Monday, April 30, 2012

Self-Starter:   Respond to a photo -- Man and woman in front of what?  From National Geographic Pictures

2. Respond/Write  to music

National Geographic Top Photos

Readers' Top Photos: 
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/top-shots-2011

Camera Angles

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

Thursday, April 25, 2012

Self-Starter:  Pick a photo or. . . .  leaves?

finish play?  Sherlock 

Outside Over There

Various activities for writing outside.

Tuesday, April 23, 2012

Self-Starter:  Write about heat, summer, or anything to do with temperature.

Computer Lab 201  -- finish memoirs -- posted on MyAccess

Finish reading plays --
Do we still need to finish one?

Prompt: Plays

Prompt:  Write about plays --  plays you've seen, plays you've been in, plays you've read, plays you'd like to see or read. 

Friday, April 20, 2012

1.  Prompt: Plays

"The Play's the Thing"

2.  Add these notes to your notebook. 
Advice for Reading and Writing Plays

Advice for  Reading Plays:

1) Read all the stage directions carefully.

2) Notice what the dialogue reveals about the characters.

3) Look for the conflict, problem, or tension.

4)  Notice the plot as the play unfolds.

5)  Take your time as you read. 

Explanation:  (You don’t need to copy all of this, but try to understand it.) Dialogue is meant to be heard so if you are reading it to yourself, you need to provide the feelings that go with the dialogue.  Plays are meant to be heard, so you need to visualize what is happening on stage.

6)   Expect some confusion in the beginning. 

 

Advice for Writing Plays:

1.    Outline the plot of your play before you start writing.

2.    Use play-writing format including a list of characters at the beginning and giving the name of the character before each chunk of dialogue.

3.    Write clear stage directions.

3.  Read parts of two plays

4. Computer lab 201 to work on your narratives (Try to finish up.) and/or start working on your own original play or a skit or two on a Word document.  (Remember that your memoir is on MyAccess.)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Self-Starter:
Pick a prompt (suggested by Gale Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted):

• I have one green eye and one brown eye.  The green eye sees truth, but the brown eye sees much, much more.
•  The ghost was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
•  "Be nice," my father said.  "After all, he's your brother."
• I am the most famous twelve-year-old (or thirteen-year-old) in the United States.
• If somebody didn't do something soon, they were going to have a catastrophe on their hands.
• Jason (or another name) had never felt so foolish before, and he hoped he'd never feel so foolish again.

Rules for Writing from Gale Carson Levine:
1. The best way to write better is to write more.
2. The best way to write better is to write more.
3. The best way to write better is to write more.
4.  The best way to write more is to write whenever you have have five minutes and whenever you find a chair and a pen and paper or your computer.
5.  Read!  Most likely you don't need this rule.  If you enjoy writing, you probably enjoy reading.  The payoff for this pleasure is that reading books shows you how to write them.
6.  Reread!  There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over.  When you do, the words get inside you, become part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.
7.  Save everything you write, even if you don't like it, even if you hate it.  Save it for a minimum of fifteen years.  I'm serious.  At that time, if you want to, you can throw it out, but even then don't discard your writing lightly.    (fromWriting Magic, page 5)

We also read part of her chapter from Writing Magic about "Show and Tell."

See  An Author's Blog.



Computer Lab 211 to work on memoirs.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Self-Starter:  Picture Prompt -- White Water!!!!   or Object Prompt -- Easter Basket

More Pics for Prompts 2

 Computer lab:  type memoirs

[Finish up children's books as needed]

 

An Author's Blog

This is Gale Carson Levine's blog: 

http://gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com/

She has lots of ideas and prompts for young (and not so young) writers.


She is the author of Ella Enchanted. 

More Pics for Prompts 2

More Pics for Prompts

Thursday, April 5, 2012

You will have a substitute teacher since I will be attending with the other English teachers a Literacy Conference held in Salt Lake.


Self-Starter:  Prompt -- picture or . . . . .  

Some possible prompts:

April 3 -- Prompt 6

April 3 -- Prompt 7

April 3 -- Prompt 8

April 3 -- Prompt 9

Picture Prompt -- Magritte La Voix. . .

Outdoor TV Picture Prompt

 

 

Ms. Bills will be teaching a lesson about revision.   

We recently did this with revision in Ms. Dorsey's English classes:

Bring your ARMS and fingers   

A.R.M.S. Revision Strategy

And Fingers for Writing with Sensory Images

 

originally published 3/30/12

April 3 -- Prompt 1

Describe each of your family members, but limit the number of words in each description to the age of each person. For example, your 37-year-old mother must be described in 37 words, your 16-year-old sister must be described in 16 words, and your 10-year-old cousin must be described in 10 words, and the baby who is one or less, will be described in (you guessed it) one word.

April 3 -- Prompt 2

Stand up and move to somewhere in the room by a bookshelf.  Grab the 7th book from the bookshelf or the seventh book in one of the clear plastic boxes. Open it up to page 7. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page. Begin a poem that begins with that sentence and limit it in length to 7 lines.  When you are done with a book,  please put it back where you found it.

April 3 -- Prompt 3

What did you eat for breakfast or lunch? Write a haiku about each item you ate ...  A haiku is a short poem with three lines.  The first line has 5 syllables, the second has 7 syllables, and the third has 5 syllables. Here's a haiku to help you remember:

I am first with five
Then seven in the middle --
Five again to end.   

Sample of a haiku about food: 
Granola is best
With  yogurt and fruit on top
A healthy breakfast.

April 3 -- Prompt 4

Open the dictionary to a random page. Find a word that you do not know how to define. Write an imaginary definition for it. Repeat until this time is up.   
Find dictionaries on the rolling book cart or on the counter at the back of the classroom. When you are done with the dictionary, please put it back on the dictionary shelf.

April 3 -- Prompt 5

Imagine an outer-space alien landed at your school. The creature has never before been to Earth. Explain to it -- that is, write in extremely meticulous detail -- how exactly to travel from your school to your home.

April 3 -- Prompt 6

On another page in your composition book, start two columns. In one column list ten nouns and in the other column list ten verbs. Pair them up randomly and write a sentence for each pair. Write a story that uses all ten sentences.

April 3 -- Prompt 7

Describe a first. Your first kiss (?!?), your first bike ride, your first day of school -- all will make excellent stories.

April 3 -- Prompt 8

Write a story that is 26 sentences long. Each sentence begins with a different consecutive letter of the alphabet, beginning with "a" and ending with "z."

April 3 -- Prompt 9

Hum the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Then compose new words that match the melody of the song. (Feel free to do the same with any other song you like!)