Here we are at the end of our GLPS experience. We have been writing, writing and writing some more. It has been such a pleasure to meet all of you and see your writing grow and improve during the last 4 weeks together. Each of you have created your very own blogs and should be proud of your work. You have practiced and learned a variety of writing styles and have a blog to share with your friends and family. I hope you will continue to use the blog often, even after camp is finished.
As promised, the top 3 bloggers have been selected from each class. The decision was difficult as all of you have done a wonderful job and deserve recognition for your hard work. I'm sending out a round of applause for a job well done in creating a blog filled with your writing and showing off your personality and creativity.
The students selected were chosen based on quality of their work, creativity and writing skills. The decision was based on the 4 writing assignments: Three things I know to be true, Argumentative Essay on Kony, Reflective essay on Spring/Adora and the Chain/Creative writing piece.
So here goes... the students who have won the Blogging Idol at GLPS 18th Camp are...
It's time for the Week 3 Shoutouts for the Reflective Essay on the video "Spring" by Kim Ki Duk or "What adults can learn from Kids" by Adora Svitak. You have all been working hard on your blogs and all deserve praise for a job well-done. As usual, some students stand out in the class and here they are:
For the last assignments students did a Chain Writing exercise and then turned it into a creative writing story. Everyone did a fantastic job, check out their blogs for some interesting reads.
It is time again for the SHOUTOUTS! Assignment 2 was an argumentative essay on the video Kony 2012 asking "Should we make Kony famous in order to catch him or not?" There were some very interesting perspectives on this topic and the essay was well-done by all classes.
Students also wrote "Diamante Poems" and the Best poem was selected from each class, earning a prestigious "Green Card". See the chosen poems below!
But alas, only a few can get a SHOUTOUT, so here they are:
An ode is typically a lyrical verse
written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the
poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode.
In fact, the "greatest poem ever
written" is an ode written by the famous English poet John Keats. He died very
young, and many believed if he'd lived longer that he could have rivaled William
Shakespeare as one of the greatest writers ever.
One day, while he was sitting under a tree, a
nightingale bird landed in the branches and began singing. At the time, he was
very sick, so he felt envious of the bird's freedom and health. Thus, "Ode to a
Nightingale" was born, and many consider this to be a "perfect poem." Let's
listen:
Keats is truly amazing. For our purposes, we
are going to change things a little and basically write a poetic
letter to something or somewhere instead of
someone. Imagine what you might say in a letter that begins
with:
Dear Seoul,
Dear California,
Dear North Korea,
Dear iPhone,
Dear Sadness,
Dear Boredom,
Dear English,
Dear K-Pop,
Dear EOP,
Dear Mirror,
Dear Necklace,
Dear Sleep,
Dear Money,
Dear Starcraft,
Dear Angry Birds,
Dear Pizza,
Dear Broccoli,
Dear Facebook,
Dear Harry Potter Series,
Dear Green/Red cards,
The possibilities are endless, and I want you
to write a poetic letter using lots of descriptive writing and philosophical
insight. Think of that object or place as a friend or enemy that you know very
well.Personify it. Metaphorically give it
qualities that are human, and have fun poeticizing the things you love, hate, or
hate to love or love to hate about that thing.
This should be written as a letter and a poem
mixed together in a style of writing we might call "lyrical prose." Imagine
your sentences are music, and each word a note. You can start thinking
about:
Alliteration:
using words with similar sounds in one sentence, sort of like a tongue
twister.
Example - "The sweet sound of your soft
voice silences my spirit into a still sleep."
This sentence has a smooth ring to it, all
because "s" was used repeatedly in a musical way.
Repetition:
repeating a sentence structure for more emphasis. Politicians use this a
lot when they make speeches.
Example - "We can make change.
We can fight for freedom. We can be the light
through the world's darkness. We are America, and yes we
can!"
Requirements:
So try and use these while you write your ode. Include
a picture and be creative (and clean) with your formatting. Have fun!
Here is a really good one from a
KMLA students, Seung Hyun in the 14th wave.
Ode to ZzaPaGeuTi
By
Seung Hyun Ryu (Amy)
Dear ZzaPaGeuTi (짜파게티),
Do you remember back when I was in elementary
school? I’d come home
after a long and busy day, and immediately look for you. Thankfully, you were
always there beside me whenever I needed you. However tired I was, you, with
your warm brown scent, always made me feel comfortable and re-energized. Not
only did you reduce my stress and tiredness of getting through the day, but you
also helped soothe my feelings of homesickness for Korea. Ever since I was
young, the thing I always miss most when I’m away from
Korea is the food. Luckily, I could easily meet you, dressed up in your fancy
clothes in the Chinese marts of England. It’s a secret
to my good friend La Myun (라면), but I love you much more
than her. While La Myun has a fiery temper, you are always warm and sweet
towards me.
You might find it a little surprising
that after all these years of scarcely talking or meeting, I would suddenly
write a letter to you. This surprise would have been doubled I suppose, because
I began this letter full of praise for you while I have totally ignored you all
this time. To make things a little less confusing, I will be very
straightforward with you. The reason why I’m writing this letter is to apologize
for something that happened between us a long time ago. Even after all these
years, I feel guilt over what I have done to you. Thus, I have mustered up the
courage to write this letter.
I’m sure that you recall the day that I
introduced you for the first and last time to a friend I had made in England.
Her name was Paulina, and she was a delicate little girl who had never lived
outside of England. Well, when Paulina came over to my house, I introduced you
to her. You were my favorite friend, so there was no reason for me to hesitate
in doing so. I had absolutely no worries about whether Paulina would like you or
not. After all, why wouldn’t she love you as much as I
did, when you were so deliciously kind and always extending your long, long
noodley arms to help someone in need?
However, to this day, I just cannot
forget the expression on Paulina’s face when she saw you. She was horrified by your color, and asked
how I could possibly like someone who looked like you - someone who had a dirty
mud color and a mop of straggly hair. She did not even bother to get acquainted
with you, and announced that she would not speak a word to you because, on the
whole, you looked like a bowl filled with dirty worms. Not only you, my dear
friend ZzaPaGueTi, but also I was greatly affected by this
incident.
Regretfully, I was not old enough to realize that it was my friend
who was shallow to judge you based on appearances. I should not have cared what
Paulina said. Although you look a little odd in England, because of your dark
skin color and straggly curly hair, that is simply because there are not so many
like you in England, as there are in Korea. Furthermore, I should have been wise
enough to realize that I loved you regardless; never mind what you look like.
Regretfully, I failed this wisdom at such a young age.
Hopefully, it is not too late to ask
for your forgiveness. Although I have feigned not to notice you all these years,
it was mainly because I did not have enough courage to beg for your forgiveness.
And not because I didn’t
want to be your friend again. It was only when I was young and ignorant that I
foolishly felt embarrassed by you, for being who you are. I dearly hope that you
will understand me with your warm sweet heart, and once again embrace me with
your long delicate arms.
This week's shout outs go to the students who wrote an interesting blog with pictures and a good presentation about "Three things I know to be true". Here are the shout outs for each class:
There you have it. Did you make the list of shout outs this week? If not, try to stand out next week and see your name here. Good luck and remember to post on your blog as much as possible.
UPDATE: The best DIAMANTE POEM writer for each class
will get a GREEN
CARD!!
Below you will see a
diagram which shows you the structure of a "Diamante Poem." As you can see, it
is shaped like a diamond, and that's where it gets its name.
NOUN ADJECTIVEADJECTIVE
ING-VERBING-VERBING-VERB
NOUNNOUNNOUNNOUN
ING-VERBING-VERBING-VERB
ADJECTIVEADJECTIVE
NOUN
Similar to a
haiku, the Diamante Poem uses words to create an impression without relying on
full phrases. Try and use your THESAURUS to make your words more
interesting. Instead of "cold" why not use "freezing" or "chilly." There are
three different approaches you can take:
Opposites: As you can see above (and in the example below),
the poem is divided in half. The first noun and the last noun should be
opposites, such as HOT and COLD, and in the middle there should be a
transition. This is the most interesting method, and you can be creative.
Spring and Fall, Love and Hate, Sleep and Awake etc. etc. etc.
Just one topic: You can keep your poem about one thing only,
and explore more words to illustrate it. The first noun and the last noun could
be the same or about the same thing.
Related Dynamically: Instead of using opposites, you could
change your poem in the middle to contrast two things that have a relationship.
One of my students started with "Cheeseburger" and finished with "Global
Warming." Can you guess the connection? Fastfood creates paper waste and the
meat is from cows who produce methane. Very creative! How about North Korea
and South Korea, or School and Academy, or Apple and Microsoft? iPad and
Galaxy? The possibilities are endless.
Here is an example
of what I expect from you guys with the Diamante
Poems. Try to write at least two or three, and creatively make a transition
from one subject to the next. Post pictures to jazz things up a little. This
one, about Red Cards and Green Cards. These pictures help a lot,
and notice how I used colored fonts of that are different to mark the change.
Make sure everything is centered . As well, I've made the font as big as possible for more
impact. Let's have some fun with this simple yet very creative style of
poetry.
Welcome to KMLA! The summer camp has commenced and we are going to be busy preparing for the first week and setting up our own personal blogspot.
The first step in our writing adventure is to set up your very own blogspot. I feel your blog is an effective tool to share your writing with your teacher, other students as well as your parents and friends. Anyone can read your blog and also leave comments for you which will, in turn, help improve your writing skills and give you feedback along the way.
Here are some tips to help you on your way to becoming a "Blogging Idol":
Your parents are going to see it. Keep this in mind when you are writing and take pride in your work.
Blog anytime, anywhere. You can write anything you want when you have a chance. This is a great opportunity to practice your writing so use your skills to share your experiences at camp, tell people about yourself, share your speeches, keep your parents in the loop about what you are learning or anything else you can think of.
Think about presentation! You want your blog to be interesting for people to see and read. Experiment with fonts, pictures, videos and your layout. Remember to keep your blog neat and clean and try to avoid cluttering it with too many distracting gadgets.
GLPS will award the "Blogging Idol" for the best bloggers at the end of camp. Strive for the best! It is wonderful to get recognition for a job well-done so try to do your best and good luck. I will also be doing "Shoutouts" each week to the best bloggers.
The blog you create here will be a network connecting you to your classmates here at GLPS 18. Through our blogs we can get to know each other and share our thoughts and creativity with each other. And the best thing is that you can continue to blog even after we say goodbye to each other at the end of camp, and I hope you do!
From now on, use this blog as often as you can. Write about your experiences and share ideas and thoughts with myself and your fellow classmates. Read each other's work and give feedback through comments. I look forward to reading all of your work throughout the camp.
After you have setup your blog, please leave a comment under this post. I will add a link to your blog on my page so you will be able to visit other students blogs and make comments.
Your comment should look like this:
Name: Songhee Kim Class: 10 Blog URL: glps18.blogspot.com
