Quick Write Samples

THINKING ABOUT A NOUN

"Patience"
Loving someone
Teaching someone
in line at the DMV
in Traffic
God has patience with us
When thins are not going your way
With our family
School
Friends
Spiritual walk
Your enemies or people you have enmity  towards
People you disagree with

"Perseverance"
Spring break just finished and it was one of the best ones ever!  But reality set in and school starts back up tomorrow.  How can one possibly focus on school when you were just free from school for a week and you know you only have five weeks left of school.  You could very well say "oh, it's only five weeks.  I don't have to work hard at this" but how would that look on my final grade?  or on a college resume when they look at it and say, "well, looks like he can't get a good grade because he can't focus long enough.  You can choose what you want, but don't you get that awesome feeling inside when you worked hard for something even when you didn't want to and it pays off?  It feels great!  So my advice to you is even when you don't want to do something, always finish strong because it always counts and someone is always looking.

"Death"
        Death, death is the end of a story, the end of an adventure that lasts all life long.  Death, death is the end of a life.  What is life?  Life is the absence of death.  Death is the absence of life.  Death, death is cold hands inviting you into a house of darkness.  Life is the absence of darkness, life is light.  Life is a flame, illuminates the surroundings around it and brightening other flames.  death, death is snuffing out the light.  The absence of life welcomes death.  The light looks for ways to see into the dark, but it cannot.  Death, death is a void where nothing exists but the thought of the cold, unwelcoming darkness.  There is a way to defeat the darkness.  One flame has done it, an everlasting light that leads all others to live with Him eternally.
       Death, death is dead.

Mrs. Prichard

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome,

amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing, 

cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, 

fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, fantastic, 

the best, the best, the best, the best, the best, the best, the best, the best, the best, the best,

stupendous, stupendous, stupendous, stupendous, stupendous, stupendous, stupendous, 

crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, crafty, 

smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart, smart,

totally tubular, totally tubular, totally tubular, totally tubular, totally tubular, totally tubular, 

the best teacher, the best teacher, the best teacher, the best teacher, the best teacher,

Week 14 Poets -- William Carlos Williams

I have a special treat for anyone who comes to class and can tell me that "The Red Wheelbarrow" is one of my favorite poems.

William Carlos Williams

1883–1963

William Carlos Williams has always been known as an experimenter, an innovator, a revolutionary figure in American poetry. Yet in comparison to artists of his own time who sought a new environment for creativity as expatriates in Europe, Williams lived a remarkably conventional life. A doctor for more than forty years serving the New Jersey town of Rutherford, he relied on his patients, the America around him, and his own ebullient imagination to create a distinctively American verse. Often domestic in focus and "remarkable for its empathy, sympathy, its muscular and emotional identification with its subjects," Williams's poetry is also characteristically honest: "There is no optimistic blindness in Williams," wrote Randall Jarrell, "though there is a fresh gaiety, a stubborn or invincible joyousness."

Born the first of two sons of an English father and a Puerto Rican mother of French, Dutch, Spanish, and Jewish ancestry, Williams grew up in Rutherford, where his family provided him with a fertile background in art and literature. His father's mother, coincidentally named Emily Dickinson, was a lover of theatre, and his own mother painted. Williams's father introduced his favorite author, Shakespeare, to his sons and read Dante and the Bible to them as well; but Williams had other interests in study. His enthusiastic pursuit of math and science at New York City's Horace Mann High School "showed how little writing entered into any of my calculations." Later in high school, though, Williams took an interest in languages and felt for the first time the excitement of great books. He recalled his first poem, also written during that time, giving him a feeling of joy.

Aside from an emerging writing consciousness, Williams's early life was "sweet and sour," reported Reed Whittemore; Williams himself wrote that "terror dominated my youth, not fear." Part of this terror, speculated James Breslin, came "from the rigid idealism and moral perfectionism his parents tried to instill in him." Williams's letters written while a student at the University of Pennsylvania to his mother exemplify some of the expectations he carried: "I never did and never will do a premeditated bad deed in my life," he wrote in 1904. "Also... I have never had and never will have anything but the purest and highest and best thoughts about you and papa." It was largely parental influence that sent him directly from high school to Pennsylvania in the first place—to study medicine. But as Breslin noted, Williams used his college experiences as a means to creativity, instead of, as his parents might have wished, as a means to success. 

Week 14 Poets -- Sara Teasdale

From the Favorite Poets and Poems website




Sara Trevor Teasdale was born on August 8, 1884 in St. Louis Missouri. She was the youngest child of Mary Elizabeth Willard and John Warren Teasdale. At the time of Sara's birth, Mary was 40, and John was 45. Teasdale had three other siblings. She had two brothers, George, who was the oldest child at 20, and John Warren Jr., was was 14. Teasdale also had a sister, named Mary (she was fondly called "Maime"), and she was 17. Mary loved her sister Sara and took very good care of her. Sara was named after her grandmother. Teasdale's first word was "pretty". According to her mother, Sara's love of pretty things was what inspired her poetry. 

Teasdale was always very frail, and caught diseases easily. For most of her life, she had a nurse companion that took care of her. Teasdale grew up in a sheltered atmosphere. She was the youngest child. Because of that, she was spoiled and waited on like a princess. She never had to do normal chores, like make her bed, or do the dishes. She was known to have described herself as "a flower in a toiling world". Because she was so sickly, she was homeschooled until she was nine. She never had communication with her peers. Teasdale grew up around adults. She was forced to amuse heself with stories and things that she made up in her own lonesome world. When Teasdale was ten, she had the first communication with her peers. Her parents sent her to Miss Ellen Dean Lockwood's school for boys and girls. When she was fourteen, she went to Mary Institute. She didn't graduate there, but switched to Hosmer Hall when she was fifteen. There, she began to put the thoughts and dreams that amused her as a girl onto paper. Thus, she wrote her first poem. Teasdale's first published poem was "Reedy's Mirror", and it was published in a local newspaper. Her first collection, "Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems", was published in 1907. In 1911, her second collection, "Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems" was published. She published many other collections including "Rivers to the Sea", "Love Songs", "Flame and Shadow", "Dark of the Moon", "Stars To-night", and finally, "Strange Victory". 

Teasdale married her sweetheart Ernst Filsinger in 1914. They had a happy marriage, but it was too good to last. They divorced in 1929, and lived the rest of her life only for her poetry. Sara was always frail and sickly, but in 1933, Teasdale caught chronic pneumonia and it weakened her not only in body but also in mind and spirit. No longer able to see the beauty in simple things, Teasdale committed suicide at age 48 in New York, NY on January 29, 1933. Her final book of poetry was published that year. 

Teasdale's works continue to be admired by poets everywhere. her works show us what a lovely person she was, and how much she appreciated the beautiful things about life. Her love for beautiful things appeared in her poetry. She was a very talented poet, and we are glad she shared her talent with us.

Week 14 Poets -- Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes

James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in Lincoln, Illinois, that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University. During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, andWalt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in "Montage of a Dream Deferred." His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets of the period—Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen—Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.

Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer in May 22, 1967, in New York. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York City, has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and East 127th Street has been renamed "Langston Hughes Place."

In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote eleven plays and countless works of prose, including the well-known “Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind, Simple Stakes a Claim,Simple Takes a Wife, and Simple's Uncle Sam. He edited the anthologies The Poetry of the Negro and The Book of Negro Folklore, wrote an acclaimed autobiography (The Big Sea) and co-wrote the play Mule Bone with Zora Neale Hurston.

Week 14 Poets -- Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg's Biography
1878 – 1967

Author-poet Carl Sandburg was born in the three-room cottage at 313 East Third Street in Galesburg on January 6, 1878. The modest house, which is maintained by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, reflects the typical living conditions of a late nineteenth century working-class family. Many of the furnishings once belonged to the Sandburg family. Behind the home stands a small wooded park. There, beneath Remembrance Rock, lie the ashes of Carl Sandburg, who died in 1967.

Early Years

Carl August Sandburg was born the son of Swedish immigrants August and Clara Anderson Sandburg. The elder Sandburg, a blacksmith's helper for the nearby Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, purchased the cottage in 1873. Carl, called "Charlie" by the family, was born the second of seven children in 1878. A year later the Sandburgs sold the small cottage in favor of a larger house in Galesburg.

Carl Sandburg worked from the time he was a young boy. He quit school following his graduation from eighth grade in 1891 and spent a decade working a variety of jobs. He delivered milk, harvested ice, laid bricks, threshed wheat in Kansas, and shined shoes in Galesburg's Union Hotel before traveling as a hobo in 1897.

His experiences working and traveling greatly influenced his writing and political views. As a hobo he learned a number of folk songs, which he later performed at speaking engagements. He saw first-hand the sharp contrast between rich and poor, a dichotomy that instilled in him a distrust of capitalism.

When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 Sandburg volunteered for service, and at the age of twenty was ordered to Puerto Rico, where he spent days battling only heat and mosquitoes. Upon his return to his hometown later that year, he entered Lombard College, supporting himself as a call fireman.

Sandburg's college years shaped his literary talents and political views. While at Lombard, Sandburg joined the Poor Writers' Club, an informal literary organization whose members met to read and criticize poetry. Poor Writers' founder, Lombard professor Phillip Green Wright, a talented scholar and political liberal, encouraged the talented young Sandburg.

Writer, Political Organizer, Reporter

Sandburg honed his writing skills and adopted the socialist views of his mentor before leaving school in his senior year. Sandburg sold stereoscope views and wrote poetry for two years before his first book of verse, In Reckless Ecstasy, was printed on Wright's basement press in 1904. Wright printed two more volumes for Sandburg, Incidentals (1907) and The Plaint of a Rose (1908).

As the first decade of the century wore on, Sandburg grew increasingly concerned with the plight of the American worker. In 1907 he worked as an organizer for the Wisconsin Social Democratic party, writing and distributing political pamphlets and literature. At party headquarters in Milwaukee, Sandburg met Lilian Steichen, whom he married in 1908.

The responsibilities of marriage and family prompted a career change. Sandburg returned to Illinois and took up journalism. For several years he worked as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, covering mostly labor issues and later writing his own feature.

Week 14 Poets -- Robert Frost

Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost (named after Southern General Robert E. Lee) was born on 26 March 1874 in San Francisco, California to Isabelle Moodie (1844-1900) teacher, and William Prescott Frost Jr. (1850-1885), teacher and journalist. San Francisco was a lively city full of citizens of Pioneering spirit, including Will who had ventured there from New Hampshire to seek his fortune as a journalist. He also started gambling and drinking, habits which left his family in dire financial straits when he died in 1885 after contracting tuberculosis. Honouring his last wishes to be buried in Lawrence, Massachusetts where he was born, Isabelle, Robert and his sister Jeanie Florence (1876-1929) made the long train journey across the country to the New England town. Isabelle took up teaching again to support her children.

With both parents as teachers, young Robert was early on exposed to the world of books and reading, studying such works as those by William Shakespeare and poetsRobert Burns and William Wordsworth. He also formed a life-long love of nature, the great outdoors and rural countryside. After enrolling in Lawrence High School he was soon writing his own poems including “La Noche Triste” (1890) which was published in the school’s paper. He excelled in many subjects including history, botany, Latin and Greek, and played football, graduating at the head of his class. In 1892 he entered Dartmouth, the Ivy League College in Hanover, New Hampshire, but soon became disenchanted with the atmosphere of campus life. He then took on a series of jobs including teaching and working in a mill, all the while continuing to write poetry.

Writing 2 Class Notes -- April 24

Greetings!

It was a beautiful day yesterday and the students did well being inside for most of the class.  We went outside for the poetry discussion.  I hope they can enjoy this great weather this week.

Our Quick Write was written by Drew Miller.  It was:  Invent something for someone in the class.

We took a bit of time to give back and hand in assignments.  I had a number of Quick Writes to hand back.  I had sent out an e-mail about missing assignments, and students handed in a number of these.  Some students still have missing work and unfinished work.  They have 2 weeks to finish any outstanding worksheets or papers.  If they are unclear about any of the assignments, they should send me an e-mail.  They can also check old e-mails and the blog for clarification.

Our next writing assignment is a Rewrite of any previously written essay.  They can pick one of their first essays that they didn't do as well on.  They could also choose an essay that they had enjoyed writing and want to add more information to.  I want them to hand in their original copies along with their rewritten versions.  A couple of students mentioned that they may not be able to find it on their computers.  If this is the case, a student may have to re-type the essay.

We worked through 3 grammar worksheets today on parallel structures, dangling modifiers, and comma splices.  We discussed these as a group so that we discuss grammar rules along the way.  If students are curious or would like more practice, they can go to the Grammar Bytes Exercises website.  

Because it was so beautiful outside, we took to the parking lot for the last portion of the class.  We discussed "I Hear America Singing" and "O Captain, My Captain" by Walt Whitman, "Because I could not stop for Death" and "I'm nobody. Who are you?" by Emily Dickinson, and "Casey at Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer.  We read the poems aloud.  Poetry is a great vehicle for forcing us to think a little more deeply.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Essay Rewrite

--  Hand in any missing assignments.

-- Read the following poets:

      Frost (p. 44 – 50); Sandburg (p.53 – 54); Williams (p. 60 – 61); Teasdale (p. 62); Hughes  (p. 75 – 78)

NOTE:  Make sure you read all of the assigned poems assigned. They will appear on the final exam on the last day of class.

Have a great week,

Mrs. Prichard

Week 13 Poets

This week we read poetry from Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheately, and Henry Wadsworth longfellow.

Anne Bradstreet was born in Northampton, England, in the year 1612, daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke;  Dudley, who had been a leader of volunteer soldiers in the English Reformation and Elizabethan Settlement, was then a steward to the Earl of Lincoln;  Dorothy was a gentlewoman of noble heritage and she was also well educated.
 
At the age of 16, Anne was married to Simon Bradstreet, a 25 year old assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company and the son of a Puritan  minister, who had been in the care of the Dudleys since the death of his father.

Anne and her family emigrated to America in 1630 on the Arabella, one of the first ships to bring Puritans to New England in hopes of setting up plantation colonies. The journey was difficult; many perished during the three month journey, unable to cope with the harsh climate and poor living conditions, as sea squalls rocked the vessel, and scurvy brought on by malnutrition claimed their lives.  Anne, who was a well educated girl, tutored in history, several  languages and literature, was ill prepared for such rigorous travel, and would find the journey very difficult


Phyllis Wheately
In 1761 Phillis was purchased as a personal slave in Boston by Susannah Wheatley, wife of tailor John Wheatley. She was evidently around 7 years old at the time. Her only written memory of her birthplace was of her mother performing a ritual of pouring water before the sun as it rose; biographers conjecture she came from Senegal/Gambia and may have been a Fula, a Moslem people who read Arabic script. Very likely she was kidnapped into slavery; she was brought to Boston on a slaving vessel named "The Phillis."

She learned to speak and write English very quickly, taught by Mary Wheatley, the 18 year old daughter of her owner; within 16 months she could read difficult passages in the Bible. At 12 she began studying Latin and English literature, especially the poetry of Alexander Pope, soon translating Ovid into heroic couplets. These would have been remarkable accomplishments for an educated white male boy, and were virtually unheard of for white females. She may well have read Anne Bradstreet's poetry. The Wheatleys appreciated her talents, and showed her off to their friends; many came to visit with this "lively and brilliant conversationalist." She was thoroughly indoctrinated into the Calvinist theology of Congregationalism. 

Phillis's place was designated by her white world, and she was virtually cut off from her own people, but she was definitely still a slave, although a privileged one. Though superior to most in her intellectual and literary accomplishments, she was clearly never their social equal. Perhaps that accounts for her not adopting Pope's major literary characteristic--satire--although she did adopt his poetic forms and classical allusions.

Nevertheless, modern feminist critics have pointed out her subtle and hidden critical messages (which would have had to have been well hidden, so as not to offend the white benefactors upon whom she had to depend).
At the age of 20, the Wheatleys sent her to England for health (and exhibition?) reasons with her "young master," Nathaniel Wheatley, who was traveling on business. Her poem to Mrs. Wheatley suggests her affection for her: "Susannah mourns, not can I bear,/ To see the crystal shower, /Or mark the tender falling tear, /At sad departure's hour;"While there, her poetry, 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" was published and dedicated to her English patron, Lady Huntingdon. She noted the hope that under her patronage "my feeble efforts will be shielded from the severe trials of uppity Criticism."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Probably the best loved of American poets the world over is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of his lines are as familiar to us as rhymes from Mother Goose or the words of nursery songs learned in early childhood. Like these rhymes and melodies, they remain in the memory and accompany us through life.

There are two reasons for the popularity and significance of Longfellow's poetry. First, he had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. Read or heard once or twice, his rhyme and meters cling to the mind long after the sense may be forgotten.

Second, Longfellow wrote on obvious themes which appeal to all kinds of people. His poems are easily understood; they sing their way into the consciousness of those who read them. Above all, there is a joyousness in them, a spirit of optimism and faith in the goodness of life which evokes immediate response in the emotions of his readers.

Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because he was among the first of American writers to use native themes. He wrote about the American scene and landscape, the American Indian ('Song of Hiawatha'), and American history and tradition ('The Courtship of Miles Standish', 'Evangeline'). At the beginning of the 19th century, America was a stumbling babe as far as a culture of its own was concerned. The people of America had spent their years and their energies in carving a habitation out of the wilderness and in fighting for independence. Literature, art, and music came mainly from Europe and especially from England. Nothing was considered worthy of attention unless it came from Europe.

Writing 2 Class Notes -- April 17

Greetings!

We had a good class this week.  For our Quick Write, I asked the students to come up with a unique name for a school that they created.  Again, they were very creative.  We had a spy/espionage school and the "ZZZ School" where people go to sleep.

I handed back their rough drafts of their Argument essays.  These have been challenging essays to write and to explain.  Sometimes meeting only once a week is a disadvantage because we have a limited time to ask and answer questions.  That being said, the students have written a good set of essays.  I enjoyed reading their rough drafts and look forward to the final drafts.

Even though we've been writing thesis-driven essays all year, we discussed again the difference between a topic and a thesis.  We also discussed that the body of the essay is used support and back up the thesis.

Our final writing assignment is a re-write.  I want the students to select one of their previous papers to improve.  They might choose one that they enjoyed writing, one that they feel needs the most improving, or one they would like to expand into a longer paper. 

We have switched from short stories to poetry.  We are using 101 Great American Poems in which the poems are listed in chronological order.  We started this week with a poem by Anne Bradstreet, who is considered New England's first poet and Phylis Wheately, the first African-American female poet.  We read a poem that they remembered from last year, "The Arrow and the Song," by Longfellow.  We ended the class with a full reading of "Paul Revere's Ride."  Students aren't always really excited about poetry, but reading it forces them to think.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Finish final copies of Argument essays.
-- Whitman poems (p. 22 - 26); Dickinson poem (p. 29 - 32); Thayer poems (p. 34); Dunbar poems (p. 41 - 43)
-- Choose the paper you want to re-write.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

Writing 2 Class Notes -- April 10

Greetings!

We had a good class following our week-long Spring Break.  It seems that some students enjoyed having time off from their CHAT classes.

At the beginning of the Quick Write, I had the students select a noun.  At this point we talked about common, proper and abstract nouns.  Once they had chosen their nouns, I gave them the following quote by Rachel Carson, a naturalist and a writer:  "The discipline of the writer is to learn to be still and listen to what his subject has to tell him."  I had the student take time to "listen" to what comes to mind about the noun. I feel pretty strongly that people don't spend enough time quietly "listening" in an unplugged way to the world around them.

Following the Quick Write, we worked together on two grammar worksheets: one on commas and one on parallel constructions.  We did these as a group so that I could use it as a learning opportunity.

Assignments for Next Week:
-- Read the poems by Anne Bradstreet (p. 1); Phylis Wheately (p. 1); Oliver Wendel Holmes (p. 21); Ralph Waldo Emerson (p. 4-5); Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (p. 6 - 10).
-- Catch up on any short stories that you haven't read.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard