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?

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