Tuesday's tip -- a little quip

I got this email from The Scholastic Scribe this weekend:

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Hey, y'all!

Those of you who've followed me for a while know that I'm an eclectic chica. A little opinion here, a little prose there, a funky photo or two and an occasional piece of verse. It's the poetry that I'd like to address today.

We have a poetry community of sorts, at the high school where I teach. Every so often, they hold what they call a "Poetry Slam." Contrary to the competition that the name implies, these slams are meant to challenge the creative among us, and get those creative juices flowing. Many of our students rise to the challenge, and a good time is always had by all.

So, this is what I propose, only for our little corner of the blogosphere.

I was daydreaming this afternoon, and conjured a couple of verses. I wondered if my friends out in Blog Lang ever had these introspective moments themselves. I figure that enough of us are alike that this could very well be the case.

Here is my proposal:

I want to write a poem every week (make it Tuesday...I have nothing better to do on Tuesdays, do you?). I'll post my poem, and perhaps a neat photo or two, on my blog. I hope then that some of y'all will follow suit, posting a bit of poetry on your blogs, or a photo for thought, as well. Doesn't have to be anything epic. A limerick, a couple of lines of open verse. Anything that moves you will do the trick! And if you don't feel like writing that particular day, don't. Just have fun flitting around the blogosphere to see what others have come up with for your reading pleasure.

Yes, the is last-minute, and no, I didn't set up a Mr. Linky thingy to keep track of everyone. I was just hoping that perhaps you'd visit my place tomorrow, and leave a comment. And if you've penned something yourselves, please let us know in your comment. I think we'll start out simple this time, and see where this goes.

If you have any ideas to throw into the mix, I'd sure appreciate them. I'm just looking for another way to "share," I guess. Thanks, in advance, for all you've given me on my almost three-year journey down this cyber-path.

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This request from my good friend, The Scribe,
Made me put out my very best vibe.
I'll just think up a rhyme,
And be done in no time,
And now I'll have more to imbibe.

Guest post. Guest post. Guest post

Today's Guest Poster is none other than the Prolific Scribbler herself -- The Scholastic Scribe! If you haven't checked out her SX3 challenges on Sundays, then you're really missing out, because they are usually some pretty funny snaps with some pretty funny captions!

The Scribe's post is titled, "The 5-Paragraph Essay," and it really reminded me of a story from my high school days. I'll share that story at the end of the post.
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The prose struck me. Fluid. Full of imagery. An intro paragraph that fairly lifted off the page and hung there.

The Boy definitely “gets it,” I said to myself. He captured the thesis—the gist of his analysis—within the first two sentences, and laid it out there for all of us to see. None of this “The book I read is about…” nor “The thesis of my research paper is…”

Manna from Heaven. Or, prose proffered by a pupil, if you prefer. Literate, readable: the yin and yang of the perfect research paper.

Paragraphs two and three stood at attention. Then they marched off the page and into my psyche, begging my green (green, you know, is the new “red” for high school English teachers these days), pen to scritchy-scratch across the sheet. But I kept my powder dry. Only the merest “Good Job!” emitted from the felt point of my Flair.

I knew that calamity surely waited around the bend in Paragraph 4. Or perhaps 5. But the melody of The Boy’s prose continued to sing along with the harmonic balance of his analysis. “Bravo!” I scrawled.

But then came Paragraph 6. Hmmmmmmmm….I know! I’ve read this before! Plagiarist! I knew it was too good to be true! I scurried to my laptop to search for the roots of The Boy’s criminal action.

But nothing clicked. Nothing remotely resembling the research paper before me. What, then, was that “familiar feeling” that kept lurking right behind my eyes, willing my green felt-tip to scribble away?

I turned back to page one. Searching for an answer. Which lay, of course, in the first paragraph of this alleged prodigy’s “masterpiece.”

Yes, The Boy wrote a near-perfect first paragraph. Anchored with a tenacious, bold thesis. His subsequent four paragraphs echoed the thoughts that he meant to argue, and persuaded he his reader—this reader, me—that his points were well worth considering. Until…

Paragraph 6? The same as Paragraph 1. And Paragraph 7? The same as Paragraph 2. And so on and so forth. Word for word.

The Boy had not suddenly learned how to write. Rather, he had absorbed that age-old lesson that we teachers of writing don’t like to admit. Not all of us read every word we assign.

He was a “Copy & Paste” crook. And a gambler, I’d wager. He was betting that 5 solid, golden paragraphs would be a good investment. And then he Copied & Pasted until he had the required 5 pages. Wrote a deceptively wicked conclusion and called it a day.

You might say The Boy was a repeated offender.
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I will admit, just now I was sorely tempted to paste this post in again two or three times. . . ;)

Actually, it reminds me of my buddies and I and our junior year chemistry class in high school. We had a standing weekly assignment to find and cut out a science-related article and to write a one page summary of said article.

It was well-documented that our teacher only glanced at the first sentence of the paper and gave grades based on that. So my friends and I would have a contest to see who could outdo the others with the wildest, most redonkulous papers.

A typical paper might read as follows:

"NASA has developed a new, innovative way to protect astronauts from over-exposure to UV radiation during manned space flights. This was never performed on monkeys when NASA shot bozo the chimp up to the moon, but people are another case. My throat feels scratchy when I eat potato chips, and Vodka is a funny sounding word. Is my grandmother supposed to snicker when she breaks wind? Elizabeth Taylor kind of scares me, but my dad likes her. Dogfood and horse doodles, I always say."

And so on, for a full page.

Every time, our papers would come back with a check plus.

Surprisingly, our chem teacher was fired over Christmas break that year (not related to his lax grading standards -- the rumor was always that he was caught in flagrante delecto with a senior cheerleader), and a new teacher arrived.

This new teacher kept the old assignment, and whereas MOST of us began to write an actual page-long review of our article, one of my best friends pushed his luck the first week and continued the nonsensical review.

I'll never forget how much red ink came back on his paper. Some of his sentences, like "But there's still one thing that puzzles me -- there is no mention of the crown jewels!" were repeatedly circled and surrounded by question marks.

Ahhh. . . high school.

Thank you, Scholastic Scribe, for bringing back fun memories!!

Get your vote on!

Ladies and gentlemen, presented for your approval, I would like to direct your attention to the ongoing voting for the 2008 Edublog Awards, where a couple of FOLMeGs (Friends Of Learn Me Good, I just thought of that. Again, I'm a genius) are on the ballot and worthy of selection.

First up, in the category of Best Teacher Blog is Carol from Bellringers!! Carol is a journalism teacher in the great state of Texas, and her postings are always witty, zany, and well-delivered.

Carol also has been writing a book, which will be coming out sometime early next year. Please go and read her stuff, and then go and vote for her for Best Teacher Blog 2008!

The second person on our list today is also a journalism teacher -- The Scholastic Scribe! The Scribe is up for the Best Individual Blog award.

The Scribe is a Very Prolific Writer, and she Loves her Capitalization, I've Noticed! :) Check out her stuff, and then place your vote!!