Writing Across Cultures

4 = Exemplary 3= Accomplished 2= Promising 1=Beginning 0=Failing Exemplary : Thoroughly and artistically developed and crafted characters, plot, structure, conflict, theme, and setting. Uses vivid description, effective diction and word choice, tone, voice, POV, imagery, and compelling characterization and/or dialogue throughout the portfolio. Uses a variety of effective literary devices (both poetic and rhetorical) that enhance the artistic quality of the work. Writing can be considered “art,” effectively communicating issues central to the human condition in a compelling and creative way. Titles are creative and compelling. Has very few errors in spelling punctuation, syntax, and usage. Sentence structure, syntax, and the overall effect of the work is artistic. The format is effective, carefully and correctly followed. Work includes evidence of several revised drafts that improve on earlier drafts, strengthening the quality of the writing. Work included in portfolio...

Lab: Make sure you have read the article on Freud. If you didn't, you are probably sublimating something. What does that mean? Take some notes on the info below (and examine your handout today) during lab. Freud - Part 2 More Freudian Theory: (hang on to your pencils...sometimes a pencil is just a pencil...) Here's a bit more information about  Freud's theories . Feel free to research these links as much as you'd like to get smarter. To learn more  about Freud  as a person and historical figure, click over there. Repression : When painful memories or anxiety or negative thoughts occur, repression is the process of pushing or keeping them out of the mind. Be aware a person is not AWARE of Repression, as it is a subconscious event. The goal in psychoanalysis is that these repressed memories or thoughts break through to the conscious level where they can be worked on and resolved. Suppression : Similar to repression, except that this is in the conscious...

Lab: (period 1) Please read, annotate, and creatively respond to the article: "You Think With the World, Not Just Your Brain." September, 2017, The Atlantic . Writers use a synthesis of information/articles/films/poems/trivia and so on when writing. Everything can be used as long as it communicates an idea. In this essay alone the author references philosophers, science/biology, pop culture film, and somewhat obscure literature. As you read, notice how the author uses pop culture to hook the attention of the audience, but then supports ideas present in the film into more serious philosophy, science, and psychology. The author then returns to the film by the end of the essay, framing the narrative effectively. You can use a similar framing tactic in your own creative essays and stories. To help with some references made in the article, check out: Videodrome (film, 1983; Cronenberg) Descartes : Cogito Ergo Sum Octopus (Why the Octopus brain is so extraordinary) ...

The portfolio is due November 2. Portfolio Requirements: A writing reflection (this does not count as "new" pages on the rubric) ( required ) How it feels to be me reflective essay ( required ) Cultural or Identity poem(s) Summary paper for Joy Luck Club or Namesake ( required ) Humour poem (see prompt below) "Hit Man" style short story Stream of consciousness story/narration Absurdist play/scene Unreliable narrator story Writing prompt creative responses (use any of the exercises/reading we've done in class to create a poem, short story, film, script, play, essay, speech, article, blog, podcast, etc.) Other...We've covered a bunch of things...here's a short list of official prompts (not including some of the starter exercises we did in class...) Feel free to use any/all, etc. Evidence of revisions . Collect all your drafts. Put your newest drafts on top (old drafts below). Old drafts can be written all over--I don't need clean copie...

Period 1: Enjoy a  Catcher in the Rye (Thug Notes) summary/analysis. Please read the packet information about William James (Consciousness) and Pierre Janet (Unconsciousness)--both psychologists will help us understand Freud (he's up next). As you read, take notes on the graphic organizer. With time remaining in the lab, continue to work on your portfolio and workshop peer's work. At the end of the period, please pick up our next novel: A Clockwork Orange from the library. Period 2: Anthony Burgess  remains a significant writer who influenced various 20th and 21st century novelists. He died in 1993 of lung cancer. He is best known for his novel  A Clockwork Orange  (1962) in no small part for American audiences because of the film made by Stanley Kubrick (1971). The novel is set in a future "dystopian" London and is told in  nadsat , a mixture of Russian and English slang, with gypsy influences and odd bits of Jacobean prose. Burgess has ...

LAB (Period 1): Test Question: Psychological criticism examines literature through the theories presented in psychology to find meaning. Using the ideas from one of the psychologists we have been studying, apply the relevant theories of this psychologist to the book The Catcher in the Rye . Find 3 examples from the text that help define the narrator using psychological criticism and explain how the theories of your chosen psychologist help give meaning to the novel. Remember to name the psychologist and cite the relevant examples from the text. You may use your notes and book for this test, but you only have until the end of period 1 to complete your work. If you finish early, please continue working on your portfolio or workshop one of your peers' poems or stories in your peer-review folder. Period 2: We will continue our discussion of The Catcher in the Rye . With time remaining, we will begin our homework reading. HOMEWORK: Please complete the following poems and st...

Lab: When examining a novel, poem, play or film, a certain image or line may repeat, stress, or communicate an idea, theme, object, etc. Taken together, this object, event, or idea becomes a motif and/or a symbol representing something larger than itself. Characters built with characterization (a character's thoughts, speech (dialogue), description, and/or actions) are often drawn from psychological theories. In order to create truly interesting characters, most literary fiction focuses on the psychological journey of the character's development more so than the physical changes that happen. The use of stream of consciousness is just one way in which an author fleshes out or rounds out the characterization of their protagonist. POV becomes, then, an important tool as well. As writers, we must choose how we are going to tell our story. Will we tell the story from the perspective of a 1st person narration (a protagonist or even a minor character who reports the story...

Lab: Use your time in the lab to write or workshop your peers. See previous posts for new ideas and prompts to develop your ideas into creative works (poems, short stories, plays, scripts, comic strips, documentaries, blogs, podcasts, creative essays, etc.) Portfolios are due November 2. Remember that there is a reflective essay portion that does not count as pages in your marking period portfolio. 2nd period: We will complete "The Lesson" by Ionesco today. HOMEWORK: Read the psychologists: John Watson, Rollo May, Lev Vygotsky, Bruno Bettelheim, Francoise Dolto, and Harry Harlow. Apply these theories and ideas to your poems, plays, scripts, etc. and to the book The Catcher in the Rye . Complete The Catcher in the Rye  (today was your extension for those of you who needed an extra day or two to complete the book) and bring your books with you to class on Thursday. You will be using them during the lab. Ultimately, use what you have learned and read about psycho...

Lab: Read the article on Piaget & Pavlov. Watch the following crash course video on  Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)  & Operant Conditioning (Skinner) As you watch the video and read the articles, define the following psychological terms to turn in by the end of period 1 as participation notes: Behaviorism Learning Associative learning Conditioning Acquisition Classical conditioning Operant conditioning Positive reinforcement Negative reinforcement Primary reinforcer Conditioned reinforcer Partial reinforcement Reinforcement schedule Extinction Cognitive processes After watching the video and reading the articles, continue to workshop or work on your portfolio. Try any of the following prompts for your portfolio: PROMPT: Reflect on what kind of parents raised you. Were you raised by authoritarian parents, permissive parents, or authoritative parents? Write an essay, scene, poem, or story using these observations as a conflict for your...

LAB: Use Galton's ideas to play around with the idea that we are shaped either by our genetic code (nature) or our environment (nurture). Where do you stand on the idea? Are we influenced more by our genes or our environment and experiences? Are children fat because of their genes, or because they grow up in a household where their family is overweight? Are children more violent because they are genetically psychopathic, or because they play violent video games or are abused? Do we learn only from our environment (good schools) or will good schools and access to education do little to help a child who just isn't capable of higher thought based on their IQ? Play around with these ideas. Read "The Hitman" by T.C. Boyle Read the short stories: "A Room With Many Small Beds"; "The Waterfall"; "Modernism" Write your own short, short story or create a comic strip about nature v. nurture Play around with structure and form based on the mo...

LAB: (period 1) This morning please select 2-5 people to form a workshop group. Your group should have at least 3 people in it (you and two others or you and up to four others--so you can get appropriate feedback on your writing.) Invite peers who are too shy into your group please so that they might feel welcome and gain some advice about their writing. You will work in these groups for at least this marking period. To choose a group, try to join peers whose work you admire or that you have a genre in common (poets working with poets, fiction writers working with prose writers, filmmakers working with playwrights, that sort of thing.) The goal of a workshop is to help each other out of the goodness of your soul, not to avoid that kid you never talk to. Since you won't really be "talking" too much with these peers anyway, do yourself a favor and open your social group a little. Your workshop should be handled on a Google drive . Share your email address with your...

Galen (129-201c.e., Roman) humors Write a poem draft using one or more of the humors as subject material. See the poem examples below to give you an idea of what you might accomplish with this draft. You might write an ode, elegy, pantoum, sestina, vilanelle, sonnet, or free verse poem. Francis Galton (1822-1911, English) Nature/nurture Personality test:  http://www.passionsandtempers.com/v1/page.php?l=en&p=test Personality test #1 Personality test #2 The Four Humours BY  RAFAEL CAMPO I. Blood We wondered if the rumors got to her. I’d seen her with that other girl behind The Stop and Shop when I was walking home from school one day. I swear, the two of them were kissing, plain as that, the grass so high it brushed their cheeks. I told my teacher so, and maybe it was her who called their folks. Before too long, it was like everyone in town had heard. We waited for them at the dime store once, where Cedric grabbed her tits an...

Period 1: Lab  Our next unit will cover Psychology. This morning please view the  Introduction to Psychology   and take notes of key ideas/questions you might have. Then please continue working on the following projects/drafts for your portfolio (see the portfolio rubric in the post below). Random Writing Prompt (if you need one...): pick a cultural setting for a story/play outside of your normal Hegemonies--no American cultures allowed. Make a list of cultures that you are fascinated or interested in. Research the topic and find a gruesome or shocking event or occurrence in history. Use that background or setting to tell a survivor's tale. You can project your story into the future, or extend the years of your protagonist. But there should be some reference or allusion regarding the historical event. Prepare a draft or two of work you would like feedback on for our workshop next week (Thursday). There will be a test Monday on the novel you have chos...

Chapter One of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri divides its narrative between Ashima and Ashoke, as they await the arrival of their new son. When she goes into labor in the summer of 1968, Ashima recalls how she met and fell in love with her husband in Calcutta, when she was a 19-year-old English tutor. While in the waiting room, Ashoke is reminded of a tragic train accident years ago that left him partially crippled. On the train, he had met a businessman named Ghosh who encouraged him to travel the world. Ashoke stayed up that night to read Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" when the train crashed. The rescuers noticed a ruined page from Gogol's story and found Ashoke among the wreckage. After his recovery, Ashoke takes Ghosh's advice to study abroad at MIT. The chapter ends as the nurse enters and breaks Ashoke's revery. He is a new father. Chapter One of the best-selling novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan concerns Jing-Mei...

Period 1: Lab  Please continue working on the following projects/drafts for your portfolio (see the portfolio rubric in the post below this one): How it feels to be me reflective essay Cultural poem(s) Writing prompt creative responses (use the exercises/reading we've done in class to create a poem, short story, film, script, play, essay, speech, article, blog, podcast, etc.) Identity poem responses (see the previous post for details) Creative responses from the essays/plays/stories we read last class Chapter summaries Other... Aim to prepare a draft or two for workshopping next week! Period 2:  Classroom Readings: Edwidge Danticat: "The Book of the Dead" to understand this story you should be familiar with the reference to  Fort Dimanche , some information about  Haiti's history ,  Haiti's Dark Past , and  Francois Duvalier . Prompt: pick a cultural setting for a story/play outside of your normal Hegemonies--no American cultu...

I will be using the following rubric when assessing your portfolios. A portfolio is due each quarter and comprises the major part of your quarter grade (along with attendance, participation/homework, reading, quizzes/tests, presentations and class activities). Please note that you will be expected to conduct some revision each marking period, along with a short 1-3 page reflection. Reflection pages  do not count for the # of pages indicated below.  Please also note that your portfolio grade is a combination of  quantity  AND  quality . Scores are determined by an average score based on the holistic rubric. Some papers/assignments are also required and should be included in your marking period portfolio. This marking period the summary papers, your identity drafts, and work from the psychology unit should be included in your portfolio. 4 = Exemplary 3= Accomplished 2= Promising 1=Beginning 0=Failing Exemplary : Thoroughly and artistically deve...

Here are the results of the survey for our curricular map: Psychology Sociology/Political Science Popular Culture Race & Minority Literature Gender, Feminism, & LGBTQ Studies Literary Genre Studies/Dystopian-Utopian Literature Philosophy Mythology North American/Native American/Canadian Literature African Literature South/Central American Literature Middle Eastern Literature British Literature European Literature Pacific/Island Literature Australia/New Zealand Literature Asian Literature We will begin these units as soon as our introductory unit is complete and work our way through them during this year as much as time and energy allow. 

Lab: 7:30 - 8:00 Please continue working on the following projects/drafts for your portfolio: How it feels to be me reflective essay Cultural poem(s) Writing prompt creative responses (use the exercises/reading we've done in class to create a poem, short story, film, script, play, essay, speech, article, blog, podcast, etc.) Identity poem responses (see the previous post for details) Creative responses from the essays we read last class Prepare for our discussion (see below) More Prompt Ideas: Choose a passage or line in the book you are reading. Do one of the following with it: Steal up to 25 words from the passage. Rearrange and use the words (or forms of them) in a poem, short story, essay, script, etc. Steal a line. Start something fresh using the line as an  epigraph  for your own/new story, poem, etc. Write the next scene or the chapter that does not exist in the novel you are reading: for example:  Write the story of Gogol's childhood,  or...

Period 1: Lab This morning contemplate the meaning of identity as you watch the following videos: Food for thought: Who Am I? A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me by Derrick Brown Respond to these ideas creatively in a poem, short story, essay, etc. about "Who am I? Really." Then please continue working on the following projects/drafts for your portfolio: How it feels to be me reflective essay Cultural poem(s) Writing prompt creative responses (use the exercises/reading we've done in class to create a poem, short story, film, script, play, essay, speech, article, blog, podcast, etc.) More Prompt Ideas: Choose a passage or line in the book you are reading. Do one of the following with it: Steal up to 25 words from the passage. Rearrange and use the words (or forms of them) in a poem, short story, essay, script, etc. Steal a line. Start something fresh using the line as an epigraph  for your own/new story, poem, etc. Write the next scene or the chapter tha...

Period 1: Lab Summary exercise : choose chapter one   or  chapter two of  The Namesake  or  The Joy Luck Club.  Summarize the chapter you chose. To do this: Read critically: examine the content of the chapter, note the title of the book, identify the main point(s) of the chapter, identify the subordinate points or details that help you understand the main points, identify the different sections and POV of these sections for the chapter--note when shifts in narrative occur, examine transitions, notice white space, etc. You may need to reread parts of the chapter you chose to summarize.  In a single sentence, identify the premise of the chapter (what is this chapter about?) follow this premise with a summary of the major events/characters/settings in the chapter. Write your summary as one-sentence per paragraph, for example--or one-sentence per scene. You may find outlining, mind-mapping, or using bullet points to create a list to be to your be...