Ferry

Sonnet Remix Project

1. Remix something from a favorite short story, novel, film, or song into a
fourteen-line Shakespearian sonnet complete with all the elements that
constitute sonnet form. This can be your favorite part of the story line or the
whole story line itself. You are not limited to the artistic mediums that Ive listed
above. I am open to remixes of nearly every genre. This could include recipes,
instructions, non-fiction works, infomercialsanything you can imagine really! If
youre unsure if a genre will work, bring it to me, and Ill help you get started.
2. After you all have completed a sonnet, each of you will read your work out loud
in front of the class on {tba} dates. Dont worry, you dont have to memorize your
sonnet; reading straight from the page is perfectly acceptable. Please preface your
reading with some expository information about your original work.
3. Finally, you must complete a short reflective essay (after youve completed
both the writing and reading features of this project) that looks back on the steps
you had to take to effectively retool your original passages into sonnet form.
Please make sure to include what medium you chose to remix in your essay. This
reflection should also reflect on the performance aspecttalk about how you felt
during your reading, and how your presentation enhanced or detracted from the
desired impact of your sonnet.
Criteria:
1. Final product includes all the elements of a traditional fourteen-line poem
2. Final product is handed in with evidence of drafting or revision
3. Final product is clear and cohesive, and remains focused on the original
work at hand
4. Final product is read aloud in front of class on each students allotted time
slot
5. Student shows a clear grasp of things like rhyme scheme and line breaks in
their reading. Performance shows student has rehearsed beforehand.
6. Student composes a 300-500-word reflection on the remixing process as
well as the performance aspect.

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Rubric: Out of 25 points total

Total: ______/25 points

1. Credit/no credit for each element (3 points or zero points for each)
a. 14 lines

____/3 points

b. Rhyming couplet

____/3 points

c. Three quatrains

____/3 points

d. Use of iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line) ____/3 points

2. 1-3 point scale of effort for of drafting or revision

____/3 points

3. 1-4 point scale of effort of clear and cohesive work

____/4 points

4. 3 points for out loud reading performance

____/3 points

5. 1 point for each element included in reading (3 points total)

a. Rhyme scheme

____/1 point

b. Line break

____/1 point

c. Rehearsed

____/1 point

6. 10 point scale total for reflection paper

a. Grammar and spelling (out of 2 points)

____/2 points

b. Includes BOTH the process and the performance

aspects of project (out of 6 points)
c. Written within word limits (out of 2 points)

____/6 points
____/2 points

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Henry Jones
The town of South Park is so very droll.
In Colorado where we set our scene:
of four Cartman is fattest of them all.
Not to mention, he is oh so mean.
Theres Kenny, he does not say a whole lot,
and Kyle hes the one they call the Jew.
Stan he thinks that Wendy is quite hot,
and that accounts for the entire crew.
Poor Kenny dies and no one seems to see,

Collins feedback on prompt:

-One of the difficulties I had with the prompt was that it asked me to choose a
passage to remix. Because I chose a television show, I wasnt sure how to
choose a passage, so instead I just wrote about the show in general. I think the
purpose of this prompt is teaching students how to restructure one text into
another established form. I think you should take out the word passage, and
just allow students to write a sonnet about a topic of their choosing, or you need
to be more specific about what kind of passages you would like students to use.
-I also found the stipulations of sonnet form to be limiting. I want a poetry
prompt to allow me to be as creative as possible. However, I do see the merits of
teaching students a specific structure of poetry, and I think some students will
appreciate the clarity and specificity here, I just think theyll need more
scaffolding before diving into such a difficult assignment.

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Rachel Ferry
In Cold Blood Summary
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of
the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few
inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there
were almost no clues.
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the
capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing
suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its
moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence. _
Capote Summary
Reading of the murder of a Kansas family, New York City novelist Truman
Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) decides to cover the story himself, and travels
to the small town with his childhood friend, aspiring novelist Harper Lee
(Catherine Keener). When Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock
(Mark Pellegrino) are arrested and charged, Capote forms an emotional bond
with Smith during his jailhouse interviews despite the young criminal's apparent
guilt. _
The film, written by Dan Futterman and based on the book the book Capote by
Gerald Clarke, focuses on the way a writer works on a story and the story works
on him.

Prompt: One might argue that Truman Capotes involvement in the case of the
two men may have changed the way the ending of the novel turned out. What
choices does the director make in the movie, Capote, to emphasize Truman
Capotes importance as a character in the novel, In Cold Blood? Reference
different literary elements from the novel to support your answer. Reference
different filmic elements to support your answer. Your audience for this paper is
going to be me, the teacher. I want to be able to know that you have a clear
understanding of what the prompt is asking of you in your writing.

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Articulation of
argument

Student
demonstrates
control of their
argument

Student mostly
demonstrates
control of their
argument

Students
argument is
unfocused

Student does not

appear to
articulate a
refutable
argument

Comparison of
different forms
media

Student
consistently uses
both literary
elements and
filmic elements
throughout their
paper to support
their answer

Student
frequently uses
both literary and
filmic elements
in their paper to
support their
answer

Student
infrequently
references both
media

Student only uses

elements from
one of the media,
or he/she fails to
include elements
from either the
novel or the film.

Organization of
argument

Student follows a
logical order in
their writing

Student is mostly
coherent and
organized in their
writing

Students writing
is often
unorganized

Students
argument is
difficult to
understand

Attention to
audience

Student is
writing
appropriately to
the audience in
mind

Student shows
some attention to
the audience in
mind

Student shows
little attention to
the appropriate
audience

Student shows no
attention to the
appropriate
audience

SWBAT compare film and literature

SWBAT make an argument and support it
SWBAT understand directorial intention
SWBAT be coherent and organized
SWBAT understand the context of their argument
SWBAT write to an appropriate audience

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Henry Jones
Ferry
A.P. English
7 April 2015

Truman Capote & In Cold Blood

Truman Capotes position as a character in his true crime novel, In Cold Blood,
is unique because he becomes emotionally involved with Perry. This relationship
affects the way Capote writes his novel, but it also influences the way the director
chooses to portray Capotes character in the film, Capote.

I think this prompt is great. I appreciate how explicit you are in describing the
kind of argument you want your student to make. Comparison lends itself to
argument, and I like that you have students comparing film and literature here. I
think this prompt would be most appropriate for students with extensive
experience in lit classes (Im thinking AP English). The most difficult part of this
assignment is creating an interface between the film and the movie that assumes
directorial intention.

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Reflection
I liked that I was able to create a prompt for an argumentative paper because it
gave me the opportunity to think critically about what I might be looking for in
my future classroom. For this assignment I chose to step outside of my comfort
zone a little and decided to create an assignment for an older group of students.
Generally I stick to middle school students, but I am sure there will come a time
when I am working with other students. I learned that when Im writing an
assignment for an older group of students, there needs to be a lot more thought
and deeper meaning in the prompt because Im going to be asking a lot more of
the students than a middle school classroom.
I feel like my definition of genre has not changed a lot since unit two. If
anything, it has made my idea of what it is more solid. I think that genre is a type
of artistic medium that we do within our community. This can be just about
anything you can think of. The argumentative prompt I made allowed me to bring
in many different genres for the students to think critically about when they are
doing their writing. I liked that we were able to workshop our different prompts
with our classmates, but the limited amount of time for them to write the prompt
didnt allow for me to properly assess the work the way I would have liked to.