Tuesday 12/1/15 ~ Peer Edit your Christmas Blessings!

ROOTS

• mor, mort - mortal, death
• morph - form
• multi - many, much

SHORT STORIES

• Peer Editing ~ Check for....
• Here is the original assignment.
• basic grammatical errors
• coherent sentence structure
• paragraph flow (is the story easy to follow and broken into manageable paragraphs)
• consistent narrator (is it clear when the narrator is talking vs. when a character is talking?)
• Are there any inconsistencies in the plot or in general?
• At the end of the story, answer...1
• What is the noble theme behind this story?
• How could this story be made richer or more enjoyable?

Due Dates:

Wednesday 12/2 - Early bird E.C.+5 pts.

Block Day (before we leave on Friday) 12/4 - On time

Monday 12/7 - late -5

Tuesday 12/8 - late -10

Wednesday (Too late. No more stories accepted.)

HW: Finish editing your story! Please bring your The Power of One novel tomorrow.

Monday 11/30/15 - Welcome back. Three weeks to go!

Best part of Thanksgiving?

Do you like awkward family photos?

How's your story coming along? It is due to Turnitin.com tonight by midnight! Bring a digital copy tomorrow.

Have you bought The Power of One yet?
Today, let's look at some of the background info to our book.

• Check out this Prezi

Discussion Questions: Do you Know? 

• What language is spoken in South Africa?
• Who is Nelson Mandela? Why is he so famous?
• What is Apartheid? 
• What do you think would happen in the U.S. if the government gunned down 600 students at a protest? 
• How can one country keep another in check in the case of serious injustice, without going to war? 

Journal #33 - After watching the prezi and reading through this outline, write a one paragraph synopsis explaining the historical background of our next novel, The Power of One.



A Quick History of Apartheid in South Africa

I. History:

• The first European settlers come to the Cape of Good Hope around 1600.
• 1652- Dutch, German and French come to Cape for religious and economic motives.
• Dutch Boers (farmers) begin to move north and live with native Africans and a new culture develops: the Afrikaner or the white African tribe. Their language was a mix of Dutch and various African languages.
• 1795 the British seize control of the Cape and surrounding area and more Boers are driven north. 
• Many Afrikaners died in battles with "natives" while adapting to the harsh land and climate.
• Hatred of the British and Blacks deepened in the Afrikaner solidarity.
• The Boer War 1899-1902: British wanted gold and diamonds were discovered on Afrikaner land. A fierce war ensued with atrocities on both sides, Britian wins ultimate control and makes South Africa a commonwealth territory.
• Independence was granted in 1910. While the Afrikaners made up only 13% of the population, they dominated the government.

II. Apartheid:

• IN 1948 the Afrikaner Nationalist Party gained control of the South African Parliament, and established the system known as apartheid.
• Apartheid means "separateness" or "apartness" and included 317 laws which reserved civil rights for 5 million whites and denied them to 25 million blacks.
• All citizens were classified by race.
• Marriage and sexual relations across color lines were made illegal
• Separate residential areas; whites get all fo the best, over 80% of the population was crowded into areas which covered less than 13% of the total land mass. 
• Economic development was outlawed in the black "homelands." Jobs were made available only in white areas.
• All non-whites must carry a passbook at all times.
• All public places were segregated.
• Black schools were intentionally underfunded.

III. Resistance

• Resistance began in the 1950's, the first outbreak of violence occurred in 1960 and was known as the Sharpville Massacre, 69 people were killed and 180 wounded by South African police.
• Nelson Mandela rose to leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), but was arrested in 1964 and imprisoned for 26 years. 
• In the early 1970's Steven Biko founded the "Black Consciousness" movement patterned after the "Black Power" movement in the U.S. Biko was arrested, tortured, then killed while in police custody in 1977. 
• in 1976 thousands of students protested in the black township of Johannesburg, this became known as the Soweto Riot. The government killed 600 students and arrested thousands.
• In 1983 as protests continued the government declared a state of emergency and 30,000 more blacks were jailed. 
• International pressure began to mount. South Africa was expelled from the UN in 1974
• They were banned from the Olympic Games in 1976, in 1986 the U.S. Congress banned new investments by U.S. companies.

IV. Apartheid Ends:

• F.W. deKlerk becomes Prime Minister in 1989 and bowing to international as well as internal pressure negotiations begin.
• in 1990 Nelson Mandela is released from prison and the ANC works with the government to write a new constitution which would put an end to Apartheid.
• In 1994 Mandela is elected as the first black President of South Africa

HW: Finish paragraph for Journal 33 and turn in short story on turnitin.com tonight by midnight!

Block 11/19-20 ~ Christmas Blessing Enjoyed!

Click here to take a survey for the seniors.

ROOTS

• mor, mort - death, mortal
• morph - form

EQ: What point of view will you use to tell your story? How will it enrich or bless your chosen reader?

WHAT ABOUT DIALOGUE?

"Hi Tony," said Katy.

"Hey," Tony answered.
"What's wrong?" Katy asked.
"Nothing," Tony said.
"Really? You don't act like nothing's wrong."

         Pretty tiresome dialogue, right?

Instead of writing a dialogue like the one above, a writer could condense the scene:


"Hi Tony."
Tony looked down at his shoe, dug in his toe, and pushed around a pile of dust. "Hey," he replied.
Katy could tell something was wrong.

Formatting Tips
1. The first thing to remember is that punctuation goes inside quotations.
    "I can't believe you just did that!"
2.  Dialogue tags (the he/she said of the quotation) SHOULD BE USED SPARINGLY. The dialogue and narration should be used to show the emotion or action stated in the tag. One of the most important rules of writing fiction is: show, don't tell.

DON'T DO TOO MUCH OF THIS:
"But I don't want to go to sleep yet," he whined.

TRY THIS INSTEAD:
He stood in the doorway with his hands balled into little fists at his sides. His red, tear-rimmed eyes glared up at his mother. "But I don't want to go to sleep yet."

*A good writer will describe the scene in a way that conjures the image of a whining little boy.

3.  Paragraphs are very important to the flow and comprehension of the dialogue. Remember to start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes within the dialogue. This helps the reader know when someone new is speaking (and who it is).


Journal #32
Please answer these three questions for three kids' stories or one adult story of 5+ pages.
1. What point of view is the story written in?
2. What noble truth or lesson is in the story?
3. What gift could be paired with this story? How would it enrich the story's meaning?

*Click here for another collection of Christmas Stories.
*Want to read some adult stories that are not holiday themed? Click here

Short stories 2

Middle East and Mediterranean

• Esther

• "Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers"

North American

•  The Oral Tradition in the Modern World

• Washington Irving
• "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" 
• "Rip Van Winkle"
• Edgar Allen Poe

• "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842)

• Richard Connell
• "The Most Dangerous Game"
• O. Henry

• "The Gift of the Magi": Bright

• Stephen Vincent Benét (pronounced bih-NAY)

• "By the Waters of Babylon": Sci-Fi

•  Louis L'Amour

• "Trap of Gold": Adventure

• Alice Walker
• "Everyday Use"  
• Amy Tan
• "Two Kinds"

• Jon Krakauer 
• "Into Thin Air" 

• Contest Winner from Bookshop Santa Cruz: "Among the Trees" by Breanna Eddy 

South America

• Jorge Luis Borges
• "The Book of Sand"
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" 

British

• Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)  

• "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" 

• "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" 

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Click here for a bank of stories.

• Rudyard Kipling

•  "The Man Who Would be King"

• Hilaire Belloc

• "The Mowing of a Field" (1906) 
• "The Wing of Dalua"

• G. K. Chesterton (1874--1936)

• "A Piece of Chalk" (1909)
• More essays:
• A Defense of Nonsense (any essay in this collection)
• "The Blue Cross"(audio version) (the first of a series of Father Brown detective stories). Here are more tales:
• The Innocence of Father Brown
  The Wisdom of Father Brown
  Father Brown (from Collected Works)
   
•  

•  W. W. Jacobs

  • "The Monkey's Paw"

• Adelaide Casely-Hayford

  • "Mista Courifer" (1961)

• Doris Lessing  
• "Through the Tunnel" (or here as a .doc) 

  Russian

• Leo Tolstoy

• "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" 

Wednesday 11/18 ~ Outline your story!

ROOTS

• mit, miss - send
• mob, mot, mov - move
• mon - warn, remind

CHRISTMAS BLESSING

• Pair Share: Share your Protagonist Sketch with a partner or two in class. As you read the sketch, write down a couple of questions to help the writer develop the character more. Will this character be revealed via direct or indirect characterization? 
• Next, work on your story outline by using the Plot steps. Simply copy the bullet points and fill them out on the same google doc you've started for the character sketch. This should be turned into our Google Classroom before block day begins. 

Plot -

• Beginning
• exposition: What other characters will be part of this story? What is the setting? Antagonist?
• complication: What is the inciting incident or first challenge that gets the story going?
• rising action: How will you build tension toward the climax?
• crisis points:
• 
  
•  

• Middle
• climax: or ultimate crisis?
• Darkest moment in the climax? 
• Epiphany or moment of truth? 

•  End
• falling action:
• How are all the loose ends tied up? 
• What is the meaning that the reader leaves the story with? 
• What gift item will accompany this story? How is it related to the story? 

HW: Please use this Plot outline to create an outline of your story on the same Google document as your character sketch. Then turn in the whole document in Google Classroom before block day.

Tuesday 11/17/15 ~ Time to begin your story!

ESSAY DUE
*Hey students, my apologies for unexpectedly being out today. Please help the sub to take up the essays in an organized way. If you don't have a digital back up copy, take a picture of your pages before turning them in. 

ROOTS

• meter - measure
• micro - small
• migra - wander

SHORT STORIES

*EQ: How did Poe use allegory to make a statement about society?

*Go over Journal 30 "The Masque of the Red Death." What do you make of the allegorical symbols?
*Here is a descent write up of the possible breakdown of allegorical symbols.


*A Christmas Blessing Explained

• Click here for your assignment details and timeline.

HW: Journal 31 ~ Short Story Start Up
1. Create a character sketch 200-300 word character sketch for your protagonist. Consider all the bits of the Indirect Characterization acronym, STEAL: How will you communicate to the reader how your protagonist speaks & sounds, thinks, interacts with others, acts and look?
2. Write a few ideas of the lesson or truth you'd like the reader to gain from your story.
*Please complete this assignment on a google doc so that it is ready to turn in digitally tomorrow.

Your Short Story: A Christmas Blessing

Quarter 2: A Christmas Blessing 

• Background: You have now read many tales.  We ought to love what is beautiful, good, and true.  Yet the world is so often full dark challenges to what is noble and right.  The legends of old often explored this in song and story, perhaps as a kind of imaginative practice for the young.  In this assignment, we will seek to bless a young girl or boy with a nicely woven tale paired with a related gift. 

• Prompt: Write a mighty tale of nobility, courage, and grace.  Your story must 

• be full of adventure,
• teach something noble, 
• and include references to the physical gift (such as a ball or sword) that you will give this child. 
• In general, your work will be descriptive.  Please read this overview of the basics from Purdue University on descriptive writing. 

• Outcome

• Choose a child (or person) to bless.
• Think of a fitting gift (purchased or made by you).
• Write your adventure.  Make it look old and cool. 
• Make a map.  Make it look old and cool.
• Hide the gift during Christmas break.
• Present the legend and map to the child.
• When you return from break, tell us all about it! (Extra credit if you document the event)

• Examples
• Holly Minarik
• Sierra Myer 
• Stunning Picture Book 1
• 2
• 3
• Beautiful Pencil Work
• More

Format

• Typed MLA (12 point, Times New Roman, proper margins, etc.)
• One change to MLA: Single space poetry (double space prose as usual)
• Or handwritten in pen for certain cases only (maps, letters, etc.) 
• All poetry must be single spaced and punctuated according to modern MLA usage.  
• All prose must be double spaced and punctuated according to modern MLA usage. 
• Submit your work to Turnitin.com and hard copy please.

Requirements

• Two or more pages (double spaced, at least 850 words)
• Less than 2,100 words (fewer than five pages)
• Your story must include all the steps of Plot and feature at least one literary device (Indirect Characterization, symbol, allegory, POV, allusion, anagnorisis, conflict, etc...)
• Example Contest Winner from Bookshop Santa Cruz: "Among the Trees" by Breanna Eddy 
• Rough Draft Due Monday 12/09 (midnight, submitted to turnitin.com)
• Peer Edit Monday 12/9
• Final Draft Due Wednesday 12/11

Your Grade

• If you are short of the minimum, you will earn no more than a D. When completed, the story should be free of typos and grammatical and spelling errors. In general, 2 errors or fewer on any page =A-, 3-5 errors on any page=B-, and 6 or more errors on any page =C- or lower. Failing to adhere to the themes or neglecting to meet any of the other standards on this handout will result in a significantly lower grade. Fragments and run-On sentences are major deductions.
• You may not include pieces written for other classes (past, present, or future) or for other assignments in this class. You will fail this assignment if you do so.

Start it early, and write something you are proud of.  Work to make it wise in its theme, rich in its descriptive imagery, and clever in its execution. Consider all the tools of the writing craft that we have examined in other stories. 

How can I get started? 

• Identify a protagonist; think of people you actually know.  Change them up a wee bit. 
• Identify an antagonist (character, internal conflict, natural force, or other combination). 
• How will you generate tension between the protagonist and the antagonist (or external conflict)? 
• Share ideas. 
• Work in class. 

Short Stories

Middle East and Mediterranean

• Esther

• "Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers"

North American

•  The Oral Tradition in the Modern World

• Washington Irving
• "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" 
• "Rip Van Winkle"
• Edgar Allen Poe

• "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842)

• Richard Connell
• "The Most Dangerous Game"
• O. Henry

• "The Gift of the Magi": Bright

• Stephen Vincent Benét (pronounced bih-NAY)

• "By the Waters of Babylon": Sci-Fi

•  Louis L'Amour

• "Trap of Gold": Adventure

• Alice Walker
• "Everyday Use"  
• Amy Tan
• "Two Kinds"

• Jon Krakauer 
• "Into Thin Air" 

• Contest Winner from Bookshop Santa Cruz: "Among the Trees" by Breanna Eddy 

South America

• Jorge Luis Borges
• "The Book of Sand"
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" 

British

• Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)  

• "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" 

• "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" 

• Rudyard Kipling

•  "The Man Who Would be King"

• Hilaire Belloc

• "The Mowing of a Field" (1906) 
• "The Wing of Dalua"

• G. K. Chesterton (1874--1936)

• "A Piece of Chalk" (1909)
• More essays:
• A Defense of Nonsense (any essay in this collection)
• "The Blue Cross"(audio version) (the first of a series of Father Brown detective stories). Here are more tales:
• The Innocence of Father Brown
  The Wisdom of Father Brown
  Father Brown (from Collected Works)
   
•  

•  W. W. Jacobs

  • "The Monkey's Paw"

• Adelaide Casely-Hayford

  • "Mista Courifer" (1961)

• Doris Lessing  
• "Through the Tunnel" (or here as a .doc) 

  Russian

• Leo Tolstoy

• "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" 

Monday 11/16 ~ What's behind the masque?

DUE: Comparative Literature Essay

LIT NOTES ~ Add these definitions to your journals section.

• Allegory
• Symbol

SHORT STORY #5 "The Masque of the Red Death "

                                  by Edgar Allan Poe

• EQ: What is allegory?
• Who was Poe? What other works from Poe have you read?

Journal 30 
1. Using the SAT vocab list, write a brief paragraph using at least eight words (see list below).
2. The rich and powerful might build walls around their sprawling estates to block out the upsetting parts of life. What realities of life must people face no matter who they are?
3. Google search: What are the symptoms of the pneumonic plague?
4. Consider the Allegory feature. Define as many symbols as you can, bullet-point style. What is the "story below the surface" if you translate each symbol? (Include at least these: Prince Prospero, the abbey, the gate, the masquerade, the ebony clock and TIME, the winding hallway, all the different colors of rooms, & the intruder)

SAT Vocab from Masque

1. profuse - plentiful
2. sagacious - wise
3. voluptuous - characterized with luxury or pleasure
4. contagion - the spreading of disease
5. imperial - majestic
6. emanating - coming forth
7. sedate - calm; quiet
8. pervaded - spread throughout
9. piquancy - a pleasantly sharp or appetizing flavor
10. phantasm - a figment of the imagination; an illusion
11. cessation - ceasing or stopping
12. disapprobation - strong disapproval, usually on moral grounds
13. propriety - quality of being proper
14. tangible - something that can be touched
15. impetuosity - impulsive or rash 

HW: Finish Journal 30

Block Day 11/12-13 ~ Comparative Literature Essay

Short Story
Finish going over "By the Waters of Babylon"

Grammar/Roots Quiz

Comparative Literature Essay

• Prompt: Compare two of the short stories we've read in class using the lens of any literary device or writer's tool as your point of comparison. The main goal is to examine the writer's craft.
• Some "lenses" to consider: conflict (internal or external), irony, theme, plot, organizational structure, point-of-view, characterization (direct or indirect), imagery/description, tone, allusion, transitions, allegory, symbolism, etc...)

Take a look at a few thesis statements. Notice that only the third is specific and meaningful beyond summary.

• There are ways in which the two poems are similar, but they also have many differences.
• Auden’s and Whitman’s poems are mostly different: Auden’s rhymes, and is about a lover who has died, while Whitman’s is free verse and addresses a multitude of ideas.
• Though significantly different in form and in focus, both Auden’s and Whitman’s poems communicate their ideas chiefly through imagery of the commonplace and the everyday.

A couple of other thesis examples:

• Although Jackson and Bartlion both urge the reader to consider the life lessons presented in nature, they differ in writing approach: Jackson relies on personification, while Bartlion employs visual imagery. 
• While Odysseus and Achilles are both frequently tested by hostile forces and combat, they differ in their behavior during critical situations as seen in their views of the warrior code and treatment of others who are in battle with them. 

HW: Start reading The Power of One!

Wednesday 11/11/15 ~ Weeping by the waters...

*Before we get started, take a minute to leave me a teacher review.

ROOTS

• mega - great
• mem - remember

SHORT STORIES

• Work with a partner to review the questions to Journal 29.
• Discuss

GRAMMAR

• EQ: How can I make my thesis clear even though it is a complex and sometimes wordy sentence? 
• Notes: Click here to find rules about Parallel Structure. 
• Practice the skill here.
• Consider writing an essay that makes a point by comparing two stories. What stories would you like to use? What part would you like to compare? Write a thesis using CAB style and parallel structure. 

HW: Study your grammar (agreement & parallel structure) and roots (gest-mem).
Get ahead by starting The Power of One or begin writing your short story!

W. W. Jacobs

Middle East and Mediterranean

• Esther

• "Ali Baba and the Forty Robbers"

North American

•  The Oral Tradition in the Modern World

• Washington Irving
• "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" 
• "Rip Van Winkle"

• Edgar Allen Poe

• "The Masque of the Red Death" (1842)

• Richard Connell
• "The Most Dangerous Game"
• O. Henry

• "The Gift of the Magi": Bright

• Stephen Vincent Benét (pronounced bih-NAY)

• "By the Waters of Babylon": Sci-Fi

•  Louis L'Amour

• "Trap of Gold": Adventure

• Alice Walker
• "Everyday Use"  
• Amy Tan
• "Two Kinds"

• Jon Krakauer 
• "Into Thin Air" 

• Contest Winner from Bookshop Santa Cruz: "Among the Trees" by Breanna Eddy 

South America

• Jorge Luis Borges
• "The Book of Sand"
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" 

British

• Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)  

• "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" 

• "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" 

• Edgar Allan Poe
• Click here for a bank of stories.

• Rudyard Kipling

•  "The Man Who Would be King"

• Hilaire Belloc

• "The Mowing of a Field" (1906) 
• "The Wing of Dalua"

• G. K. Chesterton (1874--1936)

• "A Piece of Chalk" (1909)
• More essays:
• A Defense of Nonsense (any essay in this collection)
• "The Blue Cross"(audio version) (the first of a series of Father Brown detective stories). Here are more tales:
• The Innocence of Father Brown
  The Wisdom of Father Brown
  Father Brown (from Collected Works)

•  W. W. Jacobs

  • "The Monkey's Paw"

• Adelaide Casely-Hayford

  • "Mista Courifer" (1961)

• Doris Lessing  
• "Through the Tunnel" (or here as a .doc) 

  Russian

• Leo Tolstoy

• "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" 

Tuesday 11/10/15 ~ Short Story #4: By the Waters of Babylon

Go over Fish Cheeks questions. How does Tan show and not tell?

EQ: What effect does POV have on the our stories so far? Why would an author use the unreliable pov?

LIT NOTES: Do you know your point of view? If you don't, now you do. Add this to your notes in your journal section. 

• First-person point of view
• Why don't we talk about second person?

• Third-person point of view
• limited
• objective or dramatic
• omniscient

• Unreliable

SHORT STORY #3  

Journal 29: "By The Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét 
*This was published in 1937 in The Saturday Evening Post. 

SAT Vocab: As you read, list at least five words that are new to you.
1. To understand what is really happening in this story, you have to draw conclusions based on the writer’s clues and your own experience and knowledge. What do you think John is really seeing (and how are you able to tell) when he describes each of the items below? (You might want to work with a group to solve these puzzles.)

• the Great Burning
• Ou-dis-sun
• the statue of a man named ASHING
• the temple in mid-city with a roof painted like the sky at night
• the caves and tunnels where John thinks the gods kept their slaves

2. Find a place in the story where John achieves a breakthrough, and explain what he discovers. How does the first-person point of view help you appreciate his breakthrough?

3. Explain how the words of Psalm 137, verses 1-6, connect with Benét’s story.

• "Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land"
  1 By the rivers of Babylon,
  There we sat down, yea, we wept
  When we remembered Zion.
  ² We hung our harps
  Upon the willows in the midst of it.
  ³ For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
  And those who plundered us requested mirth,
  Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
  ⁴ How shall we sing the Lord’s song
  In a foreign land?
  ⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
  Let my right hand forget its skill!
  ⁶ If I do not remember you,
  Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
  If I do not exalt Jerusalem
  Above my chief joy.
   

4. Near the end of the story, John says, “Perhaps in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast.” What do you think he means? Are we “eating knowledge too fast” today? Explain.

5. Benét wrote this story in 1937, before the first atom bomb was invented. World War II and the Cold War are over now. Do Benét’s warnings about the complete destruction of a civilization still have relevance today? Why?

6. Do you think Benét made the secret of the Place of the Gods too easy to guess, or too hard, or were the clues just difficult enough? Explain.

7. What is the narrative perspective of this story?  How does this perspective play a role in the reader's experience and theme of the work?

HW: Complete the reading and Journal 29 (10 pts. tomorrow)
*Study your grammar (agreement) and roots (gest-mem) for block day.
*Get ahead by starting The Power of One or begin writing your short story!