Creative Writing Prompt: Mobius Strip Poetry

Think of a circle; think of all the things that are circles, or made of circles.

-          The sun

-          The moon

-          A ball

-          An orange

-          A hula hoop

A circle is infinite, but the symbol for infinity is not a circle, but a sideways 8, as shown here:

We often think of cycles as being infinite. What are some kinds of cycles, or sets of events that repeat themselves?

-          Seasons

-          Time

-          Water cycle

-          Life cycle

-          Laundry

-          Growth Cycle

-          Metamorphic Cycle

-          Rock Cycle

If we were to write a poem about these things, there would be no way to indicate on the paper that what was occurring was infinite; a poem is linear, which means it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Perhaps we could write such a poem in a circle shape on the page, but what if we used the infinity shape instead?

A Mobius strip is a type of infinity shape. It is the only three-dimensional object that has only one side: you can run a pen or a pencil along it and it will continue on without leaving the page. It was discovered in 1858 by German mathematicians, and is frequently used in machinery that need rubber belts to wear evenly on both sides. MC Escher used the Mobius strip in his art.

As you can see, the ants crawling on the Mobius strip will always crawl on it, all going in the same direction. The ants are in fact meant to show how the shape is infinite.

Today, we are going to use the Mobius strip in our poetry.

1)      We will first write a poem that is cyclical, or contains an idea that is infinite (or seems infinite, like laundry!).

2)      Once you have written your infinite poem, you will transfer it on to a piece of paper.

3)      This is what your piece of paper will look like:

4)  Make sure that you leave at least an inch on each outside edge of the rectangle:

5)  Write the first half of your poem on one side of the piece of paper, like this:

6)    When you flip your piece of paper, it is very important that you flip the page correctly:

a.       Flip it towards you or away from you, but DO NOT flip it like you would flip a page (that is, do not pick up the righthand edge and move your hand across yourself. The lefthand edge will stay on the left and the righthand edge will stay on the right.)

b.       Or, you may think of it as flipping on the long edge

7)      Write your other half of the poem on the other side:

8)      You can see how the poem uses transition words to lead from one end to the next.

9)      Next, you need to attach the two ends together. You should have left a space at each of the ends on both sides to make sure that you don’t accidentally overlap the text.

a.       Pull the ends together as if you were making a circle.

b.       Before you put the ends together, however, give ONE of the ends a half-twist (not both, and not a full twist! Just 180 degrees)

c.       Then tape or staple the two edges together.

d.       Read the poem to make sure you can follow it all the way through until it starts over again. (If the line is suddenly upside down and goes in the wrong order, that means that strip of paper was flipped on the short edge, ie it was flipped incorrectly)

e.       Here is a diagram to show you how to attach the ends of the paper strip:

10)   Once you get the hang of it, see how many Mobius strip poems you can make!

Summary:

A Mobius strip poem shows us that a poem does not have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. 

It allows us to write in a new way.

It should also show us that we should be able to experiment with our poetry, either with what we write OR what we write on OR both! 

Verbage: Using more verbs in lesson planning

I'm taking a class at the University of Saskatchewan called Philosophy and Practice of Teaching. It's a fantastic class. One of the things that has inspired me recently is a list of verbs to help guide learning objectives. We use the list to ensure that our goals for classes and units are measurable and attainable. In addition to that, however, it's got me thinking about what other kinds of activities I can introduce in order to make use of some verbs that I don't often think about.

So I find myself implicitly using "debate," "discuss," and "analyze," but how could I teach English using "dramatize" or "perform"? How can my students "propose," "invent," or "produce"? Perhaps not all of these words are particularly useful in an English context, but what if they could be?

Lots to think about!

Death Be Not Proud: Flipped Classroom

The Flipped Classroom model of teaching is really neat. I mostly use it when I have a lot of content I want to get through, or if I want to do something special which requires content.

Essentially, we can assign readings or other materials outside of the classroom so that you can do a hands-on activity in the classroom. I certainly did not come up with this myself; check out the following link for more information: http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/

In this example, I wanted to get some comprehensive concepts out of the way so that we could spend time doing a debate [My students' response to five minute memos: "more time for debate!"]

These questions are not brilliant. In fact, they would induce blunt force trauma with how subtle they aren't. But there is more to it than just the questions ...

Holy Sonnet 10

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Hey, folks!

Please answer the following questions to prepare for class tomorrow (they are pretty simple):

1)      Who is the speaker in the poem talking to? (What is the technical word for how the object of the poem is being expressed here? Hint: the word begins with a “p”)

2)      What does the following line mean? “From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be, /
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow”

3)      Which line of the sonnet sounds a heck of a lot like the title of this song by Billy Joel? (“Only the good die young” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhjNm20XbXw)

4)      Who is death a “slave” to?

5)      What does the word “swell’st” mean here?

6)      What does it mean to “wake eternally”?

7)      As an intangible object, Death cannot die; so what is the speaker really saying?

****

All of this was in aid of the following activity: 

At which point, there is a debate.

And then, because the professor has been mentioning "for whom the bell tolls" all week in class without showing them the primary source, I decide to show it to them. 

There is Simon.

There is Garfunkel.

There is Metallica. 

(I earned some fans that day)

"A Rose for Emily" Diction Debate

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

Diction Debate

What are the most important words in “A Rose for Emily”?

Here are six that appear most frequently: (besides “Miss,” “Emily,” etc)

Smell

Old

Father

Dust

We

Rose

1)      Your job will be to find the word given to you where it occurs in the text. Underline, highlight, or copy the passages containing the word.

2)      How many times does the word occur?

3)      At what point in the text does the word occur? (Early, late?)

4)      What does your word tell us about the text?

5)      Why is your word important? (Think of your word as “doing work”; what kind of work is your word doing in order to convey meaning?)

The word you have appears multiple times in the text. Your word tells us many things about the story. Compared with the other five words, explain why your word is the most important in the story for giving context and meaning to the plot / characters.

·        

Your first argument must be strictly argumentative information: it must explain why your word is important.

·        Your second and third arguments can also be arguments in your favour; however, they can also be “deconstructive” arguments, which means they can be aimed at one or more of the other five words, showing why they are not important.

·        You must use at least three quotations containing your word (or that of your opponents) in each of your arguments.

·        Once you have 3 major reasons why your word is the most important to the story (or why somebody else’s isn’t), then we will have a debate.

How to Debate:

1)      Give your arguments as if they were a speech: in complete sentences, explain how your arguments prove that your word is the most important out of all of them. Be as convincing as you can.

2)      Take notes while the others are speaking; when they inevitably say something disparaging about your word, you should write it down to address it in your speech. Explain why they are wrong, giving specific reference to what they said.

3)      The person to go first will have a free minute at the end of all the speeches to address any points that may have been made against their word by his or her opponents.

4)      You will be given hand signals to indicate time: minute signals, 30 s signal, 10 s signal, 15 s grace. Use the last 15 s grace period to say the following: “Because of all of the reasons I have given you, our team believes that the word, __________ is the most important in “A Rose for Emily”

Here is a copy of the instructions I wrote for myself:

Divide the room into groups; we should have 22 students, 4 groups of 4 and 2 groups of 3 (Are there six people with laptops?)

Assign each group a word.

Give the following example:

The word “Miss” is the most important word in “A Rose for Emily”

1)      The word “Miss” is used to refer to Miss Emily consistently throughout the story. The word is repeated throughout the story 35 times. At the beginning of the story, the narrators claim that when she was “alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care,” indicating that she has several roles within the community. While they must take care of her, they mark her as a “tradition” and a “duty” which corresponds with their decision to consistently refer to her as “Miss”; the word Miss is a traditional way to refer to an unmarried woman, and thus they use the honorific as a means of maintaining their Southern traditions of politeness and propriety.

2)      While the word “Miss” indicates her unmarried status, and is usually thought to be a polite term, as previously mentioned, it may also be superficial: by constantly referring to her as “Miss” despite her elderly age, the community may also be thinking of her as a little girl who can’t quite take care of herself. In calling her “Miss,” the townspeople are behaving both ironically and mockingly: she is obviously no longer a young lady, and she is well beyond “marriageable” age. As though becoming married enables a woman to participate in society, they call her “miss” as if she has missed a step in becoming a person, and is stuck in the virginal temporal space of being a “Miss.” The townspeople claim that they “had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground.” They see her as a static unchanging figure in white – suggesting virginity – and behind her father – suggesting that she is fully at his mercy and control. Her identity is defined by her disused body and her lack of a father and husband. Her name, then, represents that feeling that she should be pitied for having not found a husband, and secretly mocked for the same.

Together, these two ideas of the word Miss used both as a tradition and as an insult demonstrate further insight into the actions and beliefs of the Southern community. The complexity of their feelings towards Miss Emily are wrapped up in the way they name her: with pity, mockery, and disdain. In calling her “Miss” they can call her all of these things, too, without breaking the rules of propriety set by their Southern society.

3)      The lack of the word “Miss” in the title is particularly interesting, because it is the only place where her name is not preceded by the honorific. The title itself is worthy of further thought, because it indicates a “rose” for Emily, and yet there is no rose within the story. A rose for Emily may be an offering of marriage or a relationship, and it may also be the gift of a rose. However, I think the rose might be an offering at her funeral; while the community disdains and mocks her, the story itself becomes a rose offered to her as a means of saying that she is understood, if not by the speakers, than at least by the writer. The writer gives her this rose – the story – as a way of saying that she isn’t crazy or pitiable, but that her motivations and actions can be comprehended. Likewise, she is called “Emily” rather than “Miss Emily” in the title, because she is being recognized as a person with real thoughts and feelings, rather than the mockingly and ironically named Miss Emily.

Give debate instructions.

Villains Vindicated (Creative Writing Seeds)

A “villain” is the term used to describe the bad person in a book or film. We usually use the word villain for a particularly “bad” or “evil” character, while we might say the word “antagonist” for someone whose actions block or create barriers for the main character. (For example, if your story is about a little girl whose bully keeps stealing her candy, the bully wouldn’t really be a villain, but they would definitely be an antagonist).

What are some examples of villains or antagonists that we can think of?

-          The Evil Stepmother (Cinderella

-          The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)

-          Jafar (Aladdin)

-          Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

-          The Queen (Snow White)

-          Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

-          Scar (The Lion King)

-          Magneto (X-Men)

-          The Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood)

-          Voldemort (Harry Potter)

-          Goldfinger (James Bond)

-          The Joker (Batman)

-          Darth Vader (Star Wars)

All of these villains are meant to make life very difficult for the main character. But what were these villains like before they met the hero?

For the purposes of this assignment, let’s treat these villains as real people.

·        Before they were villainous, what were their lives like?

·        Were they happy?

·        What did they like to do?

·        What happened to them to make them become villainous? (Were they betrayed, disappointed, or hurt by someone else?)

·        What kinds of bad choices did they make that led them to be so badly behaved?

·        What kind of story can we write so that we can explain or understand where these characters went wrong?

For some of these characters, we already have examples explaining how they got to be so bad, like Darth Vader or Magneto. We also have examples of how they are allegedly misunderstood, such as the Wicked Witch of the West or Maleficent. You can choose one of these characters, or another for whom there is not an existing explanation for how they became who they are.

These are your instructions:

1)      Choose a villain, either from the list above or of your own choosing.

Villain’s name: ________________________________________

2)      Use some of the following “autobiographical” questions to find out more about your character; put yourself in their shoes: how would they answer these questions?

a.       Where were you born?

b.       What are some of your hobbies?

c.       What are your parents’ names and occupations?

d.       How would you describe your childhood?

e.       What’s your favourite colour?

f.        What’s your favourite food?

g.       Who is your best friend in the whole world?

3)      Then answer these questions:

a.       How did your character go from being a good person to being a bad person? (Were they good to begin with?)

b.       What could have happened to them that changed them? Use your imagination!

4)      Then, tell a story from the perspective of the villainous character, explaining who they are and what happened to them. Your first line might be, “I wasn’t always a ‘villain’ … ”

Please note that all characters belong to their respective copyright owners. 

Operation: Show Don't Tell (Creative Writing Seeds)

Operation: Show, Don’t Tell

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass” – Anton Chekhov

Images make up your writing. You create images using the words you write so that your reader creates the idea in their imagination. A really good image will make the reader forget they are reading words and only think about what they see in their mind’s eye.

Many writers have heard someone say, “Show, Don’t Tell!” about a piece of their writing. But what does that really mean?

The best way to show you how to “show, don’t tell” is by showing you! Here are some examples:

Tell:	Show:
Kate was tired.	Kate rubbed her eyes and willed herself to keep them open.
It was early spring.	New buds were pushing through the frost.
Charlie was blind.	Charlie wore dark glasses and was accompanied by a seeing-eye dog.
Sheena is a punk rocker.	Sheena has three piercings in her face and wears her hair in a purple mohawk.
James was the captain.	“At ease,” James called out before relaxing into the captain’s chair.
The girls were excited.	Giggles and screams filled the arena. The soft curls were now damp with perspiration and the anticipation of the event. They held tight to each other in a mock effort to contain themselves. Arms flailed upward, and voices echoed in varying tones. The moment was here.

You can see from the examples on the right that they are more interesting to read than the examples on the left, even though they mean the same thing. The “Show” examples use more of your senses, like sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Think about how you learn from movies; movies don’t tell you, but they show you. How do you know someone is upset, angry, happy, sad, frustrated, and so on? People don’t often say “I am angry,” but they do act angry! (They are very mature and communicative humans, indeed, if they know when they are angry and can then communicate that to someone else!)

For the following “Tells,” practice writing a “Show”! Show your reader what it looks like, whether it’s an emotion, an action, a place, or a thing.

The lawn was covered with leaves.
The room was perfect. She saw it and was immediately transported back to her childhood.
The house was old.
The fire is burning.
The cat’s fur is soft.
My head hurts.

Once you have finished these examples, you should get the hang of showing rather than telling. When you are done, write a short story or poem (about whatever you like!) where you show how things are rather than telling your audience. 

Brain Map Autobiography (Creative Writing Seeds)

Brain Map

What do you think makes you who you are?

What are the words, thoughts, beliefs, and ideas that make up you?

In this writing exercise, use the “brain map” to the right to help you figure out what’s in your brain! Then, use those words to form a poem that tells us about you.

1.       Fill out this brain with words, thoughts, and ideas that make up the person that you are!

2.       Use the words that filled out your “brain,” and explain what they mean to you to make a poem.

For example, your poem might look like this:

Ex:

Elyn’s Mind

Family – Family is at the forefront of my thoughts, and so it is literally at the front of my brain.

Reading – I am always thinking about reading: what I have read, what I am reading, and what I want to read next.

Painting – I like art; I used to do a lot of drawing, but now when I do art, I find that I am mostly drawn to painting.

Brown – I love the colour brown! Many of my clothes are brown, my furniture is brown, and even my bedroom is brown. I love the warmth of the colour; I feel that I sink into it and it envelops me.

Roxette – Roxette is my favourite band. They are a band from the 80s that no one knows, but I hear their music and I feel perfect.

Now, you try! Use the words that filled up your brain to write an informally structured poem about who you are, what you do, and what you like.