Thursday / Friday 29/30 September

We began with a brief discussion of place.
Writers made a list of places from their past. Choosing one place that they had strong emotions about writers then brainstormed brief descriptors of the place.

The first writing prompt was that list of descriptors of a place.

Mr. Zartler did a lesson on setting.

Writers then worked on revising one of their pieces with a focus using setting to establish mood.

Mr. Zartler then handed out the following list of character motivations:

Writers were asked to create a character who is motivated by one of the concepts listed above and to have them enter the story writers are working on. (Of course if the writer doesn't like how this affects their story then don't have to use this.)

ROUGH DRAFTS OF SHORT STORY DUE NEXT WEDNESDAY/ THURSDAY.

Tuesday / Wednesday 27/28 September

The opening writing prompt was: "A Date" Dates can be good  or bad. First or last. Blind or not blind.

Writers received a handout on Point of View. We discussed the differences between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person points of view. We discussed objective; omniscient, and limited omniscient points of view.

Writers chose a passage and revised it to a different point of view.

Writers were assigned to color code a piece of their writing in order to analyze their use of the elements of narrative.

Writers were reminded about two up coming deadlines.
October 11th / 12th First Short story due.
October 28th/ 31st Short Story: "Morbid Fiction" due.

Writers had time to work on creating characters, back writing, and revising in order to work towards completion of their first story of the year.

Friday / Monday 23 / 26 September.

Writers wrote.

After the free write students read a story called "That Girl." After discussing initial reactions to the story, students used the Elements of Narrative handout as a guide to color code and analyze the elements that the author used to create the short story. Class discussed the use of the elements.

Next writers used the same color coding system to analyze the scene that they had written. Writers were asked to analyze what they might need to do more of or less of as they continue to work on.

Beginning on Tuesday and Wednesday writers will have a graded homework assignment for their daily writing practice.

Wednesday / Thursday 21-22 September

Students received an essential handout called "The Elements of Fiction" which will be referred to as the Elements of Storytelling and Elements of Narrative.

The class read, discussed, and analyzed the short story "Bullet in the Brain".

Students in period 5 and 6 turned in their scenes.
Students in period 4 worked together to create characters and were assigned a complete scene for Friday.

All students were asked to create a writing plan for the next week.