English 10A

Today, I collected the literary pargraphs. 100% completed. Impressive. Way to go!

Next, we read our descriptive passages about the restaurant to a partner and then tried to write a scene which reveals character through dialogue. We set up the scene between a mother who had accidentally killed her budgie and an 18 yr old daughter, about to graduate, who wants to tell her mother that she's moving in with her long-time boyfriend, Luke. Don't reveal either secret directly. Allow the reader to infer the conflict through your descriptions, thoughts, and speech.

Next. We watched a video on the myth of OrpheusClick or paste this link into your browser:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltewSdCdAjM&feature=related

Homework: Read the story, by Don Bailey, in your text, called " A Few Notes For Orpheus". Post-it note the various ways Bailey reveals character. Look at our list from last day's class for ideas.

Finally, choose your favourite 5 techniques and put them on the chart. Explain what the technique is and what is revealed about the character. Use the chart below. Have a good weekend. Arrive to class with the chart completed for Tuesday.
Thanks.

HOW AUTHORS REVEAL CHARACTER

Read the story, “A Few Notes for Orpheus” by Don Bailey.

Create a chart where you find five different ways that character is revealed. (Look for diction, description, allusion, action, what other characters say, what they do, mannerisms, symbols, etc). You may focus on as many characters as you like. On the WHAT? side of the chart, provide the example from the text and the page number and on the SO WHAT? side, explain the implied trait and name the method the author using.

“A Few Notes for Orpheus” the story’s title	The title is a pun and an allusion. The pun is the double meaning of “notes”. It implies that Jake needs to take a few notes from his father and learn to be a better father, himself, but also refers to the music in the myth of Orpheus. He’s wasting his life due to anger and regret. The allusion is to the myth of Orpheus, which could apply to Jake and to Jake’s father. Jake keeps looking back at the past and his memories are painful so he can’t move forward. He is paralyzed by his belief that he is not important to his father and perhaps as a consequence, he has never been a reliable husband or father himself and he’s an incommunicative and unfaithful son. In the myth, when Orpheus looks back to see if Eurydice is following him, he defies Hades’ order and thus loses her forever. His father is described as not looking back when he walks toward the house which implies that he trusts in his love for and from his son and does not have to look back at the past to believe that Jake will follow. Allusion adds incredible depth to a story in a subtle way.

Writing 12

Monday: Meet in the language lab. Bring drafts that you are working on. Bring questions. This block is your time to work on the two poems which are due on We. Oct 5. Every day 1 now means two typed poems due. Review the poem criteria. You may use pieces from any of the exercises/assigments we've done in class. You may not re-submit poems that I have already marked.

You are always welcome to submit poems for editing. Just write PLEASE EDIT  on the top of the poem. All poems for editing must be typed.

Make sure you and your partner have all the books you need for your poetry presentation. You may use some of the day 9 language lab time to work together.

Today with all the 11s away I didn't introduce new concepts but we did write two poems in class. See me to pick up the handout. We used National Geographic magazines to write praise poems about objects, animals, cities or words.

PATRICK LANE WILL BE HERE ON WED. OCT 5. PLEASE DO NOT BE LATE. IF THE DOOR IS LOCKED, YOU ARE TOO LATE AND YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE UP TH EREADING BY ATTENDING ANOTHER READING OUTSIDE OF CLASS TIME. Your Patrick Lane response is due the next day so be sure to take notes during the reading. You will need to respond to his poems and to his advice about writing. Please bring your poetry questions to class so you can engage him in a discussion that is meaningful to you.
Thanks.

English 10 A

Today we focussed on how authors create memorable characters indirectly through describing objects or settings that could represent how they feel, their attitude or perspective.

Indirect presentation is used predomninantly in modern short story writing. Next, we bagan an exercise which I adapted from the great John Gardner's book, The Art of Fiction. Go buy it!

We reviewed the criteria for handing in workin an English 10A class: (follow the literary must-haves list, no ripped or scribbled-on sheets, typed or in blue or black ink, double spaced etc).

By respecting your work, you are respecting me and taking responsibility for your learning. We do not do "dumb" assignments in an English honours class. Each assignment requires certain skills. Like muscles, to keep in shape, we must practice. You MUST meet the deadlines or see me well in advance to establish a different deadline. Do not arrive on the day an assignment is due to ask for an extension. That practice is not honourable as it does not respect the learning environment. Often assignments are needed to be done in order to begin the next assigment. You do not want to be held back after school and have to have me email your coach because a paragraph is overdue.

Friday: Your best version of the paragraph on the significance of the title to theme in Alden Nowlan's short story is due. Ensure it has a title, a date and your first and last name.

Tonight: In your creative writing journal, describe the restaurant this time from the boyfriend's point of view. His perspective is uncomfortable because he has to end the relationship with the young woman due to the fact that a former woman has returned and he wants to rekindle that initial relationship. He feels badly about the situation and reluctant to break it off.
Describe the restaurant (sights, sounds, smells, etc) which will depict his ambivalence and discomfort.

Start with

John sees Emily sitting at the table by the back wall.

(Now describe the restaurant). Be prepared to read this piece to the class. 100 to 200 words would be great. Please be indirect. Do not say directly how he is feeling. Choose apt details, appropriate diction, and dialogue which suggests and implies his distraught state.

Good luck. Great work today. You make me laugh and I love to laugh.

Writing 12

Thanks to Ariel and Gabe for offering to be our first author presentation. We expect that the two of you will set the bar high so that subsequent presentations all try to TOP your incredible offering.

Remember--this is a writing course so your presentation is to dazzle us with how to write information and why you think this particular poet is worth our time and what books we definitely MUST read. You may post some samples on EDMODO to entice us.

We'll vote at the end of the year for our fave poet from the presentations and there is a delicious (hmm food bribery-how gauche!) prize for the winning group.

Follow the author presentation guidelines and come to see me if you are unsure.

AP Lit

I've marked your compositions. In general they were much much better than the A&P essays. Well done. I suggest you pick them up asap so that you can use them to study and review before Thursday's test.

I'll hand out the Hamlet texts on Thursday as well. Please read the introduction to Hamlet, pages 10 to 14 and create a chart that puts the  characters into family groupings. See if you can make any predictions about what is to happen. We will be reading the play aloud and doing close analyses during class. It is imperative that you be in class and willing to participate. We will interject practice exam quizzes to keep working on our writing and multiple choice answer quizzes.

It's going to be fun!!

English 10 A

Make sure that you joing the Shelfari 10 A group (go to your shelfari homepage) and click on join group. The link should be on the upper right hand side.

Make sure you have your recitation chosen by Wed.

We reviewed the what / so what chart, criteria for a thesis statement, and I handed out the literary must-haves list. All literary paragraphs (paragraphs which discuss stories, plays, poems or novels) must follow these criteria. We wrote and checked our thesis statements against the criteria.

We will talk about / review how to cite in our next class.

Create a 300 to 400 formal, literary paragraph (one paragraph please) which responds to the question on Nowlan's story. I'm looking for your incite, your ability to support your opinions, use transitions, stay on topic and conclude. Marks awarded for insight and style. Be sure to proofread.

I will be editing this draft. (A first draft does not mean that it contains careless errors). A first draft is thoughtful, well edited and intriguing. Writing is a process so getting the first draft complete is an enormous relief. Letting it sit a few days helps to organize clearer thinking and then you can create a second draft.

See you Wednesday. Be sure to arrive with your paragraph.

Writing 12

It's day four so make sure to post a poem or something inspirational on Edmodo. Make sure you send it to Writing 12; if you do not, only Ms. Stenson can see the post. Thanks.

Still waiting for a few of you to complete you Animoto films. Email them to me.

Today we did a warm up using an abstract phrase (get a phrase from me if you were absent) and then we wrote a 10 to 12 line poem which doesn't use any other abstraction expressions.

We shared some of the poem's from Friday's bag exercise. They were wonderful. Thank you.

Next, we read a portion of a poem by Jan Zwicky. Please read the remainder of the poem. Start reading poems with your "writer" eyes so that you can steal whatever neat thing the poet you've discovered is doing. In this manner, you teach yourself to branch out and try things that you might not have thought of before.

Today's example was Zwicky's use of the double dash! Very exciting and very risky. We figured that even if we don't use the technique in our poems, we can still use the technique in our warmup exercises as it forces us to add detail in a new and energetic way.

Homework: Post on edmodo. Finish Animato. Look at the sheet for poet choices for your author presentation seminar.

MEET IN THE LIBRARY PERIOD 4 TOMORROW. WE'LL USE THE TIME TO SEARCH FOR AN EXCELLENT WRITER AND TO FIND A PARTNER AND TO HAND OUT PRESENTATION DATES.