APLit

Mr. Aubain, when I click on your blog — it says “Fatal Error”– this is not good.

If you had not yet made a post about your progess, please remember to do so each time you work. Also, take a few minutes to read other blogs! You may be inspired!

Your Task: Congratulations! You will create your own piece of social commentary.  First you must determine your topic of interest and research this topic.

• Part One: How have other people treated this topic? Examine multiple genres – short stories, poems, paintings, music and so on. Please track your sources and responses in posts on your blog.

• Part Two: This is your personal statement. Why did you choose this topic? What are your reflections on your final piece? {This could be similar to an artist’s statement.} This should be a page on your blog.

• Part Three: Your social commentary. Create your own short story, painting, satirical skit. Get focused and creative! A picture, copy or video of your work should appear on your blog.

Projects are due June 12/13!

For second quarter, pages will be categorized by topic instead of theme. You are required to publish 3 pages this quarter. Each page must:

Include fiction and nonfiction pieces of writing

Have 5 different pieces per page

Include literary analysis of each piece

Include personal or contemporary social connections/response

Have MLA doumentation

Have a distinct topic that is meaningful to you!

Your first page is due December 10th.

First quarter long work is now due Monday, November 19th!

Please be reminded that you must follow the directions in the previous post in order to have your blog graded. I will not grade your blog until I see the ‘Ready to be Graded’ post. Remember — late assignments lose ten percent of the assignment value per day!

Blogs — with the exception of the long work assignment — are due November 2nd. When your blog is ready to grade, please create a post called “Ready to Grade.” Before you submit your work to be graded, check the following items:

• Gather all necessary MLA information. You may keep this information with each piece of writing or create a separate page.
• Please label all pages with genre and Quarter 1.
• Please be sure you have personal connections and response for each piece. Also, make sure to complete literary analysis — including lit terms — for each piece. Using the directions and suggestions from the ‘How to Read’ page will help!

Please check out my new blog at www.mspatterson.edublogs.org.

Chris Bohjalian is an author who writes about a variety of intriguing topics. In the past he has corresponded with students who were analyzing his novels. You may want to consider him for this project. 

http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/

I have been checking your blog pages and I can’t find some of them! Please use the widgets to make sure your pages appear on your home page.

Invite Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest

into Your High School’s English and Theater Classrooms!

Sign-Up Deadline: October 31, 2007

Register your school to participate in Poetry Out Loud!   Administered by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the New York State Alliance for Arts Education (NYSAAE) and sponsored by Time Warner Cable, Poetry Out Loud provides a new and exciting channel for learning in high school English and Theater classrooms by inviting the dynamic aspects of classic world literature and charismatic public speaking into English and theater classes. Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation to encourage high school students to read a wide range of literature, building an understanding of texts and the world around them. Poetry Out Loud also helps students to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.  Moreover, Poetry Out Loud satisfies NCTE English Language Arts Standards. 

Upon registration, teachers will receive dynamic teaching tools that will invoke students’ excitement about literature and poetry recitation, including sample lesson plans, audio CDs of poets reciting their own famous works, publicity materials for school competitions, and a DVD of winning student performances from the 2007 Poetry Out Loud National Finals.

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that begins in the classroom. Through January 16th, classroom- and school-level competitions will take place across the state. The winners from school-level competitions will advance to regional competitions.  From there, winners will go on to compete at the New York State finals, to be held in Albany, NY on March 13th (snow date March 14th).

The state-level winner will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with a chaperone to Washington, DC to participate in the National Finals in late April 2008.  The winner will also receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books for his or her school library.  A runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library.

If you would like to bring Poetry Out Loud to your high school, please sign up by October 31, 2007.  Learn more about Poetry Out Loud  by visiting www.nysaae.org/appinfo.htm or contact Lainy Slyder at lainy@nysaae.org for further information.