DAily Plan
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
- Browse Duotrope.com for potential places to submit a writing piece to. Choose three after reading through their pieces and submission guidelines.
- Login to duotrope.com - [email protected] Password - blackknights
- Draft a cover letter for a piece that you’ve worked on throughout the year and are proud of. Include a third-person biography after the letter. See below for a sample.
- Submit your story to at least three publications. You can view publications on duotrope.com. Make sure you bcc [email protected] on your submissions.
"A Bullet in the Brain"
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
- Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! - Write a letter to a teacher you've had in the past and let them know they're appreciated - maybe how they helped you, what they meant to you, how you look back on their class today...we can mail ones that are not in CCS and deliver the ones to local teachers - please hand these in when you're finished.
- Read through these playwriting tips
- Lit Mag assembly - three committees - one team needs to post recent submissions to the Wordpress blog, one team needs to work on formatting the works, including photography, into magazine format, and one team needs to plan an evening open mic/release party for the lit mag starting at 5 pm on Thursday, May 28. Have one person from each committee email me about who was on their committee and what was accomplished.
Monday, May 4, 2015
- Continue workshop
Friday, May 1, 2015
- Continue workshop
Thursday, April 30, 2015
- Humblebragging - read and create yours on this doc
- Finish scene told in three ways (comedy, horror, romance)
- Revise script
- We'll continue workshop on Friday (hopefully outside!)
Monday, April 27, 2015
- Scriptwriting ideas
- Write three short scenes (each 1/2 page). NO DIALOGUE. The same character walks alone through the same surroundings (interior or exterior) three different times. NO DIALOGUE. Use concise, creative description to alter the mood and atmosphere of each scene: The first time we get the feeling we’re in a horror film. The second time a romance. The third time a cheerful comedy.
- Hints: Use night/day, lighting, props, sounds, wardrobe, and movement. Ask where the character is coming from/going, how the character moves, what is the next scene, what same elements can be used in each scene, but to different effect?
- Friday, April 24, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
- Paste some of your works into AnalyzeMyWriting. What do you notice? Write a short reflection about patterns you see as well as any surprises or things you want to work on.
- Read through the following rules at an actual (albeit very conservative) college. Create a unique place and without describing the place, create a set of rules for this place. Add them to this doc when you’re done
Monday, April 20, 2015
- If you want to follow me in the marathon, it starts at 10 am. The site is baa.org and my number is 4735!
- Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s top novels and work on this together
- Scriptwriting time - have a scene finished by Friday for workshop on Tuesday
Thursday, April 16, 2015
- Screenwriting tips
- Seinfeld's "The Nap" Video 1 Video 2 Video 3
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
- Workshop
Monday, March 30, 2015
- Anthology and event planning teams work time
- HW: Read workshop pieces
Friday, March 27, 2015
- Last day of 3rd quarter
- Turn in writing log
- Writing and revision time - drafts due at end of class
Thursday, March 26, 2015
- Discuss "The Last Department"
- Writing and revision time
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
- Graffiti update
- Discuss creative process and B.J. Novak stories
- Writing and revision time
Monday, March 23, 2015
- Updated pictures!
- Writing log reminder
- Voting!
- Recap plans from Friday for anthology and open mic
- Writing and revision time
- HW: Read "Say Yes! to Everything" for Tuesday and “The Last Department” for Thursday. Also, new draft and revision of a 2nd quarter draft (with explanation of revisions made and why) due Friday
Friday, March 20, 2015
- Field trip
Thursday, March 19, 2015
- “Claire of the Sea Light” quiz
- Discuss “Claire of the Sea Light”
- Writing time
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
- Workshop
- HW: Read “Claire of the Sea Light” by Edwidge Danticat by Thursday
Monday, March 16, 2015
- Emulation - type two pages of work from one of your favorite authors
- Discussion - what did you notice during this exercise?
- Writing time
- HW: Read “Claire of the Sea Light” by Edwidge Danticat by Thursday
Congrats!!!
Friday, March 13, 2015
- Showing and not telling using "Hemingway's Caroms"
- Sharing character sketches
- Writing time
- HW: Draft due Monday at 9 am for Tuesday's workshop
Thursday, March 12, 2015
- Emulationy exercise and discussion
- Writing time - submit draft for next Tuesday’s workshop
- HW: Bring favorite book or short stories to class on Friday
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
- Workshop
Monday, March 9, 2015
- Setting the scene exercise and sharing
- Writing time
- HW: Read through workshop pieces and bring in a piece of writing from your favorite author on Thursday
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
- Read “Thwarting Desire: The Basics of Plotting” and discuss
- Discuss Danticat’s “The Missing Peace”
- Writing time - draft due Friday at the end of class
Monday, March 2, 2015
- Writing logs
- Maya Angelou news
- Self-doubt
- Writing time - free choice - draft due Friday at the end of class
- HW: Read Edwidge Danticat’s “The Missing Peace”
Friday, February 27, 2015
- Submit Giving Kindness poem to [email protected]
- Submit a piece to Unfinished Jigsaw, the collection of CCS works - email a piece to [email protected]
- Writing time - free choice
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
- Finish poetry workshop
- Submit Giving Kindness poem to [email protected]
- Submit a piece to Unfinished Jigsaw, the collection of CCS works - email a piece to [email protected]
- Writing time - free choice
- Graffiti update
Monday, February 23, 2015
- Writing logs and developing habits
- Finish Giving Kindness workshop
Thursday, February 19, 2015
- Giving Kindness poetry workshop
Monday, February 16, 2015
- "The Missing Piece"
- Giving Kindness poetry work time - share a draft by the end of class
Friday, February 13, 2015
- Submit to VA Festival contest
- Begin "Giving Kindness" contest
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
- Discuss Marquez
- Small workshop time for Festival contest
- Revision time
- HW: Read Edwidge Danticat's "Krik Krak" for Friday
Monday, February 9, 2015
- Share flash fiction
- Post to Graffiti
- Finalize contest poster
- HW: Revise piece for Festival of the Book contest and finish Marquez story
Friday, February 6, 2015
- Continue workshop
Thursday, February 5, 2015
- Post to Graffiti?
- Revision time for contest based on workshop feedback
- Finish flash fiction or typewriter series piece to turn in by Friday
- Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez story (passed out on Tuesday)
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
- VA Festival of the Book contest workshop
Monday, February 2, 2015
- What is flash fiction?
- The typewriter series
- Typewriter poem
- Graphic design time - need graphics for the contest and submitting work to Graffiti
- HW: Read submissions for workshop tomorrow
Friday, January 30th, 2015
- 50 best first sentences
- CHS Graffiti update
- T-shirt update
- Writing warm-up
- Writing time
Thursday, January 29th, 2015
- Publication goals
- Promotions
- Check-in on contest writing
- Writing time
- HW: Contest entry rough draft due Friday morning
Tuesday, January 27th, 2015
- Writer's Block today!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson on Change
- Don't Share!
- Writing/revision time for contest - have a piece ready to share by Friday so we can workshop next Tuesday
Monday, January 26th, 2015
- Writer's Block Creative Writing Club - Meeting tomorrow after school and every Tuesday
- VA Festival of the Book contest writing time
Friday, January 23rd, 2015
- Finish workshop
- Writing time
Wednesday, January 21st, 2015
- Welcome!
- Writer's Workshop
Friday, January 16th, 2015
- Workshop
Tuesday, January 13th, 2015
- Work on poster or set up submission letter and submission tracker
- Contest submissions
- Five new postings to Graffiti
- Writing time
Monday, January 12th, 2015
- Creative writing poster
- Writing log
- Edwidge Danticat - “A Year and a Day” - Writing for outsiders, imagery in non-fiction, style
- Writing time
Friday, January 9th, 2015
- Finish resolution cards
- Share resolution cards
- Writing time - We'll start with a workshop this Thursday (write about anything in any format or genre), and continue on Tuesday, so we'll need about 6-7 volunteers to submit work by Monday, and then the rest need to submit a piece by Thursday next week.
Thursday, January 8th, 2014
- "To-Do List"
- "Under the Stairs"
- Writing time
Tuesday, January 6th, 2015
- "When the World Ends"
- Writing resolutions
- Breaking conventions
- Writing time
Monday, January 5th, 2015
- Welcome back!
- For Raeann
- "Thought" verbs advice
- Writing resolutions
- Breaking conventions
Thursday, December 11th, 2014
Tuesday, December 9th, 2014
- Selection from Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life
- In groups, discuss Tobias Wolff's style and what worked in this selection. Share your notes with me (email or Google Doc)
- Holiday project time - complete by end of period and share with me
- Work on distortion of reality writing piece - email if questions
- Post any new writing pieces that you want to publish to CHS Graffiti
- HW: Finish distortion piece by Friday
Monday, December 8th, 2014
- Midterm exam schedule
- "New Republic Exodus"
- If you've got writer's block
- "6 Reasons Why Winter is the Best Time for Writing"
Monday, December 1st, 2014
- "The Other Miller" by Tobias Wolff
- Writing time
- Your midterm is 20% of your total grade. It'll involve creating a writing piece as a short story and poetry and examining the similarities and differences between the two pieces. There will also be a reading where you will analyze the writer's style and elements of the story. Please stop by if you have any questions.
Monday, November 24th, 2014
- Continue memoir workshop
Friday, November 21st, 2014
- Memoir workshop
Thursday, November 20th, 2014
- Workshop materials
- Graffiti submission!
- "Something Isn't Right" by Augusten Burroughs
- HW: Read workshop pieces for tomorrow
Tuesday, November 18th, 2014
- “That’s what I do with novels. There’re no novels that I like to read so I write my own novels, and then I read them again, and it’s the best thing.” - Willow Smith
- Check grades
- Self-evaluation on your blog - What is going well in your writing? How do you want to improve? What do you think you need to do to improve?
- Cover letter for submitting work
- 15 minutes to finish embarrassing stories
- Share embarrassing stories
- HW: Submit memoir piece by Wednesday at 9 am for full credit
Monday, November 17th, 2014
- Share dream and snapshot poems with me
- Graffiti posting guidelines
- Oops - an exercise in embarrassment
- HW: Read memoir piece for workshop Tuesday
Thursday, November 12th, 2014
- Finalize t-shirt design
- Graffiti posting guidelines - demonstration and written out
- Memoir writing time
- HW: Have memoir piece shared by 9 am on Monday for our workshop on Tuesday
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014
- James Salter reading tonight at 5 pm
- T-shirt design wrap-up and presentations
- Overcoming Perfectionism
- David Sedaris reading
- Memoir writing - Begin a memoir of a
- Submitting work to lit mags - compose a letter to editor
Monday, November 10th, 2014
- Congrats to our All-District Choir members!!!
- Sharing snapshot poems
- Lucinda Williams on Compassion
- T-shirt design teams
- English class talks
Friday, November 7th, 2014
- Congrats, Field Hockey!!!
- Snapshot poetry
- Graffiti Launch Party
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014
- Poetry dream exercise
- Rita Dove's "Fifth Grade Autobiography"
- Graffiti marketing ideas
Friday, October 31st, 2014
Happy Halloween!
- Complete poetry contest entry forms
- Edgar Allen Poe's "The Telltale Heart"
Thursday, October 30th, 2014
Tuesday, October 28th, 2014
- Poetry Workshop
Monday, October 27th, 2014
- Share poem with me by Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.
- James Salter tonight at U.Va's Special Collections Library - 6 p.m. (extra credit)
- Do you have anything for Graffiti?
- Writer's Emergency Pack
- Writing time
Friday, October 24th, 2014
- Submit final polished piece
- Graffiti committees
Thursday, October 23rd, 2014
- Graffiti committees
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014
- Overcoming writer's block
- Poetry contest
- Poetry time (poetry workshop next week)
- Editing mini-workshop
- Graffiti
Monday, October 20th, 2014
- Graffiti work - almost there!
Friday, October 17th, 2014
- Graffiti time - the goal is to have the site up and running by the end of the first quarter
Thursday, October 16th, 2014
- James Salter article in The Cav Daily
- Jhumpa Lahiri at work
- Workshop
- Graffiti time - the goal is to have the site up and running by the end of the first quarter
Monday, October 13th, 2014
- James Salter is speaking at U.Va!!!!! - extra credit for anyone who goes!
- Make sure your story is submitted
- George Saunders - "Sticks"
- Sherman Alexie - "The Limited"
- Check-in on stories and Graffiti
Friday, October 10th, 2014
- For students without technology, someone can use the desktop computer and someone can use the Chromebook - to log in to the Chromebook use your full CHS email address and password.
- Writing time (submit a creative piece, finish your list, etc...)
- CHS Graffiti planning time
Thursday, October 9th, 2014
- 1. List-making
- Create a list
- Graffiti time
Tuesday, October 7th, 2014
- Short story
- Flannery O'Connor - "The River"
- Graffiti time
Monday, October 6th, 2014
- Finish CHS Graffiti guidelines
- Short story
- Flannery O'Connor - "The River"
- HW: Have a piece for next workshop shared by Friday at 9 am
Friday, October 3rd, 2014
- Workshop Leah's story
- 10 tips for memoir writers
- CHS Graffiti guidelines
Thursday, October 2nd, 2014
- Writing time
Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
- Writing workshop
Friday, September 26th, 2014
- Stories are shared with you in Google Drive
- GoodReads
- Feedly
- One way to deal with banned books
- Graffiti online mag
- Turn in an edited piece by next Friday - This will be a test/project grade
Thursday, September 25th, 2014
- Daily writing prompts
- Ernest Hemingway quote - “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say."
- Show, Don't Tell
- Writing time
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014
- Maurice Sendek interview (Where the Wild Things Are, among others)
- Discuss Sherman Alexie's "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven"
- POV exercise
- Writing time
- HW: Submit a new writing piece by Thursday night
Monday, September 22nd, 2014
- What is Point of View (POV)? - read through this
- Read and discuss Sherman Alexie's "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven"
- Some background info on Sherman Alexie if you're interested
Friday, September 19th, 2014
- Writer's Block Club meets this coming Monday starting at 3:50 in our room
- Update blog with any stories you're ready to post
- Conference and writing time
- HW: Read interview w/ James Salter
Thursday, September 18th, 2014
- Small group workshop
- Writing time
- Make sure you have a piece shared with me by Friday morning so I can print it out for next Tuesday's workshop
Tuesday, September 16th, 2014
- Writer's Workshop
- HW: Share one piece of writing with me for next Tuesday's workshop by Friday morning at 9:00
Monday, September 15th, 2014
Friday, September 12th, 2014
- Read Junot Diaz interview and blog about something in the interview that struck you as interesting or something that you could use that would help you as a writer
- Writing time
Thursday, September 11th, 2014
- "Four of a Kind"
- Writing time - by the end of class have a document shared w/ me ([email protected]) that I can print for our workshop on Tuesday
Tuesday, September 9th, 2014
- Writing warm-up
- Sign up for Edublog and post info here. If you already have another blog and want to use that, you can.
- Characterization
- Writing time
Monday, September 8th, 2014
- Have a piece shared with the class by Thursday night - we are going to have a class workshop next Tuesday (9/16).
- Discuss "Midnight Basketball" by Sherman Alexie
- Workshop your writing if you haven't done so already - this is the last day for the first workshop process
- HW: Read Steal Like an Artist chapters 3 and 4 and work on a new writing piece
Friday, September 5th, 2014
- Discuss "Midnight Basketball" by Sherman Alexie
- Brainstorming urls for our online lit mag Graffiti
- Writing time
- HW: Work on revisions to workshopped piece
Thursday, September 4th, 2014
- Workshop pieces in groups
- Writing time
- HW: Read Steal Like an Artist Ch. 2 and "Midnight Basketball" by Sherman Alexie
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014
- Lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Writing groups and feedback process
- Making a Wordle
- Writing time (we'll have our first workshop on Thursday)
- HW: Make sure one of your writing pieces is shared with members of your writing group and that you read through your group members' writing pieces and jot down feedback for them
Friday, August 29th, 2014
- Making a Wordle
- Writing time
Thursday, August 28th, 2014
- Thank you, Leah!
- Quick question
- Warm-up: What are your thoughts on this quote? How does this affect your writing. This is something you can write in Google Docs and post it to your blog later, of if you already have a blog, can post it straight there. “To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”
—Allen Ginsberg, WD - Writing time
- HW: Read Steal Like An Artist (Chapter 1) and have a piece ready for workshopping on Monday
Tuesday, August 26th, 2014
- Warm-up in Google Drive
- Read "My 14-Hour Search for Endless Mozzerella Sticks"
- Writing time: Today you're going to start a writing piece that you will continue to work on and hopefully submit for publication. You can choose what you write about or use the following guidelines: Similar to what Raymond Carver did in "Popular Mechanics," create a short story with slanted details and immediate and growing tension.
Monday, August 25th, 2014
Happy birthday Olivia!!!
- Student questionnaire
- Sign up for blogs. You can choose your user name and password, just make sure it's something you remember. Once your blog is created, click on "Users" and then "Add user." Please add bkayser11 as a user to the blog with the role "Administrator." You can then choose your theme and layout.
- Blog entry: Why I Write - This is at the heart of what you do as a writer and why you put words on paper. What’s so awesome about this class is that we’re here because we love writing. Think about what inspires and motivates you as a writer.
Week 1
Friday, August 22nd, 2014
- Expectation assembly
- HW: Read Steal Like An Artist - Chapter 1 (In your Google Drive)
- This is coming up for you next week if you want to get a head start: Making a Wordle
Wednesday, August 19th, 2014
Welcome! And a big happy birthday to Joanna!!!
- Connecting stories intro
- Syllabus, routines, etc..
- Student questionnaire (if we have technology)
- Telling a story
- Read and discuss "Popular Mechanics" by Raymond Carver
- Writing time