First Semester Exam

We have done a lot of soul-searching this semester. We have written two senior essays, delivered one to our peers, learned what it means to "write well," discussed topics ranging from happiness to forgiveness, read and written poems, met an author, and blogged blogged blogged. You all rock. I have really enjoyed this class so far; I hope you have too.

In thinking about what I felt was appropriate for our semester exam, I focused on three highlights from the course:

1. On Writing Well

2. Poetry

3. No Impact Man

I want this exam to be both a reflecting back and a looking forward, a culminating piece that also produces something new. Here are the details:

Pre-Exam

1. The first part of the exam should be completed before the exam period. You have already started on this challenge by practicing what Beavan preached on his blog (free write about what you care most about, what has made you happy and fulfilled in the past, and what circumstances you need to be your best self). Like he advocates, distill those free writes down into three respective bullet point lists. These lists should be presented on one sheet of paper but with appropriate titles so we understand which list is which.

2. I then want you to write a 500 word essay (this is a strict limit) that articulates your findings. You can go in any direction you want with this (you can analyze yourself, project your hope for the future, state what you want to pursue professionally or personally, write a "This I Believe" statement, etc.) but your essay MUST incorporate elements from your free writes/lists. And it must powerfully and effectively illustrate at least 10 On Writing Well principles. How will I know which 10? You will annotate them in your paper :-).

This part of the exam will be worth 70% of your exam grade.

During Exam

1. I will give you a list of poetic and writing terminology that we have covered this semester. You need to define and give an example of each.

2. I will give you two poems. You choose one and answer the "five essential questions" regarding the speaker, the tone, the message, etc. No longer essay required, but each of these responses needs to be developed and supported with evidence from the poem.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Passionate Shepherd Responses

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

Sir Walter Ralegh

IF all the world and love were young,           
     And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
     These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields:
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,—
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.
 

THE BAIT.
by John Donne

COME live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river whisp'ring run
Warm'd by thy eyes, more than the sun ;
And there th' enamour'd fish will stay,
Begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously to thee swim,
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

If thou, to be so seen, be'st loth,
By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both,
And if myself have leave to see,
I need not their light, having thee.

Let others freeze with angling reeds,
And cut their legs with shells and weeds,
Or treacherously poor fish beset,
With strangling snare, or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest ;
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies,
Bewitch poor fishes' wand'ring eyes.

For thee, thou need'st no such deceit,
For thou thyself art thine own bait :
That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,
Alas ! is wiser far than I.
   

Beavan's Blog

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/

More SIx Word Stories

I thought you gals would enjoy reading these.

The Sunflower: Two Relevant Articles from Today's NYTimes

Click here for an obituary on a SS guard in Italy.

Click here for an article on fraudulent withdrawals from a Holocaust Fund for survivors.

"What would I have done?"

Wiesenthal asks this question at the close of The Sunflower (btw, isn't it interesting how similar this is to the final question of No Impact Man? Anyways...). Before we read The Symposium and discuss what other people said in response to this question, we must first respond ourselves. In a well-crafted, well-written, well-organized short essay (300-600 words), define and describe what you would have done if placed in Wiesenthal's position. I know it is tough (impossible?) to understand all of the emotions and circumstances surrounding Wiesenthal's experience with the Nazi soldier--just do the best you can. Be honest. Support your stance with reasoning. And recognize that no matter what you choose, a decision like this might haunt you forever.

Please write and post this no later than Monday night.

One final request: please read over your classmates' posts before class on Wednesday. We will discuss then.

I'll miss you on Monday.

Forgiveness: 6 Words (The Sunflower)

Challenge: State your beliefs on forgiveness in 6 words or fewer.

No Impact Man: Final Writing Assignment

Okay, we read No Impact Man, we experienced our own No Impact Week, we have enjoyed thoughtful discussions, you have written amazing comments on the blog, and we even met Colin Beavan himself. We've come a long way--and I am excited about where we are heading next. But before we move on, let's channel this momentum and thoughtfulness into writing. Let's take stock of where we are as thoughtful human beings right now.

Your final assignment with regards to our study of NIM is to repond to one of the following prompts in a 800-1000 word essay:

1. Beavan's memoir is dotted with specific, powerful moments in his life that helped shape his beliefs (the Isabella ones immediately come to my mind). Describe a moment in your life that permanently changed you and helped shape you into who you are today. Be specific and honest.
2. "Knowing how to live is not something we have to teach children. Knowing how to live is something we have to be careful not to take away from them" (87). Discuss what we can learn from children about living.
3. "If it's not about getting more and more stuff and more and more technology, then what is it [this rat race] for?" (160). Beavan explores the meaning of life in his memoir a lot. In your opinion and experience, what is the point of this life? Support your assertions with specific illustrations from your own experience.
4. Develop one of your blog posts into a longer essay.
5. Using research that you or a classmate have presented to the class and posted on the blog, argue for a change in America by both presenting the current facts--and specifically describing a better alternative.
6. Beavan takes a hard look at his life in an effort to decide how he wants to change and live his life from here on out. With this in mind, what do you want your future to look like? Be specific to YOU.
7. Discuss a change you wish to see in the world--and what should be done about it. Be constructive and specific.

These essays will be worth 100 points. I will grade them (25 points each) on the following four elements: development and specificity of ideas, concise and thoughtful wording, powerful and effective organization of ideas, and grammar.

Due date: Friday, November 5. Let's make this one a hard copy.

What does happiness look like to you?

Suggested length: 2 thoughtful paragraphs.

No Impact Man Editorials

Post your editorials here. Remember the following suggestions:
1. Conversational in tone but polished in style.
2. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person--your choice.
3. Include at least quotation from Beavan's memoir.
4. Mention that Beavan is coming to GPS on Thursday (you can say "tomorrow" in your piece).
5. Generally, your piece should either educate the community on why they should come hear him speak, reflect on your own experience with the book, or discuss what Beavan has taught you.
6. Word Limit is absolutely 700 words.

Be honest--and thoughtful.

Let's get published.

Monday's HW: Read and respond

Read THIS and respond in a comment to the blog (10 points).

Our No Impact Week Experiences

This should be one of your most developed, thoughtful posts yet. Don't just summarize what you did for No Impact Week; rather, use this space to reflect upon your efforts and the effect (or lack thereof) these initiatives had on you this week. Be specific, be honest, and be thoughtful in your wording and content.

Value of post: 20 points (based on development of content and writing style/polish)

No Impact Man: Ch. 7-8 Response

Sorry I am opening this so late...

No Impact Man: Ch. 5-6 Response

Questions for Beavan

No Impact Man: Outside Research for Class

Team,

Each of you will be expected to bring in some form of outside information related to the content of the day's assigned reading. You will do this once during our study of No Impact Man.

This will be worth another 10 points. Here are my expectations:
1.) You will not just google a topic and read us what you find online. We can do that on our own.
2.) You will post your information on the blog (I will have a specific post for this) along with your sources. Be honest.
3.) You will challenge us to see an issue in No Impact Man in a new, fresh, perhaps local, definitely thought-provoking way.

You will earn anywhere from a 6-9 if you meet the above requirements. Want a 10? Get super creative and go above and beyond. Wow us.

No Impact Man Plan: Part Two

Okay, I feel like I need to be more specific and helpful when it comes to what I want to accomplish with this unit. Let me spell it out in bullet point format if you don't mind.

1. I want you to read the book (duh). Reading quizzes are fair game.

2. I want you to post a response (you decide what to write about) to 4 of the 5 reading assignments. The grading scale for this is posted under the Ch. 3-4 heading. These are due by the beginning of class on the day we discuss the respective reading.

3. For one of the reading assignments, I want each of you to bring in some form of supplementary material or outside information to enrich our class. This can relate to anything in the book (even ideas or initiatives from earlier chapters) but you must be thoughtful about it. What I mean by that is I do not want you to merely read off of a website you found or react to an idea personally. I want to see that you have looked into something that caught your eye in the reading. For example, I of course am very interested in the whole cloth v. disposable diaper debate. If I were "presenting," I might try to figure out exactly what the cost would be for each one, which might actually include figuring out how much water it takes to wash a load of them and then how many loads I might do a week, etc.

You of course could also take one of Beavan's initiatives and see how what role it plays here at GPS. Lots of directions you could go here--but you must make connections yourself. Don't just google some random information and try to pass it off as preparation. We can all google.

I also want you to post the content and sources for this information on the blog. There will be a special post for that, and the instructions will include my grading expectations.

4. I want us, as a class, to experience our own No Impact Week. I anticipate this being the week of Oct. 25-29 (Robin Hood week). Be thinking about 5 initiatives we could implement in our daily lives to give us a taste of Beavan's project. You will write about this during and afterwards.

5. Of course, we need to prepare for Beavan's visit. For now, let's start with a list of questions that we could ask Beavan when he visits our class. I will open a blog post for this, too (I know we are doing a lot of blogging, but I love having a common space where we can respond to and learn from each other). Everyone will need to post, at some point before Monday, Oct. 25, three questions you would like to ask Beavan. Be serious about this--you will be expected to ask him at least one of yours, and you don't want to ask a silly one...

6. After we all finish the second college essay, I am going to ask you to shift your writing energy to description. I will talk more about this later, but I want you to start thinking about something you want to CHANGE...

Okay, let me know if you have questions. Peace out.

No Impact: Ch. 3-4

Great job on the first postings. I enjoyed what you had to say.

A few notes as you compose your second blog post:

1.) Remember that you need to post for 4 of the 5 readings--not all 5.

2.) Proofread your post before publishing it. Yes, this is a "casual conversation" we are having here, but you are also publishing your writing for all to see; it should be grammatically correct and thoughtfully composed.

3.) Read and respond to your classmates' prior posts. As I said, this should be a conversation.

Go in any direction you want--just try to be sincere in your post. Mean what you say. Say what you mean.

How I will grade these:

* Each post will be worth 10 points (for a total of 40 points).

* 10 points: You challenge the rest of us to think about something in a new, thoughtful way. You push our understanding of the text. You introduce a new, original idea or push someone else's post to a higher level. Concise and grammatically correct.

* 9 points: Close to 10 but not completely original or polished.

* 8 points: Good post, but it might be repetitive, wordy, or underdeveloped. You don't offer much for us to consider.

* 7 points: Good intentions but needs more thought or revision.

* 6 points: Repetitive of someone else's post or riddled with errors. Hastily completed.

* 5 points: You did it--but not well.

Your grade will be deducted 1 point if the post isn't time stamped by class on the day we discuss that particular reading.

No Impact Man: The PLAN

Reading Schedule:
Wednesday, Oct. 6: Discussion of Ch. 1-2. Leaders:
Friday, Oct 8: Discussion of Ch. 3-4. Leaders:
Wednesday, Oct. 13: Discussion of Ch. 5-6. Leaders:
Wednesday, Oct. 20: Discussion of Ch. 7-8. Leaders:
Friday, Oct. 22: Discussion of Ch. 9 and epilogue. Leaders:
Thursday, Oct. 28: CLASS MEETING WITH COLIN BEAVAN

Blog Comments:
For 4 of the 5 reading assignments, I would like for you to respond to the reading in a blog comment. Please post under the appropriate chapter headline. In this comment, I mainly want you to react to the reading: record what you thought and felt as you were reading. Go in any direction you want--and by all means, please respond to and build on each other's comments--but just make sure that you are dealing with the specifics of the text. Let us know what you are really thinking!!

Discussion Leaders:
You will, along with several of your classmates, be responsible for leading class for twenty minutes on one of the sections. For this requirement, I mainly want you to do outside research about the topics Beavan initiates in your particular section and bring that additional information to class so we can see "the bigger picture" of what Beavan usually just touches on. Help put your section in a national, environmental, ethical, familial, or global context. Push us to think about the content in a deeper, more educated way.

Have fun with this!

On Writing Poetry

"The trick is to find out what we know, challenge what we know, own what we know, and then give it away in language."

"Good writing works from a simple premise: your experience is not yours alone, but in some sense a metaphor for everyone's."

Begin with what you know, and then let yourself move out from what you know into the larger questions. This is when you will enter into the world of discovery and imagination. Robert Frost said, "No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."

"As the minutes of your own life open and fall, catch them in poems. You've been given one life, one set of unique experiences; out of those particulars, make the poems only you can make."

~The Poet's Companion

Can you write a poem in 40 minutes? Maybe. It's tough. We are going to try. In an effort to give us direction and focus, I want to guide you through the beginning of your poem; after the first few lines, you are on your own: go where you want to go. Don't worry if what comes out is messy, shapeless, or different from what you intended; we can revise. The point today is to get a complete draft written.

1. Begin your poem with "I am from..."
2. Include at least three concrete details (proper names, specific objects) in the first five lines of the poem.
3. For at least the first ten lines of the poem, you cannot end a sentence at the end of a line.
4. Either the first or the second sentence in your poem needs to be short.
5. Go into depth and specific detail about at least one item/place/person in the first 10 lines of your poem.

Here is the beginning of my draft:

I am from a land where the grass is blue and the bourbon is strong,
where Light Up, Louisville! has more to do with tobacco than fireworks,
where thoroughbreds and basketball and Wendell Berry coexist in rolling harmony
because the hicks are also poets and the poets love to gamble
and everyone, yes everyone, agrees that the sun shines bright
on My Old Kentucky Home. With every visit, it looks even older.

**If you are having trouble, try...
1. asking a question
2. using personification or alliteration
3. changing your mind in your poem.
4. using italics or bold or all-caps
5. stating something plainly and boldly--even if it scares you
6. including dialogue
7. including lyrics from a song
8. responding to what people think about you or where you are from
9. use a cliche in a fresh way
10. replace adjectives with active verbs

Mad ME-taphors

MAD ME-TAPHORS!
Challenge: Create a metaphor that reveals something creative and concise about the REAL you…or the UNREAL you, if that’s better!
Due Date: This Friday!September 24, 2010…DON’T FORGET!

Simply fill out the mad lib below and submit it to the River Review website by the date above!
I am (noun), (present participle phrase)
Like (noun) (prep.) a (adj) (noun)

It makes more sense when you try it, so try it! Here’s a few samples from Ms. Berotti:
I am a student, staring at her assignment like a cow outside a new gate.
(okay, but it’s actually not so much a metaphor, though it does have a simile… try again:)
I am a cow, staring at each new gatelike suduko from the “difficult” book.
-----------------------------
How to submit: Click this link: http://staff.gps.edu/RiverReview/submit2010.html
And simply fill out the form with your submission!

Leads

Right after I reread Zinsser's chapter on Leads and Endings today, I flipped through this week's Newsweek. Guess what caught my attention?

The following are the opening sentences of all essays in the Sept. 13 issue:

People started jumping almost immediately.

Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat?

Barack Obama's redecoration of the Oval Office includes a nice personal touch: a carpet ringed with favorite quotations from Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, both Presidents Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the most startling things about the post-crisis landscape is how tone-deaf the wealthiest Americans remain to outrage over their Croesus-like pay packages.

As 56 million children return to the nation's 133,000 elementary and secondary schools, the promise of "reform" is again in the air.

Is there a company on earth, in any industry, that is as restless and innovative as Apple?

The name Ground Zero conjures up a vast emptiness, and for years, the site in fact did remain desolate, a public emblem of our grief.

The incident didn't get much international attention at the time: just another Predator strike on suspected jihadis in the mountains of North Waziristan.

In late January, Osama Bin Laden released an audiotape praising the Nigerian who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the 82-year-old firebrand of France's far right--the man who for decades has played on the inchoate fears, xenophobia, knee-jerk racism, and ill-disguised anti-Semitism of many of his supporters--had just finished speaking to the faithful on a farm not far from the English Channel.

It had all the trappings of a globally significant confab: big-deal appearances (by Google, BBC), a weighty theme ("the digital age"), and speechifying by international pooh-bahs.

Given a choice, no one would opt to get cancer.

In America's cultural life, there are foxes, there are hedgehogs, and there is Stanley Kauffmann.

It may have occurred to you that our culture's attention span for all things Justin Bieber knows no limit.

In 1934, when Gertrude Stein was invited to return to America from Paris to deliver a series of lectures, the thing that troubled her most, according to her companion, Alice B. Toklas, was "the question of the food she would be eating there."

John Grisham on Writing

In today's NYTimes, John Grisham reflects back on the jobs that preceded his fame as an author. I found the entire OpEd interesting, but I especially appreciated his closing paragraph:

I had never worked so hard in my life, nor imagined that writing could be such an effort. It was more difficult than laying asphalt, and at times more frustrating than selling underwear. But it paid off. Eventually, I was able to leave the law and quit politics. Writing’s still the most difficult job I’ve ever had — but it’s worth it.

To check out the entire essay, go here.

I'm Not Sure...

After you read On Writing Well Ch. 1-3 for Thursday's class, I would like for you to post a comment that reflects on your own college essay. In this comment, copy sentences from your essay that are causing you problems, whether they be grammatical or syntactical. Do you have a sentence that seems wordy but you don't know how to improve upon it? Write it out in your comment box. Are you not sure if you need a comma or a semicolon? Write it out. Do you want to include a list in your essay but can't figure out how to use parallel structure correctly? Write it out.

In essence, this is your chance to get feedback on the writing part of your essay before you submit a draft for a grade on Friday.

List as many as you would like. Use this opportunity.

Draft Requirements

Your college essay draft #1 is due Wednesday. This draft should include:
1. a hook
2. thematic statements
3. powerful open or closed ending
4. 1st person viewpoint
5. a theme
6. a title
7. clear, focused tone
8. a story

You can do it...

Sample Hook Openers

All my life I've been told I am going to hell.

Welcome to Washington, D.C., where government nerds have all the power and senators are treated like rock stars.

Looking back at the last few years, I'm appalled at my education.

Sometimes dreams are deferred.

I can admit it now: I never accepted the theory, advanced in my childhood, that girls can do anything.

As strange as it may sound, I got my life's ambition from watching a Disney movie.

My first victim was a woman--white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties.

Given my blonde hair, blue eyes, and English pedigree, I would be a WASP poster girl. In fact, I've spent most of my life surrounded by people who look just like me.

My first real run-oin with sexism came when I was 17 after I told my grandfather I wanted to be a doctor. "Why don't you be a nurse?" he replied.

Hitting a tree at 70 mph was the best thing that ever happened to me.

College App Essay Proposal

In class today, I would like for you to narrow your focus for your college essay. To this end, your comment for this post should be in outline format and needs to include the following information:

I. First line:
Goals of Paragraph One/information to include:

II. Goals of the essay as a whole. What information about yourself do you want to convey?

III. List at least 10 details of your story.

IV. Conclusion: If possible, draft the final sentence of your essay. If you can't get there yet, paraphrase what point/impact you are going to strive to make at the end.

Choosing a Topic Tips (College App Essay)

Choose a topic that...

* gives insight into your character
* rounds out your application (if your resume screams musical theatre, consider writing your essay on something totally different)
* is "a small moment"--and then we will express it well
* lets down your guard a bit, lets others in
* shows you are aware of a world beyond your own home, school, grades, and scores
* enables you to be descriptive
* no one else could write (unique to you)
* enables you to be confident but not boastful
* enables you to tell a story
* has a clear focus
* responds thoughtfully to the exact wording of the prompt
* enables you to show your sense of humor--or a topic that is fun!
* is true to yourself (this isn't the time to reinvent yourself)

**You do not need to write about a "BIG EVENT."

College Essay Topics: Part 2

If you are having trouble posting your reply for tonight's homework, try posting it under this post rather than the original...I wonder if perhaps we hit the comment word limit? Is there such a thing?

Sorry for your troubles!

Interesting Article: Are college students studying less?

This "Room for Debate" article in today's NYTimes asks several authorities to weigh in on a supposed trend in college: studying less. I found the five voices featured here, along with reader comments, to be thought-provoking. Check it out here.

Grading the Blog

Our class blog will hopefully serve the following purposes:

1. Provide you with an accessible format by which you can write freely and easily about what we are discussing and reading and writing in class.

2. Enable you to read and respond to (and learn from) your peers' insights and reactions.

3. Enable our discussions in class to continue even after the bell rings.

4. Help you generate ideas for more significant writing responses.

5. Provide access to web links that relate to our studies.

6. Save paper.

Each blog response will be worth 10 points. I will grade them when I read them, but I won't email you or give you your grade every day; that will simply take too much time. Rather, I will keep a spreadsheet of the grade you earned on each blog post; you are welcome to ask me for your grades at any time. Here is how the 10 possible points break down:

1 - Original (different from everyone else's)

1 - Thought-provoking (takes discussion in a new direction)

1 - Well-developed (not too brief or confusing)

1 - Concise, smart use of diction

1 - Clearly demonstrates a thorough understanding and interaction with text

1 - Posted by the beginning of B period on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays; by 7:30 on Wednesdays.

2 - Incorporates specific details/quotes from text to support point.

2 - Grammatically clean.

For the final two areas (each worth a possible 2 points), you can earn partial credit. For example, if your post is generally grammatically correct but includes a couple usage, spelling, or punctuation errors, you will receive 1 out of the possible 2 points. If it is riddled with errors (you clearly didn't proofread), you will receive 0.

Let me know if you have questions.

College Essay: Brainstorming

Isn't "brainstorming" a weird word? I just thought of that as I wrote it. Anyways...

Okay, team, let's get going on the focus for the first quarter and the piece of writing you will hopefully be proud to call your own for the rest of your life: the college application essay.

Don't think of this essay as stress-inducing, identity-defining, or fate-determining. Rather, view this essay as your chance to show those admissions officers that you are so much more than just a name or number or file. You are special, thoughtful, interesting, and dynamic (it's true--I am not just saying that), and this short statement is your chance to illustrate this to them. View this as an opportunity, not an obligation.

That said, this is also a chance for you to stop at this point in your life and capture in words who you are, what/who helped get you to this point, and perhaps where you want to go from here. You aren't writing a literary analysis of Huck Finn here, or a research paper on the floods in Pakistan; you are writing a personal essay about yourself. Get excited.

Okay, so you asked for a little help determining what you could write about for this essay. Tonight's blog post will hopefully help in this regard. Let's begin with the essay prompts. The following are the six essay options provided on the Common Application 2010-2011. Many schools accept the Common App, and these essays will usually also fit the essay questions of schools that don't use the common app.:

1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

4.Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

6. Topic of your choice.

Your homework tonight is to brainstorm possible responses to these topics. You can do this in one of two ways:

1.) If you are already inspired and know what you want to write about, you can simply generate a list of ten possible essay topics. Each one should be detailed enough to give me and your classmates a good sense of what the essay would be about and how it reveals something significant about you.

2.) If you aren't there yet (and I don't blame you if you aren't), here is what I ask you to do tonight: Copy the following subject areas into your comment box and respond in bullet-point form. You are simply generating ideas here of who and what have impacted your life, what is important to you, and what makes you unique. You don't need to word your responses in essay topic format--simply take stock of your life and answer honestly and thoughtfully. You can divide your responses however you like, but to have a complete blog post, you need to list 20 total.

1. What experiences in your life stand out?

2. Who has had a significant impact on you, good or bad, and how?

3. Name the biggest lessons you have learned thus far and how you learned them.

4. Name a time when you were inspired.

5. What are you most proud of?

6. What are you most passionate about?

7. Name a time when you were humbled.

8. Name a time when everything came together for you.

9. Name a time when everything fell apart.

10. What are the best parts and worst parts about where and how you grew up?

11. Name a time when you had to make a difficult decision.

12. Name a moment when you knew you were changed forever.

13. What is your greatest strength?

14. What is your biggest weakness?

15. Name a time when you were successful.

16. Name a time when you failed.

17. What is your most satisfying accomplishment to date?

18. Name a time when an experience with a piece of art (book, music, visual art., etc.) impacted you.

19. Who do you most admire and why?

20. What risks have you taken in your life and how did they turn out?

21. What frustrates you the most?

22. What makes you feel the most alive?

World Newspaper Map Link

Put your mouse on a city anywhere in the world and the newspaper headlines pop up. Double click and the page gets larger....pretty cool!

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

What we still want/need to work on...

· Coming up with essay topics
· Being creative
· Making a paper really interesting/engaging
· Putting passion into writing without putting too much of yourself into it
· Sound authentic
· Knowing how to understand poetry
· Knowing how to annotate a text meaningfully (non-fiction harder than fiction). Making a connection with text. How to be an intentional “happy highlighter”

What we know already about writing well...

Effective writing includes the following...

· Clear point, direction (know where it’s going)
· Engaging
· Concise
· Punctuation/grammatically correct
· Sentence variation
· Transitions that help paper flow
· Everything is related to point/thesis
· Detail (sensory, descriptive, concrete images). Want reader to visualize your subject. But not too much.
· Good word choices (variation, concise/intentional)

Checking In

Ernest Hemingway deemed the following his greatest work: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." This "6 word story" form has become very popular as of late, for like Twitter, it challenges writers to say a lot but in a concise way.

To begin our year, I thought I would "check in" with each of you to see where you are as a person right now. In a 6 word statement, describe how you are feeling or what you are thinking about at this particular point in your life.

Summer Reading Reactions

In preparation for 12th grade English, you read two pretty provocative books. Compare and contrast Zeitoun and Salvation on Sand Mountain. You can focus your response on any element of the two works (character, organization, tone, style, message, readability, etc.) but make sure to support your reactions with specific evidence from the text. Try to help us see these works from a new angle or in a different way.

For this and all future blog posts, please follow these guidelines:

1.) Post should be long enough to convey your point clearly, cohesively, and convincingly. You also want to be to the point, though--don't make us read more words than we need to.

2.) Proofread your post before submitting it.

3.) Keep in mind that you are writing for your peers. We are an educated audience (in other words, we have read what you have read, so don't waste time with plot summary or intros)

4.) Be original. Read what your peers have posted before you--and don't repeat what they said. You can build upon what they posted, responding to them by name, but you don't want to merely agree with them; add something new. Also, please don't post any ideas you found online. If you want to reference another work, great--but reference it. Your post should be what you are thinking...

5.) Posts should appear on blog by the beginning of B period on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays; by 7:30 on Wednesdays.