lit 2015

here

Elma Mitchell

Elma Mitchell portrays people as easy things to describe, as long as the intellect is not involved. In the first stanzas, she makes use of the senses: touch, taste, smell, sight. The sense of hearing is left aside because it inevitably involves the intellect.

Throughout the poem, she builds up the notion that people could be easily defined, like in a dictionary or an encyclopedia. She uses the structure of the poem to emphasise that: things are listed as mere information about people, unlike what is generally seen in a poem. The poem is mainly seen as impersonal and informative.

Although this poem seeks to define people through the senses, in the last stanza the persona fails to analyse people through the sense of hearing because the intellect is not reliable since then we judge and come up with misleading conclusions. She criticises the judgement human beings usually pass, unless their intellect is not involved. She also points out the activity of drawing as an effective way of defining people.

To conclude, the writer seeks to effectively describe people, pointing out that hearing – and consequently writing – aren´t suitable, so she creates an ironic situation since she is a poet writing this poem in order to describe people.

podcasts

Podcasts

On a foggy fall day, I took my ninth graders outside to sit on the porch while I read "The Tell-Tale Heart," tapping heartbeats on the deck and playing off the ominous weather. They hung on every word, engrossed in Edgar Allen Poe.

Leveraging the recording capabilities of most computers and mobile devices, students could explore the role of tone and sound by creating podcasts in the fashion of old-school radio shows. Using Garageband, Audacity, AudioBoo or any other sound recorder, students can retell portions of stories, complete with background music and sound effects, to demonstrate their understanding of tone, setting and theme, as well as practice their reading fluency.

book trailers

Book Trailers

In the spirit of movie trailers, book trailers allow students to create video advertisements to entice new readers. Not only do these projects ensure that students have a firm grasp on the story's plot, setting, theme and main characters, but they also provide an opportunity to address persuasive writing as well as digital literacy concepts like copyright and publishing.

Students could use iMovie or Animoto to create and publish their videos. In fact, iMovie includes a set of pre-built trailer templates, and Ben Schersten (@benschersten) created a great set of PDF storyboards for students to use in planning those projects. Both iMovie and Animoto allow students to focus on the content, as they greatly simplify the editing process. Barbara DeSantis' eighth graders produced a great set of examples in just two weeks after reading The Giver.

greenscreen

ipad photography

ipad film

ipad stop motion films

all from here

storytelling

shadowpuppet and adobe voice for storytelling

Choose Your Own Adventure

using google forms

YouTube

An increasingly popular way to create your own Choose Your Own Adventure story is to use YouTube. There are countless examples of these types of videos on YouTube with some obviously better than others. However, when done well, these can be very effective ways to communicate a story. To create your adventure, you first need to shoot all your movies, (including alternative outcomes), and upload them to YouTube. Best keep them private to start with, but you can change your privacy afterwards. To link between videos and give the users a choice in your story you use the YouTube annotations to link between your videos (youtube video here). Below is an example of just such a video that Greg Kulowiec created with his Social Studies class.

Movie Trailer Storyboards

http://www.benschersten.com/blog/2013/10/imovie-trailer-storyboards-updated/




awesome

Apps to consider

Notability

Animoto

book creator for ipad

Aurasma

No Fear Shakespeare

Macbeth

Hamlet

also Canterbury Tales

types of paragraphs

http://www.longleaf.net/ggrow/modes.html

Best film speeches and monologues

s'goed



http://www.filmsite.org/bestspeeches.html

American Rhetoric

Speeches, film monologues etc.


also awesome for examples of rhetorical devices


http://www.americanrhetoric.com/index.htm

Year 12 dates

Thurs. Oct. 15 Course work on Dr. Jekyll due 
Choose text from book and write commentary of 900-1000 words

break starts on Sat. Oct. 17 ends sun Oct. 25


Fri Oct. 30 Course work on Dr. Jekyll due 
Choose text from book and write commentary of 900-1000 words


Friday, November 6th 1st draft of language 3 coursework.:Response to a text from the newspaper. write a response 900-1000 words. Format can be essay, letter to the editor,  

• show understanding of the original
• evaluate the ideas and arguments of the original
• discuss whether or not agree and why, discuss further with own ideas.

Final draft.  Friday November 13

revise inspector calls

completed 7 poems (minimum) from anthology;

practiced Language past  papers in readiness for mocks;


Xmas break starts sat Dec. 12



October 15th - 1st draft of c/w on Jekyll and Hyde By December 13th - finished j and h including final draft of c/w; (?) Jan - March - mock exams and feedback; coursework 2 and 3 completed ( language); revise coursework 1  ( language) and non- set text coursework (literature) March 18th - all coursework completed and submitted by students April, May to start of exams: finish poetry anthology; revise j and h and inspector calls; practise language paper

Between now and December: 1 major homework per week; timed commentaries in class ( literature); timed language work in class and past papers set for h/w

Raymond's Run

ch5 2

This news sent off the visitor with his fears renewed. Plainly the letter had come by the laboratory door; possibly, indeed, it had been written in the cabinet; and if that were so, it must be differently judged, and handled with the more caution. The newsboys, as he went, were crying themselves hoarse along the footways: "Special edition. Shocking murder of an M. P." That was the funeral oration of one friend and client; and he could not help a certain apprehension lest the good name of another should be sucked down in the eddy of the scandal. It was, at least, a ticklish decision that he had to make; and self-reliant as he was by habit, he began to cherish a longing for advice. It was not to be had directly; but perhaps, he thought, it might be fished for.

Presently after, he sat on one side of his own hearth, with Mr. Guest, his head clerk, upon the other, and midway between, at a nicely calculated distance from the fire, a bottle of a particular old wine that had long dwelt unsunned in the foundations of his house. The fog still slept on the wing above the drowned city, where the lamps glimmered like carbuncles; and through the muffle and smother of these fallen clouds, the procession of the town's life was still rolling in through the great arteries with a sound as of a mighty wind. But the room was gay with firelight. In the bottle the acids were long ago resolved; the imperial dye had softened with time, as the colour grows richer in stained windows; and the glow of hot autumn afternoons on hillside vineyards was ready to be set free and to disperse the fogs of London. Insensibly the lawyer melted. There was no man from whom he kept fewer secrets than Mr. Guest; and he was not always sure that he kept as many as he meant. Guest had often been on business to the doctor's; he knew Poole; he could scarce have failed to hear of Mr. Hyde's familiarity about the house; he might draw conclusions: was it not as well, then, that he should see a letter which put that mystery to rights? and above all since Guest, being a great student and critic of handwriting, would consider the step natural and obliging? The clerk, besides, was a man of counsel; he would scarce read so strange a document without dropping a remark; and by that remark Mr. Utterson might shape his future course.

model answer

Model Answer:

This extract from half way through the novel has Mr. Utterson, worried about his friend, visiting Dr. Jekyll in rooms of the latter’s home that he has never been previously visited. This extract is important because through the descriptions of Jekyll’s laboratory and cabinet we get ideas about his secretive and sly undertaking of unorthodox scientific practices. Moreover diction from the semantic field of death foreshadows his untimely end.

 

This particular extract is key as this is the first time we are introduced to the eponymous protagonist’s private space in which he will die later in the novel. Although this passage comes from half way through the novel, these tragic events are already foreshadowed by words from the semantic field of death, complex sentences and by creating a repugnant setting, which significantly increases tension. The words such as ‘deadly,’ ‘sick’, ‘cold,’ ‘red’ and ‘silent’ all connotes lifelessness. Additionally Dr. Jekyll’s  “changed voice” in this extract foreshadows the tragic moments towards the end of the novel when Mr.Utterson and Poole are trying to breach the door of the cabinet and do not recognize Jekyll’s voice.

 

The author paints a very peculiar picture of Dr. Jekyll's private space through using Mr. Utterson as the reader's guide. Mr. Utterson is often our eyes and ears in the novel as he has useful qualities such as his "curiosity" and how he observes the scene painting a clear picture for the reader as seen through the words "eyed" and "gazed". The passage is written in free indirect discourse and this amplifies Mr. Utterson’s opinion of the atmosphere. He describes it as having a "distasteful sense of strangeness" which connotes being repelled and disgusted and "strangeness" connotes something foreign and supernatural. This foreshadows what the reader will find eventually about the true nature of Dr. Jekyll's activities. 

 

 

Stevenson highlights the secrecy of Dr. Jekyll's private space by including the motif of windows and doors and including words from the semantic field of obscurity. Dr. Jekyll's laboratory is described as being a "windowless structure" which implies that he is hiding something. Furthermore the "barred" windows hint at criminal activity and suggest how Dr. Jekyll will become entrapped by Mr. Hyde. Moreover there are words that connote obscurity such as "foggy", "fog", "dimly" and "thickly" which infer that Dr. Jekyll's unorthodox activities even in the world of conventional science. 

 

Additionally, this extract is further evidence of Dr Jekyll’s shift in interest from the anatomical, conventional scientific approach to the unorthodox, chemical practices which, the reader learnt before, were so disapproved by his friend and fellow scientist Dr Lanyon. Stevenson paints a picture of the scene of the house as it was previously used by its old owner “a celebrated surgeon” as being “crowded with eager students” and juxtaposes this with its purposes now. The room is now described as “lying gaunt and silent”. The words “gaunt” and “silent” come from the semantic field of death which suggests that the previous lively atmosphere has been contaminated and killed by the evil practices that have been introduced by Dr Jekyll. The change in atmosphere is a consequence of the shift in Dr Jekyll’s scientific methods, proving that the work he is doing is untoward and not appropriate. 

 

To conclude, this extract is particularly enjoyable as the reader savours entering and discovering the private spaces in the novel.  The atmosphere of intense secrecy and the suggestion of unorthodox goings-on further sharpens the appetite to know what Dr. Jekyll is really engaged in doing.

The Landlady bonus work

bonus 1
Yellow chrysanthemums, according to the Society of American Florists, mean "secret admirer."  Chrysanthemums are associated with autumn.

What does this mean to the story?


bonus 2

“Now and again, he caught a whiff of a peculiar smell that seemed to emanate directly from her person...he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of? Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital? 
Research these smells and then consider what they foreshadow. Discuss.

Foreshadowing in “The Landlady”
Complete the following chart with information from the short story. List the example in the first column and what event it foreshadows in the second column. Find at least five examples.

Example of Foreshadowing
“And now a queer thing happened to him. He was in the act of stepping back and turning away from the window when all at once his eye was caught
and held in the most peculiar manner by the small notice that was there.”
“...and we don’t want to go breaking any laws at this stage in the proceedings, do we?”
“His landlady wasn’t there, but the fire was glowing in the hearth, and the little daschund was still sleeping soundly in front of it.”
“Now and again, he caught a whiff of
a peculiar smell that seemed to emanate directly from her person...he wasn’t quite sure what it reminded him of? Pickled walnuts? New leather? Or was it the corridors of a hospital?
“The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it.”

What is Being Foreshadowed
The words “queer” and “peculiar” indicate that something is happening beyond Billy’s control. The use of these words suggest he should be on the alert.
The stress on “this stage” suggests that she will probably want to break a law later in the story.
Because it is unusual that the dog is still sleeping soundly, this hints at the fact that something is not normal with the dog. In fact he ends up being dead and stuffed.
Maybe the lady has something to do with hospitals; she might pickle or preserve things. This foreshadows the fact that she has stuffed her parrot and dog.
The tea has been poisoned, and Billy will be the landlady's next victim. 

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/documents/11612_5195.pdf

Narrative terms

plot vocabulary

plot, main plot, minor plot
story
conflict, internal conflict, external conflict, clash of actions, clash of ideas, clash of desires, clash of wills, major, minor, emotional, physical

• man v. self
• man v. man
• man v. society
• man v. nature
• man v. the supernatural
• man v. machine/technology

cf. conflict in fairy tales:

• good v. evil
• rich v. poor
• young v. old
• beauty v. ugliness
• weak v. strong
• innocent v. wise

protagonist
antagonist (antagonistic)
suspense (suspenseful)
mystery (mysterious, mysteriously, mysteriousness)
dilemma
surprise (surprising, surprised)
plot twist
ending

• happy ending
• unhappy ending
• indeterminate ending (ambiguous)
• surprise ending (unexpected)

artistic unity (unified)
time sequence
exposition

in medias res
complication (complicate)

inciting force
rising action
falling action
crisis
climax
anti-climax (anti-climactic)
conclusion (conclude, conclusive)
resolution (resolve, resolving)
denouement
flashback, retrospect
back-story

foreshadowing
causality
plot structure
initiating incident
epiphany
reversal
catastrophe
beginning, middle, end
scene
chance, coincidence
double plot

parallel plot
subplot, underplotdeus ex machina
disclosure, discovery
movement, shape of movement
trajectory
change
focus

elementary

complex

A Detective Story Decalogue

Ronald Knox`s A Detective Story Decalogue (1928)
is as follows:

One
The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.

Two
All supernatural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

Three
Not more than one secret or passage is allowed.

Four
No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

Five
No Chinaman* must figure in the story.
*or other mysterious alien

Six
No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

Seven
The detective must not commit the crime.

Eight
The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.

Nine
The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

Ten
Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

consider particularly in relation to Christie as she brakes one rule every novel.

Crime fiction

An Overview of Crime Fiction

Crime Fiction is essentially about the solving of a crime, usually a mystery of murder. Crime Fiction texts question what it is to be human and raise questions about identity. The main feature of crime fiction is the plot and the story always reflects the culture and social values of when it was written. The texts are often part of a series featuring the same detective. The plot can also reflect the social changes of the time. Crime fiction is not static, nor is any genre, and there are many hybrid texts. Each sub-genre holds its own conventions that reflect their differing contexts.

The face remains that murder and law breaking are present in other genres aside from crime fiction. The features, therefor, do not categorize a genre; rather, genres are created through the rules for reading the members of a community share. However this doesn’t mean that crime fiction doesn’t have its own specific template. It is this template that has created the rules for reading and therefor the rules of crime fiction enable us to read into a text. This can also limit the way meaning is constructed for the writers and readers alike by confining to the conventions of the genre.

Crime fiction can be divided into six main stages or sub-genres. These sub-genres are categorized by their time periods and also their writing styles and conventions. As time and contexts changed crime fiction grew and developed as a genre. The six main sub-genres are Early Crime Fiction (sensation novels), The Golden Age, The Intuitionists, The Realists, Hard-boiled and Contemporary Crime Fiction. Edgar Allen Poe created the first notable detective of Crime Fiction in 1840.

http://heavymetaltime.webs.com/thecrimefictiongenre.htm

sources for short stories middle school

http://mrsklanguagearts.blogspot.hu/

looks pretty awesome

books Hulk :)

HULK’S ESSENTIAL READING LIST - 136 GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUR EYEBALLS

FILM SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE NATION ARE FILLED WITH EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT INDIVIDUALS WITH AN INCLINATION TOWARD CINEMA. THE KINDS OF YOUNG BOYS AND GIRLS WHO ARE EAGER TO SEE EVERY MOVIE ON THE PLANET AND EVEN MORE EAGER TO LEARN THE CRAFT AND PARTICIPATE IN THE VERY FORMATION OF THESE IMPORTANT THINGS WE CALL "MOVIES"... THERE'S ONLY ONE PROBLEM.

NOT ENOUGH OF THEM READ

HULK PRESENTS: THE MYTH OF 3 ACT STRUCTURE

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love this 

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updated

the whole blog is awesome

try not to get lost

PEGGY CARTER – WHY CAPTAIN AMERICA WORKS

HULK EXPLAINS WHY WE SHOULD STOP IT WITH THE HERO JOURNEY SHIT

archive

Novel to Screenplay?

The Novel vs. The Screenplay: A Practical Guide

eat

Three Act Screenplay

Death of a Screenwriting Guru

Syd Field: 1935-2013

“The most inspirational thing he ever said was, ‘Confusion always comes before clarity,'”

"Syd Field wrote screenwriting books which did exactly what they were supposed to do — they made screenwriting seem possible," Apatow, a student of Field's in the 1980s, who co-wrote and directed 2005's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," said in a statement Monday.

"Whenever I write a screenplay, I take out his book and re-read it," Apatow said, "to see if I screwed anything up."

More Poetry sites

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/intro.html

 all major forms of poetry discussed at a relatively high level. Verse Forms | Ballad | Dramatic | Lyric | Epigram | Sonnet Ode | Elegy | Epic | Blank Verse | Free Verse | Sources

http://www.webexhibits.org/poetry/explore_classic_ode_examples.html

odes odes odes

http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/best/ode_

an interesting modern ode, it shows how the structure works


http://www.best-poems.net/pablo_neruda/index.html 

great for Neruda, also

Langston Hughes

Thomas. S. Eliot

Robert Frost

Carl Sandburg

John Keats

Walt Whitman

Emily Dickinson

Oscar Wilde

Sylvia Plath

Shakespeare

Edgar Allan Poe

Amy Lowell

Dorothy Parker

Robert Hayden

Theodore Roethke

Siegfried Sassoon

E. E. Cummings