Creative Writing Packet

Here is a link to the Creative Writing (Unit 2) packet.  If you have misplaced or lost your copy, download it and reprint it for use in class.  If you just forgot your packet at school and need it for homework, you are in luck!

Library Wishlist

Exciting news: we have gotten some money from the PTA to add new books to our classroom library!

If you have ideas for books or series that should be added to our collection, fill out the Google form here.

Example Short Answer

Here is the example short answer I had up in class.  It uses the RACE(CE) format: Restate, Answer, Cite, Explain.

What is the theme of “Invasion from Outer Space”?

The theme of “Invasion from Outer Space,” by Steven Millhauser, is that people crave excitement, even if it involves violence.  Millhauser conveys this when the narrator notes that, when it is discovered that the alien invasion is only harmless dust, the townspeople “could sense the swell of [their] disappointment” (Paragraph 3). The fact that the characters are disappointed that the invaders are simply one-celled organisms demonstrates that they were hoping for something more exciting or even violent.  In fact, this desire for violence is directly demonstrated in the narrator’s explanation of what the townspeople had hoped for.  He observes “we had wanted blood, crushed bones, howls of agony” (Paragraph 4).  That the people of the town yearned for an invasion that involved such extreme violent elements as “crushed bones” and “howls of agony” again proves Millhauser’s theme that people crave excitement, even if it is possibly to their detriment.

Literary Elements HW

Sorry! Somehow I saved this as a draft, rather than actually posting it.  Therefore, I'll just make it officially due Thursday, November 21st.

Do ONE of these two options:

Create a fun graphic that conveys each of the six elements

• This could be a typical plot diagram (above), or something more creative.
• For each element, provide a quote from the text that demonstrates it.

Color code “The Veldt”

• Have a different color for each of the six elements and color or draw a line around the part of the text that corresponds to the element.
• Next to each color-coded section, thoroughly annotate why the author may have chosen to convey the element the way he did OR the effect of the author’s writing on the reader.

Here are the notes on literary elements, in case you missed any in class:

• Exposition: When the author sets up the story by introducing the setting and characters.
• Characterization: When the author reveals the emotional, physical, personality-related characteristics of the people (characters) in the story.
• Conflict:  This is the problem or problems presented in the story.  
• Rising Action: When the conflict gains steam and suspense. When tension or excitement begin to build.
• Climax: This is where the conflict explodes; whatever the problem was, it is front and center at this point in the story.  The outcome of the climax is usually what leads to the resolution.
• Resolution:  This is how the conflict “ends up.” It doesn’t mean the problem needed to be solved: it could be that the resolution is that there IS no resolution. Or it could be that the characters live happily ever after… or die (like in the story we just read!).

"The Veldt" Questions and Notes on Theme

Below are the questions on Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt" that should be completed by class on Monday 11/18.  Here is a link to the short story in case you forgot your packet at school.

1. What is the setting of this story (think time and place).  How do you know?
2. What do George and Lydia see in the “nursery”?  How is this possible?
3. How do Peter and Wendy feel about the nursery?  Provide at least one quote from the text to support your answer.
4. Explain what Lydia Hadley means when she says, “Why don't we shut the whole house off for a few days and take a vacation?”
5. How do Wendy and Peter interact with their parents?  What is their attitude like?  How do George and Lydia treat their children?
6. What did Bradbury want to convey by describing the house, after it had been shut off, like this: “The house was full of dead bodies, it seemed. It felt like a mechanical cemetery.”?
7. What effect does the last line have on the reader?  Why do you think Bradbury would conclude the story this way?
8. What is the theme of this short story? (i.e. What argument is Bradbury making?).  Provide at least one quote from the text to support your answer.
9. Bradbury wrote this story in 1950.  Does it feel out of date? Why or why not?

Note on theme:

Common Theme Confusions:

A theme does NOT relate directly to the details in the story.

• Example: The theme is that people in the town underestimated the dust.
• This is too specific.  A theme is a BIG idea that is based on the story but does not rely on the details.
• Better version:  The theme is that people often underestimate the power of small events.

Careful, though, not to be TOO general:

• Example: The theme is how people respond to certain events.
• This is too general—how DO people respond?  To what KINDS of events?
• Better version:  The theme is that people often respond with excitement to catastrophic events.

November Reading Logs

The November logs (3 due December 3rd) are now posted!  Congrats to Luke, whose prompt was chosen for this month's responses.

Congrats are also in order for our top 20 readers for October:

1. Stina T. 2269
2. Benny H. 1844
3. Kathryn P. 1780
4. Jessica (JT) T. 1734
5. Grayce W. 1679
6. Tara K. 1488
7. Swara K. 1479
8. Max L. 1424
9. Madeline W. 1418
10. Miki M. 1344
11. Daniel J.1311
12. Alessandro C. 1268
13. Tymur K. 1232
14. Will B. 1182
15. Clementine D. 1181
16. Maya I. 1175
17. Maceo T. 1155
18. Oxanna S. 1152
19. Eric Z. 1136
20. Maya M. 1114

Prompts and Outline for Monday's Piece

Here is the outline I distributed in class, in case you decide to change your topic.

Here are the prompts that you could use for Monday.  Keep in mind that you can take any quote from the class packet or the "Worrier Warrior" article and build an argument off of that.

• According to Jean Paul Sartre, “Man is nothing else than his plan…he is therefore nothing else than the ensemble of his acts.”  What is your take on this quote?
• Are we the sum of what we have chosen to do in life, or is there something else going on?
• According to Jean Paul Sartre, “The full responsibility of [man’s] existence rest[s] on him.”  What is your take on this quote?
• Does this seem right or do you want to attribute responsibility for how you have turned out to other people, circumstances, experiences etc.?
• Sartre appears to believe that we always have a choice to accept or reject the influence of something on us.  What is your take on this concept?  Do we have a choice as to how we react to the people and things in our lives that could influence us?
• How have your choices created the person you are today?
• In your own experience, how much influence do parents have on their kids?
• Do your parents work with your “innate tendencies”?
• Do you and your parents agree on what high school you should go to?  Why or why not?
• Do you and your parents agree on your ideas for what career you’d like to pursue?  Why or why not?
• How “like” your parents are you?  Are you more like one parent than another?  Are you a combination?  Why is this significant?
• Do your parents treat you and your siblings differently?  Why?  Do you think this can be explained by genetic factors (or “inherent” personality)?
• Do you have any personality traits that you think were reinforced, changed, or subdued by your parents, friends, experiences etc.?  What does this prove?

Write a response to the "Worrier vs. Warrior" article

• Are you a worrier or a warrior? Somewhere in between?
• Write an essay in which you refute the worrier/warrior concept altogether.
• Write about members of your family as worriers or warriors: where you do think you get your traits from?
• Write about the effect of testing or grades on you:  think of SPECIFIC anecdotes/stories that show the reader how you felt, rather than just telling us about it.

Write a response to the ideas we've discussed this week (Rousseau, Hobbes, SPE, Milgram, etc.)

• How do you think you would you have acted had you been a participant in the Milgram or SP experiments? 
• How would you explain the results of the SP and Milgram experiments?  Why did people do what they did?
• How does civilization affect humanity?  Are we better off with it?  Worse off?  Both?  Neither?
• Why do “good” people do “bad” things?
• Write a response to Nietzsche's concept of the "Will to Power":
• What do people most want in the world?  Is there one essential thing that we all want?
• What do teenagers most want?  Adults?  Kids?  Is there a difference?  
• What do girls most want in life? Boys?  Is there a difference?
• Analyze how, if at all, money and power are related.