Weekly Agenda: February 16-19

Tuesday, February 16
Define denotation and connotation
- denotation and connotation activity
- Read and discuss “Cross” (packet)
Writing warm-up: Pick a word that you know has multiple meanings. Grab a dictionary, look it up, and write them down. Then, write a poem with that word as the title, which somehow manages to define that word creatively, addressing all its major denotations AND its personal connotations
- Brainstorm
- Example
- Volunteers share
Introduction to rhyme and stanza
- Define “stanza” and types of stanzas
o Couplet, tercet, quatrain
- Define “rhyme”, “rhyme scheme” and “internal rhyme”
- Examples: “Woman Work” and “Narcissus and Echo” (packet)
HW: Write a skeltonic poem on the topic of your choice.

Thursday, February 18
Volunteers share skeltonic poems
Review types of stanza
Review perfect rhyme
- Example “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” (packet)
Writing warm-up: Write a poem entirely of couplets. Choose whatever rhyme scheme you want, but there MUST BE a rhyme scheme. The first line, if you are stuck on a topic, can be “Everybody/Nobody says ______...”
- Volunteers share
Define “slant rhyme”
- Example “The soul selects her own society” (handout)
- Journal exercise: Write a poem using slant rhyme about yourself, written in 3rd person. Try to see and think about yourself like someone else might
HW: Bring in 3 or 4 random news story or magazine article headlines for 2/22