Wednesday's Creative Writing Prompt

Directions:
Open your notebook to the next available page.
Label this entry "Creative Prompt #1."
Copy the following prompt:

The candle sputtered and went out. My hand groped the cold stone wall, frantically searching for something familiar. The passage was pitch black.

Tell the story from here. Be creative.

College Essay Assignments

While I was out, I wanted you to read two college essays and answer the discussion questions that accompanied them. Here are those two essays.

College Essay

Read the essay "Devil's Hole" together. Then, we broke down the essay paragraph by paragraph.

1. Give the paragraph a title.
2. What quality (ies) does our paragraph highlight about the applicatnt?
3. Any other questions /observations.

9th Period's Summary/Analysis

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Diction Lesson #5

Diction Lesson #5

Consider the following quote:

A rowan* like a lipsticked girl.
- Seamus Heaney, "Song," Field Work

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* a small deciduous tree native to Europe, having white flowers clusters and orange berries

Then, answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper in the Voice Lessons section of your binder:

1. Other than color, what comes to mind when you think of lipsticked girl?
2. How would it change the meaning and feeling of the line if, instead of lipsticked girl, the author wrote girl with the lipstick on?
3. Write a simile comparing a tree with a domesticated animal. In your simile, use a word that is normally used as a noun (like lipstick) as an adjective (like lipsticked).

example: The willow hung like a droopy eared beagle.
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from Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone. Maupin House. Gainesville FL, 2000.

Some Reasons for Favorable Responses/Reviews

On page 100 of your textbook the following list appears. I think it will help you if you are still brainstorming ideas for your book review. If you flesh out any of these ideas in your review, make sure you fully explain yourself.

• You like and admire the characters and what they do and stand for. You get involved with them. When they are in danger, you are concerned; when they succeed, you are happy; when they speak, you like what they say.

• Even if you do not particularly like a character or the characters, you are nevertheless interested in the reasons for and outcomes of their actions.

• You get so interested and involved in the actions or ideas in the work that you do no want to put the work down until you have finished it.

• You like to follow the pattern of action or the development of the author's thoughts, so that you respond with appreciation upon finishing the work.

• You find that reading enables you to relax or to take your mind off a problem or a pressing responsibility.

• You learn something new--something you had never before known or thought about human beings and their ways of handling problems.

• You learn about customs and ways of life in different places and times.

• You gain new insights into aspects of life that you thought you already understood.

• You feel happy or thrilled because of reading the work.

• You are amused, and you laugh often as you read.

• You like the author's descriptions of scenes, actions, ideas, and feelings.

• You find that many of the expressions are remarkable and beautiful, and are therefore worth remembering.

Diction Lesson #4

And now, a return to Voice Lessons.

Consider the following quote:

The man sighed hugely.
- E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News

1. What does it mean to sigh hugely?

2. How would the meaning of the sentence change is we rewrote it as

The man sighed loudly.

3. Fill in the blank below with an adverb:

The man coughed _____________________.

Your adverb should make the cough express an attitude. For example, the cough could express contempt, desperation, or propriety*. Do not state the attitude. Instead, let the adverb imply it.

propriety - the state of conforming to acceptable rules of behavior.


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from Dean, Nancy. Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone. Maupin House. Gainesville FL, 2000.

Writing a Book Review

Assignment: Write a book review in the ballpark of 500 words. In this review you must either recommend or advise against a peer choosing this novel.

We have several resources for writing a book review. The resource I'd like everyone to heavily rely on is Write a Book Review with Rodman Philbrick. Go to the site and follow at least the first four steps. We'll see about the last step, "Publishing Online." I want to have you share your reviews, but with the uncertain state of the servers over the next few weeks I think we may be limited.

I'll have a print version of his advice in case we have problems accessing the computer. Writer's Inc is also a great resources.

Lastly, you can find many book reviews at Teen Ink. These are not my favorite reviews, as they tend to run short and rely too heavily on unexplained praise, but feel free to visit to get a better picture of the genre.


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photo from Flickr Commons Pool...exact URL to be supplied later

Book Review Analysis

Period One

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Period 4/5

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Period 6/7

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Period Nine

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Elements of Fiction: Overview

We have finished with the group presentations. Your second exposure to the material will come in the form of the following visual aids/definitions. Get to know them. Use them in your double entry journals.

Presentation Schedule

Unfortunately, I had to miss school yesterday. As I did not plan for my absence, here is the amended class schedule. We're going to fan out the presentations throughout next week.

Thursday:
Finish Planning Presentation (25 min)
Group One Presents Modern Fiction: An Overview
Group Two Presents: Verisimilitude & Donnee

Friday:
FEAR

Tuesday
SAT Presentation (20 min)
Group Three Presents Character and Plot
Group Four Presents Structure and Theme

Wednesday:
Voice Lesson
Group 5 Presents Narration and Style
Group 6 Presents Point of View
Group 7 Presents Description and Dialogue

Thursday:
Group 8 Presents Tone and Symbolism
Group 9 Presents Commentary and Wrap Up
Quiz

Friday
FEAR

"Fiction: An Overview" Presentations

Your Task: In groups of 2-3, you will be preparing and delivering short presentations based on short sections of the introduction to chapter two in the textbook. This will give us a nice overview of fiction as we embark on our first independent reading project.

Schedule: Prepare today & tomorrow...present Wednesday and Thursday
Length: 3-5 minutes
Guidelines:

• ----you are responsible for teaching the information in your section...the class will be required to take notes and will be quizzed on Tuesday, October 8th
• ----you will each receive two pieces of posterboard to use...but...if you have any familiarity with powerpoint...
• ----You need to ask yourselves two questions:
• -- What terms and concepts do my classmates need to know? What is important?
  
• -- How can you present this information in an engaging way that ensures that your peers will comprehend the information?