Thursday, September 4, 2014

Important Note from Ms. Dorsey:  When you have finished writing or correcting one of your pieces, and have published it on your blog, you must notify Ms. Dorsey that it needs to be regraded.  Make sure you have completed  and carefully revised and edited the assignment before you notify Ms. Dorsey.


1. Scribble from Emma F.

    I sat on a bench by the little old folks home. I plopped both shoes off and sat them next to me to pick the stickers out of them. Before I knew it there was a tall African American standing over me. He had a deep Jamaican accent just like I remember my dad's was like. He smiled at me and then said, “You got em’ down in there deep huh?!” 

     I smiled and said, “Yeah, I must have walked through a whole giant patch of 'em!” We talked for a few minutes, and then I told him that he reminded me of my dad. We talked for a few minuets then he...

...to be continued!! 

Now, it's your turn to write. 


2. Me-Bags    -- Don't forget to take excellent notes.

Today: Jakob L. Kaitlyn L. Indigo M. Manuel M. Hunter M. Benjamin O.

Next Time:  September 8 Willow P. Savannah P. Broderick R. Isaac R. Brytan S. Mallorie T

3. Conventions/Editing: Where did punctuation come from?

In your notebook, list every punctuation mark you can think of, and what it does.  http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/punctuation.aspx

   

The History of a Few Punctuation Marks with thanks to Nancie Atwell.
   -- Quotations marks were originally lip-shaped marks to show that someone else was speaking.

  -- The exclamation mark started out as the word "Io" which like saying "Wow!"  It was shortened to Io, then to an I with a dot behind it, then the dot was moved under the I and that evolved to our current mark !

 -- The period came from "peri" which meant round and when the writer had finished writing a sentence he had completely gone around what he was trying to express.  It was written as a circle, which became the dot we use now.

-- The comma comes from "komma" which means "little knife/to cut off" so the symbol was of a little knife, and evolved into our comma (,).  This teacher is also using info from Nancie Atwell: http://msmcclure.com/?page_id=6448    

Punctuation is Important!

Create new punctuation!

4. How to make good fiction.
Developing Characters

1. List ten or more of your favorite characters from books and stories.  For each, explain why you picked him or her as a favorite.  Is he or she the type of person you'd like to hang out with?  Do you have things in common with the character?  Are there things about the character you admire? Why a favorite? To here 9/4/14 Creating Characters Listen, then take on Challenge #1 (from Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter)  Think of two people you admire. Now think of the thing you admire most about each of them.  Combine those two qualities into one person and write about that person in the following situation: She or he is walking down the street and a strange man hands your character a small sealed carton and says, "Don't let anything happen to this!"  Then the man sprints away.  What does your character do next?  Baking Characters from Scratch -- by Ellen Potter Ellen's Example: 5 cups of cocky attitude, sifted 2 cups of loyalty to friends 1 cup loathing of ketchup, wet socks, and a boy from summer camp named Richard 2 tablespoons of insecurity about big feet 1 teaspoon of a bad habit of biting nails until they bleed One pinch of a shoe-shopping fetish (but just a pinch and no more, due to the difficulty of finding shoes for big feet.) Combine and bake at 350 degrees or until character is done.  Challenge #2: Bake your own character from scratch.  Think of six qualities for a character and write a recipe for him or her.   Questions to Ask Your Character:  1.  What is your happiest memory? 2.  What makes you laugh so hard soda shoots out of your nose? 3.  What don't you want anyone to find out about you? 4.  What is the best part of your personality? 5.  What shoes do you usually wear? 6.  Name some things that you are not very good at. 7.  How would your best friend describe how you look? 8.  What irritates you? (i.e. noises, bad habits, personality traits)? 9.  What are you afraid of? 10.  Tell me about your family. 11.  What does your bedroom look like? 12.  What do you think of yourself when you look in the mirror? 13.  What's the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? 14.  Do you have a crush on anyone? 15.  What do you really, REALLY want more than anything else in the world? Challenge #3 Make a list of all the things you want.  It can be anything from wanting a particular bully to leave you alone, to wanting riding lessons, to wanting your best friend to move back from Japan.  now pick the thing the list you want the most and think of all the ways you could attain that thing, from the realistic to the ridiculous. Write a short scene in which you try out one of those ideas, and see what happens.