Song Lyrics

This week you read lyrics, listened to lyrics, and found your favorite lyrics. Now it is time to write your own lyrics.  Post your lyrics in a comment. Then let us know what kind of music you would have accompany the lyrics.

Where are you going? - Repetition

Happy Friday and poem writing. Yesterday, we read  Son de negros cuba and discussed the use of repetition and imagery. You had time to write your own version of a poem with repetition and surrealist imagery. Today, I want you to publish that poem in a comment.

First: re-read Lorca's poem: Son de negros cuba (this translation is a bit different, maybe more accurate)

Second: re-read your poem. Do you have repetition? Do you have a mix of literal and surrealist imagery? Have you removed abstractions (love, paradise, etc)? Be specific in your poem. Name that love or name paradise, name the bird, name the ocean. Yesterday, Angela read her poem aloud and she didn't simply write island plants, she wrote plumeria. Patrick C.  didn't just write bird, he wrote finch.

Third: type your poem into a Word document, spell-check, and format your poem the way you want it o be seen, and read. Then, paste it into a comment. Be sure to leave your name for credit.

If you are interested in reading more poetry by Lorca:

Short Story Submissions

You have written and mailed (well, almost mailed - we still need to insert SASEs) your children's book. Now it is time to find a place you would like to submit your short story to.

You can use the links below to help you find a literary journal. Once you have found a place to submit your short story, complete the following items in a comment on this blog, print out your story as directed by the submission guidelines, and address an envelope:

1. What story are you submitting and why?
2. Where are you submitting your story? Why?
3. What do the submission guidelines instruct you to do?
4. How does it feel sending your writing out into the world versus just having a student in class read it?

Places to look for literary journals:

Teen Ink
Poets & Writers
The Claremont Review
Cicada
New Moon (for girls)
Polyphony H.S.
Teen Voices (girls and young adult women)
TeenLit
Go! Magazine writing contest

Children's Lit Research

You have read many children's books and analyzed them for content, sentence structure, word choice, and even the types of illustrations used. Now it is time to focus in on a question you created about the things you noticed, but where should you get started?

Here are some links for the questions that were asked in class.
Awards: This is a good place to start if you are wondering what makes a "good" kid's book.

Writing: Are you curious about how to write for children? Check out a few of these sites:
Clubhouse
WikiHow

What about themes in kid lit? Can a story be scary? Can it be sad?
Wikipedia
EW
Controversy

Do you have questions about illustrations (aka pictures)?
How to Be One
Importance of Illustrations
Reading in Color
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

Word choice in kid's lit:
Why Reading Matters
Child Development and Language
Reading Rockets
Importance of Vocab at an Early Age

Good sites with tons of links and info:
Cynthia Smith
Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
Child's Lit: History, and other info about vocab, etc

If you come across some good resources, leave a message and a link so others can follow.

Welcome Back to the BLOG

It has been a year since I last used Blogger for my classes, but here we are again.

For my current Writer's Workshop students:
Check out the following links for books and information about query letters.
Writer's Digest Book of Query
Kelly's Picks on Query Letters
The Basics of a 3 Paragraph Query Letter

For my ESL students:
Check out the link below for tips on persuasive writing.
3 Important Tips
Student Sample of Persuasive Text from Write Source