New Journalism 2012
16/06/2008
Summer Address Poem
In the following exercise, I’m going to ask you a series of questions and make several suggestions of ideas for writing. Often, in response to these guidelines, people write in lines rather than sentences and paragraphs, a poem rather than a narrative. As we go through this process, in response to each set of directions or questions, you might want to write only a phrase or a single word on a line.
- If your writing is moving along and you don’t need the questions I’m asking, try to ignore my voice and stay on your own path. The prompts are meant to help you when you need a new idea, but you don’t have to answer them.
I will read the following guidelines for composing (Perl):
- It’s summer vacation! For your title, write an address — somewhere you like to go when your on vacation from school, a place you have visited before and you’ll probably go back to… where do you like to hang out in the summertime? (Please DO NOT choose where you live or work now.)
- You may know this address very well, or only slightly — perhaps you’ve been there only once. Be as specific as you can. Remember that an address might be a room number or the name of a city (Athens, Greece). Write the address as specifically and completely as you can. (For example: 729 Memorial Avenue, Grove City , PA)
- An address is probably coming to mind right now, whether you can explain the reason or not. Don’t worry. You won’t have to defend your choice. Just take a chance — write the address at the top of your sheet. If you feel uncertain about the choice, remember that you can repeat the exercise at a later time with another address. For now just choose an address as a heading for the work; choose it for the sake of the exercise.
- “Look” at the place in your mind. What do you see there? Go closer towards it. Do you have to turn to go inside? Which way do you turn, right or left? Keep moving towards it. What do you see now?
- Is there a color to this scene? Are there many colors?
- What do you hear? Do you hear music?
- Who’s there? Is anyone there? Does someone speak? What is said?
- Is there food? Can you smell it? Is someone cooking?
- Does anyone else come in? Is there talk? Record the talk as well as you can.
- Write for a few more minutes on anything you’ve already thought of, or a new image.
Text posted at 11:39
05/06/2008
Sentence Starters for Space #3Copy these sentences, and replace anything that is in {these brackets} with your own details and ideas.
I found a {poem/story/essay/photograph/animation/song/video…} in Space #3 by {Name of Creator+link to blog}.
I {past tense verb showing emotion} “{Exact Title+link from Space},” because…
One {sentence/part} that stands out for me is: “{Quote from the work.}” I think this is {adjective} because… {add 1 or 2 sentences}
Another {sentence/part} that I {past tense verb} was: “{Quote from the work}.” This stood out for me because…
I look forward to seeing what {Name of Creator} makes next, because… {add 2 or 3 sentences explaining what will bring you back to see more about this person’s thoughts}.
Text posted at 13:47
04/06/2008
“America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.”
- The next President of the United States
Listen, then let us know what you think!
Audio posted at 11:44
30/05/2008
What's a good question?
Group A: Adam, Andrea, Brandon, Christian, , Anthony Ro
Group B: Aaron, Hermis, Damien, Winston, Victoria, Miriam
Group C: Anthony Ru., Cecilio, Dairous
Group D: Elizabeth, Flordalis, Rebecca, Rhonda, Sam, Veronica
Enduring Understanding: Valuable online conversations begin with creating around real, questions you about things you care about.
Brainstarter: Pick the three questions you think would make for the best online conversation.
- Why is there so much pressure on the Lakers?
- What is a good friend?
- Can I write a good story?
- Is Virginia a nice place to visit?
- Is Florida a nice place to visit?
- Why are we always fighting?
- Are sports a waste of money?
- How do you know when you are in love?
- Why do people use stereotypes to judge the way people look?
- How can we stop pollution?
- Why are some people cruel to their pets?
- What is Hip Hop?
A. Open a New Document in http://docs.eastbronxacademy.net
In title box, write a good question.
B. Freewrite for 10 - 15 minutes
Write a focused sentence, then freewrite again for 10 - 15 minutes.
C. Use http://CreativeCommons.org SEARCH to find an image for your writing.
Insert the image then freewritie about your question a third time.
Please be sure to SHARE and SEND your writing to paulallison@eastbronxacademy.net
D. Correct your work using Microsoft Word with spell and grammar check, then post it in your Tumblr. (Be sure to get the text to wrap around the image.)
E. Write one more focused sentence, and this time post it on http://youthtwitter.com to invite people to come read your tumblr post. Choose a word or phrase and put a link under it that takes your reader to your tumblr post.
F. In YouthTwitter.com:
- Reply to someone in your group
- Reply to someone outside of EBAFF
- Read what someone wrote to you and reply back to that person.
- Do 1, 2, & 3 again.
Be sure to put the person’s name in square brackets, then follow this with the number of the post in parentheses. Like this “I agree with you [Paul](/2337) Youth Twitter is fun.”
G. Homework: Check out these Sentence Starters.
Text posted at 11:07
29/05/2008
Finding a question, freewriting, blogging
Group A: Adam, Andrea, Brandon, Christian, Miriam, Anthony Ro
Group B: Aaron, Hermis, Damien, Winston, Victoria
Group C: Anthony Ru., Cecilio, Dairous (not committed questions)
Group D: Elizabeth, Flordalis, Rebecca, Rhonda, Sam, Veronica
Brainstarter: Which of these questions do you like the best? Which will lead to good conversations?
- Do people who live at the South Pole float?
- How do you stop pollution?
- Why does the world go round?
- Is Florida a nice place to visit?
- What is Hip Hop?
- What is pie?
- What is a good friend?
- How can we help stop pollution?
- Why do people use stereotypes to judge people based on looks?
Text posted at 11:10
16/05/2008
Sentence Starters: Something I've been interested in learning more about...
Something that I have been interested in learning more about has been {something specific}. I remember {someone you know} talking about it {when?}, but {explain why you didn’t learn more at that time}. Lately, the issue has caught my eye again. I know that many people feel that {what do some people say about this issue?}. From what I have heard, {what do you know about this issue?} For example, I heard that {be specific with one expample of what you have heard.} Now that’s just what I’ve heard, it may or may not be true.One thing that I know for sure about {your subject} is that {be specific}. Now I’ve studied my share of {Put a subject here, for example: U.S.History, Biology, Environmental Science, Religion, Philosophy, Music, Sports…}, and {make a claim about your topic. What do you believe?} Personally, it’s funny to me how {explain how what you are studying is a pattern that you’ve noticed before.}
{Your Subject} {was / was not} {explain what was important about this topic in the past.} {In two or three more sentences, explain everything you know about this topic.}
Being that I didn’t have a lot of background information on {your subject.}, I chose to do some research on the topic. As I searched for blogs and news articles on Google, I came across this one article: {Title and link to the article.} This article provided a lot of information and opinions on {your subject}. Some people felt that {your subject} were {summarize some facts from your article.} {Insert a quote from the article.} This {statement/statistic} didn’t really surprise me all that much, but it did make me feel {emotion}. {Write 2 or 3 more sentences, expaining why you feel the way you do.}
In another article, {Title and link to another article.} there was this one statement that made me {nod my head in agreement / shake my head in disagreement} with the writer. It was: {Insert a second quote from the article.} This is so {true / untrue}, because {expalin why you think and why in 3 or 4 more sentences.}
All of this makes me think that {write 3 or 4 more sentence summarizing what you learned from reading these articles.}
Text posted at 10:05
13/05/2008
What's more important: to be a good writer or a good reader?
Group A
AntRos25
Adam
Cecilio
Miriam
Christian
Start with a Freeewrite:
- On paper first, then on tumblr/text… freewrite about
Or Choose one of these to freewrite about:
- one of your 10 Self / 10 World Questions. (On your tumblr, look for your questions in your Archive.)
- What is hip hop?
- Is “fan art” art?
- Is “fan fiction” literature?
- Why do we go to school?
- How do I use the Internet to connect with friends and others?
Group B
Andre
Anthony R.
Brandon
Darious
Damien
Sam
2. After freewriting for 10 minutes, write one short, perfect, strong sentence that summarizes your writing so far. Then use this “Focused Sentence” as the beginning of another freewrite in Tumblr.
Group C
Hermis
Flordalise
Rhonda
Victoria
Aaron
3. After you finish your post on tumblr, link to your post on Youth Twitter.
Responding to others:
- Find something you like in Space Issue #2 or in Youth Twitter. (Check out Street Dreamz.)
- Write a response in your tumblr/text. Copy Sentence Starters and paste them into a text box on your tumblr.
Group D
Veronica
Winston
Elizabeth
In YouthTwitter.com:
- Reply to someone in your group
- Reply to someone outside of EBAFF
- Read what someone wrote to you and reply back to that person.
- Do 1, 2, & 3 again.
Be sure to put the person’s name in square brackets, then follow this with the number of the post in parentheses. Like this “I agree with you [Paul](/2337) Youth Twitter is fun.”
ALSO: Check out these Sentence Starters.
Your Goal today:
- Complete post with details and thought.
- Link to a tweet on Youth twitter
- Respond to someone in Space (using sentence starters).
- Find others on Youth Twitter to respond to.
General Understanding:
Successfful creators/writers also need to also respond to/read others on the “read/write web.”
Text posted at 11:12
12/05/2008
What's more important: to be a good writer or a good reader?
Group A: antRos25, Rhonda, Cecilio, Miriam, Damien, Hermis,
Group B: Darious, Christian, Anthony R., Adam, Victoria
Group C: Winston, Sam, Andrea,
Group D: Aaron, Rebecca, Veronica, Flordalis, Elizabeth
Start with a Freeewrite:
- On paper first, then on tumblr/text… freewrite about
Or Choose one of these to freewrite about:
- one of your 10 Self / 10 World Questions. (On your tumblr, look for your questions in your Archive.)
- What is hip hop?
- Is “fan art” art?
- Is “fan fiction” literature?
- Why do we go to school?
- How do I use the Internet to connect with friends and others?
2. After freewriting for 10 minutes, write one short, perfect, strong sentence that summarizes your writing so far. Then use this “Focused Sentence” as the beginning of another freewrite.
3. After you finish your post on tumblr, link to your post on Youth Twitter.
Responding to others:
- Find something you like in Space Issue #2 or in Youth Twitter. (Check out Street Dreamz.)
- Write a response in your tumblr/text. Copy Sentence Starters and paste them into a text box on your tumblr.
Your Goal today:
- Complete post with details and thought.
- Link to a tweet on Youth twitter
General Understanding:
Successfful creators/writers also need to also respond to/read others on the “read/write web.”
Text posted at 11:01
08/05/2008
Inquiry Questions
Here are some questions I hear as I read your work. I’d love to hear what you think about any of these:
- What is hip hop?
- Is “fan art” art?
- Is “fan fiction” literature?
- Why do we go to school?
- How do I use the Internet to connect with friends and others?
Text posted at 11:55
05/05/2008
What's more important: to be a good writer or a good reader?
Group A: antRos25, Rhonda, Cecilio, Miriam, Damien, Hermis,
Group B: Darious, Christian, Anthony R., Adam, Victoria
Group C: Winston, Sam, Andrea,
Group D: Aaron, Rebecca, Veronica, Flordalis, Elizabeth
Brainstarter
- What’s on your mind?
Freewrite abour your weekend—or anything else—on paper first, then on tumblr/text - Link to your post on Youth Twitter.
Practice:
- Find something you like in Space Issue #2 or in Youth Twitter. (Check out Street Dreamz.)
- Write a response in your tumblr/text. Copy Sentence Starters and paste them into a text box on your tumblr.
Your Goal today:
- Complete post with details and thought.
- Link to a tweet on Youth twitter
General Understanding:
Successfful creators/writers also need to also respond to/read others on the “read/write web.”
Text posted at 11:06