April 2008 Archives

Essential Literary Terms by Sharon Hamilton

Free Verse - also called open form verse, is distinguished from traditional versification in that its rhythms are not organized into the regularity of meter; most free verse also lacks rhyme.

Oh free verse, love of my life. I like free verse for two reasons. The first is obvious, it's easy. (I don't think I know anyone that doesn't like easy things, so don't judge me cause I'm using my poetry easy button.) The second is because when the reader isn't discracted by the rhythm or the rhyming business. With free verse the thoughts of, "oh what a cute little rhythm this is," or  "golly, I didn't see that word coming to rhyme with that one," never happens. (Thank you, because those were annoying to even type.)

With free verse the reader is focused on the reading. Mind blowing idea I know. But I like to write free verse so whoever is reading my stuff focuses on the words, and what they mean and what all of them put together means. Free verse is perfect of us ADD kids, because all the discractions were taken away and all you have is the beautiful raw material. (LOOOVE IT!)

But now I'm going to go finish watching Dane Cook and go to mindnight breakfast - cause I love those things too.

Ender's Game by Orsan Scott Card

"The launch was no longer divided into Bernard's in-group and Ender's outcasts. Alai as the bridge." (pg. 62)

So I'm not a Science Fiction fan but I'm finding myself relating to characters in this book which normally means...I like what I'm reading, odd. Anyway, I can see myself as Alai because I am and have always been that kid that hangs out with everyone. I'm in with the "popular" kids and the "nerds." I think it's because I'm in everything, so I mix with different kinds of people and I'm able to relate to all of them. (I think if Alai was in the year 2008 he'd me like me, what a lucky boy!)

The second relation I see in this book and myself is in Ender. He has Peter (the strong/tough big brother) and Valentine (the compassionate big sister), while I've got Rich (the strong/tough dad) and Brenda (the compassionate mom). Ender is exactly in the middle with his siblings and made up of half of each of their traits. Chelsea is exactly in the middle with her parents and is made up of half of each of their traits. (My parents aren't as extreme as Peter and Valentine.) Anyway, though (and I must admit this because life in Ellwood gets boring and I know my parents frequently look at my blog) I am more noticeably like my father in the strong and smart-ass category, my mom's traits have been showing through more as I grow up, and I (here comes some crappy sap stuff) become more womanly and elegant like her.

So here's some math for ya'll.

 Ender + Alai = Chelsea

(6yrs. + 6yrs. = 18yrs.)

Essential Literary Terms by Sharon Hamilton

Page 221 - Onomatopoeia

A word or phrase that seems to imitate the sound it denotes (example: bang, creak, murmur)

I suck at onomatopeia. Honestly, I don't think that I've ever actually used it properly. I always try to make little clever sentences in my writing with onomatopoeia words and I never do it right. I'm basically slow in general when it comes to picking up on when onomatopoeia is being used too...I'm sticking with alliteration, it's by BFF.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

So I focused on chapters 1-3, just so this makes sense to everyone.

"So Ender walked to Stilson's supine body and kicked him again, viciously, in the ribs. Stilson groaned and rolled away from him. Ender walked around him and kicked him again, in the critch. Stilson could not make a sound; he only doubled up and tears streamed out of his eyes." (Page 7)

So usually I would be all excited for the underdog (Ender) cause I mean when the underdog comes out on top and beats up the bully (Stilson) it makes me happy and smile really obnoxiously. (For example: the last Superbowl.) Anyway, with this story though I am not, because the lines before the ones above are, "Ender knew the unspoken rules of manly warfare, even though he was only six. It was forbidden to strike the opponent who lay helpless on the ground; only an animal would do that."

Ender (Andrew, whatever your name is), you're a cheater. I don't care if you're the underdog you're a jerk, you're not allowed to play that way.

Essential Literary Terms by Sharon Hamilton

Page 200-201

In describing a poem's meter, one needs to name the prevailing metrical foot and to specify the number of feet in each line. This number is indicated by terms derived from the Greek. The most common are the following:

Monometer - one foot

Dimeter - two feet

Trimeter - three feet

Tetrameter - four feet

Pentameter - five feet

Hexameter - six feet

Heptameter - seven feet

So, I admit, this blog entry is really just for me to reference back to when needed. I remember (briefly) going over this stuff in high school, but because kids are supposed to pick up that these are geometry terms and they are the same prefix we did not cover them for a long period of time. I however, do not always remember these things and was never the greatest at math soooooo this is for me and the other children that cannot always remember how many feet are in each line.

Essential Literary Terms by Sharon Hamilton

Page 184

"Syntax is sentence structure: the sentence and connection of the words, phrases, and clauses that constitute the sentences in a work. A sentence in English contains a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a grammatical unit, or independent clause."

Why didn't I learn the word syntax in high school? Honestly, I was reading through the assigned reading and stopped at page 184 because syntax is written real big on the top and I was like, ummm what is this - some kind of medical drug term? (I'm sorry, it's not my fault that I never learned it.)

It's a pretty obvious thing though, like did they just expect us to know that? "Oh this sentence has structure, that means syntax." WAKE UP LHS!!! Teach your students these words! Gosh, there I go again, over using the exclamation point, just because my alma-mater is apparently not up on the cool English lingo.

Portfolio 2 Assignment

In the last blogging portfolio I was super upset. I wasn't happy that I spend so much time on my blog and really no one ever commented...well my whinning paid off. (Who said that I don't always get what I want...liars.)

Anyway, moving on...for the porfolio - as some of you fine frequent readers of my blog know, is a chance for our class to put some entries that we have done since the last portfolio together and place them into categories. Those categories being coverage, timeliness, interaction, depth and discussion. Enjoy mine, as follows.

Coverage - Like the last portfolio, I think that I covered everything and to save us all some time, here is my page.

Timeliness - I'm not going to lie, I'm still sucking at getting my blogs in on time. However, ones that got in on time, and even BEFORE on time...wow Chels, anyway, on time entries are as follows.

• Mis-using Dashes
• I am an exclamation mark
• Pen-pals
• Commas
• Yay for pandas.

Interaction - Entries that made me happy cause people gave comments!

• I'm complex
• Yay for pandas
• Commas.

Entries where I showed some love.

• Maddie's Fair Lady
• Angelica's Ending
• Gretta's lead to the slaughter
• Ethan's British Comedy. 

Depth - I think I did well with this section, I had a few deep, deep, whoa, deep down down (yeah that went on too long)...depth articles. 

• Mis-using Dashes
• Yay for pandas
• I'm complex
• Sports Writers
• Coming from Faith class
• Ironic Alanis.

Discussion - Some lovely discussions that were on my entires.

• Ironic Alanis
• Sports Writers
• I am an exclamation mark.

Some lovely discussions I was in on other's blogs.

• Erica's Verbal Irony
• Kaitlin's Name Stealer
• Angela's Trusst issues.

I feel with this portfolio I've done very well. Not only did I take more time on my blogs and make them more indepth, but also I took more time commenting on my peers blogs. To really make this class and this little blogging system work that's what we really need to do and if it takes a few harsh words and some complaining to get there, well then so be it. We're only here for about another month, let's blog it up right! (Note the exclamation point in that last sentence....that means business.)