Stories handed in!

We turned in our three-page stories and our Scary Stories that we did as a group. Please make sure you have these completed.
PROJECT: We need to talk budget-- please figure out how you are going to publish and what it will cost you-- write it down! I want to make sure your project is all you want it to be AND that you can afford to publish the way you want. Remember: e-books and publishing through me-- the school district with the spiral-bound copies-- are FREE!Reminder of things coming up:
Here is a link to the project timeline to remind you of when things are due.

Mrs. Eddy

Rolling on the final Project!

Please make sure your three-page, plot-based story is turned in and get rolling on your semester project:

Here is the lesson from Friday, October 21st.
Please take time to investigate the different publishing sites and methods-- read the articles, visit the sites, think about it!
I Am poem format
I Am poem example

Moody Poems and Final Project Proposals!

Today in class we had a lesson on how to SHOW and not TELL as we write characters in stories.
We also started writing a story-- it will end up being about three type-written pages-- that has at least two characters, shows and doesn't tell about them and has a PLOT: a beginning, middle and end, AND has action that gets started right away.
LAST WEEK:
We turned in our Literacy Narratives and started on Moody Poetry-- we turned in a poem for this on Monday. We also went over SEMESTER PROJECT examples and possible genres. the proposal for this is due Friday.

Here are assignments from today and last week:
Show, Don't TELL
Moody Poetry Assignment
Mood Words
Semester Project Dates and Pieces
Semester Project Proposal Worksheet
Writing Genres

Stuff We Are Up To In Class and OUT!

Here is the skinny on what we are doing the rest of this week and Monday of next week:
Lessons From Wednesday the 21st to Monday the 26th of September:

Creative Writing

9/21/2016

WELCOME!

Agenda:

1-      Journal Write: 10 minutes—share with peers.

2-      I will Introduce the FINAL PROJECT (Book Publishing) next Wednesday—keep thinking about what kind of books you like to read and would like to write!)

3-      LAST CALL: Turn in 101- word Stories

4-      Hand back 3-line poems

5-      My Literacy Story:

a.      TODAY: go over assignment one more time, briefly—then do ONE MORE of the journal writes—you choose.

b.      Start that handwritten draft: find the journal write that you think you can expand into a larger essay, and grab a Chromebook and start that first draft. Try and finish a whole draft today, if you can. TRY REALLY HARD NOT TO EDIT OR FOOL WITH IT TOO MUCH UNTIL YOU GET THE WHOLE THING OUT THERE ON PAPER THE FIRST TIME—RADICAL IDEA: TURN OFF SPELLCHECK!

c.        FRIDAY: Finish up a pretty good draft—revising and editing what you did today as best you can, then figure out a way to PRINT it:

1.      Go onto one of the classroom computers and log into your school Google account from there and print on the classroom printer (it is sitting on a file cabinet over by the TV).

2.      OR: Finish up your revision and editing at home this weekend if you don’t have time in class on Friday, and print it out at home or from the school library before you get to class Monday.

6-      MONDAY: Being in a PRINTED COPY for peer review. You will have two other people read your paper and you will read two other people’s papers—I have a peer review form for you to fill out, it is very detailed, but encouraging of good points and contains some useful advice on how you might add something more in final revision.

Journal Write:

9/21/2016                   Character Faces                     

Write a short description of one of these characters— then write a back-story for them. Who are they? (Naming characters is a great skill). Where do they live? What is their greatest hope, greatest fear, greatest accomplishment, greatest failure? What do they do, desire, dream about when the day is lazy and the sun is out? What do they love to eat? What is their favorite subject, favorite TV show, favorite music genre, favorite flavor of toothpaste? What kind of vacation would they like to take on Spring Break? Who do they talk to when they are really upset about something? Give as much background as you can—so you feel like you know them—at least as they would appear in a story that YOU wrote!

Character Faces for this Journal Write

So sorry this is late!

Last week we spent quite a bit of time writing-- of course! We also began sharing a bit-- reading our 101-word stories in class. We will continue that this week, giving everyone a chance. You guys are so creative in your stories! Below are the writing folder prompts, etc. in case you were missing last week. We also introduced our next writing unit (My Literacy Story) and wrote on two of the journal prompts.
TURNED IN LAST WEEK: 101 Word stories and Three Line Poems (metaphor moves).
September 12 Lesson
September 14 lesson
September 16th Lesson
Metaphor Moves (Three-line Poems Lesson)
My Literacy Story Unit

New Stuff on the Way!

I will post all the activities and documents from this week later tonight (Friday). Thanks for your patience!
Mrs. Eddy

Metaphor is there for a reason!

We had fun with metaphor today and wrote some quick poetry and started our first assignment-- here are links!
Mrs. E
101 Word Story
September 9th Lesson

WELCOME!

Welcome to a new year and a full semester of expression through writing-- sooooo fabulous!
Here is the course syllabus to get you started-- can't wait to get going. See you on September 7th,
Mrs. Eddy
Syllabus for 2016-17

The Beginning of the End!

Here a re the last few assignments we have done:
250 Word Story assignment
250 word story example
Literacy and Me: Paper to write after viewing Finding Forrester movie

New Poem!

Write a poem that uses concrete sensory imagery in mixed up ways:
Synesthesia exercise and poem assignment
Due: Wednesday, May 25th

Write a Draft/Finish a Book-- Lots of words here!

Last day to write during class to finish your project for publishing-- we will have 1/2 half the period next Wednesday to type up stuff from class, but this is IT on days to finish the Book project. Please come in ready to work!

Here is the assignment (write a draft for 30 minutes) in case you were absent on Monday:
May 9 Lesson
Prompts to Write to

Author Bio and Book Blurb-- last pieces of the book puzzle!

ROUGH DRAFT OF FINAL PROJECTS ARE DUE ON FRIDAY, MAY 6TH!
Here is the lesson we just did on author bio and book blurbs-- your book project needs to include these pieces.
Bio and Blurb Lesson.

Book Projects, Poetry and a quiz!

Please come in and take the quiz if you were absent--  We took it on Wednesday in fifth period and Friday in eighth period--it involves reading a short story and a poem and writing about them in ways that show that you understand about plot structure and what sensory imagery can do for a poem.

We spent time in the computer lab on our book projects in period eight, and period five started the assignment for Monday:
Poetic Techniques in Practice:
Read this poem-- copy it down, line for line so as to become familiar with its structure-- the line breaks, the quote at the beginning, the sound devices, etc.
Read the prose poem on the second page for context about political poetry and El Salvador in particular. notice: powerful word choice
Notate evidence of the vocabulary words at the bottom of the first poem on your own copy (print it out) of this poem:
Submersible
Vocab words: enjambment, epigraph, lines, stanza, alliteration, onomatopoeia.

Dealing with Drafts and Comma Splices!

We have been working on eliminating comma splices from our writing and revising and editing drafts this week. Below are the documents you will need to complete assignments you may have missed or neglected to turn in:
Comma Splice Lesson
Comma Splice Worksheet
First Things Story (some of you have not turned this in or need to re-do it).

CHOOSE ONE of these to revise, edit, type up and hand in by Friday, April 8th:
1- Ekphrastic Fantastic story or poem: see former posts for details.
2- Flash Fiction Story: Read the three samples provided in class (ask the teacher for a copy) and write your own short, short story (750 words or less) that begins with the same opening line as one of these stories AND has a major theme behind the details of the character, plot, and setting of your story.
Examples: the "Pumpkins" story is REALLY about something other than an accident, the "Teh Stones" story is not REALLY about rocks, at all, and "The One Sitting There" is not REALLY a story about cleaning out a refrigerator-- you get the point. Make sure your original story has a point!

Lots of stories this week!

We finished writing the Villanelle poem we started before break and handed it in. Please hand it in by Monday, April 4th, if you have not already.
we began a short story OR another poem based on a work of art: Here is a link to the packet we used-- the instructions come AFTER the examples.
Ekphrastic Writing Packet

We also read some short, short stories (Flash Fiction!) in class and started a draft or our own flash fiction based on the opening lines of one of the stories (your choice) Please get those to read from the teacher as they are from a copyrighted book and I can't put them up on this site.

See you Monday!
Mrs. E

Slam Poetry to Villanelle

We listened to and experimented with SLAM poetry-- so awesome! and wrote some in our journals. Now we will try some "Old School" Poetry, too!
Villanelle is a very strict form-- there are rules about how to repeat the lines and how to rhyme--
We will finish these poems after the break, but here are the examples we used and the lesson from Wednesday, March 16th: HAVE A GREAT BREAK!
March 16 Lesson
Dylan Thomas Example
Villanelle pattern and another example

Semester Projects!~

Project proposal format:
Project proposal example
Project proposal form
Check out these websites for publishing possibilities:

AMAZON (Kindle version e-books) FREE.

https://kdp.amazon.com/

Ibooks (free):

http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/

Blurb (not free).com

http://www.blurb.com/blog/bookstore-picks-for-october/

lulu.com (not free, but SUPER CHEAP for books without pictures/color)

Another well reviewed site:

http://outskirtspress.com/selfpublishing.html?gclid=CObi0eW6_coCFQIOaQodyYsKXw

How to use lulu-- step-by step:
https://prezi.com/sqmy3g91gkjf/lulu-publishing-wizard-getting-started/
 Another well reviewed site:

http://outskirtspress.com/selfpublishing.html?gclid=CObi0eW6_coCFQIOaQodyYsKXw

More Publishing online:

http://www.solentro.com/

http://www.lulu.com/create/books#hardcover

HOMEWORK: Bring in a model of the kind of book you want to write by Wednesday (Final Day?)

LAST FRIDAY: The proposal for your project was DUE-- do it right away and turn in by Wednesday, March 16th if you have not already!

Sharing and Writing

This week students had a chance to share some of their work: either the Love Poem or the Love Story, with the class. Please let Mrs. Eddy know right away if you missed this-- it counts toward your grade.

Also: We wrote about happiness and SLAM Poetry stuff and also tried out writing action scenes like they have in the movies.
Here are the lessons you may have missed:
March 7th
March 9th
Screenplay example
March 11th

February 29 - March 4th

First Things Stories : DUE NOW
Share the Love: You must share either the love story or the love poem you wrote with the class-- it is so great to get feedback and see the wonderful things you are writing!

HOMEWORK: Bring in a model of the KIND of book you want to write for the semester project on Monday
See Lesson

Here's what we did this week!

Monday
Tuesday
I Am Poem to write  EXAMPLE
First Grade poem
The First Day Story to read and highlight

WRITE A STORY:first day of soccer practice, first time fishing with Dad, first time you realized how wonderful music was, first tooth lost, first swim trophy first time driving a car, first best friend—anything that has a strong emotion for you—and make that emotion the theme of your piece. Be sure to include the sights, sounds and smells, tastes, etc. that go along with your story to make it “pop” for the reader—so they can recognize your experience.

Monday: Continue to work on : First Things Story Assignment (above)

Web Sites for Writers

There are a whole lot of options out there for those of us who like to write and want to publish our work.  Please take some time to read some of the material on the links provided-- get educated on your choices as an author!  Websearch Document
To Turn in: What did you learn about the writing and publishing options out there that is the most interesting to you, and why?

Love poems, too!

We wrote love poems (see prompts and rules below). We also went to the computer lab and typed up our love story and love poem. I f you did not have a chance to finish, please bring your completed poem and story in on Monday-- thanks!
Mrs. E

Love Story and Poem Prompts

Time for Love!

Lesson from Wednesday, Feb 17th: Love Stories!  Love story prompts!

Moody stuff!

Here is the assignment we did on Friday, February 12th:
Moody Poetry!
Have a great weekend, and I will see you next Wednesday!
Mrs. E

Newest Stuff!

Revision Without Tears Lesson and Assignment
This week we wrote to some prompts-- choose one and write for 20 minutes, at least, if you missed all of that.  Bring your writing in and put it in your folder in class.
We also turned in our "metaphor moves" poems. Please look at the directions from the last post and also check out the examples we looked at in class.
Finally, we started looking at plot structure-- its more than rising action and climax! Please get the notes from someone who was here.
Elements you must learn:
exposition
inciting incident
DESIRE
complication
conflict
climax
resolution
new normal

Coming up on Friday: love poetry and love stories-- of course!

NEW SEMESTER-- NEW CLASS!

Welcome to Creative Writing Class! Here we will exercise our creativity and hoe our writing skills and enjoy creating poetry and stories and non-fiction and finish it off with writing and publishing a book--awesome!
Please remember to get a folder with "clasps" in it for your writing folder in calss and to put some paper in there.
Here is what you missed if you were not here at some point this week:
Feb 1 and 3
Feb 5
REvision Lesson
Metaphor Moves

Projects done!

This week we are working on an author bio and blurb for our books-- you know, that stuff written on the flaps of a new book.  If you did the alternate final-- you can still write and author bio and a blurb for the story you will feature on your final.

Here are examples of each genre and the directions you need to complete yours: Author Bio and Blub

We also worked on our last big assignment for the year: Ekphrastic Fantastic!
Here are the examples, instructions and samples--thanks!
Mrs. E

Almost Home!

Final Projects should be off to the publisher by this week-- yes! E-books and print books alike need to be ordered by now.
Alternative Final: If your book is not going to happen, please get started on this assignment for your final Exam:
Creative Writing Final Packet