Play Script: Day 4

Please complete your play drafts today in class. Your play scripts should be between 5-10 pages in length in proper playwriting format. At the end of today's class, please print out your script and turn it in to the in-box with your name on it.

HOMEWORK: None. If you did not finish your script today in class, please finish your script over break.

Play Script Project: day 3

Continue writing your play scripts. You should get a few pages completed today in the lab. Write, write, write. Please see below for advice and help if you get stuck.

Please note that the cast list is usually printed just after the title and BEFORE the opening stage directions.

All plays deal with a complicated situation. To create a situation for a story/plot, you need to know the following:
1. Who is appearing in the play? (character)
2. Where is the action taking place (setting)
3. What are the characters doing? (action)

Once these questions are answered, you can complicate the situation by adding a "But...", "suddenly", "when...", or "uh, oh!" sort of statement.

Example: John is in his room when Penny the nun enters and tells him that War has just broken out.

Your play should stay in one setting if you can manage it and be anywhere between 3 and 8 pages in length.

In a 10-minute play, the first page is usually your exposition. We are introduced to the main characters (or minor characters talk about the major character) who are often on-stage doing something.

The next 2-7 pages develop the story or situation. As this is a short play, try to limit the # of problems a character has to overcome or solve. When developing your play, have characters talk about what they want, why they want what they want, and how they may get what they want. They can also talk about their past. What happened to them in the past?

The last few pages of a 10-minute play resolve the conflict. This is usually done just at the very end of the play script (the last few lines). 

Play Project: Day Two

List at least three EVENTS that happened in your setting that were important to the time period you picked. You may have to look around the date (include a decade or earlier in a century) in order to find an appropriate event.

For example: If I chose 1898 as my date, I might list these events: The Spanish/American War begins, Hawaii becomes a state, and the Austrian Empress Elizabeth is assassinated. I could have listed a variety of events, including Madame Curie's discovery of radium, but the first three are fine.

In my dialogue, I might want to have my characters talk about these things as topics of conversation. These events, if presented well, can also form or create a THEME and MESSAGE for my play. Also, real events might suggest a conflict for my characters. The more I know about my SETTING, the more detailed I can be in my writing!

Next: follow steps 1-5 from last class. When you have completed these steps, you are ready to being writing. Go on to step 6.

6. Create 2-5 characters that might be found in the setting you chose. For each character provide a few sentences to describe the character. Use characterization: details or physical description, actions that the character might do, a name, something the character would say about him/herself, something OTHER people might say about the character, etc. Put your notes in your journal.

7. When you have 2-5 characters designed, you are ready to start your play. Using your research, the setting, and the character list, begin writing a play.

8. Use the events from your research to consider a theme for your play. There are typically four themes in most literature:

A. Love
B. Death
C. Life
D. Nature

9. Choose one of these themes to start with. Then add a MESSAGE to your theme. For example: "I believe that love can conquer any horrible event." Most messages a writer might try to make in his/her writing can be created by completing this sentence: "I believe..." 

If this example is my theme (love) and message (love can overcome horrible events), my play's plot will ultimately show how love can survive, even if the characters are stuck in a bad situation. If my setting was 1898, for example, perhaps I would set my play during the Spanish/American War where my protagonist is saying good-bye to his true love, promising he'll return at the end of the war. Use your theme and message in the dialogue of your play.

10. Write. Check the handout for the proper playscript format we will be using for the rest of our play projects until you graduate.

HOMEWORK: None.

Fences Quiz & Brainstorming Ideas for a Play

After our quiz today, please complete the following assignment/task:

1. Select a setting. Your setting should include a TIME PERIOD (for example, Fences takes place in 1950's Pittsburgh; The Effect of Gamma Rays...Marigolds takes place in the 1960's). When writers create a setting, it is not just time period, but also LOCATION (a kitchen, a bedroom, a park, a backyard, Atlanta Georgia, Baltimore, Maryland, New York City, etc.), specific TIME (afternoon, evening, 3:00 p.m., etc.) and season (winter, fall, spring, summer). When you choose a setting try to be as specific as possible:

Example: Rochester, NY in the summer of 1990, early morning outside of a movie theater...

 2. Once you have a SETTING, you may move on to step 3. If you have not picked a setting yet, please stop.

3. Learn a little about what was going on in the world the year or time period you chose for your setting. What happened, for example, in Pittsburgh or America in the 1950's? After researching, we know that the Civil Rights Movement was starting. Baseball teams did not allow Black athletes to play in professional sports. In the South there was still segregation between Blacks and Whites. Research your chosen time period and find out what was going on. Use web searches to find out!

4. As you research, please take notes in your journal.

5. If you haven't researched your time period and setting and taken notes, please stop and do that. Otherwise, continue to step #6.

6. Create 2-5 characters that might be found in the setting you chose. For each character provide a few sentences to describe the character. Use characterization: details or physical description, actions that the character might do, a name, something the character would say about him/herself, something OTHER people might say about the character, etc. Put your notes in your journal.

7. When you have 2-5 characters designed, you are ready to start your play. Using your research, the setting, and the character list, begin writing a play. We will talk about theme and message next class.

Please turn in your test today.

HOMEWORK: None.

Fences & Characterization

For the first 10-15 minutes of today's class please take a look at these scenes from Fences (please use headphones if you have them):

• Act One, Scene Three
• Fighting Death
• I Don't Want Him To Be Like Me

1. With a partner, compare what you're seeing with the image you had of the play from reading the script. What are some differences you note? Discuss these differences. Talk to each other please.
2. How do plays like Fences increase the dramatic tension of a situation? What are some things you learned about writing plays from watching these clips? Please discuss, then write brief comments on the index card provided to you in class. You and your partner may turn in one card for both of you.

• Next, working alone, choose one of the characters in the play Fences: Troy, Bono, Rose, Gabriel, Cory, Raynell, or Lyons.
• Draw a character sketch of that character on a 8.5 x 11 sized paper. (You may also find an appropriate picture on-line, if you'd like.) 
• Print the picture out, cut the picture out, and paste on the paper; or draw your own interpretation of your chosen character. (You may decide to draw a symbol of that character instead.) Feel free to be creative with this depiction. 
• You should be able to explain your choices to others in the class. 
• On the same side as the "picture" of your character, please describe the character's characterization (see below for details). Indicate lines and words (with page #'s) from the play's text that helps describe and characterize the character you chose.

When an author develops a character, he/she relies on characterization. Characterization is based on four distinct things:

• What a character says or thinks about him/herself
• What another character says or thinks about the character
• What the character does (the actions the character does and the choices he/she makes)
• The details or physical description the author or narrator gives us. In this case, what is revealed in the STAGE DIRECTIONS of the play script. 

Please turn in your portrait by the end of class for participation credit.

We are a little behind in our class schedule. Please complete reading the play on your own if you have not yet done so, and prepare for the quiz next class.

HOMEWORK: Study for your quiz on Fences. There will be a quiz next class. You should know the basic plot, characters, characterization, key symbols, and structure of the play. If you didn't complete your characterization portrait project, please complete it and turn in by next class late.

Fences: Act One & Characterization

RESEARCH: Start class off today by researching the following items. In your journal, write down your answers. You should be able to relate the research to Fences.

Please research and find information about:

In 1918 when Troy Maxson is your age (about 14), he leaves the South for Pittsburgh. His father was a sharecropper. What is a sharecropper? What was life like for a sharecropper in the South? How did the system of sharecropping entrap people? How could a person escape that life? Read about it here.

• The Negro League
• Jackie Robinson & Satchel Paige

The setting of this play is 1957. Please research and find information about this time period. Some questions to help guide your research are:

• What were the social, economic, political and educational expectations and opportunities for African Americans at this time?
• What advances had been made in civil rights?
• What significant changes will occur in America during the years between 1957 and 1965?

Some links to help you:

Images of the civil rights movement
Images of “the children’s crusade" of the civil rights movement
Timeline of the civil rights movement

After 15-20 minutes of research online and taking notes in your journal, please pair up with the partner you chose last class. (Get into pairs from your reading group).

In the next 20 minutes, please complete the following task:

1. Choose one of the characters in scene one or two: Troy, Bono, Rose, or Lyons and draw a character sketch of that character. Indicate lines and words from scene one that help describe and characterize the character you chose.

When an author develops a character, he/she relies on characterization. Characterization is based on four distinct things:

• What a character says or thinks about him/herself
• What another character says or thinks about the character
• What the character does (the actions the character does and the choices he/she makes)
• The details or physical description the author or narrator gives us. In this case, what is revealed in the STAGE DIRECTIONS of the play script. 

On your picture, please make sure you have found words/description/lines from the text that support your examination of characterization. Please turn in your portrait by the end of class for participation credit.

During period 4, please continue reading Fences in your reading groups. Before you read, discuss with your group what you learned about the SETTING of this play, and some of the important events that might shape the characters in this play. Which characters seem most affected?

Please complete the play for Monday. There will be a quiz on the play during the 2nd half of the class on Monday.

HOMEWORK: Please complete your reading of Fences. There will be a quiz Monday on the play. You should know the basic plot, characters, characterization, key symbols, and structure of the play.

Fences, August Wilson

Warm-up Activity: In your journal, make a list of 10 common problems that people or families often face. You can draw from your own experience, from books, or films that you have seen for ideas. You may also use your imagination (which is what it's for...) Come up with 10 common problems and list these problems in your journal.

Then:

Please check out the link on August Wilson. In your journal take a few notes about how he got started writing plays and what he was attempting to do. What are his plays generally about?

Information about August Wilson can be found here. Please check out this interview as well. August Wilson interview

We will be picking up the play Fences by August Wilson and beginning it today. When we return from the library, please get into the same groups you had last class reading The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Please select parts and begin reading today.

Additionally: please stop after reading scene one and in partners, choose one of the characters: Troy, Bono, Rose, or Lyons and draw a character sketch of that character. Indicate lines and words from scene one that help describe and characterize the character you chose.

HOMEWORK: Please read scene two.

Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds

Today we will continue reading The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Please complete the activities during our class.

After our class reading, please get into the following groups and continue reading the play:

Group 1: Jacob, Mitchell, Austin, Izzy, Jaymee, Aleah, Karla Marie
Group 2: Justice, Grace, Yasmine, Saisha, Tyshon, Joshua, Radezia, Tyshay

If you finish reading, please check out the following clips concerning performances of the play.
Note how the film and play are staged differently.

• Clip from the film, directed by Paul Newman
• Another clip from the film
• A clip from a theatrical production
• Another clip from a theatrical production

Your notebooks are due today. Please leave them behind at the end of class.

HOMEWORK: Please read the rest of the play on your own, if you did not complete it today in class.

Play Idea: Brainstorming & Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

In pairs, brainstorm character names, settings, events, and themes that you can think of and write these down on the paper provided. We will use this chart again next class. Take the first 20 minutes of class to complete this writing activity with your partner. During the 2nd half of 3rd period, please spend some time viewing any of the clips below. As you watch these plays, note how they are staged, how they are not necessarily like films (a different style and genre), and how dialogue pushes a story forward.

After writing, please take a look at these videos/plays:

David Ives: Variations of the Death of Trotsky
David Ives: The Universal Language
David Ives: The Philadelphia
John Wooten: The Role of Della
Christopher Durang: Funeral Parlor

During 4th period we will pick up the play "The Effect of Gamma-Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" and begin reading it as a class.

HOMEWORK: I will be collecting your journals on Friday. Please prepare them.

Play Script Reading & Brainstorming Ideas

Today, in small groups, please get together and read the selection of plays out loud in class.

Group A: Tyshon, Mitchell, Yasmine, Radezia, Aleah
Group B: Justice, Jacob, Grace, Karla-Marie, Jaymee
Group C: Joshua, Austin, Saisha, Izzy, Tyshay

As you read please note and discuss the following:

--How does a script differ from a poem or a short story?
--How does the playwright keep the action or scene going for the length of the play?
--What requirements does the author need or ask in order to stage the play? Consider set pieces, music, lights, costumes, etc. Would the set, music, lights, costumes be difficult to obtain?
--What is interesting for an actor in the script? If you were going to play this part, what did you like or dislike about the character or the situation?

In class (after reading): when you have completed your reading, with your group, brainstorm character names, settings, events, and themes that you can think of and write these down on the paper provided. We will use this chart again next class.

If you finish early, please take a look at these videos/plays:

David Ives: Variations of the Death of Trotsky
David Ives: The Universal Language
David Ives: The Philadelphia
John Wooten: The Role of Della
Christopher Durang: Funeral Parlor

I will be collecting your journals on Friday. Please prepare them.

HOMEWORK: None.

Plays and the One-Minute Play Activity

After reading the play scripts today in class, please return to the lab and complete the One-Minute Play activity. 

One-Minute Play Activity:
1. Choose a partner from your reading group.

2. Select a setting card from the front of the room.

3. Using the setting card, think of a character who might be found in this location (or an interesting contrasting character who doesn't really belong in this setting--your choice). DO NOT TELL YOUR PARTNER WHO YOUR CHARACTER IS.

4. Taking turns at ONE COMPUTER, open a word document file and put your group members names on the heading.

DO NOT SPEAK TO YOUR PARTNER VERBALLY ABOUT WHAT YOUR CHARACTER SAYS. LEAVE THIS FOR THE PLAY.

5. One writer will start. Write the setting and location on the top of the page. The first writer will type his/her character's name, and write that character a line of dialogue.
NOTE: a line of dialogue might be one word, a sentence, or may be several paragraphs in length. You choose!

After the line of dialogue, allow the second writer to respond to what the first character said. Have that writer write their line. Continue this until you have about 1 or 2 pages of dialogue going.

6. Find a way after coming to the bottom of the page or when on the second page to finish your conversation.

HOMEWORK: There is no homework over break. Enjoy. Please note that journals will be collected November 30. 

Coffee House Response

Congratulations, Freshmen!

You have successfully completed a public performance. I hope you enjoyed the coffee house and will participate in future ones.

Part of our goal this year is for you to get to know your strengths and weaknesses by completing a myriad of assignments, projects, and performances. Self reflection is an important component to learning. As such, please post a comment on our classroom forum. You will need to sign up for this forum (which we will be using during the year). I suggest using a gmail account, as you can use gmail for your own email and other websites, all with the same address (and it's free). Once you are on the forum, please reply to the question about the Coffee House.

How you felt you did last night as a performance. If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? What did you learn about public speaking by performing your writing last night? What surprised you about the performance? Who's performance did you particularly enjoy? Did you notice anything different between the Freshman performances and the other Creative Writing performances? What did your parents say or think about the performance?

Today, apart from the response, I am giving you free time in the lab to work on anything you choose. Feel free to play a video game or listen to music. Keep talking and chatter to a low volume, but after your post, you are free to relax. Our normal curriculum will continue next week.

HOMEWORK: None.

Rehearsal; Coffee House Performance Tomorrow

Today, please rehearse your selections. As a class we will go through the order and line-up for tomorrow evening's performance.

HOMEWORK: Please rehearse and prepare for tomorrow's performance. You should plan to be here at SOTA by 6:45 tomorrow. Please let your parents know so they can make arrangements to arrive on time.

Preparing for the Coffee House Performance

Please use today's class to prepare and rehearse your pieces for the upcoming Coffeehouse Performance. The performance is next Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7:00. You should plan on arriving at the theater by 6:45 so you can prepare mentally for your performance.

IMPORTANT: Today please get into groups of 4-5 and help each other perform by giving each performer time to rehearse, perform, and receive feedback. Use the class period today to prepare, rehearse, and receive feedback. Don't give in the temptation of just skipping this step. Your performance (and grade) will suffer for it during our coffeehouse presentation next week. Use the time I'm giving you to prepare your work so you can do the best job you are capable of!

You may use the room next door to split up if the substitute allows you to.

Details about the event:

1. You may read up to 3 poems or 1 short story (no longer than 3 minutes, please)
2. You must introduce yourself and let your audience know what you are planning on reading.
Example: "Hello, I am Mr. Craddock and I will be reading 2 poems tonight entitled: Poem #1 and Untitled Poem #347."
3. Always breathe and take a slight pause between transitions (that includes your greeting and the reading of the poem)
4. Perform your poems with energy, volume, and effective speech techniques. You should be using the techniques and skills we have been discussing in class to communicate your idea (your poem/story) to your audience.

REMEMBER: Effective performance is based on a few things:

• 1. Preparation (rehearsal) -- knowing what you are saying and why.
• 2. Voice (how you sound: volume, pacing, pitch, tone, elocution, and appropriateness of voice)
• 3. Character (how you portray a character both vocally and physically)
• 4. Energy
• 5. Making choices. A good performer makes deliberate choices about voice, character, energy, tone, and rehearses these choices to deliver a solid performance.

HOMEWORK: Rehearse your chosen poem.

Coffeehouse Poem & Preparation

Decide what you would like to perform at the coffeehouse on December 15 at 7:00. Print this selection out and just like your speeches, prepare and mark it for performance.

1.  Decide what TONE your "persona" is using.
2.  Decide where you will pause, change your pitch or tone, speed up or slow down
3.  Decide what gestures or facial expressions you will make
4.  Decide what lines are the most important ones in your poem. Underline or highlight these.
5.  If you poem does not yet have a title, please give your poem a title.

Please watch the following poems performed by professionals & note how the poet performs the poem:

--Sharon Olds (reads 2 poems: Ode to a Composting Toilet & Ode to the Tampon) (note: mature language)
--Ted Kooser (reading "Pearl")
--Naomi Shihab Nye (3 poems: "Please Describe How You Became a Writer", "Fresh", "During a War"
--Alicia Keys (poem "Prisoner of Words Unsaid")

Note the pace or tone of the performer's voice, the volume, pitch, or gestures the poet uses to convey MEANING. Jot down your observations on the index card provided to you and hand in by end of period 3.

During period 4, we will be going downstairs to the Ensemble Theater to begin our rehearsal process for the upcoming coffeehouse.

Spoon River Presentations

Effective performance is based on a few things:
1. Preparation (rehearsal) -- knowing what you are saying and why.
2. Voice (how you sound: volume, pacing, pitch, tone, elocution, and appropriateness of voice)
3. Character (how you portray a character both vocally and physically)
4. Energy
5. Making choices. A good performer makes deliberate choices about voice, character, energy and rehearses these choices to deliver a solid performance.

Today, for the first 20 minutes during period 3, rehearse your poem when you have scored or marked it. You will need to turn in your poem draft at the end of class today and it should be marked up appropriately. Please rehearse and prepare for our presentation.

You will be graded on your performance. In addition to eye contact, volume, and enunciation, I am grading you on how effective your TONE of VOICE is for the character you are portraying. You should sound natural, as if the character were actually speaking the words in the poem.

As we present, I will be providing you with performance feedback. This is helpful to pay attention and keep track of since you will be presenting a piece of your own work at the Coffeehouse Presentation on November 15 at 7:00.

HOMEWORK: None. Complete Spoon River if you haven't yet done so. If you are missing any of the writing assignments, please complete them as well.

Tone Poem & Spoon River

If you haven't yet done so from last class, please create a poem using a specific TONE. Pick an emotional tone for your persona and have that character speak, using appropriate diction, to create the tone you selected.

Here's an example of a poem that has a specific TONE. Try to figure out what TONE the speaker/persona is using:

"Another Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries" by Hugh MacDiarmid:

It is a God-damned lie to say that these
Saved, or knew, anything worth any man's pride.
They were professional murderers and they took
Their blood money and impious risks and died.
In spite of all their kind some elements of worth
With difficulty persist here and there on earth. 

After writing your draft, please select and sign up for ONE Spoon River poem that you would like to perform. If someone has already signed up for the character you want, please select your second choice. Write down your selection on the sign-up sheet.

Today, type that poem out and do the following to prepare it for your upcoming presentation:

Please prepare and rehearse your Spoon River poems during 3rd period.

• Examine and read your poem carefully. Make sure you know and understand the poem. Look up unknown words in the dictionary.
• Bold or underline words or important phrases that you want to stress. Mark these on your script.
• Find the transitions from one part of the poem to another (just like a paragraph in prose). When you find this break mark your script with a double slash mark (//) to indicate a new idea. This is usually where tone changes, so make sure you note where this occurs on your script.
• Use a slash mark (/) to indicate pauses or a good place to take a breath.
• In the margins, write the tone of the speaker. Does the tone change?
• Ask yourself: what does sadness, anger, or happiness sound like? What does self-satisfaction, boredom, or surprise sound like? Try to match your tone of voice with the attitude and voice of the character.
• What does your character look like physically? Give your character a physicality--a physical gesture or facial expression. How does your character stand or hold his body? Does she stoop, or cringe, or wring her hands? Choose physical positions and gestures that help an audience understand what the character is feeling or trying to communicate.

Print out your poem with the marks you have made on it (slash marks, bolded words, italicized or underlined words, etc.)

Rehearse your poem when you have scored or marked it. You will need to turn in your poem draft at the end of class today and it should be marked up appropriately to show decisions regarding the above information. Next class, we will begin performing these poems in front of the class. Please rehearse and prepare. 

Emotional Tones

Humans often communicate through tone. Here is a list of various emotions a human being can have. With a partner, read over the list and discuss how a person sounds when feeling this emotion. Additionally, what ACTIONS or body gestures does the person make when feeling this emotion.

For example: How does a person sound fearful? What happens to a person's voice when he/she is afraid? Also: what does a person DO physically when he/she is afraid? What facial expressions or gestures does the person use to convey this emotion?

• Fear → feeling afraid. Other words are terror (strong fear), shock, phobia
• Anger → feeling angry. A stronger word is rage.
• Sadness → feeling sad. Other words are sorrow, grief (a stronger feeling, for example when someone has died) or depression (feeling sad for a long time). Some people think depression is a different emotion.
• Joy → feeling happy. Other words are happiness, gladness.
• Disgust → feeling something is wrong or dirty
• Trust → a positive emotion; admiration is stronger; acceptance is weaker
• Anticipation → in the sense of looking forward positively to something which is going to happen. Expectation is more neutral.
• Surprise → how one feels when something unexpected happens
• Calmness (not feeling excited; opposite of anger)
• Friendship (Love), opposite enmity (feeling hate)
• confident (having no fear)
• Shame, opposite shamelessness (shame: how one feels about one's past bad actions or thoughts; shamelessness: one does not feel shame, but others think one should.)
• Kindness (benevolence), opposite unkindness (kindness: when people are good to other people)
• Pity (when people feel sorry for other people)
• Indignation (feeling angry because something is not fair, such as undeserved good fortune)
• Envy, jealous (pain when people have something that one wishes for oneself) 
• wonder - surprise
• amusement - opposite emotion: weariness
• courage - opposite emotion: timidity or cowardice
• pity - opposite emotion: cruelty
• pride - opposite emotion: modesty- shame
• closeness - opposite emotion: detachment
• complaint/pain
• patience
• relaxed - opposite emotion: stressed

Writing Activity: choose one of these emotions and write a poem that specifically uses this emotion. Use specific words that suggest the emotion, but NEVER name or say the emotion in the poem. Let diction and word choice convey the feeling, rather than telling the audience what the persona is feeling.

This is what we mean when we say: show, don't tell in your writing.

Spoon River Reading

• Please get into groups of 3-4.
• Starting on page 48 in Spoon River, please spend period 3 reading outloud with your group. Take turns reading the poems. You should aim to complete the reading up to page 72.
• For homework, please finish reading the book on your own.

For each poem, notice WHO the speaker is (the persona), WHY are the speaker is speaking (what secrets do they tell us?), and the tone and voice in their poem. (Those characters might appear later in the book)

 

During period 4, in the lab: Write a new poem using a specific voice. Consider the words you use (diction) to create a tone for your "character" or persona. The poem character should NOT be YOU! Use understatement, euphemism, rhetorical devices, or any connotation within your diction.

 

HOMEWORK: Please finish reading Spoon River on your own. Select 3 characters that you like and write down their names and the page # they appear on in your journal. We will use this information next class.

Spoon River, Voice, & Oral Interpretation

As we read Spoon River pay attention to how the author creates a voice for his personas.

Diction: word choice. Select words in your poem carefully to carry the most meaning. All words have a denotative meaning and a connotative meaning.

DENOTATION: The dictionary meaning of a word.
CONNOTATION: The implied meaning of a word based on how it is said or the tone used.

Understatement, euphemism, and other rhetorical strategies may be used to affect a poem's diction. Speaking to your elderly grandparents uses a different diction than speaking to your "homies". We change our diction depending on who we are talking to.

Voice: The character or "speaker" speaking through the poem. Also called the "persona". Just like an actor, a writer tries to create a character whose "voice" we hear when reading or listening to a poem.

Tone: Often the attitude of your speaker or the voice. Identified in a poem by diction.

• Tone can be formal or informal depending on the diction a poet uses.
• Tone can be ironic, sarcastic, serious, pedantic, full of awe, friendly, fearful, silly, drunk, hyperbolic or any other type of feeling depending on the voice a poet selects.
• Tone can be positive or negative or neutral. Selecting one of these tones can or should affect your diction.

For each poem, notice WHO the speaker is (the persona), WHY are the speaker is speaking (what secrets do they tell us?), and the tone and voice in their poem. (Those characters might appear later in the book)

In the lab: Write a new poem using a specific voice. Consider the words you use (diction) to create a tone for your "character" or persona. The poem character should NOT be YOU! Use understatement, euphemism, rhetorical devices, or any connotation within your diction.

HOMEWORK: Please complete the reading of Spoon River. Choose 3 "characters" that you would like to work with and bring these choices with you next class. We will be working on memorizing and preparing the poem for performance.

Poetry Exercise (Word Bank) & Spoon River

Today, let's take 20 minutes to do the following:
Creating a word bank for poetry
Go to the following website:

• http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html

Read poems #1-5. As you read, choose 3 words from EACH poem and make a list. (The best way to do this is either in your journal – where you will get credit; or you may keep a word document open and minimized on the bottom of your screen to collect the words).
Choose interesting or “powerful” words—words that draw YOUR attention; the best 3 single words in the poem. Avoid phrases.

Once you have a list with 15 words (3 words per poem x 5 poems = 15), use your word bank to create a poem of your own.

• You DO NOT have to use all 15 words in your poem.
• Your poem should make sense. Try to avoid sentence fragments. (Consider your character, setting, theme, conflict, etc. to help write a story...yes, even poetry has a story.)
• You may include as many OTHER words as you’d like. You may also lengthen or shorten words or change their tense (from past to present, for example).

After our exercise, we will take a trip to the library to pick up Spoon River. When we return, we'll start reading it as a class.

Spoon River is a collection of internal monologue poems by American poet Edgar Lee Masters.

As we read this collection, please note that each poem is "spoken" using the voice of the speaker. Certain characters speak seriously, in a, pardon the pun, grave manner. Other characters have a humorous or sarcastic tone to their "voice."

Each character is assumed to be dead and talking from the grave about his/her life. After reading the collection, feel free to try this technique yourself.

Journal Options (on-going deadline: you may do these exercises again and again thorughou):

1. Go to a cemetery. Record the names on gravestones. Imagine who this/these person or persons are. What meant the most to them? What kind of personality did they have? How did they live? How did they die? What did they do for a living? Who did they love or dislike? What was the most important object/idea/person to them? What do they most regret? Use these questions to create an internal monologue.

2. Look through a phone book. Record some names of people you don't know. Imagine who these people are. What meant the most to them? what kind of personality do they have? How do they live? How will they die? What do they do for a living? Who do they love/dislike? What means the most to them? waht do they regret? Use these questions to create an internal monologue.

3.Write several of these poems. Then put them together. At least two of your characters should know each other and reference the other character(s). See SPOON RIVER poems for examples.

 HOMEWORK: Please read Spoon River. As you read, pay attention to how the author creates a voice for his personas. For each poem, notice WHO the speaker is, WHY are they speaking (what secrets do they tell us?), and other characters they name in their poem. (Those characters might appear later in the book)

Internal Monologue Poem Draft

Please watch the following poems. These all have a SPEAKER, a PURPOSE, and a specific AUDIENCE. For each poem, consider who is the speaker, who is the speaker talking to (the intended audience), and the reason WHY the speaker is speaking.

1. The Lanyard by Billy Collins
2. Do Not Stand At My Grave
3. Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa

When we write poems, we need to remember:

A. Not all poems are about the poet (while this is common, it is better to consider the SPEAKER in the poem to be a PERSONA: a character the writer uses to explore a human feeling, subject, or event.)

B. Poems use imagery: figurative language, metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, detail

Using the character sheet from Monday's class, please use it and the details you created as the SPEAKER or PERSONA for your poem. This character should be someone fictional, perhaps BASED ON YOU, but NOT YOU specifically! Turn in your character design sheet with your poem draft by the end of class today.

In verse please write a internal monologue poem. Length is up to you. Title your piece the name of the character. Use the poems you read or listened to as models. Use your character sheet to provide details in which you identify the speaker, the audience, and the speaker's goal (i.e., WHO, WHY, and To WHOM (your audience)). Print this out and turn in by the end of class today.

HOMEWORK: I will be collecting your journals during class (Friday). Please leave these with the substitute at the end of class.

The Internal Monologue Poem

Today, let's attempt an internal or dramatic monologue poem. 

What is it?

Internal Monologue Poem: a specific character or speaker is speaking to a specific person or persons (audience) for a specific purpose (motivation or speaker's goal) at a specific time and place. In other words, think of a situation where your character (not YOU, but your character) is speaking for a reason or purpose.

Here are some famous examples of internal monologue poems. Note that these speakers are writing about themselves as objects or in the 3rd person in some cases (the action is going on in the person's head, such as in the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock about an aging lonely guy who can't bring himself to speak to women)

As you watch each video and read each poem, on your index card identify the following information for each of the poems (that's a total of 5):

1. Watch and read the poem for WHO: who is the speaker in the poem most likely?
2. Watch and read the poem for PURPOSE: WHY is the speaker talking most likely?
3. Watch and read the poem for AUDIENCE: TO WHOM is the speaker speaking most likely? Try to be specific with this: not just "to us" but WHO in the character's life would the character be speaking to in this situation?

Record your answers on the index card. After viewing check your answers with a partner. Discuss your findings. Hand in your card by the end of 3rd period.

Internal Monologue Poems:

• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot (here's a video of Eliot reading his poem)
• Daddy by Sylvia Plath. The vocal performance read by the poet.
• My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. Here's a reading of the poem.
• To An Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Housman. The reading of the poem.
• Miniver Cheevy by Edwin Arlington Robinson. The poem read.

Now it's your turn. You will create a MADE UP character. Someone fictional, perhaps BASED ON YOU, but NOT YOU! Fill out the handout character sheet. Hold on to this sheet. You will turn it in with your poem draft.

If you complete your character design, please complete the following task:

In verse please write a internal monologue poem. Length is up to you. Title your piece the name of the character. Use the poems you read or listened to as models. Use your character sheet to provide details in which you identify the speaker, the audience, and the speaker's goal (i.e., WHO, WHY, and To WHOM).

During 4th period, we will conclude our speeches.

HOMEWORK: I will be collecting your journals next class (Friday) We will not see each other on Wednesday due to testing.

Rehearsal & Speeches

During 3rd period, please rehearse and prepare your speech. During 4th period we will be going next door (room 238) to deliver our speeches.

Listeners: please complete the feedback forms for each speech. Hand in these sheets by end of class for participation credit.

HOMEWORK: There is no homework for this weekend.

Coffee House Reading Performance! Creative Writing Retreat!

We will be performing our Coffee House reading (a requirement for this class) on November 15 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. This is a requirement for all Freshmen creative writing majors.

Please share this information with your parents so that they can attend.

Also, there is space available for the Creative Writing Retreat on October 20 from 1:00 to 5:00 at the Hopkins Point Lodge in Mendon Park. Please bring your family. Lunch will be served. For more information please contact creative writing parent Diana Carter at blueloon@rochester.rr.com.

Writing and Preparing Your Speech

Please use 3rd period to write your speech.

1. After you write your speech, proofread and print out.
2. Divide the speech with your partner. Decide who will deliver what parts of the speech.
3. Paste your work onto index cards that you can use for your notes.
4. Highlight important key points in your speech; Slow down during these highlights when you deliver your speech.
5. Rehearse with your partner. You may use our lab or the classroom next door (a238).

During 4th period (or after you complete the steps above), we will begin rehearsing speeches.

Effective speech is largely based on knowing well what you wrote. Being familiar with the words you used and how to pronounce them are helpful. In addition,

• sincerity (you've got to believe and mean what you say)
• effective volume (if we can't hear you, then there is no point in communicating)
• eye contact (helps gain feedback from your audience)
• effective pacing (slow down during important points, speed up during non-important points or digressions)
• effective gestures and posture (physical communication is helpful to communicate an idea)

can help make your speech more effective and interesting.

In your pairs "rehearse" your speech. Deliver your speech to one another, taking turns. The listener should give you feedback about effectiveness. What parts of the speech are weak, vague, or badly delivered? Where does the listener stop listening in the speech? Does the opening of the speech effectively hook or interest the listener? Critique each other.

Use your time to go over your speech again and again. Do this until the bell rings. Seriously, the more time you practice, the better you will be prepared. Don't goof off or throw away this opportunity. Work until the end of class!

Speech Writing

Just like an essay, there are 3 parts to a speech:

1. The introduction: open your speech with a hook to interest your audience. Consider what would be interesting or important for your audience to hear. Do not ask your audience a question that you expect them to answer. Instead, provide a fact, tell an anecdote, start off with something surprising or interesting, even a related joke.

For example: "Many people are not aware that something common in their house might kill them. But every year over 500 people die in the U.S. from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect. In my speech today I will tell you what carbon monoxide is, how it might affect your health, and how you can prevent it from killing you."

2. the body: this is the section of your speech where you will provide us with the details and a description of the four questions you must answer in your speech: what is it? where does it come from or what is its history/culture? why is it important? How does it affect us or how is this topic relevant to our lives? You should back up your answers with expert fact and statistics or evidence from your research. Tell us where you got your information! The best speeches transition easily from one point to the next in an orderly and logical way that the audience can easily understand.

3. the conclusion: summarize your main points of your speech. If you can leave the audience with something to consider.

Today, you will be writing a short speech (about 2 pages, double-spaced) on your chosen topic. Here's what you need to do:

1. Narrow your topic. You and your partner only have up to 5 minutes to speak. Once you have learned something of your topic, you want to select the most important or interesting information about your topic and write it using effective and clear language.
2. You want to essentially answer the following questions:

• A. what is your topic? What information does your audience need to know about it? 
• B. where does your topic come from or what is its history/culture? 
• C. why is your topic important?
• D. How does it affect us or how is this topic relevant to our lives?

3. Complete your research by the first class period. You need reliable sources (at least 3 cited webpages) and create an MLA formatted "works cited" page. See previous post for a model on how to set this up. Use your reliable sources to add logic and support your personal opinions.
4. With your partner today, please write your speech. Take a few minutes to read the advice about speech writing below. Use the tips discussed therein in your writing.

Speech writing is not easy. A speech writer needs to know what his/her goal is. Luckily, most speeches come in only a few types. Some speeches are used to inspire or inform, others are used to persuade, introduce, or entertain. Your presentation and speech is an informational one. You are answering: 1. What is it? 2. Where does it come from or what is its background? 3. Why is it important? 4. How does it affect us (the audience) or why should we care?

Speech Writing Techniques & Vocabulary: When writing a speech, a speech writer uses what is called Rhetorical technique or Rhetoric.

Rhetoric is broken down into three distinct tactics to persuade or inspire a listener or reader.

1. Logos (logic): this is the logical, sense argument inherent in the speech. Logic appeals to our rational mind. It makes us think and in thinking, we understand how one thing causes another. Listen for facts or statistics, listen for examples, listen for the word "think" or "consider". When you hear these type of words, that's the speech writer telling you that he/she is using logos. Good speech writers are subtle.

2. Pathos (heart/passion): this is the heart-felt argument in the speech. Pathos appeals to our feelings. It makes us sympathize or consider the argument for how it can affect us as listeners or readers. Listen for personal accounts, personal challenges, listen for words like "imagine" or "feel". Listen for the speaker to sympathize with his/her audience. Listen for testimony (opinions from famous role models). Often a speaker will use second person POV to help create pathos.

3. Ethos (confidence/strength of character): this is the speaker's skill and confidence that what he or she is saying is important, relevant, or necessary for a listener or reader. A good speaker sounds like he or she KNOWS what the issue is all about, that the subject is well researched and the speaker is knowledgeable. Also, watch the speaker's eyes, his posture, the way he stresses his words, the way he delivers the speech. Is there anaphora in the speech (a repetition of a phrase or statement)? This builds pace and stresses the important parts of an argument.

These three rhetorical techniques, by the way, are also used in essay writing. Next time you write an English paper or Social Studies paper, try using rhetoric to create your essay.

Check here for further tips on writing and delivering speeches!

By the end of class today, you will want to:

1. Complete your speech writing

2. Once you have written your speech (about 2 pages, double spaced), print out a copy of your speech. Check your work for grammar errors before you print.

3. You want to divide up the speech between you and your partner. Decide who is going to deliver what part of the speech. Both partners must deliver a portion of the speech.

3. After deciding who will deliver what part of the speech, cut the speech up using scissors.

4. Paste or tape your speech onto index cards.

5. Use the cards to rehearse your speech. Practice your speech delivery by reading your note cards to your partner. You will have time next class to continue practicing.

Informational Speech Project

For our next project we are going to deliver a short informational group speech to the class. Please follow each of the following steps CAREFULLY. READ this post first, before asking me about what we're doing:

1.Take no more than 2 minutes to brainstorm in your journal a list of topics that you'd like to learn more about or topics that interest you.
2. After brainstorming you will be given a few minutes to stand and move about the room. Please do not stay seated! Find another person in the room who has at least ONE of the same topics written in their journal as you did. Once you find this person, stick with them and sit down.
3. After every student has found a match, please sit.
4. From the lists you generated, choose one subject with your partner. This will be your speech topic.
5. Once you have decided on a speech topic with your partner, spend some time today finding out:

• A. what is it? 
• B. where does it come from or what is its history/culture? 
• C. why is it important?
• D. How does it affect us or how is this topic relevant to our lives?

As you surf the web, search for answers to those four questions.

When you find your answers, make sure you cite the website, author, speaker, or writer of your source. This is called gathering sources. You will need at least 3 sources that you write up on a works cited page to turn in when you deliver your speech.

You should work with your partner and divide tasks. Try breaking down a topic into parts that make up the whole. Or give each member of the group a question to answer (what is it, for example? or why is it important?) Before the end of class come back together with your partnership and discuss further action that must be taken.

By the end of THIS class, you should have completed the following:
1. Chosen a partner
2. Chosen a topic
3. Researched a topic (gathered at least 3 sources)

With time remaining in class, you may also:

A. Begin writing your speech together with your partner.
B. Use the research and sources in your speech.
C. Create an MLA works cited page for your speech.

Next class we will complete these steps (a, b, c) and also prepare for our speech delivery to the class. More information about how to do that is coming up.

Q: How much time do I have to present?
A: Please keep your presentations between 2-5 minutes. As long as you've explained what it is and why it's important, we get the idea. Realize that very, very short presentations may not be thorough enough. I want to see high school grade work. Any project that goes beyond 5 minutes will be cut off and given a penalty to its grade. Any presentation that is not at least 2 minutes in length will receive the same penalty.

Q: When is the presentation due?
A: We will deliver the speeches on Tuesday of next week. (Oct. 9)

Q: How am I going to be graded?
A: Your presentation will be graded on how informative the project is, what it communicates, how prepared you are in presenting the speech, your physical presentation with attention to volume, pacing, ennunciation, energy, effort, & eye contact, and how well done the research was. Remember that along with the presentation, you are required to turn in a works-cited page (in MLA format)

Q: So what is research? Isn't that just copying someone else's work and passing it off as mine?
A: No. Please record any sources that you use for your presentation/project. Write down website addresses and authors of these sources to include them in your works cited page. In your speech or during your presentation, it is important for you to cite the sources you use. If you borrowed an idea from someone, give them credit for it. For example: According to..., or _____ writes/states...., or In a comment posted by..., or writer/critic/author/artist/musician/reporter/etc. suggests/writes/states/mentions/posits/argues/believes, etc.

ANY REFERENCE TO SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE/LANGUAGE THAT IS NOT COMMON KNOWLEDGE MUST BE CITED OR GIVEN CREDIT.

How do I set up a works cited page for:
MLA Format

• Books/texts
• Video/films
• Internet sources
• Interviews
• Magazines
• T.V. Programs/Radio

 If you have further questions, please ask.

Listening: The Finer Points

Please take notes on the key concepts of this topic. Keep your notes in your journal for easy reference.

Why do we have to learn to listen?

Well, listening is, just like writing, a skill. There is a big difference between LISTENING and HEARING.

• Listening is active. It requires your brain to process symbols, words, sounds.
• Hearing is the reception of sound. It requires that you can receive the sound. A deaf person cannot hear or her reception of sound in order to hear is not working. Deaf people use other ways in which to communicate.

When teacher say: "are you listening?" we often misunderstand and think they mean "did you hear me?" Yes, we say, all the while not paying attention to WHAT the teacher is saying. This happens with parents, brothers/sisters, neighbors, and all sorts of strangers too. It is the root of many conflicts and problems in our society.

If we don't understand a message a sender is sending to us, we often blame the speaker. But SOMETIMES the problem is with us, the RECEIVER. If we are not listening, we cannot blame the speaker. It takes two to communicate: the sender and the receiver!

WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Learning to listen carefully allows us to:

1. Avoid misunderstandings
2. Get along better with others
3. Learn
4. Be more successful in school and on the job

But there are barriers to listening. It's not easy to do all the time. Here are some of the common barriers of effective listening:

1. Distractions
2. Daydreaming
3. Being close-minded
4. Overemphasizing the source
5. Listening to only what is easy to understand

In order to avoid these obstacles or problems, we need to:

1. Prepare to listen
2. Expand our vocabulary
3. Apply the message to yourself or your life
4. Pick out central ideas or details
5. Provide feedback by looking at the speaker and giving the speaker feedback cues
6. Remember what we hear

It is courteous to be an effective listener. Rude people (people who often think of no one but themselves) tend to have poor listening skills. Learning to be a good listener is one of those important skills you learn in school and its use in life is essential to your success.

Fantasy Books and Film (part one)

This is a post for those fantacists in the room, or for those curious about the genre of fantasy. Below are a series of links and materials that will give you a better historical understanding of the genre and key authors or films that helped to create the style.

J.R.R. Tolkein
Farmer Giles of Ham (full etext; high fantasy)
Scene from the animated The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings films (trailer)

Edgar Rice Burroughs
A Treasury of Edgar Rice Burroughs (9 novels in short chapters, print is small; if you like dinosaurs and monsters, he's a good read)
John Carter of Mars (trailer)
Tarzan and the Lost City (trailer)
Tarzan the Legend of Greystroke (clip)

Robert E. Howard
The Best of Robert E. Howard (various short stories; adventure, barbarians, sword & sorcery, horror)
Conan the Barbarian (2011, trailer)
Conan the Barbarian (1982, trailer)

Fantasy Story Part Two: Commentary

Please get together in the following pairs (PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME GROUPS HAVE BEEN CHANGED DUE TO ABSENCES):

•  Tyshay & Mitchell
• Aleah & Jacob
• Saisha & Izzy
• Austin & Jamee
• Karla Marie & Radezia
• Josh & Tyshon
• Grace & Yasmine
• Justice (please complete your fantasy story, then see me for this project)
•  Share your story with your partner. Each partner should read the draft.
• Acting as an expert (you can create a fictional name and title for yourself as an expert analyst or literary critic) you are to write a short commentary about your partner's story. Use J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard as an example or model (the Dumbedore sections).
• In your commentary discuss:
• The significance of the story. Why is this story an important one? For example why is your partner's fictional story an important one for future readers to read? You can make up any details you think make for a good reason. You can also refer to the story directly.
• Important characters, settings, or actions that occur in the story, and what their meaning or significance is. If an element of the story is unclear or mysterious, try to explain what the author meant. Don't ask the author, make up any details you think is necessary to sound like an expert on the subject.
• Explain the moral or message of the story. Again, don't ask the author, but explain what you think is the message or moral of the story.
• When you have completed your commentary, proofread and print out your commentary, then attach it to the original story draft and turn in.

Extra credit fantasy story: 

If you are done with your commentary and have turned in your writing, please select one of the pictures in the front of the room and use the picture to inspire a story. You may decide either to use the picture as an opening for a story or incorporate the picture as the ending or climax of your story. After deciding where the picture would happen in your story, write your story. This draft will count as extra credit and will be placed in your portfolio.

HOMEWORK: None, unless you'd like to write (or continue your extra credit story).

Fantasy Story Project (with Commentary) & Grammar Lessons

Please complete your fantasy story today in class. You should have a first draft done and completed by the end of today's class. Read previous posts for specific details on the project.

If you finish early, you have 2 options to complete:
1. Continue with the second part of this project.

• Wait until your required partner is done with his/her draft. Both partners should be done before you move on to the next part of this assignment. If your partner is NOT DONE, spend your time on the grammar videos below.
• WHEN YOUR PARTNER HAS COMPLETED A DRAFT, get together in the following pairs:
•  Tyshay & Mitchell
• Aleah & Jacob
• Saisha & Izzy
• Austin & Jamee
• Justice & Radezia
• Josh & Tyshon
• Grace,Yasmine, & Karlamarie (Grace read Yasmine, Yasmine read Karla Marie's, Karlamarie read Grace's story)
•  Share your story with your partner. Each partner should read the draft.
• Acting as an expert (you can create a fictional name and title for yourself as an expert analyst or literary critic) you are to write a short commentary about your partner's story. Use J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard as an example or model (the Dumbedore sections).
• In your commentary discuss:
• The significance of the story. Why is this story an important one? For example why is your partner's fictional story an important one for future readers to read? You can make up any details you think make for a good reason. You can also refer to the story directly.
• Important characters, settings, or actions that occur in the story, and what their meaning or significance is. If an element of the story is unclear or mysterious, try to explain what the author meant. Don't ask the author, make up any details you think is necessary to sound like an expert on the subject.
• Explain the moral or message of the story. Again, don't ask the author, but explain what you think is the message or moral of the story.
• When you have completed your commentary, proofread and print out your commentary, then attach it to the original story draft and turn in.

2. Review grammar videos and materials (watch videos and read material below):

Grammar help:

How to format a narrative story in prose.
How to punctuate dialogue correctly.
Common misspelled words.
Its/It's and Their, There, They're
Too, to, two

If you need grammar help, take a look at these videos:

• The Punctuation Song
• Punctuation
• Grammar Time: The Comma
• How to Use Commas Correctly 
• Grammar Time: The Verb
• The Tale of Mr. Morton: Subject & Predicate

Fantasy Story Draft

Today, please do the following brainstorm exercise in your journal while I am passing back your Tales of Beedle the Bard worksheets.

BRAINSTORM ACTIVITY:  In your journal make a list of SETTINGS that might likely appear in a fantasy story in one column, and a list of settings that might likely occur in a realistic story. For example:

• Fantasy: an ogre's cave, a cemetery during the rising of the moon, a far-away distant land, a desert oasis, a dwarven mine, a witch's hut, a magical pool, etc.
• Realistic: a school cafeteria, a library, in a living room during a Christmas party, in an abandoned factory, a garage, etc.

If you didn't finish your worksheet, please complete that before moving on to the activity below. Turn in your completed paper at the end of class today.

Use the list you've created a moment ago with your answers to questions #6, #12, #13, #14. Use these lists and ideas to complete the assignment below.

In class please complete the following writing assignment:

1. Choose one of the genres of fantasy from your notes (see post below this one). Select a character and setting for your story. On top of your page, indicate the choices you have made. For example: (in your heading) sword and sorcery.
2. Use the notes you completed with your group from The Tales of Beedle the Bard to get ideas for plots, characters, settings, morals or messages.
3. Write a fantasy story in which a character learns a valuable lesson (either good or bad). Do NOT indicate in the story what the morale or message is directly. You may, however, hint at the meaning or message.
4. Your story should have three distinct parts to it: a problem, a complication (it is typical to have at least 2 complications), and a solution. Your story is not complete if it does not have these three parts to it.
5. Type up your story. This is a draft and worth writing credit. Before you print your story, you should proofread and prepare your story for a reader's eyes. Correct all mistakes and format your story correctly!

Grammar help:

How to format a narrative story in prose.
How to punctuate dialogue correctly.
Common misspelled words.
Its/It's and Their, There, They're
Too, to, two

If you need grammar help, take a look at these videos:

• The Punctuation Song
• Punctuation
• Grammar Time: The Comma
• How to Use Commas Correctly 
• Grammar Time: The Verb
• The Tale of Mr. Morton: Subject & Predicate

HOMEWORK: Review grammar videos for your next class for Ms. Perez. If you have not completed your fantasy story, please complete it for homework.

J.K. Rowling: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Today in groups of 2-3, please complete the analysis sheet and classwork notes for the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

After analyzing these stories, please move on to the following writing assignment:

1. Choose one of the genres of fantasy from your notes (see post below this one). Select a character and setting for your story.
2. Use the notes you completed with your group from The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
3. Write a fantasy story in which a character learns a valuable lesson (either good or bad). Do NOT indicate in the story what the morale or message is directly. You may, however, hint at the meaning or message.
4. Your story should have three distinct parts to it: a problem, a complication (it is typical to have at least 2 complications), and a solution.
5. Type up your story. This is a draft and worth writing credit. Before you print your story, you should proofread and prepare your story for a reader's eyes. Correct all mistakes and format your story correctly!

HOMEWORK: Write in your journal this weekend. Read the article "Getting Ready to Write" and try one or both of the prompts. You may also choose your own idea, if you'd like.

Writing Genre: Fantasy (an introduction)

There are quite a few speculative and fantasy genres that writers tend to write in. Each has its own "feel" or "tone" and there are a few rules writers in these genres follow.

It can be helpful to note which genres are which so that you can select reading material more accurately or when you are writing, you can SEND the right message to the right AUDIENCE or receiver.

Fantasy fiction is a wide genre suited to the fantasist reader. A fantasist is someone who enjoys escaping into another world when reading a book. They often prefer fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, historical romance, horror, and action/adventure genres when reading--anything to get them out of their own world and skin. They often feel displaced in the wrong body or time period, and enjoy the imagination of a made-up, fictional world. A fantasist is the opposite, usually, of a REALIST, who prefers realistic settings and characters when reading.

Fantasy as a genre has what fantasists like best: a strange or exciting world in which to lose themselves in, often an epic story with a lot of action, weird occurrences, strange characters, and the best part: it's not OUR reality. Laws and physics do not work the same as in realist fiction.

Fantasy can be described as fiction with elements of magic, unknown monsters, creatures, strange beings, and make-believe worlds. While many consider knights in armor, mystical elves, and burly dwarves swinging axes (thanks to the role playing industry) to be the staples of fantasy, there are other aspects to it as well. Here's an overview of the fantasy genres in fiction:

High or Epic Fantasy Genre
The high or epic fantasy genre is probably the most recognized by the general public. In high or epic fantasy, knights go on quests, fair maidens need rescuing, and the general theme is usually Good vs. Evil. This fantasy genre is set in a pseudo-medieval world of kings and queens. It often has powerful wizards, bands of adventurers, and multiple quests to undertake. The narrative scope is large and vast, and often spread out over several books in a series. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece The Lord of the Rings are just two examples.

Sword and Sorcery Fantasy Genre
The sword and sorcery fantasy genre is akin to Dungeons & Dragons games put in type. With similar characteristics of high or epic fantasy, sword and sorcery has a much smaller scope. One band of adventurers is going on one quest. There is often a lot of action involved.

Alternate History Fantasy Genre
This fantasy genre takes a snippet of real-life history and warps it to include fantasy elements. For example, an alternate history fantasy novel may be about WWII and how the goblins played a hand in defeating the Nazis.

One popular sub-genre of alternate history is steampunk. Set in Victorian or Edwardian era, steampunk fantasy incorporates steam-powered technology in often suprising or fantasic ways.

Urban or Contemporary Fantasy Genre
Urban or contemporary fantasy differ only in that urban fantasy is set in a city and is sometimes darker in nature than contemporary. Harry Potter is an example of contemporary fantasy (although taken together it is also Epic). These fantasy genres combine magical beings or spells with modern socity.

Dark Fantasy
The dark fantasy genre is, by definition, dark. It often overlaps both the urban fantasy genre and horror. Vampires, demons rising from the underworld, and Lovecraftian stories are dark fantasy. What makes a story dark fantasy rather than straight horror is often the medieval type setting, or more emphasis on paranormal themes over simply scaring the pants off the reader.

Other Fantasy Genres
There are other fantasy genres besides the ones listed above. Elfpunk is a sub-genre in which fantasy creatures such as elves, dwarves, and fairies enter into, or are a part of, ultra-modern 'punk' society. Erotic fantasy has a strong overshadow of sex, while romantic fantasy is more subtle in the love plots. Mythic fantasy uses classic myths or legends to introduce the fantasy elements. There are science fantasy crossovers from classic science fiction, and even comic fantasy. Fairy tales and myths are also a type of fantasy genre.

There are many worlds in which to explore.

BOA Editions Opportunity

We have been given 10-15 tickets to attend BOA's annual fundraiser Dine & Rhyme. Featured poets are Dorianne Laux and Nin Andrews. They will also be reading from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, a recent BOA publication.

The event takes place this Sunday (September 23) at 3:00 at the auditorium of the Memorial Art Gallery (right next door to us).

If you are interested in joining us, please let me or Ms. Gamzon know ASAP so we can reserve you a ticket. If you go, you will get extra credit.

J.K. Rowling's Tales & Assignment

It is often helpful to know who the writer you're currently reading is. Please go to J.K. Rowling's website and find out 3 interesting things about her. Write these 3 things on an index card and turn the card in by the end of class today with the assignment below.

Then take a look at her WEBSITE and see what you think of its design. Later in this course you will be asked to design a blog. Paying attention to websites that you find graphically effective are a first step in effective and useful design. It's all part of publication, baby!

Listen to J.K. Rowling read. This is one of the reasons you are taking this course. At some point in your life you will be asked to read your original work in public. It may be sooner than you think. As you listen to Rowling read, pay attention to how she presents the material. Note her speed, tone, emotion, eye contact, delivery, enunciation, etc. On the back of the index card where you placed 3 interesting things about Rowling, evaluate her reading of "The Magic Fountain."

The Magic Fountain (reading by J.K. Rowling)
The Tale of Three Brothers (from Harry Potter)

HOMEWORK: Please read the last three stories in Tales of Beedle the Bard. We will discuss this book next class.

The Communication Process

 Watch the following videos about the communication process:

A Brief History of Communication (animated film)
A Brief History of Communication (commercial)
Communication: Sender/Receiver: Abbott & Costello skit

Take a few minutes to read about and take notes on the communication process. Take careful note of vocabulary words in caps and bold.

The communication process starts with a person getting an IDEA (or reason to communicate). We will call this person: the SENDER.

1. The sender comes up with an idea or reason to communicate.
2. The sender ENCODES this idea with words or symbols
3. The sender chooses a type of communication and sends his/her message to a RECEIVER.
4. After receiving the message, the receiver DECODES the message.
5. The receiver receives the original message or idea.
if communication is to continue as conversation, the receiver becomes the sender and starts the process again, responding to what was originally communicated.

Why should I care? 
--Communication is one of the most important activities a person can engage in.
--Communication allows us to express ourselves
--Communication allows us to learn new things or meet new people
--Communication builds friendships, loyalties, love, and trust between people
--Effective communication allows us to avoid damaging or hurtful events or situations
--Ineffective communication is often the reason people engage in conflict, war, or destructive activities
--As writers, we have to communicate our ideas with our audience. The better we can do this, the more effective we can be.

There are a variety of ways in which an author or speaker can make communication more effective.

Take a few minutes to watch these videos about the failure in the communication process. Try to note what the problem communication is, and who is responsible for effective communication.

From: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
 Fawlty Towers (John Cleese)
The Evolution of Communication (Social Media) (animated film for EMC)
Communication (Animated)
Effective Communication commercial

Book Talk #1: Short Story Summary & Conversation

For homework, I asked you to select one of the short stories linked below this post and to read it. You will be reading a lot as a creative writing major. Reading is necessary for you to:

1. Get ideas for your own stories/poems/plays, etc.
2. See models of good writing (so you know how to write well yourself)
3. Learn how a story/poem/play is put together artistically
4. To learn about all sorts of things you might not have known before
5. For entertainment or to become a better communicator and/or reader

Before we begin, please take a few minutes to complete the handout I give you. Complete the handout.

When instructed, please get into small assigned groups. You will be engaging in CONVERSATION about the story you read. The other group members will be grading you on how well you communicate and relate the story you read to them. This exercise encourages you to communicate effectively in (hopefully) low-stress situations.

To get ready for this exercise you should be familiar enough with the plot, the characters, setting, point of view (POV) and general theme of the story you read. You may consult the notes you took in your journal for this purpose.

After this exercise, please either continue or finish your Interview short story draft (see posts below), or work on reading the homework (or exploring J.K. Rowling's website...also see below).

HOMEWORK: Please read the first two stories in The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling. Take a look at her WEBSITE and see what you think of its design. You can also learn about the author and what's new.

Types of Speech Communication

Today in class: In your journal/notebook, please read and take notes on the following information about communication:

There are two types of basic communication that we, as humans, engage in. They are:

1. Interpersonal communication: communication between two or more people, usually through words, symbols, gestures, or expressions.

and

2. Intrapersonal communication: communication with the self. Thoughts, feelings, and prayers are often different types of intrapersonal communication.

We are going to focus on interpersonal communication in this class. There are several general types of interpersonal communication:

• 1. One-to-one communication: talking with one other person. Conversation is the most basic form of this, either face-to-face, or in an interview, or on the telephone, but it can also be writing (the author communicating with a reader, for example) or texting or typing an email.
• 2. Group discussion: talking with more than one other person (usually 2 or more) with a common purpose in mind. Often this common purpose is to solve a common problem, to share an idea or information, to make a decision about something, or to answer a question.
• 3. Public communication: a form of interpersonal communication in which one or more people communicate with an audience. A typical example might include the communication that happens between a performer and an audience in a theatrical production, for example, or public speaking. Public communication also includes oral interpretation, reader's theater, improv, all sorts of performances or even film.
• 4. Mass communication: one person (or several people) communicate with a very large group of listeners or an audience. Usually the listeners/audience are not physically present when the person sends his/her message. Delivery of the sender's message is usually through technology, like television, the computer, or through film or radio.

Make sure you've written down and noted the difference between these types of interpersonal communication techniques. You will be tested on this information.

Today's Agenda

Today, please read and complete the assignments for the following two blog entries.

It is important to READ these blog posts carefully so that you are not confused with daily activities, homework assignments, and key concepts covered in class. You may find it helpful to TAKE NOTES on important vocabulary, concepts, writing tips, and assignment deadlines in your journal.

1. Continue and/or complete your short story draft started last class. See post below for specific directions.
2. Read about short stories in the post below, visit the link for the short fiction, then for HOMEWORK select one short story from the list and prepare to talk about it next class.

NOTE: for our homework, if you do NOT have computer access at home, please download the PDF (click on PDF if given the option) and PRINT the story from your computer today before you leave.

A Short History of the Short Story & Some Reading

Students often ask: "How long should my story be?" instead of realizing that any story needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. This sort of open ended question really has no answer. How long should a story be? Well, traditionally, short stories are shorter than novels. That's a good place to begin.

Short stories are shorter than novels, and are usually not as complex or involved. Short stories were originally meant to be read in one sitting. As our culture has sped ahead, and we don't have much free time, short stories have become as short as a sentence or two and as long as the traditional short stories, fewer than 20,000 words. A short novel is about 50,000 words. Most publishers want novels that are anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 words or more.

Usually a short story focuses on only one event or incident. It usually has a single plot, a single setting, a small number of characters, and covers a short period of time. Most writing students start off writing short stories because they are manageable. But the form is tricky and hard to perfect. Many authors spend their whole lives learning the craft of writing short fiction.

Longer short stories usually contain elements of dramatic structure: exposition (the introduction of setting, situation and main characters); complication (the event that introduces the conflict); rising action (development of the conflict), crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and her commitment to a course of action); climax (the point of highest tension and the point the protagonist faces her antagonist); resolution (the point when the conflict is resolved); and a sense of enlightenment, epiphany, or moral.

Short stories may or may not follow this pattern. Some do not follow patterns at all. Modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition. An abrupt beginning, with the story starting in the middle of the action (in media res) is more standard or typical.

Usually all short stories have a turning point and climax, but endings may be sudden or what is called "open"--leaving the story incomplete. As with all art forms, short stories will vary by author.

Read a few short short stories here. Discuss with your neighbor which stories are best and try to figure out why.

Then continue to write your short story using your interview notes (see post below).

HOMEWORK: For homework, select one of the following short stories and read it. Be prepared next class to talk about the story you read in a small group of students. You should be familiar enough with the plot, the characters, setting, point of view (POV) and general theme. Take notes on the story to answer these questions in your journal. Bring your journal to class Friday.

Select any of the following stories to complete your homework:

Horror or Suspense Stories
The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe
The Cats of Ulthar by H. P. Lovecraft
The Picture in the House by H. P. Lovecraft
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
Hobnail by Crystal Arbogast
The Judge's House by Bram Stoker
The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Humorous or Satirical Stories
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
A Telephone Call by Dorothy Parker
2BRO2B by Kurt Vonnegut

Fantasy Stories
A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
A Witch Shall be Born by Robert E. Howard
The Jewels of Gwahlur by Robert E. Howard 
The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde   

Science Fiction Stories
A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury
All Cats Are Gray by Andre Norton
Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick

Mystery or Crime Stories
The Red-Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl 

Classic Short Stories
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
The Lady or the Tiger by Frank Stockton

Miscellaneous and Realistic Stories
One of These Days by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell
Thank You, M'am by Langston Hughes
Flowers by Alice Walker 
Recitatif by Toni Morrison 

For those of you having a hard time reading, due to low reading skills, here's a simpler story:
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter