My Experience with Poetry

Write a 50-word paragraph that refers to your personal experiences with poetry. The experiences do not have to be at school, although they may be if you wish. Be specific please. Post your work and remember to bring your printed work to class along with a printed copy of your chosen poem.

To help you find a poem, here are three online sources of quality poetry. You must find a poem from one of these three sources. Remember that you will need to defend the poem's quality in group work that day, so be sure to choose well.

Poems at Slate.com (each poem is read by the poet; a good way to decide if you like the way it sounds)

Canadian Poetry Online (from the University of Toronto library; a list of poets that links to poems from each one)

Poetry Daily Archive (alphabetical archive of poems by title; here you can look for an interesting title and see if you can find a poem you like)

Learning to See (An Image Presentation) LINKS

NOTE: It would be nice if we could all plan to bring a donation for the Food Bank on Wednesday! Consider this your official reminder. See this link for more information.

Thank you all for your wonderful and heartfelt presentations and images. It was a great day to be a teacher.

Here are links to student photos:



Ginnie

Heru

Jonathan

Jovie

Joyce

Julie

QinHe

Yovana

Zahra

Sample Photo for Friday's Image Presentation

Here's the photo I will present to you on Friday. To see a larger version, click on the photo.

Two benches, a coffee table and a tree in a blue pot (centre background). How can this possibly represent community? First off, this is the front yard of a neighbour's house, not the back. People who live on my street are always welcome to sit (it's a sunny spot) and rest or contemplate. But, more importantly, the tree in the blue pot is in memory of a neighbour of mine, one who had a profound effect on all who live near me. She (I won't name her since I want to preserve my privacy as a teacher.) died last year, suddenly, from cancer. Where I live, I know my neighbours. I've been living on this street for nearly 30 years. The woman who died, a wife and mother, always took the time to have a conversation whenever we met on daily errands. She employed my daughter as a babysitter and her husband and I go back 35 years to when we met while working at a community centre in Vancouver. They moved to my street intentionally, because of the community feeling we share. When she died, my neighbours knew they needed to do something to honour her memory. That's how the tree was added to the benches that were already there. Last year, on her birthday, we met together, shared stories, sang and remembered her. It was a short ceremony but a very important moment. To me, community is walking down the street and being greeted by name, catching up on the latest news and, sometimes, sitting down and remembering those who have left us.

Learning to See: Responding to the Film, "Temple Grandin"

Write a personal response to the film. Include a comment on one scene you liked (for example, an interesting scene early in the film shows Temple’s mother trying to help her learn to read; other important scenes include Temple’s college graduation speech, buying a truck, the door at the market, visiting her professor etc.) Write 150 to 200 words in a paragraph, word process and bring to class. Be sure to mention specifically something we see (an image) and not only what happens.

If you missed class or wish to watch scenes again, here is a link to an online stream for the film, Temple Grandin. Be patient as the stream is slow. Pause the playback for a time to avoid buffering.

My Experience with Writing Essays: Funny, Sad, Frustrating or ?

Write between 150 and 200 words on your previous experience with writing an essay in an in class, high pressure setting. Answer as many of the following questions as appropriate in the body of your paragraph. It is not expected (or possible) to answer them all. Choose the questions that reflect your experiences the best and expand on these. Give examples to illustrate.

What kinds of problems have you had with the organizing/brainstorming section? Give an example of something that has happened at this point.

What do you usually do first (second, third etc.) during the test? Why do you do that? Do you feel that you are efficient in your use of time?

What kinds of feedback have you received on your writing in the past? How have you tried to improve based on the suggestions your teacher has given you?

Do you have any funny (or sad) experiences while writing an essay that you would like to share with the class?

Here I Am

Write your version of "Here I Am" here as a comment to this post. Remember to follow the format of my examples exactly (use the same punctuation and word forms etc.).

I will provide my new version here as well.

NOTE: Be sure to post your "Here I Am" here as a comment and not to "post" to the blog.

Remember to bring a copy on paper to class for your performance. Good luck!

Something New; Something Memorable

Write two paragraphs, one for each topic, one for "something new" and one for "something memorable." You may mention multiple examples or expand on one example. Your paragraphs should be a minimum of 150 words and maximum of 200 words for each topic.

Be specific and detailed in your writing. Use your best sentences and proofread carefully. Work is due before class time on Wednesday, June 11. Post here and bring a copy, properly formatted, to class to hand in that day. Thank you everyone.

My comments will follow yours and will be posted before the end of next week.

Writing a List Poem Based on "A Note"

Beginning with "Life is the only way," write your own list poem using "A Note" as a model. Your poem must use the same (with minor variations) number of words and structure as Szymborska's. Use what you learned this week to compose a stronger poem.

Try to find a rhythm to the words you choose (note the number of syllables as well as the number of words). Be careful to punctuate exactly the same way and be aware of how the poet has used punctuation to divide and compare ideas. Post a copy of your poem to the blog before coming to Wednesday's class.

Be prepared to do a recital of your poem (please practice ahead of time!) and speak for one to two minutes on the process you followed and any difficulties you experienced.  Marks will be assigned as follows: quality of poem—50%; recital—25%; remarks on process—25%.

NOTE: Check your formatting carefully after copy and pasting poem. You'll need to add spacing. Try to have your poem look exactly the same as the original handout if you can!

Choosing a Favourite Poem

To help you find a poem, here are three online sources of quality poetry. Remember that you will need to defend the poem's quality in group work that day, so be sure to choose well.

Poems at Slate.com (each poem is read by the poet; a good way to decide if you like the way it sounds)

Canadian Poetry Online (from the University of Toronto library; a list of poets that links to poems from each one)

Poetry Daily Archive (alphabetical archive of poems by title; here you can look for an interesting title and see if you can find a poem you like)

IMPORTANT: Find the missing page from your assignment for writing a list poem in the first comment. It includes two sample poems from Grade 11 students and the original poem by Szymborska (which corrects a mistake on "to seek the least of all possible mistakes" instead of "to see." Be sure to take a look.

Experiences with Poetry

Write a 50-word paragraph that refers to your personal experiences with poetry. The experiences do not have to be at school, although they may be if you wish. Be specific please. 

Homework for the story, "Katania"

Using the questions you received with your first short story (on the reverse of the sheet) or the “Guide to Literary Terms,” write an answer based on the page range given to you at class on Wednesday. You may comment on more than one example (e.g. for setting you could refer to both the physical setting and the social environment) that occurs on those pages. Remember to have one overall topic that is more general than your content so we know how you plan to answer. Write about 200 words in a single paragraph. Quote at least twice and work to integrate your quotations into your own sentences. Try to show how your page range relates to something that happens either before or after it in the story.

Notes from Friday's Writing Workshop

I've created a Word file (in older format) for the day's notes from both English 11 and 12 classes.

Here it is: Punctuation Workshop

Notes and Example from Punctuation Workshop

You can find my paragraph example and our class notes as comments to this post.

Making a "Pitch" for Your Narrative Essay

Write a short (100 to 150 word) pitch (to attempt to promote, sell, or advance someone or something)  for your narrative essay idea. Why would we be interested in the person you chose? What makes this person interesting? What influence have they had on you that is interesting to others?

Bring your pitch to class that day and prepare to discuss the pros and cons of your idea and to improve your overall plans for your first draft.

Class Answers on a Specific Page for "Homework"

Answer based on ONE of the topic choices from Page 2 of your worksheet. Please identify which question you are answering first, before your paragraph. A good answer will range from 150 to 200 words and use one or two short quotations. It will be easier if you relate your answer to the overall "gist" of the story (how the element you discuss fits within the story in other words).

Also, remember to annotate your story before coming to class next Wednesday. Bring your sheet of annotations and word-processed answer to class. Thank you!

Guide to Literary Terms (Word Document)

Here I Am

Write your version of "Here I Am" here as a comment to this post. Remember to follow the format of my examples exactly (use the same punctuation and word forms etc.).

I will provide my new version here as well.

NOTE: Be sure to post your "Here I Am" here as a comment and not to "post" to the blog.

Remember to bring a copy on paper to class for your performance. Good luck!

Something New; Something Memorable

Write two paragraphs, one for each topic, one for "something new" and one for "something memorable." You may mention multiple examples or expand on one example. Your paragraphs should be a minimum of 150 words and maximum of 200 words for each topic.

Be specific and detailed in your writing. Use your best sentences and proofread carefully. Work is due before class time on Wednesday, January 15. Post here and bring a copy, properly formatted, to class to hand in that day. Thank you everyone.

My comments will follow yours and will be posted before the end of next week.