Weekly Agenda
Week of April 30
Week of April 15
We will be starting our playwriting/scriptwriting unit. Here’s our intro:Reflect on beginning of year goal - Canvas
Week of March 25
Week of March 13
Week of March 5
Nov. 28
Nov. 20
Week 16
Week 15
Remember, for feedback, leave comments on each piece - at least three comments on what’s working, three ideas for revision, and three questions raised by the piece
Week 14
MIDTERM
Week 13
Week 12
Week 11
Week 10
Ashley - NaNoWriMo, adding to your poetry collection
Rachel - continue writing poetry
Sarah - continue focusing on word choice/voice in poetry
Week 9
Week 8
Week 7
Feedback must have the following:
Week 6
Week 4 and 5
Workshop Guidelines
Group 1 will be Mariam, Esther, Nayeli, Alaysha, and Khymi (read and comment on each other's)
Group 2 will be Rachel, Ashley, and Sarah (read and comment on each other's)
Feedback must have the following:
Week 3
Week 1 and 2 - August 23-September 1
- Your free-writing prompt: tree.
- Drafting a Scene You Don't Know How to Write - Canvas exercise
- Writing a Monologue - Canvas exercise
- Begin writing an act of a play/TV show that we will continually revise - This should be submitted as a draft on Canvas
Week of April 15
We will be starting our playwriting/scriptwriting unit. Here’s our intro:Reflect on beginning of year goal - Canvas
- Intro to Playwriting - Canvas
- Playwriting reading - read through for next week
- 12 Lines of Dialogue exercise on Canvas
- 5/6 Workshop - Please use the LAST thing you have been working on and post by 4/24
- Workshop feedback - Please leave by Friday 4/27
Week of March 25
- Titles reading from Sol Stein
- Reflection on titles in Canvas
- Share contest pieces on here for workshop - last chance
- We are starting to put our lit mag Graffiti together - please post a new piece to the blog by the end of the quarter - see me if you need help
Week of March 13
- Please use this time to catch up on missing work
- Continue working on contest pieces
Week of March 5
- Contest to consider - March 15 deadline
- Please finalize your VHSL piece and give feedback to Esther and Finney. - March 15 submission date so March 14 due date
- Share contest pieces on here for workshop - Share by Monday, 3/12 and give feedback by Thursday, 3/15
Nov. 28
- T-shirts!!!! - order through site
- Writing contests - check through these and choose two to submit to
- Update on progress of year-long goal
- VHSL Workshop on Thursday
- Whoops - describe an embarrassing moment using specific, unique description
Nov. 20
- VHSL Workshop and Revisions
Week 16
- #FlashbackFriday - Write a flash piece about a time in your life - make sure it has an engaging introduction and circular ending
- Create a timeline of events depicting your life by using newspaper headlines. Try to focus on events that didn’t involve you directly, but connect them to the pivotal events in your life.
- Create a draft for Unfinished Jigsaw - Sarah and Ashley, this is your last one :(
- Share final Crossroads piece to me via Google Docs with NAME - CROSSROADS FINAL as the doc (if you haven't submitted directly to the contest)
Week 15
- Crossroads workshop - paste your draft that you submitted this week (only received two so far) in this doc
- Finalize VHSL piece on the VHSL doc - please let me know when you're available for workshop
- #highschoolin5words - This was a trending topic I saw on Twitter and we got some awesome responses in the ½ class - I’m curious to see how y’all would define your high school experience in only five words
Remember, for feedback, leave comments on each piece - at least three comments on what’s working, three ideas for revision, and three questions raised by the piece
Week 14
- Crossroads flyer - begin and submit a draft - we definitely have to represent here!
- Read "Some Given Forms" - I loved your reflections on the Poetic Sounds piece and this is from the same book - I'm not asking you to do anything with this, but I thought it would be helpful to read and that you would enjoy it.
- KTR Partnership? - Are you interested in having your writing featured in KTR and on their website? Let me know!
- “Remember to get the weather in your damn book--weather is very important.” - Ernest Hemingway - Go outside and compose at least a paragraph working the weather into a narrative - this can all be created as a separate piece or the weather can be incorporated into something you've already written. (you know we'd have to look at Hemingway at some point!)
MIDTERM
Week 13
- Read through poems that utilize lists - Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish" Gary Soto - "Ode to the Yard Sale"
- 15 minute exercise: For the first five minutes, create a list with as many items as possible. For the last ten minutes, you are going to create a poem utilizing the list you created. Post this under Canvas "10 Minute Spill"
- Please post a piece of your writing to Graffiti as part of your midterm grade - Use this guide for help: Graffiti posting
Week 12
- Read "Texas prisons ban..." and respond to Canvas discussion on banned books
- Sounds discussion on Canvas
- Feedback on Workshop doc
Week 11
- Thank you to those who have submitted their writing to Writers Eye.
- Please read through these contests and complete a draft for each - post to Canvas
- Read Sounds and be prepared to discuss next week
- Workshop doc - submit a piece of writing to workshop - comments coming next week (this could be a piece for one of the above contests)
Week 10
- Don't forget Joy of Reading and Writing
- Workshop VHSL drafts here - please post feedback by Friday
- Continue working on personal projects. Reflection in Canvas due 11/15 on what you accomplished. That may be...
Ashley - NaNoWriMo, adding to your poetry collection
Rachel - continue writing poetry
Sarah - continue focusing on word choice/voice in poetry
Week 9
- Submit Joy of Reading and Writing essay on Canvas
- Please post VHSL 2nd draft here
- Portfolio - please submit on Team Drive to the Portfolio folder
- Portfolio reflection - read through one person's portfolio (don't worry about who it is - everyone will get read by everyone eventually) - what did you notice when reading their portfolio and what would you recommend to that writer in order for them to have the strongest portfolio possible that truly shows who they are as a writer?
Week 8
- Reading good writing reflection in Canvas
- Begin assembling portfolio - seniors, this is something you'll need/might need for college applications, writing programs, scholarships, etc. Look through the work you've done over the past three or four years and begin assembling it in one place. Turn in a draft of your portfolio on Canvas.
- Read Sherman Alexie's "The Joy of Reading and Writing"
- Write a personal memoir piece that begins with your reading journey. See where this goes.
Week 7
- There were no VHSL or Writers Eye submissions to the doc below - please make sure that gets done. Feedback on these pieces is due this week.
- Here's the doc
Feedback must have the following:
- Three specific comments about what is working
- Three specific ideas for revision
- Three questions this work raised that you would like the writer to think about. These should be high level questions that can not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”
Week 6
- Our VHSL packet is not due until the spring, but like we decided last year, we are not going to wait until the last minute this year. Please spend time this week working on a draft in short story, poetry, or essay and add it here: VHSL doc
- Please keep writing - Everyone has different goals that they're working towards this year and right now, the best thing you can do is write. Send me writing for feedback, but the important thing is that you are writing consistently. Hopefully you can carve out some time in between the time it takes to apply to colleges (seniors) or the high number of rigorous courses you're all taking.
- Good Writing Reflection in Canvas - this is a brief reflection on good writing you've been reading lately. We will balance these kinds of responses along with some guided readings to increase your exposure to a wide range of writers.
- OPTIONAL - If you want to submit to Writers Eye, here is the self-guided tour to help you: SELF-GUIDED TOUR
Week 4 and 5
- Writers Eye field trip Tuesday, 9/19 at 11:30
- Workshop feedback - please see below for workshop guidelines - complete workshop comments by Thursday, 9/21 -
- FYI - workshop doc
- Finish characterization exercise (steps 4-6)
- Goal-setting for year - in Canvas - please let me know what your big picture goals are for the year so we can develop a plan together. This class is a lot more customizable because of the virtual nature.
Workshop Guidelines
Group 1 will be Mariam, Esther, Nayeli, Alaysha, and Khymi (read and comment on each other's)
Group 2 will be Rachel, Ashley, and Sarah (read and comment on each other's)
Feedback must have the following:
- Three specific comments about what is working
- Three specific ideas for revision
- Three questions this work raised that you would like the writer to think about. These should be high level questions that can not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”
Week 3
- Writers Eye trip is 9/19. We'll go to Bodos for lunch at 11:30 and be back to CHS during BKT. Please see me for permission form.
- Raymond Carver discussion on Canvas (due 9/12)
- Complete characterization steps 3-6. I only have one of these so far!
- Post a writing piece in the workshop doc by Wednesday, 9/13. The link is also under "Workshops" in Canvas. We'll do feedback next week.
- Read Flannery O'Connor's "Everything that Rises Must Converge" for next week
Week 1 and 2 - August 23-September 1
- Welcome back!
- Field trip: Writers Eye - September 21
- Survey
- Graffiti mag - please read through this - it's our lit mag and something we'll be building/editing as the year goes on.
- Why do you write? Think about the truths you want to tell as well as why you write. Stop by and see me in D219 for an index card that you'll create to go with the cards from our 1/2 class.
- We'll be looking at how to create strong, dimensional characters - Please read through this Characterization Exercise and complete steps 1-3. Don't forget to share w/ Kayser
- Begin a free writing piece that you can workshop in two weeks.
- Please familiarize yourself w/ workshop norms - Workshop norms
- Read Raymond Carver's "Why Don't You Dance?" and "Popular Mechanics" for discussion next week.
- Whoops - describe an embarrassing moment using specific, unique description