2015 – 2016 Creative Writing Trimester 2 Agenda

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Week 1

December 7, 2015

Quote of the Day:
Look, I’m far from military material. Undisciplined, hate authority, my ethics—perverted. But there is one military tenant I can and do get behind every time I sit down to write, and you probably know it already: ‘Embrace the suck.’... – Matt Sumell

  1. Warm Up: If you could invent something to help mankind, what would it be?
    • Rules of Warm Up Writing:
      1. Write the name of the prompt at the top and the date
      2. It doesn't have to be perfect
      3. Don't stop – use the entire amount of time
      4. Keep all of your writing
    • Share Out – What did you invent?
  2. Walkabout
    • You need a pencil and paper
    • Instructions to follow

December 8, 2015

Quote of the Day:
I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose. – Stephen King

  1. Warm Up:
    • Open this image
    • Using ALL 5 of your senses, describe this place as if you were there
  2. What is Poetry to You? – Quick write
  3. Writing Activity: Crater Found Poem
    • Two groups: Quinn and Sinks will be your guides around campus
    • Take a stroll around the Crater campus – don't bother any classes!
    • Write down words that jump out to you that represent Crater High School
    • You can write them down as a list then reformulate the order to create a poem – only use the words you found though!
    • OR, you can create a poem as you go and see what you come up with!
    • Adapted from http://www.creative-writing-now.com/found-poetry.html

December 9, 2015

Quote of the Day:
If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor. – Edgar Rice Burroughs

  1. Warm Up: You are renting a room in someone’s house as you transition to living in a new city. The owner tells you that basement is absolutely, 100% off limits. You don’t bat an eye at this request, until you start hearing noises from the basement at night. After several week of this, you sneak downstairs...
  2. Government Assistance
  3. The Rose that Grew from Concrete
  4. in just
  5. Finalize Crater Found Poem

December 10, 2015

Quote of the Day:
"I haven’t found any particular thing to be a consistently reliable source of inspiration. If there’s any consistency, it’s that it’s always something different." – Colin Winnette

  1. Warm Up: In recent years, NASA scientists have found a steadily increasing amount of evidence that liquid water once existed on Mars. These discoveries could lead to scientists’ quest to confirm that the planet has hosted life. Write a poem in which you explore the mysterious possibilities of the red planet, extraterrestrial life, the galaxies and constellations, or the notion of human colonies on other planets. Focus on examining the emotions that emerge when you contemplate the vast unknowns of outer space.
  2. Crater Found Poem
    • Finish Edits, Print Final Draft
  3. Eavesdropping on the World
    • In Writers Recommend, Camille Rankine shares that her ideas and inspiration come from “eavesdropping on the world.” Today, collect phrases from overheard conversations, the radio, TV, or magazine articles. When you have a quiet moment, read over your notes and pick one quote that especially sparks your imaginative impulses. Write a poem that uses the found quote as a first line. Explore your immediate reactions and emotions, and allow those feelings to develop the tone of the lines that follow.

December 11, 2015

Quote of the Day:
“The first draft of anything is shit.” – Ernest Hemingway

  1. Warm Up: Write a poem about your experience in some type of vehicle used for long distance such as a car, airplane or a train. Where were you going? Was it comfortable? Who did you meet or talk to? Did you forget anything or find something? Did you arrive at the right destination?
  2. Eavesdropping on the World – Edit, Finish Up, Print
    • In Writers Recommend, Camille Rankine shares that her ideas and inspiration come from “eavesdropping on the world.” Today, collect phrases from overheard conversations, the radio, TV, or magazine articles. When you have a quiet moment, read over your notes and pick one quote that especially sparks your imaginative impulses. Write a poem that uses the found quote as a first line. Explore your immediate reactions and emotions, and allow those feelings to develop the tone of the lines that follow.
  3. The Haiku

Week 2

December 14, 2015

Quote of the Day:
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekov

  1. Warm Up: This week, choose a pair of shoes that you own or have owned that has significance to you. Perhaps it's the first pair of dress shoes that you purchased, the well-worn sneakers that you wear over and over again, or a pair of shoes that you've never worn but can't bear to toss out. Write a poem about your connection to these shoes, describing them in detail and thinking about the specific qualities that drew you to them in the first place. What do they say about your personality? Where have they accompanied you already, and where might they take you in the future?
  2. Poetry Slam #1
    • Choose two of your edited, final draft poems – one needs to be a Haiku – one and only one!
  3. The Haiku – Print

December 15, 2015

Quote of the Day:
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” – Mark Twain

  1. Warm Up: Think about a coworker or colleague you find distasteful. Write a poem about how this person saves your life.
  2. Poetry Slam #1

December 16, 2015

Quote of the Day:
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” – Louis L'Amour

  1. Warm Up: Write a poem that introduces a book you dislike. You can even use a poem that you aren’t particularly happy with. Write a poem introducing that poem to readers.
  2. Letter to Santa Poem
    • Write a poem that is a letter to Santa. You could go in many different directions here – perhaps you feel jaded about not receiving a toy you really wanted, or perhaps it's a "break-up" letter to signify you no longer believing in Santa, or maybe you have a bone to pick with Santa about the commercialization of Christmas, or maybe you kinda feel bad for Old Saint Nick this time of year, or maybe you want Santa to know how much you love Christmas– be creative, think outside the box!
    • 16 lines minimum

December 17, 2015

Quote of the Day:
“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” – Ray Bradbury

  1. Warm Up: Write a poem about the moment when you lose a necessary piece that is needed to make something electronic work. Some examples might include losing a charger for a computer or music player.
  2. Letter to Santa Poem
    • Write a poem that is a letter to Santa. You could go in many different directions here – perhaps you feel jaded about not receiving a toy you really wanted, or perhaps it's a "break-up" letter to signify you no longer believing in Santa, or maybe you have a bone to pick with Santa about the commercialization of Christmas, or maybe you kinda feel bad for Old Saint Nick this time of year, or maybe you want Santa to know how much you love Christmas– be creative, think outside the box!
    • 16 lines minimum
  3. Random Google Search Poem
    • Using Google, type in a random word that comes to your head, then take the first sentence from the search results and use it in the first line of a poem
    • Continue to type in random words and taking sentences from the search results to use in the rest of the lines of your poem
    • Set up your peom so it's in quatrains – 4 lines to a stanza (think of a stanza as a paragraph) with a total of 4 stanzas so you have a total of 16 lines 4 lines x 4 stanzas = 16
    • When finished, print a copy to give to the sub

December 18, 2015

Quote of the Day:
“Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.” – Harvey Pekar

  1. Warm Up: Write a poem about cloning someone who is recently deceased. Think of various attributes of the overall cloning process such as personality differences, health problems, controversy, and the comparisons of the deceased to the new clone.

Winter Vacation

December 21, 2015 – December January 1, 2016

Week 3

January 4, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy.” – Josh Whedon

  1. Warm Up: Think about the three most inconvenient things that happened to you over break. Write a poem about at least one of them.
  2. Lone Human Voice of Reason – Let's get serious #1: to be completed in class
    • Pick a controversial topic you feel strongly about and imagine you are the only "voice of reason in a sea of clones." In other words, imagine your words are the only one of their kind – independent from the media, or from mainstream thought that is based off of poor facts or illogical assumptions. Write a poem that addresses a controversial topic based on this point of view – remember, your words and thoughts are the only ones to exist in the world.
    • Topics for consideration: abortion, taxes, military spending, war, education reform, gun rights and laws, carbon emissions, gay rights, drugs – medical marijuana in particular, health care, energy, and on and on...
    • Must be 16 lines minimum

January 5, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.” – William Faulkner

  1. A Quick Read to Get you Started
    • "Skylab Wolverine Bunny Cage Nub" by Drew Gardner
  2. Warm Up: Ask your friends to give you five random phrases. The phrases can be fragments or sentences, and should not reference movies if possible. Write a poem that incorporates these five phrases.
  3. Another Quick Read to Get you Started
    • "Guide" by Naomi Shihab Nye
  4. Lost – Let's get serious #2: to be completed in class
    • The feeling of loss can be one of the most powerful emotions we experience in life. Think of something you have lost – it can be a favorite toy or stuffed animal from childhood, a grandparent, parent, sibling, or other influential person in your life, an idea or value, innocence, friendship, love, reality, etc. Write a poem that encapsulates the feeling of your loss and the struggle in coping with that loss – how were you able to move on? Or not?
    • HERE'S THE KICKER – you CANNOT use the following words: loss, lost, or lose in your poem
    • Must be 16 lines minimum

January 6, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it's always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.” – Neil Gaiman

  1. "March 5, 2003" by Juliana Spahr from This Connection of Everyone with lungs"
  2. Warm Up: Listen to a poem new to you—by a contemporary poet or a bygone poet—and jot down the words, phrases, and images that are most striking or memorable to you. Then write your own poem inspired by this list of words. How do you transform someone else's poetic intuition and choices into a work that demonstrates your personal idiosyncrasies and specific aesthetic sense?
  3. Existence – Let's get serious #3: to be completed in class
    1. Pale Blue Dot
    2. Pale Blue Dot plus Arrow
    3. Pale Blue Dot Zoomed
    4. Earth
    5. Earth 2
    6. New York
    7. Central Point, OR
    8. Red Blood Cells
    9. DNA
    10. Pale Blue Dot plus Arrow
    11. Pale Blue Dot Zoomed
    • Contemplate the images you just saw. Close your eyes, pull yourself away and look at the Earth from 4 billion light years away. Zoom back into yourself a million times over and look at your own cells, your own DNA. Who are you? What does it mean to exist? How do you – how does humanity – fit into the universe? Write a poem exploring the theme(s) of existence– in your poem, switch from a microcosm point of view to a macrocosm point of view, or vice versa as many times as you see fit.
    • Must be 16 lines minimum

January 7, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

  1. Warm Up: “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself,” said author Mohsin Hamid in a 2012 interview. Think about a stranger with whom you recently crossed paths. It could be the person who bagged your groceries, stood in front of you in line at the post office, or simply walked by you on the street. What type of situation can you imagine this stranger experiencing? Which emotions or feelings would you project onto this stranger? Write a poem about this imagined event from the stranger's perspective. Concentrate on digging deeply into our own private observations and personal history to capture what sensations might be echoed in another person’s experience.
  2. You Can't Go Home Again – Let's get serious #4: to be completed in class
    • The popular saying “you can’t go home again” refers to the difficulty of matching a confrontation of one’s childhood and home as an adult with the version that exists in nostalgia-tinged memories. Which home(s) do you recall in your earliest memories? Write a poem in which you "return" to a home (could be your childhood home or the home of relative or a good friend) from your early childhood. Describe a specific memory etched into your brain as it relates to the home and it's surroundings. Pay attention to your senses, your feelings, and how things have changed – both the physical space and yourself. What have you learned by visiting this place?
    • Must be 16 lines minimum

January 8, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say.” – Anaïs Nin

  1. Warm Up: Write a poem about what you expect the end of the world might be like.
  2. From the Heart – Let's get serious #5: to be completed in class
    • The ancient Greeks believed that the heart is the seat of everything, not only emotion but reason as well. The Romans then developed an entire theory around the circulatory system, concluding that the heart is where emotions take place, while rational thought occurs in the brain and passions originates in the liver. Today, despite developments in medicine and technology, the heart is still used as the universal symbol for love. Write a poem about your theory of where love originates. If you feel it comes from the heart, write about why you think this idea has endured for so long.
    • Want a challenge? Write the peom without using the word "love"
    • Need another direction?Write a love poem (could be to anyone, even your mom!) without using the word "love"

Week 4

January 11, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” – Douglas Adams

  1. Warm Up: Write a persona poem on someone that is very controversial. Consider writing a poem on a serial killer or a famous gang member.
  2. Pantoum – Let's get serious #6: to be completed in class
    • Skim through your warm up writings. Find one that stands out to you for some reason or other – it could be the subject matter or just in the way you wrote it. Then, completely re-write it following the format directly below.
    • Write a pantoum, a modern verse form adapted from traditional Malaysian folk poetry that uses repeated lines throughout a series of quatrains. How does the repetition of words influence the mood or pacing of your poem? Allow the repeated phrases to take on different meanings as the contexts shift throughout the piece. Refer to the Academy of American Poets website for details and examples of pantoums.
    • Must be 16 lines minimum

January 12, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London

  1. Warm Up: Write a tribute to David Bowie. Magic Dance
  2. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org

January 13, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“Always be a poet, even in prose.” – Charles Baudelaire

  1. Warm Up: Sometimes the gifts we receive may seem plain or simple at first – another book, bag, pair of pants, or electronic gadget – but end up changing our lives in unexpected ways. Create a character that receives a gift but is unimpressed with at first, then realized the gift is more than meets the eye. Does using the gift result in a domino effect of unforeseen consequences? Is something surprising revealed about the gift giver?
  2. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org

January 14, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” – James A. Michener

  1. Warm Up:
  2. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org

January 15, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” – Kurt Vonnegut

  1. Warm Up:
  2. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org

Week 5

January 18, 2016

Martin Luther King Jr. Day – No school

January 19, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“If you can write each day, do it, and meet a quota. Minimum 350 words a day. A baboon can do 350 words a day. Don’t be shown up by a baboon” – James Scott Bell

  1. Warm Up: Leonardo DiCaprio is actually an evil warlock who needs to obtain a rare mineral in order to complete a dark ritual. The only source of this mineral is found inside an Academy Award. You are part of an ancient order sworn to deny Leonardo an Academy Award, at any cost.
  2. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org – THIS IS HOW YOU WILL GET A GRADE!!!

January 20, 2016

  1. Warm Up: When a person dies, an individual can volunteer to house their soul within their own body until a donor body is found. You are beginning to regret your decision.
  2. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org – THIS IS HOW YOU WILL GET A GRADE!!!

January 21, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“Don’t give people what they want, give them what they need.” – Joss Whedon

  1. Warm Up: A close pass with a planetary body has left earth's orbit highly elliptical, and only habitable every 50 years. During the years spent away from the sun, the human race goes into cryosleep, electing one random person to stand guard in case of emergencies. You wake up. You are the last one.
  2. Creative Non-Fiction – if you have finished your 6 poetry final drafts and emailed them to Sinks
    • Option 1: Imagine that you’ve been chosen to be the representative of your neighborhood and tasked to fill a time capsule that will be sealed and buried for one hundred years. Write a letter to future inhabitants who may unearth and open your time capsule. Describe the items you've included and explain their value and importance in the world today. Would you choose technological products, favorites books, or ersonal photographs or letters? What would you hope to offer the future through your selections?
    • Option 2: Whether or not you believe in astrology, it can be an engaging exercise to contemplate the authority of a prediction based solely on your birthdate. Look up your current horoscope in a newspaper or online, and take note of how the forecast characterizes your astrological sign. Which particular elements of the horoscope’s characterizations do you find yourself immediately agreeing with? If you find yourself mostly in disagreement, what would you predict for yourself instead? Using the second-person voice, write an essay in the form of an astrological forecast. Describe how you foresee the upcoming month in terms of love, finances, home, and spiritual matters, and cite how these predictions are justified by your personality traits. Or, if you’d prefer, write an essay against astrology, pointing out the flaws in such pseudoscientific systems of divination, and examining what it is about your personality that opposes them.
    • Option 3: This week, look to the name of your street for inspiration. Or if you prefer, choose the name of a previous street you lived on, or a particularly fascinating street name in your city or town. Is the street designated for a famous person, a defining local feature, or a natural landmark? Are there Dutch, Spanish, or Native American roots to the name? Write an essay about the street’s origin, and how the name might be fitting or outdated. Reflect on the ways you connect with where you live, and how your own history intertwines with the streets names that surround you.
    • Option 4: This week, choose a pair of shoes that you own or have owned that has significance to you. Perhaps it's the first pair of dress shoes that you purchased, the well-worn sneakers that you wear over and over again, or a pair of shoes that you've never worn but can't bear to toss out. Write an essay about your connection to these shoes, describing them in detail and thinking about the specific qualities that drew you to them in the first place. What do they say about your personality? Where have they accompanied you already, and where might they take you in the future?
  3. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org – THIS IS HOW YOU WILL GET A GRADE!!!

January 22, 2016

  1. The Untapped Collection
    • The Untapped Collection represents the untapped potential of rising BIS writers.
    • Write final draft versions of all 6 – yes all 6! – of your "Let's Get Serious" poems
    • Follow this format:
      1. Text must be left aligned – not centered
      2. Title of poem at the top
      3. Your name underneath the title – no space between the title and your name
      4. Insert a space after your name then start the poem
    • Check for spelling mistakes
    • Print a copy, review with a partner, then Sinks
    • After final approval from Sinks, email digital copy to jeremy.sinks@district6.org – THIS IS HOW YOU WILL GET A GRADE!!!

Week 6

January 25, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” – Stephen King

  1. Warm Up: Your character is caught shoplifting. The shop owner says that she won't call the police in exchange for a personal favor....
  2. Creative Non-Fiction – rough draft due Thursday
    • FYI – Final Draft Requirement: 2 pages minimum, 12 point font, single spaced
    • Option 1: Imagine that you’ve been chosen to be the representative of your neighborhood and tasked to fill a time capsule that will be sealed and buried for one hundred years. Write a letter to future inhabitants who may unearth and open your time capsule. Describe the items you've included and explain their value and importance in the world today. Would you choose technological products, favorites books, or ersonal photographs or letters? What would you hope to offer the future through your selections?
    • Option 2: Whether or not you believe in astrology, it can be an engaging exercise to contemplate the authority of a prediction based solely on your birthdate. Look up your current horoscope in a newspaper or online, and take note of how the forecast characterizes your astrological sign. Which particular elements of the horoscope’s characterizations do you find yourself immediately agreeing with? If you find yourself mostly in disagreement, what would you predict for yourself instead? Using the second-person voice, write an essay in the form of an astrological forecast. Describe how you foresee the upcoming month in terms of love, finances, home, and spiritual matters, and cite how these predictions are justified by your personality traits. Or, if you’d prefer, write an essay against astrology, pointing out the flaws in such pseudoscientific systems of divination, and examining what it is about your personality that opposes them.
    • Option 3: This week, look to the name of your street for inspiration. Or if you prefer, choose the name of a previous street you lived on, or a particularly fascinating street name in your city or town. Is the street designated for a famous person, a defining local feature, or a natural landmark? Are there Dutch, Spanish, or Native American roots to the name? Write an essay about the street’s origin, and how the name might be fitting or outdated. Reflect on the ways you connect with where you live, and how your own history intertwines with the streets names that surround you.
    • Option 4: This week, choose a pair of shoes that you own or have owned that has significance to you. Perhaps it's the first pair of dress shoes that you purchased, the well-worn sneakers that you wear over and over again, or a pair of shoes that you've never worn but can't bear to toss out. Write an essay about your connection to these shoes, describing them in detail and thinking about the specific qualities that drew you to them in the first place. What do they say about your personality? Where have they accompanied you already, and where might they take you in the future?

January 26, 2016

  1. Warm Up: List 5 things you are afraid of. Pick one to write about – imagine that the whole world – everyone in it – is afraid of this thing EXCEPT YOU. What would it be like to live in such a state?
  2. Creative Non-Fiction – rough draft due Thursday
    • FYI – Final Draft Requirement: 2 pages minimum, 12 point font, single spaced
    • Option 1: Imagine that you’ve been chosen to be the representative of your neighborhood and tasked to fill a time capsule that will be sealed and buried for one hundred years. Write a letter to future inhabitants who may unearth and open your time capsule. Describe the items you've included and explain their value and importance in the world today. Would you choose technological products, favorites books, or ersonal photographs or letters? What would you hope to offer the future through your selections?
    • Option 2: Whether or not you believe in astrology, it can be an engaging exercise to contemplate the authority of a prediction based solely on your birthdate. Look up your current horoscope in a newspaper or online, and take note of how the forecast characterizes your astrological sign. Which particular elements of the horoscope’s characterizations do you find yourself immediately agreeing with? If you find yourself mostly in disagreement, what would you predict for yourself instead? Using the second-person voice, write an essay in the form of an astrological forecast. Describe how you foresee the upcoming month in terms of love, finances, home, and spiritual matters, and cite how these predictions are justified by your personality traits. Or, if you’d prefer, write an essay against astrology, pointing out the flaws in such pseudoscientific systems of divination, and examining what it is about your personality that opposes them.
    • Option 3: This week, look to the name of your street for inspiration. Or if you prefer, choose the name of a previous street you lived on, or a particularly fascinating street name in your city or town. Is the street designated for a famous person, a defining local feature, or a natural landmark? Are there Dutch, Spanish, or Native American roots to the name? Write an essay about the street’s origin, and how the name might be fitting or outdated. Reflect on the ways you connect with where you live, and how your own history intertwines with the streets names that surround you.
    • Option 4: This week, choose a pair of shoes that you own or have owned that has significance to you. Perhaps it's the first pair of dress shoes that you purchased, the well-worn sneakers that you wear over and over again, or a pair of shoes that you've never worn but can't bear to toss out. Write an essay about your connection to these shoes, describing them in detail and thinking about the specific qualities that drew you to them in the first place. What do they say about your personality? Where have they accompanied you already, and where might they take you in the future?

January 27, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Write about a town that ran out of it's sugar supply. Why would a town run out of sugar? What do they do with it? What will they do without it?
  2. Creative Non-Fiction 4 Options – rough draft due TODAY
  3. Creative Non-Fiction – Due at the end of class today
    • Re-invention: Write about an incident in your past that you would like a chance to relive and do differently.
    • Helpful tips: tell the story first – pay particular attention to what you were thinking during this time, and focus on the minute details. How you would "go back" and convincie yourself to do things differently? How do you think things would have turned out? Would you be a different person?

January 28, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Write a 150-word profile of someone named "Margaret Mallory."
  2. Creative Non-Fiction – rough draft due Thursday

January 29, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Begin a story with this line: "It was the one thing he coveted most."

Week 7

February 1, 2016

Inservice Day – No school

February 2, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou

  1. Warm Up: What did you do with the extra two hours before school this morning?
  2. In the Lab Work/Make Up Day
  3. 1:25 – 2:10

February 3, 2016

Quote of the Day:
“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anaïs Nin

  1. Character Sketch

February 4, 2016

  1. Character Sketch

February 5, 2016

  1. Character Sketch Plus Supervillain Character Sketch

Week 8

February 8, 2016

  1. Warm Up: There's a note on the windshield of your car. The note says, "I've taken your most prized possession. If you want to see it again, in tact, meet me tonight at baseball field around the corner of the local high school. And bring your glove." What makes this note so curious is that you've...
  2. Dystopian World Character Sketch

February 9, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Write a light-hearted How To Guide on how to get along with an enemy.
  2. Story Time
    • A&P by John Updike

February 10, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Write about a task, job, or chore you dislike, then create an ingenious way for getting someone else to do it.
  2. Teen Character Sketch

February 11, 2016

  1. Warm Up: The importance of knowing one’s characters is well understood and near axiomatic for fiction writers. However, sometimes we think of this mostly as preparatory work done at the start of a story or novel and not for what it is: an ongoing process. One of the pleasures of writing fiction is seeing the way our characters develop and surprise us as the story evolves and works to make its meaning. For this exercise, pick a character who appears in a story or novel currently in progress. Write a letter to yourself in the voice of that character in which he or she reveals something to you that you didn’t know before.
  2. Creative Non Fiction – Revisions – If you haven't typed and printed this out for me yet, get on it today!
    • You will need a pair of headphones
    • Open the P drive (my computer) and navigate to this folder: p/handouts/Sinks/2015-16/creativeWriting/trimester 2/creativeNonFictionFeedback
    • Find your name in the list of files
    • Listen to your piece as it's read
    • Following the audio feedback, revise your piece accordingly
    • TO TURN IN:
      1. A 3-5 sentence reflection (separate piece of paper) on what you thought about the audio feeback – how did listening to your piece being read help you to improve it? Was the feedback helpful? Explain.
      2. Revised Non Fiction Piece
  3. Character Sketches – finish all – many of you are missing one, two, or all
  4. Creative Fiction Short Story

February 12, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Write about you'd say to an univited guest
  2. Creative Non Fiction – Revisions – If you haven't typed and printed this out for me yet, get on it today!
    • You will need a pair of headphones
    • Open the P drive (my computer) and navigate to this folder: p/handouts/Sinks/2015-16/creativeWriting/trimester 2/creativeNonFictionFeedback
    • Find your name in the list of files
    • Listen to your piece as it's read
    • Following the audio feedback, revise your piece accordingly
    • TO TURN IN:
      1. A 3-5 sentence reflection (separate piece of paper) on what you thought about the audio feeback – how did listening to your piece being read help you to improve it? Was the feedback helpful? Explain.
      2. Revised Non Fiction Piece
  3. Character Sketches – finish all – many of you are missing one, two, or all
  4. Creative Fiction Short Story – 3 options

Week 9

February 15, 2016

President's Day – No school

February 16, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Guests of a Nation
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – 3 options

February 17, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Guests of a Nation
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – 3 options

February 18, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Guests of a Nation
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – 3 options

February 19, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Guests of a Nation
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – 3 options

Week 10

February 22, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Guests of a Nation
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – Podcasting
    • Adobe Audition
    • Export as an MP3 into (see below)
    • Shared Drive – p/handins/BIS/Sinks/creativeWriting/2015-16/creativeFictionPodcastFirstDraft

February 23, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Guests of a Nation
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – Podcasting
    • Listen to the podcast you created yesterday
    • Podcasts are saved in the p drive in: p/handouts/Sinks/2015-16/creativeWriting/trimester 2/creativeFictionPodcastFirstDraft
    • As you listen to your podcast, follow along with your paper and highlight errors you find, or jot down ideas in the margin to improve a section
    • Open your draft in word and make changes

February 24, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – Revising & 2nd Podcast
    • Spend the time, do a good job, delete chuncks, rewrite and add
    • Record your revised story in Adobe Audition
    • File > Export – change to MP3
    • Shared Drive – p/handins/BIS/Sinks/creativeWriting/2015-16/creativeFictionPodcastSecondDraft

February 25, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
  2. Creative Fiction Short Story – Revising & 2nd Podcast
    • Spend the time, do a good job, delete chuncks, rewrite and add
    • Record your revised story in Adobe Audition
    • File > Export – change to MP3
    • Shared Drive – p/handins/BIS/Sinks/creativeWriting/2015-16/creativeFictionPodcastSecondDraft

February 26, 2016

  1. Creative Fiction Short Story – Print Revised Draft
    • Spend the time, do a good job, delete chuncks, rewrite and add
    • Record your revised story in Adobe Audition
    • File > Export – change to MP3
    • Export to your U drive
    • Copy > paste to:
    • Shared Drive – p/handins/BIS/Sinks/creativeWriting/2015-16/creativeFictionPodcastSecondDraft

Week 11

February 29, 2016

  1. Warm Up: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
  2. Reading Slam Starts Wednesday
    • Select your favorite poem
    • Select your favorite short story (fiction or non-fiction)
  3. Leap Year Day
    • Your choice – poem or short story – a leap year is like a "space in between" where it only exists to round out or make even the 1/4 day anomaly of the earth's rotation around the sun to fit in with the Gregorian calendar. Write about a "space in between" from a 1st person perspective – this perspective could be from a person or a thing.

March 1, 2016

March 2, 2016

March 3, 2016

March 4, 2016

Week 12

March 7, 2016

End of Trimester 2

Inservice Day – No school