Wednesday, March 18th, 10: 47 am, LIVE CLASS: Intro Blogging style writing. Talk about personal styles and voice.
--Assignment: Use Weebly blogs. For the remainder of the semester, students will need to blog about something for three days a week (does not have to be consecutive or always a school day, just five days). Use pictures, videos, etc, and write about whatever strikes them. Pull on past experience of first person, descriptive writing, and declarative writing from journalism, to craft little segments and posts.
Friday, March 20th, NO LIVE CLASS:
--Assignment: Blogs should be made and designed. At least three posts should be written by Saturday, and two comments made on another classmate's blog.
Tuesday, March 24th, NO LIVE CLASS: Continue to blog and comment.
Friday, March 27th, NO LIVE CLASS: Continue to blog and comment. You must have a minimum of eight posts by Saturday and four comments on classmate's blogs. This is a Test grade, so put in good work and make it worth it.
Tuesday, March 31st, 10:47 am, RESCHEDULED LIVE CLASS TO THURSDAY SAME TIME. See email for Tuesday assignment: Using short forms of poetry. Students will look up an examples of Limericks and then practice writing one. We will discuss the key features of them and how humor plays a role in poetry.
--Assignment: Students will then craft their own Limerick and turn it in via the Google Classroom portal.
Due Thursday at 10:45 am.
Thursday, April 2nd, 10:47 am, LIVE CLASS: Once again, we will be looking at short forms of poetry, particularly the Stanza. We will look at the key identifiers of stanzas and what they require. Students will do their own research for examples of stanzas.
***If you need some help, this is a great article with several examples. https://literarydevices.net/stanza/
--Assignment: Look up examples of stanzas and then write two of your own. They can be anywhere between 4 to 12 lines long, but the object of the poem or the mood needs to change between the stanzas. Check out the live class for more details.
Due Monday at 10:45 am.
Week 4:
Looking at longer poetry. Sonnets and Shakespeare!
Taking a well known story or fairy tale and converting it into a sonnet form. Due Tuesday, April 14th.
April 14th, 10:47 am, LIVE CLASS. Moving on to Spoken Word! Today, the art of spoken word is much the same as poetry. Writers and poets must carefully craft a story or speech that has a story or point, while maintaining a rhythm and flow that captures and keeps its audience engaged. Unlike poetry, with its verses and stanzas, spoken word operates more like a monologue. Using pauses and emphasis, the speaker drives home their point or story. Spoken word is known for word play, creative description, and cultural references.
Students will need to craft a spoken word poem on a topic of their choosing. It must be two minutes long when performed. That's right! Students do not need to memorize what they have written, but will be required to perform it, so they should be prepared and make notes of when to stop, pause, emphasize, etc. You will record yourself performing it and upload the video.
Included below are just a few fantastic examples of spoken word by Christian artists. All of these are accessible on Youtube. There are many more by these artists as well as others. These guys are professionals and you are not meant to perform on that level. This is just to give you some inspiration on the word play they are doing.
Students will have two weeks to work on this. The first draft is due by Tuesday, April 21st at 10:45 am. You will turn in a written sample.
April 16th, NO LIVE CLASS. Continue to work on your spoken word.
Tuesday, April 21st, 10:47 am, LIVE CLASS: Go over your ideas or rough drafts of your spoken word and check in.
--Assignment: Continue working on your Spoken word.
Final version is due Tuesday, April 28th. Upload a video recording to the Google Classroom Portal.
Thursday, April 23rd, NO LIVE CLASS.
--Assignment: Continue working on your Spoken word.
Final version is due Tuesday, April 28th. Upload a video recording to the Google Classroom Portal.
Tuesday, April 28th, 10:47 AM: LIVE CLASS. Your final video performance of your spoken word is due TODAY by end of class. We will be starting a new topic, Songwriting! Similar to Spoken Word, songwriting utilizes rhythm, storytelling, and rhyme to create something new. However, songwriting focuses more on the rhythm and rhyme, than the cleverness of the wording. However, that doesn't mean clever word play is absent!
In order to have some guidelines, students will pick an artist they really love and will write a song or rap in a similar style to that artist. This must be an original piece written by the student, but inspiration from the artist can help with rhythm or general feel of the sound. Music is not required, but if the student wants to make some to accompany their song, they will be respectively rewarded. :) The song must have AT LEAST two verses and a chorus. Feel free to add more verses, bridges, a second chorus, etc. Students will have a week and a half for this, with the assignment being due on May 5th.
No live class, Thursday, April 30th.
No Live Class Tuesday.
Thursday, May 7th: Live Class: Turn in your songs to the Google Classroom portal.
Assignment: Write a letter to a teacher you have had (they do not have to be from NCA if you still have their contact info). You can do this by hand or typed. Format it correctly. (See my website for details if you are unsure.) Use this letter to show your appreciation for them, respect, etc, and make it a decent length. Close it out properly and sign your name.
You will not be turning this in to me. You will simply send it to the teacher it is for. Please do so by the end of next week.
This is an exercise in writing in first person, like the blog, but your thoughts and feelings in a letter are meant as a gift to someone else. Keep this in mind as you write and enjoy!
Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. _________________,
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I Write the body of your letter here.
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I___________________
Sincerely/Wishing you the best/Love/Have a great summer!/etc
Your Name