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Home > Archive > For teachers > Writing & poetry (English) > High School Writing Assigment

Writing Lesson: High School Writing Assignment

Materials

One writing assignment packet per student:

1 Assignment Sheet
2 Square Node Templates
5 Triangle Node Templates

Overview

The following chart sets the rules and requirements for the node poem writing assignment. Remind your students to synthesize their pre-writing materials into the attached templates. This assignment should take several classroom periods and two nights to complete.

Node Poem Writing Assignment Sheet (HS)

So far, we’ve discussed the merits and possibilities of node poems, and we’ve looked at several examples of both traditional poems and node poems that deal with similar approaches to reader interaction. In addition, we’ve completed several pre-writing activities to help you gather material for your own node poem. Now, your assignment is to create a unique piece of writing that shows thoughtful consideration of the node form by synthesizing the material you developed in the pre-writing stage.

Here are the general rules you should follow:

  1. At least one node should have surrounding nodes that readers can circumnavi-read, much like the sample nodes we created for the Newspaper Cut-Out Activity.
  2. Your poem must incorporate at least three triangle diagrams and one square diagram (see attached).
  3. There must be at least five generations in your node poem.
  4. The total word count for your node poem must exceed 200 words.

Beyond these rules, you are free to experiment with SpicyNodes. On the due date, input your poem into the SpicyNodes interface, and bring in your completed templates to class, along with any other sketches and drawings you created for your poem.

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