Anthology Submissions

1. Argumentative Essay: Major Work

I chose to include submissions that would showcase the multiple voices that I can use in order to tell my story, write for varying audiences, and help accomplish my various tasks within differing rhetorical situations. The argumentative essay that I chose to include is an Argumentative essay that I use as a mentor text for my AP Literature students. Though this essay may be a bit academic, I do want my students to understand how writing a literary analysis for a publisher and an academic audience is an entirely different task. I do not expect my students to write anything of this capacity. This particular literary analysis was over Zadie Smith's NW. Here is a brief synopsis of Smith's novel that Amazon provides:

"Set in northwest London, Zadie Smith’s brilliant tragicomic novel follows four locals—Leah, Natalie, Felix, and Nathan—as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. In private houses and public parks, at work and at play, these Londoners inhabit a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end. Depicting the modern urban zone—familiar to city-dwellers everywhere—NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself."

Though you may not have read the novel, I do hope that you can see this argumentative piece as an example of how I approach argumentative writing, for an academic purpose, in this literary analysis.

My AP Literature students do choose a method of literary criticism that they are interested in using as their chosen lens of study. Then, they re-approach one of our anchor texts from the year. After much reading and research through scaffolding, students then form an assertive position and make a claim. We use some of the key guidelines from Eric Hayot's The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities as an informative text as we work on establishing an essay that is written in the "Uneven U" format, rather than resorting to the usage of circular reasoning.

Please let me know if you are interested in receiving more information about this literary analysis or if you'd like to know more about the book. Here is a review by the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/books/review/nw-by-zadie-smith.html

2. Gangster Love Poem: Minor Work

As a means of showing how I can completely change my diction and overall voice, I included this Gangster Love poem. I find it's very engaging and helpful for some of my students to show them that I can speak in their modern day colloquialisms and such. Don't be afraid to Google any words/phrases that you may not know. I won't tell...

3. It's Not You, But It's Not Me: Minor Work

I wrote this poem in response to Ryan's demo lesson when we studied Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night. I ended up addressing the work of art in the form of a poetic letter. Throughout this poem, I work to explore and question how to make sense of the self in relation to the vastness of the universe. I explore themes and topics related to life, death, the universe, science, and religion. It's a bit deeper of a poem. This poem also presents a bit of an argument but in a vastly different way.

4. My Imagine Story: Minor Work

I included this story under my Demo Lesson tab, too. I did want to share my story here. Again, I would encourage you all to actively consider penning your story. We all have stories worthy of being told. Tell your story. You won't regret it!

5. The Day We Said I Do: Minor Work

I wrote this poem as a gift to my wife. It's a bit of a love poem, so bear with me. I hope that you enjoy!

6. The Roads Not Taken: Minor Work

I was tasked with creating the cover for this year's anthology. Thus, the poem that I wrote may appear on the cover. We shall see what my peers think about it. Anyhow, I attempted to incorporate some of the most memorable parts of class and rewrote Frost's The Road Not Taken from the perspective of our class from the 2016 NWIWP.

7. An Ode to My Friend Greg: Minor Work

I wrote this poem for my partner, Greg. I'll miss him.