Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Story elements

Monday-- we turned in a properly written dialogue--see "Creepy" assignment in last post.
Tuesday: we explored story elements and the variety of heroes and quests we find in story.  Focusing on one story we know well-- (Harry Potter? Cinderella? Mulan? Star Wars? Lion King? Lord of the Rings? The Hobbit? Hunger Games?) Just about any great movie or book?) we completed the following worksheet:
Story as Journey Archetype

Wed-Friday: we will view the classic film, The Wizard of Oz.  and use it as a great model of this archetype-leading to our writing the final big story of the semester:
Wizard of Oz tasks/Assignments:

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Poems Galore and More

Monday we finished presenting song lyrics as poetry
Tuesday we talked about how to write a song-- and started drafting one!
Wednesday we turned in the Song we Wrote!
Thursday was "Poem in your Pocket Day:
Here is the assignment:
We started thinking about and writing GREAT dialogue-- writing in fragments of sentences and thoughts, just the way real people do.  Here is that Assignment: Creepy Dialogue

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Back at Work!

WE are in the home stretch of the school year and looking forward to creating our own, published works.
Tuesday: We went to the library to type up our "Dark and Stormy Night" stories.  We will get ONE MORE DAY to finish those--hopefully this week.
Wednesday:  Introduced the Willamette Store's Poetry Contest. Here is a link to the rules
ASSIGNMENTS
1- Enter the Contest: cc (send a copy) of your entry to me:
eddy_christina@salkeiz.k12.or.us before the due date (April 13th) Here is a link to the rules
2- Write a Quatrain about an ordinary object   (See Directions Below)
3- Complete a proposal for your semester project      Proposal worksheet and example

Quatrain
 
To view what's around you as if for the first time, it can be necessary to wander away from your everyday life, to get lost on purpose, to lose track of time, leave home for a while so you can return with fresh eyes and a refocused imagination. Wander around and just look at things. Open doors, peer into closets, check out bookshelves and cupboards.

Go on your own snoop or pick something from the list that follows. Anything that you can reach out and touch is up for grabs. The idea is to write four lines (or a quatrain) about one object and describe it in an entirely different light.

On the first line: write the name of your object.
On the second line: compare it with something or rename it in a way that makes sense to you.
On the third line: add a dash of detail about what you wrote on line two.
On the fourth line: reassure it, ask it a question, say what it's doing, or what it's like.

Optional objects: pencil, bench, storm, candle, thumb, toothpick, soup spoon, key, sock, book, shadow, cat, quarter, moon.

Example:

Thumb
odd, friendless boy
raised by four aunts,
don't worry, you're not alone.

-Philip Dacey

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Almost Spring Break!

We have been working on several things, so I wanted to get the assignments organized  for you before we go off to break
1. Cheesy Stories (It was a dark and....) Story Additions You should have them all typed up and accessible from school computers. We will finalize those when we return from break (April 3rd).  If you would like to work on/expand/explore/edit yours before that, please do!

2. Time of Day poem This is due on Thursday, March 21st, or the first day you get back from break if you are on a school trip. Noun List for this poem

3. Semester Project: think things over and get together a proposal--we will talk about this some more and turn in formal proposals when we get back from break-- on April 3rd, to be exact.

4. Anti-Hero story: Writing activity + Read, The Life You Save May be Your Own, by Flannery O'Connor and be prepared to discuss heroes, anti-heroes--our next story!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Haiku contest and Cheesy Story Exercises

This week we worked on that story that started with, "it was a dark and story night . . . by practicing a little writing craziness on it.  Attached is a copy of the three things you need to do to your story-- YES, you must pic one of the things listed EXCEPT for the ending,  Make the ending work--somehow!  We will type these stories up next week.
Start the Story with the Story Starter

End the story like a true writer-- resist the urge to cheese out here. Write an ending that your readers will cheer about (or at least not throw tomatoes!)

We turned in a draft of a haiku poem that conforms to the rules of this contest on Friday-- Write your haiku and bring it on Monday if  you were absent.
See you on Monday!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

New Short Story: All in Class!


We handed in the "Road Trip" pantoum poems for grading.
Here is the new story starter-- you must use every word of it, and then finish the story your own way!  We will work on this Wednesday and Thursday in class, with collaboration groups and idea banks and editing exercises--oh yeah!.Thanks!
Mrs. Eddy