Caption Writing Activity

Freshmen and sophomores wrote captions for the following picture. The students were instructed to include the 5 W's and H in one well-developed sentence.

English 11: Beowulf Music Video 4

Video 4:

Beowulf to the tune of Katy Perry's "E.T."

English 11: Beowulf Music Video 3

Video 3:

"Beowulf" to the tunes of a country compilation

English 11: Beowulf Music Video 2

VIDEO TWO: 

"Beowulf" to the tune of Eminem's "Lose Yourself"

English 11: Beowulf Music Video 1

VIDEO ONE: 

"He Is Who He Is" to the tune of Kesha's "We Are Who We Are"

 

 

 

Off the Beaten Path...What Can We Do to Breathe New Life into Our Small, Rural Communities?

As an effort to promote problem-solving skills and encourage students to think outside the box, our daily bell ringer focused on the question "What can we do to breathe new life into our small, rural communities?"

Unfortunately, many small towns in Iowa are facing slowed population growth or are even declining. As young citizens, it is important for students to think about what this means for our area. Because students are filled with energy and inventiveness, it makes perfect sense to ask them to generate ideas about why the problem exists and what may help off-set or even solve the problems our communities face.

We talked of some of the advantages and disadvantages of living where we do.

Each student thought of three reasons population may have declined in our area.

Each student then brainstormed for a few minutes to generate ideas to bring people to our towns and to promote all the great things we do in Latimer, Coulter, and Alexander.

Students then worked in pairs and small groups to compile ideas and piggy back of each other. The ideas will be forwarded to city councils, the school board, and other businesses and organizations. You can view these ideas in the comments section below.

Oral Poetry Reading Responses

Students listened to the poem "Table Manners" by a fellow English Iowa teacher Kurt Straube. Kurt wrote the poem during our summer session of the Iowa Writing Project.

As they listened to the poem, students participated in a PiratePad discussion. Students paid special attention to VOICE, TONE, and STYLE. Students used PiratePad to record thoughts on a live document, where they were also able to see their classmates thoughts and feelings. Students then had a few minutes to respond to others on the PiratePad document.

English 11
English 9
English 10 



The poem, in its entirety, follows.

Table Manners

Kurt Straube

Dear Father–

Dad–

you'd be so proud

of me tonight, here

with a girl–maybe even

The girl–at the Pizza Ranch

on University,

not because I've picked

the seediest dive in town

with the most engorged patrons and loudest brats

at which to impress the one

I've been seeing for almost a year now

but because at this moment

I am not sucking up stray kernels 

of corn from the corners of my plate

with nothing but my tongue.

That was, after all, the one

trait you said a man should

avoid, so long ago–my 

nine-year-old bare feet dangling

carelessly below my seat

at the dinning room table–

"Whoever she is, she won't love

you if you eat your corn

like a vacuum sucking lint."

Such poignant advice

from the man who once offended

my mother with horseradish-

breath, only to immediately shower,

shave, and brush his teeth...

all for the sake of her kiss.

So, Dad–Father–Man

to whom I may credit all

my finest and lowliest traits

thank you

for the advice, and

as always, for knowing

that the ones who are worth it

hate boys that suck.

A special thanks to Kurt Straube for sharing this poem.

Favorite Word Poems

Students brainstormed a list of 10 of their favorite words based on either sound or meaning. They then composed five-line poems featuring all words.

Creative Writing from Hint Fiction

English students have been working with a variety of types of literature, including hint fiction. As a warm-up writing exercise, students wrote brief creative stories based on the following prompt from Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer entitled "A Dignified Purpose" by Ty Miller.

"She loved to steal spoons. She didn't need them; she just enjoyed having a hundred tiny mirrors to see what no one else could."


The students short creative stories can bee seen as comments to this post. Enjoy!