Online Notebook: September 24 to October 1

Make an observation (or two or three) and put your findings here. Try to engage your senses (not only commenting on what you see, but also on what you touch, hear, smell . . .) when making the observation and try (although this may be hard) to find something that you have not noticed before. Look carefully!

More information arising from our class discussion:

Learn to use the dash: Making the Dash Work for You (worksheet; teacher writing sample)

Learn to use the semicolon: Using the Semicolon (Wisely and Well)

Avoiding Run On Sentences (PowerPoint; clearly explained)

Creating a Setting with Two Opposite Atmospheres

Take one of the following disgusting ingredients:

blood, spit, vomit, urine, feces

Write a scene (setting) that contains one of the ingredients and write it to make us feel disgusted and then write it a second time to make us feel it is acceptable. (50 to 100 words maximum for each)

Class Evaluation

Let me know. Don't worry about hurting my feelings! Be honest (and I hope, constructive) in order to help me make the course better in the future. And, thank you for attending this term and for all your efforts to improve your writing.

Things I Learned in Writing 12 (short essay)

If you'd like to share your piece for your portfolio, here's a place to post it. I will write about things I've learned as your teacher (and as a teacher of writing). Remember that next week's class (June 4) is our last "formal" class. On the 11th your portfolios are due and it's time for us to socialize and have a coffee together!

An Exercise in "Memory" (with eyes closed)

Based on your memory in class today, write about it. Try to include all the details we used in the exercise: sights, sounds, connections, people, dominant features and so on.

What did You Collect?

Describe in as much detail as possible a collection of something you had when you were younger. You may also write about an "anti" collection or someone else's collection if you didn't collect anything yourself. And, of course, I will write about my butterfly collection! See my collected butterflies by clicking on the links! Tiger Swallowtail, Mourning Cloak; Painted Lady

Help! I Need Somebody (Pieces for Comment)

Put your chosen piece (the one you will write the short essay on) here for other students to see and comment on. I will make an effort to comment as well, but encourage you to comment on one or two pieces before next class.

Why Don't You Forget?

"Why won't you forget? List six true sentences that begin with the words 'I'll never forget...' Then use all six of your sentences in a paragraph, poem, or longer descriptive piece."

—Prompt taken from WritingFix.com.

Imitating a Great Writer

Put your sentences that imitate J. M. Coetzee's work here. I include copies of the samples here if you've missed class today.

A. Also there were apes (of whom I will say more later) and birds, birds everywhere: not only flocks of sparrows (or so I called them) that flitted all day chirruping from bush to bush, but on the cliffs above the sea great tribes of gulls and mews and gannets and cormorants, so that the rocks were white with their droppings.

B. In the angle between two of these rocks Cruso had built himself a hut of poles and reeds, the reeds artfully thatched together and woven in and out of the poles with fronds to form roof and walls.

C. For surely, with every day that passes, our memories grow less certain, as even a statue in marble is worn away by rain, till at last we can no longer tell what shape the sculptor’s hand gave it. What memories do you even now preserve of the fatal storm, the prayers of your companions, your terror when the waves engulfed you, your gratitude as you were cast up on the shore, your first stumbling explorations, your fear of savage beasts, the discomforts of those first nights (did you not tell me you slept in a tree?)?

D. He was a kindly man – let me say so now, lest I forget – who deserved a better end.

E. I found it strange that Friday should not understand that firewood was a kind of wood, as pinewood is a kind of wood, or poplarwood; but I let it pass. Not until after we had eaten, when we were sitting watching the stars, as had grown to be our habit, did I speak again.

(all quotes from the novel, Foe, by J. M. Coetzee; 1987)

Hongxin's Piece, "Visiting Laoshan Mountain" Edited

Hi Everyone,

Visiting Laoshan Mountain (edit)

It's also been published at The Pearson Buzz.

The piece is filled with wonderful, personal detail. It uses dialogue effectively and provides us with a unique look at a different way of life. Bravo!

Something that Happened

First, make a list of 20 things that have happened to you this month. Try to find some that are funny, some embarrassing, some happy, some that made you mad. After you make the list, write about one of the incidents.

In your writing use parallel structures, a variety of punctuation (semicolon, dash, colon, parenthesis), at least one sentence of 30 words or more, and engage our senses as much as possible.

Makassia's Story, "Sunrise in Jala" Edited

Here it is:

"Sunrise in Jala"

Fibonacci Poem

Try a Fibonacci poem: the Fibonacci progression is a mathematical formula that starts with 0 and 1 and then builds by adding numbers that are equal to the sum of the previous two numbers. The famous sequence begins as follows: 0-1-1-2-3-5-8.

A Fibonacci poem, or Fib, is a six-line poem (though, rarely, some are longer, and multiple-stanza versions are sometimes seen). Each line contains the same number of syllables as the corresponding digit in the Fibonacci sequence: 0 - 1- 1- 2- 3- 5- 8. (The unspoken first line of each Fib is silence.)

Here’s an example:

Rain

So

Thick this

Summer day

I can barely see

Ginkgo offer small umbrellas

Punctuation Practice (A Long Sentence)

Compare two things you have heard about a place. Write your comparison as a single sentence using all the following punctuation marks: a semicolon, a dash, and parenthesis. Write as many words as you can in the sentence.

A Piece to Publish

This week, post any piece from any time in the course that you would like to see published at The Pearson Buzz.

Dialogue (Patchwork Farm Writing Retreat Prompt)

Write a piece that is entirely dialogue. Write a minimum of ten exchanges, where a single exchange includes one person's speech and another's answer. Here are some possible beginning lines:

You never told me...

Where is the cat?

Can't he ever remember to...

I would like a little respect around here.

And where did you say you were?

To me, a friend is...

Use an extended metaphor. Please write a minimum of five sentences.

To Me, Spring is . . .

This time write two versions using metaphor: one positive and one negative.

Rage, Peace, Loss, Evil

Starting with images brought to mind by one of the abstract words, write what comes to you. You may write fiction, memoir, narrative; whatever suits you.

Marc and Beatrice Edited Stories

From Marc: Accomodador

From Beatrice: Tomorrow