Poetry 4 and Drama 1

Learning Tasks for Monday, March 31

Essential Question: How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?
Objectives: I can...
-apply feedback to my writing.
-organize and draft an essay.
1.  Essay #3 - Conferences and Drafting
Using any of the drafting techniques posted on the classroom wall (by the windows!), begin writing your rough draft. Remember, a rough draft is NOT a perfect draft!

While you are working, Ms. Jones will meet with each of you one-on-one to discuss your papers.

You all have been working hard, so here's a little poetry humor:

(...if you don't get it, please take a listen below and come out from under that rock ;) )

Learning Tasks for Tuesday, April 1

Third Time's a Charm... GOOD LUCK ON THE ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Learning Tasks for Wednesday, April 2

Essential Question: How does revision improve writing?


Objectives: I can...
-apply feedback to my writing.
-revise and edit my writing.
1.  Proofreading and Editing
On Blackboard, pull up your previous two papers written for this course.  What aspects of your writing did Mr. Stumpf mark for improvement?  Have you addressed those concerns in your current paper?

With a partner, you will proofread and edit your paper.  Pay attention to grammar, punctuation, formatting, and any other concerns that Mr. Stumpf noted in your previous papers.

2.  Revisions
Using feedback from your peers, Ms. Jones, and Mr. Stumpf, make any needed revisions to your paper before submitting your work to Blackboard.

YAY for another paper down!  You've got this!!! :)

Learning Tasks for Thursday, April 3

Essential Question:  In what ways does theatre offer insight into real life?

Objectives:  I can...
-identify the necessary elements of theatre.
-analyze the plot of a play.

1.  Writing into the Day
If there was a movie about your life, who would play the main character (you)?  Who would play supporting characters?

 

2. Reading
Together, we will read and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen.  Open up your books to Page 1,135!!!

3.  Discussion Questions
Answer and save the following questions from in a Word Doc:

Act I
1. From the beginning of Act I, Torvald calls Nora several pet names. What do these names suggest about Torvald’s perception of his wife and his marriage?
2. Compare Nora’s and Kristine’s lives since marriage. Who is better off? Explain.
3. What might be the link between Nora’s “contraband” macaroons and her “huge desire to say – to hell and be damned?”
4. What crime has Nora committed?
5. Do Nora’s motives for committing the crime excuse her in some way?
6. What does Nora’s tree decorating and chattering at the end of Act I reveal about her character?

Learning Tasks for Friday, April 4

Essential Question:  In what ways does theatre offer insight into real life?

Objectives:  I can...
-identify the necessary elements of theatre.
-analyze the plot of a play.

1.  Writing into the Day

2. Reading
Together, we will read and discuss A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen.

3.  Discussion
Answer and save the following questions from in a Word Doc:

Act II
1. When Nora sees the box of masquerade clothes, she wants to “rip them in a million pieces!” What does Ibsen symbolize with this characterization?
2. Discuss the foreshadowing in Nora’s conversation with Anne-Marie.
3. Why does Torvald make such a decisive show of mailing the letter firing Krogstad against Nora’s pleas?
4. After Dr. Rank professes his love, Nora demands the lamp be brought in. Why? Is this light real or artificial? What might Ibsen be suggesting about truth and light in the Helmer’s household?
5. Some histories of the tarantella dance explain that it is used to fight off the venomous effects of a spider bite. Other interpretations suggest it represents a woman’s frustration in oppression. Which of these explanations best fits Nora’s violent practice at the end of Act II? Might both apply? Explain.

4. Homework

Finish reading A Doll's House and answer the following questions in your Word Doc:

Act III

1. Why is Kristine willing to “risk everything” for Krogstad?
2. Why does Kristine encourage Krogstad to let Torvald read the letter revealing Nora’s deception?
3. Dr. Rank suggests Nora should go to the next masquerade dressed as “Charmed Life,” and that she should dress “just as she looks every day.” What is the implication about Nora’s daily life? Is it charmed? Or is the charm a masquerade? Explain.
4. Discuss the irony in Torvald’s accusation that Nora has played with him “like a puppet.”
5. Helmer’s pronouncement that “before all else, (Nora is) a wife and mother” is contradicted by Nora’s “before all else, I’m a human being.” Is this issue significant today, or is it only a sign of Ibsen’s time? Explain.
6. Discuss Nora’s decision to leave her family. Is it truly the only way she can reclaim her identity and humanity?
7. The last sound the audience hears is the door slamming shut after Nora’s departure. Examine the theatrical, literary, and historical significance of this stage device.

Poetry 3 and 4

Learning Tasks for Monday, March 17

Essential Question: How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:
I can make connections between poetry and learning.
I can analyze plot elements in film.

1. Writing into the Day

Set a SMART goal for Poetry 3.  How will achieving this goal benefit you?  What resources or support do you need in order to reach your goal?

2. Finish Dead Poets Society

Do you think it is important to learn about poetry? Why or why not?Mr. Keating introduces students to the Latin phrase "Carpe Diem." Do you "seize the day?" Explain.Describe the setting of the movie. Why is it significant? How would the movie be different if it took place in a more modern setting?One of the central conflicts of Dead Poets Society is Individuality vs. Conformity. Select a character and analyze his/her struggle with this conflict. Is the conflict man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. himself, man vs. fate/divine/supernatural?Read the following quote by Professor John Keating from the movie Dead Poets Society. What do you think it means? Why? "We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”Read the following quote by Professor John Keating from the movie Dead Poets Society. What do you think it means? Explain. "I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things a different way. The world looks very different up here . . . Just when you think you think you know something you have to look at it in another way..."

Learning Tasks for Tuesday, March 18

GOOD LUCK ON THE ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Learning Tasks for Wednesday, March 19

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:

1.  Writing into the Day

2.  Readings

We will read and discuss Edgar Alan Poe's "Annabel Lee" and Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool."  

3. Assignment
Choose four lines of a poem or song of your choice. You may even write the four lines if you are feeling especially creative. Analyze the sounds (use of alliteration, assonance, and rhyme) and meter (use of rhythm) in your chosen lines. Share your analysis on this discussion. Your analysis should be at least 100 words.
Be sure to include your four lines at the beginning of your analysis!

Learning Tasks for Thursday, March 20

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:

1. Writing into the Day

From "Humans of New York":

"What’s the most frightened you’ve ever been?"

"Probably when I was five, and I learned I had Polio."

"What’s one way that Polio improved your life?"

"It made me more tolerant of failure in others."

Think of your biggest fears, failures, and challenges.  How can facing or overcoming them improve your life?

2. Readings

We will read and discuss Donne's "Holy Sonnet 14," Thomas' “Do Not Go Gentle into
That Good Night,” and Nikki Giovanni, “Nikki-Rosa.” (Side-note: Nikki Giovanni came to ECU last year! She was amazinggggg!!! :D )

3.  Quiz:  Form

Review the poems we've read today, including the poems' speakers, audiences, and purpose.  Take the Blackboard quiz in the Poetry III: Form folder.  The quiz has a five minute limit.

Learning Tasks for Friday, March 21

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:

1. Writing into the Day

Write an obituary for the last thing you threw away.

2.  Assignment:  Sonnets for Everyone

This exercise will ask you to pay attention to the rhythm and rhyme of a sonnet. You should be begin this activity by refreshing your memory about what a sonnet is. Use your textbook and the course lecture notes to help. Then complete the steps below:

1. Choose a sonnet from Sonnet Central.
2. Read and understand the sonnet thoroughly, looking up any terms that need defining.
3. Learn about the sonnet's author. In the case of some the more obscure writers, this may be a challenge; in other instances, you may find the amount of information a bit overwhelming. Let me know if you need any assistance.
4. Write a discussion board post which introduces your sonnet to your teammates. You should explain the sonnet (at least 100 words), introduce the author of the sonnet (25-100 words), and finally write a full paragraph (at least 100 words) answering the question "how does sound influence meaning in your chosen sonnet?"

Your entire post should be a minimum of 225 words, not including the sonnet you have chosen, which you should reproduce in your post as well. You may not write about a sonnet that someone else has already chosen. Be sure to check your classmates' posts.

3.  Poetry 4
If you finish early, begin reading poems from the Poetry 4 folder.

Learning Tasks for Monday, March 24

Essential Question: How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:
I can make connections between poetry and learning.
I can analyze plot elements in film.

1. Writing into the Day

Set a SMART goal for Poetry 4.  How will achieving this goal benefit you?  What resources or support do you need in order to reach your goal?

2.  Readings

We will read and discuss Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" and Gary Soto's "Oranges."  Don't forget to read Mr. Stumpf's Lecture Notes!!!

3.  Assignment:  Symbolism

What symbolizes you? A rock? A tree? A tiger? An eagle? A pencil? Choose anything in the known universe to symbolize you. Write either a descriptive paragraph (at least 200 words) or a poem of at least 10 lines to fully explore and explain your symbol.

Comment on at least one of your classmates' posts.

Learning Tasks for Tuesday, March 25

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:  I can...
-generate ideas for a paper.
-analyze a writing prompt for understanding.

1.  Writing into the Day

2.  Essay #3:  Poetry Explication

Your third essay is a poetry explication which is a detailed reading and analysis of a text. This means that you should take your reader through, in this case, a poem and point out any images, figurative language, symbols, allusions, traditional (or non-traditional) forms, etc. More importantly, you should form this analysis around a specific thesis which links all of your observations into a coherent and unified point. You may use any poem in your textbook in writing this explication.

Prewriting: Use your journal or notes from class for your paper. Try writing an extended journal entry that not only records your impression of the poem, but also begins to give a close reading of it. If your poem is short, try remarking about every word of the poem. Since you are still at the level of prewriting, don't worry about every one of your points making complete sense. If there is a central or extended metaphor, explore the ramifications of the comparison. Wander as far from the poem as you want at this stage: it may lead you to an original idea.

Planning and Drafting: Your introduction is arguably the most important part of an essay, so take some time to think about ways of making your introduction an interesting, unique, and engaging paragraph. Is there something about the poet's life that you can discuss which can lead into your theme? What about the setting of the poem? Take time to introduce not only the poem, but also some of the ideas that the rest of your paper will explore in more detail. Then, of course, state in as precise terms as possible, what your main argument will be. In this essay, your thesis should answer the following question: what is the theme of this poem and how does the writer use the formal elements of poetry to arrive at that theme?  An example of a thesis: Theodore Roethke uses ambiguous language, a waltzing rhythm, and dark imagery in the poem, "My Papa's Waltz," in order to illustrate a child's confusion at the abuse he suffers from his beloved father.

Next, make a rough outline of your body paragraphs. Will you have separate paragraphs for metaphor, imagery, form, etc? Or will you mirror the structure of the poem and work through the poem line by line, stanza by stanza? This is less original but perfectly acceptable; just don't allow yourself to simply restate the poem in prose--that would be the equivalent of summarizing a story. One way to avoid this is to write the topic sentences of all your paragraphs before you start writing the rest of the essay. This helps keep your comments related to your own theme.

Finally, try to give some attention to not only content, but the form of the poem as well.

Documentation: Titles of poems, like short stories, are put in quotation marks.

Ex.: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." In-text citations should note line numbers. Ex: (line 5).

For quotations that are four lines or longer, indent twice and reproduce the lines exactly as they appear in your text. Like block quotation from prose works, these quotations do not need quotation marks.

The essay should be approximately 3 pages, typed, MLA format. No outside sources except the poem you have chosen!

3. Prewriting

Peruse your textbook for a poem that interests you.  As suggested by Mr. Stumpf, use a journal, list, or annotations to document your reaction to a poem.  This will help you once you begin writing!

4.  Thesis Statements

Once you have selected a poem, create a thesis statement for your paper.  Remember that your thesis must be a debatable claim.  What are you going to argue about your particular poem?  Keep all the literary devices we've learned from the Poetry Unit in mind while creating your thesis (e.g. symbolism, figurative language, sound, meter, etc.).

Learning Tasks for Wednesday, March 26

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:  I can...
-organize a paper.
-identify and use drafting techniques that work for me.

1.  Writing into the Day

2. Drafting

Using any of the drafting techniques posted on the classroom wall (by the windows!), begin writing your rough draft.  Remember, a rough draft is NOT a perfect draft!
***Ms Jones will check your draft for a grade tomorrow, so be sure to work diligently.

Learning Tasks for Thursday, March 27

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives: I can...
-apply feedback to my writing.
-organize and draft an essay.

1. Writing into the Day

From "Humans of New York":

"Who would you say has influenced you most in your life?"

"My 7th grade math teacher, Mr. Tejada."

"How did he influence you?"

"It’s hard to explain. He’s the only one who would give me extra credit when I was failing. And if I didn’t know something, he’d know what to do."

Who has influenced YOU the most in your life?  Why?

2.  Conferences

You will meet one-on-one with Ms. Jones to discuss your paper.  While you are waiting for your turn, you should be working on your draft.

Learning Tasks for Friday, March 28

Essential Question:  How does revision improve writing?

Objectives:  I can...
-apply feedback to my writing.
-revise and edit my writing.

1. Writing into the Day

2.  Writing Workshop

Using feedback from Ms. Jones and help from your peers, you will workshop your paper.  This means that we will collaborate to provide informal constructive criticism of each others' work.  

3. Homework

Be sure to make revisions over the weekend!

Poetry 2

Learning Tasks for Monday, March 10

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:

I can identify tone and irony in poetry.

I can analyze poetry for meaning.

1. Readings

We will read and discuss "homage to my hips" by Lucille Clifton and "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy.

Click Here to Watch Clifton Read Her Poem

2. Discussion Board Assignment

On your discussion board, compare "homage to my hips" and "Barbie Doll." How does the message of each poem intersect with the other? How do the tones of the two poems differ? Do these poems have anything to say to one another? To society?  Your comparison should be at least 200 words in length.

3.  Movie:  Dead Poets Society

Learning Tasks for Tuesday, March 11

Essential Question:  How can literacy skills promote effective communication and understanding?

Objectives:

I can make connections between poetry and learning.

I can analyze plot elements in film.

1. Movie:  Dead Poets Society

2.  Movie Response

• Do you think it is important to learn about poetry? Why or why not?
• Mr. Keating introduces students to the Latin phrase "Carpe Diem."  Do you "seize the day?"  Explain.
• Describe the setting of the movie.  Why is it significant?  How would the movie be different if it took place in a more modern setting?
• One of the central conflicts of Dead Poets Society is Individuality vs. Conformity.  Select a character and analyze his/her struggle with this conflict.  Is the conflict man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. himself, man vs. fate/divine/supernatural?
• Read the following quote by Professor John Keating from the movie Dead Poets Society. What do you think it means? Why? "We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
• Read the following quote by Professor John Keating from the movie Dead Poets Society. What do you think it means? Explain.  "I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things a different way. The world looks very different up here . . . Just when you think you think you know something you have to look at it in another way..."

HAVE AN AWESOME SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poetry 1 & 2

Learning Tasks for Monday, March 3

1. Writing into the Day

Set a SMART goal for Week Eight.  How will achieving this goal benefit you?  What resources or support do you need in order to reach your goal?

2. Poetry
We will finish reading "next to of course god america i" by ee cummings and review our readings from Friday. 

3. Language and Poetry Quiz

4. Discussion Board Assignment

Theodore Roethke's poem "My Papa's Waltz" can be read in different ways. What is your reading of this poem? What do you think is actually happening here? Why? Be specific in your answer. Include actual words or lines from the poem to support your thinking.Your answer should be at least 200 words in length and should be posted to the discussion forum.

Learning Tasks for Tuesday, March 4

GOOD LUCK ON THE ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Learning Tasks for Wednesday, March 5

1.  Readings

We will read and discuss "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop and "Sonnet 130" by William Shakespeare.

 

2. Imagery Quiz

3. Assignment

The Italian poet, Francesco Petrarch (1304-74) was responsible for establishing certain ideas about love-relationships. He wrote more than 300 sonnets addressed to an idealized lady named Laura, with whom he had never even had a conversation. These sonnets were enormously popular, and poets in Shakespeare's day were still using Petrarch's sonnets as models. One key Petrarchan notion is that the lover's love for a beautiful woman is not returned and he suffers as if from a bad flu (freezes and burns).

In thinking about popular songs today, this ideas still seems to be around. The lady-on-a-pedestal idea is alive and kicking. There's a lot more that could be said about Petrarch, but I will only add that he and others often expressed love in terms of religion, and that this convention was still around too. For example: "You're my angel, I worship you, you're my soul mate, I'm in heaven when I'm with you" and so on.

1. How does Shakespeare in Sonnet 130 respond to these ideas? What do you think is more romantic: the idealized love or love between two real people? Respond in at least 50 words on the discussion board.

2. Write at least a four line poem (it really doesn't have to be good) expressing your love for another person (or animal :). This does not have to be romantic love--for instance, you might write about a child or parent. ***Include at least one image in your poem.***

Learning Tasks for Thursday, March 6

1. Writing into the Day

"Adults always say, 'You're too young to understand.' Well, if you don't tell us, how are we supposed to understand?"

Has anyone ever told you that you can't understand?  How did that make you feel and how did you respond?

2. Readings

We will read and discuss "Harlem" by Langston Hughes  and "Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath.

3.  Poetry II Quiz

Learning Tasks for Friday, March 7

1. Writing into the Day

2. "Metaphors be with You" Assignment

Part 1: Identify and explain one metaphor AND one simile from any of the poems you have read so far for class.  Post your metaphor and simile and your explanation of each to the discussion board. Be thorough in your explanation of each.

Be sure that you've identified a simile and metaphor that no one else in your group has already identified. In other words, read through your classmates' posts to see what other metaphors and similes have been identified.  

Part 2: Write a metaphor or simile comparing yourself to an inanimate object or animal.