Due for Friday

• 3 copies of your complete rough draft of the short story
• If you want class credit for the assignment, you MUST bring in 3 copies, AND you MUST have the drafts in your hand at the start of class.

Character sketch due on Wednesday

THE CHARACTER SKETCH

 Descriptive Writing

 

 

When you write a character sketch, you are trying to introduce the reader to someone. You want the reader to have a strong mental image of the person, to know how the person talks, to know the person's characteristic ways of doing things, to know something about the person's value system. Character sketches only give snap shots of people; therefore, you should not try to write a history of the person.

A good way to write a character sketch is to tell a little story about one encounter. If you do that, you could describe a place briefly, hopefully a place that belongs to the person you are describing, focusing on things in the scene that are somehow representative of the person you are describing. Describe how the person is dressed. or facial expressions. From time to time, describe the person's gestures to put words into the person's mouth in direct quotations.

As you work on this sketch, you should decide what kind of emotional reaction you want the reader to have in relationship to this person. What kind of details can you select to create that emotional reaction? Avoid making broad characterizing statements; instead, let the details you give suggest general characteristics. Let the reader draw her own conclusions

Example Sketch

Eudora Welty’s Sketch of Miss Duling

 

Miss Duling dressed as plainly as a Pilgrim on a Thanksgiving poster we made in the schoolroom, in a longish black-and-white checked gingham dress, a bright thick wool sweater the red of a railroad lantern--she'd knitted it herself--black stockings and her narrow elegant feet in black hightop shoes with heels you could hear coming, rhythmical as a parade drum down the hall. Her silky black curly hair was drawn back out of curl, fastened by high combs, and knotted behind. She carried her spectacles on a gold chain hung around her neck. Her gaze was in general sweeping, then suddenly at the point of concentration upon you. With a swing of her bell that took her whole right arm and shoulder, she rang it, militant and impartial, from the head of the front steps of Davis School when it was time for us all to line up, girls on one side, boys on the other. We were to march past her into the school building, while the fourth-grader she nabbed played time on the piano, mostly to a tune we could have skipped to, but we didn't skip into Davis School.

 

Your Assignment

Write a character sketch. Avoid telling everything about the person, instead, select two or three outstanding traits to illustrate with incidents and examples. Use description to convey the impression. You may find it helpful to follow the pattern of the model by beginning with an incident showing the person performing a typical action. As you relate the incident, or soon afterward, give vital information about the subject - name, age, and occupation, for instance. Is it important that the reader see the person? If so, give details of physical appearance. After finishing the sketch, reread it to be sure that it creates a vivid impression, making any revisions that you feel will make it more effective

Paper Requirements:

Ø  Typed Size 12 Font, Standard Margins (1 inch all sides)

Ø  1 page

 

Pre-writing Questions

1. What purpose does this person have in your story?

 

2. What places or objects are associated with this character? How do these objects or places help us understand the character?

 

 

 

3. What do other characters think of this person? What might other people say about him/her?

 

 

4. What are your character’s motivations? How did the character develop these motivations?

 

 

5. Picture this person. Describe him/her in as much detail as you can. Include facial features, physical appearance, clothing, manner of speech.

 

6. How does his/her appearance reflect his/her personality?

 

7. When you picture this person, what do you think of him/her doing? Include descriptions of facial expressions, gestures, etc.

 

7. When you hear this person, what do you hear them saying?

 

8. What are unusual habits, traits, interests, etc. of this person?

 

 

Annotated Works Cited page due on Friday!

Creative Writing                                                                                                         Name

Writers write about critical questions and issues that pertain to them and their times. One of the critical issues in our time is technology. Over the last several classes we have discussed many of the issues surrounding technology. Now it’s your turn to do some reading and thinking on a question that you have articulated about technology.

Step 1.

Write a question pertaining to technology that you would like to explore. Some examples are as follows:

·        How has reliance upon technology changed people’s relationship with the natural world?

·        Has technology affected parent/child relationships?

·        Will technology contribute to human happiness?

·        How will technology affect the economic differences between people?

·        How will technology affect privacy and privacy rights and expectations?

Step 2.

Once you have written a question that you would like to work with, your task is to identify and read 5 high quality articles or other resources that pertain to your question. Your articles need to be from databases or from print resources for this project.

Step 3.

Using NoodleTools, you will construct an annotated works cited page. Your annotations will consist of 2-4 sentences. Your annotations need to include the following:

1.      A brief summary of the main idea(s) of the article

2.       A sentence about how this article responds to your question

 

Step 4.

Submit your annotated works cited page, and we will begin writing a short story using your ideas!

 

Annotated Works Cited Page Due:

Parent's Night materials

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/common_core_standards/pdfdocs/p12_common_core_learning_standards_ela.pdf

For Wednesday

Please come to call with a question you would like to explore in regards to technology. We will be working with this question for a while, so please consider your question carefully.

Homework for Monday

• Please be sure to read the short story "There will Come Soft Rains" and the poem, of the same name, for class on Monday.  Here is a link to the short story:http://www.elizabethskadden.com/files/therewillcomesoftrainsbradbury.pdf

• The poem can be found at: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains

• We will discuss the two texts, so please remember to annotate.
• Have a nice weekend.