MRS. BENJAMIN'S PERIOD 5 CLASS PRESENT THEIR RESEARCH PAPERS ON MENTAL HEALTH ILLNESSES AFTER READING THE NOVEL 'INVISIBLE'
MS. KOCZERA'S ADVANCED MATH CLASS WORKING ON BUDGETING AND TAXES IN THE LIBRARY
MRS. DEROTTO'S CLASS PRESENTS THEIR "THE JOY LUCK CLUB" PROJECTS
MRS. BENJAMIN'S CLASS ENJOYS SCAVENGER HUNT
OF "THE JOY LUCK CLUB" PROJECTS
WACTC Culinary Arts had a Guest Speaker from RI Hospitality Association's Education Foundation. They gave them a $3000 grant towards new Curriculum books. She was here to discuss a Cooking Competition & Scholarship Opportunities.
TRANS PRO STUDENTS IN ART ROOM C FILL CUPCAKE ORDERS
FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
FRESHMEN LEARN HOW TO "WHITEBOARD SPLASH" A GREEK MYTH
FRESHMEN PRESENT THEIR GREEK GODS/GODDESSES PROJECTS
IN MRS. BENJAMIN'S CLASS
PERIOD 5
PERIOD 6
FRESHMEN ADVISORY VISITS TRANSPRO STUDENTS IN ART ROOM C
WHO MAKE DOGGIE TREATS CALLED ROVIN' NOVAN BISCUITS
ARCHIVES
2014-2015
FRESHMEN SHOW CREATIVE SIDE FOR SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO AND JULIET
STUDENT POET SHARES POEM WITH CREATIVE WRITING, READING, AND ENGLISH CLASSES
Sophomore Tatiana Gamboa visited Mrs. Benjamin's Creative Writing and English classes on Friday, April 17, to share her poem titled "The Last Breath". She wrote the poem in her Reading class with the help of Ms. Bouley and shared it with her classmates. Tatiana has entered the poem in the Woonsocket Harris Public Library's Annual Poetry Contest.
This is Tatiana's first poem and it is about her real-life experience on the scene with her 19-year-old brother who was tragically killed in a drive-by shooting just a few years ago. She was 13 at the time of his death. She received a tremendous amount of praise and admiration from audience members for her courage and her strength. Good luck in the contest Tatiana! |
LIBRARIAN/POET/COMIC BOOK WRITER ED FUQUA SHARES POEMS WITH CREATIVE WRITERS
Edward Fuqua, the Young Adult Librarian at the Woonsocket Harris Public Library, visited Mrs. Benjamin’s Creative Writing class on Wednesday, April 1st and Friday, April 10th. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. He counts on students and teachers from the high school and middle school to tell him what they need and want and orders books for them. His job is to find cool books for teens to read and spends a lot of time reading book reviews. He reminded us that we have access to all books at all the libraries in the state and if we are looking for non-fiction, he can get it for us outside the state and from all over the world. He is a trained reference librarian who know how to find answers and helps students with their schoolwork including Senior Projects.
He read poems by different poets as well as a few of his own poems. He read ‘Kubla Khan’ by Coleridge, an untitled poem by “the original Gothic chick” Emily Dickinson (who became famous after she died when her poems were published), Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ (about the choices you make in life and the consequences of those choices), a poem by e.e.cummings describing a person’s life start to end and after death, and Lewis Carroll the latter who made up nonsense words that sound cool but doesn’t actually say anything. He told us Carroll did not take poetry seriously but for fun! In Jabberwocky the hero kills the monster with no words that make sense! He said that in Shakespeare’s time English was spoken rather than written. Now, poetry has to work on the page rather than the stage.
Before reading his own poems, Ed read Slam Jam slam poet John Powers’ ‘Suits on Ice’ and National Poetry Slam Jam Champion Shane Koyczan’s poem ‘Beethoven’. He told us that there’s no topic you can’t write about and that everyone’s life is a story. Every one of his six poems were less than three minutes long and based on an actual experience. The first poem of his he shared with us was titled ‘Pricing Comic Books’, the second was ‘Slices’, a poem he took to the National Poetry Slam Championship in Connecticut before meeting his wife, and the third was ‘Zombies’ even though he loves vampires--”zombies, not so much!”. He also shared two bookend poems of his observations made at the Harris Library titled ‘The Wasting Girls’ and ‘Heavy’ and lastly, poems entitled ‘Onto the Ice’ and ‘Speed’. We told him what we thought about his works and then we shared some of our poetry with him and he really thought they were great pieces and that we should definitely keep writing and consider entering them into the library’s poetry contest!
As a former slam poet, competing five times at the National Championship, Ed described Slam Poetry as competitive performance poetry and that it can be brutal and heartbreaking. In three minutes you read your own poem to a panel of five judges who score you from 0 to 10. They drop the highest and lowest score. A score of 30 is a perfect score. Instant feedback is phenomenal as a writer. He told us that Mark Smith wrote a book titled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Slam Poetry and that here is also a documentary called Slam Nation that highlights the year that Providence won the National Championship.
Ed considers himself a natural storyteller and on Tuesday afternoons he volunteers his time from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in role playing games offered to middle and high school students based on the adventure stories he writes. On Saturdays he offers Adult adventure games.His goal in life is to be a Hollywood script writer.Ed writes fantasy and science fiction. In his spare time he works at King Richard’s Faire as a writer/actor/director as“Edmund the Melancholy”. He told us that there is no script, that you make up the words as you go, learning about the character and getting inside his head--how he sees the world.
He refers to himself as a “huge geek” and is into comic books and Star Wars. He owned his own comic book store for years and wrote a comic book about a crazy homeless guy with magic powers called Polis with illustrator Al Bigley; the concept was easy to come up with but putting it together was not. He told us that writing comic books is a collaborative effort and that art should tell part of the story too. He said we are the master of our universe as a novelist or short story writer and would only deal with editors and publishers.
He told us that nothing we ever write goes to waste and that writing is a skill that the more you do it, the better you get.
Ed told us about the library’s Annual Poetry Contest (he’s one of the judges!) and he encouraged us to enter. High school entrants are judged against other high schoolers and there will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers who will be awarded prizes on Wednesday, June 3rd. The winner will receive their prize and have an opportunity to read their poem in public (it is not mandatory) and others can share their poems as well on this Open Mic Night. He told us that words are tools, they have to be used carefully and that poetry is a language of metaphors and can be simple or complex. He also said, “The art of writing is turning blood into ink, it’s very intimate and the reader may not see it the way you see it. To like it you have to invest yourself in it and bring your own emotions in.”
He wants us to write poetry like Maya Angelou’s that engages your heart as well as your head. Ed says that poetry is an art that lives without you. He said that it’s a teacher’s challenge to ignite passion in students about poetry.
He read poems by different poets as well as a few of his own poems. He read ‘Kubla Khan’ by Coleridge, an untitled poem by “the original Gothic chick” Emily Dickinson (who became famous after she died when her poems were published), Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ (about the choices you make in life and the consequences of those choices), a poem by e.e.cummings describing a person’s life start to end and after death, and Lewis Carroll the latter who made up nonsense words that sound cool but doesn’t actually say anything. He told us Carroll did not take poetry seriously but for fun! In Jabberwocky the hero kills the monster with no words that make sense! He said that in Shakespeare’s time English was spoken rather than written. Now, poetry has to work on the page rather than the stage.
Before reading his own poems, Ed read Slam Jam slam poet John Powers’ ‘Suits on Ice’ and National Poetry Slam Jam Champion Shane Koyczan’s poem ‘Beethoven’. He told us that there’s no topic you can’t write about and that everyone’s life is a story. Every one of his six poems were less than three minutes long and based on an actual experience. The first poem of his he shared with us was titled ‘Pricing Comic Books’, the second was ‘Slices’, a poem he took to the National Poetry Slam Championship in Connecticut before meeting his wife, and the third was ‘Zombies’ even though he loves vampires--”zombies, not so much!”. He also shared two bookend poems of his observations made at the Harris Library titled ‘The Wasting Girls’ and ‘Heavy’ and lastly, poems entitled ‘Onto the Ice’ and ‘Speed’. We told him what we thought about his works and then we shared some of our poetry with him and he really thought they were great pieces and that we should definitely keep writing and consider entering them into the library’s poetry contest!
As a former slam poet, competing five times at the National Championship, Ed described Slam Poetry as competitive performance poetry and that it can be brutal and heartbreaking. In three minutes you read your own poem to a panel of five judges who score you from 0 to 10. They drop the highest and lowest score. A score of 30 is a perfect score. Instant feedback is phenomenal as a writer. He told us that Mark Smith wrote a book titled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Slam Poetry and that here is also a documentary called Slam Nation that highlights the year that Providence won the National Championship.
Ed considers himself a natural storyteller and on Tuesday afternoons he volunteers his time from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in role playing games offered to middle and high school students based on the adventure stories he writes. On Saturdays he offers Adult adventure games.His goal in life is to be a Hollywood script writer.Ed writes fantasy and science fiction. In his spare time he works at King Richard’s Faire as a writer/actor/director as“Edmund the Melancholy”. He told us that there is no script, that you make up the words as you go, learning about the character and getting inside his head--how he sees the world.
He refers to himself as a “huge geek” and is into comic books and Star Wars. He owned his own comic book store for years and wrote a comic book about a crazy homeless guy with magic powers called Polis with illustrator Al Bigley; the concept was easy to come up with but putting it together was not. He told us that writing comic books is a collaborative effort and that art should tell part of the story too. He said we are the master of our universe as a novelist or short story writer and would only deal with editors and publishers.
He told us that nothing we ever write goes to waste and that writing is a skill that the more you do it, the better you get.
Ed told us about the library’s Annual Poetry Contest (he’s one of the judges!) and he encouraged us to enter. High school entrants are judged against other high schoolers and there will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers who will be awarded prizes on Wednesday, June 3rd. The winner will receive their prize and have an opportunity to read their poem in public (it is not mandatory) and others can share their poems as well on this Open Mic Night. He told us that words are tools, they have to be used carefully and that poetry is a language of metaphors and can be simple or complex. He also said, “The art of writing is turning blood into ink, it’s very intimate and the reader may not see it the way you see it. To like it you have to invest yourself in it and bring your own emotions in.”
He wants us to write poetry like Maya Angelou’s that engages your heart as well as your head. Ed says that poetry is an art that lives without you. He said that it’s a teacher’s challenge to ignite passion in students about poetry.
WOON Radio visits Creative Writing Class
Pictured: Junior Dennis Castillo and Joe Callahan
In an email received by the English Department from Joe Callahan, the director of sales for the Woonsocket Radio, he stated that WOON Radio is starting up a program at the radio station and it may be of interest to students in grades 11 and 12. He visited Mrs. Benjamin's Creative Writing class to talk to about the possibility of students becoming student reporters on WOON Radio.
Mr. Callahan told the class that WOON 1240 AM has been around for 79 years, since 1946 and that it has been in four different locations but is currently located on 985 Park Avenue. Students interested in having positive recordings broadcast through WOON 1240 are required to write, edit, and record on an easy voice recorder and will be rewarded for their submission with $15 for each story they send in. There is a time limit of 30 seconds to 2 minutes for each recording. Submitted reports will be on the air at 6:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:00 a.m., and noon. Reports will have a "tag", the following statement: “Reporting from Woonsocket High School or Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center for WOON News, I’m (student fills in their first and last name)." Mr. Callahan suggested that students try to record where it’s quiet and use the inverted pyramid answering who, what, where, when, how, why.
Mr. Callahan is a Rhode Island College graduate with a degree in Mass Communications but told students their degree doesn't have to be in communications to work for a radio station. He recommends that college bound students interested in radio broadcasting find a student run radio station to work on like the ones at RIC, Providence College, University of Rhode Island, and Bryant University.
Working Monday-Friday from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mr. Callahan told students he's up at 3:10 a.m. and preparing at 4:20-4:30 a.m. to be ready for the 5 a.m. broadcast. He plays music from 1960’s and 1970’s, mostly Rock n Roll but recently played, by request, the Frozen song "Let it Go". He also moderates a round table discussion on what’s going on in the news, with hot topics like the recent Patriots Superbowl Victory. He also works at getting advertising for the station.
Mr. Callahan told the class that WOON 1240 AM has been around for 79 years, since 1946 and that it has been in four different locations but is currently located on 985 Park Avenue. Students interested in having positive recordings broadcast through WOON 1240 are required to write, edit, and record on an easy voice recorder and will be rewarded for their submission with $15 for each story they send in. There is a time limit of 30 seconds to 2 minutes for each recording. Submitted reports will be on the air at 6:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:00 a.m., and noon. Reports will have a "tag", the following statement: “Reporting from Woonsocket High School or Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center for WOON News, I’m (student fills in their first and last name)." Mr. Callahan suggested that students try to record where it’s quiet and use the inverted pyramid answering who, what, where, when, how, why.
Mr. Callahan is a Rhode Island College graduate with a degree in Mass Communications but told students their degree doesn't have to be in communications to work for a radio station. He recommends that college bound students interested in radio broadcasting find a student run radio station to work on like the ones at RIC, Providence College, University of Rhode Island, and Bryant University.
Working Monday-Friday from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mr. Callahan told students he's up at 3:10 a.m. and preparing at 4:20-4:30 a.m. to be ready for the 5 a.m. broadcast. He plays music from 1960’s and 1970’s, mostly Rock n Roll but recently played, by request, the Frozen song "Let it Go". He also moderates a round table discussion on what’s going on in the news, with hot topics like the recent Patriots Superbowl Victory. He also works at getting advertising for the station.
Creative Writing Class Reads to the WACTC Children
Who’s having more fun—the Woonsocket High School students reading to the children in the WACTC Child Studies program or the children themselves?
Exploring the idea of writing children’s books, we, Mrs. Benjamin’s Creative Writing class have been reading different authors and reading to the preschool children in Miss Christine’s WACTC Child Studies program. Our experiences so far include how the children relate to, comment on, and make connections with the stories. They were excited that they get to read the stories along with us. They seemed to be very interested in the short rhyming books more than the long colorless books. The children felt joy being read to and wanted to hear the same story again and again and again! We are gathering ideas directly from the children in order to write our own children’s books.
Exploring the idea of writing children’s books, we, Mrs. Benjamin’s Creative Writing class have been reading different authors and reading to the preschool children in Miss Christine’s WACTC Child Studies program. Our experiences so far include how the children relate to, comment on, and make connections with the stories. They were excited that they get to read the stories along with us. They seemed to be very interested in the short rhyming books more than the long colorless books. The children felt joy being read to and wanted to hear the same story again and again and again! We are gathering ideas directly from the children in order to write our own children’s books.
Written by Mrs. Benjamin's Creative Writing Class
On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, local writer Marcia Matthews visited our Creative Writing class. Mrs. Benjamin met her at the Creative Writing Group she facilitates at the Woonsocket Harris Library on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and invited her to WHS talk about her writing and offer advice to us about our writing.
Prior to her visit, we read two pieces of her writing, a pitch for a screenplay and the first chapter of one of the books that she’s currently writing. She shared her writing process--how she writes ideas in a writer’s journal that includes details from observations of places, objects, people, and the interactions between people in these places. She also shared how she edits her work, she presents it by reading her work aloud to her family, friends and writing groups, and how she publishes and markets her work through an online publisher.
A former travel agent, Marcia considers herself “a travel agent for your imagination”. When she writes she likes to travel to different centuries and different countries, some of which she’s visited. For many of her books she has researched an event in history by reading historical works and using these facts in her stories.
Marcia also shared that her inspiration for writing began when she won an essay contest in 8th-grade. She continued writing throughout high school and college, majoring in English. Currently, her occupation is as a writer.
She is promoting her latest book (she gave us a copy!), a ghost story titled Winner Take All, and was inspired to write it by a statue of a mermaid outside a mansion in Bristol, RI. (There is a picture of the statue on the front cover of the book.) The story takes place 200 years ago when the protagonist, Betty Colt, inherits the deserted mansion that may be haunted by her forbearers, African slaves who were owned and killed by the mansion’s owners. “She has felt the presence of spirits there and heard voices, but that hardly prepared her for the vengeful apparition who calls herself Serena,” writes Marcia.
For more information about Marcia and her writing, visit her website https://www.amazon.com/author/marciamatthews. Mrs. Matthews’ is encouraging young writers to meet weekly to share their stories, poems, and rap songs with suggestions, support and critiques in her free Creative Writing group.
Prior to her visit, we read two pieces of her writing, a pitch for a screenplay and the first chapter of one of the books that she’s currently writing. She shared her writing process--how she writes ideas in a writer’s journal that includes details from observations of places, objects, people, and the interactions between people in these places. She also shared how she edits her work, she presents it by reading her work aloud to her family, friends and writing groups, and how she publishes and markets her work through an online publisher.
A former travel agent, Marcia considers herself “a travel agent for your imagination”. When she writes she likes to travel to different centuries and different countries, some of which she’s visited. For many of her books she has researched an event in history by reading historical works and using these facts in her stories.
Marcia also shared that her inspiration for writing began when she won an essay contest in 8th-grade. She continued writing throughout high school and college, majoring in English. Currently, her occupation is as a writer.
She is promoting her latest book (she gave us a copy!), a ghost story titled Winner Take All, and was inspired to write it by a statue of a mermaid outside a mansion in Bristol, RI. (There is a picture of the statue on the front cover of the book.) The story takes place 200 years ago when the protagonist, Betty Colt, inherits the deserted mansion that may be haunted by her forbearers, African slaves who were owned and killed by the mansion’s owners. “She has felt the presence of spirits there and heard voices, but that hardly prepared her for the vengeful apparition who calls herself Serena,” writes Marcia.
For more information about Marcia and her writing, visit her website https://www.amazon.com/author/marciamatthews. Mrs. Matthews’ is encouraging young writers to meet weekly to share their stories, poems, and rap songs with suggestions, support and critiques in her free Creative Writing group.
Written by Mrs. Benjamin's Creative Writing Class
Woonsocket High School alumni and author Adam Brunetti visited our Creative Writing class after we read his book Dream Wars, which he wrote when he was 12 and published when he was a senior. At age 21, Adam shared that a writer’s ideas can evolve drastically! We learned that Adam is very creative and has a huge imagination. We also learned that you should always persevere to do your best no matter what the situation is; if you really put your mind to it, you’ll get it done. We learned that anything is possible!
He told us that if you love writing so at a young age, you can get published and everyone would read a book YOU wrote! It does not matter what age you are, you can accomplish anything with determination! Adam published his book in a very young age and if he can write about wars and dreams, then any of us can too!
Lastly, Adam taught us that writing is not easy; it takes a while to develop thoughts and years later you’ll look back and want to change things. Adam told us that it’s not hard to write a book but one challenge is writers block, even though you can get through it. We learned that we must be confident in our writing works in order to be successful. Even short story assignments that you just do for English can be turned into a book!
It was amazing meeting an author so close to our age!
He told us that if you love writing so at a young age, you can get published and everyone would read a book YOU wrote! It does not matter what age you are, you can accomplish anything with determination! Adam published his book in a very young age and if he can write about wars and dreams, then any of us can too!
Lastly, Adam taught us that writing is not easy; it takes a while to develop thoughts and years later you’ll look back and want to change things. Adam told us that it’s not hard to write a book but one challenge is writers block, even though you can get through it. We learned that we must be confident in our writing works in order to be successful. Even short story assignments that you just do for English can be turned into a book!
It was amazing meeting an author so close to our age!
Written by Mrs. Benjamin's Creative Writing Class
Off to see the Witches: Salem Field Trip
Mrs. Silva’s History class and Mrs. Capitumini’s English class went on a field trip to Salem, Massachusetts on October 29th. The purpose behind the trip was Mrs. Silva had just finished a unit on the colonization of Salem; it was one of the first colonies. Mrs. Capitumiti was also preparing to read the play “The Crucible” with her students. “The Crucible” takes place in Salem and both teachers wanted to visit the place where this piece of history and witch trial of the story took place, so they could see the old buildings and gravesites. Although it was their first time doing this (Mrs. Capitumini visited when she was a kid but had minimal memory of Salem), they did research ahead of time and found a gentleman who did a tour and history of Salem. In reflection, the tour from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. was too short of a period of time, staying until 4 p.m. would be better to get there--to do an official tour when it opens visit the museum. Students enjoy exploring on their own but would have preferred to take another tour, and to visit the museum. Mrs. Capitumini told The Novan Newspaper that her favorite part. “I totally enjoyed visiting the gravesites that have been around since the 1500’s. Then they erected a monument in the 1990s for those 20 people.” She continued, “It was peaceful and meaningful and very interesting to be at the place where history took place.”
The group saw the visitors site and walked down to the water and saw a ship that had been recreated and also saw the house of the seven gables where Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his book The House of the Seven Gables. People were in costume and performing on the street. They were told by the tour guide that the Salem graveyard has to be lit up like a baseball field with police officers guarding the space to keep vandals from destroying the historical site. A couple of graves were encased so they would not be ruined.
Upon reflection, Mrs Capitumini wants to read the play “The Crucible” with students beforehand. Mrs DC told The Novan Newspaper, “It will be more meaningful for them especially because the specific characters in the play are based on these real people. Usually I try to get the historical background first so students will be able to get a picture of it.”
The group saw the visitors site and walked down to the water and saw a ship that had been recreated and also saw the house of the seven gables where Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his book The House of the Seven Gables. People were in costume and performing on the street. They were told by the tour guide that the Salem graveyard has to be lit up like a baseball field with police officers guarding the space to keep vandals from destroying the historical site. A couple of graves were encased so they would not be ruined.
Upon reflection, Mrs Capitumini wants to read the play “The Crucible” with students beforehand. Mrs DC told The Novan Newspaper, “It will be more meaningful for them especially because the specific characters in the play are based on these real people. Usually I try to get the historical background first so students will be able to get a picture of it.”
Written by Hailey Smith