This Week - April 1-5

This week we are working on Dream Narratives (or alternate Alchemist Essay). The Essay is the final piece in your portfolio. I am picking up your Alchemist books to grade and give feedback on your sticky quotes.

Complete portfolios are due April 8th (Monday for 5,6,8 and Tuesday April 9th for 3rd). They will include:

1.Your Mandala (which I will return Thursday (3rd) and Friday (5,6,8)) will be the cover. It should have your name, and Latin American Literature Portfolio written somewhere on it.

2. You will include at least 3 poems in the portfolio
a.  your "I almost..." (choice) poem
b. your ode (after Pablo Neruda)
c. your found poem (the 12 lines formed into quatrains from The Alchemist).

3. The final part of your portfolio will be the Essay/Dream Narrative (at least 3 pages in length, double spaced).

Super-amazing portfolios will include a table of contents, extra poems, or other journal writes pertaining to the book.

The poems should be revised and polished (we will work on this Thursday and Friday).

Extension Activities (worth 100 points) for either the short-story Magical Realism Anthology, or your Companion Novel are due on April 10th (periods 5,6,8) and 11th (3).  There are no extensions or exceptions. This is the end of the quarter.

You will bring a project to class ready to share. It will reflect a deep understanding of the book you read. The project will be accompanied by an artist statement. (We will look at several examples in class April 4th and 5th).

Your artist statement should introduce the theme of the novel as well as describe the significance of your project and exactly how it represents that theme as well as explain why you chose to represent your novel that way. It will be at least two paragraphs typed.

You will also turn in your book/short story packet and your note taking method showing that you have QUALITATIVELY engaged your novel/short story (imagine you are in a college course and the professor has told you to read the entire thing and come ready to discuss the book). You should have at least seven sections marked with a note about your thoughts or questions pertaining to the significance of the passage.

Happy Spring Break!

Just a reminder on dates. 

Portfolios are due on April 8 including your Mandala as the cover, three poems (the Ode, I Almost Poem, and the Found Poem) and finally the Dream Narrative or alternate Personal Legend/theme essay.

I am expecting that we use the week we return to polish the drafts and talk about purposeful revisions. Projects for Companion Novel/Short Stories will be due the 10th and 11th of April (no school on the 12th!) for the Gallery Walk. We will work on Artist Statements before that time to describe how your project relates to the theme of your novel.

Remember that you must show qualitative note taking of your choice with your Companion Novel/Short Story.

Our next Unit is a Middle Eastern Unit. We will be looking at more poetry and graphic novels.

For Wednesday/Thursday

Read your Companion Novel!

Prepare to work on your Dream Narrative or Alternate Essay. If you want to be extra prepared bring a draft to work on.

ALSO. HUGELY important. I am missing no less than 40 TFA Drafts. If you have yet to turn in your edited draft, you MUST do that or your grade will default to a D/F. Beyond that, I will tell Agbala about your missing work and trust me, you don't want that kind of wrath.

I think that it's really inspiring to consider the variety of essays you've worked on this year. You have completed a Formal Letter, a Vignette, a piece of Flash Fiction, an informal Expository Essay on the "Role of the Writer", a Literary Analysis Essay on Things Fall Apart, and a 30-Day Project reflection, and a rough Script.

Be proud of yourselves!

Coming up: Dream Narrative, Poetry, Comparative Essay, Research Paper, Persuasive Essay.

Mandalas!

Mandalas due Monday.  We will also have quiz on The Alchemist through the end of the book.

                                                           Don't forget to scroll down!

Shout-outs!

Nice job Jackie, Will, Dea'Aira and Connor for watching and responding to the film "Il Postino" as challenge criteria. Also big praise to McKinley who went to see the staged presentation of MacBeth. I hear it was a bloody good time. 

By 3/14-3/15

All students should be to page 144 in The Alchemist and be working to finish the book over the weekend. By the end of the novel you should have 24 sticky quotes or the equivalent. 

Companion novels should be started next week to be finished (at the latest) over spring break.

No TFA draft will be accepted after Friday 3/15.

It is time to move on from Okonkwo, but I hope not from the understanding of his complexity as well as the knowledge of how colonization changed cultures. Most of you have engaged in a deep and thorough revision process which I hope has helped you learn about your own writing as you revisited, reworded, reworked and resubmitted (how's that for alliteration?). I am very proud of your efforts, your instinct, and your insight. Very nicely done.

Next week we will be working on more poems and our dream narratives which will be due at the end of next week. At that time we will also discuss your final choice project for your companion novel or your short story series (don't worry, I'll explain it when we get there).

Ms. B

HW: March 11

Period 3: Finish Mandalas (due Tuesday) and read to page 118 by Tuesday

Periods 5,6,8: Finish Mandalas (due Wednesday) and read to page 129 by Wednesday

There will be a quiz.  We will also be considering the theme of the novel as well as the theme of choices.

Also, always remember to scroll down to make sure there is no pertinent information you are missing!