Post Year Reflection

Becoming better at anything requires you to think back on yourself and your performance (reflection).

Brainstorm 3-4 different activities, areas of study, projects, stories, concepts this year during ELA that helped you developed as a writer, listener, speaker, or thinker (essentially, your ELA skill set) Be sure to explain why you feel that way.

Think of outside experiences this year that impacted your ELA skill set--any films, books, trips, presentations, stories, dreams, youtube videos, tweets, Spongebob episodes--that helped you think, write, listen, or speak.




I would review things we've done this year.

Look at your journals, the blog, old assignments. This may benefit you in the near future. . .

Observational Poem

How to write a poem with vivid imagery is less challenging if you take time to observe the world around you.

In your notebooks please write the following with 4-5 lines in between:

What I see:

What I smell:

What I hear:

What I taste:

What I feel/touch:


Post-observational reflection question:

How can you relate what you saw, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted to the way you feel about school? Education in general? The way you feel about your life in this current moment?

Optional HW: (but there's extra credit involved)
Please compose a 3-5 stanza poem on your observations. Try to have a larger statement on your life within your imagery. Please TYPE

HW

Please complete a typed draft of your play-- in the correct play format. (6-10 pages)
Play reviewers: please have a typed draft of your review. Please include the newspaper, magazine, or website you are writing for.

"Workshopping" your plays

During the first half of today's class, your plays will be anonymously evaluated.

When evaluating plays, please consider them "works in progress." ("D work," therefore, probably should not be considered)

After your play has received 2 readings (at least!), you will receive the rubrics back with highlighting on them.

In journals, please reflect on the evaluations. Do you agree, or disagree, why or why not. It's okay to get sassy here (no one has to see this reflection but you), but also try to be objective and fair about your own work.

For the final portion of class, TACTFULLY discuss your plays, the evaluations, or your reflection of those evaluations with a partner (i.e. "do you agree with this person's opinion that my conflict is resolved too easily?")

Plot twists and Conflicts and the mundane

Just a reminder: Do not write a play that exists for the sole purpose of having a plot twist. The "Duh-DuH-DUH!" ending is cheesy and not the best use of your expansive minds.

Good conflicts come from unique situations and characters. Do your characters have a unique view on life? Is your situation (premise) original? In a short play, conflict is more meaningful when it's produced through your characters rather than an outside force.

Do NOT overlook the mundane (the everyday things) as source for interesting plays. Aisle six in Wegmans might change your life one day. (another line for my biography?...a possible chapter title? Who knows. I'm just the looks, not the brains of this operation)