Writing Across Cultures

Today we will learn about French culture. As you learn about these pieces please take note so that you can do the following project: 1. Write something in France. Use history, culture, etc. that you learn today to create French characters, settings, conflicts, plots, etc. 2. Take notes about France to compare our culture with France's culture. Some of you may travel later in your life. You may wish to stop in or fly through France. Get to know it. 3. Be polite and pay attention to the work of your peers. You may learn something about giving a presentation. You may learn something about the topic. You may learn something. Please use the links to take notes on the following questions (homework for Tuesday). You may use this information to help you answer your homework (due TUESDAY): Existentialism Albert Camus 1. Jot down a few notes about Camus' life and biography. Answer: who was he, why is he important to Western Civilization. 2. In your own words explain Camus...

Today please prepare your French Presentation (starting on Friday). You may choose a newsletter, a brochure, a prezi, a powerpoint, a film, a speech, or any kind of project you can finish by Friday. Use your notes that you have researched and select the BEST PARTS of the material that a writer might need to know about your topic if he/she was going to set a story in France (because you will be doing just that.) You may also work on your portfolio and revising your work. Whiule in the lab, take some time (about 10-15 minutes) to read about Albert Camus and existentialism. Please use the links to take notes on the following questions (homework for Tuesday, next week). You may use this information to help you answer your homework (due TUESDAY): Existentialism Albert Camus 1. Jot down a few notes about Camus' life and biography. Answer: who was he, why is he important to Western Civilization. 2. In your own words explain Camus' view on Absurdity . 3. In your own wo...

Dialogue Tips • Fastest way to advance the action of the story • Reveals characters & provides characterization • Provides exposition in a more realistic way • Effective dialogue depends on an ability to listen and develop an ear for the way people speak. How Can I Make My Dialogue Sound Real? • Speak in short sentences • Speak in fragments • Change the subject • Digress • Use Colloquialism/verisimilitude • Answer questions with questions or avoid answering • Ignore what’s being said by the other person • Respond to things that haven’t been said • Repeat words or expressions THINGS TO AVOID: Avoid dialogue about nothing. This is annoying. Cut "Ums, and Oh's, and Well, and So, and other paralanguage from your dialogue. This is fine in speech, but doesn't belong in a carefully constructed story.  Speaker Tags Always use tags when it may be unclear who is speaking. In two person scenes tags may not be necessary after the first one or two. 3...

Today you have time in the lab to do the following tasks (attempt them in any order). 1. We are currently in our French unit. Research your French topic if you haven't done so yet. Presentations will be delivered next week along with your test and discussion on The Stranger.   2. Write something new. We are currently in our French unit. We have covered French children's fiction lately ( The Little Prince, Babar, Madeline, The Red Balloon ). Write a story for children inspired by one of these, for example. OR: we have read poetry and fiction from contemporary French poets and writers. Use any theme or setting or idea from one of these readings to inspire your own work. OR: You are reading The Stranger which has to do with existentialism . Look up and read about existentialism or any philosophical idea you can find on the web and use it to inspire your own writing. OR: write a personal reflection (like a memoir) about any idea we have dealt with this year that you have no...

Okay, this is a long blog post. I'm sorry about that, but it's long overdue. Use this class period to read and consider these revision and writing tips. WHY IS THIS POST HERE? Many students (from your portfolio reflections) have been wondering or bothered about revision. How does one revise? What should one revise? How can I make my writing stronger and more artistic? Well, there are answers here if you care enough to read them. When revising: Consider changing the form (would this piece work better as a poem, play, or an essay?) Consider changing the protagonist (does your character change? Is your protagonist interesting and involved in the plot?) Consider theme, setting, and detail that is often left out of a first draft Consider the arrangement of your plot. Is your story too predictable? Too obvious? You may wish to arrange your story as a circular plot or pattern or as a flashback as opposed to linear. Revise and craft sentence or structure of your writing to...

Albert Lamorisse's childhood fantasy film The Red Balloon won the best original screenplay in 1956 and was a featured favorite at the Cannes film festival . Watch the film. You may also respond to this, as you would respond to the French contemporary material you will read in class today (i.e., take any theme and write about it; use the style of the author and try your own hand at creating a poem, short story, etc. with it; set a story or poem in France, write a French children's story or narrative poem in verse--oh, the possibilities are endless!) HOMEWORK: Complete the packet of reading. P.S. While we've been reading a bit of French children's literature, I don't want to forget about Madeline . You can find more about her here .  For a parody of style, you might appreciate Werner Herzog Reads Madeline. Herzog is a German filmmaker best known for such works as: Into the Abyss (2012) Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) Encounters at the End of the World (2...

During period 1, we will prepare our pieces and rehearse for coffeehouse. After all students present have a chance to prepare and rehearse, we will read a selection from The Little Prince and if time allows, watch the film The Red Balloon . Speaking of children's lit in France, here's a favorite: Babar, the Elephant. HOMEWORK: continue researching and taking notes on French culture. Keep reading The Stranger .

Your portfolios are due today. Please turn them in. After our discussion of French Culture and a bit of reading/writing, we will practice our pieces for the coffeehouse next week. Some info mentioned in class: Antoine de Saint Exupery's The Little Prince . STORY IDEA: write a short children's story and illustrate it. Include elements of fairy tales or adventure or morals as you see fit. Remember that most children stories deal with young protagonists growing up. Take a look at this video discussing America's relationship with France when you get a chance. HOMEWORK: Continue researching French topics you signed up for last class. The benefit of research is two-fold: 1. You learn to assess important information and separate that from faulty or non-important information. A good skill to have in college, life, and etc. 2. For a writer, research is essential. Those tid-bits of trivial information can spark an idea for a creative project. If you never search ...

Let's take a moment to chat about France. Today, please pick up a copy of The Stranger by Albert Camus and begin reading it. You should aim to complete the book by next week. Information concerning Camus, existentialism, and the book will be forthcoming. In the library lab today, please do the following tasks: 1. Sign up for and research a French topic. See hand-out sheet for info. Check out this website and then continue to research on your own the topic you have selected. Take notes on relevant information on your topic that a writer might use. 2. Work on preparing your portfolio. Portfolios are due March 14. No late portfolios will be accepted from now on. Please plan accordingly and prepare your portfolio ahead of time. You should have a few poetry drafts (from Mexico and South American poet exercises) Surrealism or fairy tale creative response Ethics creative response A reflection that discusses your work and areas you are in need of help Various projects...

Portfolios are due March 14. No late portfolios will be accepted from now on. Please plan accordingly and prepare your portfolio ahead of time. You should have a few poetry drafts (from Mexico and South American poet exercises) Surrealism or fairy tale creative response Ethics creative response A reflection that discusses your work and areas you are in need of help Various projects  Revisions from any material from marking periods 1-4. Please include original or previous drafts.  FORUM RESPONSE: Pan's Labyrinth . Please post a response to the film Pan's Labyrinth to our forum. Coffeehouse Performances will take place on March 21 at 7:00 in the Ensemble Theater. Attendance for seniors is required. HOMEWORK: Prepare your portfolio.

The Archetypal Fairy Tale • Stories, often told to children, to entertain, instruct or teach • Often used to illustrate the problems that children and young people face as they become adults • The characters in fairy tales represent part of our own “psyche” or inner self Common themes in fairy tales include: • Metamorphosis • Transformation • Imprisonment • Love • Good versus evil (overcoming obstacles) • Death or transition • Illusion or misunderstanding • Rules or authority There are often boy and girl fairy tales. These differ in plot. • Boy fairy tale plots focus on exploration, discovery, and include a climax which separates the boy from his childhood. Usually by the end, the boy has grown into a man. • Girl fairy tale plots focus on discovery as well, but also abduction, outside threats, powers beyond their control, and falling in love. Usually by the end, the girl has grown into a woman. Fairy Tale Characters • Often good, innocent, or sometimes foolis...

Pan's Labyrinth information can be found here. We have been discussing the transformation/metamorphosis plot and character archetype. This archetype is very close to the “coming of age” archetype where the changes occurring in a story are simply “growing up” and becoming an adult with responsibility and all that jazz. The German bildungsroman (remember 9 th grade?) describes all books involving coming of age. And then there’s the metaphor. What do you think is del Toro’s attitude toward growing up? What proof do you see in the film to support this idea? What are some of the changes (both spiritual/mental and physical) that happen to the characters? Specifically, please follow the change of Ofelia, Vidal, Mercedes, and the Doctor (but you can also look at Fauno, Carmen, and so on). Writing task: write a creative response to the film. Consider using the fairy tale and transformation archetypes to help you with character and plot or theme. Put your draft ...

Surrealism (developed in the 20th-century as a literary and artistic movement) gained its popularity in Europe between World Wars I and II. Surrealism grew principally out of the earlier Dada movement , which before World War I produced works of anti-art that deliberately defied reason; but Surrealism emphasis supposedly was not on negation but on positive expression . "The movement represented a reaction against what its members saw as the destruction wrought by the "rationalism" that had guided European culture and politics in the past and had culminated in the horrors of World War I." The French poet André Breton published "The Surrealist Manifesto" in 1924 and states that Surrealism "was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely, that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in "an absolute reality, a surreality." Drawing heavily on Freud,...

Please read Blood Wedding by Lorca today in class. Finish this play by the time we return from break, if you do not finish it during class. Pay special attention to the weird moments in this play. It is highly metaphorical, so anything that characters do or objects they repeat or strange characters are likely to be meaningful, but obscure. Like an algebra equation, slip in X as the meaning for the object in question. Ask yourself what might be the point of this? Why does Lorca present this character in this way or what might he be trying to communicate about the human condition. Remember that death is a theme in any book that deals with it head on. So if anything tragic happens, at least we have the theme of "death." Like trees that are cut down, our lives are mortal. HOMEWORK: Complete Blood Wedding . Post a forum response to the play on our forum.

After our viewing of Babel , we will begin to examine Spain and its writers. For those of you who want to get a head start on completing your work before or during the break, please note the following deadlines: 1. Please post a forum response to the question posed on the forum to the film Babel . This is due by the end of this week (2/17/12) 2. Complete your reading of Blood Wedding (we'll start this in class and read as much as we can, but wherever we leave off you will have to finish for homework over the break). Please post a forum response to this play based on the question on the forum by the time we return: 2/27/12. 3. Continue to write material for your 4th marking period portfolio. 4. AP Lit students: you will be reading a selection from Gulliver's Travels , so there's a bit of reading for you coming up.

Portugal & Espana: Hola! Today we will cross the great straight of Gibraltar to Europe's main continent. Let's start with a little literature, and then move to some information and cultural research. Spain has an incredibly old history. From cave paintings found at Altamira to our contemporary period. The Romans and Carthaginians fought over Spain in the 3rd century B.C. Part of the Roman Empire Hispania rises and falls at the same time, being overrun by the Vandals in 409 A.D. (later repelled by the Visigoths who rule until the 8th century, followed by the Arabs). During 711-1492, Christians begin to reclaim the area at first slowly, until the Umayyad loss of power in 1031. You probably know what happens leading up to 1492 with the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand in 1469. Still curious about Spain & Spanish Customs? Watch this. Spain suffered a vicious civil war between 1936-1939. The Spanish Civil War divided the country as tens of thousand...

HOMEWORK: Please take a few minutes to watch the following videos and, if you are intrigued, use any part of this lecture in a poem, short story, personal creative essay, play, etc. By the way, the Geva 10-minute play contest is due by Monday. If you have a script, please have it ready (in proper script format and free of errors) with a title page with your name, address, zip code, and email address. Choice (RSA Animate) Crisis of Capitalism (RSA Animate)

Normative ethics s earches for norms using authoritative standards (rules) of what ought to be. Types of Normative Ethics: A. Hedonism : the view that in the end it only matters if it is pleasurable. It is good if it feels good. B. Utilitarianism : the theory that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the test of right and wrong. C. Perfectionism : the ultimate end is the full development or perfection of the self. D. Some theories do not readily fall under the above classification. One such is the theological theory: that it is the will of God that determines whether an action is right or wrong. E. Immanuel Kant: for one's action to be morally right, it must be seen as a universal law. That is, be willing to have everyone act in the same way (Categorical Imperative). F. Egoism : ( Thomas Hobbes ) Everyone acts always out of self-interest, maintains that an action is right only if it is in the interest of the agent. I.E. Why should I be ...