Mr. Weiler's Online Writing Portfolio

“Pages” and “Posts” Assignments for Students

Mr. Weiler — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:17:49 +0000

Students should have the following PAGES in this exact order:

Welcome
About the Author
Writing Process Blog
Artistic Influences
Composition #1: A Short-Short Story
Composition #2: NLCP Writing Contest
Composition #3: A Nonsense Poem
Composition #4: A Found Poem
Composition #5: A Fairy Tale
Composition #6: My Final Project

Students should have the following POSTS in their Writing Process Blogs (oldest posts are on the bottom, most recent posts are on the top)

“Reflecting on my Final Project”
*Write 300 words that explain what you accomplished with your final project. What did you learn in this course?

“Final Project Proposal”
*Write 300 words explaining why you chose the assignment you picked and also explaining what message your piece will convey. If possible, give a summary of your composition

Fairy Tale: Final Draft Self-Assessment
*Once you have completed the final draft of your fairy tale, give yourself a grade. What letter grade does your story deserve? What parts of the story are you most proud of? What writing skills do you still need to improve?
*10-15 sentences, worth 30 points

Fairy Tale: Reflecting on Feedback
* 1 paragraph: describe the feedback you received on the terrible first draft of your fairy tale. What aspects of your story got good feedback? What aspects need more work? What will you do, specifically, to improve your fairy tale?
* 10-15 sentences, worth 30 points

Fairy Tale Proposal
* 1 paragraph: Provide a summary of the fairy tale you will write. What is the monster in your story a metaphor for? What parts of your story haven’t been designed yet? What do you still need to figure out?
* 10-15 sentences; worth 30 points

Reflecting on My Found Poem
* 1 paragraph: Write about the experience of creating your found poem.
* 10-15 sentences; worth 30 points

Creating My Nonsense Poem
*1 paragraph: What did you learn from creating your nonsense poem? What idea does your poem attempt to convey?
* 10-15 sentences, worth 30 points

Reflecting on the Second Draft of My Short-Short Story
*2 paragraphs: What do you need to change, according to the rubric?
* 10-15 sentences, worth 30 points

Reflecting on the First Draft of My Short-Short Story
*2 paragraphs, 10-15 sentences, worth 30 points

My Goals for This Class
*1 paragraph, 5-10 sentences, worth 30 points

Reflection #1: The Thing I Remember Most

Mr. Weiler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:43:06 +0000

Jake Weiler, Reflection #1

The Thing I Remember Most

When I lived in South Africa, I made a lot of friends. Some were white and some were black. Some spoke English and some spoke Zulu. Some lived in big, fancy homes with swimming pools and maids. Some lived in shacks made out of dried mud and thin tree branches. I saw a lot of things that I never expected to see. I saw the Indian Ocean. I saw avocadoes and mangoes growing on trees right in people’s back yards. I even saw a casket that looked like a giant can of Coca-Cola. But the thing I remember most is the day Happy died.

A few times every week I visited sick people in the hospital. It was a special hospital for people who were dying of AIDS. Not all people with AIDS are going to die, but the people in this hospital were extremely ill. Many of them were so sick that they were too weak to get up and go to the bathroom.

One day I met Happy. Lots of black people in South Africa have wonderful names like Happy, Peaceful or even The-One-Who-We’ve-Been-Waiting-For. There is a tradition there that a mother names her child the first thought that comes into her head. Happy’s mother must have been happy when she was born! Happy and I became friends and laughed a lot, even though she was very sick. I brought her food that she liked and I sometimes gave her medicines and lotions to help her feel better. But she kept getting sicker and sicker every day.

On the day she passed away, I sat next to Happy’s bed and held her hand. I was very sad, but I was thankful that she would not have to feel sick anymore. I think Happy is now taking care of me, in ways that I don’t even realize. She was a wonderful person and I think she had the perfect name. She could make me happy just by being my friend and she still makes me happy when I remember her, even though she’s gone.

Am I a writer?

Mr. Weiler — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:03:27 +0000

Yes! I am a writer for sure…but I still don’t know what kind of writer I want to be. Sometimes I want to write like William Faulkner. His writing is beautiful, but it is very complex and can be challenging to read. Sometimes I want to write like Kurt Vonnegut or Earnest Hemmingway. Their writing is very simple and at first can seem very plain. But then you realize that there are a lot of fascinating ideas lurking among those plain-looking words.

But I do know that I’m a writer. I write every day: e-mails, lesson plans, notes to myself, entries in my journal. I write as much as I can because I agree with what the poet Robert Frost said: “All there is to writing is having ideas.” In other words, writing is thinking. The more I write, the more I’m thinking. I’m a writer because I have a lot on my mind.