This Is Just to Say . . .

All previous posts in my blog relate to the 2008-2009 school year.  I hope to organize a blog-centered research project again this year!

Please read my comments on your blog posts for the Spring Research Project and then check your grades online.  Good work everyone!  I have also graded Hamlet posts for Acts 1,2, and 3.  Read my comments on your posts and then check your grades.  Make those final posts interesting by discussing the final two acts in light of what you have discovered so far.

Directions for blog posts while reading Hamlet:  Post a blog on or very near the date that the reading is due for each act of Hamlet.

Act 1 (due 4/20) posted 4/25 or later = 50%

Act 2 (due 4/22) posted 4/27 or later  = 50%

Act 3 (due 4/24) posted 4/29 or later = 50%

Act 4 (due 4/27) posted 5/2 or later = 50%

Act 5 (due 4/29) posted 5/4 or later = 50%

I invite you to comment on my post about anything related to our study of Hamlet.  Expect me to make a comment on each of your Hamlet blog posts.

Like you, I took a break from school and only graded a one folder of Creative Writing assignments.  But now I’m back at the blogs and enjoying reading your posts.  I should have them finished before the end of April.  Grades will be posted after I finish reading your blogs.

Overview: This assignment includes 2 posts and links to the comments you have made over the course of the Spring Poetry Project.  Both should be posted by midnight on April 1.  Turn in your printed poem anthology and written poem analyses before leaving for Spring Break.

First 4/1 Post: Begin your first 4/1 post with a summary paragraph reviewing your experience with the Spring Research Project and our Web 2.0 application (that is, our adaptation from research paper to blog posting and primarily internet research).  Since this is our first foray into blogging, I’m particularly interested in your honest feedback and constructive suggestions for improvement.  Under your paragraph, create a hot-linked list of the URLs where you have made comments on other blogs.  Be sure to create links for each URL so I can visit the blog myself.  Feel free to annotate your list if you need to include explanations for any comments.

Second 4/1 Post: In your culminating blog post, demonstrate your creative response to your selected poet by writing a poem in imitation of your poet.   You decide the how and what and why of your imitation.  Some suggestions include imitating the subject matter, literary elements, theme, and/or format of your poet.   After your poem, include a brief explanation of how your imitation poem relates to your poet.

Turn in your printed poem anthology and written poem analyses

before leaving for Spring Break.

Overview:  This assignment includes two posts and two comments.  Both should be posted by midnight on March 25.

First 3/25 Post: Intertextuality–Looking Back

In the first post discuss intertextuality between your poet and the major masters we have studied this year:  Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams.  Where do you see the influence of these major masters on your poet?  In your post, cite both texts from poems and scholarly support to build your argument.  Be bold in your assertion.  Give credit to any outside source that informs your discussion.  Include whichever major masters apply.  500 word minimum.  Create links to the sources you use.  Hunt for a blog that adds to this discussion in some way.  Write a substantive comment there.  Remember to save the URL (in a word document) so I can later find your comment.

Second 3/25 Post: Intertextuality–In the Moment

In the second post discuss intertextuality between your poet and his or her contemporaries or immediate forebears.  Who does/did your poet hang out with?  Who gets mentioned when you read academic (or informal) stuff about your poet?  Often, interviews will reveal this type of information.  So will biographies.  My classroom collection may be of help for this post.  Read some of the poetry of this other poet and build your argument for influence.  Or maybe you find that your poet is a major influence on someone else.  That fits the constraints of this post as well.  Have your antennae up for the poets of your classmates.  Go back to “Our Gallery of Poets and the Scholars Who Love Them” post.  In the best of all possible worlds your search will land on one of these poets!  Again, bring outside sources to bear on this discussion.  250 word minimum.  Create links to the sources you use. Hunt for a blog where it would be appropriate to write a comment about your findings.  Say something of substance.  Remember to save the URL (in a word document) so I can later find your comment.

Overview: The 3/18 assignment is due by midnight on the 18th.  It involves making two posts and making one substantive comment on a classmates March 11 blog post and one substantive comment on a “blogosphere” blog related to your poet/poems.

First 3/18 Post:

1. Select one poem from your poet anthology as the analytical focus of this post.  You will have the smoothest time if you select a prominent poem by your poet for this assignment.  Before writing your post, complete a careful analysis of the selected poem using one of the three templates (AP, Vendler, 4-Questions) and your hard copy of the poem as a guide.  Templates are available in class or can be downloaded from the 1st/5th hour page of my website.  Do  this step the old fashioned way, using pen and paper.
2. Now, back to the blogosphere!  Find someone discussing your specific poem on his/her blog.  If you can’t find a blogger, then any other electronic media (such as an online magazine article or an NPR broadcast) will do the job.  Look for someone who’s saying something you wish you could respond to, either to agree or disagree.
3. Include an abstract (that is, your own brief summation)  and the link to the blog (or other media) in your post.
4. In your post, present your analysis and respond to the ideas of the blog (or other media) which you found.  As you discuss, include all of the salient points from your written poem analysis and include some direct quotations from the blog (or other media).
5. Include the full text of your selected poem.
6. Once you have finished your post, review the list of poets that your classmates are studying.  Look for a poet (if you can) that has some connection to yours.  Go to that classmate’s March 11 post and make a substantive comment of approximately 75-100 words.  Make a relevant connection between the two poets and evaluate the post in some way.
7. REMINDER: Your final post assignment will ask you to provide Mrs. Hazle and Mr. Hendershot with a list of all the comments you made on other blogs. Each comment you include on your list should be hotlinked back to the page where it can be viewed. Every time you make a substantive comment on someone else’s blog, be sure to save the URL of the page where we can see your comment. You should copy and paste these URLs into a separate Word document for later referrence. You will need them to hotlink back to your comments in the final post.

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Second 3/18 Post:

1. Select a second poem from your poet anthology as the analytical focus of this post.  You will have the smoothest time if you select a prominent poem by your poet for this assignment, although you are free to select the poem of your choice.  Before writing your post, complete a careful analysis of the selected poem using one of the three templates (AP, Vendler, 4-Questions) and your hard copy of the poem as a guide.  Templates are available in class or can be downloaded from the 1st/5th hour page of my website. Do  this step the old fashioned way, using pen and paper.
2. Now, back to the world of scholarly research!  Find some reputable, scholarly source analyzing your poem.  You can use print or electronic sources but make sure you can accurately cite the author of the work–no uncredited sources or general web pages allowed.  Go back to what you learned first semester for this step.  If you cannot find analysis of the specific poem, find relevant information that could be applied to your poem by association/inference.
3. Include the source information in your post and create a link if the source is from the web.
4. In your post, present your analysis and further your discussion by synthesizing the scholarly analysis into yours.  As you discuss, include all of the salient points from your written poem analysis and include some direct quotations from the scholarly source.
5. Include the full text of your selected poem.
6. Once you have finished your post, you have one of two choices for making a comment on someone else’s blog.  Choice #1: visit a classmate’s  March 11 post and make a substantive comment of approximately 75-100 words.  Make a relevant connection between his or her blog/poet and yours.  Choice #2: Do a blog search of your poem and make a comment on a blog relevant to your poem/poet.  Make a substantive comment of at least 75 words.
7. REMINDER: Your final post assignment will ask you to provide Mrs. Hazle and Mr. Hendershot with a list of all the comments you made on other blogs. Each comment you include on your list should be hotlinked back to the page where it can be viewed. Every time you make a substantive comment on someone else’s blog, be sure to save the URL of the page where we can see your comment. You should copy and paste these URLs into a separate Word document for later referrence. You will need them to hotlink back to your comments in the final post.

Post a blog entry of at least 500 words that includes all of the following:

• An introduction to your poet that includes pertinent biographical, cultural, historical information
• An overview of your poet’s “place” in the world of poetry.  For example: When is he writing?  Does she belong to a particular “school” or movement?  What awards/recognitions has he received?  What career does/did she pursue?
• A list of the most anthologized, analyzed poems produced by your poet.
• Sources credited within your post.
• Feel free to insert media or images as appropriate.

Compile a “mini-anthology” of 15 poems by your poet.  Your anthology can be as simple as stapling together your photocopied poems.  Be sure to include the source for each poem.

• For each poem in your anthology, make a minimum of two annotations.  Suggestions for annotations include: comments regarding theme, subject, patterns, connections to other poems, associations, evaluations.  Write your comments in the anthology by the applicable poem.  Comments should be informal, yet thoughtful.  Since you can’t “post your anthology by midnight,” just bring it with you to class on Thursday, March 12.

Due to the nature of our project, some constraints may need to flex or unfold as we progress.  Here are the constraints as I see them today, March 6, 2009:

1. Every student should have selected a poet by the end of class on Friday, March 6.  Assignments will be due intermittently from now through April 1.
2. Read widely from your poet’s work and read pertinent biographical, historical, cultural information regarding your poet.   Keep a record (electronically or manually) of the sources of your information so that you can give proper credit for any material referenced in your blogs.
3. Compile a “mini anthology” of approximately 15 poems by your poet.  See me for exceptions.  Your anthology can be as simple as photocopies of the 15 poems stapled together.   Directions for assignments related to your anthology are detailed in a subsequent post.
4. Complete in-depth analyses of 2-4 poems (depending on length and  complexity) by your poet.
5. Use scholarly resources to expand upon your analysis work in terms of your selected poems and other prominent poems by your poet.
6. Intertextuality–Looking Back: Discuss, compare and evaluate your poet’s work in light of Dickinson, Whitman, Frost, Eliot, Pound, Williams, Stevens.
7. Intertextuality–In the Moment:  Discuss, compare and evaluate your poet’s work in light of contemporary poets.
8. Casting your net: Explore the blogoshpere for other people and groups that are discussing your poet. Blogging is all about sharing your thoughts with the world-at-large, and this part of your blog should work to accomplish that end. You will be amazed at how many people share your interests, and how willing they are to engage in a dialogue with you via your blog!
9. The majority of your work will be done via the computer/internet.  You may certainly utilize print media to find scholarly analysis, information and support.  Keep meticulous records so that you can give accurate credit to anything you include in your blog posts.  Of course, the mini-anthology and the annotations you make in it will be print media.
10. Mr. Hendershot and Mrs. Hazle will provide specific details/requirements through blog posts on “This Is Just to Say.”  We will probably require you to make a total of 8 or 9 blog posts and make several comments on other students’ blogs.

Sherman Alexie–Gabe Tharp

Maya Angelou–Maja Tosic, Megan Emigh

Margaret Atwood–Margo Martin

John Berryman–Kevin Wonch

Elizabeth Bishop–Kelsey Arens

Gwendolyn Brooks–Anna Luchtefeld

Robert Bly–Sarah Allaben

Charles Bukowski–Jessica Lewis

Billy Collins–Jonathan Ogland-Hand

E. E. Cummings–Caroline Erickson

Rita Dove–Alison Bloom

Bob Dylan–Derek Doerner, Michael Cornelius

Allen Ginsberg–Bridget Waldron

Robert Graves–Skye Roberts

Donald Hall–Michael Cornelius

Robert Hayden–Katie Samuelson

Seamus Heaney–Jessie Wood, Harlan Salmon

Langston Hughes–Lauren Grunewald, Bri Clifford

Jane Kenyon–Camille Haslinger

Li-Young Lee–Beth Wiseman, Brian Hall

Denise Levertov–Jess Headley

Philip Levine–Ari Macartney

Archibald MacLeish–Mallory Campbell

Marianne Moore–Katie Afton

Pablo Neruda–Olivia Avery

Frank O’Hara–Steven Barbour

Octavio Paz–Jenna Dominique

Marge Piercy–DJ DeSmyter

Robert Pinsky–Reed Kelly

Sylvia Plath–Nicole Dear

Adrienne Rich–Maddie Vaughn, Ellen Busch

Theodore Roethke–Stacey Kerr, Rebecca Rossi

Anne Sexton–Kathleen Stubbs

Karl Shapiro–John Congdon

Gary Snyder–Danny Shuart

Mark Strand–Angela Taylor

Sara Teasdale–Amanda Wenger

Jean Valentine–Tucker Gaegauf

Diane Wakoski–Natalie Welsh, Allison Palm

Derek Walcott–Carly Petertyl

Richard Wilbur–Nicholas Steers, Mackenzie Roberts