Story Draft #3 Due; Preparing Your Portfolio/Coffeehouse Preparation

Period 3:

Complete your draft of your short story. Submit a copy of your story in Google classroom by the end of period 3.

• "A Questionnaire for Rudolph Gordon" (pg. 83-85); Write a short story using only interrogative pronouns (who, what, where, when, how, why or other interrogative stems like "could you, would you, will you, or do you..."); Address your questionnaire to a specific person.
• "Class Notes" (pg. 122-125); Write class notes for your Class of 2022. Tell us in a newsletter style story what happened to all your classmates 30 years from graduation. Make sure you CHANGE the names of your peers before submitting your assignment.
• "Gerald's Song" (186-189): choose a song (google lyrics for example) and use lines from the song between scenes of your story. Lyrics might reflect or comment on the plot or contrast/contribute to character development or theme...

Honor writing time!

Period 4:

Print out and prepare your portfolio. Once you've done that, select 2-3 poems, 1 non-fiction essay or speech + 1 poem or 1 short story; 1 short story + 1 poem, or 1 short story + 2 poems. Select your BEST work. Then, let's go to the ensemble theater to practice.

Rehearse. Practice reading your work out loud. Give each other some feedback:

1. Are you pleasing your audience? Can we hear you? Can we understand you? Are you holding our attention? Are you too unfocused and confusing? Have you put energy into your performance or delivery? Are you boring? Are you making occasional eye-contact with your audience?
2. Are you matching your TONE of voice to the TONE of your speech or story?
3. Are you sincerely trying? [Avoid just going through the motions--an audience can tell that a performer just doesn't care or would rather be doing anything other than speaking...why should we listen to a person like this?]
4. Are you reaching the goals you set out for yourself? Are you following the advice I just gave you?

HOMEWORK: Complete "Sudden Fiction" (pp. 190-223)

Extra Credit Option for MP1 (due Friday, end of class period): For extra credit, complete a 4th or 5th draft of a short story or a new draft of a poem (new poem) that you haven't written yet. NOTE: extra credit does not replace a writing assignment. It is the icing on the cake. It is not the cake itself, figuratively.

Short Story #3; Preparing Your MP1 Portfolio; Journals Due!

Sudden Fiction: "Gerald's Song" pp. 186-189

Period 3: (Short Story #3)

• "A Questionnaire for Rudolph Gordon" (pg. 83-85); Write a short story using only interrogative pronouns (who, what, where, when, how, why or other interrogative stems like "could you, would you, will you, or do you..."); Address your questionnaire to a specific person.
• "Class Notes" (pg. 122-125); Write class notes for your Class of 2022. Tell us in a newsletter style story what happened to all your classmates 30 years from graduation. Make sure you CHANGE the names of your peers before submitting your assignment.
• "Gerald's Song" (186-189): choose a song (google lyrics for example) and use lines from the song between scenes of your story. Lyrics might reflect or comment on the plot or contrast/contribute to character development or theme...

Write another story draft. This one is #3 if you're counting: 500-word short story, hit-man/popular mechanics based story idea, and...this one. 

Honor writing time!

Turn in your journal today.

At the end of period 4 (roughly about 10:15) we'll go to the lab to print out drafts of your poetry, speeches, non-fiction, fiction that you have written this marking period.

HOMEWORK: Complete your draft of your third short story. Choose a short story, 2-3 poems, a speech (expository speech, etc.) or your baseline essay (nonfiction) from your writing. Complete "Sudden Fiction" (pp. 190-223)

Extra Credit Option for MP1 (due Friday, end of class period): For extra credit, complete a 4th or 5th draft of a short story or a new draft of a poem (new poem) that you haven't written yet. NOTE: extra credit does not replace a writing assignment. It is the icing on the cake. It is not the cake itself, figuratively.

More Fiction; More Sudden Fiction

Period 3:

8-Point Story Arc (video)

Please use 3rd period to complete a draft of your short story. When you have completed it, please upload to our Google classroom site.

• "Popular Mechanics" (retell in a new way an old story from the Bible, mythology, or fairy tales...)
• "The Hit Man" (use chapter titles in a similar manner as T.C. Boyle in his short story; write mini-chapters that make up a larger story involving a protagonist)

If you finish early (before 4th period), please work on your homework by reading some of the short stories in the collection.

Period 4: (Short Story #3)

Let's read a few short stories from the Sudden Fiction collection. As we read, in your journal complete the writing prompts I give you in during class. We will have a couple options to develop during our writing time in class. Use the following stories as writing prompts:

• "A Questionnaire for Rudolph Gordon" (pg. 83-85); Write a short story using only interrogative pronouns (who, what, where, when, how, why or other interrogative stems like "could you, would you, will you, or do you..."); Address your questionnaire to a specific person.
• "Class Notes" (pg. 122-125); Write class notes for your Class of 2022. Tell us in a newsletter style story what happened to all your classmates 30 years from graduation. Make sure you CHANGE the names of your peers before submitting your assignment.

Write another story draft. 

Honor writing time!

HOMEWORK: Sudden Fiction - pg. 135-185. Read these stories. In your journal summarize or identify the premise of each story you read. If you are inspired to try your own model of a story, write your draft in your journal. Journals will be collected on Tuesday, Oct. 30. The marking period ends next Friday, Nov. 2.

Sudden Fiction Prompts; Writing Short Stories

Let's read a few short stories from the Sudden Fiction collection. As we read, in your journal complete the writing prompts I give you in during class. We will have a couple options to develop during our writing time in class.

• "Popular Mechanics" (retell in a new way an old story from the Bible, mythology, or fairy tales...)
• "The Hit Man" (use chapter titles in a similar manner as T.C. Boyle in his short story; write mini-chapters that make up a larger story involving a protagonist)

Write that story draft. 

Honor writing time!

HOMEWORK: Sudden Fiction - pg. 126-134; 112-121. Read these stories. In your journal summarize or identify the premise of each story you read. If you are inspired to try your own model of a story, write your draft in your journal. Journals will be collected on Tuesday, Oct. 30. The marking period ends next Friday, Nov. 2.

Short Stories: Day 3

Period 3:

Writing Time:

• In one sentence (a premise) what would you like to write about? [Write your idea in your journal].

Watch at least 3 500-word stories (see link below) and summarize each story in 1 sentence. Write your 1-sentence premise (summary) in your journals. Then, add to this list with some of your own 1-sentence premises. 

• Please watch and listen to at least 3 500-word stories from this site.  You can find the 2017 winners at this link and the 2018 winners at this link too.
• Write a 500-word story. 
• Come up with a short story that should be exactly 500 words in length.
• Subject and genre are completely up to you!
• Use the handout advice to get you started.
• Use the advice from the videos on the web as well.
• Write. Drafts of your stories will be due at the end of class. We'll take a break during period 4 (see below).  

When you have completed your 500-word short story, proofread, print and submit your draft to our Google classroom. If you finish before the 500-word short story is due, write another one in a different style or genre. The possibilities are endless!

Period 4: Sudden Fiction 

Let's take a break and read a few short stories from the Sudden Fiction collection. As we read, in your journal identify:

• POV (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person POV)
• Identify the speaker/protagonist
• Identify the conflict/antagonist
• Identify the setting
• Identify the theme or message of the story. We might also call this the premise. What is the story about?
• How does the title help make meaning or help focus the reader's attention?

HOMEWORK: Sudden Fiction - pg. 91-107.

Short Stories: Day 2

Let's read a couple short stories this morning. As we read, notice the format and how each author uses dialogue, setting, description, language, sentences, a hook, plot elements, and conclusions. For each short story identify:

• POV (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person POV)
• Identify the speaker/protagonist
• Identify the conflict/antagonist
• Identify the setting
• Identify the theme or message of the story. We might also call this the premise. What is the story about?
• How does the title help make meaning or help focus the reader's attention?

Writing Time:

Watch at least 3 500-word stories (see link below) and summarize each story in 1 sentence. Write your 1-sentence premise (summary) in your journals. Then, add to this list with some of your own 1-sentence premises. 

• Please watch and listen to at least 3 500-word stories from this site.  You can find the 2017 winners at this link and the 2018 winners at this link too.
• Write a 500-word story. 
• Come up with a short story that should be exactly 500 words in length.
• Subject and genre are completely up to you!
• Use the handout advice to get you started.
• Use the advice from the videos on the web as well.
• Write. Drafts of your stories will be due next class most probably. 

When you have completed your 500-word short story, proofread, print and submit your draft to our Google classroom. If you finish before the 500-word short story is due, write another one in a different style or genre. The possibilities are endless!

HOMEWORK: Sudden Fiction - pg. 3-15

Short Stories: Day 1

Short stories:

Take a look at our introduction to short stories from Shmoop and How to Read Short Stories. Note any vocabulary that seems important concerning the short story.

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.

Let's read a couple short stories this morning. As we read, notice the format and how each author uses dialogue, setting, description, language, sentences, a hook, plot elements, and conclusions. For each short story identify:

• POV (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person POV)
• Identify the speaker/protagonist
• Identify the conflict/antagonist
• Identify the setting
• Identify the theme or message of the story. We might also call this the premise. What is the story about?
• How does the title help make meaning or help focus the reader's attention?

Writing Time:

Watch at least 3 500-word stories (see link below) and summarize each story in 1 sentence. Write your 1-sentence premise (summary) in your journals. Then, add to this list with some of your own 1-sentence premises. 

• Please watch and listen to at least 3 500-word stories from this site.  You can find the 2017 winners at this link and the 2018 winners at this link too.
• Write a 500-word story. 
• Come up with a short story that should be exactly 500 words in length.
• Subject and genre are completely up to you!
• Use the handout advice to get you started.
• Use the advice from the videos on the web as well.
• Write. Drafts of your stories will be due soon. 

When you have completed your 500-word short story, proofread, print and submit your draft to our Google classroom. If you finish before the 500-word short story is due, write another one in a different style or genre. The possibilities are endless!

HOMEWORK: Sudden Fiction - pg. 17-63. Summarize each story in 1 or 2 sentences for each story you read. Keep these summaries in your journal. I will be checking your journal in two weeks.

Performance Poetry; Practice & Recital; Sudden Fiction

Returning to the tradition of performance--all poetry was meant to be sung or performed, let's take a look at some contemporary examples that sort of cross the genres a bit. As you watch/listen to the performance, note in your journal what you noticed about the performance and how the poet grabbed your attention. How, for example, was the performance effective in your opinion?

Derrick Brown

• "A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me"
• "Meat Loaf"
• "Cotton in the Air"

What's your reaction? Let's discuss.

Now it's your turn to perform. Take a look at all the poem drafts you've written this past week. Hopefully, you have a few options. If you only wrote 1 poem, you're stuck with it. Otherwise, pick a poem you wrote that you would like to "perform" for the class. Go next door to print out a copy of your selected poem to use as a "script" for your rehearsal and performance.

Additionally, please submit your Google file with your poem drafts (as many as you have from the last two weeks) into Google Classroom (see assignment instructions there...)

1. Read and rehearse your poem with a partner. Every student should work with another person/peer.
2. Give suggestions and help each other perform better. Consider the tips we talked about with our speeches. Give each other some feedback:

• Are you pleasing your audience? Can we hear you? Can we understand you? Are you holding our attention? Are you too unfocused and confusing? Have you put energy into your performance or delivery? Are you boring? Are you making occasional eye-contact with your audience?
• Are you matching your TONE of voice to the TONE of your poem?
• Are you sincerely trying? [Avoid just going through the motions--an audience can tell that a performer just doesn't care or would rather be doing anything other than speaking...why should we listen to a person like this?]
• Are you reaching the goals you set out for yourself? 

When time is called, please deliver your poem to the whole class.

Remember: Good speakers...

• Make eye contact
• Speak clearly and loudly
• Use gestures
• Have energy
• Change tone
• Perform with sincerity

At the end of class, please pick up the short story collection: Sudden Fiction (see homework).

HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories on pages: 3-32. Type up and submit to me any poem drafts you did not submit in class today.

Come join us for the closing night of the Creative Writing Department's production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore tonight, Friday at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. Creative writing students attend free, but we'd like to challenge you to bring a friend or family member. Tickets are $5 and available at the door. This is a fundraiser for the department. Extra credit for those who attend.

Poetry: Billy Collins; Lucille Clifton; Derrick Brown

We will continue to read and work on poetry exercises drawn from our reading of Billy Collins and Lucille Clifton.

Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is one of the oldest art forms in history. Poetry is human language used for its aesthetic (or beautiful) qualities in addition to, or instead of, its content. In other words: poetry, like art, should inspire, move, motivate, or make the reader/viewer or listener feel something. 

Sometimes this happens. Sometimes it doesn't. Welcome to the fickle world of Art. Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but in the meantime, write. Everything you write creatively is practice. Practice will help you gain the skills you need to be successful.

Poetry consists largely of oral (spoken) or literary (written) works in which language is used creatively or artistically to evoke or create an emotion, idea, or feeling.

Poems frequently rely on imagery, word association, structure, and the musical qualities of our language. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what makes poetry.

Poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuanced meaning can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitiveinterpretation. This often frustrates a reader--particularly a person who needs a definite answer to the question: what does this mean? 

Poetry is different from prose, which is language meant to convey meaning in a clearer and less abstract way (often through story telling). Prose frequently uses more complete logical or narrative structures than poetry does. This does not necessarily imply that poetry is illogical or does not tell a story or narrative, but rather that poetry is often created from the need to escape the logical, as well as expressing feelings and human emotions in a tight, condensed manner. Poetry looks different from prose on the page as well. Poetry is traditionally written using line breaks. 

What is generally accepted as "great" poetry is debatable in many cases. "Great" poetry usually follows the characteristics listed above, but it is also set apart by its complexity and sophistication. For some of you, the material presented in this unit is sophisticated, often abstract, and difficult. Try. That's all we can do. The more you try, the better you will learn, and the more skilled and comfortable you will become when approaching the art of poetry or abstract concepts in music, art, dance, and theater.

"Great" poetry, by the way, generally captures images vividly and in an original, refreshing way, while weaving together poetic or literary elements like theme, conflict, characterization, diction, complex human emotion, and profound reflective thought. 

Before we move on, let's define and classify poetry a bit. Definitions will help you understand (and hopefully appreciate) what options you have in writing poetry. Originally, poetry was meant to be spoken out loud and performed, often accompanied to the music of a lyre (or 3 stringed harp). In "songs" called dithyrambs, poetry was sung for an audience. These poets were the first rock stars! Here are the 4 types of poetry classifications or broad genres (and the kinds of poems associated with that type):

Lyric: Brief, often emotional poems that focus on the musicality or sound of words, and rhythm. Kinds of lyrical poems include:

• Songs
• Rap or hip hop
• Ode or panegyric
• Elegy or lament
• Paean
• Pastoral (idyll, bucolic, georgic, or eclogue)
• Ekphrasis
• Parody
• Occasional verse (epithalamia, etc.)
• Riddle
• Concrete
• Sonnet
• Villanelle
• Sestina
• Haiku
• Free verse

Narrative: a longer poem that often tells a story or includes fictional literary elements, such as dialogue, development of character, or plot:

• Allegory
• Ballad
• Fable
• Epistle
• Light verse
• Romance
• Satire

Dramatic: a poem meant to be read aloud or staged; a play written in verse:

• Monologue
• Masque
• Soliloquy
• Slam or spoken word
• Tragedy
• Comedy

Epic: a long narrative poem that celebrates heroic or historic deeds and events. Because of their length and complexity, we will not be writing epics, but you might come across them in your English classes:

• Heroic epic
• Mock epic

Returning to the tradition of performance--all poetry was meant to be sung or performed, let's take a look at some contemporary examples that sort of cross the genres a bit. As you watch/listen to the performance, note in your journal what you noticed about the performance and how the poet grabbed your attention. How, for example, was the performance effective in your opinion?

Derrick Brown

• "A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me"
• "Meat Loaf"
• "Cotton in the Air"

Now it's your turn to perform. Take a look at all the poem drafts you've written this past week. Hopefully, you have a few options. If you only wrote 1 poem, you're stuck with it. Otherwise, pick a poem you wrote that you would like to "perform" for the class.

1. Read and rehearse your poem with a partner. Every student should work with another person/peer.
2. Give suggestions and help each other perform better. Consider the tips we talked about with our speeches. Give each other some feedback:

• Are you pleasing your audience? Can we hear you? Can we understand you? Are you holding our attention? Are you too unfocused and confusing? Have you put energy into your performance or delivery? Are you boring? Are you making occasional eye-contact with your audience?
• Are you matching your TONE of voice to the TONE of your poem?
• Are you sincerely trying? [Avoid just going through the motions--an audience can tell that a performer just doesn't care or would rather be doing anything other than speaking...why should we listen to a person like this?]
• Are you reaching the goals you set out for yourself? 

When time is called, please deliver your poem to the whole class.

Remember: Good speakers...

• Make eye contact
• Speak clearly and loudly
• Use gestures
• Have energy
• Change tone
• Perform with sincerity

HOMEWORK: Prepare your poem if you did not perform today. Be ready to perform your chosen poem draft for the class!

Poetry: Day 3

Let's take a look at Shmoop's explanation of what a poem is all about. And we'll read a couple.

Get it? Questions? 

Let's break it down. Poems should have a structure. They look different sitting on a page. They are not written like prose is written. They are special. However, they should be written using punctuation. Paragraphs in poems are called stanzas. When we change the topic or scene, we can start a new stanza. 

Poems are written using line breaks. Line breaks are important--because they mean something in a poem. A long line slows the pace of your poem. A short line speeds up the pace of your poem.

Structure: Dice poem exercise... Get ready to write. Follow these rules:

• Select a subject from your journal list. Or, since you're going to use dice, choose one of these themes: chance or fate, gambling, randomness, games, probability, etc.
• Select 2 dice from the pile.
• Roll both dice to determine the # of lines for your poem.
• As you write each line, roll both dice to determine the number of words in each line of the poem.
• Write that poem in your Google drive. 

Take 10 minutes to do this.

Poetry Reading & exercises. 

As we read, we'll stop occasionally and write poetry drafts. By the end of today, you will have enough drafts to choose a poem to perform for the class.

HOMEWORK: Write and revise poetry.