Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Essay Problems

str - sentence fragment - structure error

awk - you have mixed up sentence order or used a word strangely or used modifiers that you don’t need - very - constantly - really - etc - don’t try to sound smart with words of which you don’t know the use - a complex sentence that loses the subject part way through or inverts it

“The guy who went to the class that I liked.”

ref? If you make a categorical statement - Macbeth is easy to manipulate. HOW? WHERE? If you speculate on Macbeth’s motives, you HAVE to show your reasoning. Defining your “givens”. Where is that from?

proof? same

logic flow or flow of ideas - Thesis = statements that you explain and give examples for

Thesis should be simple. This is what’s happening.

How do you know?

Because of that. Discuss that. Show that in the play. Show how it proves that you know it.

State your points in clear, simple language. ESPECIALLY in the intro.

Macbeth is tragic hero - high point, hubris (pride), we learn from his fall

Manipulation - NOBODY’S MIND CAN MANIPULATE THEM! You ARE YOUR MIND!

You are proving that he is PRONE to manipulation.

Don’t list the ways she manipulates - show HOW it works - how does it pull or push him?

Supernatural - don’t list - explain -

Today:

Introduce you to the new way of doing exams
Figure out how to achieve on this new way of writing exams
How can we actively contribute to our success?
Presentation Problems - quick recap of what went wrong/right

Exam -

Dispel something - there is no trick
there is no secret agenda
I get nothing if you are amazed and surprised

Dispel something else - there is no reason to make you memorize something

Dispel something else else - there is no reason for me to make your exam

Three New Tasks:

Create an exam group - this will be your team and together you will form your version of the exam -

Design an essay topic and a rough outline for that topic, for your group.

Implement your plan and your essay into a scheme (that we will learn today) that you will submit to Mr. The Lobb (that is me)

I will make a Master Exam from the best of your submissions.

Pro Tip: Why wouldn’t you make a web site where every group submitted their material?

Figure out the sections under which you will plan your version of the exam.

A Typical English Exam in ENG3U for Mr. The Lobb in June

The Three Mark Question - 15 marks (3 marks X 5 questions) (6 or 7)

Defining or explain a term, character or an event, etc
give its importance or explain HOW it comes into use
exemplify or refer to a way that it was seen

Hubris -
character flaw possessed by a tragic hero
would it maybe lead to his/her downfall? lead to a series of actions that are negative?
Macbeth had hubris (he wanted to become king) and the witches utilized it to control him






The Five Mark Question - 25 marks (5 marks X 5 questions)

1. Some kind of defining - explaining (this is this)
2. Look at one element of the “thing”
3. Explain how it works or why it’s used.
4. Show the importance of this thing in the context/class.
5. Show the example or what it is in the context we discussed it.

Plato’s Cave Allegory -

Created by a Greek Philosopher as a lesson and a story in association with the perfect world of forms.
It’s a model for thinking about the way people learn and the way people think in which a character is in a cave, watching shadows on the wall by candlelight.
The assumption is that puppeteers are controlling the character by showing him/her only the rough images of reality.
The character must break loose from the shackles that hold him/her in the cave and go out into the real world - the sun, which represents knowledge.
This allegory gives us a way of looking at literature and thinking about the way writers work and affect us.

Define the thing
Explore a few ideas within that “thing”
Contextualize how it is important in our class.

Response to a Sight Passage of some sort
Most common - Poetry or Short Story

Poetry can fit on one page. It’s almost instant.

What kind of poem?

A poem that is short, powerful and full of imagery and concepts to discuss.

15 - 25 marks of questions that get the student applying that pattern for analyzing poetry

Sylvia Plath
Charles Bukowski
Gary Snyder (environmentalist)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Beat)
Siegfried Sassoon (war poet)





Essay Question

40 - 60 marks

10 marks for your rough outline, which you complete FIRST on the spot

intro idea - show your angle and thesis
AoD 1 show your three body paragraph ideas with major reference choice
AoD 2
AoD 3
conclusion idea - state the thesis as proven

Write a good essay that is not too short or too long - Goldilocks Paper
worth a Level - not a number - (30)

Overall Presentation/Style/Structure - Professional Judgment Mark
10

What is this essay topic?

You decide!

Macbeth and Frankenstein

motherhood and the role of women
going against God and the “rules” of Nature
the nature of evil
the way things look = the way things are
inversion and perversion
the main characters have similarities that show us things about Human Nature

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The most common essay problem is finding a thesis and following it in what we will call a “chain of logic”.

Macbeth is a classic tragic hero.

Define a classic tragic hero - where did you get that definition? REFER! a good idea when referring is to use a quotation and then source it.

Three stages of the classic tragic hero

THe hero begins on a lofty note - you need to prove that the hero is in a high position and that everything is going great. Macbeth did this and he felt like that (here’s the reference).
he came before the king, and then he felt like this and the people said that and that shows us this
“I have won golden opinions of late” or something

Here’s what he did, here’s what he thought, here’s what is proving this, here is my thought on that - finding meaning, showing how this sets up on a high place

HUBRIS - the tragic hero suffers from a flaw - this flaw is called hubris - this hubris would be good to define (ie reference)
show how Mac suffers this - he already starts planning “something” when the witches talk to him - “fertile ground”
his wife hits the same target - she only has to inspire what he already has in his head
he felt like this, the manipulators only appealed to that thinking, then he did things that benefited this drive for power - this ambition - show the areas where he realized what he was doing - he wasn’t being controlled

The tragic hero goes to his fitting end by his own actions and we (the audience) learns from this and grows by his example
live by the sword, die by the sword
nemesis - refer
just desserts - refer
show how he built his own doom and then KEY - what do we learn - BECAUSE HE LEARNS FROM IT - he knows exactly what he did, and he knows exactly what is coming because of it

Macbeth is manipulated by supernatural forces.

Witches and Apparitions - Wife - the fertile ground of his thinking

Prove that he is a ripe target for manipulation by these forces.
SHow that he wants it already - show that he KNOWS what’s happening - he’s a willing participant - he allows it to happen

OR

Show that he’s unfit and weak and cannot control himself. Show that he is mental unstable and cannot stop the manipulation - refer to and prove some kind of mental problem - outside sources - Bipolar

Wife - if you say that his wife is a supernatural manipulator - you HAVE to show that she is using the supernatural -

Unsex me - THEN you show her using wiles and manipulating
Then - you have to show the effect and the result

3. Apparitions and visions as per our discussion.

Use all past tense. ALL
Use active voice - SUBJECT -> VERB

Macbeth did something.

You need to read your words out loud and catch those crazy awkward sentences.
Get a peer checker - USE THAT PERSON

AWK - your sentence is funky, or maybe backwards - Your mom went to my house who was pretty.
CHOPPY - what that means. Is that you. Use a lot. Of little sentences. THat. Are. Ch. Op. y. - you need to try and combine sentences that are linked
DO NOT refer to yourself or your essay or your thesis or anything about me. People, not “you”

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Frankentation - groups
chapter work
whole “lesson” approach
multimedia
question/activity/etc for the students
thematic analysis
10 minutes
poster

Frankenssignments Package
Paracelsus, etc
Age of Reason Thinker Profile
Character Analysis (motivations)
Creation of the Monster moment - done in some other form - art, script, video, etc
notes from the readings

Macbethkage
soliloquies (four)
essay process - this is a PROCESS, not a final piece of paper
character analysis of a character
character web -
notes from the readings
multimedia thing
poster

Poetry Ass.
poster
poet bio
poetry analysis
THREE poems by you (I will mark one)

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Plato - Cave
Freud - 3 parts of personality
Jung  - archetypes
Campbell - quest wheel

Dialectics - thesis + antithesis = synthesis
conflict creates new things (not necessarily negative)
putting things into new associations or coming up with new ideas from opposing arguments and concepts
argument like this, to be positive, requires confidence, acceptance, recognition of the best idea without ego, and ability to find new positions for yourself
conflict creates change - change is good
is there a way of taking a dialectic approach to Frankenstein?
maybe - are there clashes of ideas that create new ideas?
the most common use of dialectic is argument and essay -

Feminist criticism

Deconstruction - breaking open the material and looking for specific elements that fit into, or contribute to, theories and ideas

ie looking for feminist ideas, religious, technological, scientific, etc

Frankenstein
the book is written by a teenage girl
it’s about a monster created by a man (men)
it is judged by its looks, which are horrid
it is sensitive and only wants to be normal and feel loved and have companionship
it is a creature who becomes bitter and seeks vengeance

it would not be a bad idea to consider the concerns of modern teenage girls as being pertinent to this book

Chapter Assignments for Frankentations

11 - 12 - Meryn, Kalie, Courtney
13 - 14 - Tasha and Becky
15 - 16 - Melissa and Melissa Jenn
17 - 18 - Brittany and Clayton and Cruz
19 - 20 - Glenn and Aaron and Tolm
21 - 22 - Cassie and Shraddha and Hannah
23 - 24 - Wil and CarMac

11 - 12 - Keisha and Erica and Billy
13 - 14 - Zack and Ria and Candace
15 - 16 - Bonus - Meryn and Kalie and Courtney
17 - 18 - Miranda and Taylor
19 - 20 - Jason David and Lukas
21 - 22 - KateLynn
23 - 24 - Pat

10 - 15 minutes - starting Thursday, May 25

May 16, 2012

Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Quest” (also known as The Monomyth or the Quest Wheel)

Hey, a lot of this stuff is similar - and some of it is REALLY similar.

There is a Jesus character in so many stories and religious beliefs and myths and legends and so on.

The character follows the same pattern that the Biblical Jesus follows.

Unusual Birth - there is a hero born who does not fit the world into which he/she is born
the birth separates the hero as special
the birth is marked by strange or unusual circumstances
eg - Harry Potter - was “born” when he didn’t die
Hercules - born of a human and a Greek god (Zeus)
Jesus - born of a human and a god (Yahweh)
Spiderman - born when he was bitten by a radioactive spider
Superman - sent from Krypton to Earth by his father in a global catastrophe

Orphaned! - the hero is almost always alone - the parents are “dead” in some way - often there is adoption, separation (forced or unforced) or maybe actual orphaning
this creates a distance between the hero and the rest of the hero’s community
the hero feels outside and alone
EVEN if the hero is adopted, he/she doesn’t fit and doesn’t work out in the situation
The hero feels a need that he/she cannot really address - a yearning, sadness or some kind of seeking
Luke Skywalker - “you can’t keep him here forever”

Wise Master - is a character who encounters the hero and provides some clues as to the hero’s DESTINY and then may train or guide the hero in developing the skills and talents that make the hero different.
“hey, you’re actually a ____________ and you need to learn your __________ in order to __________ your _________. “
the wise master can be all good (Gandalf, Yoda) or can be a little bit uncertain or even flat out evil - (R’as-al-ghul from Batman Begins)
the hero needs to learn how to harness whatever it is that he/she has (that difference)
sometimes there are more than one - sometimes the WM is part of a process in general
In the Disney model (or similar) this character can be a wisecracking sidekick - the conscience or the moral or the joker, etc - Donkey in Shrek
the hero is dangerous - if he/she isn’t trained and guided, he/she will be a serious problem to “the community” - this is the key turning point for villains.



The Call to Adventure - there is some factor or process that forces the hero to leave the community and go out into the unknown - this can be something very dark and dramatic  (Star Wars - Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed - HP gets a letter(s) - LOTR - the ring is dangerous and HAS to be destroyed)
this call to adventure could be the hero’s decision or not
it usually causes the hero to be forced into a tough decision - dilemma or a scary choice
the story really begins here - the stuff before was set up for this

Defeat the Guardian to the Underworld
there is some kind of challenge or trick or puzzle or obstacle or difficult task or something that has to be negotiated in order to get into the “adventure world”
Does Harry simply get to Hogwarts? No way - it takes some work
this model is based upon the old Greek legends where heroes went into Hades - the boatman Charon - who required a coin), the river Styx, Cereberus, etc
the model is set that everything is designed to TEST the hero and if he/she fails, he/she dies, or something like death

In the Underworld - The Obstacle Course - The Test Ground - The Labyrinth
almost all video games are based upon this structure
one after the other, challenges and puzzles and obstacles that test the hero and force the hero to utilize his/her powers and talents
the hero will often discover a TALISMAN or object of power
the hero will often gain new skills or abilities
the hero will often gain a friend or sidekick or partner (romantic as well)
the hero will encounter minions of the Dark Lord, a character who is responsible for some evil and brutality that can often be the key to things from his/her past

Confrontation with The Darkness
the hero has negotiated through the Underworld and has proven him/herself to a point where he/she is ready to confront the Darkness
the Darkness could be internal or external, natural or character, or even some simple monster -
the hero engages in a “battle” where he/she has to dig deep and apply all that he/she has learned - recall the words of the Wise Master, rely on the friend/sidekick, use the talisman or object and finally, in the REAL TEST, be confident in him/herself
 the ultimate test for the hero
the riskiest, the scariest thing that there could ever be is what this is

Evil Father Figure - a frequent character in this confrontation - often, the EFF has been the cause of the hero’s problems in early life - ie killed the parents (paging Harry Potter), chased the hero out of the community, killed the adoptive parents, or the wise master, etc.
often, the EFF will try to tell the hero to “join me!”
the idea here is that the hero has been created by the Evil Father Figure
we often read the line “I made you!” as well
 the EFF is correct - the hero has been made powerful and honed by the struggle with the Underworld and his minions. Heroes without villains are freaks and vigilante - a lawbreaker who takes the law into his own hands
the hero realizes that this is true - this is a difficult thing to realize - “I almost need him and he almost needs me”

8. Flight or Escape from the Underworld
once the hero has defeated the EFF, the Underworld will collapse - sometimes literally
in the chaos surrounding the death or defeat, the hero gets a new choice: does he/she want to “rule in Hell?”
if not, the chaos intensifies and the hero must escape back to the real world
that escape is often very quick, with Hell falling apart, sometimes like a “rollercoaster ride”
there a few more challenges here, but they are fast and not quite as troublesome, until

The Exit Guardian
in order to get back to the daylight, there is one final challenge, and it is often a very dramatic and sudden challenge - ie we thought we’d made it!
this challenge will be a final “kiss goodbye” from the underworld
could be anything, but it’s the last traces of the Underworld (so we think)
upon defeating it, the hero is back “home”

10a) - Fairy Tale Ending
the hero returns to the real world, all is well, he/she wins, gets the reward (lands, title, acceptance by the community, the prince/ess, and the feeling that he/she has done exactly what they were designed to do - fulfill his/her destiny
this is an old-fashioned, fun, nice, awesome ending and the audience feels satisfied

10b) - Enlightenment
the hero comes back and realizes some things about him/herself and about the Underworld and about Life and it is a hard thing to learn
He/she has looked in the Darkness and seen him/herself looking back
because the darkness is in us all
the real world is just as dark
the people judge the hero
the hero is as much a product of the Underworld as the EFF
the hero misses the Underworld and needs it and will have to live knowing that

Tuesday, May 12, 2012

Group Frankensignment - Chapter Analysis Presentation

11-12
13-14
15-16
17-18
19-20
21-22
23-24

Poster on Presentation Points/Skills
Overview of your chapters
plot summary
character changes
setting/time changes
Thematic Ideas - The Big Ideas (talk abouts)
Link to the real world - find real world example(s) of the theme(s) (current events)
Some engagement activity for the class - questions, game, tasks, etc (exam is coming)
Some kind of multimedia thing.

After this, we will focus on the outstanding work that is preventing you from getting this credit.

Exam Creation -

You will form a group.
You will scan your notes and from them, you will create possible exam questions and answers and you will submit them to me, Mr. the Lobb.

I will collect and collate and from your submissions, I will curate an exam.

I will give you the specific requirements for your questions, in detail. There will be no mystery about what kinds of questions you should make.

You will have an essay to prepare for the exam.

You will prepare in your group.

You will do rough in your group.

You will write your own first draft, or outline.

And then, on the exam, you will write your own essay.

You will write a quick essay skeleton in the exam time.
Plato’s Cave Allegory
    (locked in)

Freud’s Tripartite Theory of Personality
Sigmund Freud is the inventor of modern pyscholanalysis
looking at people with mental AND physical problems - eg hysteria -
he started to see that many problems are mental in nature (psychological) and are based upon trauma or situations stemming from childhood
he looked at people’s minds as being “split” into three parts
Oedipus Complex - boys loves their mothers and hate their fathers and want to kill them and replace them - THEN, they become “normal” and “healthy” by transferring those feelings to their girlfriends and so on.
Elektra Complex - other way around for girls -

Id - the animal you - the hunger, the appetite, the beast, the child, the tantrum
uncontrollable response that is automatic and “old” - ancient like a primate
lust, rage, gluttony, etc
we jail these people - these are not good citizens - these are selfish, unpleasant and brutal people
when we are babies we are like this, and then, ideally, we grow OUT of it
How Might This Aspect of Self Be Useful?
this can be a very powerful motivator towards survival

Ego - the careful you, the watcher, the protector, the one who makes sure, the schemer, the planner, the avoider of punishment
this one is considering the status of self in the group
this is a more advanced self
realistic -
more cunning and more designed to fit into society

SuperEgo - the Mother’s Voice - the conscience, angel on your shoulder, the good little voice, Jiminy Cricket, the higher moral
this is the self that cares for others and places VALUES higher than selfish desire
this is about what is RIGHT and WRONG
it’s like an outside look at yourself
this is very useful in a society - in fact, it’s critical for a society to work successfully

In people, there is usually a balance between these elements of the unconscious mind.
A person who is healthy and has grown up in a good place, will be good at balancing.
Someone who has grown up with trauma will have a much harder time.

Can this series of ideas be applied to literature? Of course.

Jungian Archetypes

models for ideas and thoughts and patterns that exist across cultures and show up in stories and art and literature and so on
Star Wars is loaded with them - Wise Master - Young Apprentice - The Rogue - The Dark Father - The Princess, etc
Harry Potter uses these same archetypes
they appear to be built into our psychology

Fairy Tale Challenge



Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Quest (Monomyth)
Feminist Criticism
Dialectics
Aristotelian Poetics (story theory)

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Why does Frankenstein react with horror to his creation?

We discussed the mother element - postpartum depression
We discussed the idea of anticipation and disappointment as a natural letdown of all that build up

Frogs -
Dead people -
Blood -

Many fears are actually fear of something else.
Many fears are sensible if we look BACK into our past.

Some people believe that some of our fears are built in and come from ancient, almost collective, unconscious.

Carl Jung - student of Sigmund Freud

archetypes
Jung studied people from vastly separate areas - different cultures that had never cross-communicated
he found many really clear similarities in their beliefs, myths, cultural symbols and so on
He wondered why? 
He theorized that there was something linking all these people - something deep in their minds that was common - or collective (shared)
it wasn’t something on the surface and it wasn’t something they thought about - it was underneath and it was powerful
it was tied to a way of looking at the world
there is something about being human that makes certain ideas, images, symbols and so on, particularly powerful and rich and those things link us

a Christ figure may exist in many different religions, stories, movies, books, etc.

The Mother
The Wise Master
The Trickster
The Princess
The Knight
The Mad Scientist

Our fears work in a very similar way.

We share common fears based upon our human nature and psychology.

Some obvious fears are based in bodily harm.

Others are less obvious.

Monsters in pop culture are archetypes and they are also SYMBOLS

Why are there so many vampire shows? Vampires are more than just vampires.

What is blood? - injuries, death, sickness.

Frogs - slimy, green - sickness

There is an element to many of our deep fears and reactions to things that are “scary” that has its roots in avoidance of disease and avoidance of the diseased person.

In a very deep place in the human brain, there is a sentry on guard, keeping alert for danger. Keeping us safe, even when we ARE safe.

The amygdala.

It doesn’t think. It reacts.

It responds to “things” that are dangerous.

It can be broken, over-active, messed with, etc.

On some level, Frankenstein is about the human reaction to the way others look.

We can dig into this by looking at our amygdala, at archetypes, at xenophobia and our treatment of those who are “different”.

Monsters are lonely and sad and outsiders and ugly and angry and strike back at the society that excludes them. (this is one area of monster meaning)

They can also represent the sins of those who go into areas into which Man was not meant to go.

Monster = ugly.

We are a shallow society and we judge by looks and we are brutal in our judgment, but some of it is DEEP in that lizard brain and we have to fight that.

Monday, May 7, 2012

blasphemy - to commit an act that is against the will of, or teachings of, God (according to religious teachers and writings)

In the everyday world, blasphemy is more often to do with the PEOPLE who are interpreting what THEY think is the will of God

Knowledge = DANGER (again, tied to blasphemy)

Are there things that Mankind is not meant to know or deal with or learn about?

This would be a great exam question - the answer can be backed up in looking at Macbeth AND Frankenstein.

Knowledge is a TWO EDGED SWORD - knowing things can be very dangerous and very frightening and can make it much more difficult to “live”

Our whole culture is designed to deny the reality of our impending death.

Our behaviour is, in many significant ways, ALL about the denial of death and an attempt to fight against that fear of it -

Frankenstein is a character who is engaged in a dramatic example of that same thing.

All his focus on the science and all his insanity around that singular pursuit could be seen to be a physical manifestation of that denial - he is literally fighting death - trying to make it stop and turn back the clock

Take careful notes on Chapter 4 - from “When I found...” and ending with “...conclusion.”

Frankenstein written in the early 1800s written by a teenage girl - Mary Shelley We already have THREE things in our heads All the Frankenstein stuff we know from POPULAR CULTURE green - awful haircut life imbued by lightning into the body - bolts on the neck Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster the monster is superhuman - super powers, literally very famous “look” of Frankenstein’s monster comes from the 1931 Universal Studios horror masterpiece (directed by James Whale) starring Boris Karloff - one of the first horror movies ever made - and it was a serious picture the monster is a sympathetic character - he is a tragic, haunted, lonely, angry outsider the producer of this movie was Carl Laemmle, the heavily-accented Jewish founder of Universal Studios (another outsider) Written by a teenager - outsiders again? YES the teenage mind is a little bit different from an adult mind - it’s not done yet the teenager might be a little more dramatic or tragic or haunted or emotional in general - this can come out in the book - and the character(s) can reflect the writer’s concerns in life the writer is also a female - another outsider - male culture isn’t (at this time) accepting of women as equals - a female trying to write and be an artist and be taken seriously would have a hard time female view of relationships? - man is a monster? young woman who will probably have a baby would have some issues that would come up in the book - the idea of literally creating life and being a mother and dealing with all the issues that come from that, is a very strange idea - CRAZY
 Early 1800s - What about that time period? Napoleonic Wars - time of chaos in Europe - turmoil in politics the year of no summer - there was a volcano that put up enough ask to block the sun and kill the summer for a year - crop failure, etc. what kind of technology was there? Pre-Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution is the early to late 1800s where factories became machine-driven inventions allowed for mass-production and speedier construction of almost everything switching from handmade world to a mass-produced world This novel comes loaded with ideas and possibilities to consider that we bring into it. The Age of Reason What beliefs used to rule the Western world? Religion - Christianity - Catholicism Politics was still largely focused on single leaders - a King, a Queen, A Warlord, etc until the 1700s or so. Thinkers in the 1700s started coming up with some new ideas - these ideas ran parallel with science starting up It seemed to these thinkers that some new ideas would rule the world - these ideas were based on REASON now, not religion. Elite thinkers were convinced that Man could know everything and science was the answer to everything. There was nothing that could not be figured out. One of the most dangerous ideas was this application of Reason TO religion Science is exploding and philosophy and ideas of radical new thought, are exploding Weird new discoveries are throwing everything into question - including Life and Death Galvani - electricity experiments with severed frogs’ legs - people thought that electricity could ANIMATE dead tissue What is Life? What makes us ANIMATE? Nobody knows and Galvani’s experiments weren’t crazy. In this time period - 1700s - 1800s it seemed like Man was getting closer to understanding the biggest, most powerful forces of the Universe First Franksignment - Choose an Age of Enlightenment thinker, do a profile on him/(her if you can find her), lay out some of his/her theories and put it on a blog or in a brief presentation

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Macbeth Essay - Due in Two Weeks - Week of April 30 - May 4

What is due?

The full package of Macbeth items. We will have all next week to work on it.

What should I write my essay about?

General Areas that Have Worked in the Past

Macbeth is not responsible for his actions because he is not of sound mind.

Macbeth is not responsible for his actions because he is being manipulated by powerful forces.

Macbeth is fully responsible for his actions. He is of sound mind and makes his own choices.

Macbeth is a classical tragic hero.

Lady Macbeth is the true evil in the play. (not easy to prove)

Lady Macbeth is an example of female power gone wrong.

The play reveals the theme of female power and its dangers. (by the old fashioned way of thinking)

The supernatural is the driving force in the play for all characters.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Essay Skeleton - Rough Outline

Intro - thesis statement - general welcome - wider observation or statement about the topic area, reference to the work and the author, and often, a brief overview of the main Areas of Discussion

eg - thesis is that Macbeth exhibits all the common traits of a classical tragic hero.

Intro opening: (this is the most stereotypical and cliched opening)

“Webster’s dictionary defines...”

“Great tragic heroes have been on display in literature since...

“If it was about the witches/supernatural - you would come up with some general observation about witchcraft in that era, or the superstitions of that era

Order in the Intro:

General Observation/Welcome/Background Info
Refer to the work and the author
State your thesis and briefly how you will prove it. (brief AoD reference)

(some teachers demand the thesis statement goes at the end)

Body (in a five-paragraph essay, there are 3 AoD, your paper may have 2 or 4 or whatever)

What exactly are these Areas of Discussion?

They are ways to prove your thesis as true.

Subjects/topics/structures that (can) follow a certain pattern

Randall Lobb is a poor teacher because of many factors. (also not great)

The AoD are the factors that prove the above.

AoD 1 - Clearly has an attention problem - ADD

Now, we need to collect evidence that supports this AoD and feeds back to the thesis
Find references from primary or secondary sources.
Primary source - the literature about which you are talking
Secondary source - books or web sites about the literature about which you are talking - this step often gets forgotten - people find it a P.I.T.A.

eg - Macbeth is crazy! You write this essay and Lobb writes this comment - Ref? - you probably just made a statement about a mental problem that you pulled out of your hat - you need to back up ALL big statements with proof - secondary source!

insanity - look up different disorders and find symptoms - does Mac have any of those?

witchcraft and the supernatural - look up old documents about witchcraft and religion and the church and the response - read about the ways witches “worked”

role of women at that time period - don’t just tell me that women weren’t treated equally, find references from other works that give examples and PROVE it

what is a tragic hero? - don’t just go by Lobb’s notes, find a source - follow the steps that make a tragic hero, according to the secondary source, then APPLY that pattern to the play

Structure of a Body Paragraph

Statement that gets into the subject (topic sentence, intro, transition, etc)
Make our initial point or assertion - what is the “thing” that you have as your AoD?
Show your reference that backs up your assertion - why do you think that “thing”?
Elaborate on how that reference shows the assertion to be true. Why is that quotation there? What does it say? What does it mean? How is it relevant?
Synthesis - show how this stuff that you just said proves your original thesis.
(Bring it back - link back - prove your thesis - show how it fits into the essay as a whole)

This sequence above is the difference between 68% and 88%

AoD 2 -

AoD 3 -

Conclusion-

Monday, April 16, 2012

What kind of essay will we be writing?

Argumentative essay

this is an essay where the writer is trying to make a point about a subject, where that point could be argued - ie there is also some opposing point

“We are writing about Globalization.”

“Students are just writing about globalization without saying anything about globalization that isn’t just a definition.”

“What should they have done to get good marks?”

Put some opinion in there
Coming into the paper with a point, a view a SIDE in an argument.
Coming in with a VALUE statement or a value STRUCTURE - A is good and all else is bad. Or B is bad and A is good. Or C is better than A or B, which are okay, but have weaknesses.

What about the subject? This is the thesis. This is the argument.

Subject - Globalization
The “what” might be that globalization is making the social classes more equitable.

The problem with Macbeth essays is often this ”Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth.”

The student will then find three examples of this and describe them and at the end of each body paragraph will state that “this is how we can see that Lady Macbeth is manipulating her husband.”

But what about that manipulation?

If we went on to say that Lady’s manipulation was the key element in pushing him to his downfall, then we have value statement and a sense of argument. This is not necessarily true or obvious. It must be PROVEN.

Even after LISTING the times and ways she manipulates him, we still have to SHOW how that pushes him into the direction, into his downfall, sets him on his path or concretizes that path

We need to INTERPRET the events and EXPLAIN the effects and suggest POSSIBILITIES in order to make this work.

This might take some research and some extra knowledge.
CONNECTIONS of new ideas might give interesting strength to the argument.

What is the purpose of essay writing?

Marks
Learn the structure of writing
Argue your point of view
Analyze the reading

To force a kind of deeper thinking about the literature.
To learn to write with purpose for audience
To learn to write according to a structure that is imposed
To find and follow connections and associations through research and study
To become a more thoughtful and analytical person

Some people don’t know what they know, why they know it, how they know it, or what good it is to know it at all.

Many people do not self-reflect about much in their lives.

Essay writing can force some reflection. This is important for self-actualization.


What is the purpose of doing it in this class?

Tradition - there is a history of essay writing
Essays have a huge component of grammar, style, structure, etc that fits English
Essays are often about literature, which is English
English is often about feelings, bigger picture, deeper issues, finding the hidden meanings.

How can we achieve the right “end” to this?

PROCESS IS CRUCIAL - you need to learn the right pattern, follow it, know it and internalize it - Make it your own - make it automatic

You should be able to write an essay from start to finish in a classroom, for an exam, with no wasted time, no confusion and no lost moments.

What is the right end, anyway?

Achievement in the inner goal (self-actualized) and the outer goal (write a skillful paper)




Example Essay Preparation - Lobb-style Essay Skeleton

Topic - World War II - Hitler’s Leadership - The Nazi Defeat

Thesis - During WWII, the Nazi defeat was more a function of Hitler’s poor leadership than it was a function of his military’s mistakes and ineffectuality.

I now need THREE Areas of Discussion that will act as body paragraphs to prove my statement above is true.

What do I have to prove true? - Hitler was a bad leader and in what ways, that they military was doing their jobs correctly, that the Allies weren’t simply steamrolling the Nazis. etc

Area of Discussion 1

start by recording some general notes:
The Military was very effective - establish this first, then show how Hitler screw it up, then I have a good case for blaming him.
effectiveness of combined arms assaults and blitzkrieg tactics
effectiveness of weaponry and equipment
well dug in defensive positions, etc.

Area of Discussion 2 - Hitler’s influence.
- Splits his his forces to fight a two-front war - Russia (Operation Barbosa) and the Western Front (which even included North Africa...)

I know how to SHOW how this decision leads to weakening the powerful elements of his army.

Area of Discussion 3 - Racist War - a war of murder
the way he conducted his war guaranteed that other countries would be horrified and sickened and would never stop fighting and would never give up or stop from wanting to PUNISH Germany
He strengthened his enemies by his decisions of genocide
it also weakens his soldiers - it makes them morally corrupt, which is complex and difficult

Work for April 3-5

ENG3U - Week of April 3-5

This week, you will be wrestling with Macbeth all on your very own.

But you can do it because you are all awesome.

Here is what to work on this week:

Finishing Act 1:

Translate and analyse Macbeth’s soliloquy from Act 1, Sc.7. “If it were done...” (this put us up to 3 of our 4 so far)
Evaluate the conflict between Lady Mac and Mac in this scene. Explain what’s happening here, specifically be able to know HOW she is manipulating her husband and be able to DISCUSS what this shows about her character.

Starting Act 2:

Read Act 2 Sc.1

Hey, here’s another soliloquy by Macbeth! “Is this a dagger...” Analyse and evaluate the meaning, as per.
Be sure that you understand what is going on between Banquo and Macbeth in this scene. It sets some things up down the road.

Read Act 2, Sc.2

This scene has in it the murder of King Duncan. In a way, because it actually happens off stage.

Why do you think the murder of the king is not depicted?
Consider carefully how Lady and Mac behave in this scene. Discuss their strange behaviour, note examples to illustrate your ideas and consider the reasons for these odd behaviours.
Once again, we have friction between the couple. Why? What does it tell us?


Read Act 2, Sc.3

This scene has a key moment of comic relief, brought to us through the character of the Porter, a drunk with a hangover and some dirty jokes, but then takes us to the discovery of the dead king and the introduction of Macduff, another thane.

Why would Shakespeare put a scene of comic relief in after the previous act?
Consider Macbeth’s behaviour in this scene. What does he do? How do you think his behaviour will affect his plans moving forward?
Once again, Lady Macbeth takes over. Describe what she does and what it tells us about their relationship.
Consider also how Malcolm and Donalbain respond to the death of their father. Why do they react this way?

Read Act 2, Sc.4

This scene is there to show us how the world has been affected by the murder of the rightful king.

Make a list of the ways in which Nature has responded to Macbeth’s crime.
Consider Macduff’s reaction to the death of the king... What does he do and what do you think will come of this?

That should be enough to keep you going until my joyous return from the UN.

Salut!

Mr. The L

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Today, we are needing to finish Act 1, and that means:

Read Act 1, Sc 5-7. Aloud is best with partners.

Write a character description of Lady Macbeth based upon what little we see.

Translate and similarly note the meaning of and behind Lady Mac's soliloquy in Act 1 Sc 5 "beginning with The raven himself is hoarse...

Evaluate Macbeth's interactions with his wife in these scenes.

Consider who holds the power in these scenes.
Consider each character's motives in these scenes.
Consider Macbeth's reactions to his wife.
Consider Lady Macbeth's reactions to him.

Predict where this business appears to be going... (I know you know, but we're looking for evidence for why you think these things...)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

ENG3U

READ Macbeth Act 1, Scenes 2-5 - aloud with a partner or small group would be good

MAKE a character web - who are the characters we meet who appear to carry the play? (the main characters) - how are they interrelated? how do we see them? what do we learn about them? Have at least 5 characters in your web.

NOTE the main events in these acts as best you can.

LOOK UP words and phrases you don’t know or are confusing (this could take some time)

TRANSLATE Macbeth’s soliloquy after he meets the witches

WRITE a short, modern language news article about the events of the battle that Macbeth took part in (on Duncan’s behalf)

Monday, March 26, 2012

You are taking your own notes on Macbeth.

pathetic fallacy

Morality plays

The Divine Right of Kings

hierarchy

aristocracy - THANES (earl, baron, lord, duke, etc)

feudal system - king gives stuff to baron, dukes, lords, THANES, etc

Stuff means estates, land and titles

WIth stuff like that comes a bunch of responsibilities and a bunch of serfs (peasant farmers who work the land the lords were given)

Peasants own nothing. Peasants get subsistence - enough to eat.

There is a warrior class that rules - these lords, and their close friends and followers, are called KNIGHTS - the ruling class was a warrior class - they didn’t do farm work because they had the job of fighting when the king said. Remember those responsibilities? This is the big one.

Teenagers were great knights! Crazy, self-confident to a fault, easy to manipulate, more violent, etc.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Macbeth - William Shakespeare

Written around 1600.

Story takes place in the 11th Century - 1000 AD - 1100 AD

Why would we read stuff from this time period, about that time period, written by that guy?

There is at least ONE good reason why we would grapple with this guy’s stuff

from a dramatic perspective, Shakespeare created much of what we think of as entertainment (in terms of the structure) - his work is kind of a foundation for modern works of art
from a language perspective, the same! he was a neologist of unbelievable influence - he somehow was able to make up words that are still with us and clearly, caught on in his lifetime - some estimate he contributed 400 words to the language (and phrases) - he literally helped make our language
from an historical perspective, we can chart the process and progress of writing and drama and elements of story and style - create a sense of continuity that can be powerful - “Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.”
there is an intrinsic artistic value to this material - it is powerful and it is interesting and it used to be the dominant popular culture - it was movies
because it is hard - sometimes we do things because they are challenging that makes us better, smarter and gives us something that we need - “cutting teeth” - remember that idea of the dialectic? thesis + antithesis = synthesis - something plus struggle = progress - initial state plus forced change = growth/maturity

Another problem with reading Shakespeare: (or maybe more)

It is weird - the language is weird - it is not easy to read.

read it out loud as much as possible - it actually helps
read the sentences, not the lines
define, define, define
how else can I get this into my brain? comic book? movie? translated version? play? audiobook? DON’T LET THAT OTHER WAY BE THE ONLY WAY!
KEEP NOTES ON THE PLAY

the stories are complex and the character names are funny - “I had to study how to spell the names.”

keep a character log or web - keep a small list of key characters with thumbnail sketches (not actual sketches) I mean written
graphic organizer will help

we are used to doing things that do not challenge us - we are trained to be passive viewers of pap

we know we get marks for doing well - the process is worth “money” (marks)
you will receive a sense of great internal satisfaction by achieving at a standard that your peers last semester could NOT, because they were weak and pathetic


there are lots of distractions -

block out times to read and use them - this play is worth marks galore
use some kind of isolation technique

it is being tested by some old man - ugh - work

get used to it - this is the way of life...

Who is Macbeth?

He was a real king in Scotland in the 11th Century


Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, was born in around 1005. His father was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of Malcolm II. A 'mormaer' was literally a high steward of one of the ancient Celtic provinces of Scotland, but in Latin documents the word is usually translated as 'comes', which means earl.
In August 1040, he killed the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle near Elgin, Morayshire. Macbeth became king. His marriage to Kenneth III's granddaughter Gruoch strengthened his claim to the throne. In 1045, Macbeth defeated and killed Duncan I's father Crinan at Dunkeld.
For 14 years, Macbeth seems to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging Christianity. In 1050, he is known to have travelled to Rome for a papal jubilee. He was also a brave leader and made successful forays over the border into Northumbria, England.
In 1054, Macbeth was challenged by Siward, Earl of Northumbria, who was attempting to return Duncan's son Malcolm Canmore, who was his nephew, to the throne. In August 1057, Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm III).
Why would Shakespeare make this guy evil?
It’s way more fun to read and watch.
Drama comes from CONFLICT and the most useful main character to create conflict is a character called a TRAGIC HERO.
A TRAGIC HERO is a character type that is as old as plays themselves - the Greeks (as usual) came up with this fun guy of character (see: Oedipus)
What is the tragic hero?
Starts on a high note - loved, honoured, has all great qualities, is a pinnacle of humankind and usually is going to an even higher point
But wait! There is some TRAGIC FLAW lurking within this hero and this tragic flaw is often called HUBRIS - the sin of PRIDE, the sense of one’s own great worth, the overestimation of what one deserves. Those who suffer this are often in a position of power.
There is a FALL that comes as a direct result of this HUBRIS, this TRAGIC FLAW. This fall comes as the TRAGIC HERO aims a little too high and allows his/her greed for power to control and overpower his/her morals.
This tragic flaw will result in NEMESIS! This is the direct enemy of the tragic hero - the RETRIBUTION or revenge or punishment or consequences. The direct and expected result of the flaw. Whatever the tragic hero did will create the exact expected punishment. There should be some line or connection from the HUBRIS to the NEMESIS.
The audience learns a great deal from the fall of the tragic hero. We all learn and we all see the reward for that sin of pride. This is a lesson to teach people about their place and power and what happens when we allow our egos to grow too strong.
What about the world at this time?
The Middle Ages - swords and shields, castles, knights, monarchism, kings, The Crusade, jousting, war, dirty, superstition, witchcraft, EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS
eg - The Pope at that time was in a conflict with a person called The Holy Roman Emperor - this conflict resulted in the Emperor being excommunicated from the Church and to get back in, he crawled through Rome on his knees and came before the Pope and apologized
Religion was BOSS and everything else was WAY in the backseat.
Apocalyptic World!
The intelligent people at the turn of the century “knew” that when it got to 1000, it would be the end of the world. So, they didn’t plan anything. Or set up for anything. Or try to learn anything new. They just kept studying the one thing that was important - The Bible.
It was a time of complete surrender to death and misery and Apocalypse.
Funny part?
2012!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Finish Poster
THEN - find a poem that you can, as a group, apply your poster material to
This is the first part of the poetry SUMMATIVE

Poetry Summative:

Choose a poet that you think has an interesting life or some “hook” that pulls you in. 

Give some bio info that would inform the reader to look for certain things in the poetry

Put this into some kind of presentation - your choice (multimedia=good)

Find THREE poems by that poet that are representative of something from that poet’s life - LINK these poems to the info from the life story (1/2 to 1 page)

Choose ONE poem to analyse according to your plan (from the poster)

Individually:

Write THREE poems that somehow tell me something about YOU in the same way.

How do I Get LEVEL FOUR$

deep analysis - how low can you go? higher order thinking - symbols, connection, associations and applying the poem to life or vice versa
choice of poet is smart - some poets are cooler than others (ie some had weird lives)
how much info do you SHOW and how much research do you DO
PRESENTATION - what kind of communication skills do you use?
CREATIVITY and using the reverse engineering on your own poems - looking at, and study, pro poems should upgrade your own poems (should)

Charles Bukowski
Sylvia Plath
Irving Layton
ee cummings
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Allen Ginsberg
Bob Dylan
Jim Morrison
Samuel Coleridge
Percy Bysse Shelley
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Siegfried Sassoon
Gary Snyder
Gregory Corso

Monday, March 19, 2012

Looking at Charles Bukowski's "Dinosauria, We"

We started by listening to Jason Silva.

IMAGINATION from Jason Silva on Vimeo.

Here's a little analysis of it found online on a student blog.

She's got some great ideas.



Dinosauria, We Essay. Tell me what you think!
Naomi McPherson
Stephanie Lytle
English 4
4 Dec 2010

Sorrowful Deadliness: an analysis of Dinosauria, We

In Dinosauria, We by Charles Bukowski, he highlights the idea that as humans, are functioning within a modern dystopian society that we have inherited. He rages with misanthropy towards the human species in general, and hints that this is only one cycle of destruction that is doomed to be repeated.
The title of the poem, at first glance, is nonsensical. After reading the poem, the title suggests that we, as a society, are going to become extinct - and, in fact, be the cause of our own downfall and eventual destruction. The line “Born into” is repeated throughout the poem, suggesting that although we are not solely the causes of our grim societal state, we can do nothing to combat its digression because we are merely the inheritors. The concept of what the ‘this’ is can be interpreted many different ways. The readers individual concept of what the ‘this’ truly is helps to shape the poem as the reader views it.
The poem seems to take place in many different time periods - present, past and future. Bukowski addresses the futility of government and education in the first section “As political landscapes dissolve / As the supermarket bag boy holds a college degree / As the oily fish spit out their oily prey / As the sun is masked” The beginning of the poem seems to detail how the end begins, oddly enough. The downfall of political power, the uselessness of education and extreme pollution are all things that have been topics in dystopian literature. In this poem, Bukowski sets it in the present in order to drive in the fact that we, as we are, function within a dystopian setting. A real live 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451. Although he does not go into detail of the cause of the downfall, one can relate his tone to just a general feeling of misanthropy towards humankind. He conveys a feeling of negativity harbored towards people in general, possibly believing that their inherent flaws have always caused this world to be a dystopia.
The short, choppy and fragmented flow of the poem conveys the feeling of desperation that it intends to portray. Bukowski makes use of a list-like format, detailing the effects on humans, rather than the effects on the whole. He speaks in one section about drugs replacing God because God does not provide necessary support for the people within society. “The fingers reach for the throat / The gun / The knife / The bomb / The fingers reach toward an unresponsive god / The fingers reach for the bottle / The pill / The powder / We are born into this sorrowful deadliness”. He also depicts that humans will become inherently more violent towards each other as a means of coping, survival, recklessness. Murder will run rampant and people will have no morals or self-control. This section also foreshadows a downfall of the masses into drug dependence - much like the prominent use of the drug soma in Huxley’s Brave New World. The dependence on drugs, and the emphasis (or non-emphasis) on religion are both prominent topics within Dystopian literature. Just as soma was used to repress the presence of feelings within the World State society in Huxley’s novel (the drug once being referred to as “Christianity without tears”), Bukowski alludes that tangible, recognizable pills and other drugs will be used as a alternative to religion and the “unresponsive god”.
Bukowski concludes the poem by stating blatantly that the cycle is doomed to be repeated, whether it be by humans or another society of beings. He alludes to some sort of solace found in the aftermath of man’s self-created decimation in the final few lines of the poem; “And there will be the most beautiful silence never heard / Born out of that / The sun still hidden there / Awaiting the next chapter.” The circle of life and optimism are crushed by Bukowski’s blatant pessimism throughout this poem and his idea of, essentially, a cycle of destruction. The self-perpetuating, inherited flaw that mankind possesses creates his own destruction. The poem conveys an overall theme of helplessness, and the hopelessness of life itself – all qualities that are most certainly depicted in all dystopian novels.

And then, we started the next key assignment:

Coming Up With A Group Poetry Analysis Poster

Areas to Consider Including:

the meaning - the W5 approach

the poet and the context

style and structure - poetic devices, imagery, genre, form, etc

symbolism - discussing and assessing and analysing

allusions, allegory or other references (or definitions)

personal response (emotional, artistic, etc)

What to do?

A set of responses or activities that any student could follow.
A process that has a logical order - don’t start too deep - build to depth
maybe there would be pieces in modules - chunks within chunks (or questions within certain areas)
Some kind of very specific plan, with literal lines to fill in

I will assign marks for design, presentation and froufrou as well.

These will be posted for handy reference.

Due: Wednesday of this week

Thursday, March 8 2012

Today’s Activities:

Finish the material from yestiddy.
Moo vaughn to the Poem. This one will be looking for SYMBOLISM.

Symbolism -

things can mean other things
those other things are usually more complex and wider in scope and may have to do with UNIVERSALS - issues that affect all people probably throughout time (some of them don’t affect only specific time periods - note: see the poem from yestiddy)
ie refugees are always with us - we might see images of refugees or symbols that suggest something about the refugee experience
what could you see as an image or a reference in a poem that might suggest something about the refugee experience?
1. one trick - words have multiple meanings - ie in Goya, groaning can have multiple layers of meaning
people can groan - with pain, with tears, with the weight of something, with struggle or as they die
a wooden cart can groan under the weight of objects
2. What COULD X mean?
3. Find things that also have value - negative, positive, light, dark,
cement - hard, heavy, powerful, gray, ominous, same colour as old black and white photos of war, same colour as uniforms, bullets, barrels, weapons, etc.

The value could be emotional, historical, sociological, scientific, etc

To find these things, it may help to read the poem aloud and play it.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

In Goya’s Greatest Scenes We Seem To See

Formative - Did we come up with good Qs and As?

Generate questions that follow into an analysis. No content. No simple comprehension.

We’re setting up to have a pattern to follow that we will make.

Work in a team to solve a group problem -> coming up with your own pattern through Qs.

In pairs or groups - if groups, swap left

Read the poem.

Take some time to prepare - research? context? digging in group?

Come up with THREE questions that require thoughtful response.

Answer the THREE questions (in rough).

Submit for formative check. I will comment specifically on problems.

Marking for:

depth
symbols
considering deeply
finding outside elements to bring in or vice versa
context and knowledge applied (ie allusions to historical characters, etc)
quality of answer to indicate understanding

Tuesday, Mar 6, 2012

1958 -

What are we doing?
- learning a pattern of thinking and analysis for poetry
taking something into the next classes (4U) and into a poetry assignment
teach a pattern for you to use in place of questions
we want to find ways to dig deeper - symbols and allegories and deeper meanings


1958

Context - we have to learn (for analysis) something about the 50s

we look for stuff in the poem that we recognize as fitting the era
we know these things aren’t NOW and we see the title, so we assume -
research or consider common cultural knowledge - ie movies, other songs, etc
things IN the poem and things we just KNOW
this poem has a title that suggests, hey, we need to contextualize
fashion elements - musical elements - subject matter - formal conventions (the way something is done - ie black and white, slower paced editing)

Form = glass
Content = water

Recap the Whole Decade
post WW2, this is big deal - the entire world has been shaken to the core
The Holocaust - Nuclear Weapons - Communism
Rock and Roll came out of nowhere (not true) in 1956 - where did it come from?
Black culture - WHAT!? This must be a very bad, scary, dangerous kind of music! because black people are bad, scary, dangerous people (if, in fact, they are actually people) - the belief at the time wasn’t too far from this
the onset of teen culture -
the rise of modern advertising - super manipulative, psy-ops tricks
teenage life becomes something depicted as separate and special and it becomes a marketing target for everyone
nostalgia makes people forget the bad things, or romanticize them in a strange way
savages of the Fifties - ruthless - why? white, middle-class, 50s kids with cars and clothes and money and selfish desires and they are ignorant of the lives and problems and feelings of others -
terrible perfect bodies - you’re at your peak here, folks - this is when you’re at your best - “youth is beauty” and that beauty, when combined with the ruthlessness above can make for a nasty combo - they are fake
imagery - kind of - referring to the smells - the writer is sensitive

slang talk, cool cat talk - ridic now, but we have the same stuff
the girls are focus on, especially their clothes, which tells us about the narrator
the mean girls have a code of clothing and behaviour and this narrator is not following the code - just like today
Xenobia - Cat Woman - images of female strength and violence - a nice way to describe the Queen of the School -

what is the factor that makes any kid a “Queen of the School” - confidence
tough = confidence = can’t be hurt
“the boys learned shop and the girls sewed shaky seams” - Western Technical High School- old fashioned sex roles for men and women
these are kids who are right on the lower middle class rung - not rich, not poor, lower middle and will always be there.
the kids in this school expect X and that is all - they are already at their peak in every way
this pattern, this expectation structure IS the 50s - it IS 1958

the 60s show us the reaction to this world that this poem is about

Friday, Mar 2, 2012

iBooks Author (Mac only - Mac store)

OpenOffice Presentations
Corel Presentations
MS PowerPoint
Prezi
Keynote
iMovie
Google Presentations

Learning Goals:

Implement a system/pattern for poetry analysis
Build a set of skills for presentations
Implement knowledge of context in analysis - ie time period, poet’s life, poet herself, etc
Develop a “critical eye” and be able think deeper
Learn about seeing with a “child’s eye”

What does it mean to see with a child’s eye and what does that have to do with Poetry?

What about the Human Brain?

two hemispheres
maybe our brains are MORE than we even think
brain is memory, brain is emotion, brain is personality, brain is SELF -
how is it possible that a five cup ball of mush can be you?
your brain is your ONLY ticket to reality - PERIOD

The brain is two main parts with a little thing in the middle called the CORPUS CALLOSUM.

Things that require activity from either side must go through this little pathway. This is a good model for thinking of any brain activity.

EVERY single thing you do is a system of activity - your brain is actually working like a team

SPEECH - memory - muscle movements - comprehension of words - formation of words - emotion - visual element - sound - etc

How does this SYSTEM form?

Babies are born ready to be structured by their experiences.

New things literally form new neural pathways. - Experiences literally create the brain.
Babies react to things in a very pure way. They haven’t got a reference for new things, so their response is natural and very much based upon their senses.

Free of preconception and judgment.

The brain is formed by the variety and differences to accept more and more and more stuff. More stuff, more experiences = more pathways = more growth and more abilities

If babies need new experiences, and if babies react very honestly and naturally and without prejudgment, then we could also suggest that poets need to approach reality with a child’s or a baby’s eye.

There is a part of our brain that is the opposite of a baby - there is a part of our brain that just behaves automatically.

The older we get, the more likely we are to follow patterns and routines and to follow this unconscious brain without reflecting upon it in any way.

This part of our brain just KNOWS stuff, it stops observing and it stops thinking.

A poet, a baby and Sherlock Holmes all should share the ability to ACTUALLY perceive and then the poet is able to describe.

Cliches - a repeated, often-used, trite (and now much reduced in interest and power) turn of phrase or idea or description (or anything)

A person who doesn’t observe is more likely to resort to cliche

You want to begin to value the way things really are. You want to begin to SEE for real. And hear for real. etc.

The Sense Challenge

Pick one or two or three of your senses that you like.
Do something that is socially acceptable that engages all of these senses.
Try to deeply engage in that sensual input.
Try to really think about what you’re sensing.
Really feel/smell/taste/see/hear/ESP exactly what’s happening.

THEN, try to describe it in as interesting a way as possible.

Example - FOOD of a complex nature.




Burrito Taste Adventure

avocado - soft, flavourless, fatty texture
cabbage - crunchy, sweetish, tinny flavour
coca powder in some kind of chili - beans, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, lime juice, coriander, soy sauce or anchovy paste
chicken or pork - cook and shred into threads
hot peppers or hot pepper sauce
sour cream
strong cheddar
salsa
french fries down the middle

DO the crazy sundae - all kinds of candy and sweets and junk

Wednesday, Feb 29, 2012

Poems from Echoes

What today?

Intro to those poems - see patterns in the poems
Check out a way to read poems and to initiate an analysis
Do some questions that start us thinking in the right way

Poetry - Pablo Neruda

Narrator - first person - could be the poet himself

the POV could be from that of some particular character
subject matter + 1st person might = the poet
reflexive - refers back to the thing that is being done - these can be interesting or they can be too “inside baseball” - this may shut out a segment of the audience

Change over the poem? - not knowing -> knowing, sober -> tripping, lost -> found, young -> old, ignorant -> wise, small -> infinite
finding that change over the poem could be key to the theme - any shift or change in a poem could be key to study
can we find and prove this process of change by steps?

What imagery comes after “suddenly I saw”? - space, stars, planets, night, the universe - the infinite, the big open question
find these things by noting common terms, related words and ideas and keeping track
clump together similar ideas and concepts - what is the link?

3.b) What does this imagery tells us about the character and his change? - poetry or something to do with writing it, showed the character the universe - “suddenly I saw” - once he started to write, then he saw and then he became one with the universe

Define:

paradox - something that is true that cannot be true at the same time

“pure nonsense/pure wisdom”

What a paradox does is give us some deeper layers of information. ie from the mouths of babes comes great wisdom.

Homework: - DO this question but do not write a poem - just take the notes

1958 and Reach Out and Touch - assigned Q’s

OR In Goya’s Greatest Scenes we Seem to See

Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012

ENG3U

Learning Goals!

Finish your presentation on The Boat.

If done, then read the poems Poetry, 1958 and Reach Out and Touch in Echoes. p2, 6, 10 respectively)

THEN - check questions starting on p. 14

Poetry - 1, 2, 3, 6
1958 - 2, 3, 5 (no essay, just explain the references to the 50s - you will need to Google)
Reach - 1, 3, 6

This should take about ONE full period.

I will be around the school at a meeting. We will take this up tomorrow.

Thanks.

Mr. The L

Monday, Feb 27, 2012

Poetry

Learning Goals:

We need to find a way of thinking about poetry that allows appreciation - many don’t like it already, which makes it harder to deal with in school
We need some patterns and templates for analysis that allow you to get the right process in place and achieve mastery of forthcoming assignments
We need to see context and be able to implement research and so on into our poetry work
We need to be able to categorize kinds of poems and techniques
We need to be able to think about language specifically.

English Language:

The most complex language in the world.

GH-O-TI - enough, women, friction

to, too, two - MA

Old English -

450 - 1100 - common usage
the island was attacked constantly! the invaders would bring their own languages, their own stuff and their own sperm (which they would use to impregnate women) and they would stick around!
areas of England would be very much oriented to the invaders’ culture and language
England became a little patchwork of languages
there are many words that we still use from this mix of languages, this OLD ENGLISH - here is a fun one
SHIT - originally scitan - scite - shite - shit
coincidence - almost all our swear words are old english in nature
man - woman - house - town - the simple, common words that make up regular life are rooted in OE - Germanic, Scandinavian, Saxon, etc.
those crazy Latin speakers started having an influence
religion came in with a BOOM of Latin and spread like crazy - medicine, teaching, learning, Bible, culture. - anything that ends in -ology, for example
Celtic words were also involved in early English - Welsh, Irish, Cornish, Scottish people - some were also kept

Beowulf - marks the end of Old English and the beginning of Middle English
one of the most important things every written - had a huge impact, was awesome and showed the beauty of the language (this new, young, action-packed language)




Middle English - 1100-1450
an more advanced language, very rich in mixtures from other places again, and a more likely to have rules and written bits than OE.
affected a great deal by those darn French - the NORMANS
in 1066 the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror comes in and takes over and installs his royal court and aristocracy begins to flourish in that “knights and ladies” way that was so utterly French.
English became a gutter language, and French was the language of the court
this bifurcation created a high and low tongue in England
English became very dual in nature - there were often two ways to say things - one high, one low
kine - cow - boeuf - beef
swine - pig - porc - pork
chicken - poule - poultry
hearty welcome - cordial reception
underwear - panties - lingerie
French is polite and English is vulgar in this new system, but they definitely co-exist
these are called redundancies

Another great writer emerges and produces one of the most important texts that revealed Middle English once again changing into a legitimate and mature language
This writer was Geoffrey Chaucer - and his work was called The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer is a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.

At this time, all scholarly language and writing and learning came in French and Latin. Chaucer was a scholar and a teacher and a religious figure who wrote in English.
Shocking!

http://www.canterburytales.org/

This was a work of vibrant, excellent description and rich detail and showed that English was a most vigorous and poetic language.

From this point on, English continues to change.

The more colonization that occurs, the more languages get implanted into English, which, like a cancer, absorbs what it touches and takes it in.

This changeability is a strength and a weakness. It makes English more complex and difficult and harder to learn and understand.

There are so many conflicting rules and structures that make it difficult to master.

The beauty of poetry in English is that is can utilize all this weirdness for its benefit.

Write me a paragraph on your blog.

In this paragraph tell me why you have or have not enjoyed poetry in your school career.

Thursday, Feb 23, 2012

Plato’s Cave Allegory

Who was Plato?

Greek philosopher - taught by Socrates and himself taught Aristotle - and these 3 are the cornerstone of modern science and thinking

The Perfect World of Forms

he felt that what we see and experience isn’t actually what “is” as much as it’s what we think we see and experience
he was explaining life as an interpretation of a perfect “something” that exists somewhere else and we only see the shadows or impressions of the things that are real - that other place is the perfect world of forms and we are in the shadow world

The Cave Allegory is an explanation of this concept in a little story that helps show his intent. An allegory is a story about one thing or a simple thing that represents something else that is more complex. A lesson in a story.

From the elaborate lesson and drawing, create your own note on the Cave Allegory.

Then watch this video and apply your deeper thinking to why it is terrible:



“Everyone’s watching to see what you will do.”

Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012

Athanasian wench- a woman who will oblige a man in any way he should imagine
A bag o' nails-someone giving a dirty, shifty look- he looks in all directions, like nails pointing everywhere in a bag
Blanket hornpipe- sexual intercourse
choaking pye or the cold pye- rolling cotton up in a tube, covering it in paper, lighting it on fire, putting it under a sleeper's nose


Theme-
theme is not something that can be said to be true without proof
the theme of a story is kind of a negotiation - we can figure out what a theme could be, we discuss or prove what a theme could be. If a theme is startlingly obvious, it's probable a MORAL and this much less enjoyable and much more a LESSON

We want to see them as much more of a richer and complex message in the work

Possibility 1

Theme comes from the author- ON PURPOSE

some stories have a kind of communication of a point or a purpose or an idea that an author wants to actively communicate-

in a way, these stories are like essays- the author makes his/her point over and over again- the story is proof for the thesis- and the theme is likely something meaningful and a larger observation about life, people, society, etc

most people think about this as theme- however- Mr Lobb's Revelation

Possibility 2
Theme comes from the author – SUBSONSCIOUSLY

-a short will reflect and reveal a writer's psychology and personality and core issues and values and so on
-whether he/she thinks about it actively or not, he/she is recording his/her thoughts and inner life is coming out in those words
-patterns emerge that reveal the core beliefs and concerns and fears and hopes, etc of a writer and by reading the work, we can begin to make sense of these things
-so in some ways, the theme could be a shadow cast by the writer
- the glimpse into the writer's mind- this is not earth shattering, surprising news
-digging into the writer's life and circumstances can help here
-rich and powerful and relies upon a certain amount of interpretation- some will say the reader puts some of this in here and that may be true – but it is no less real

Possibility 3

-theme comes from the circumstances and conditions of the writing of the work – yes, it comes from the writer, but it has MUCH to do with the situation under which the work was written
- context informs and influences the ideas and meaning in the work
-fits with Possibility 1 & 2
-books written during WWII would clearly reflect WWII and its impact
-there are concerns, issues and concepts that reveal the time period of the writing- there is a German word that captures this ZEIT(time) GEIST (ghost)
-”the spirit of the times”

Possibility 4

-theme is created by the reader getting the message that fits or interlocks with his/her beliefs,ideas,prejudices,biases,etc.
-people only see/hear what they can understand and what fits their systems
-this is a kind of egocentrism- solipsism
-when you get a message from a piece of lit, you are actually getting that message from a combination of the literature and your own interpretation – that's why I used the word negotiation -50-50 split (or whatever ratio)
- FILTERS-you cannot help but be affected by your filters
-eg age,gender, race,religion, intellect ,experience, job, parent status
-once again , proving ideas is crucial- “I think this because X,Y, Z” is needed

Possibility 5 – combination of all these

What is theme?
- maybe theme is an idea that can take away from a reading
-the subject of the story is not the theme, theme is an idea within that subject or ideas
-theme is often an observation or conclusion about humanity or something affects humanity

What are the ideas? 
How do they come out in the story?
What are some observations about human nature?
What ties the story ideas together?
How are these core ideas shown or proven?
What do I take away from the story?
Can you isolate proof to show that what you think is true?

Dialectics – thesis+antithesis= synthesis- POV

Monday, Feb 21, 2012

For The Boat, they will be doing their major summative for this unit and we will be doing a presentation. This means they will need to:

1. Form a group of no more than FOUR people.
2. Do a full character sketch of the father OR the mother.
3. Choose THREE examples of imagery that evokes a clear mental picture.
4. Create a multimedia piece using photos, videos and music that explores or continues with the mood of the setting created by the writer in this story.
5. Discuss the character arc undergone by the narrator. What does he learn through the course of the story?
6. Find THREE examples of symbolism in the story and discuss what they could mean. ONE of these must be the boat itself.

This presentation need not be done in front of the class, but it needs to be submitted to me as a Prezi, Keynote or PowerPoint. Keynote is on the iPads and the iMacs. We would like to see this come in on Monday of next week.

Friday, Feb 17, 2012

Plot
the easiest part of a story in some ways - it’s the part that you tell someone when you’re trying to tell them about the story
when talking about or analysing plot, you can’t just recount the events
we need more to think about, more to discuss, more to analyse

Plot is made up of events

Those events occur in a timeline - usually chronological - there are variations in the timeline that can be used by an author - eg read a book with flashbacks or extended fantasy sequences that aren’t part of the timeline - or weirder - Pulp Fiction

The pattern of a plotline in chronology follows ANOTHER kind of logic.

Causal logic - cause and effect - action -> reaction

One event in some way leads to the next, which in some way, leads to the next, which... and finally leads to a logical result, which is the ending.

A + B = C - this is a clear progression that leads to the ONLY possible conclusion that would work (note: there are lots of possible endings, but the story must have the BEST ending)

This is ONE WAY to talk about plot - evaluate the progression of events - does this progression work? does it make sense? does it interest me?

Plot is able to be broken up into THREE pieces - or three ACTS - this comes from a brilliant Greek philosopher and poet named Aristotle (in the book Poetics) Act 1 - setup, Act 2 - complications, Act 3 - resolution

We can also discuss plot in terms of these elements - again, evaluate, describe, figure out where the breaks are between the acts, etc

Maybe - how does the setup work? What is set up? What gets complicated? What happens to our expectations?

Set up has many possibilities
Complication can intensify the problems and situations, so there are possibilities there, but the resolution reduces them to one conclusion - this can be disappointing.

Plot = Character’s Need + Obstacles to fulfilling that Need

eg - Harry Potter’s OUTER NEED is to get revenge on Voldy - there is also an INNER NEED - this is Harry’s need to be accepted/loved/in a family/to be made whole

This idea of plot is that the entire series is a chain of obstacles that stop him from fulfilling both needs until the last possible moment.

Levels of Conflict -

Person vs Person - simple, obvious and clear to plot out
Person vs Environment - survival - person trying to manage situations in Nature that are against all odds - evaluation of the person - testing ground
Person vs Self - most complex, most interesting in some ways, deeper plotline in terms of the psychology - addictions, mental illness, etc

Dialectics - this is a philosophical doctrine (system of belief that is based upon writings and a set of conditions that is recorded) that has some interesting connotations

- a dialectic is ancient Greek - describing two people with differing POV in a discussion
- the way we like to think about it is the Hegelian Dialectic -
Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis

Simplified:

A THING plus its OPPOSITE = a new state or THING





Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis

You could look for things in stories that opposed the hero and FORCED change and created new situations and ideas - you could discuss this in terms of a dialectic (note: you would need to do some research)

Plot analysis can be deep and interesting and we will not simply retell the story.

Symbolism in plot? Yep. Often, plot lines will reflect human growth, change, maturation and so on. EVERY SINGLE ONE on some level.

Voldemort REPRESENTS Harry’s father (psychologically)

Harry has several - Dursley, Dumbledore, Sirius, Hagrid, etc...


Read Twins - answer Qs 3 and 4 from the text.

Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012

The Lottery Ticket

you made up THREE questions - why? I want you to be able to think about the MACROCOSM of the work we’re doing as well as the microcosm
be above the work in your thinking - top down - remember- you will make your own exam questions

general comprehension - who did X, where was Y, facts, figures, data - simple recall from the text - Level 3

Why - motivation - analysing characters in terms of their human nature - eg Why did Ivan change so abruptly in his thinking over the course of those few minutes? Combining your reading with your thinking about your own life. Level 4 (high 3+)

How? explaining process or finding patterns - How did Ivan change? step by steps - use the references to the material in the book. Prepare for essay

Moral association or judgments - we can answer questions where we assess the characters’ actions and make conclusions - What did Ivan learn about himself, if anything? What did we learn from Ivan’s thinking? - these are often about theme.

What about the writer’s intentions?

How did the writer do X or Y? (style, writing structure) eg How does Chekhov make us feel Ivan’s broken dreams more clearly?

Wing’s Chips

Setting -

Quebec - probably in the lower townships - where there are a number of English towns and people - St. Lawrence Valley - there is a mix of cultures in the story

This mix of cultures is crucial to the story line and the characters - one of the key story problems was a direct result of the setting

Setting helps drive plot - Father doesn’t fit with the French people

Setting affect the lead character? - she doesn’t fit either - she stands out in the community - kids usually want to fit in, so she won’t react like the Dad -

Setting affects the Chinese family - how? they also don’t seem to fit in

Is there a mood or atmosphere to this story? a long time ago with much more formal clothing, with a stiff, repressed, more religious environment, with a small town, judgmental, conservative, puritanical vibe -

This setting is a great setting for looking at characters who don’t fit, because the time period and that place give extra layers of judgment and so on

This setting should be very familiar to you - because you live in a very similar place.

Being an artist = being Chinese (in the town in this story)

Being black = being gay (in a place, at a time)

This equation (that X can = Y depending upon the circumstances) is a great little message.

Character of the Father
(this pattern has already been learned)

physical description

-

actions and reactions

-

interactions with other characters

-

motivations and thinking (P.O.V.)

-

how he changes



Symbolizes?

Friday, Feb 10, 2012

Setting -

this is where you get your “rules” for the story
the laws of the world of the story must be clear, logical and obvious
established early or played for the surprise
Harry Potter - the rules of this story world allow for all kinds of magic - this can be negative for the ease of solving plot problems - nice for wish fulfillment, but not so good for realism and a true sense of character and human life
eg Superman - a great hero, but dumb in terms of story - because ANYTHING is possible - this spoils good plot situations

therefore, settings that impose rules and RESTRICTIONS actually increase the potential for good stories and character growth

why did this story take place here? there is probably some reason - it could be that the writer is writing from his/her experience -
maybe that setting is meaningful; by what the rules allow or disallow
milieu - there is theory of writing that suggests that some writers write from the setting first, or spend time developing setting in a very specific and detailed way
British detective novels have much more of this detailed setting writing
learn some of the milieu and you know more about the story and characters
eg - L.A. detective fiction - the setting is a character in a way - has more value

Atmosphere - this is the emotional content and value of a setting - certain places bring out, or evoke, certain emotions in people without us having to think about it

This can be used to manipulate the reader - the writer can take advantage of descriptive words and phrases to effect something in the reader - to make a feeling - helps the story
This enhances the power of a story because it stimulates our own memories and engages us in the story - when you hit my feelings, my senses, my memories, you put me right where YOU want me to be

How do we comment on this?

Effectiveness of this “transporting the reader” - did the writer make you feel the place?
The skill of creating a place in your head - you SEE it, you HEAR it, you KNOW it
Does it ADD something to the story? layers, meaning, value? some settings are LOADED with meaning - eg The Boy with The Striped Payamas - the Holocaust - Auschwitz - WWII and it’s a real, living, powerful history
Symbolically - the setting could be largely FIGURATIVE instead of LITERAL - this is LEVEL 4 country

Literal - the actual, denotative meaning - “You are a pig.”, you might say to a pig and that is literally true

Figurative - You say to Lobb at the Greasebucket Buffet - “You, sir, are a pig!” and that is figuratively true because Lobb is covered in chicken grease and bits of skin and feathers and is wearing greasy overalls with no shirt. The meaning here is not actual, but SYMBOLIC - the connotation is all in the connection between Mr. Lobb and the pig - ie the similarities of their habits, supposedly. Note: Pigs are not that gross. I am, however.

Some settings are designed by writers to have a deep symbolic value - ie Mean Girls when Cady first goes to the high school - she compares it to the jungle - she observes the wildlife and the tribal behaviours and the animal behaviours, etc.

Thursday, Feb 9, 2012

Last Chunks on Character

Character Arc - Transformational Arc - starts at State A (broken) and goes to State Z (fixed or enlightened in some way)

Dynamic - characters who change -
why are characters that change more interesting or appealing?
the effect of change is upon us every day - we totally get it when characters change
most change in stories is POSITIVE - learning and growing and winning
however, even a negative change might be something that we like -
maybe this is a surprise and that is appealing
That’s not me!
manageable change is comforting - movie troubles and chaos is a relief from normal troubles and chaos - book problems are nice problems -
VICARIOUS - you experience something through someone else’s experience

Static - characters that do not change
are often characters that are delusional or mistaken or stupid or comical
there is usually some purpose to this - not realistic, not as interesting or as deep, but there may be some effect that is brought about
static characters often teach us things - show us the result of not changing - they are often in bad situations or have terrible results in stories -
static characters are often STEREOTYPES, especially in short stories -
a label that certain groups of people may have applied to them and this label may be based upon some true element - Canadian live in igloos - this is based on our winters, which are not anything like the idea of our winters
easy shortcuts to make an impression or further some idea -

Protagonists are usually DYNAMIC and antagonists are usually STATIC
But, secondary characters are also often static

What is their role in a story?
What does the WISE MASTER do in a story? Yoda, Obi Wan, Morpheus, Gandalf, Dumbledore, etc
to teach, guide, direct, help and motivate the lead character through different actions - including once he/she dies, which is very common

GIRLFRIEND - to nag the lead character who is trying to be awesome and do something immature that he thinks is fun with his friends who are going to Las Vegas to have a
to stumble into a situation where the bad guy gets her and can call the lead guy and say I have your girlfriend
to say I miss you and can you take this risk to come here and take more risks doing this activity that you know better than to do

EX-BOYFRIEND -
MOM -
TEACHER -
GRANDMA -
NOSY NEIGHBOUR -
KID IN THE SMOKING AREA -

1. One of the jobs of these characters is PLOT CONTRIVANCE - some piece of machinery or creation to move the plot forward
to bring out something in the main character(s) - acting as a FOIL - to allow the main to show some element of character - eg the little creature that every Disney bad guy has (Iago, eels, etc) - this is KEY in many stories
to set the scene - this is also crucial, but maybe less so - ie school - what secondary characters who set the scene will be here? - nerds, stoners, jocks, etc
add texture and perhaps intensity - which can be the same thing - bad things have to happen to somebody... texture - dramas needs dramatic moments, and they can’t all be to the lead - sci fi needs sci fi stuff - robots, three-breasted women with antlers, etc
give comic relief - to relieve the audience of tension that can be created by too much dark business - eg The Porter in Macbeth

Character Analysis -
Could have:

Character sketch (those things to look for in lead)
Character description (obvious)
Secondary characters analysis - their roles and effectiveness
Compare and contrast Pro and Ant (agonist)
Interrelationships - character web - how does everybody relate to each other?
Character casting and profile - choose actors to play that role and cut out photos, etc
Character bio in POV - you add your interpretations (diary)

1. DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION - the writer makes direct statements about a character's personality and tells what the character is like.
The writer will write ABOUT the character, usually in a way that is omniscient, but we may also get another character’s POV – this could be simply that character’s bias, however – or, it may be a valid, and real perspective
“this character is like that”

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION - the writer reveals information about a character and his personality through that character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him.

Setting -

A Writing Exercise:

You shall write a creative paragraph about a place you have been that creates an evocative memory.

Descriptive Language- Adjectives that paint a picture - utilizing all of the senses where possible - imagery
Not worry about sentence structure so much - loose descriptive lines
Think about really setting a scene - tone = mood = emotion = more powerful writing

You can improve this assignment with photos or music or a short bit of video, which is admittedly cheating - however, it works.