Updates and More Updates!

1. Please remember to bring in food! So far, the Fantabulous Rad Explosive Avacado Kittens are in first place with a significant lead. In second place is Hey Guys, It's Me - Period One. Currently in last place is Team S.M.U.R.F. (Super Macho United (W)Riters Federation - or, Super Mythical United (W)Riters Fellowship, depending on your audience... :). Remember: the winning team gets a class period of fantastic treats and surprises compliments of your fearless leader!

2. Kayla Hall, CWW student extraordinaire, is collecting letters to Santa for the Macy's/Make-a-Wish holiday campaign. For every letter to Santa they receive, Macy's will donate one dollar to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Please support this worthy cause! Letters may be given directly to Kayla or may be given to Ms. Strout.

3. Creative Writing, finalized drafts of your personification and perspective pieces (say that ten times fast - I dare you) will be collected on Friday (12/11) after our reading.

4. Creative Writing Workshop, we are putting our "generations" unit on hold in favor of completing our annual "Gift of Poetry" project. This yearly event, begun in 2004, has been a fantastic way for CWW to share its love of poetry with the High Point community. As we are working on this endeavor in class, please be working on the writing prompts from Friday (12/4) outside of class. If you missed this experience, please see your classmates for the prompts that were used so far.

Questions? Comments? Secret family recipes? You know where to find me. :)

See you in 215,
Ms. Strout

Hello there.

Here are some things going on in Room 215:

Periods One and Four - We are looking at personification and perspective poetry, with focus pieces by Charles Simic and Wallace Stevens, respectively. Soon, you will be creating your own rough drafts of these two types of poems. I am sure you will do a great job!

Period Five - This week, we started our unit entitled "Generations: Family, History, Memory." Please have three related free-writing prompts by Friday. On Wedensday and Thursday, we will be examining some example pieces. Friday begins the writing! (WooHOO! :) PS - Start/continue thinking about our "Gift of Poetry" project that we will be starting soon. (Decide which poems you think are essential to share with the High Point community.)

Short (Pre-Thanksgiving) Week!

Hi, everybody!

*PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER TO E-MAIL ME BY WEDNESDAY!
*Periods 1 & 4, found poems are due on Wednesday.
*Period 5, identity pieces (two finalized drafts) are due on Wednesday. We will have one and half reading days. :)
*So far, Team S.M.U.R.F. (Super Macho United Riters Federation - ouch - it pained me to type that...) is in the lead! Don't forget to bring in your contributions:
Period One - canned goods;
Period Four - baby/child items;
Period Five - pantry/personal hygiene items.
*Have a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday and long weekend, okay? Enjoy yourselves, be safe, make good decisions, and feel free to bring me any pumpkin pie leftovers you may have. (Mmmmmmmm.... pie.)

See you in 215,
Ms. Strout

Greetings, 215ers.

Periods One and Four - FOUND POETRY!

Period Five - This week, our focus will be on large group critique sessions. I will be collecting two finalized drafts from the identity unit on Wednesday, November 25 (before Thanksgiving break).

Thanks for all your hard work,
Ms. Strout

Info you should know :)

!!OPEN MIC @ the Sussex Elks Lodge - Friday, November 13 - 8-11pm!!

Periods One and Four - We are having a reading day on Friday. I will be collecting your best piece from the work that we have been doing in class (cliche wars poem, random word poem, magnetic poetry). You will have some time in the lab this week (Wednesday and Thursday) to finalize all your drafts, choose your best work, blog, comment, and explore the online magnetic poetry site. Next week: Get ready for found poetry! WooHOO!

Period Five - I will be checking your three rough drafts for the identity unit at the end of Tuesday's (11/10) class period. We will be in the lab on Tuesday so you may begin to type and structure your work. Please see me if you would like to volunteer for our large group critique session, which will be coming up shortly.

See you in 215,
Ms. Strout

Updates (in Mass Quantity!)

*Mark Doty (nationally renowned poet and memoirist) is doing a reading at Centenary College on Monday, October 19, 2009, from 8-10pm. Free and open to the public!

*The Sussex Antlers (the teen Elks) are hosting an acoustic open mic night for teens on Friday, November 13, 2009, from 8-11pm at the Sussex Elks Lodge. Bring $5 to get in -OR- $4 and canned/non-perishable food items to donate to their Thanksgiving food drive. Hope to see you there!

Periods 1 and 4, here is the tentative schedule for next week:
Monday - Effective speaking activity (mwa, ha, ha - this is a lot of fun)
Tuesday - Last day in computer lab to finalize drafts of violence pieces (I will not be present, in that I have a professional day to attend.)
Wednesday - Rough draft jar! (more explanations to follow...)
Thursday - Independent work period (visit the class library, work on writer's notebook entries, compose your own pieces, visit the rough draft jar, etc.) (I will not be present AGAIN, in that I will be chaperoning a field trip.)
Friday - Reading day! (I will be collecting final drafts of your violence-related poems at the end of today's class period.)

Period 5, here is the nutshell version of your week:
Monday - Continue large group critique sessions.
Tuesday - Continue large group critique sessions if needed -OR- work on all rough draft materials for our unit on the natural world (final drafts are due on FRIDAY).
Wednesday - Field trip discussion/project explanation
Thursday - FIELD TRIP! (WooHOO!) :)
Friday - Reading day! (I will be collecting final drafts of your nature-related pieces at the end of today's class period.*)

*You must hand in TWO final drafts from your course work: object-based piece, sculpture-based piece, writing prompts. Please note that you MUST hand in a copy of your sculpture-based piece for the purpose of our cross-curricular project with Ms. Meyers.

You are fantastic students and I am so glad that I get to spend time with you every day!

See you in 215,
Ms. Strout

This Week

Creative Writing - In honor of National Violence Prevention Month, will be taking a look at the subject of violence in our society: through class discussion, paired work, song lyrics, group readings, and, of course, a whole lot of writing. Please be sure to approach each facet of this unit with the proper level of maturity and sensitivity (as I know you will).

Creative Writing Workshop - We continue our "Shades of Green" unit. This week, we will focus on free-writing, editing object-based pieces, and writing original drafts based on art created by Ms. Meyers' Fine Art Sculpture class.

See you in 215,
Ms. Strout

PS - Please do not neglect your blog duties! Remember: one post per week and two comments! Please see me if you are having any difficulties with this on-going assignment.