Wednesday 15 December 2010

Assignment #17: The Slam!

Hello darlings,

As you can see, I am not here right now. My fall down the stairs has caused more than a little amount of pain and I'm going home to rest.

However, the lovely Ms. Froggett and wonderful Mr. Terrade ARE here with you.

Please spend this period wisely and work on this new assignment (#17) that will be due Friday and your Eric Walters inspired story (#16) that is due the Monday after the holidays.

I am SO PROUD of ALL of you and your hard work with writing and performing your amazing poems. You ALL blew me away with your creativity, your use of language, how much you pushed yourselves, your courage and your flow. I want you to take some time to reflect on today's slam.

1. For this assignment, I'd like you to start a new post on your own blog.

2. Link back to this assignment.

3. Answer the following questions in full sentences:

You will be doing a fair amount of writing (IN FULL SENTENCES), so remember to leave some spaces between your answers so it is easy for your reader to read (perhaps hit enter between each response), read over and edit your work, spell check and make sure you've followed all directions.

a) What did you learn from Greg and Beth Ann? (at least 2 things)

b.) When writing your own poem, what did you use as inspiration? (at least 3 things)

c.) What are you most proud of from your poem or your presentation of it? (at least one thing)

d.) How did you feel before you performed?

e.) How did you feel AFTER you performed?

f.) What would you change about your own poem or performance for next time? (at least 1 thing)
g.) What did you learn/like about someone else's poem?


4. Post your poem on your blog.

Think about whether you would like to take part in the Youth Slam in the new year. We will certainly share our poems again, perhaps at a coffee house or an assembly. We'll talk about that later.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Assignment #16 - Eric Walters Response

Eric Walters writes books about teenagers discovering who they are and dealing with some pretty serious issues. His books appeal to teenagers because the characters are realistic. In fact, some are so real because they are actually based on real people. In the grade 8 presentation, he talked about how he would turn Noah and Tara into characters in one of his novels. He also presented in an engaging and entertaining way that brought all his stories to life. If he took those same words and put them on paper, he would have the start of a wonderful written story. I hope you were inspired by Mr. Walters.

It was so wonderful to have Eric Walters as our lunch guest this Monday. He told us about a lot of his new ideas, and I, for one, was astounded that he's written 73 books in the past 16 years. On average, that's more than 4 books per year! He described to Prof. Scott, Tara and I at least five new ideas that he's working on right now. Amazing!

In response to Mr. Walters' visit, I'd like you to write a creative text featuring a realistic teenage character (based on yourself) and an issue you think is important.

Before you get started, think about some of the books you've read by Mr. Walters, ones that you've heard about, or research some of his books online. Each of his books has a message and a purpose and he writes about real issues for teens living in Canada and around the world.

For the first part of your assignment, I want you to select three Eric Walters books and write, in one sentence, what you think the main idea or message of each of those books is. Post this on your blog.

For the second part of the assignment, I want you to select an issue, a message or a main idea that is important to you. I want you to bring that issue to life in your writing through a character that is based on you. This character can have your name, some of your experience and emotions, and or some physical characteristics that you have. It will be easy to make this character come to life, because you're already alive! A great writer writes about things he or she knows, and what do you know better than yourself?

Create a short story about your character (either a stand alone story or a chapter of a larger novel) in which he or she is dealing with the issue of your choice.

You may write this in your free write book or on your computer, and when you are happy with it, post a copy on your blog.

This assignment will be due after the winter break.

Assignment #15 - Slam Poets Response

Hello R8A,

Thanks to your fantastic fundrasising efforts, we raised a total of $321.oo of the $327.70 we needed to host a four day Slam Poetry workshop in our class. We'll work hard to pull together the final $6.70 this week! Your efforts were amazing!

Yesterday (December 7th), Greg "Ritallin" Frankson and Beth Anne Fisher came in to our class and blew our minds.

We got to know Beth Anne and Greg a bit as they told us a little bit about their origins and then learned a lot more about them through their amazing Spoken Word. Greg performed two drastically different works and Beth Anne performed one. It was interesting to get to see the different styles that different poets use and that a poet uses for different poems. It was a good reminder that each poet has his or her own unique voice.

Throughout our sessions with Greg and Beth Anne, you will continue to develop your own voice and you will actually perform a 3 minute long memorized poem in our class Poetry Slam. If this captivates you and lights your passion, you can participate in a Youth Slam that Greg is organizing in the new year.

I can't tell you how proud I am of the work you are creating. In ten minutes, with one "springboard word", you wrote an amazing array of poems. Greg and Beth Anne were amazed too, and were so happy to see the advanced point we're starting from. Because they were so impressed, they taught us the "3...2...1...Raise it!" welcome for new poets.

Guess what the "3...2...1..Raise it!" reminds me of?

You've got it, a 321 response!

For your assignment #15, I want you to do a 321 response about your experiences in our Slam Poetry workshop.

The questions are below. Please start a new post on your blog and link back to this post, answer the questions in full sentences with lots of care and detail.

3 things that you are looking forward to learning, developing or using in your poetry over the course of our Slam workshops.

2 things that Greg or Beth Anne reinforced that we have already been doing in class, or you are already using in your own writing.

1 poem that you wrote yesterday. Here is your chance to continue to work on step 1 of the 3 step poetry writing process (step 1 - write, revise, edit and proofread, step 2 - memorize, so you can connect with the audience, step 3 - perform!). Take some time to polish your poem from the 10 minutes of writing you did yesterday.

I look forward to reading your responses. Please leave a comment on this post when you have completed assignment #15 on your blog.

Remember to read and follow all instructions.

Remember to read over your post before publishing and to do a spell check!