POETRY  UNIT

 

PROJECT 3: POETRY READING OR SLAM

Last Thursday, November 19, Kadie Lamb and I went to an open mike at Picasso's Coffee House on Main Street. We got there at 6:45 so we could order our drinks and it started at 7:00. Each Thursday, there are 14 people on the list and they each have 15 minutes to do whatever they want. Sadly, no one actually read poetry but many people did sing original songs. The atmosphere in the coffee shop was unlike anything Kadie or I had ever been to before. It was kind of strange and the people there all seemed to be very different from each other. We got the last two seats available and many people stood the whole time. I had no idea that so many people went to these kinds of events. I was expecting us to be some of the only ones in there. The first girl we saw perform was named Alia, and she played her guitar and sang three original songs about life. She was pretty talented and reminded me of Imogen Heap. She even asked the audience to try to come up with names for her songs. The next person we saw was a man named Mike. He was an older man that played a guitar and sang. He was kind of hard to understand though. The next person we saw was Holly and she was by far my favorite we saw. All the songs she sang were well known, but she made them unique. Mike played the guitar for a couple of them. She played what I think was a cello but I can't be sure. It was taller than her. It sounded really cool. She sang Norah Jones' 'Don't Know Why' and Ingrid Michaelson's 'The Way I Am.' I think they were my favorites because I knew them. Her great voice and the unique instrument definitely added to the performance. I would definitely enjoy listening to her again. The next perosn we saw was Jean. He had kind of a punk-rock look to him and reminded me of Boys Like Girls. He sang a Dixie Chicks song and played the guitar. He wasn't teriffic but I'll give props to anyone that can do that. I'll admit that I was a little skeptical of going to this event but I was glad I did. It was something I could see myself doing again. It was a good chance for Kadie and I to chat and have a great cup of coffee. If you go to Picasso's in the future, I would reccommend the Snickers Latte. I tried Kadie's hot chocolate and it was also tasty. This was also a very convenient place to go. The only thing I would do different is get there earlier. We sat on stools in the back of the coffee house because the tables were all full.

 

Hey  Dad,

Remember when I was little,

and you would take me to the grocery store to get that box that was supposed to contain all we would need to make our Christmas masterpiece?

 Mom would groan and say it was tacky

But we had more fun mixing and glueing and decorating.

Sometimes adding things of our own.

 I can still remember the sweet smell as we took the walls, roof, and door out of their celefane wrappers, and how they mysteriously disappeared.

Remember?

I miss that.

 

 

 

HUES

Today I am bue.

The color of sky and sea.

The color that brings me confidence, wisdon, and faith.

 

Sometimes that blue is light.

bringing me health and understanding.

 

And sometines it is dark.

Bringing me knowledge and seriousness.

 

Sometimes the stability of blue combines with red's energy and i am purple.

Ambitious, mysterious, independent, creative purple.

Some days I am sunshine yellow, purple's opposite.

Feeling joyful, happy, and energetic.

 

Every day, at some point, I am each one.

 

 

wiki 5 - 10/20 - your post was TWO days late... and technically you should have gotten a zero. Please take deadlines more seriously from now on. This one is grace since you've always done a post.

Week 5- November 8, 2009

Vicar Ondracka

My family went to the 10:45 fellowship hall service this sunday and the new vicar was preaching. This was the first service I had been to where he had been the pastor doing the whole service. He seemed really nervous. I don't know if it was his first time or not but his nervousness definitely showed. He had a clear speaking voice and maintained good eye contact but he lacked something to make the audience keep focus. His sermon was boring and lifeless. He stood behind the podium the whole time and didn't have many gestures. He had a powerpoint which helped but it was a boring sermon. Maybe we're just spoiled with Pastor Schade having really good sermons but the sermon Vicar Ondracka gave lacked excitement. I couldn't keep my concentration on the sermon so i actually started reading the bulliten and other things. There was nothing about it that grabebd me at the beginning and held my attention. Having a public speaking unit in school definitely made me more aware of what makes a good speech and what doesn't When we left church i could pinpoint exactly what was wrong with the sermon.

 

wiki 4 - 20/20 - good post! I agree with you about his "object Lesson!" (I guess we could call the people a visual aid)

Week 4- October 30, 2009

Mr. Flandermeyer

I thought that Mr. Flandermeyer did a good job with chapel today. Sometimes listening to him gets boring and it did a bit today but the end of the message was really good. I think that usually when the music department does chapel, that students tend not to pay attention. I think music puts people asleep. I wasn't really paying close attention to his message at the beginning but when Mr. Schlesselman stood up I think everyone paid attention. This was a good technique to get students to pay attention. I still can't tell who was pre-picked to stand up but I know that alot of people did on their own. This is the kind of chapel that people pay attention to and remember. This will probably be one of the chapels that I know I will remember. He is a pretty good public speakier. He had good eye contact and used appropriate gestures. The movie clip he played also got people's attention. Those kinds of things make students more apt to attention than a speaker standing at the podium doing nothing but talking.

 

Week 3- October 22, 2009

Vicar Mizel

I thought that Vicar Mizel did an ok job speaking in chapel on monday. He is a good public speaker but i have one big problem i would like to point out. I think he needs to think about the age of his audience. It seemed like his message was meant for kids a little bit younger than us. Im not really sure if i was the only person that thought this but i thought the story he told about him going diving in the ocean was a bit too young for us. Sure, it was easy to follow and understand but i personally dont like to be talked to like im a little kid and thats how i felt. I guess thats better than a message being way over your head. Sometimes that happens too and then people really dont pay attention. Other than that though, i think that overall he has good public speaking skills. His voice had good inflection and he had good hand gestures. He stayed in one part of the gym but he moved around in that space which was good. Nobody likes watching someone stand in front of the podium. I've noticed that mostly older people do that for some reason.

 wiki 3 - 20/20 - good post.. and an accurate observation about knowing your audience well. It can become rather obvious when a speaker is not used to talking to high school students.

 

Week 2- October 16, 2009

Mr. Kuhlmann

Mr. Kuhlmann did a great job with chapel on wednesday. He is able to keep the audience focused and paying attention. I will admit that more times than not i don't pay attention during chapel. It becomes so routine that i think students feel that they've heard it all before. Because Mr. Kuhlmann doesn't do chapel very often that right there makes people pay attention. Becasue he had other people involved in the message that helped too. He also got the crowd involved by asking questions and expecting a response. Even though it was still just a few people willing to volunteer, people pay attention. Mr. Kuhlmann also appeared very confident which showed the audience that he had something important to say. He walked around alot and that kept people's attention more than a chapel speaker that just stands behind the podium. Having the football team demonstrate something also kept people's attention. When the audience has something to watch instead of just listening to someone talk, they are more apt to pay attention. Slideshows get boring after a while. It seems like everyone pays more attention when there is something to watch.

 wiki 2 - 20/20 - Love the pastel colors you pick! good post!

 

Week 1 - 10.9.09

Joseph Fiennes

I thought his speech was really good. Even though he read his speech it didn't seme like it. He maintained good eye contact and i think that is important while making a speech. It makes the audience feel more connected. He also made the audience feel more connected because his speech was so emotional. The dramatic pauses during the speech were actually because he was so emotional. That shows that audience that he is really connected to what he is talking about. He didn't have alot of gestures or movement but i think it worked for this speech. His speech was well organized and he delivered it well. The speech was so moving that i thought about it even after it was over. It was a good topic to talk about because its not something that alot of people think about. I had never even heard of the country he was tlaking about. It just makes you think about things bigger than things going on around yourself. He opened the speech with a topic that affects everyone. Gas prices. From that moment, i was hooked. that is a good thing to do when making a speech. if the audience isn't connected at the beginning. the speech is no good.

wiki 1  - 20/20 - great job. excellent response!

                                                                                                                                            Lucky

     Abby Sams opened her eyes and looked around the suite. She stared at the painting on the wall that depicted a sunny beach, and wished she could be there instead.

She was kind of dreading what the day had in store for her. Wardrobe, hair, makeup, and then performing at her concert. She was worried that it would be a repeat of the

night before. She had passed out on stage right before the concert was over and was taken to the emergency room. They had done all kinds of tests and were waiting for

results. They hadn't seemed worried and told her that it was probably just exhaustion. It wasn't like the country's newest pop star had lots of time to relax. In the

back of her mind though, she was a little worried. But the doctors had assured her that if anything was wrong they would let her know.

         

     She glanced at the clock and then sat up. It was almost ten o'clock. She had such a busy day ahead of her and she had wasted nearly half of it. She went to the hotel

room door and opened it slowly. Rob her bodyguard was sitting on a chair outside in the hall and handed her the morning newspaper and a cup of coffee. She thanked him and

went back in. The entire front page of the Entertainment page of the paper was devoted to her and the happenings from the previous evening. A large photograph of her as

she fainted was plastered across the top and a headline read “Abby Sams: Is Fame Too Much?” She groaned and threw the paper in the trash. She had enough to do without

worrying about what the media had to say about her.

            The phone rang and she hesitated. The doctors said they would call if there was anything wrong. But then again, being Abby Sams, anyone could be calling her. She answered the phone and she immediately felt her stomach flip. A lump rose in her throat and she started to cry. She hung up the phone and lay on her bed, sobbing.

            She had no idea how this could have happened to her. Her life was just starting. Luck was finally going in her direction. She was one of the youngest pop stars and was rising in fame. She had a boyfriend that loved her and friends that would do anything for her. It didn’t seem fair that something like a brain tumor could happen to someone like her. In her mind, she was invincible. Abby thought of all the people this would affect. Her family, friends, and fans would all be devastated. How would she cope with a career and all the treatments she would have to endure?  What about chemo? Would her hair fall out? Fear of the unknown overwhelmed her.

            Abby called her manager and just told her that the concert that night could not happen and that she could not tell her why. She decided she would tell her family before they found out some other way. But she couldn’t think about telling her family just yet. She had not grasped the concept herself. She knew that they would all be there to support her but she still had no idea how she would get through it.

            All of a sudden, Abby was not herself anymore. She was Abby with cancer. She thought about all the things she wanted to do in life. She was only twenty-four years old but she had already become famous and accomplished so much in her career. But there were other things she wanted to do too. She wanted what every girl wants. She wanted to marry her prince charming, have a family, and live happily ever after. She wanted to see the world. She didn’t want to see it from the view of a pop star. She wanted to really see it. She wanted to do the “tourist things” and take her time and see things that are only seen on television. But would any of these things ever happen? She hadn’t heard many stories about people with brain tumors ending happy.

            Just then the phone rang again. She let it ring. A few minutes later the phone rang again. This time she picked it up and saw that it was the doctor again. She answered and began crying even harder than she had before. The doctor had told her that he was very sorry but the test results had gotten mixed up. He told her that she was perfectly healthy but should try to rest more.

            Abby was so relieved to hear this wonderful news but then a terrible thought occurred to her. Somewhere, another person was learning that they were not alright. Someone was hearing the news that they were the one with cancer. Abby’s perspective on life had just changed and while she was so relieved that it was not her, she was miserable knowing that someone was mourning what she had thought was her bad news.

            Abby vowed that she would start to live her life differently. She found the person that really did have the cancer and became good friends with her. The girl was not much older than her. She understood how her new friend felt and was there for her throughout each step of her treatment. Abby realized how lucky she was and used her life to help others.

wiki 5 - Great job on your posts both this week and last. You have a lot of interesting ideas and I enjoy hearing them.

Week 5

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I think it is ironic that the week we read the story The New Kid, a story about a boy getting beat up on his school bus makes national news. In Belleville this past week, there was one white boy on a school bus and all the other kids were black. They would not let this boy sit next to him and then they all started beating him up. The bus driver did nothing to stop them and acted like nothing had happened. Only one kid on the bus tried to stop the others. I think it is very ironic that this example of prejudice was in the news the week we read that story. It was a different kind of prejudice but the same story line.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Makes me wonder if any of you have seen this same dynamic at work in the more "grown up" world of high school... not, of course with beatings, but with making a new person (or outsider) "suffer" just because at some point someone made you suffer.... or feel left out just because, at one point when you were new, you felt left out. Does it happen among us? Is the prejudice to be confronted here that it is okay to dish out what we once had to take ourselves? If we accept that "that's just how it is".... does that mean there's no way to break the cycle? What would it take to change it?

I think that sometimes new kids are picked on and left out simply because they are not like everybody else yet. Nobody wants to be seen with them or take the time to get to know them. I don't think I have ever seen anyone be picked on by someone else because they were picked on themselves. Usually it is the complete opposite. I usually see the kids that were new in the past try to make a friendship with the new kid. They knew how it felt to be left out and they feel badly for the new person. I don't think that a person that has been picked on would usually pick on someone else to make them feel better. I guess it could happen but I don't think that it is very likely.  

 

Week 4

Friday, September 11, 2009

4. Many "experts" claim  that EDUCATION is the secret recipe for success.... then how do we explain people who get college degrees but still live in their parents' basement? Or people who have advanced degrees and FAIL in life? What are the other factors that must be present for success? (Also how do you explain a guy like Bill Gates who dropped out of college to "tinker" with computers???)

I think that education does help a person succeed, but only if the person puts the education to good use. If someone has the highest degree of learning, it means nothing if they do not put it to use. In order to succeed, a person must believe in themself and set goals, then work hard to achieve those goals. Some goals do not require higher education. If a person wants to be an actor, they don't need a degree to do that. Education is the key to being successful to most people though. Not necessarily college however. These days too many people drop out of high school. There are not many decent jobs a person can get without a high school diploma.

Friday, September 11, 2009

I thought class today was interesting. I enjoyed listening to the discussion about where the orphan should go to live. There were many good points that I never would have though about. I thought that the theme of prejudice was almost hidden in this story. I didn't know that racial prejudice was not an issue in Germany at that time. I guess i just assumed that it was like that wherever the population was dominantly white. I had never really thought about it and it was a different thing to think about. I also just have to tell you that I enjoy this class so much more than I have for any other English class at LHS.

 Glad to hear you're enjoying class.. thanks for the kind words. Hope I can keep it that way for you all year long! :-)

Week 3

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

I really enjoyed class yesterday. I liked looking at the list of most questioned books. I was really surprised that some of them were on the list though. I have either read or seen thirteen of them and were surprised that some of them were on the list. I have A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein and have no idea why it is on the list. It is a book of childrens poems and rhymes. I can still remember some of them and I cannot imagine why someone would say there is something wrong with them. Maya Angelou is a famous poet and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is on the list. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with this poem. I can see why Of Mice and Men and The Adventures of Huckelberry FInn are on the list. They contain quite a bit of crude language and I can see why that would upset some people. However, these people need to realize that when these books were written a long time ago when this language was everyday language and there was nothing wrong with it. I was also upset to see The Outsiders and the Harry Potter Series on the list. These are two of my favorite books. First of all, Harry Potter is FICTION. It is not real. People don't have to read these books and if they do, they are obviously not supposed to believe what they contain is true. The Outsiders is a fictional book, but it is very realistic. Many of the issues discussed in this book are still issues today. I think this is a stupid list. People have the right to or not to read something. They should not have the right to tell others what they should or should not read.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 

Does this story fall more into the category of horror... or into the category of sci-fi? How do you think it stacks up compared to the original by Poe? Is it better or not as good? Why?

 I think that the story falls into the category of sci-fi. I was not scared at all while reading this story. Because I already read many of the Poe stories featured in this short story, I already had some idea of what to expect. I think that for a story to be considered a horror story, the reader should be scared. In this story, the reader is rooting for the "bad guy." In a true horror story, the reader would definitely not be rooting for this character. Instead, the reader would be scared to know what is going to happen next. I don't know that I would consider this story better or worse than the original by Poe. I think that The Fall of the House of Usher  should be considered a horror story because there is that element of fear and the reader has no idea what is going to happen next. The story even has a creepy ending. These two stories are in completely different genres and I personally don't think that a story in one genre should be compared to a story in another. There is no way to compare them equally.

 Great job on wiki 3! WOW You had a LOT to talk about! Excellent work!

 

Week 2

Wednesday, August 26,2009 

On a deeper level, is there more to say about what's happening in this story besides the futility of a girl's crush on an obviously unattainable guy? Why do girls DO this to themselves??

First of all it was wrong for the guy to do this to the girl. I have not been a victim of this but i have seen it happen and its not funny. I have seen this happen on homecoming court when a  less popular person gets voted on and they think its because people like them. People are really just making fun of them and its embarassing to watch because there is nothing anyone can do. Girls are flattered when guys flirt with them and they get excited. Guys should obviously know this and they should know that if they are never going to call in the first place, then they should not say that they will. There will obviously be a poor girl somewhere waiting for that call that will never take place. A guy should feel awful for doing that to an innocent girl. The girl in the story did not talk the guy into skating with her. He came up to her on his own so the girl has no blame in this situation. The boy should have known better, as should all men.

Wednesday, August 26,2009

Your thoughts? Is it right or wrong for Mike to do what he does to (for?) his grandma?

I thought what Mike did for his grandma was ok. Imagine what might have happened if he had told her who he really was. She could have been very upset or embarassed. It would not have been worth it to tell her the truth. My great grandma lives down the street from me and she is 88. Sometimes she is very confused and gets people confused. Sometimes she thinks i am my mom or that my grandma is her mom. It is easier to let her think that and act like she said nothing wrong. I dont want to think what would happen if my grandma in fact told her that she was not her mother. she could get very upset. When she gets confused, it is easier to just let it go and act like nothing happened.

GREAT work on wiki 2! I respect your take on "Sixteen" - I never considered closely the fact that HE approached her FIRST.

 

Week 1

Thursday, August 20,2009

I liked the story we read today in class. it was easy to read and understand. I'm sure there is a hidden meaning that i didn't realize at the time though. i thought it was really funny today when you pulled that freshman from out in the hall. When i was sitting in class today i was thinnking about how much more i enjoy this class than i did American Literature. This class seems to have alot of variety and that makes the class interesting. I am also really glad you talked about college stuff. i will definitely check out the scholarship book that Mr. Roundey keeps in his office. I also was only thinking of applying to a couple of schools but i suppose i will apply to more than that.

 

Tueseday, August 18, 2009

I really enjoyed class today. the interviews were funny and i think we should do it throughout the year. it definately got my interest and made the class seem fun. while reading Bride Comes To Yellow Sky i didn't even think about how important the unknown facts are to a story. the thought never entered my mind until class. it makes sense though.  i do have a question about the essays though. will we be able to turn in our essays early to you for you to look over? i forgot to ask the other day when we were discussing essays in class.

Good work on wk. 1 - to answer your question... you can come and see me with your draft of any essay, as long as you give me enough lead time to get it back to you. Once you get the idea of how those work and how I grade, you probably won't have to bring them in every time. Glad to year you're enjoying the class so far!