Poetry Survey Using Google Forms

For my LIT 388 class, Contemporary Literature, with Professor Carney, we have an extra credit assignment where we can read poems to three different people, talk to them about the poems, and then write a response. I chose Sylvia Plath as the poet I wish to discuss with my friends and family; however, I wanted to also have more to write about for my response survey, so I did the following using Google Forms:

If you have a Google account, then you can use the Google Documents feature to create presentations, spreadsheets, documents, etc. One feature of Google Documents is to create a form, in which you can design the layout of the form, and ask a variety of questions, ranging from multiple choice to short answer. You have the option of making questions mandatory or optional, and then once people take the survey, Google will generate pie graphs and charts for you with the results and will also compile all of the results in a spreadsheet. It's a pretty nifty tool, especially as a future teacher!

If you are interested in seeing what a Google Form can look like, or if you would like to take my survey, click on this link.

Barnes & Noble Free Fridays!

Every Friday Barnes & Noble introduces a new e-book that you can download for free, so why not give a new novel or a new author a try? This week's free download is Wings Free by Aprilynne Pike.

The synopsis provided on Barnes & Noble states: "Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words. Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings. In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever."

Making a Golden Snitch

Our chapter of Sigma Tau Delta is having a penny wars race to see which book will be selected for our annual marathon reading event. As a result, I nominated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and decided to create a golden snitch out of papier-mache hoping to entice people to vote for Harry Potter! I wanted to keep the golden snitch as authentic to the novels as possible, but it was sort of difficult with my limited crafting abilities. In case you ever want to create your own golden snitch, these are the steps I used:

1. Buy a plastic bowl for the base. The reason I use a bowl on the bottom is for stability.

2. Blow up a balloon and place the balloon in the bowl.

3. In another bowl, combine 2 parts water for 1 part flour. Mix.

4. Dip strips of newspaper in the water/flour mixture and cover the balloon and bowl.

5. Let dry in between layers.

6. Once there are enough layers and the papier-mache has dried, paint the snitch gold!

The end result:

And of course, further enticing people to vote for Harry Potter, I placed a sheet of paper in front of the snitch with a quote from Deathly Hallows: "I open at the close." Below is a picture of me with my golden snitch!

Happy crafting!