agenda Tue/Wed Aug 30/1:

 

learning goal: to understand the rationale and details of the prescribed template; to become familiar with TURNITIN Quickmarks and their descriptors

review and revise Camus paragraph–with paper copies of paragraph and short writing rubric

re-submit paragraph on prescribed template–by the start of next class

pick up copy of “The Ultimate Safari,” after you have submitted the revision

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due Tue/Wed Aug 30/31: Camus paragraph

By the start of this class, submit to TURNITIN a paragraph response to the statement you completed in the previous class, after our walk-and-talk around the track and the subsequent whole-class discussion.

Use the 11-part-paragraph model from the downloads section of our class page (on the school portal), making your completed statement the topic sentence of this paragraph.  You may include quotations, but can write a successful paragraph  with specific references to the story that are not direct quotations.  If you need a copy of the story, our course blog has a page called “World Fiction,” and the first item on that page is a digital copy of Camus’s “The Guest.”

Be ready at the start of class to hand in the notes you wrote during the previous class. Since I will use the short writing rubric to assess this paragraph, I recommend you review the criteria from that rubric, before and after composing the paragraph.

Unless you acknowledge in writing that you have received help from another person or source, besides your discussion partner(s) and the whole-class discussion after our walk, readers can assume that the ideas and details are entirely your own work.

agenda Fri/Mon Aug 27/30: characters’ choices

learning goal(s): what are basic ways a story can reveal the nature of a character? For example, what they say.  How else do readers learn about a character’s core?

re-visit Camus’s story, “The Guest”

re-join assigned pairs from last class, to compare thoughts on how the story’s characters would answer our course’s Essential Questions (EQs)

identify choices that each main character makes, or has made: Balducci, Daru, the Arab

how do that person’s choices indicate the presence or absence of  any of these qualities–love and compassion for others, hatred of injustice and cruelty, responsibility to treat others with respect and concern, opposition to evil, struggle relieve human suffering

 

 

dueTue/Wed, Sep 7/8: Ten-Souls poem

Below I have pasted the assignment instructions distributed in class on our first Poetry Day, Wed/Thu Aug 24/5.

Celebr8 Poetry Cycle #1: Du Fu, Rilke; imagery, metaphor

Background

In ancient China, people believed that human beings had more than one soul. In a book called A Little Primer of TU FU, David Hawkes writes that “according to popular theory a person had not one but ten souls: three spiritual souls (hun) and seven animal souls (po)” (72).

Tu Fu is a Chinese poet who wrote in the 700s. He lived during the T’ang dynasty, which is known as a golden age of Chinese poetry. Two of this period’s most renowned poets are Tu Fu and Li Bai. A friend of mine, who has started Mandarin programs in several schools like HIES, recently traveled to China to explore possible exchanges between his school in Los Angeles and a Chinese partner-school. During his travels, he visited Tu Fu’s home. He brought back for me a set of small commemorative plates. On one is a painting of Tu Fu, and the two flanking plates show some of his poetry. I treasure this gift from a friend. Equally so, I treasure Tu Fu’s gifts. What I know about poetry—reading and writing it—has been enriched by Tu Fu’s dedicated artistry. For example, he has taught me the value of concrete imagery*.

Exercise (put a printed copy of your original poem in Poetry Folder before start of Poetry Day #2)

For this exercise, compose an original poem of at least ten lines. You may rhyme, if you like, but you don’t have to. Some people like to rhyme, while others don’t. You decide.

The basic idea behind this exercise is the idea that humans have ten souls—three spiritual and seven animal souls. You don’t have to cover all ten in this poem, though you may want to, or try to. You could consider repeating an opening to each line—something like “I know . . . “ or “I am . . . “ or some similar approach. Another possibility is to make the particular souls the subject of your lines, or sentences. For instance, the hawk sees tiny mice from the clouds above. Or, I live in the cracks of walls and only emerge in the shade.

Whatever strategy you use, explore some, or all, of the ten souls that are you. This exercise raises the question of how a “spiritual” soul differs from an animal soul. I have no easy answers to this question. I have several thoughts, but no easy answers. (I’m not always sure I like easy answers. I prefer challenging questions.)

So, see what this exercise brings to mind in the form of an original poem. Remember, the poem needs at least ten lines, which means you do not have to screech on the brakes at the end of line ten. If you’re on a roll, go with it, but leave time to read your poem aloud to yourself, so that you can work on it further before placing the printed copy in your Poetry Folder.

 

 

*language that appeals to any of the five physical senses

agenda Wed/Thurs Aug 24/5: Celebr8 Poetry Day

learning goal: how is poetry like painting?

OCC

field trip to art exhibit

• what do you see, what do you think/feel about what you see? (OCC)
• poem hand-outs, and read-aloud
  • what do you see . . .  (OCC)
• HW hand-out

 

agenda Mon/Tue Aug 22/3: characters & EQs

learning goal: how might one of the characters in this story answer one of the course’s Essential Questions (EQs)?   What insight does this exercise give you to the core nature of this person?

 

post-it quiz

TRNTN response to first writing–one criterion marked (clear)

set-up in-class reading of Camus’s “The Guest”

reading time

discussion time

agenda Thu/Fri Aug 18/19: what does someone else see?

learning goal(s): what is something that someone else likes in a story that I don’t usually think of first?

 

TURNITIN enrollment  (see class page announcements for enrollment ID and password)

To TURNITIN, submit a 3-5-sentence introduction to something you know well (cf. this post from maroonballoon)

make a post-it with a label for this something, then post it on the back wall

email bill.brown@hies.org with label on post-it (subject line: post-it label)

THEN

pick up two stories, on your own read and decide which story prefer and why (please no marks on copies)

due Thu/Fri Aug18/19: EQ paragraph

To this class (Aug 18/19) bring your written response to the Essential Questions for you as a writer.  Write your response on the back of the Short Writing Rubric distributed in our first class.  Use the terms of this rubric to guide your response.

Please compose your response as a single, coherent paragraph–rather than as a simple list of answers to the three questions.

In other words, how do you as a writer (in school and/or out of school) answer these questions?

Who am I, as a writer?

What are my primary responsibilities, as  writer, to myself and to the communities in which I live?

For me as a writer, what does wisdom look like? Or, what does wisdom look like in my writing?

due Wed/Thu Aug 24/5: Celebr8 Poetry

Poetry Day occurs every Day 8 and Day 7.  To this class bring, your Poetry Folder, which we will use throughout the whole year.

Use this separate small paper folder, with three-ring enclosures, to contain the poems and worksheets you receive during the year.

Here’s mine from last year.

agenda Tue/Wed Aug 16/17: navigating basics

learning goal: how do I navigate the basics of this class?

basic personal materials

basic course materials

basic course content

basic rubrics

essential questions