A Halloween Sonnet

Monster Mash by David Trinidad

Frankenstein, Godzilla, the Blog, Phantom
of the Opera, The Wolfman, The Hunchback
of Notre Dame, Children of the Damned, Them,
Queen of Outer Space, Creature from the Black

Lagoon, Curse of the Cat People, The Mum-
my, The Green Slime, The Brain that Wouldn't Die,
Invaders from Mars, It! The Terror From
Beyond Space, Dr. Cyclops, Freaks, The Fly,

Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible
Man, The Mole People, Dr. Jekyll And
Mr.Hyde, Mothra, The Incredible
Shrinking Man, Dracula, The Crawling Hand,

Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, King
Kong, Tarantula, 13 Ghosts, The Thing.



If you've never heard the song "Monster Mash", this is what Trinidad was alluding to.

Soccer and Poetry

I thought this was a neat blog post about the connections between great soccer players and poets.

Our Author Conversation with Kim

Block 5 Writing Center Appointments

For students that need to revise your Chopin Timed Writing, you need to schedule an appointment by sending an email to Mr. Ferrebee. Afterschool days are Tuesday and Wednesday.

Also, all re-writes are due our next class, Tuesday. If not, you will receive the grade you scored on your first try.

We´ll be discussing ¨Son¨ by Craig Morgan Teicher. You can find it here.

Enjambment in ¨The Red Wheelbarrow¨

Here´s Craig Morgan Teicher´s recent essay about the poem.

Model Chopin Timed Writing

Here is a model paper for our Chopin Timed Writing assignment.

Sonnet Multiple Choice Quiz (formative)

On next Wednesday or Thursday (whenever we meet) we'll have a multiple choice quiz about the poem "November Cotton Flower".


The following terms will appear on the quiz as possible answers:

paradox
apostrophe
anaphora
alliteration
understatement
rhyming couplets
visual imagery
auditory imagery
enjambment
variable rhythm

Here is some vocabulary that you may not know:
lament
incongruous
fleeting
dearth

First Semester Feedback

By the end of the week, please take a few minutes to fill out an evaluation form. It is only for me to improve my instruction.

You´ll find the form here.

Blog Post Over the Weekend

Over this weekend, write a blog post for your group. Be as provocative as possible. Focus on aspects of the texts that surprise, shock, or bring us to ask questions. 

Good Reading Habits

What are the behaviors that we should exhibit as upperclassmen reading a novel? I´d like to assess this, but let´s discuss together what a good reader as an upperclassmen would look like.

Please contribute here. 

Reading Goals for Weekend Reading

After taking the timed writing exam, be sure to come up with your reading goals for next Monday and Tuesday.

Back in Those Days

Back then? In those times? What about today?

Here's a study from the Harvard Business Review that might change your mind about some of your impressions.

Email in Flipgrid

As I'm grading your responses, many of you have not included your email address. As such, you can't receive my feedback on the video. Please sign in and read my commentary in the case that you haven't.

Videochat with author Kim Chinquee

Block 2 will be speaking with author Kim Chinquee on October 25th in the GLS. We´ll be reviewing her work and preparing questions in class before then.

Timed Writing This Week (Summative)

On Thursday or Friday - depending on when we meet - you´ll be analyzing a short story by Kate Chopin. As we´ve been practicing you´ll have to analyze it. The rubric will be the same as the formative rubric we used for our last timed writing (only the grammar section has been expanded to include colon and semi-colon use).

Choices for Today

While I´m conferencing with writers, you can work on semi-colon use:

You can find exercises here.

Watch the first half of a speech by Chimanand Ngozi Adichie and answer these questions:

1. When Adichie mentions her preference for high heels what does she mean by the ¨male gaze¨?
2. Evaluate her use of narration.
3. What does ¨homely¨ connotate in Nigeria?
4. Why does Adichie insist on the term ¨feminist¨?
5. Describe how gender roles do harm to both men and women.
6. Do you agree with Adichie? Why? Why not?

Read and organize our Sentence Elimination poems. Ask your classmates to share the poems with you, then compile them on a new Google doc.


Go back to ¨Wild Iris¨ by Louise Gluck. Compare Edna´s suicide to the perspective of the speaker. Record your discussion then post to Soundcloud.

Author Study Authors

The authors that you can choose from are:
Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Junot Díaz, Sherman Alexie, Edwidge Danticat, Kurt Vonnegut, Zadie Smith, Korean-American Authors (Suki Kim and Krys Lee), Daniel Alarcón or the notorious F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Vacation Reading Assignment

Over break, you must at least read the first fifty pages of your chosen novel. You do not need to take notes, if you do not wish to. We´ll be trying to increase our volume of reading with this assignment and as such will spend less time on annotation.

Sentence Elimination Poem

Please complete your Sentence Elimination Poem. Link your poem on a google document on your blog. Do so by Thursday or Friday - depending on when we meet.

Reminder about Summative Flipgrid Assessment

We´d like to actually watch these Flipgrid conversations in class either Thursday or Friday (when we meet) so the assignment needs to be completed by then. If not, the assignment will be counted as late - given that we have break directly following said date.