Truth Questions

This is old stuff...

p.480 questions #3 and #4.

And, find examples of personification, metaphor and symbol. Explain the effect of each example.

Grad 2012, the book

I think we should make and share a book of YOUR writing about what Grad 2012 was like.

We'll be preparing for the composition section of the provincial exam and making a keepsake that we will all treasure. And, if we do a terrific job, I will look at getting us some money to publish it in book form. Then, we could even consider sharing it with a wider audience.

What do you think?

First, we need to review how to write a reflective composition:

Grad - Writing Topic

This is an open composition class.

You've done it.
The big ceremony.
The big deal.
The suit, the dress, the family, the friends, the parties...

It's time to write about it.

• What will you always remember?
• What were the best parts? The worst parts?
• What did the valedictorians say? What would you have said if you were the valedictorian?
• Be descriptive. (Remember, I could not be there... make me see, smell, hear, taste, feel the whole thing).

Tone: Personal, Descriptive, Narrative
Audience: Anyone in this class
Length: Minimum 300 words
Due: At end of class.

Sonnets, Irony and Happiness

1) First - let's finish our discussions on Denise Riley's Poem, "A Part Song."

2) The Power of Vulnerability: http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

3)Sonnets?
                   Irony?
                               Happiness?

4) Putting it all together - https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2_H3hKK6a0zUzdhUVc2VmpOc0E

5) We're heading towards the great play, "Death of a Salesman."

Synthesizing! Analysing! How!?

Sometimes on a provincial exam, you will find the poem in the Synthesis Section, with a story, or an essay - this is when you will need to write a compare/contrast essay.

How do you analyse two pieces and synthesize your ideas to write quickly?

1) Find out what the focus of your writing topic is first! Then, as you read both pieces you will know what kind of examples to look for.

2) Read each piece with a pencil in your hand. Underline important passages that will help you to explain the meaning you are making.

3) Plan before you write.Create a quick T-chart, using the titles of the pieces as headings.

“Title of Poem”	“Title of Story or Essay”
Quote or note 1            Quote or note 2            Quote or note 3            Etc…	Quote or note 1          Quote or note 2           Quote or note 3            Etc…

4) Think, think, think... until it hurts... and then, write the Thesis Statement that summarizes your main ideas.

5) Decide on an approach. Will you use the Block Method or the Point by Point? (Explained in class)

6) Begin to write...

• Remember to focus on seamless "integration of quotes." 
• Moreover, use transitional words and phrases to help your ideas to flow.
• Play with your vocabulary - choose the most evocative words.
• Keep you thinking at the centre of your writing.

Words, (oh!), The Fish, and Mom.

Poets love words. They can spend days picking the right one.
Oh!

Why!?

"Stripped
day by day of all my garments,
dry naked tree,
in my solitary withered mouth
fresh words
will still blossom." ~~Alaide Foppa "Words"

Connotation - Emotion - Tone

Sound - Onomatopoeia - Alliteration - Assonance - Internal Rhyme - Repetition

Image - Symbol - Senses

Irony

First, The Fish, by Elizabeth Bishop:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22238

Questions:
1) How does the tone shift in this poem? Describe the speaker's feelings at the beginning, middle, end. What words reveal the movement in tone?

2) Question #2 in the book, p. 617.

3) Find examples of the following sound devices at work - alliteration, assonance, onomatopeia, and, for each, describe the effect on your understanding of the poem's central theme that even the ordinary, the ugly, the worn-out can be extraordinary and beautiful and inspirational?

4) What words stood out? Why? What were their connotations?

5) How does the imagery in this poem make you see/imagine the fish? You may answer with words, or you may draw.

6) What are the ironies of this poem? (What are the things that you do not expect?)

And, for mom: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178168

Bonus Assignment: write your mom a 10 - 20 line poem that describes what you have learned from your mother. Choose each word carefully. Type it up... give it to her for Mother's Day. Give it to me for a few bonus marks.

Thursday, May 10th

I'm away for a meeting today.
You have all day in the library to work on your first poetry response:

Topic:  Discuss how metaphor (or other comparisons) works in the poem you have selected. 500 words minimum.


Include:

• A Catchy Opening
• Background information/context
• Thesis Statement
• Body of support/ small integrated quotes
• Elevated vocabulary and formal tone
• A one sentence conclusion

You will hand in your annotations (answers to The Questions to Ask of Poem) and your response tomorrow.

The Character Project - Exit Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RKX3XM9

7 billion, the scale of the universe, and poetry begins.

1) Compositions!? 

2) How many people were on this Earth in the 1960?
1990?
October 31st, 2012?


http://www.google.ca/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_pop_totl&tdim=true&dl=en&hl=en&q=world+population

3) Our Universe, our information, our lives are expanding.... you live in an exponential world.

http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white 

4) Why am I telling you this before we start poetry?
Think - Share with a Partner - Write on the Board

5) The Brick - browse - tell me what you see...

6) Review - Questions to Ask of a Poem and from last year: Tell all the Truth...

7) p. _____, Truth, by Gwendolyn Brooks

Style Checklist

Use this list to help you to edit your literary responses. Link to it here. Or, see it below (you have to be in Firefox or Chrome for it to work properly.