Poetry Month Extra Credit: Found Poetry

In addition to the ways you can earn extra credit for your poetry performance, another way you can earn extra credit is to create some found poetry. What is found poetry you ask?

Here is the explanation from poets.org:

"Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems."

Different types of Found Poetry:

Headline Poem - cut out words and phrases from magazines or newspapers to create a poem

Erasure/Blackout Poem - Take a newspaper or page of an old book and black out all the words you don't want to use and leave the words you want to use to create a poem. These poems can be as simple as blacking out the page with a sharpie or you can get elaborate and create works of art with your blackout poems.

Book Spine Poem - stack book spines to create poetry using the titles of books.

Due date: April 29th

If you create a headline poem or blackout poem, turn the physical poem into me. If you create a book spine poem, take a picture of it and email it to me. The number of points you get depends on the effort you put into the assignment. Blackout and headline poems will be worth more than book spine poems and if you create a work of art with your blackout poem, that will be worth more than if you just used a black sharpie.

End of Semester Exam Information

First semester will soon be coming to a close. For your midterm, I will not be giving a test per se, but instead will ask you to write an essay in Google Docs.

The prompt for this essay is a simple one:

What have you learned in this very short semester? 

Don't just think about the tangible things you have learned (the 6+1 traits of writing, how to write dialogue, etc.) but also think about the intangible things - what you have discovered about yourself as a writer and as a student.

In addition to a minimum 2-page, double-spaced essay, you will also be asked to include the following:

1. Use 3 vocabulary words (IN CONTEXT!) in your essay and highlight them.
2. Using the comments feature, point out 3 places where you used a particular trait of writing well and explain why you feel that way.
3. Using the comments feature, label an example of each of the 8 parts of speech.
4. All pronouns of I must be capitalized or I'm taking off an automatic 3 points. 
5. If you use a fragment or run-on, point it out and explain why you made that stylistic choice.
6. Please make sure you find a way to effectively introduce your essay as well as create a satisfying, resonating ending.  

Things to consider when writing your essay (you don't have to include all of these, they're just suggestions of things you can discuss):
Thoughts about your writer's notebook
How have you been brave? 
What have you learned about yourself as a writer?
Our author Skype visits from Gae Polisner and Natalie Lloyd
Article of the Week 
Weekly vocabulary in your writer's notebook
The class Twitter account -- Is anybody actually following it? ;) 
Formal writing assignments you have turned in:

• JK Rowling commencement speech reflection
• Author bio
• NaNoWriMo
• Santa's Elf letter

Texts we have shared this semester:

• "Brave" by Sara Bareilles
• The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
• "The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination" by JK Rowling
• "The Breathtaking, Life-Altering Power of Being a Dork" by Jennifer Gonzalez
• Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo
• Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
• Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan 
• This is Sadie by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad
• Lightship by Brian Floca
• Waiting by Kevin Henkes
• The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers 
• Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall 
• Battle Bunny by Mac Barnett and Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Matthew Myers
• I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
• Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art by JH Shapiro, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
• "Invictus" by WH Henley
• Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen 

How will this essay be graded? How well you used the 6+1 Traits of Writing and how well you answered the essay prompt.

Also, separate from the essay:

1. Share a passage from your NaNoWriMo novel that you think shows your best work and explain why it's your favorite.
2. Share a passage of dialogue from your NaNoWriMo novel -- punctuated and indented correctly.
3. Provide a synopsis of your NaNoWriMo novel. (Think about how novels are described on the backs of books or inside jacket flaps to entice readers)

Extra credit:
Design a cover for your novel and write a short explanation about how that cover  + title works for your novel. (You can turn this in separately from the Google Doc)




 

Revising your author bio

Now that you've had time to really consider yourself as a serious writer, it's time to go back and revise those author bios we wrote at the beginning of NaNoWriMo.

Here's what I'll be grading you on:

• Written in 3rd person (5 points)
• Follows the typical progression of an author bio: where you live, family info, other books written -- or the fact that it's your first book, possibly even hobbies if you so choose (10 points)
• Adheres to the conventions of a published piece of writing -- consider capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc. I will be taking off points if these things are not in place (20 points) 
• There's a sense that you studied up on the genre of writing author bios and you show a respect for the genre (5 points)  
• Made some noticeable revisions to original author bio (5 points)
• Shared your document with at least 2 classmates who commented on your work (5 points)
• BONUS: Inject some of your own writing voice into the author bio somehow, i.e., find a way to make it more than just plugging in a formula. Try to find a way to make it your own while also adhering to the conventions of the genre. (up to 5 points) 

Learning from Authors During NaNoWriMo

During National Novel Writing Month, we are fortunate to be hearing from multiple authors who will inspire our writing. The first author is my friend Marquin Parks, author of the Wrinkles Wallace series (Knights of Night School and Fighters of Foreclosure), who sent along some words of wisdom via video message:

We will also be Skpying with authors Gae Polisner and Natalie Lloyd.

Gae is the author of The Pull of Gravity 

and The Summer of Letting Go:




Natalie is the author of A Snicker of Magic and the upcoming February release of The Key to Extraordinary.

If any of these books sound interesting to you, I encourage you to support these wonderful authors and ask your parents if you can purchase their books. Even if buying books is not an option for you at this time, another way you can support these authors is to check their books out at the library (or my classroom library) while also talking about them and recommending them to friends.

NaNoWriMo: Exit Slips

Here are the links for your daily exit slips:

Week 4, E Hour

Week 4, F Hour

Week 4, H Hour

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  

Week 3, E Hour

Week 3, F Hour

Week 3, H Hour

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

 Week 2, E Hour

Week 2, F Hour

Week 2, H Hour

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Week 1, E Hour

Week 1, F Hour

Week 1, H Hour

NaNoWriMo: Word Count Calculator

Chris Baty, the original creator of NaNoWriMo frequently talks about the importance of low expectations when writing a novel for the first time.

Here are some of his thoughts:

"Novels are simply too long and complex to nail on the first go-around."

"Exuberant imperfection... helps you tolerate the drivel that greases the wheels of genius." 


10,000 words in 30 days equates to 333 words a day (including weekends). So this is what your daily word count will look like:

Day 1: 333 words
Day 2: 666 words
Day 3: 999 words
Day 4: 1,332 words
Day 5: 1,665 words
Day 6: 1, 998 words
Day 7: 2, 331 words
Day 8: 2,664 words
Day 9: 2,997 words
Day 10: 3,330 words
Day 11: 3,663 words
Day 12: 3,996 words
Day 13: 4, 329 words
Day 14: 4, 662 words
Day 15: 4, 995 words
Day 16: 5, 328 words
Day 17: 5, 661 words
Day 18: 5, 994 words
Day 19: 6, 327 words
Day 20: 6, 660 words
Day 21: 6, 993 words
Day 22: 7, 326 words
Day 23: 7, 659 words
Day 24: 7, 992 words
Day 25: 8, 325 words
Day 26: 8, 658 words
Day 27: 8, 991 words
Day 28: 9, 324 words
Day 29: 9, 657 words
Day 30: 10,000 words

You will not be graded on whether or not you achieve your goal but how productive you are with your time at school and at home. As you may have noticed, this is something you will have to work on at home as well as at school if you want to make your 10,000 word goal. Even if you don't have a computer, you can always write scenes in your writer's notebook and then copy them into your Google Drive file when you get to school the next day.

A Classroom Prayer for 8th Grade English

After reading all of the prayers you created in your writers' notebooks and adding the wisdom of Tom Stoppard, here is what I came up with for our class prayer:

Dear Lord,

Your Word is sacred and all words are sacred when we use them for good. Words deserve our respect because if you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little. May we nudge the world in ways that show courage and compassion, that help us make right choices, and that bring us together in the spirit of encouragement and respect for our classmates, our community, and the world. 

Amen.