January

January 10, 2023

We spent the rest of the class on the Vision Board. If you love creative, colorful activities, and you enjoyed this and want to finish it at home-- fine. If you do not, and you will stress out about it, then turn it in, even if you aren't finished. As long as you worked and reflected and enjoyed a poem, that is enough for me!

January 9, 2023

Hurray! We made it through semester 1. Hopefully you feel ok with your grades and ready to move forward. Make sure you understand how semester averages work, what whole course credit is, and how you earn points on your GPA.

For the next two days, we are working on a vision board for the new semester, easing in to our poetry unit. To start, browse these inspiration poems and choose one that you like.

Foreword to "Woke": "I grew up in a house" by Jason Reynolds

"Teeth Dance with Silver" by Mahogony L. Browne

"Instructions on Listening to the Trees" by Mahogony L. Browne

"Happy Ideas" by Mary Syzbist

"Redbird Love" By Joy Harjo

"Make Believe" by Jaswinder Bolina

The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee by N Scott Mommaday

The Day is Done by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

From the poem you chose, consider the following questions:

  • What inspires you about the poem? (Why?)

  • If you had to choose one word as the MOST important word in the poem, what would you choose? Why?

  • What do you think the poem wants you to think or feel? Choose one line that helps you understand that.

Use the poem and your thoughts about it to reflect on your hopes for the coming semester. You will decide on a focus word-- To choose your focus word, think about what you want to accomplish and how you want to feel. A focus word is an abstract noun or adjective, or sometimes an active verb. Some examples include patience, perseverance, hope, build, create, energetic.... Choose something that speaks to you.

Use the instructions for what to include on the vision board, and choose to complete a black out poem using the inspiration poem you chose or to write your own using the original as a model. You can work on this in class tomorrow as well.