Fight The Power

Much non-fiction writing is aimed at speaking out against a force of opposition.  Take a look at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter From Birmingham Jail" and you will see exactly how non-fiction writing fights the powers that be. 

Your life is surrounded by forces that push and pull you in different directions.  Using a 5 paragraph Schaffer Model you will explore the powers that you fight. 

For the next five days of class we will build towards this essay piece by piece.  Don't rush ahead until you know where you are going.

Odyssey Love

Valentine's Day is on the way; love is in the air.  With that in mind, LOOK at this picture by Romare Beardon.  Use this picture as your inspiration for a discussion of "love" in The Odyssey.  Think about these questions:

Who is loving who?  Is their love true?  You can talk about love as shown in the painting, or love as represented in Homer's "The Odyssey".  300 words or more.

THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION OF LOVE IN YOUR OWN LIFE

Adventure Writing

Webster’s Dictionary defines an adventure as, “an exciting or remarkable experience,” or, “an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks.”

Write a minimum of 300 words describing an adventure you have had in your life.  Describe in detail the people and the places involved.  Make sure you discuss the conflicts encountered in your adventure and discuss the resolutions.

Laws of Life Essay

Please read the following document: 

How to Write a Laws of Life Essay

Then, post your Laws of Life essay here.

Remember to check the following:

 Is the essay 500 to 700 words?

 Does the essay clearly state a Law of Life, expressed as a saying or quote?

       Does the essay relate to YOUR life experiences?

Bonus Blog--Semester Reflection

In 300 words or more reflect on the first semester of your freshman year in high school.  Use the following questions to guide your reflection:

How can you improve next semester?
How did you grow or change as an individual?
What mistakes did you make and how can you correct them or how DID you correct them?
Is your experience at Westlake meeting your expectations so far?

Remember, these questions are just a guide and you are free to structure your reflection however you see fit.

Thanksgiving Stanzas

Write a poem about Thanksgiving.  Your poem can be about what giving thanks means to you, or it can be about the food, or it can be about Indians and Pilgrims.

Your poem must follow the following form:

3 Stanzas
4 lines per stanza
Rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF

For example:

Thanksgiving leaves crunch;
The west-wind blows in cool.
Families gather in a bunch
Children act a fool.

The bird goes in the oven hot,
Plucked clean and basted juicy.
The gravy steams out of the pot;
Let's eat the golden goosey!

Assembled 'round the table set
The dinner makes us happy.
After dinner we soon forget
And take a November nappy.

Personal Poetry

1.  Select a poem from The Poetry Foundation.

2.  Paste your poem into the blog.

3.  Who wrote the poem?

4.  What is the poem about?

5.  How does it make you feel?

6.  What words does the poet use to evoke imagery?

Identifying Your Monologue

In this blog post you will choose the monologue, aside, or soliloquy that you will perform in class between November 7th and 9th.  

First, state who is speaking, in what act and what scene.

Second, state to whom they are speaking.

Third, indicate if the lines are part of a monologue, a soliloquy or an aside.

Finally, explain how you can personally connect with the selection that you have chosen.

Your post should be a minimum of 250 words.

Tragic Flaw

What is your greatest weakness – the tragic or fatal flaw – that always brings you down?  Where did it come from?  How do you cope with it?  Use examples to explore this concept fully.  Explain your answer in 250 words or more.

Create a Story From a Picture

In 250 words or more create a story from the picture you see here:

Dinner Party Dialogue

First, read Ginny Wiehardt’s piece on writing dialogue.

Now, imagine you are at a fancy dinner.  The guests in attendance are the characters from our fiction unit.  Write a story/dialogue piece where the characters speak to each other.  You decide what they say but to achieve credit for this assignment they must say something relevant to their actions in the story.  For example, the very old man with enormous wings might say, “I hate it when the butter gets caught in my wings, it’s hard to fly when that happens.”  Your post should include conversation from each of the characters listed below and be a total of 400 words.

Montressor

Fortunato

Rainsford

Ivan

Whitney

Zaroff

Mr. Summers

Mrs. Hutchinson

Tessie Hutchinson

Toto

Joel

Their Parents

Their Classmates

Bill

The Man

The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Following a Character

This is a three part post.

First, select a character from either "The Lottery" or
"Love of Life" and follow their progression through the story.  You will comment on how their character changes from the beginning to the middle to the end.

Second, choose a line from either story and explain why that line is important to the story.

Finally, write about a personal connection you made with either text.  This whole response should be at least 350 words.

An Old Man With Wings?

After reading the two short stories--A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings and Light is Like Water, make up a short story of your own.  Your story should borrow from the school of Magical-Realism in that you will bring together something completely normal and everyday with something surreal/magical and far-out.  Your post should be at least 300 words long.

Being in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

Think about a time when you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Maybe you were there by accident, or maybe you were there on account of someone else. 
Whatever the reason, write about your experience now.  Your contribution should be at least 250 words.