Reflections on Assignment #2

3rd Hour

GREAT job! Some of the prompts you came up with I plan to use:
What drives your life? (Bethany)
What problems in your life do you blame other people for? (Michelle)
Do you need to understand a song to enjoy it? (Jakub)
Can you really do anything if you put your mind to it? (Tyler from Canada)
When has someone else made an impact in your life? (Natalie P.)

Most of you wrote about lyrics from songs that really have struck you: Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Tyler K), Almost Lover (Kathryn), and Bubbly (Mackenzie). Some mentioned books, plays and poems: Animal Crackers (A poem from Natalie I.), Power of One (Tyler), and Much Ado About Nothing (Pat). Jamie wrote about a poem her mom had written when she was in high school!

5th Hour

You had great pieces of writing. Many of you mentioned books: The Hardy Boys (from David's childhood), To Kill a Mockingbird (Tyler), and Lois Lowry books (Katie). Poetry and songs were also mentioned by many: Bob Dylan (Zoe), Dave Matthews (David), R Kelly (Rimma), Bright Eyes (Steff). Yujie wrote about Jabberwocky.

Also, some of your prompts were wonderful:

What is a good deed you have done for someone? (Bri- relating it to The Giving Tree)
Is there a line when literature becomes vulgar? What is that line? (Claire, relating it to The Gas We pass- a book from her childhood)
When have you changed yourself for someone else? (Steff)


Assignment #3

1. Pick two of your strongest poems. These should be poems that you would consider contributing to the exchange with the art students.
2. Put each one on your blog.
3. Visit the blogs of the people in your group.
4. Read their poems.

FOR EACH POEM leave comments that address the following:
1. Write out your initial impression of the piece. What is the poem about in your opinion?
2. Write out what you think to be the strongest, most vivid line in the poem.
3. Write out one line or selection from the piece that could use a little help. Be GENTLE but HONEST in your critique. Maybe they have too many words (words like really, very, totally are not good things!). Maybe they have a cliche ("hungry like a wolf") that is just too overused.
4. State which poem appeals to you the most of the two and explain why. Do you connect to it personally? Do you just like the choice of words and images?