Creative Writing 09/10/15

Focused Free-write:

What is your one word?

EXTRA:

Check out Sarah Kay's spoken word piece, "Hands."

PER 3: COLLEGE LIT

PERIOD 3: OUTLIERS Project

Period 3, College Literature students have until the start of 3rd period on April 17, 2015 to complete their reading and analysis of the Malcolm Gladwell book, Outliers: The Story of Success.

Students will answer questions based on each chapter, and sign up to further analyze a chapter of their choice.

Here is a list of chapters that have already been taken. Each chapter may have up to two students assigned to it, but the work must be done independently.

Charles: Chapter 2, "The 10,000 Hour Rule"
Chelsea: Chapter 2, "The 10,000 Hour Rule"
Joab: Chapter 3, "The Trouble With Geniuses" Part One
Anthony: Chapter 3, "The Trouble With Geniuses" Part One
Julia: Chapter 4, "The Trouble With Geniuses" Part Two
Janae: Chapter 4, "The Trouble With Geniuses" Part Two
Simone: Chapter 5, "The Three Lessons of Joe Flom"
Kathryn: Chapter 7, "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes"
Nick: Chapter 8, "Rice Paddies and Math Tests"
Tyler: Chapter 8, "Rice Paddies and Math Tests"
Shevon: Epilogue

Students will be required to complete a specific set of notes as they read. Instructions will be given in class.

Sample College Essays

SENIORS: Your FINAL draft of Personal Essay #1 is due over EMAIL BY THE END OF THE SCHOOL DAY ON FRIDAY! Some of you have expressed feeling "stuck" about possible topics for your second essay-- which is due next Friday! We will NOT have computer time for the second essay, so please plan your time accordingly.

A great way to get a sense of "good" personal essays is to read lots of examples of "good" personal essays.

Here are some helpful links... CHECK THEM OUT!
Shmoop College Essay Links
66 Successful Essays
Essays That Worked

Each one of the following essays is different in its own right. Some are "better" than others, but they're worth examining. Let me know of the links don't work for some reason. It might help to use Google Chrome since they are links to Google Docs.
Fowler Essay
Herring Link
Asiedu Essay
Tate Essay
Mike Essay

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING RIGHT NOW. I'LL BE CHECKING IN OVER EMAIL AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

Week 4 Read & Respond Articles

Choose at least TWO of the following articles to read and respond to in the comments section below. All comments are due by Friday morning, before the start of your class period.Remember, your comments are meant to prove that you have read and understood the material while also forming an opinion on the subject matter.

Article 1: With His Words and Deeds, Derek Jeter Never Entered Foul Territory
Focus point: Hero Worship or Earned Respect?

Article 2: The Fault in Our Stars School Ban...
Focus point: To ban, or not to ban...?

Article 3: ...Ban Celebratory Head Slaps
Focus Point: Over-reaction, or proven concern?

SENIOR ESSAYS

ATTENTION SENIORS!
Here are some links and videos to help you with your search for post-high school plans! ALL students are REQUIRED to submit TWO personal essays, regardless of their post-high school plans. You may use the Common Application essay prompts or a specific school's essay prompt. YOUR FIRST FULLY EDITED and FINISHED essay is DUE BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2014. You must email/share/attach your files AND print out a copy.

FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF A COLLEGE ESSAY 

1. Show, don’t tell. If you want to convince the reader that you never give up,don’t tell the reader, “I never give up.” Instead, describe how you were cut from the basketball team in ninth grade, sat on the bench in tenth grade, and finally made the team as a junior. A skillful writer lets evidence show that a proposition is true; a clumsy one tells, because his writing is not powerful enough to show.
2. Use your own Experiences. The most interesting essay puts you in the starring role and features real life thoughts and feelings. Anecdotes from your world are always more interesting than abstractions. Give the reader a piece of your mind.
3. Use the First Person. The fact that it is a “personal” essay provides a strong hint. Nine out of ten essays should be in the first person, the best vehicle for revealing your thoughts and beliefs.
4. Begin with a Flourish. The most important sentence in any essay is the first one. Polish it like a precious stone. Good writers often try to hook the reader with a first sentence that surprises, piques, or begins an interesting story.
5. Proofread. Applicants are told over and over again, and still they don’t proofread! Arrggh! Nothing is more damaging than an essay full of typos, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes

HELPFUL LINKS:
College SEARCH
Common Application
HEOP
SUNY Application
Lincoln Tech

ESSAYS THAT WORKED!
Two Worlds
While the World Sleeps
A Mother's Influence
What's the Matter With College?

Freeman Hrabowski: 4 Pillars of College Success in Science

Jullien Gordon: How To Graduate College With a Job You Love & Less Debt

COLLEGE ESSAY FILES and GUIDANCE LINK

Seniors!
Now that guidance has visited us to discuss the college application process, it's time to kick things into high gear and get those personal essays done! Here are some handouts from class, as well as a link to the AMHS Guidance Department. Need a resume? Use the template found on the Guidance site!
AMHS Guidance Department
Brainstorming Worksheet
4 Most Common Tyes of College Essays

I truly believe that your personal essay is one of the most important parts of your college application. It is your "interview on paper" so-to-speak, and it should reflect your personality, your goals, and anything else that you think is important for the college admissions officer to know. BE YOURSELF.

IMPORTANT LINK for "Where I'm From" Poem

Here is a link to the George Ella Lyon poem, "Where I'm From" which is part of the required pieces (#35) for your Senior memory Book. 

Questions? As always, just ask! :)

"Where I'm From" Poem

BRIT LIT: SENIOR MEMORY BOOK UPDATE!

We're in the final stretch here, folks!!!!!

The next TEN typed memory book drafts are due by Wednesday, May 14th.

Extra points awarded to those who hand in copies on Monday, May 12th, or Tuesday, May 13th. All remaining pieces (minimum of 5 more) MUST BE HANDED IN NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014.

Failure to hand in work at that point will result in an INCOMPLETE for the course, as it is a major project requirement that you were assigned MONTHS AGO.

I will go over the requirements for the Prologue, Epilogue, Title Page, etc. in class next week.

The FINAL, fully-jazzed, proofread, edited, and completed memory books are due in a binder by Monday, June 2, 2014.

Questions?
As always, email me or simply ask after class.

Happy typing!

Email Your Future Self!

Here's a link to a site where you can compose a private email to be sent to your "future self!" Think about writing another "letter" to yourself and make some goals, predictions, and hopes for the future. You'll forget you even did it until the email appears a year later (or however long you choose).

REMEMBER: setting goals is the first step to ACCOMPLISHING goals!

Email Your Future Self!

IMPORTANT BRIT LIT UPDATE!

Attention British Literature classes!

Due to tomorrow's afternoon assembly, the next 5 Senior Memory Book drafts will be due on MONDAY, April 7th!

NOTE: The Prologue and Epilogue are NOT a part of the required 25-30 pieces. They can only be completed when all of your 25-30 pieces are finished. We will go over the specifics of the Prologue and Epilogue in class.

Don't forget to complete the starred (*) required pieces.
Here is a link to the "Where I'm From" assignment to help guide your writing. A good way to start it would be to complete a free-write about where and what you're from in your marble notebooks and then see if you'd like to turn it into a final poem or prose piece.
"Where I'm From" poem

ALSO, students should continue to view "Shakespeare High" in class, and use notes to address the bullet topics in a 2-3 page paper due on TUESDAY, April 8th. Papers do not need to be typed, but your in-class notes must be handed in, attached to the back of your paper.

BUT WAIT... there's MORE!
We'll be opening our 1st quarter letters on Monday! Be there or be square.

Questions?
As always, feel free to email me.

Happy writing!

WHAT WILL YOUR VERSE BE?

LOOK!
APPLE IS PLAYING US AGAINST OUR EMOTIONS AND THE ABILITY TO BE MOVED BY FILM AND WALT WHITMAN REFERENCES AND THE VOICE-OVER OF ROBIN WILLIAMS IN "DEAD POET'S SOCIETY!"

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

THIS I BELIEVE

This I Believe Website
http://thisibelieve.org/top/

Listen!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103412215

Finding the Flexibility to Survive
http://thisibelieve.org/essay/31840/

Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude
http://thisibelieve.org/essay/23/