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?

week of 9/4/12

9/4/12

Goal: Write authentically about experience.

First Step--Freewrite (choose one):

Option 1: An awkward moment with a pet
Option 2: What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and were 10 years younger.


Read some color poems: DYT/DET, responders

Weighing The Dog by Billy Collins

On Turning Ten by Billy Collins

Homework: Narrative Portrait Poem. Note: you must submit this on Edmodo. Come see me if you are having problems.

________________________________________
9/6/12

Goal: Continue to write about our experience.

First Step Freewrite: Think of something you do really, really well. Something you know you're an expert at. Describe how you do it.

IB 5: On Becoming Closer Readers.

Moving Poems "Flames" (On Edmodo)

 

In Malcolm Gladwell's essay "Outliers," he claims that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. Just for the sake of argument, let's see if I should be an expert at teaching, at least based on my contracted hours as high school teacher.

7 hours per day x 180 days = 1,260 hours per year.

1,260 h.p.y. x 10.5 years= 13,230 hours. I should be an expert. In fact I become one 2.5 years ago! (and no one even told me. Dang it!)

Pick whatever skill you want, but realize that your topic does not have to be something that would impress your teacher. For example, if you are an expert liar, you might want to discuss lying. Good at listening? Ignoring? Faking paying attention? Being someone you're not? Being yourself? Running? Cooking? Taking care of little kids? Making lasagna? Eating lasagna? (Anything goes.)

Homework: (Due next Tuesday):

"The Art of___________________"
Steps:
1. Fill in the blank.
2. Give at least ten pieces of advice to someone who would want to learn the art of _________________."

Link to an example poem:

"The Art of Disappearing" by Naomi Shihab Nye.

"The Art of Drowning" by Billy Collins is another good one

8/30/12

Thursday, 8/30

Goal: Begin to consider how color effects tone/mood in poetry.

First Step: Notecard--If you could have one condiment dispensed from your navel, what would you choose?

Bad Poems: DYT/DET, responders, cheering, etc. (A few for the sake of fun.)

Color quiz: How much do you know? (If you've done this in art class, keep it to yourself. :)

Home Depot Paint chip exercise.

HW: Write a poem based on your inventory. Include as many words for the color as you can, from the basic boring name to the strange Home Depot name. Include at least two other forms of imagery besides color: olfactory (smell), auditory (sound), kinesthetic (movement), and tactile (touch). Mark these images by highlighting or underlining them.

Back-to-School Night

Poetry

Alex Spare
720-219-6154 (cell)
aspare@lps.k12.co.us
Ask your student about signing up for our Edmodo page as a parent. (They need to give you a code.)

Course Goals:

• Break down the fear of poetry!
• Help students develop sophistication and conviction in their writing voices.
• Teach students to read poetry with a critical eye.
• Develop public speaking and discussion skills.
• Expose students to a variety of poetic forms and genres.

August 28th, 2012

It is difficult

to get the news from poems

yet men die miserably every day

for lack

of what is found there

--WCW

If you like spoken-word poetry (Daniel Beaty, Rudy Francisco), check this guy out. You will meet him later this semester.

 http://www.jovanmays.com/

Day 3: 

Goal: Set some guidelines for sharing work in class.

First Step: Read the Billy Collins poem "Introduction to Poetry" and respond.

Homework is due. A word about workshopping in here:
1. Introducing people by name. What it means.
2. First Responders. It's about specific praise, mostly.
3. Reading: Do it whenever you want to! As much as you want to! Or wait and don't do it! I will let you guys know if I want to move on, and I will let people know if I really want them to take a risk and read. 
4. The rest of the audience. It is our responsibility to maintain a safe, supportive environment for everyone in here. 
5. Jovan Mays: DYT and DET. 

If time...

Bad Poetry: 

"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling." --Oscar Wilde

1. Look at powerpoint (below).
2. Write your own.
3. Share/Stare/Scare

HW: Type your bad poem (at least 20 lines) and submit for Thursday.)