Q4: Week 6 - Posts for 4/30

Our last class project will be a portfolio in which you consider the work that you've done over the course of your ninth grade year in English.  Your two posts this week are intended to help you begin your thinking about this project and develop drafts of material that you can use for your portfolio.

1. Hits and Misses:  As part of that project, I'll ask you identify your "hits and misses" for the year: what were the pieces of writing you enjoyed, felt successful with, or grew the most on?  What were the pieces that you struggled with, that tortured you, or for which you feel you didn't learn as much as you could have?  Why?  (The portfolio will ask you for three of each - for this post, you can approach the question in any way you want to.  You may include major essays, blog posts, or any other kind of writing you've done for this class.)

2. Strengths and Challenges: What are your strengths as a writer?  Be sure to provide specific evidence and to use the language we’ve developed in class (such as traits of good writing, standards, genres, rhetorical situation, etc.). What areas do you still need to work on?  Why are these areas important?

Q4: Week 5 - No Posts

Please put this time toward your Purple Hibiscus projects.

Q4: Week 4 - Posts for 4/16

1. Reading response to Purple Hibiscus.  If you have read further than page 216, please limit your post to what happened before that, or post a big **spoiler alert** notice.  Do. Not. Summarize.  We are all reading this book, so there is no need to say what happened; keep the focus on your ideas, analysis, and response.

2. Choose one of the prompts from this list, and respond in a 2-paragraph post.  Try to focus on writing it in a way that will make it interesting and entertaining for others to read.

Q4: Week 3 - Due April 9

Please read a current political article from the credible source of your choice and respond to it in a well-developed 2-paragraph blog post.  Because of the reading element, this single post will be worth 20 points instead of 10.

To get the most possible credit, you should:
- Include a link to the article with the source, title, and author (Hint: selecting your text and pressing ctrl / cmd -K allows you to insert a link without it looking like an ugly link).
- Summarize and explain the author's main point(s) fairly, whether or not you agree.
- Provide your opinion / response.  You may want to acknowledge issues that you don't have enough background knowledge to adequately respond to and consider how you might learn more.
- Explain how you chose your article, both the topic and the source (i.e. website or newspaper).

Other Requests:
- Stay focused on the issues in the article.  Resist the temptation to dive into a rant or to make it entirely about your opinion.
- Be civil and understanding of people who may have different views (this applies to comments, too) while being clear.

Have a wonderful spring break!

Q4: Week 2 - Posts due 3/26

Welcome to the fourth quarter!  A few quick reminders for blogs:

• two solid paragraphs of at least five strong sentences each
• please use standard capitalization and punctuation (apostrophes!)
• budget about 15 focused minutes for a post - set a timer if you need to
• italicize the titles of books
• comments should be two substantive, grammatical sentences each; "good job" does not count

Post 1: Reading response to Purple Hibiscus.  If you have read further than page 88, please limit your post to what happened before that.  Do. Not. Summarize.  We are all reading this book, so there is no need to say what happened; keep the focus on your ideas, analysis, and response.

Post 2: Creative free post.  The topic is up to you, but think of this as a piece of writing rather than, say, a list of updates about your weekend or looking forward to spring break.  Consider a poem, story, or short essay.

Q4: Week 1 - (Submit to Canvas)

Instead of posting to your blog this week, please submit to the Poetry Writing Assignment in Canvas.

Complete and revise three of the poems you wrote during this unit, either in your idea book or in last week's blog post.

Submit a typed document that includes:

1. Your three poems, with some indication of which assignments or prompts they were responding to
2. Why did you select these three poems to revise? How did you revise them from the first drafts in your notebook? (~1 paragraph)
3. How do your poems use poetic tools to create meaning?  How do they use the tools highlighted in that assignment or prompt?  How has writing these poems helped you to better understand poetic techniques or writing processes?  (You may want to use the claim structure here to describe choices you made and your intended effects).
4. At the top: your name, the date, and what this assignment is (helps us both)

This assignment replaces blogging this week.

Q3: Week 8 - Posts for 3/12

Post 1: Analyze a Song
For your first post, analyze a song of your choice.  Your analysis should identify the major techniques being used, how those techniques are used, and what effects they have in the song.  How do these techniques contribute to your overall interpretation of the song?  Your post should be at least two developed paragraphs in length but may be longer. Make sure to include the song's title, author/artist, and a link to the lyrics.  You may also want to type out any particularly relevant sections (this doesn't count toward the length).

You may choose any song you'd like if it is school-appropriate and the lyrics are available online.  Make sure you choose a song that has poetic devices in it for you to analyze.  End rhyme and a repeated chorus do not count - find a song with other techniques.  Your analysis should identify the techniques being used, how they are used, and what effect they create--you are making claims about the song and supporting them.  Consider aspects of the song such as tone, theme, diction, speaker, and purpose.  As always, your analysis must be your own, but you may look up any allusions that you need to.

If you are having trouble finding a song, here are a few suggestions:

"I Must Belong Somewhere" by Bright Eyes - Lyrics, Song
"You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon - Lyrics, Video
"Dark Turn of Mind" by Gillian Welch - Lyrics and Video (scroll down)
"Love" by Mos Def - Lyrics, Song
"Float" by Aesop Rock - Lyrics and song (scroll down)
"Umbrella" by Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - Lyrics 

Post 2: Write a poem that uses at least three tools or techniques from the Big List of Poetry Terms.  Shoot for at least 10 lines, and spend about the same 15 minutes you would spend on any post.  List the techniques that you include below the poem.