So Many Things...

Today, we did a bit of poetry MC practice on Barbara Crooker's "Patty's Charcoal Drive-in," shared our final Poetry Month poems, had a poetry presentation on "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," wrapped up our discussion of Invisible Man, had the Invisible Man timed essay, and introduced the final book project (handouts and calendar are at Google Classroom).

Burdens of the Past

Today, our schedule changed yet again. As of now, "Rave" and "When I Think About Myself" by Maya Angelou will go tomorrow. "Do Not Go Gentle" by Dylan Thomas will go Thursday.

We spent today's period talking about the question below.

Friday

Friday we started with some essay practice, had a poem presentation and had some group discussion time on Invisible Man.

Monday's Poem: "Rave" by Yusef Komunyakaa

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Today we did a bit of prose MC practice and then shared a whole bunch of pocket poems! Our poetry presentation was cancelled due to an unfortunate cooking accident and will be rescheduled for next week sometime. We wrapped up the day with some IM thoughts (finally!).

Tomorrow's Poem: "If I Could Tell You" by WH Auden

Poetry & a Lockdown...

We began the day with some essay practice (a practice prose passage), had another poetry presentation, and then, finally got to talk about Invisible Man. Oh, wait, no we didn't. There was a lockdown instead. Invisible Man tomorrow. Maybe.

Tomorrow is Poem in Your Pocket Day!

Tomorrow's poem is: [What horror to awake at night] by Lorine Niedecker.

Poems and an Altered Schedule

Today, after a bit of prose MC practice, we had two poetry presentations which took the whole period. This is one of the reasons why I have altered the schedule posted at Google Classroom.

Tomorrow's poem (just one) is "Hunger for Something" by Chase Twichell.

Welcome Back

We got the final weeks of the year off to a good start with a few poems and a quick IM quiz.

Tomorrow's Presentation Poems (Don't forget  to do the homework!)
"A Poem on the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy" by Nikki Giovanni

"After Building the Lego Star Wars Ultimate Death Star" by Sherman Alexie

How many planets do you want to destroy? 

Don’t worry, Daddy, this is just a big toy, 

And there is nothing more fun than making noise.

 My sons, when I was a boy, I threw dirt clods 

And snow grenades stuffed with hidden rocks, and fought 

Enemies—other Indian boys—who thought, 

Like me, that joyful war turned us into gods.

IM and Presentation Order

Today we spent most of the day discussing Invisible Man, but also drew the order for poetry presentations which begin Monday after break. The first two poems are "Albatross" by Kate Bass and "Love Song" by Dorothy Parker. Don't forget to do the poetry HW (below).

Practice & Presentations

After a bit more poetry practice, students had some time to work on their presentations.

MC Practice and Work Time

After a bit more MC practice, groups worked on their presentations. Presentations begin the Monday we get back, so CRAs, group MC questions, presentation slides, and presentation notes were the focus.

MC Practice and Work Time

After a bit of multiple choice practice, students spent the day working on their poetry projects.

Quizzes, Fire Drills, and IM

We started the day with a quick quiz (and another fire drill). After that we did the Q3 discussion rubric and talked a bit about Invisible Man.

Happy National Poetry Month!

Today we talked about some National Poetry Month extra credit, and then students spent the rest of the period working on their poetry projects. Parts 1-6 of the poetry analysis are due at Google Classroom today.