Mega Huge Update for Dates 1.3-1.20

For this mega huge update, the biggie is that since the new year has begun we've kicked off a mega huge poetry study. And...

You guys are KILLING IT. I'm so excited about your progress -- the ways in which you are reading and being attentive to the text; the ways you are meaningfully marking up the text and looking beyond literary devices; the ways you are discussing poetry with your peers and taking intellectual risks in both your participation and your writing. I'm excited, and I'm proud. We've worked hard at getting on the right AP Lit track. 

To get up to date on what was happening in the new year, CLICK HERE to read this post on WVCTE's Best Practices Blog. I'd write it all here, it'd be pretty redundant. So for Play-Doh pics, follow the links. :) 

The week after, we followed up that good dose of purposeful play with some fairly heavy "father poems": "My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke, "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden, and "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. We capped off the week with some non-depressing poems by e.e. cummings, and then looked for inspiration for a creative writing assignment inspired by the wonderful Randi Ward's work in her Whipstitches.  (Check back later for links about that assignment...)

LAST week we furthered our studies, but switched it up to a bit more activity based learning. We scavenged for sound devices in Hamilton, laid some fresh beats for William Blake's "The Tyger," and searched for structural techniques "in the wild."
​

I keep coming back to the progress you've made, and I realize I'm gushing. And I don't intend to stop. :) 

Keep WORKING HARD. It's paying off. ​