Grades 10/12 Blogging at Schoolsville

Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate 

First of all, Schoolsville is your English class blogging site, a required reading and assignment resource just as important as your textbooks. 

It is the place where I'll post your "journal assignments." Journal assignments will be clearly identified by class (soph or senior) with a # followed by a number.

You must respond throughout the marking period to these "journal assignments" as you are instructed at Schoolsville, but you MUST also turn in a printed copy of all of these "journal assignments" toward the end of each quarter for a major "grade." So for each assignment, I strongly recommend that you type your response in a Word document and then copy and paste it into the blog response box. Save the file and add future journal responses. This will keep you organized, protecting your work in case your computer or the blog site crashes.

Also at Schoolsville,  I will periodically give extra reading and homework assignments that are NOT necessarily a part of your writing journal. Complete them as they are assigned and remember the content and lessons for tests and other evaluations.

Sometimes at Schoolsville I will be "on my soapbox" just proselytizing or propagandizing for your edification, enlightenment, and enjoyment.  Sometimes I might post a test review or some schedule for the week.

Since so much is going on at Schoolsville, I would recommend that you visit Schoolsville daily, especially if you miss class.

Does this all sound boring? I don't think so, and you won't, either, when you find yourself periodically checking in here for homework or to see if I'm "quizzing the chandelier" or "reprimanding the air."

You have to read Schoolsville (the poem) to understand those last references. So do it this weekend.

Follow this link to read the Billy Collins's poem, Schoolsville, the imaginary Poetry-town created by a "retired" teacher who finds it impossible to "retire." That teacher could be me in about 8 years (and counting). Be able to talk and/or write about its subject, its narrator, its poetics, and its theme for class on Tuesday.

You should know a little about every author whom we study this year, many of them still alive and writing. Billy Collins,the author of Schoolsville, is a former poet laureate of the United States. Once a title of great distinction (in countries like Great Britain), the poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government to promote the genre of poetry. The poet laureate might be called upon to compose poems for state occasions and other government events, like the inauguration of a president.

Collins's poetry is on the humorous side. His fans call it realistic, clever, and accessible; his critics call it lightweight and shallow. Since I've chosen one of his poems to name my blog, I think you can guess on which side I stand.

Read on.