Introductions Assignment

Introductions
Find and bring a picture of a person, place, event, etc. that would fit into your book as an additional chapter or scene. Write a one paragraph (typed, 1/2 page minimum) beginning to this additional chapter. Try to be true to the author’s voice.
(Remember what you have learned about effective beginnings)

Story research sheet

RESEARCH SHEET DUE:________ Name:________________________

RESEARCH SHEET
Because any good writer does an immense amount of research before she or he begins writing, your rough draft must include a “research sheet”. Complete the research sheet below:

_____(5 pts)1. Plot formula

List your:
Setting+ character+ conflict

Then list three outcomes that could come from this.


Outcome A:_____________________________________________________________

Outcome B:_____________________________________________________________

Outcome C:_____________________________________________________________

_____(5 pts) 2. Setting information

(a) Country:_____________________________

(b) City/ town/ rural area (be specific):_______________________________________

(c) Locale (trail? market?): ________________________________________________

(d) Time of year:_________________________________________________________

(e) Sketch of area













_____(40 pts) 3. Characters
(40 pts) Do the following for 2 (two) characters:
(10 pts) Sketch your characters




















(30pts) 2. Describe your characters as follows:

Physical Characteristics:
1. Body Type:____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

2. Health:________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

3. Clothing:______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

4. Movement:____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Sociological Characteristics
5. Name:________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

6. Basic Biographical Details:_______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

7. Social Status, Cultural, and ethnic background:_______________________________
________________________________________________________________________

8. Significant relationships:_________________________________________________
9. Residence:____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

10. Education:___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

11. Occupation or Profession:________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

12. Religion, superstitions, social, and political beliefs:___________________________
________________________________________________________________________

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERITICS
13. Personality:__________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

14. Speech patterns:_______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

15. Attitude toward self:___________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

16. Talents, Interests, and passions:___________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

17. Habits and routines:___________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

18. Response to stress:_____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

19. Humor:______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

20. Hot Buttons:__________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

21. Attitude toward the opposite sex:_________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

22. Attitude toward authority:_______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

23. Fondest dream and darkest fear:_________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

(10 pts.) Conflict
(2pts) 1. Is the conflict internal or external? Explain.

(2pts.) 2. What is the conflict? What caused it?



(5pts.) 3. If the conflict is internal: List 5 thoughts occurring in the mind of the character.
-OR-
If the conflict is external: List five thoughts occurring in the mind of one of the characters engaged in the conflict.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


(1pt) 4. How is the conflict resolved?(This will be you’re a, b, and c form the plot diagram)
A.

B.

C.


_____/60pts

Now it’s time to start your rough draft!!! Begin Writing!!!

Descriptions

Descriptions Assignment
In your travel book, find a short description of a place, person, or a feeling that is powerful. Copy the description (xerox or write) and give the page number.
Then do one of the following:
A. Poem
Write a poem about the description using words from the text and your own words

B. Illustrate
Illustrate the description

C. Juxtapose
Juxtapose two different descriptions, one positive, on negative. Illustrate both of them.

D. Write your own description
Write your own description of the same place/feeling/person

E. Critique the description
Critique the description. What worked well? Which words were the most powerful? What would you change? What is the mood of the description? How does the author feel? Use specific examples.

Due next class

Vocab Review

Review: Travel Vocabulary
Let’s go over the twenty new words and two idioms you studied during the week. In the following quiz, match the best possible definition with the word you have studied. Write the letter that stands for that definition in the appropriate answer space.

Review Words Definitions

___1. adversary a. incapable of being passed over or overcome

___.2. blanch b. a person, group, or force that opposes or attacks

___ 3. bough c. done maliciously or unjustifiably

___4. chauvinist d. elementary, fundamental

___5. disillusionment e. not transparent or translucent; impenetrable to light

___6. gastronomic f. disenchanted, to free from belief, idealism, etc.

___7. impenetrable g. a branch of a tree

___8. Incandescent h. (1) zealous patriotism (2)biased devotion

___9. incomprehensible i. to cause a person to accept something not desired

___10. Insurmountable j. belonging to a thing by its very nature

___11. intrinsic k. to whiten by removing color

___12. mien l. (1) not penetrable (2) inaccessible to ideas

___13. opaque m. a person or thing that watches

___14. piquant n. intensely bright, brilliant

___15. quintessential o. strong and brave; valiant; uncompromising

___16. reconcile p. the art or science of good eating

___17. rudimentary q. agreeably pungent or sharp in taste

___18. sentinel r. the pure and concentrated essence of a substance
___19. stalwart s. appearance or demeanor

___ 20. wanton t. impossible to understand or comprehend

Words for further study: _______________ _______________
_____________ _______________ _______________

Taking the Leap

Taking The Leap

STEP 1:

Please write two short story beginnings, each one about a half page long, typed, single spaced.
One beginning should stick your reader right in the middle of the action/ dialogue.
One beginning should NOT stick your reader right in the middle of action/ dialogue.

STEP 2:
Please pay attention to what you are establishing with your beginnings.
• Character?
• Emotions?
• Moods?
• Settings?
• Conflict?
• Interesting Voices?
• All of the above?
• None of the above?
In other words, what does your reader KNOW or strongly sense after reading your beginning?

STEP 3:
Underneath or on the back side of your beginnings, list what you think your beginning successfully establishes.

Vocab Day 3 and 4

Travel Vocabulary
Day 3
New Words:
Chauvinist Wanton Adversary Piquant Impenetrable

The Battle for the Slides
Every playground is truly a battlefield. The adversaries can be seen eyeing everywhere, eyeing each other up with anger. They lurk on the dodgeball court, the kickball diamond, and even on the seemingly impenetrable slides where it seems nobody gets more than one turn. Although many of these combatants are only innocent second graders, they sometimes act wantonly when recess is involved. This only escalates when the slides are concerned. I have seen young boys chauvinistically keep girls with “cooties” from climbing the steps. In turn, there were reported cases of bribery on the part of the girls. At one point it would cost half a packet of the piquant strawberry pop rocks per ride down that metal demon. What happened to teaching sharing?

Sample sentences: Try your hand now at using your new words by writing them in their correct form (change endings if necessary) in these sentences:

1. The ___________ salsa felt like delicious fire as it fell from the chip to my mouth.

2. The boss behaved in a _____________ way by only hiring male employees for the jobs.

3. My _____________ is ice cream; I am constantly doing battle with the temptation.

4. The teacher seemed to act with _________ behavior as he punished random students for being too loud.

5. The fortress had an unmovable stone drawbridge which appeared to be ------_____________.

Definitions: Match the new words with their dictionary meanings.
6. ___ chauvinist a. a person, group, or force that opposes or attacks
7. ___ wanton b. (1) zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory (2)biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause
8. ___ adversary c. (1) not penetrable (2) inaccessible to ideas
9. ___piquant d. agreeably pungent or sharp in taste
10. ___ impenetrable e. done maliciously or unjustifiably
Today’s Homophone: Create a new sentence for each homophone.
THERE- means in that place
There is my coat!
THEIR- is a possessive noun
Their coats are hanging in their lockers.
THEY’RE- is a contraction of “they are”
They’re so happy it’s time to go home.


Travel Vocabulary
Day 4
New Words:
Sentinel Incomprehensible Reconcile Quintessential Intrinsic

Airplane Food
With airport security at an all time high, you have many sentinels watching what people bring aboard. But who is watching what the airlines are bringing aboard? Airline food intrinsically should be edible, but this does not seem to be the case. The last dish that was opened on the tray before me was an incomprehensible brown gravy. It’s not as if I expect the food to be the quintessential gourmet meal, but I would at least like to recognize the food I am eating. Eventually, I will have to accept the food and reconcile with the airline “chefs”. Let’s hope my stomach will do the same.

Sample sentences: Try your hand now at using your new words by writing them in their correct form (change endings if necessary) in these sentences:

1. I hope that the two adversaries can ____________ their differences and make peace.

2. I’m not very good at math so this calculus problem seems _______________.

3. The ___________ stood guard over the prison filled with students who violated the cell phone rule.

4. If the ___________ duty of a stapler is to staple, why does mine keep jamming.

5. Jenny was the _____________ optimist; she always saw the bright side to everything.

Definitions: Match the new words with their dictionary meanings.
6. ___ sentinel a. to cause a person to accept or be resigned to something not desired
7. ___ incomprehensible b. belonging to a thing by its very nature
8. ___ reconcile c. a person or thing that watches or stands as if watching
9. ___ quintessential d. the pure and concentrated essence of a substance
10. ___ intrinsic e. impossible to understand or comprehend; unintelligible

]Today’s Homophone: Create a new sentence for each homophone.
Who’s- is a contraction of “who is”
Who’s that knocking at the door.

Whose- is a possessive pronoun that shows ownership
Whose spaceship is in my backyard.

Writer's History

Writer History
What kind of a writer are you?

As you know by now writing is a process. There are no magical writing fairies that pull research papers out from under your pillow. We want to know the process you use and the history of your writing. How do you write? What do you like to write? What has been the most difficult part of the writing process for you? What are you most proud of? Any writing horror stories (the paper that would not end, the writer’s block to end all writer’s block)? Let us know your writing history ending at where you are as a writer today.

250 words, typed, double spaced
Due Next class________________

Travel Vocabulary Day one and two

Travel Vocabulary
Day 1
New Words:
rudimentary insurmountable disillusion mien incandescent

The Vocabulary Challenge
The new teacher glanced up and down the aisles. It was her third day and her students were facing insurmountable odds. They had been given the impossible task of memorizing all the vocabulary words for the year… in one day!!! Memorization seemed like rudimentary work for a class of this caliber, so the students proposed another plan. They wouldn’t simply memorize words; they would learn how to use them in everyday sentences! The students quickly convinced the teacher that this activity would make their minds glow with incandescent light. The teacher smiled at the class with the mien of a proud mother. Although some students had been disillusioned by past vocabulary setbacks, the teacher was positive this class, with study, would grow leaps and bounds this year.

Sample sentences: Try your hand now at using your new words by writing them in their correct form (change endings if necessary) in these sentences:

1. The _____________ bulb helped light up the dreary room.

2. Because my grasp of algebra is _____________, I cannot solve the problem.

3. After losing her ninety-eighth race, the runner felt _____________ with her dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete.

4. The climbers arrived at a wall of sheer ice and decided the pass was _____________.

5. The seasoned teacher wore a confident __________ as he glanced at the classroom of new students.

Definitions: Match the new words with their dictionary meanings.
6. Rudimentary ___ a. appearance or demeanor
7. Insurmountable ___ b. intensely bright, brilliant
8. Disillusionment ___ c. elementary, fundamental
9. Mien ___ d. disenchanted, to free from belief, idealism, etc.
10. Incandescent ___ e. incapable of being passed over or overcome

Today’s Homophone. Create two (2) sentences that use both homophones.

YOUR possessive pronoun: belong to “you”
Be sure to do your reading each night. Your turn will come after he is finished

YOU’RE contraction for “you are”
You’re the funniest kid I have ever met. I was wondering if you’re going to be at school tomorrow?



Travel Vocabulary
Day 2
New Words:
blanch stalwart opaque gastronomic bough

The Intrepid Traveler
How many times have you been traveling and encountered a serious gastronomic challenge? Mine came to be while hiking in the islands off of Panama. Two children were ahead of me on the trail picking, what looked like, succulent guava. I decided to take off my pack and help. I climbed up the bough and tossed the fruit to children below. As a thank you, they offered me one of the fruits. As I bit in I immediately blanched. The fruit was wiggling. I tried to keep a stalwart expression but it was of no use. As I realized I had bitten into a ball full of maggots I could feel my eyes closing, my body going limp, and an opaque darkness surrounding me.

Sample sentences: Try your hand now at using your new words by writing them in their correct form (change endings if necessary) in these sentences:

1. The campfire scouts ______________ when they stumbled across the haunted restroom.

2. The cook wanted the patrons of the upscale restaurant to venture on a ________ journey with each bite.

3. The _________ knight looked the dragon in the eye unflinching.

4. The girl climbed up the highest____________ of the tree to see the sunset.

5. The thunderstorms above caused the sky to become ______________.

Definitions: Match the new words with their dictionary meanings.
6. ___ blanch a. not transparent or translucent; impenetrable to light
7. ___ stalwart b. a branch of a tree
8. ___ opaque c. to whiten by removing color
9. ___ gastronomic d. strong and brave; valiant; uncompromising
10. ___ bough e. the art or science of good eating

Today’s Homophone
ACCEPT- to receive
The grandmother accepted the key to the city after saving the kittens.
Accepting compliments are an important part of growing up

EXCEPT- other than
I like all the ice cream flavors except the pork surprise.
The vocabulary test was really easy except for the students who did not study.