Readers as Writers

In a New Post on your blog by Friday, please create an entirely new piece of writing inspired by one or more of the stories, books, topics, etc. we have touched on in our discussion of how reading shapes us as writers.  This could be fiction or something from your own life.  It could be a story or a narrative poem or something else, but go for at least 300 words.

Here are some ideas I jotted down in my notebook as you all were sharing your books that mattered to you last week...just things connected to the stories themselves or what you said about them...maybe something you can take and run with:

• a forgotten piece of paper or photo or receipt or note left behind in an old book
• a modernized retelling of a myth or a mythological character's story
• a well-known story (like Harry Potter's) from the perspective of a minor character 
• a secret hidden or revealed
• a girl choosing between two guys
• a secret society or group
• meeting someone you admire
• a twisted version of another story
• living in a different lifetime than your own
• being an outsider
• a silly but wise story
• middle school nerd
• dealing with guilt
• a kid obsessed with something unusual
• dragons and magic and all that
• connecting with friends over books

You could also use the text you ended up with when we blacked out the book and magazine pages as inspiration for a story or poem.  Let's also say you could steal a starting point from one of your classmates' pieces from the comments section in the BLACKOUT post a couple of posts down from this one.  Same with your text cut from magazines.

Also, please have all of the work connected to BOOKS/READING as inspiration posted by the end of this week.  We will move on to ART as inspiration next week and I won't be giving points for the books/reading posts after Monday.

I've been trying to get caught up on commenting on your blogs.  I will read all of it, I promise!  Thanks for being patient with me and for taking the time to put your own comments on your classmates' pieces. 

in the news{papers}

In a New Post on your blog, please share some writing inspired by our dig through newspapers Wednesday.  You might have one longer piece or several shorter ones, but come up with at least 400 words.  Include some images and a catchy title.  You could note the headline, photo, ad, etc. that sparked your idea, or you could leave that a mystery...but don't just describe or narrate what you cut out--make up something new.

Take some time between now and the end of the week to get caught up on any of the work connected to BOOKS/READING.  

If you still have time, please click through your classmates' blogs and leave some comments.  You don't have to read every piece...Just choose one or two, read and comment, and move on to another blog.

Blackout

Thanks for trying the Sharpie blackout technique (scientific terminology there) in class. Please share at least one of your blackout text pieces as a COMMENT on this post. You could type the text you left on the page as a sentence or poem or story.  You could also take a picture with your phone and post your work that way on your own blog, but that is optional.

I'm thinking you could do this same technique with any printed material containing a good chunk of text to work with. I also think you could be inspired to write all sorts of other pieces by using your blacked out piece as a starting point.

You could visit Austin Kleon's website to see what others have come up with and even post your own work there if you're up for it. 

Another interesting Sharpie-related item you can check out here...

Be a (blog) reader

After you've posted your story using the first and last lines from famous books today, please take the time to click on the blogs of your classmates (I've got you in groups below) and do the following:

1:   Read at least 5 of the blog posts (2 long and 3 short).

2:  Leave a friendly, supportive, positive comment of at least 150 words on each of the 5 pieces...maybe something you liked/found interesting/found reminded you of something else you've read or in your own life...

3:  Create a New Post on your own blog reporting whose blogs you looked at, what pieces you read, and which one was the most interesting to you from each person and why.

Ally
Madalyn 
Jane

Callie
Thomas
Boo

Ashlie
Christian
Collin

Laura
Alora
Leslie

Emmi
Cora
Lindsey

Garrick
Court
Emily

Rachel
Keishay
Beatrice
Madison
(***this group of 4 can read 1 long and 3 short pieces on each person's blog)

Hope you have a nice, cozy weekend!  Stay safe out there.

Famous First and Last Lines

Today (Thursday):

In a New Post on your blog, present the following information  for each of the lines you chose.  Title this post Famous First and Last Lines.  You could link to relevant informational sites.  

Be sure to include the following for EACH:

• the line word for word
• the author, his or her birth/death years, and a bit of info about him or her
• the year it was published
• a 40-50 word summary of the novel in your own words
• 40-50 words on why you personally would or wouldn't like to read this book
• at least one image for each

Here's an example:

Famous First Line:

"You better not never tell nobody but God."

This line opens the novel The Color Purple, published in 1982 by author Alice Walker, who was born in Georgia on 9 February 1944. Through letters written back and forth to one another, the novel traces the story of two poor, African-American sisters who are separated, one married off to an older, misogynistic neighbor and the other called to serve as a missionary in Africa. The main character Celie also writes letters to God because she has no one else to share her shameful secrets and her deepest feelings with. 

I first read The Color Purple novel in a college class at Drury, a class taught by one of my favorite professors who I have long admired and tried to emulate as a teacher myself. I had read the work of Maya Angelou and found myself drawn to the stories of African-American women, and this story captivated me. I have since read the book 6 or 7 more times, and every single time I find something to shake my head at, mumble an "amen" to, laugh about, cry about...Such a powerful work to me--I will read it many times more, I know.

Famous Last Line:

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

F.Scott Fitzgerald ended his most famous novel The Great Gatsby with these words, considered by some to be the best closing lines of any novel ever. The novel came out back in 1925 but still shows up on collections of all-time classics and high school reading lists. Narrator Nick Carraway offers insight into the vapid society of West Egg, New York, in the 1920s, as well as the mostly empty marriage between Tom and Daisy Buchanan. The action centers on languid afternoons and extravagant parties at the mansion of Gatsby, an enigmatic millionaire.

I read The Great Gatsby in English class my junior year in high school. I re-read it again la couple of summers ago and enjoyed it very much. I liked the new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio (so cute! totally one of my girlhood crushes) as Gatsby released a couple of years ago. The director, Baz Luhrman, also did one of my all-time favorite movies, Moulin Rouge, so I knew I'd really like what he did with Gatsby.


Tonight (Thursday):

Take some time to do some writing in your journal using the first and last lines you've glued down in your journal.  You should fill two pages.

Tomorrow (Friday):

In a New Post on your blog, type up the original writing of about 250 words or more  inspired by the pink famous first line and the purple famous last line you glued into your journal.  This could be one continuous piece or two separate pieces.  Include an image and an interesting title to your post. Put the lines you used in bold.

Please have these two assignments posted by the end of class on Friday, 20 February.

Don't quote me on that

We often turn to the words of others for inspiration, guidance, or even just a good laugh. These words might come from favorite pieces of literature, song lyrics, a wise family member or friend, even movies or TV.

Please create a New Post on your blog featuring some of your favorite quotations.  You can find interesting looking versions of them on Tumblr or elsewhere, or you can simply type them in (you could change up the font and colors to make it interesting).  Be sure to give credit to the writer or speaker.

Here are a few quotes that I like:

"Love is the answer,

at least to most of the questions

of my heart."

Jack Johnson

Your quote may be from a person you know or a person you don't. It may be funny or serious, thought-provoking or light-hearted. Just so it speaks to you.  You might also want to jot your quote(s) down in your journal for something else I hope we can do next week.

On the topic of "quotes," I'm adding a link here to a funny site that documents superfluous (extra, unnecessary) uses of quotation marks. Maybe it's only funny to me as an English teacher, but take a look: http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/. Be on the lookout for unneeded quotation marks in your world...maybe you could send one in.

Memorable Passage

Post a passage (probably no more than a paragraph or so) from a book that was memorable to you. Type the passage in word for word and add some of your own thoughts (250 words or more) before and/or after, explaining why this particular set of words caught your attention or has stayed in your memory.  Title this post Memorable Passage.  Include an image with this post, too.

I write quite a bit on my own blog about what I read, if nothing else just to remember, but often to reflect on words that stuck with me. If you are so inclined or need some ideas about books to read or what you might write about reading, you can check out my posts here and here and here and here and here.  Also here and here.  But that's totally optional.

By the end of class today, be sure that you have posted this assignment, another post with some of your favorite quotes in general, and your responses to the Writers as Readers questions from yesterday, as well as leaving a comment on the I Write Like post on the class blog.  Enjoy your long weekend! Happy Valentine's Day! XOXO