Tuesday, December 1st - A Lyrical Education

1) Silent Reading

2) Review - Yesterday? Remind me to review paradox.

3) Poems today are actually the lyrics of a song:

I am a Rock by Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel)

4) Read: The Other Education, an editorial about the importance of the musical "education" that we give ourselves.

5) Round Robin Discussion - What kind of musical education are you providing for yourself? If someone picked up your Ipod and listened, what would they learn about you and maybe even about your values?

6) Time to work on Poetry Project.You can peruse Discovering Literature for a favourite poem, for instance.

7) Homework: Try to remember your dreams and write them down in your journal or somewhere...

Monday, November 30th - True Confessions

TOC - You will need to print off and then photocopy the poetry project handout. If you have any trouble, please ask Tami Jerome, the librarian, to assist you. Enjoy the day!

1) Silent Reading

2) Sharing - anyone care to share their absurdist poem or story from their journal?
   Listen to Matt B's And Mike T's song from the Death of a Salesman Project (in computer).

3) Confessional Poetry - Click here for some notes and ideas to discuss.
                                  Daddy by Sylvia Plath - p. 914 - Read and discuss.
                                  (Remember the Q's to ask of a poem.)
                                  Others that could be read and discussed (in groups?):
                                  Anger by Linda Pastan, p. 556
                                  Quake Theory by Sharon Olds, p. 733
                                  On My First Son by Ben Jonson, p. 683
                                  The Boy Died in my Alley, p. 835

4) Poetry Project - the next two weeks of your life will be poetic. Welcome to the Personal Poetry Project.
Go over handout. I'll provide more detail tomorrow.

5) Today's Journal Work - Brainstorm around a profoundly transformative moment in your life - whether the stuff of tragedy or comedy... sketch out some ideas and begin to play with the right words to draft step one of the personal poetry project - the Autobiographical Poem.

6) Homework - bring in some favourite lyrics to consider tomorrow.

Friday, November 27th - Absurd Nonsense

1) Poetic Devices Review Quiz and creative journal check

2) Some of my most favourite poems make no sense at all. Or do they?

The Emperor of Ice Cream by Wallace Stevens

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carrol

3) Journal Work - 20 Little Poetry Projects (paper handout) or Absurdist Story (write a story that, much like a dream or stream of concious writing, makes sense mostly on an intuitive level).

Did you know that the absurd can make you smarter? Read this article and then check out the Kafka story.


HOMEWORK - Bring in a bunch of your favourite music lyrics on Monday. Catch up on your journal work.
Coming Soon - An in-depth study of a poem of your picking...

Wednesday, November 25 - Little Poems

1) Announcements - Quiz on Friday, Tomorrow is a day off...

2) Little Poems Study

This is Just to Say - p. 491
The Red Wheelbarrow - p. 614

You Fit Into Me
You fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye
Margaret Atwood

I'm nobody! Who are you? - p.804

3) LEAF Poems - Journal Assignment (and class display)

Write as many four word poems (each word beginning with the following letters L E A F) as you possibly can. Write them in large and bold letters on green paper. Cut it into the shape of a leaf. Put your name on the back. Use a dictionary or thesaurus for ideas. Put your favourite two into your journal.