Second Semester; Ms. Jordan; Handmaid's Tale
We are now entering our second semester. Remember that by the end of this marking period (around March 30) your 3rd portfolio is due.
Some writing advice from Marking Period 2 (and before):
1. Schedule writing at least 1-2 pages of creative work per week. You will be asked to write drafts in the next few weeks to help you keep up with this kind of schedule.
2. Focus on a protagonist dealing with a conflict. This is your story. Don't avoid conflict in your stories. It's the element that makes a story interesting. It reveals your character. You need it. Stories are about a character dealing with a situation (usually a problem or situation out of their control, or at best because of a poor decision). Use models of our reading and see this truth in every successful story we read: a main character must overcome a conflict that threatens his/her way of life: Offred in A Handmaid's Tale, Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar, McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dysart or Alan in Equus, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jennifer Government in Jennifer Government, etc.
4. Build your ideas from earlier drafts. You wrote an essay because you had to. You complained or noticed something profound or annoying. You rambled a vague answer. Whatever you wrote, use it to make a point. Develop your ideas. Outline. Mind map. Brainstorm. Use "homework assignments" to say something about issues that affect our culture, me, you, and even, perhaps, the entire world. We'll listen. Some topics we've covered that are part of our culture or identity:
6. Use imagery. That means visual imagery. That means metaphors, similes, allusions to famous or well-known myths or historical events, figurative language, symbols, etc. Learn the poetic devices we've been teaching you since 9th grade and USE them.
7. Risk. Write something that scares you because it's not like your normal writing. Walk the ledge and at the edge: jump.
8. Learn dialogue punctuation rules.
9. Learn sentence punctuation. Use punctuation in POETRY! Breaking grammar rules in poetry--you are NOT e.e. cummings. Not yet.
10. Write from your soul, not from your apathy or disinterest. Surprise yourself by enjoying the creative process. Try to fall in love with writing again. It's trying to get back with you.
Until March 15, Ms. Jordan will be working with you. While she is under my direction as regards curriculum, she is learning how to instruct high school students and will be directing and writing her own lessons. Please use the link below to check her blog for our course.
Ms. Jordan's Blog:
http://writingxculturesjordan.blogspot.com/
Some writing advice from Marking Period 2 (and before):
1. Schedule writing at least 1-2 pages of creative work per week. You will be asked to write drafts in the next few weeks to help you keep up with this kind of schedule.
2. Focus on a protagonist dealing with a conflict. This is your story. Don't avoid conflict in your stories. It's the element that makes a story interesting. It reveals your character. You need it. Stories are about a character dealing with a situation (usually a problem or situation out of their control, or at best because of a poor decision). Use models of our reading and see this truth in every successful story we read: a main character must overcome a conflict that threatens his/her way of life: Offred in A Handmaid's Tale, Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar, McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Dysart or Alan in Equus, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jennifer Government in Jennifer Government, etc.
- In drafts that do not have a central character, create a central character. Ask yourself: Who's story is this?
- In drafts that do not have an important or significant conflict, add conflict. What does your character want to avoid in his/her life? Once you answer, make this happen to your character.
4. Build your ideas from earlier drafts. You wrote an essay because you had to. You complained or noticed something profound or annoying. You rambled a vague answer. Whatever you wrote, use it to make a point. Develop your ideas. Outline. Mind map. Brainstorm. Use "homework assignments" to say something about issues that affect our culture, me, you, and even, perhaps, the entire world. We'll listen. Some topics we've covered that are part of our culture or identity:
- How do we treat women? What if women had no rights? What if men had no rights in our society? What if we had no gender at all, but were born neuter? What would prom look like then?
- What psychological theories do you agree with or find wacky? What if these theories were true? What if Freud was actually correct about the unconscious? What would a character that is complete id act like? How might a character act under Maslow's "hierarchy of needs"? What if nurture overcame nature?
- Archetypes and tropes are found in every plot humans have ever written. Combine them in dangerous and creative ways. What if the archetypical mother figure is depicted as a femme fatale, or what might be the shadow side be of the President or the Pope, or your own mother?
- What if our daily lives were just part of the Dreamtime?
- What if a typical American teenager was lost in the jungles of Papua New Guinea or the Australian Outback?
- How can we secure an effective educational system for our children? What might education look like 500 years from now?
- Write a stand-up comedy routine. Write an embarrassing story using a style like David Sedaris.
- Cross fairy tales with rap songs. Make a film or write a script where people talk in poetry.
6. Use imagery. That means visual imagery. That means metaphors, similes, allusions to famous or well-known myths or historical events, figurative language, symbols, etc. Learn the poetic devices we've been teaching you since 9th grade and USE them.
7. Risk. Write something that scares you because it's not like your normal writing. Walk the ledge and at the edge: jump.
8. Learn dialogue punctuation rules.
9. Learn sentence punctuation. Use punctuation in POETRY! Breaking grammar rules in poetry--you are NOT e.e. cummings. Not yet.
10. Write from your soul, not from your apathy or disinterest. Surprise yourself by enjoying the creative process. Try to fall in love with writing again. It's trying to get back with you.
Until March 15, Ms. Jordan will be working with you. While she is under my direction as regards curriculum, she is learning how to instruct high school students and will be directing and writing her own lessons. Please use the link below to check her blog for our course.
Ms. Jordan's Blog:
http://writingxculturesjordan.blogspot.com/
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