found on Goodreads
“It's easier to floss with barbed wire than admit you like someone in middle school.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak
“Maturity is when your world opens up and you realize that you are not the center of it.”
― M.J. Croan
“No adolescent ever wants to be understood, which is why they complain about being misunderstood all the time.”
― Stephen Fry, Moab Is My Washpot
“And when she started becoming a “young lady,” and no one was allowed to look at her because she thought she was fat. And how she really wasn’t fat. And how she was actually very pretty. And how different her face looked when she realized boys thought she was pretty. And how different her face looked the first time she really liked a boy who was not on a poster on her wall. And how her face looked when she realized she was in love with that boy. I wondered how her face would look when she came out from behind those doors.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“Adolescence is like having only enough light to see the step directly in front of you.”
― Sarah Addison Allen, The Girl Who Chased the Moon
“After all, we were young. We were fourteen and fifteen, scornful of childhood, remote from the world of stern and ludicrous adults. We were bored, we were restless, we longed to be seized by any whim or passion and follow it to the farthest reaches of our natures. We wanted to live – to die – to burst into flame – to be transformed into angels or explosions. Only the mundane offended us, as if we secretly feared it was our destiny . By late afternoon our muscles ached, our eyelids grew heavy with obscure desires. And so we dreamed and did nothing, for what was there to do, played ping-pong and went to the beach, loafed in backyards, slept late into the morning – and always we craved adventures so extreme we could never imagine them. In the long dusks of summer we walked the suburban streets through scents of maple and cut grass, waiting for something to happen.”
― Steven Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter
“At that age you think boys have as much personality as coat hangers and, you don't notice their looks.
Then you grow up.”
― John Marsden, Tomorrow, When the War Began
“The hardest thing about adolescence is that everything seems too big. There's no way to get context or perspective, ..... Pain and joy without limits. No one can live like that forever, so experience finally comes to our rescue. We come to know what we can endure, and also that nothing endures.”
― Sara Paretsky, Bleeding Kansas
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Thirteen Ways, or Five Ways, or . . . . Poems
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174503
A Gloss on "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" from Nancie Atwell
Stanza 1 The blackbird is a tiny detail in a vast, still landscape.
Stanza 2 A smile in which the blackbird suggests the speaker's frame of mind
Stanza 3 The world is a stage act or Punch and Judy show; the blackbird is but one of the players.
Stanza 4 A metaphorical math problem
Stanza 5 A philosophical proposition or meditation
Stanza 6 A mystery story out of Poe, starring the blackbird
Stanza 7 A sermon or Bible quotation
Stanza 8 The blackbird is the salt of the earth: human intelligence and culture grounded by nature
Stanza 9 A metaphysical geometry problem
Stanza 10 A legend or myth
Stanza 11 A fairy tale
Stanza 12 A pearl of folk wisdom from the farmer's almanac
Stanza 13 Once again the blackbird is a tiny detail in a vast landscape, but this time we seem to be viewing him at something like the end of the world.
More examples: http://mrsbraman.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/thirteen-ways-examples.pdf
A Few Ways to Look At A Match
1.
Life, fire, birth,
a new beginning.
2.
All these years in its
box,
only to be used
once.
Once.
3.
The boundary between
a rollicking
fireworks display
on the fourth
day of July
and darkness
4.
I wonder,
what does it feel?
A transformation
like Cinderella's?
Strike. . .
5.
The feel
of warmth
on my fingers. .
ghostlike.
6.
A hand.
A strike.
A fire.
A life.
A death.
---- Chris Kunitz
Eight Ways of Looking at a Car
-- by Ms. Dorsey, April 2014 -- First Draft
To a very small grandchild of mine,
Anything that can roll or slide goes "Vroom, vroom!"
One of the four things I could draw
To keep small children entertained
in church.
Sitting in the backseat for hours
Siblings on either side
Move over!
You're breathing my air!
Roadtrip boredom!
But Disneyland at the end!
A reflection and proof of success.
The value of your car shows how valuable you are.
The second, and to some the first, proof
That we have achieved the American Dream --
Freedom of choice of size and color and horse-power,
and freedom to go from one place to another on your own schedule.
Evil belcher of pollution,
Main cause of global warming and (cough, cough) Utah Valley inversion.
Gleaming, polished speed!
I'll race ya!
Transportation -- pure and simple.
_________________________________
Topics for ___ Ways Poems
time
doors gates fences homes tape phone chairs paper maps |
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Veronica Roth -- Author of Divergent -- and Advice for Writers
http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/p/faqs.html
Read about her, then --
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for lots of links to writing advice.
Friday, March 14, 2014
 |
| Happy Pi Day! |
Announcements and Reminders:
Extra Credit is available if you are great for the sub! |
Today’s Agenda:
1. Make a list: How many stories can you think of in which a main character starts out in the real world and somehow enters another world? You can use books, movies, television shows, etc. Here are a couple to get you started: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (The children enter Narnia by several different ways in the series.) The Wizard of Oz ("Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.") What others can you think of? Here are a few more: Going into Another World 2. Read-Aloud from Alice in Wonderland 3. Read the first chapter of Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins 4. Prepare to write a story about falling (or otherwise entering) an Underland of your own creation! Use your composition books for your sketches and writing. 5. If you have time, get started writing your story. |
If you were absent:
You can read the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland at https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-I.html You can read the first chapter of Gregor the Overlander at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4682840 Ask for the handout for writing your story when you come back. You can, even without the handout, start writing a story about an Underland of your own creation. |
There will be no Cave Time on Thursday, March 13 or Friday, March 14
in Ms. Dorsey’s Classroom.
Please make sure you’ve handed in any late or revised work
(or extra credit)
for Term 3 by the end of the day
on Friday.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
 |
| Self-Starter: Write about this Metaphor -- My Brain is a. . . . You could change the metaphor, but keep it focused on your brain. |
What is an extended metaphor?
Announcements and Reminders: Your children's books need to be finished and turned in!
Extra credit is available if you are good for the substitute. |
Today’s Agenda:
1. Prompt: See above 2. About metaphors (figurative language) -- Adding spice to your writing. 3. Flagrantly write metaphors! In your composition book write down as many metaphors as you can: The girl was as _____ as a _____. The boy was as _____ as a _____. |
If you were absent:
|
Quick as a Cricket
Metaphors
figurative language, found poetry, mystery, an underland
Friday, March 7, 2014
Metaphors
“Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in
the least space.”
― Orson Scott Card, Alvin Journeyman
Friday, March 7, 2014
Announcements and Reminders:
|
Today’s Agenda:
Prompt: Describe the ideal backyard. What would yours be like? ChromeBooks: Finish your Children's Books and send or turn them in to Ms. Dorsey. Finish your Me-Bag Stories. |
If you were absent:
|
 |
| Places to write! |
 |
| Places to write! |
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