Hello There!
Today was another great day with this group. They are such a blessing as we continue to work and learn together.
As usual, we started the day with a Quick Write–since we are working our way through poetry, they wrote a “color poem”--using a template to help them get started, they were prompted to use powerful imagery to write a poem about colors that evoke strong feelings. I think the results were pretty amazing!
After that students had another opportunity to try their hands at writing some original poetry. We read George Ella Lyon’s autobiographical poem “Where I’m From”--and listened to the poet recite it. They had some insightful observations! Students had time in class to compose their own autobiographical poem in a style of their choice or based on the “Where I’m From” poem template.“I could tell some really got into “the zone” writing these and my hope is to hear some of these performed at our Poetry Event.
Speaking of the Poetry Event, which will be the last day of class, we spent some time introducing this project. It takes a lot of work to put on an event like this, and to split up the labor, each student will sign up for a role on a committee. Their grade on this project will depend on not only their poetry performance techniques, but also how well they worked as a group. They are to consider which committee they want to join and as homework, they are to answer two Discussion Questions about their first and second preferences of which committee they’d like to participate in. They should also begin to narrow down the poems they would like to perform. They should post the names of two “found poems” and one original poem to the discussion question on Google Classroom. The “found poems” can be from our poetry book, your own poetry collection, from the library or another source. Each poem should be at least 4-5 lines and CHAT appropriate. We will spend the bulk of next class period on committee work.
To conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Mastering the Comma Test that they will take next week. For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct. (The Key is on the Google Classroom assignment.) Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.
Last, for Writing—now that students have turned in their FINAL formal essay for me (whoohoo!) they will submit a more informal Reflection Essay. I passed out the guidelines for that assignment. It is due the last day of class (May 8).
We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.
Assignments for Next Week:
–Which Committee? Discussion Question
–Which Poems? Discussion Question
--Choose 3 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Jam (Here is the scoring/committee information)--Two found poems; one original poem
–Finish composing “Where I’m From” poem
–Reflection Essay (due May 8)
Complete the Mastering the Comma Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)
Links for This Week
“Where I’m From” George Ella Lyon audio
