Tag Archives: EngA08

Responding to what you read

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As you read The Diary of Anne Frank (playscript by Goodrich and Hackett), respond to the play on your blog. It doesn’t matter what you respond to, specifically, or which parts, as long as you are responding. A few “starters” that might help:

  • I liked reading… because…
  • I disliked reading… because…
  • I noticed …
  • I wonder …
  • I wish …
  • This reminds me of …
  • My favourite word/image/phrase is … because …
  • I don’t understand …
  • Now I understand …
  • I think this is about … because …
  • Some questions I have are …
  • This makes me feel … because …
  • I was impressed by … because …
  • I think this means … because …
  • Something really bothering me is …
  • I predict … because …

If you’re really stuck, use this document to guide you through Act 1:  enga08-good-and-evil-act-1-activities. (You don’t have to answer all the questions!)

Please aim to respond AT LEAST 4 times before you finish reading the text. (That’s twice per Act.) And you don’t have to like what you’re reading — just respond to it in some way. If you don’t like it, say so! And say why!

Don’t forget you can also respond to other students’ blogs in the comments!

Image by Franco Folini licensed under CC2.0

 

Launch your poetry into Space!

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Poetry Launch by you.

 

Students in grades 7 and 8 might be interested to hear about this opportunity: A place for your poetry to be published!

Space is a digital literary magazine devoted to publishing students’ original work. This next issue of space is specifically dedicated to poetry.

 

 

 

 

 

Participating is SUPER easy.  

  • Write some poetry! Post it somewhere digital and public — on your blog, on your MySpace page, or your Tumblr account.
  • If you have a Twitter account, send your poetry (via link or a tiny tweet!) to the official Space Twitter account at @space_issue4. Be sure to include your first name, grade, and city/country where you live.
  • If you DON’T have a Twitter account, post your poetry on your blog, and alert your teacher (in case s/he missed it in his/her reader), who will send the link and the details to the Space zine.Space Logo courtesy of LindseaK

DEADLINE: MAY 24, 2009

Issue 4 of Space will be out around the end of May 2009.
Check out what other students have written! Past issues of Space (including poetry, art, photography, music, and more) are here:
For more info, go to this issue’s Space or speak to your teacher. 
Images:
Poetry launch originally from this image by TopTechWriter.US (but modified by me using Picnik)
Space Logo courtesy of Lindsea under CC2.0

 

Do you dare disturb the universe?

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National Poetry Month poster 2009Not the name of the next horror film at Vincom, Do I dare disturb the universe is the headline for this years National Poetry Month (and of course the lines from T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” WOW! A whole month devoted to poetry. But what on earth could you do for whole month to celebrate poetry? Well the good folks from poets.org have a WHOLE MONTHS worth of suggestions to keep you going!

What better way to celebrate National Poetry Month than to write poetry. A few years ago, a few folks got together and set themselves a challenge to write 1 new poem everyday for the month of April. It didn’t take long for the fun to spread around the world and NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) was born. We are already a couple of days into April but it’s never too late to start! Add your poems to your blog or keep a notebook.  Remember, this kind of activity is about quantity not quality – just let the words fly!

If NaPoWriMo sounds a little bit too much for you, poets.org recommends 30 different activities to enjoy National Poetry Month. Here are some of the highlights:

  1. Put some poetry in an unexpected place – why not leave a poem somewhere unlikely to brighten someones day. Pin it to a noticeboard. Email it to a friend or leave it in a locker. 
  2. Get out the sidewalk chalk and commit a poem to pavement – just like the title says, find a poem you like and share it with the community. Don’t forget to check with the owner of the pavement first!
  3. Poem-a-day – if writing a poem a day for NaPoWriMo sounds a little tough, why not try reading a poem a day. Sign up and have a poem delivered to you inbox everyday! Nice.
  4. Celebrate poem in your pocket day – Thursday April 30 2009 is Poem in your pocket day and this means people from all over will be carrying their favourite poem of the month (or ever!) in their pocket and sharing it with their peers. 
  5. Start a commonplace book – as the proverb goes, “great wits have short memories”. Why not save your memory all the trouble by copying down and collecting some of your favourite poems.
There you go, five suggestions to get you started on poetic greatness. There are heaps more ideas here if you are yearning for more.

National Poetry Month is held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets celebrate poetry.

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National Poetry Month Poster 2009

 

Merry-making and your learning

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Looking Back by WTL photos
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Now that you’ve finished reading the entire text of Twelfth Night, have viewed several performances (including film, stage, and those of your classmates), and contributed to your own performance within this silly play, it’s time to look back and consider where you’ve been.

  1. How important is merry-making in society?  This was our central unit question — now that you’ve studied a very silly play, complete with heaps of merry-making, what do you think? Is merry-making important? How? When? Why?
  2. What do you know now, at the end of our unit, that you didn’t before? Perhaps you now know a couple of lines of Shakespeare. Or maybe you’ve learned how to better speak in front of an audience. Or perhaps you now know how to work better in a group. Or you know that having fun really is the most important part of creating a play. Or you’ve learned that creativity requires long periods of time in order to “get into it.”  Whatever it is — please tell your readers what you’ve learned in our unit.

Relationships

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network by Librarian by Day
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Your next blog post in response to Twelfth Night is going to be an interesting one.  It’s visual and could even be artistic if you want. Here goes:

Draw a diagram or chart that shows the characters and their relationships to each other. 

Ways you can do this and then post on your blog:

  • draw it, then take a photo of it and post it on your blog
  • draw it, then scan it and post it on your blog
  • use Inspiration to create this diagram / chart, then take a screen shot of the diagram and post it on your blog
  • find another piece of software that will allow you to do this… this is your challenge if you are a risk-taker! 🙂  Ideas:
    • Try out Gliffy.com, an online diagram tool
    • J-Painter might also suit your needs
    • Want something more advanced for drawing? Try Project Draw.
    • Several mind-mapping tools are also available and SUPER easy:
A few other notes:
  1. Please remember to TAG your post appropriately.
  2. It is blog courtesy to link back here (yes, here) and to link to which tool you are using
  3. Links in general are blog courtesy. Few people like to read a blog that doesn’t link to others. Think of it as blog-social referencing: tell people where you got your stuff from, and they will link back to you!
I am looking forward to reading / viewing these!