Beginning of the end...or end of the beginning

As we near our last days together as a class, here are some things to keep in mind:

Please have all blog posts completed by the end of class on Friday for points.  Look at your grade check to see what you're missing (I've also included the remaining assignments so you can see what other points you could earn/lose).

Use time in the lab today and tomorrow to print the items you need for your Altered Book project--letters, quotes, lists, your writing pieces, images, etc.

Plan to turn in your journal with at least 10 new full pages at the end of class on Monday.  You can do up to 5 more pages for extra credit if you'd like. (Seniors have a rehearsal for the Senior Recognition assembly at 1:30 on Monday.)

Your Altered Book is due at the end of class on Tuesday and will be returned to you with your final grade for the class on Wednesday.  If you happen to finish your book before then, please turn it in so I can get a head start on grading.

If you need to take the final, it will be a longer reflection post on your blog addressing several things about your work this semester.  I'll post the questions to the class blog next week.  You can come in at any time on Thursday to complete it.  If you have an A, you don't need to worry about it!  

Thanks for being such an awesome, creative, happy group!  We will miss you, seniors!

This is... Photo Writing

I like this image...it's a print available at one of my favorite websites called Etsy, where you can buy all sorts of vintage and handmade goods. So much creativity and inspiration there...have a look some time.

I'd like you to do a New Post on your own blog with some writing about one of your own photos inspired by Katy Barber's "Photograph 1969." I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you'd like to arrange your words as a poem or a short piece of prose. I'll be looking for a vivid description of what we can actually see in the photo, followed by that "twist" we discussed in class, where you intimate or imply what else is "in" the photo...an understanding, an observation, a hint at something that came later...something more. Please include the photo in your post. 

If you don't have a photo of your own or find that too personal, find a striking or interesting photo that speaks to you on the internet or in a magazine and write about it in this same way instead.  You could also use the antique photo you looked at in class as your inspiration. 

Photograph 1969 by Katy Barber

This is my mother
lifting her hair long
like a low whistle
off her neck
These are her fingers
caught in the tangles
of brown and gold caught in
silver earrings
This is my father
reaching through the lens
to touch the edge
of a new family
to touch her opening belly
under her full dress

This is existing
before I exist

This is me growing up
against their lives
him watching for a sharp
breath from her looking out
onto the border of birth
this is bumping us into three

Photos of the millennium (so far...)

With the advance of cell phones, caputring all aspects of history and everyday life is easier and more accessible than ever.  Think about what your great-grandkids will say about all the images your generation is leaving behind--or will many of the images that tell your story/history vanish into cyberspace somewhere eventually instead of being in a photo album for those grandkids to flip through?

This little dog happened to be strolling down a street just after the Pope had passed by--his little smile and upturned chin make it seem like he believes all the applause and fuss is for him!  Adorable.

Choose one of the photos from the 2000s and write a piece (poem or prose, fiction or nonfiction...your choice) of at least 250 words inspired by the photo. This might be a personal memory you have connected to this event or your thoughts about this moment in history...you decide what you'd like to say. 

Here's an example of something I wrote referencing an image from the aftermath of 9-11 that has always stayed with me.  

If the CrackTwo link is blocked on the school computers for whatever reason, you could visit another website with "iconic" or important photos from this decade or the last and choose one from there, or you might be able to Google an individual picture if you remember one or have a certain one in mind.  Include the photo you chose and your writing in a New Post on your own blog.  

Photo Hunt: Captions + Hashtags + Quote

In a New Post on your blog, please add all 15 of the photos you took Monday during our Photo Hunt. Add a caption of at least 25 words to go with each photo, and include a clever #hashtag with each caption.  You can decide whether to label or otherwise indicate which photo on the list each was supposed to be.

At the end of your post, include a quote that suggests something about paying attention or writers noticing everything or the power of photographs.

101 Things About Me (You)

Please share your list of 101 Things about yourself in a New Post on your own blog.  

Your list might be a combination of short and long statements.  Some may be serious and important; others may be lighthearted or silly.  

If you are having trouble thinking of things, you might be able to use my list for ideas or you can Google "101 Things About Me" and read the lists of multiple bloggers who have created these.  Include images if you'd like to.

You may also have a few people in your life make a list of things they know/love/are fascinated by about you--you can include those lists in your own and put the author's name in parentheses after the statement.  

All MUSIC posts are due for credit by the end of class Thursday.  Your list of 101 Things is due by the end of class on Friday.

Lyrics Shuffle

In a New Post, share something you came up with when we looked at the 4 songs with the lyrics all cut apart and scrambled last Friday.  Include an image.

4 Songs Freewrites ---> Narrative Poems

In a New Post, write a narrative poem of 10 or more lines inspired by the one or more of the 4 songs we listened to in class on Tuesday (Three Libras by APC, You Shook Me by AC/DC, Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, Golddigger by Kanye West). 

Include an image.  If you missed that class, you can look up those songs and listen to them on your own, or write a narrative poem inspired by a song of your choice.  Here's my example:

Shadow Lake—an hour from home

A summer night—I am 16.

I shouldn’t be here.  I am not allowed.

He broke up with me a month before

and hasn’t called since.

She came with me but

asks him to dance.

He is working so he says no

but laughs as she nudges his arm.

He is too old for me.

He has outgrown me.

I am vulnerable, stupid, young

and I feel like my fourth grade

flat-chested self.

I will go on to break hearts too

but for now I just want the pulsing music

to stop making my head spin

and for him to quit looking away from me,

through me, across the sweaty dance floor

at other girls, older, wiser than I.

Catch up

Please use your time wisely today to finish and post any work you are missing.  

Today is the last chance to post any of the work connected to ART for points.  Don't put off the work connected to music either, since I'm turning in grades for progress reports from the office tomorrow.  

Circle any completed items on your grade check and give it back to me at the end of class.

If you're all caught up, comment on some of your classmates' blogs or work on something else quietly.  Thanks!