When you revise dialogue, be sure to punctuate it correctly so that your readers can see who is talking and where a line of dialogue begins or ends. The rules for using quotation marks, commas, and end marks of punctuation are listed below.
Use quotation marks before and after a character's exact words. Place a period inside closing quotation marks.
"Peter and Esteban are joining us."
Use a comma to set off the speaker's tag (he said) from the beginning of a quotation. Place the comma inside closing quotation marks when the speaker's tag follows the quotation.
Harry said, "Come on, Ray. It'll be fun."
"Let's go," Gilda said.
Use quotation marks around each part of a divided quotation. Remember to set off the speaker's tag with commas.
"I'm not sure," said Ray, "that I feel like it."
Place a question mark or an exclamation point inside the quotation marks when it is part of the quotation.
"When will we be back?" Ray asked.
"Hooray!" said Debbi.
Place a question mark or an exclamation point outside the quotation marks when it is not part of the quotation.
Did I hear Ray say, "Okay"?
I can't believe he said, "Okay"!
Start a new paragraph when you move from one speaker to another.
"How long a hike is it?" Ray asked. "I don't know whether I have the energy."
"I think," said Iris, "that it's about seven miles to the top."
Sophs #1 Journal--Jim Valvano--Laugh, Think, and Cry
RESPOND BEFORE Wednesday, NOVEMBER 2
Jim Valvano coached the North Carolina State Wolfpack to an upset victory in the 1983 NCAA men's basketball championship game. Valvano parlayed this victory with his gift of public speaking to become one of the most likable and recognizable coaches in the land. I had the pleasure of listening to Valvano speak to a group of Delaware high school basketball coaches and All Stars. Leaving the Dover, DE, banquet hall that night, I thought to myself, "This guy is a natural born world shaker." Or something like that. He was THAT impressive.
Though his teams were always competitive, North Carolina State would never come close again to matching the success of the fantasy 1983 season.
Then came the tragic news in 1992 that Valvano had developed cancer. Only ten years after his national championship, his body ravaged with cancerous tumors, Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs (ESPN's annual BESTS). Valvano, an inspirational coach, was probably even a better public speaker. His speech at the ESPYs will make you laugh, think, and cry, three things, that according to Valvano, you should do every day.
The Jimmy V Foundation was founded in his honor. It's still active and important today, raising millions of dollars to fight cancer. Dick Vitale, a well-known television basketball broadcaster and once a close friend of Valvano, is a main P.T. (Prime Time) Player in the battle against the insidious disease.
Your assignment: listen to the speech again (click on this link) and read the words to the speech at this link. Write your journal by responding to one or more of the following prompts:
1. What are the best parts (lines) of the speech? Why?
2. Tell me about the best 'pep talk' that you've ever received. Make sure to discuss the speaker, the situation, the audience, and the speaker's technique. Cite lines from the speech if you can.
3. How do you laugh, think, and cry each day?
4. Relate a personal story to any topic discussed in the speech.
5. Analyze the speech according to pathos, ethos, and logos.
You are having a vocabulary quiz on Tuesday next week on the words that I gave you earlier this week (they're posted at Schoolsville--we went over definitions this week in class, too). The format of the quiz will be sentence completion.
Also, re-read Hills Like White Elephants, focusing on dialogue as it is used to shape character.
Your journals (there are five separate writings, six if you count the two for summer reading)_ are due Wednesday, October 26.
Go back into the archives of August, September, and October to find all of the journal assignments.
Seniors: 1. summer reading (for both stories) 2. personal essay warmup 3. old fashioned stories 4. John Updike interview 5. handout given on 10-19
Sophs: 1. summer reading (for both stories) 2. favorite work of art 3. Why Don't You Look Where You're Doing? 4. God's providence 5. conceit
Print out all of your responses to these five assignments. Each should consist of a minimum of 200 words or 25 blog lines. Will that minimum ensure an A grade? Probably not. You may and [probably should] edit what you submitted previously on the blog.
Turn in your best work. The assignment is worth 50 points. Due Wednesday, October 26.
Rachel Eliza Griffiths (senior poetry workshop Oct. 17)
Rachel Eliza Griffiths, a 1996 graduate of St. Mark's, will speak to the senior creative and critical writing classes and the AP class during two in-school assemblies on October 17 periods 5-7 and 21-23.
Ms. Griffiths is a critically acclaimed poet, prose stylist, photographer, and artist. Her new book of poetry and prose, Mule & Pear, is available on Amazon.com. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware and Sarah Lawrence College, where she teaches poetry. Visit her author page here where you can learn more about her and her works.
Click here to watch a Griffiths-produced video that advertises the new book. The video features the music of African American jazz pianist-vocalist Nina Simone singing "Feeling Good" over some vibrant and beautifully videographed black & white images.
Click here to one of her poems at the Poetry Society of America.
I did not have the pleasure of teaching her at St. Mark's. However, I did get to know her a little bit, having once been moderator of the now defunct homeroom 154 (it occupied the area that is now the main office lobby) that was eliminated during new construction during the late 1990s.
Your job before attending Ms. Griffiths's workshop on Monday? Read some of her poems, watch her videos, etc. at these links I've provided. "Google" her to get even more information. Maybe look her up in Oprah's magazine of March 2011. Pay attention to her workshop and be ready to ask her a question or two about her creative process.
SENIORS: Vocab list #3 (post before Tuesday, Oct. 18)
Here's the third go-round with some words that use the same word roots we've been studying. I haven't given you the definitions so you'll have to look up the words (use an online dictionary) to do your homework.
Post ten (10) sentences giving context clues of inference, restatement, or contrast. All seniors post below.
Go to StudyWiz to get a file that contains the entire text of A & P along with (5) questions that you must answer. You may work with the person sitting next to you.
Post your answers below as comments before the end of class today.
If you finish, you may work on your homework that is posted at Schoolsville.
Answer any one (1) of the questions from Part A or Part B.Respond below or bring your answers to class tomorrow.
Part A (for those of you who have worked a job)
Answer any one of these in a few (6-10) sentences. Answer only those questions that might have somewhat "interesting" answers that could be woven into a short story.
When you aren't busy, what do you do at work to pass the time?
Tell me about a situation that occurred to you at work that might be woven into a short story.
How you ever had to do something at work (in a position of authority) that you didn’t want to do? Did you do it? Why or why not? Did you learn anything from the experience?
Have you ever quit a job? Been fired? Tell me about it.
Tell me about one of your co-workers. Describe him or her in an interesting way. Tell me about some line or phrase that a co-worker said that is interesting, clever, funny, etc. Tell me about your boss.
Describe your customers, clientle, etc. in an interesting way. Do you have nicknames for any of them? Do you recognize certain "types" of customers?
Part B (observing St. Mark's High School)
Answer any one of these in a few (6-10) sentences. Answer only those questions that might have somewhat "interesting" answers that could be woven into a short story.
Tell me about a real-life person at St. Mark’s who would make an interesting fictional character for a story or novel. Explain why (description, what he does, what he says, what others think about him, etc.). Do not be critical or mean in your choice or your explanation.
Tell me about a situation or scene or event that has happened at St.Mark’s that could be the basis for a story. Do not be critical or mean in your choice or your explanation.
Tell me about a place (setting) at St. Mark's that for some reason, would be a natural but also interesting setting for a story.
Describe some particular group of St. Mark's people in an interesting way---your lunch table, your theology class, the science department, etc. Do not be critical or mean in your choice or your explanation.
Give me a list of the latest teen slang and jargon, but keep it classy, St. Mark's.
SOPHS: Oct. 13 Lab Day: Your favorite things ... I mean, conceits?
Read through the conceits posted by your classmates from both of my sections of American literature. Pick out three (3) that you particularly enjoy for their wit and wisdom and rank them #1 through #3. List the blog "handles" (jdoe yellow) to identify the authors in your comments below. Briefly identify the two things that are compared, too.
Bring your vocabulary book to class tomorrow, Friday, October 14.
Make sure you download the study guide for your big test on Monday, October 17.
Read A &P, pp. 370-374 in your white book, for class on Tuesday.
It's another story by John Updike, the author of The Lucid Eye in Silver Town.
This story is an example of first person, subjective narration. It's comically told by a teenage boy named Sammy a short time after he's made an important life decision.
Pay special attention to Sammy's language as he narrates the tale. Those of you whose job involves dealing with the public will especially appreciate the story.
1. Check the final soph #5 journal that is posted. Complete and post by Thursday, October 13.
2. Begin to review all of your literature notes from Why Don't You Look Where You're Going? up to and including Jonathan Edwards. We'll end our unit on the Puritans by studying a minister-poet named Edward Taylor who wrote religious conceits. I foresee a test sometime next week ... Thursday or Friday?
3. Check StudyWiz for two examples of pretty good student-written CONCEITS. You'll have to write one for your #5 journal. This is explained below and in that journal post, too.
4. Look over your classmates' posts to the in-class work assigned Thursday to learn about blue laws and honor codes.
5. MAYBE begin to finish and tidy up all five of your journals. The end of the first quarter of your tenth grade nears.
What did you miss in class?
Well, we discussed our favorite pizza parlors (Valle's, Anthony's Coal Fire) and our favorite types of pizza (ham and pineapple topping or Eggplant Marino) in one class. In the other, we learned that one of your classmates "represents" NYC--Yonkers (she's a mourning Yankees fan who refuses to wear Phillies red) and another lives by the big "doctor's bag" over by Route 7.
Heavy stuff.
We also discussed the concept of the metaphysical conceit, a far-fetched, often complex, extended metaphor popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries by writers.
One of the most famous is by the English poet John Donne, which begins,"No man is an island." Each man is, in fact, "a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less." Donne uses a basic knowledge of geography to compare the death of a man to a piece (clod) of the shore being washed away by the sea. When this happens, Donne continues, the entire continent (Europe) is lessened because "any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind." His conceit is a simple but effective way to teach that we all are an essential part of mankind.
The conceit ends with these famous words: "Never send to ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." Or, to "translate," there's no need to ask whom the church bell is tolling for (as the bell would at a funeral) because a little piece of us all has died.
Ernest Hemingway, a 20th century American writer, named one of his novels, For Whom the Bell Tolls, alluding to Donne's conceit. The novel's theme presents the universal destruction of war that transcends the battlefields.
I'm driving 65 mph on I-495, cars whizzing by me like I'm standing still. Two guys darting in and out of traffic like it's some video game chase--I can only imagine how fast they're going. I'm on the gas just to keep up with the flow, the left foot covering the pedal (yeah, that's old-school bi-pedal technique), just in case . . . momentarily reverting to what Mr. Shaw instructed back in my tenth grade driver's ed class.
Then comes the inevitable question from the backseat driver, who actually occupies the other seat in the front. You know what I mean?
"Are you using cruise control?"
"No," I answer curtly.
"Why not? Doesn't your foot get tired?" the passenger harps.
It is at that point that I begin my rant on the dangers of cruise control.
Clicking on the cruise control does prevent tired, cramping feet, I say. However, it has its problems, too. For one, it lulls you into a false sense of security, and the feet usually get further and further away for both the gas AND the brake pedals. At that point, how much control do I really have?
Like my car, I don't like to put my life in "cruise control." I want to be the one in charge as much as I can be, without being a "control freak." I'm no risk-taker, so most of the time I travel the "road more taken." And that's OK with me. I like to know where I'm going, traveling at my own speed. I haven't driven further north than New York City or more south than Augusta, Georgia, but that doesn't mean I've led a boring, provincial life, either. I can make a Saturday night trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond an adventure by taking some of the back roads to see the Belted Galloway cows on Center Meeting Road (click to enjoy).
How are you navigating throughlife?
Do you gas up first, and then check the oil, wipers, and air pressure before a big trip?
Do you have the "pedal to the metal" or are you driving more cautiously with "both hands on the wheel at 10 before 2?"
Do you prefer major roadways like the Kirkwood Highway or would you rather take the more scenic route?
When you drive, are you easily lured into the local McDonald's at the sight of the golden arches, or can you get from point A to point B without making a single stop?
Do you use your cell phone while driving, chatting and texting away instead of paying attention to the road? It's against the law, you know.
Obviously, all of these driving situations can be applied metaphorically to situations in our lives.
For instance, the guy who gases up and checks out his car before a trip is the man who begins all his endeavors in life with preparation and a plan.
The "pedal to the metal" driver travels recklessly through life, hellbent on getting things done in a hurry without concern for safety for himself or anyone else.
The guy who stops at McDonald's, well, he needs a little bit more self-control, doesn't he? Can't he wait a few minutes to get home to snack on last night's leftovers?
Hopefully, you have the idea of what makes a CONCEIT, an elaborate (sometimes far-fetched) extended metaphor. Two things that are essentially unalike, like driving a car and living one's life, are compared. The "extended" part of the metaphor means that different parts of each procedure are compared, like the examples that I've given above comparing driving a car to living one's life.
So now it's your turn.
Think of an area in which you have some knowledge and expertise. Maybe it's a hobby (reading) or activity (playing a sport, dancing, fishing etc.).
Think of a metaphor, and then extend it by breaking it down into parts.
For instance, reading a book is like developing a strong friendship.
How might choosing a book to read be like finding a friend? Examine its cover, its prologue, the reviews on the cover. How might this be similar to entering into a friendship? You can go on from here, and talk about opening the book the first time, feeling the stiffness of the book's bindings, maybe reading a few uneventful pages and then putting it down. How might this be like the beginning of a friendship, too?
Choose between one of these two assignments:
1. Make a conceit comparing two dissimilar but similar processes, like reading a book and making a friend.
2. Tell me what your LIFE is like. Let's avoid the commonly used "roller coaster" or "box of chocolates" metaphors.
For either choice, make sure you extend your general comparison with at least five specific comparisons. You'll probably find yourself doing many more.
Write and post your own conceit before Thursday, October 13.
SOPHS: The Puritan Legacy: Blue Laws and Honor Codes (in class work Oct. 6)
In 1723, Jonathan Edwards wrote seventy resolutions for personal growth that he reviewed once per week.
Here are two resolutions that I'd like you to examine:
Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous, sportive, or matter of laughter on the Lord's day.
Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
Puritans kept the Sabbath holy. This meant not only attending services and suspending the daily workload, but also, in some communities, observing a more strict code of conduct that forbad activities like dancing. Some of these laws remain on the books today --they're known as Blue Laws, laws that essentially legislate old-fashioned religious beliefs.
Puritans believed in public censure, publicly and formally naming, condemning, and sometimes banishing sinners and criminals. So it was perfectly fine "to speak evil of someone" if "some real good" would come from it--like the discovery of a cattle thief, a cheater, or even a witch. Some schools, mostly religious and service academies (like Brigham Young University and West Point), have honor codes, where the entire school community is in charge of policing virtues like honesty and chastity. What you might call "snitching" might be considered a moral duty to keeping the community clean.
Your assignment is to research blue laws and honor codes to find where they are still present today. Even better would be to find recent news articles where these legacies of Puritanism have been tested (hint: try Google News).
Write a synopsis of what you've found today to post before class on Friday. Minimum of 200 words (but this is NOT a journal assignment)
If you're a man or woman more interested in providing solutions than in researching problems, then, as an alternative assignment, tell me how you think an honor code might (or might not)work at St. Mark's. Got integrity, anyone? (minimum of 200 words--again NOT a journal assignment).
NOTE: Read this post before the first test this Friday, October 7. Be able to recall important details about John Updike. You do NOT need to read the linked interview before the test.
NOTE: THIS IS A JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT, BUT YOU DO NOT NEED TO POST YOUR RESPONSE. PRINT OUT TO HAND IN AT THE END OF THE QUARTER WITH THE REST OF YOUR JOURNAL WRITINGS.
Your first assigned short story, The Lucid Eye in Silver Town, is a partially autobiographical account of its author, the young John Updike. Jay, the young boy in the story, is from some "hick town" in PA, as his father says in his sad, self-deprecating manner; Updike himself hailed from Shillington, a small town close to Reading, PA. Before he passed away in January 2009 at the age of 76, Updike was still reading and writing as much as ever.
Once a young man frustrated with a stalled career as a cartoonist, he tried his hand at fiction. His description of his first effort to write should encourage those of you who are intimidated or insecure in your own ability: "It's like sort of a horse you don't know is there, but if you jump on the back there is something under you that begins to move and gallop. So it's clearly a wonderful imaginary world that you enter when you begin to write fiction."
Updike went on to achieve the rare daily double of both popular and literary success, his novels read equally on airplanes and in college classrooms. His greatest gift was his ability to make us care about everyday people doing everyday things, a trait that makes him particularly American, this celebration of the common man. Visit this web page and read the Updike interview.
The entire interview?
Well, as much or as little as you need to in order to respond to this prompt:
Respond to any one or some of Updike's interview answers in this interview. He talks about a variety of subjects: his childhood, his experience with teachers, his early appreciation of reading, his writing theories, teaching a creative writing class, the American Dream, etc. You may merely respond in a agree/disagree--like/dislike manner OR relate his (and your) responses to "The Lucid Eye in Silver Town."
This represents one exercise in the "critical" side of the course. You might not find this journal or Updike's interview particularly exciting, but I'm hoping that you at least find it insightful. Let's face it. When was the last time you read serious musings on fiction from a serious writer of fiction? Maybe never?
Remember, write an minimum of 25 blog lines or 200 words.
Listen carefully to this videoof Mr. Jerry Falwell, a minister and founder of Liberty University; and Pat Robertson, a former minister and televangelist, speaking two days after the 9-11 catastrophe (the text of the video appears below).
NOTE: Even though this is a JOURNAL writing, you do NOT need to respond to this online, but you MUST respond and print out to hand in with your journal at the end of the marking period. The writing prompts follow the transcript of the video text.
Both men had (Falwell is deceased now) strong, conservative, religious opinions: anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-feminists. Both men fought for allowing prayer to be said in public schools. The ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union, the group to which the men refer] fought to keep prayer out of public schools, so they were seen as enemies of God by Robertson and Falwell. This is just a brief summary to explain the political and historical context of the two men's words.
Robertson and Falwell are firm believers in God's providence--God as the provider and God as the punisher, too. They are not unlike the early Puritans in this way.
Here is a transcript of the video (with some additional words before the video begins):
JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we've been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters - the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats--what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact--if, in fact--God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.
PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major population.
JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU's got to take a lot of blame for this.
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, yes.
JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.
Respond to one of the three prompts:
1. Do you agree with or disagree with Falwell and Robertson? Explain your answer in a thoughtful response. You may choose to discuss any or many of the ideas that they expressed in this video.
2. Relate a personal story in which you believed God played an important role in answering a prayer.
3. Discuss an incident that occurred in American history where someone, or some group of people, were persecuted for their religious beliefs OR for not having any religious beliefs. Explain your feelings on this incident.
