CLASS+LOG++for+Creative+Writing

CLASS LOG for Creative Writing

May 27-28: Students performed the plays. May 20-26: Students worked in groups, creating their one act play. Students will perform their plays on Thursday, May 27 and Friday, May 28. May 19: Students handed in Huckleberry Finn assignment and broke into groups for their final project: one act play. Students handed in a skeletal plan of their play. May 18: Students discussed how to use dialogue effectively. They wrote a passage from Huck Finn (pp 2-3) into a play format using only dialogue between the characters. May 17: Students read and handed in their poetry notebook. May 10-13: Students were creating, formatting, and typing out poems for their portfolio. May 7: Students shared their poems and were given the guidelines for creating their poetry portfolio. May 6: Students shared their diamantes, were asked to create an extended metaphor where they personified an intangible concept like bravery, loyalty, revenge, arrogance, etc. May 5: Students were to hand in ballads, diamantes were discussed, a sample given, and students were to create 3 original diamantes for tomorrow. May 4: Students were to create an original ballad about the tragedy of 9- 11. May 3: Students were discussing ballads and lyrics. April 26-30: Students were discussing poetry, and working on their illustratios for their children's books for homework. April 22-23: Students were working on their children's Story. the Text of the story is due on Monday, April 29. April 21: Students discussed the criteria for their children's story. April 20: Students were working on their children's story in the library. April 19: Students were to write the theme, name the main character, and complete a plot chart for their children's story. April 16: Students composed a children's story from a story starter in class. Students turned them in at the end of class today. April 15: Students discussed themes and plot from children's stories. April 14: Students read children's story and wrote a summary and theme that came form the story. April 13: Students were to write/ construct a short story ( approx. 300 words) about an object in the classroom (ie. LED projector, eraser, whiteboard markers, red correcting pen, scissors, stapler, paper clip). They were to illustrate a common theme through the story as well, such as "with help from their friends, people can overcome any problem." April 12: Students were to write a short story ( approx. 300 words) of about breakfast from the point of view of the breakfast item- use the first person narrator. narrator choices are the following: an egg, a piece of bacon, a cheerio / or cereal item, a piece of toast, coffee beans, a bagel, pancake or waffle batter, a piece of french toast, a grapefruit, oatmeal. Revisions are due on Friday, April 16. the scoresheet, original story and the changes (in bold) must be handed in if they are to receive more credit. April 1: Students discussed the articles about writing from their assignments. March 29 - 30: Students were writing their stories which are due on WED, March 31. March 26: Students were writing their stories which are due on WED, March 31. March 25: Students started to write their stories after having checked with Mr. Kocon about their plot outlines. March 24: Students started to write their story after having written the basic outline of the plot. March 23: Students explored more deeply the character for their next story. Assignment: Write out an outline of the inciting incident (start of the story), the rising actions (scenes they will want in the story), climax, and resolution for tomorrow. These stories will be due on Wednesday, March 31. March 22: Students wrote about new character, and put them in hypothetical situations. Character Dossiers were assigned to be finished by tomorrow. March 12: Students read the "Lady or the Tiger" and wrote an ending to it. March 11: Students shared stories about childhood neighborhoods. March 10: Students worked on stories which are due tomorrow. March 9: Discussed how neighborhood memories can make for great stories. Students are to type out a neighborhood story(2-3 pages) due on Thursday. March 8: REMINDER: Revisions are due on Tuesday, March 9. Students discussed stream of consciousness technique, and made maps of their neighborhood, and then we listed 7 events that we remember that happened in our neighborhoods or in our house. March 5: REMINDER: Revisions are due on Tuesday, March 9. Students talked about "flashforwards, brain arguments," and "stream of consciousness" technique in class. Students should work on revisions of short story.Students chose either situations 1 and 2 or they chose situations 3 and 4 and wrote two paragraphs showing the inner thoughts of a character following the pattern given in class. March 4: Students talked about how flashbacks work. handed in assignments, and reminded everyone Revisions for stories will be due on Tuesday, March 9. Click here for the Revision Guidelines. important reminder All revisions whether big or small **must be in a bold font** so as to contrast with the original text of the story. March 3: Students discussed Revision Process for stories. "Thought shots" handout was given to students and they wrote a flashback about Suzy and Karen. March 2: Students discussed the good writing in a story called "Eight Oared Crew", read about the technique of creating "snapshots" and then were to find 4 places in their story where they could use a snapshot. Tonight's assignment would be to write one of those snapshots for the story. March 1: Students read a story called "Eight Oared Crew" were to find 4 passages of good writing and write them down on paper for tomorrow. Each student should jot down a reason or two why each passage is good, so they can explain it tomorrow. February 26: Students played dictionary game. February 25: Students handed in assignments, read article on Dialogue Use and took notes on it. February 23: Students worked on writing a story from the line: "He saw the target in his scope and drew a breath in as he prepared to squeeze the trigger." February 23: Students handed in stories and read articles about writing and were told to summarize and comment on their article.Due Thursday. February 18, 19, 22: Students were writing their stories. Stories are to be handed in on Tuesday, February 24, and turn in their score sheet as well. February 17: Students reviewed how to "draw out the climatic moment" in the story using the "slow-motion" technique, and then continued to work on story. February 16: Students were given time to write short story. The stories will be due next Monday, February 25. February 12: Students were given a review of using proper punctuation with quotation marks. They were to start writing their stories ovedr the weekend. Stories will be due next week. February 11: Students read their endings to each other and discussed how themes come out of how the story is ended by the author. Students are to write out a skeletal plan of their story for tomorrow. The short story will be written in the next week.

February 10: Students reviewed about making conflicts with equal choices for the protagonist. Today students were to write the climatic moment and resolution to the Mary Catherine story. Starting point: Jake meets up with Kate at her locker moments before they are to skip out of school.

February 9: Students read about making a suitable conflict in a story- which means the protagonist must have a crossroads in the story where he/she has to make a difficult choice between two EQUALLY enticing options. The students must develop a plot where those two choices are apparently equal or nearly equal options for the protagonist. Students chose either scene 1,2,3, or 4 and were to write a part of the Mary Catherine story for tomorrow. See handout if you need to review your scene. February 8: Students practiced writing 2 examples where they showed- Sam being tired during a family dinner time and Jake being anxious or worried before a chemistry or English test. Then the class read an article about "showing vs. telling" an d were assigned to write about a place and through a description "show" it as a welcoming place, (don't use words like warm, cheery, happy). Then describe the same place only "show" it as an unwelcoming, dismal place, (don't use words like scary, sad, gloomy) in the writing. February 5: Students shared their haunting memories and then the class talked about "showing vs. telling" in writing. No homework. February 4: Students continued to envision the character through MR. Kocon's class exercise, then they were assigned to write about a haunting memory that their character has. Tell the memory like the character is reexperiencing it again.

February 3: Students shared assignments in class, read an article on character dossiers, and were assigned to write out a dossier for a character.

February 2: Students continued to work on their assignment from yesterday. The "surprise ending" assigment is due tomorrow. February 1: Students discussed narrator's importance, were given opportunity to write 500+ words where they create a scenario that has a plot twist at the end using a third person- limited narrator. TIPS- it is easier to write having the author as the character who is playing the narrator, also having the narrator in a confrontation with another character based on partial information ( only information he sees) or on false conclusions he has drawn from the information he /she has gathered. To see an example of the assignment, download the PDF.

January 29: Students discussed narrator's importance, read an article about characterization, then were assigned to write two different character sketches. 150-200 words (TYPED or handwritten neatly) for each character. January 28: Students discussed story "Bargain" and then were to write 4 reasons why it is important to have AL be the narrator of the story. January 27: Students read "Bargain" and were to find 2 adjective choices to describe Mr. Baumer and Freighter Slade. Then they were to find 2 quotations to support each adjective choice. January 26: Students took quiz on characterization and were assigned writing assignment about John Stansom. Look at PPT for directions if you wish to review the assignment. January 25: Students discussed types of narrator: 1st person, 3rd person limited, omniscient. Looked at O. Henry's characterization of Della. Students must read article on Characterization for tomorrow - there will be a quiz tomorrow.

January 22: Students discussed questions about "The Gift of the Magi" and parts of the short story. No homework. January 21: Students took quiz on Stephen King article, received study guide about short stories, read the story "The Gift of the Magi" and are supposed to answer questions 1,2,3, and 6 (p204) in their notebooks for tomorrow. January 20: Students are to bring in a signed copy of the welcome letter, and have read the Stephen King article. A quiz will be given tomorrow in class. Students who have taken notes from the article may use those notes when taking the quiz. January 19: Rules and procedures were discussed, KISS assignment was given.

January 13 - Students performed plays. All groups needed to hand in a typed script for Mr. Kocon and one for everyone in the group. January 12 - Students worked in groups, timed plays, picked time slots for performances. January 6-9 - Working in groups on one act plays. January 5- Read play in class discuss part of a play. December 19 - Students handed in stories and some will hand in their pictures on Monday, January 5, 2009. December 18 - The students were working on writing their children's stories. See __December 15__ for the particulars. December 17 - Students were working on their children's stories. December 16 - The students were working on writing their children's stories. See __December 15__ for the particulars.

December 15 - Students were given the scoresheet and tip sheet for writing their children's story. The stories will be due on Friday and the students who wish to do the extra credit will have over the break to finish their pictures. However, if you are or are not doing the extra credit, the text of the story will be handed in with a picture (hand drawn or clip art) on the cover page on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19.

December 12 - The students will write a 350+ word children's story based on the sentence: Teddy the tugboat faithfully puffed and pushed the large barges up the river all day and every day. The students were to illustrate the theme "With the help of others, problems can be solved more easily. Students were to complete the assignment for Monday, already given on Dec. 11: MONDAY's assignment is to bring three story ideas to class. For each story idea, the student must identify who/what is the protagonist, what the conflict / problem the protagonist will face and resolve in the story, and what will be the central theme that will be illustrated by the story.

December 11 - Students were writing children's stories about school objects. Stories due tomorrow. MONDAY's assignment is to bring three story ideas to class. For each story idea, the student must identify who/what is the protagonist, what the conflict / problem the protagonist will face and resolve in the story, and what will be the central theme that will be illustrated by the story. These 3 story ideas are due for Monday, Dec. 15. December 10 - The students will write a 350+ word children's story based on the protagonist and theme that were chosen in class today. Remember it is a children's story, so the language should be less sophisticated, animals or objects may talk, have feelings, etc. (like humans), and the other characteristics of the story's setting and characters and plot should be connected to the protagonist. For example, a Sharpie marker may live in the comfy pencil cup on the teacher's desk. If the marker's story is to illustrate overcoming an obstacle with the help of others- make a "suitable" obstacle for a sharpie marker and decide what other objects would be the marker's friends. Name the protagonist an "appropriate" name as well as any of the marker's friends. Get the idea? Have fun with it. Stories due tomorrow. December 9 - Students were reading children's stories and wrote down the summary and main theme of the story to share with their classmates at the end of class. December 8 - Students read their poems and we discussed the next unit: Children's stories. No homework unless you have not handed in your poetry notebook. December 5 - Poetry Reading in the LCR. December 4 - Students worked on their poems in class which are due tomorrow. The students must select a poem to read at tomorrow's poetry reading. December 3 - students handed in revised drafts and worked on their poems. Please check the Reminders about poetry from November 26 BECAUSE THEY STILL APPLY. Extra Credit poem is due tomorrow. It must be typed and of 12 lines or longer. December 2 - Students worked on their poems in class and were given a handout and explanation about the Shakespearean Sonnet. December 1 - students took notes about the "limerick" form of poetry, then students worked on writing their Poems for their poetry notebook. Please check the Reminders from November 26 BECAUSE THEY STILL APPLY. November 26 - students worked on their poems in class. REMINDERS-Students who wish to revise their short story #2 must submit those REVISIONS to Mr. Kocon by Wednesday, Dec 3. Poetry Notebooks are due on Friday, December 5. Students can recieve 3 extra credit points by turning in an original typed poem to be submitted into the EAGLE poetry contest by Thursday, December 4. Students will not be getting this poem back so that means the students should have a copy for themselves if they are going to be submitting it in on Friday in their poetry notebook, also. November 25 - students took notes about the "ballad" form of poetry, then students worked on writing their ballads. November 24 - students discussed diamantes and haiku poetry, and then wrote some poetry. Students also received their short stories back and were given until Wednesday, December 3 to hand in revisions. Remember **ALL REVISIONS ARE TO BE IN BOLD TYPE** and done as stipulated on the Revision sheet. If you need a copy of the Revision Guidelines Sheet, download a copy for yourself here. November 20 - students got their Poetry Portfolio assignment. November 19 - students discussed the poetry they read yesterday and were assigned to take their paragraph about their childhood memory and transform it into a short lyric. Click here to see instruction. November 18 - students read several poems from the book __Sound and Sense__ and commented on the poetry that they found. November 17 - students handed in their short stories, were reminded to submit their story electronically to "turnitin.com" Students were assigned to read the two articles about poetry for tomorrow. November 11- 14 - students are working on writing their second short story, which will be due on Monday, November 17. Click here to see the criteria for the second short story. November 10 - students handed in their plot summary for their second short story, then spent the rest of the class time writing their short story, which is due on Monday, November 17. November 6 - students read packet "Writing a Story" and began working on __t__heir plot summary for Monday. November 5 - read the story "A Man Who Had No Eyes" and discussed how the writer succeeded in creating such a "Good" short story. Students were reminded that next week they will write a second short story, and by Monday, November 10, they must hand in a summary of the basic plot (conflict, scenes, climatic moment, resolution) of their story before using the ibooks in class. November 4 - students read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and discussed how the writing was successful as a "GOOD" SHORT STORY. Students were reminded of their assignment: the character sketch which is due tomorrow. November 3 - read about ironic and romantic literature, discussed how starting a story with an ending idea forces the author to retrace the whole plot before starting any of the writing. Planning the story backwards. Students were assigned to have a character sketch ready on Wednesday for their next short story. October 31 - students were to write a 350+ word story that ends with the expression "Thanks." October 30 - read about the individual characters, students were to create an inciting incident that would be suitable for character #1 based upon the fear the character exhibits. October 29 - students were to provide an ending for the story "The Lady or the Tiger?" in the same vein in which the author was writing the story. October 28 - finished reading stories, and discussed descriptions of our three characters. Assigned students to write a paragraph about character #1 (10-16 yrs) telling the audience what is their greatest fear, explain why; write a paragraph about character #2 (21-50 yrs) telling the audience what is their goal or ambition in life (something they really want to do), explain why; write a paragraph about character # (70+ yrs) telling the audience what is their greatest regret, fear, or ambition is and explain why. October 27 - students were to provide a short physical description, a set of mannerisms, and a favorite object or possessions for each one of the characters that they wrote down from the previous class. October 24 - discussed assignments, read stories, and collected revisions of short stories. Students selected 3 characters and gave an age and a first and last name to each. Character #1 -was to be between 10-16 years old. Character #2 -was to be between 121-50 years old. Character #3 -was to be 70 years old or older. October 23 - discussed assignments, read stories, revisions of short stories are due tomorrow. October 22 - Students wrote notes about narrators of stories. Assigned student to write a story from the perspective of a breakfast food as it has to endure the breakfast hour. They are to use active verbs, good sensory description, dialogue if necessary as the tell of the plight of their protagonist, through the eyes and voice of their protagonist (which could be a piece of bacon, a frozen waffle, a piece of bread, an egg, a strawberry, or a fruit loop (cheerio)). October 21- critically looked at our dialogue samples in short story "Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?" discussed dialogue assignments, passed backed student's assignments, assigned students to improve dialogue and type out a final copy for tomorrow. October 20 - Students wrote a dialogue inspired by a Rockwell painting called "Breaking Ties." (See Mr. Kocon for the background of the characters and to see the picture) Students were to create a dialogue between the father and his son as they are waiting at the bus stop.This dialogue will eventually be reviewed in class, revised, and typed later on in the week. Students should incorporate all the techniques regarding good dialogue into their writing. October 16- critically looked at our dialogue assignments, passed backed short stories and directed students to the REVISION process if students wish to rewrite parts of their story for more credit. Click here for Revision Guidelines. REVISIONS are due by October 24. STUDENTS MUST turn in their original scoresheet and original story with their revised copy to receive any credit on or before October 24. October 15 - Reviewed components of good dialogue. Assigned students to write a dialogue involving two character. Click here for details. October 14- role played realistic dialogue, reviewed how dialogue is to be used in stories, the Summary and Reaction assignment from yesterday is due tomorrow. October 13 - Assigned students to write a summary and reaction to an article in the __Writer__ (a magazine). October 10- registered for "Turnitin.com" collected first story and played dictionary game. October 8 - Checked students stories to see how many pages were done. Completed stories due on Friday. October 6-9 - Handed out scoresheet and helpful reminders about short story assignment. Students will be working on their short stories using the ibooks in class throughout the week and checking with the teacher about questions they may arise. Their short stories are due on Friday, October 10. October 3 - discussed students' skeletal plans for their first short story. Students are/will be writing their first short story this weekend and next week. Short story is due Friday, October 10. Students are encouraged to bring jump drives to save their stories on them as they transfer them from home computer to the TG computers. October 1 - Lesson on using "Thoughshots" in a story. Lesson on How to "Explode the Moment" when writing the climax of a short story. In-class activity: Your protagonist sees a wallet on the ground outside of Walgreens. Nobody is around. Write a scene describing what he/she does, include one of the Thoughshot examples (ie. flashforward, flashback, or brain argument), and make sure the reaction of your protagonist is in line with the type of personality and values your protagonist has. September 30 - discussed students' future plots of stories, did exercise with envisioning and developing a deeper understanding of our protagonist, reminded students of Skeletal plan of Story is due tomorrow. September 29 - read stories, discussed the mistakes students should avoid in creating their first short stories. Assigned students to complete the Conflict form for designing the of their first stories for Wednesday. September 25 - read stories, collected character sketches. no homework unless you are missing assignments. September 24 - read stories, character sketch is due tomorrow (see Sept. 19). September 23 - read stories, assigned a character sketch for Thursday, and discussed how to create a conflict for the character by Tuesday. September 22 - discussed unified character sketches and the autobiographical sketch which is due tomorrow (see Sept. 19). September 19 - discussed how to create unified character sketches. Read about the Secret Life of Walter Mitty pp 228-234 in "Writing Incredibly Short Plays, Poems, and Stories" -in class today- students were to create another episode that would fit within the life of Walter Mitty. Then students were assigned to read pages 237-248 and do the activity on page 248. which should be 600+ words and due on Tuesday, Sept. 23. September 18 - collected homework, took a field trip around the outside of the school, touching, feeling, smelling, hearing, and seeing all that we could. Assignment: Write a sketch of the school creating a unified effect.Click here for starting sentences and more concrete instructions. September 17 - discussed how a sketch is a unified piece of writing that focuses on one particular character, object, incident. Students were to create a list of attributes for a person they know before writing a 300+ word character sketch. Click on Character sketch for more instructions. September 16 - took quiz on yesterday's article, took notes, started doing some exercises on the mechanics of writing dialogue, assigned students to read pages 221-234 in the book entitled "Writing Incredibly Short Plays, Poems, and Stories". September 15 - discussed how to use, reviewed rules, assigned students to read / take notes on the article about How to use "Dialogue Effectively" in a short story. Short quiz tomorrow. September 12 - discussed avoiding wordiness, cliches, flowery language, discussed the importance of "showing vs. telling" and did writing exercises in class. September 11 - discussed how a resolution shows a theme in a story, discussed our scenes would make up the rising action in our story about Mary Catherine. Assigned students to write a 300+ word resolution to the story. September 10 - discussed elements that create a good conflict in a story or novel., took notes, assigned students to write a 250 words or more scene that would be found in the story of Mary Catherine prior to the climatic moment. click on Mary Catherine for further details. September 9 - discussed the snapshot technique, backstory technique and the way Harry Slyvester creates a reasonable and realistic resolution in his story "Eight-Oared Crew". September 8 - discussed short story elements, took notes, assigned students to read the story "Eight -Oared Crew". Write their response to this question. September 5 - shared assignments in small groups, reviewed "Snapshot technique and then was to find a place in theirs " neighborhood " story where this Snapshot revision technique could be used. Click on the link to view specific details of the assignment. September 4 - discussed specific word choice in students' assignments. Drew maps of neighborhoods, assigned neighborhood story. September 3 - shared assignments in small groups, reviewed article " Showing vs Telling " Assignment: description of place. September 2 - read in groups the previous day's assignment, read article "Showing vs Telling" by Noah Lukeman, Showing vs. Telling assignment given. August 29 - took quiz on yesterday's article, in class- wrote a description of a character's room so clearly that some of the character's personality could be seen by the way the author used description. August 28 - discussed story starters, took quiz on S.King article and students were to read "Questions of Character" article and prepare for quiz. August 27 - discussed Kiss assignment, wrote on a story starter, and were to read Steven King article and prepare for quiz. August 26-