Powerful Passages = Great Poetry

In class this week we read a piece by comedian and writer Dick Gregory, "Not Poor, Just Broke." We read it the first time through like readers, looking for the gist or main point, but we reread it a second and third time in order to appreciate the powerful words and phrases he used. We created collaborative poetry in small groups and performed the poems for the class. It made me realize what a good writer Gregory is and what wonderful poets we have in our class. Here are just a few samples:

Ashamed

I always thought the teacher
kind of liked me.
I guess she couldn't see a kid
who made noises
because he wanted someone to know he was there.
I didn't go back often because there was shame there.
I never learned hate at home.
"We all know you don't have a daddy."


Paste
Teachers were never interested in finding out
that you couldn't concentrate
because you were so hungry.
I walked out of school that day
and for a while
I didn't go back.
Paste doesn't taste too bad when you're hungry.

So...many of the poems are still in the editing process, but you can see that good writers watch and listen for great lines.

We'll be starting a great book together next week, and we'll be sharing our observations on our journey.

The Writer's Notebook

As we enter into week five of our school year (gosh, that's hard to believe) you should be getting comfortable with ideas to write about in your writer's notebook section of your portfolio. With the mid-quarter approaching, there will no doubt be a portfolio check. Be sure you have completed your writing territories, your freewriting list of "what I'm good at" and "what I'm not good at," and today's heart map and visual writing territories.

The heart map...let's see...imagine all the things that are close to your heart, things you love. Next imagine all the things that are outside your heart, things you can't let in or don't like to think about. Either way, it's easier to write about the things you feel strongly about, so this map may help in your search for topics.

We'll talk about techniques for finding writing ideas within your reading. One we will use in class is the "cloze poetry" technique where we look at a poet's style or frame and use it for a framework for our own. The "I Meant To Tell You" template is an example of this technique.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has the Internet agreement turned in so that we can all participate in the computer lab exercise in netiquette.

Rules of the Online Road

We will share this information in class this week when we discuss rules of safety and netiquette. Click on the title The Core Rules of Netiquette to review Virginia Shea's advice in the excerpt from her book.



Rule 1: Remember the Human;
Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life;
Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace;
Rule 4: Respect other people's time and bandwidth;
Rule 5: Make yourself look good online;
Rule 6: Share expert knowledge;
Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control;
Rule 8: Respect other people's privacy;
Rule 9: Don't abuse your power;
Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people's mistakes!



In addition to these seemingly common sense rules, we must also be aware of safety. Although we will be the only members of our blog, and therefore we will be the only bloggers to be able to post or comment, we will still protect our identities by not using any last names, addresses, or phone numbers. We will also refrain from mentioning the name of our high school or city. Those things probably wouldn't need to be mentioned anyway because we all know where we are.



If you decide to take on a pseudonym, only the teacher will know who you are unless you decide to tell others who you are. Pseudonyms, of course, should be classroom appropriate, since after all, we are theoretically still in our classroom! We shouldn't write anything that our grandmothers wouldn't want to read. (I'm one, remember?)

Lastly, below is a link that may be very enlightening for all of us and even our "larger audience" out there. Please click on the link to read a clarification of the difference between educational blogging and social networking. Networking sites like MySpace truly differ in content and language from educational blogging, and reading this link will clear up some of the challenges we will face as new bloggers. I hope to prevent any misunderstandings which could emerge over blogging expectations. The site covers dangers, safety, language, and benefits of a knowledge based site. Read on. We'll discuss this further in class.

http://supportblogging.wikispaces.com/Blogs+vs+Social+Networking

What Ever Happened to Good Manners?

What do Kanye West, Serena Williams, and Representative Joe Wilson have in common? USA Today ran an article this week on the demise of manners, "What Happened to Civility?" and we read about the social blunders highlighted by these three celebrities. Here's a link to the West event. You may be thinking, so what do we care, but in our classroom opinionaire, a majority of you answered "no" to the statement, "I feel like my classmates care about me!" Oh...maybe it's worth looking at how our manners affect the classroom atmosphere.

We viewed a video clip (included below) about manners published in 1953; we charted how those same customs or manners would translate to the year 2009. We will be studying about manners online, a current area of concern and one that was referred to in the article we read this week. As to the picture above, Japanese culture is known for its courteous nature.

When I lived in Japan, I was fascinated by many of the customs and manners.

• People take their shoes off when they enter a home;


• People bow instead of shaking hands;


• Soft, warm cloths are brought to the dinner table before dining;


• Gifts are given to guests who attend a wedding or funeral;


• People often practice meditation and visualization before partaking in an activity.

The last item was often referred to as shadowing. Once in a department store china department, I saw people "shadow sipping" (pretend sipping) from imaginary tea cups to see if they liked it. I saw others shadow swinging imaginary golf clubs or baseball bats. The practice, it seems, was to imagine in one's mind or visualize the event to experience what it might be like without really doing the activity. In such an overcrowded country (by my standards), it amazed me how many people had the abiltiy to "go within."

This might seem like a stretch, but I imagine the same activity might be worthwhile on our blogging. You've now been reading my posts every day, and you know, regardless of your own personal experience, what a blog post might look like...pictures, links, comments, and so forth. It's time to imagine how you want to be perceived by others, how your posts might look, how it feels to comment and to receive comments.

Soon we'll try our hand at "shadow blogging," blogging on paper instead of online. It should be fun. If you are absent, we'll have to get together and work out this activity for you!

Sayonara!

I Need a Hero...or...What is True Courage?

Our classes are investigating the question of courage and creating a collaborative model of a true hero. It's not easy, but for the sake of consensus, we are discussing traits - some admirable and some not - of true heroes. Are all heroes physically strong? Are all heroes brave? Do all heroes face danger or adversity despite the risks they themselves must face? What about people who risk their physical safety due to their jobs? How does culture or environment affect how we see these ideas?

We'll be pouring through song lyrics and reading current events to guide us through our inquiry. In this quest, you might be thinking about your own personal heroes. Who is that person in your life who fits those characteristics we've been discussing?
You'll have a chance to share this, so be thinking about who fits your definition of a hero.

Meantime, I do appreciate your cooperation and contribution to class discussions. Our classroom community is full of heroes!