Poetry Links!

Posted on April 13, 2011 by jculver

Pig Poems

Poetry 180—Modern Poems

Poetry of Sharon Olds  also here

Poetry Foundation Poems—go here and browse poems by topic! (Look on right of the site.)

Poetry Archive—search by theme

Poetry Tree

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Poetry Analysis

Posted on April 12, 2011 by jculver

We started writing the rough draft today in class.

We’ll work on these more on Wednesday.  Bring lit book so I can check it tomorrow and grammar book on Thursday.

Thursday we’ll be back in the library to find essays/short stories and magazine articles/newspaper articles on your topics.

Friday we will be in the computer lab typing up all your hard work so far.

You guys are doing great!

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Hope you enjoyed your day

Posted on April 11, 2011 by jculver

with all your subs. (All freshmen teachers were at a professional development.)

Make sure you have at least two published poems ready to show me tomorrow. We’ll be writing your analysis tomorrow. Be ready. Have a poem that is appropriate to analyze.

oldbooks2

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“The Peace of Wild Things”/Wendell Berry

Posted on April 4, 2011 by jculver

wendeberrywendell_berryIn class today we studied a little bit about the (still alive!) life of  poet Wendell Berry and read his poem “The Peace of Wild Things.”  Here’s  more information on Wikipedia about him. Interesting stuff–especially if nature is very close to your heart.

Someone in class (was it Brigid?) brought up the Amish connection. In the article above, it mentions that his beliefs mirror many Amish beliefs.  Here’s some information about the Amish if you are interested.

We also touched on the subject of “wood ducks” and Grandma Moses (in vocab book, remember?).  Click on the links for more information.

 This is a wonderful interview with Wendell Berry. Take a few minutes and read it. I really liked it.

Another poem by Berry–“The Wild Geese”

Homework tonight—questions and answers for “The Peace of Wild Things” 1-7, page 559 in literature book. 

Typed rhyming poem due tomorrow (had since last Thursday)

Test on Wednesday on Wordsworth, Cummings, Burns, Whitman, Berry, and the Haiku authors. We will review tomorrow in class, so be ready! Folders will be due on Wednesday as well.

Posted in Art Connection, Poetry Portfolio Project, Science Connection | 3 Comments

Thursday/Robert Burns/”A Red,Red Rose”

Posted on March 31, 2011 by jculver

robert_burnsToday we read about Robert Burns, THE Scottish poet.  Here’s another great link about him, from the BBC.  After we read and discussed the poem “A Red,Red Rose,” the students had an assignment:  write a rhymed poem following the poem’s rhyme scheme of abcb (first two stanzas) abab (last two stanzas) about their portfolio topic. 

If the students chose, they could instead a poem with the rhyme scheme of Wordsworth’s poem, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” The rhyme scheme in that poem is:    ababcc (four stanzas)

Their typed rhyming poem is due on Tuesday, April 5th.

april2011<——————APRIL CALENDAR!!!!!!

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E.E. Cummings

Posted on March 29, 2011 by jculver

Today we were back in the classroom and we read “who are you little i” by E.E. Cummings.  I also shared the poem “i carry your heart (in my heart)” by Cummings as well.  Students then tried to write a poem in Cummings’ style, using their portfolio topic as the subject.

Here is the love poem of Cummings that I shared in class:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)carr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homework: Type up your “e.e. cummings inspired poem” and do answers only on page 527  1-7.

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Library Day 1

Posted on March 28, 2011 by jculver

Today we were in the library listening to Mrs. Wyatt and Mrs. Harris teach us about the AVL and websites where we can find poems that fit our portfolio topics.

If you didn’t turn in your song lyrics for your topics today, please turn them in tomorrow. 

Students took home the choices for enrichment classes today. Parents, please sign and have your student return it on Wednesday.  Please sign up for debate if you are interested! 🙂

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“Sweaty Toothed Madman”

Posted on March 23, 2011 by jculver

walt-whitmanToday we read our second poem of the poetry unit, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman.  Before we started, I showed the clip from Dead Poets’ Society, when a young Ethan Hawke was pushed into coming up with an impromptu poem about Whitman and called him a “sweaty toothed madman.”  Love that movie. I hope you all watch it sometime. Just awesome.

No homework tonight.

Yesterday we read William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” The questions afterward are the first homework assignment for the last nine weeks.

Today all the students wrote down what their topic would be for the portfolio project. Friday you will be write your preface for the project and will be getting your information about finding two songs that would fit the topic.

Where “barbaric yawp” came from and the poem we read in class today.

As a side note, I want to say that I finished reading The Hunger Games series. Loved the first one, and the second one was good, but did not like Mockingjay at all.  All of a sudden it turned into bloody, gory Transformers or something. Way too much gore.  However, I am now totlifeasweknewitally immersed in Life as We Knew It…you’ll never look at the moon the same way. Our PHS library has more copies. Read it with me. I’m not even halfway in and I’m loving it.

Free Reading on Friday after we do a few small things….bring what you want to read…

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Thursday

Posted on March 10, 2011 by jculver

Today I passed out two informational sheets about the Literary Portfolio Project, which is worth 400 points and is spread out over a long period of time during 4th 9 weeks.  Forgive the typos on the topic list—I was tired! 🙂

Students should be thinking of what their portfolio topic will be. We will begin working on your portfolio as well as the poetry selections in our textbook when you return from the break.

Don’t worry about turning in your journal tomorrow. Just wait until you come back from the break.  I won’t have time to grade the journals AND the essays, so the journals will make a great first grade for your 4th 9 weeks.

If you are interested in joining debate, meetings from here on out (this year) are on Thursday afternoons. Please come and see what it is all about.  Also, please sign up for debate for next year’s enrichment class. 🙂

Posted in Debate, Great Expectations, Poetry Portfolio Project | 2 Comments

Benchmark tomorrow

Posted on March 8, 2011 by jculver

And essays due. (Parents, students have been working on essays in class for several days now.)  If you can’t print it out at home, email it to me.

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