllables, 
line 3 has 5 syllables.

Haiku themes: Usually natural themes, lots of imagery.

Shift: Usually the last line reveals something new about the poem.

Syllabics: 

In My Craft or Sullen Art (by Dylan Thomas)

In my craft or sullen art

Exercised in the still night

When only the moon rages

And the lovers lie abed

With all their griefs in their arms,

I labour by singing light

Not for ambition or bread

Or the strut and trade of charms

On the ivory stages

But for the common wages

Of their most secret heart.

Example (From “Brooklyn Ghazal” by Elizabeth Willse)

Hungry for a kiss, take the train to Brooklyn,

Speeding under the river to your arms in Brooklyn.

Sunset paints the sky through the Manhattan Bridge,

Train stalls. The sky stretches between me and Brooklyn.

Crimson leaves underfoot, the incense of woodsmoke

Rises through the burnished brass air of Brooklyn.

HW for Tuesday: 

1. Write a Ghazal (if you didn't already). A minimum of five couplets--no more than fifteen--that are structurally, thematically, and emotionally linked in some way.

Possible angle (or DYT): Alternate couplets between how people see you on the surface (your "mask") and what's going on inside your mind, heart, psyche, etc. The title should tie things together.

________________________________

11/27/12

"Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down." --Robert Frost, 1935.

Goal: Begin to think about how the semester will wrap up. Read some poetry!

First Step: A look at the final: 

(Final Portfolio Document Attached here)

Reading Poetry: Guidelines

1. Select a book. Don't worry too much about the choice. You can always put it back and get another one

2. Check out the cover, the back pages, the copyright date, and anything about the poet.

3. Begin reading. You might want to select individual poem titles, and you might want to begin at the beginning. Up to you.

4. Find three powerful poems or passages.

5. On a sheet of paper, write down the powerful passages. Reflect on each. Why are they powerful, confusing, reminiscent of an experience, though-provoking, etc? Writing and drawing are both fine--just be thoughtful.

6. Turn the reflection page in at the end of the reading period.

Enter The Dragon by John Murillo (example)

Share some powerful passages.

Homework for Thursday: Write a Ghazal. A minimum of five couplets--no more than fifteen--that are structurally, thematically, and emotionally linked in some way

Possible angle (or DYT): Alternate couplets between how people see you on the surface (your "mask") and what's going on inside your mind, heart, psyche, etc. The title should tie things together.

Example (From “Brooklyn Ghazal” by Elizabeth Willse)

Hungry for a kiss, take the train to Brooklyn,

Speeding under the river to your arms in Brooklyn.

Sunset paints the sky through the Manhattan Bridge,

Train stalls. The sky stretches between me and Brooklyn.

Crimson leaves underfoot, the incense of woodsmoke

Rises through the burnished brass air of Brooklyn.

week of 11/13/12

Week of 11/13/12


11/15/12


Goal: Continue our discussion of highly structured poetry.

First Step The Facebook Sonnet

Vocab: exhume: to dig up, as with a body.

Exercise: Draw four big boxes on your paper like so:

For each stanza of this poem, draw a quick cartoon.

Welcome to the endless high-school (A)
Reunion. Welcome to past friends (B)
And lovers, however kind and cruel. (A)
Let's undervalue and unmend (B)

The present. Why can't we pretend (C)
Every state of life is the same? (D)
Let's exhume, resume, and extend (C)
Childhood. Let's all play the games (D)

That occupy the young. Let fame (E)
And shame intertwine. Let one's search (F)
For God become public domain. (E)
Let church.com become our church. (F)

Let's sign up, sign in, and confess (G)
Here at the altar of loneliness. (G)

--Sherman Alexie


Shakespearean Sonnets (Shakespeare, the OG): 

The basics.

Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
     And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
     As any she belied with false compare.

1. 14 lines. 
2. If it's shaped like a box, it's probably a sonnet.
3. Quatrains and a couplet.
4. Rhyme and iambic pentameter.
5. Translating Shakespeare

As a group, let's translate Sonnet 130



11/13/12

Goal: Continue with form and structure in poetry. 

First Step: Charlie and/or Jackie. Slam is tonight. 

Who wants extra credit??



Finish Team Villanelle Assignment. Share some.

HW: Individual Villanelle Assignment (see last week's blog or Edmodo for details)

Week of 11/6/12

11/8/12


 First Step: Read the following passage: 

"i luv writing to umm some good topics are love life changes cancer, death, sriendhip, but i would do something sad like death or cancer they have a greater affect on people cuz love poems r hard to make really emotional but its easy when its sad and it attracts more attention because liike its all heart touching and stuff"

List five things that are good about this passage and five things that are bad. (Only one "bad" thing can be the horrible grammar, capitalization and/or spelling.)

More Connections to hip-hop:

1. Hip-hop tends to use heavy structure, rhythm, and rhyme. In other words, it does everything that scares most people about poetry.

2. Hip-hop tends to speak in code. In other words, it does the same thing that most people fear about poetry.

3.As happened with lots of "traditional" poetic forms, Hip-hop forms developed organically based on performances and sincere, honest writing.

Poetic Form: Villanelle (from poets.org)
"The highly structured villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem's two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2." Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Team Villanelle

HW: Write a Villanelle that starts with one of the following titles: 


“Timbuktu”
“What Hip Is”
“Things You Thought I’d Say When I Left”
“Let the Dog Drive”
“Older, Wiser, Closer to Death”
“Sister”
“Phone Tennis”
“The Prince of Fire”
“Unsettling America”
“The Angle of Refraction”



(Link): Here are some examples of Villanelles

11/6/12

Goal: Finish "Change" Poems and continue hip-hop and slam.

First Step: Change. Poems. Still.

Lupe Fiasco's "The Instrumental."

Lupe Fiasco Lyrics only

Activity in class:

With a partner, Describe the tone in "The Instrumental." 

1. Describe the speakers attitude with three adjectives
2.What words can you point to that influence the tone (diction) 3. What sound devices (alliteration, repetition, rhythm, rhyme) do you notice.
4. What do you think Lupe Fiasco is saying when he titles this poem "Instrumental?"

Make a list on the blog. 

HW: Writing Assignment: Attempt to write a piece that mimicks the tone of either "Hip-Hop," or  "Instrumental" Be able to explain how you use sound devices and specific language to influence your own tone.

Due Thursday. We will read out loud to get ready for the poetry slam!!!

Mos Def's "Hip-Hop" if you need a reminder

Mos Def Lyrics only

week of 10/30

11/1/12

Goal: Finish Change Poems!

Quote: 

"Everything we are is given to us."

---from Michael Lee's Poem "Pass On"

First Step: "Pass On" by Michael Lee


Question: Repetition is used in both "Repetition" by Phil Kaye (sub day poem) and this poem. How are the techniques used similarly/differently?


Next: Finish as many change poems as we can. You will read!
_____________________________________
10/30/12

Sub Day: 

IB 5 on "Repetition" by Phil Kaye. Turn into Edmodo.

HW: Repetition Poem. Write a poem of at least 

20 lines that uses repetition in some way, as 

Phil Kaye’s poem does. You could repeat a 

sound, a word, a phrase, an idea, a rhyme, a 

refrain, or something else. The topic of the 

poem is up to you.

week of 10/23

10/25/12

Goal: Begin to connect Jovan's presentation, "Step to the Line" and "The Change Poem" to our study of hip-hop and slam.

First Step: Hip-Hop by Mos Def. 

"Hip-Hop" by Mos Def (link to youtube)

Lyrics to "Hip-Hop"

What devices did you notice?

What connections can you make to our discussion/activity on Tuesday?

Change Poems: Let's read!

HW: Post some lyrics on Edmodo to a hip-hop song you like. You don't need to post the whole song. Just post some lines that you like right onto the class feed. Make sure you mention who the poet is (the writer/rapper).


10/23/12

Goals: Use Jovan Mays as a jumping off point to explore hip-hop, slam, and ourselves. Get outside our comfort zones a little.

First Step: Debrief Jovan's visit. What did you get out of it?

My points: His honesty. His unapologetic conviction about who he is. His sincere desire to share his craft.

Line Activity: 

HW (due Thursday): Change Poem (link) Note: Everybody reads. 

week of 10/9/12

10/11/12

Goal: Wrap up papers. 

First Step: First Afghan female rapper!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gwi7SNiTx0 (Youtube)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/female-rapper-history-afghanistan-article-1.1178182 (Article)

Next: Find a partner. go through the paper and help each other improve. I will come around to answer questions and check drafts. With any remaining time that you have, begin completing you paper. 

HW: Turn in a polished copy of your paper on Tuesday!


10/9/12

Goal: One more great poem, continue working on paper.

First Step: Rudy Francisco Poem. Just listen.

Template is on Edmodo. Make a copy or print it. Freewrite time. 

Share some of them. 

If time: Work on papers as I check to see who has done the intro/outline.

HW: Paper Due one week from today (mostly because I don't want them over the weekend! :). 

week of 10/2/12

10/4/12

Goal: Consider the connections between Man on Wire and unit themes. Synthesize ideas from the first 6 weeks. Begin drafting an essay.

HW (see below) 

First Step: Read the following poem and respond to the questions below it. 

WHEN I MET MY MUSE

(Definition of muse: A guiding spirit; a source of inspiration. Also, the ancient Greek goddesses of inspiration)


I glanced at her and took my glasses
off — they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. “I am your own
way of looking at things,” she said. “When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation.” And I took her hand.
~ William Stafford (1914-1993)

1. Why is the muse female?
2. Why are the glasses singing and buzzing?
3. Why does the ceiling arch?

Brief Discussion

6-week assignment: Hand out and explain. Assignment and rubric.

Look at my example of the assignment.

Edmodo Small Groups: Quick Intro. (ON EDMODO--note creative writing examples)

Task: 
1. Find your group on the lefthand side of the page. It's the name of the poet right under the poetry tab.
2. On your own, choose one "class event" from the list. On your small group page, write down a connection between that event and a theme in Man on Wire.

Example:
Taylor Mali's poem on conviction relates to Man on Wire because Mali says, "You must speak with conviction" and Philipe says that you must "live your life on a tightrope." These ideas are related because they are both about living the life YOU want to live.

3. Once everyone has posted, meet with your small group. Work together to put together an intro paragraph that pulls together at least a couple of these connections. Post your paragraph on the main page.


HW: Complete your intro paragraph and outline for your 6-week paper. (Similar to my example).







10/2/12

Goal: Finish "Man on Wire"

First Step: What are some connections you've already seen between Philipe and the poetry class so far.

Watch the last 40  minutes of Man on Wire. 
Questions:

There is no 'why.'" Why does Philipe say 

this?


Why are his friends so emotional?



The cop is moved by the scene to the point 

of getting out of character. Why?

week of 9/25/12

Week of 9/25/12

Day 2 (Thursday):

Goal: Begin "Man on Wire"

First Step: Get a lap top. There will be a back channel discussion during the movie. This means that you should post at least three times during the hour. 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.

HW (For Tuesday): Go back through our class notes. (On Edmodo: just scroll through). Find one aspect of class (poem, lesson, or homework assignment) that you think relates to a theme or themes in the movie. Do a short comparative write-up (paragraph) and turn in on Edmodo.


Day 1 (Tuesday): 

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

First Step: O Me, O Life!

Conviction: Who has it? 

Look at reactions to Taylor Mali and Sarah Kay.

Share some poems. 

6-week assignment. "Man on Wire"

6-week Review Paper with the movie Man on Wire:


For the rest of today and Thursday, we’ll watch the movie “Man on Wire.” 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 Philip Petit 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. 


HW: Catch up on work. There are too many of you who need to do so.

week of 9/18/12

week of 9/17/12

9/20/12

Goals: Share some of our work. Begin to consider the "poetic" mindset. In other words, besides writing poems, what makes a poet?

• First Step: Get your computer out and go to http://www.visuwords.com/  

Creative Laptops
Poetry Laptops

• Play with Visu-words by plugging in the central theme of your "Sweet Like a Crow" poem to see what words it comes up with. What's the most surprising word that is associated with your theme?Quick discussion.

• Let's share some poems. (DYT, DET, Applaud the poet not the poem, first responders)

• The poetic mentality. What do these words mean to you? Conviction, Feeling, Belief, Voice.

• Let's watch some different examples of conviction. Blog your gut responses to each. If your blog is not yet set up, shame on you, but use a piece of paper. 

• Taylor Mali, Sarah Kay, Jovan Mays 

HW (For Tuesday, 9/25): Conviction Poem: 

Requirements: 
1. Start with one of the following lines

• 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. Write a poem of at least 20 lines that shows conviction (a firm belief).

9/18/12

Goals: Vent a little. :) Create a blog. Complete Grid poems.

First Step: Go over schedule for the day.

--Freewrite

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.

Share.

With remaining time: Work on grid poems. 

1. Pass grid among 4 people. Improve images.

2. On computers. Begin typing your poem.

HW: 

1. Create Blog on blogger and send me the link.

2. Finish Grid poem. Must be submitted on Edmodo by Thursday. Please "turn in" as a document. 

Week of 9/10/12

9/13/12

Goal: Explore how metaphors and similes are built.

1st step: Write down a great adjective on one card and a great noun on the other. Keep it appropriate.

Note on Edmodo: A (very) few of you are having issues. There are glitches on occasion with Edmodo, but they are always temporary--if you can get on the internet, you should be able to get on it. If you are having problems day in and day out, it's likely your computer. You'll have to figure out a way to work around it, i.e. getting the assignment at school and working on it. You can always email me assignments if you're having problems turning work in on Edmodo. If you have more serious internet access issues, see me.

"Sweet Like a Crow" Reading and Reactions.

Sweet Like a Crow Lucidchart and Poem

• Go find a quote on the internet or come up with one on your own.

• 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.



9/11/12


Goal: Begin to explore figurative language. Attempt to put words to something unspeakable.

1st Step: Get a computer and post a gut-level response on Edmodo to the "Falling Man" clip. 

2nd Step. Go read some of the posts. Find one with which you connect and write a response.

3rd step: Short reading.

Falling Man - You Tube

HW: Read Sweet Like a Crow by Michael Ondaatje, print it, and do and "IB 5":

1. Write down 2 or 3 literal statements about the poem.
2. Ask one essential question about the poem.
3. Write down your interpretation of one of the images (what you think one of the image means on a "deeper" level).
4. Descrobe the "central tension" of the text. (might be irony--anything that seems out of the ordinary or makes you think.)
5. Make a central assertion about the entire poem. What do you think the author is trying to say?