3. Define and Describe

Before you begin this week's post do the following:
(Answer the poll on the right hand side of the blog)

1. If you do not have the class blog listed on your reading list on your dashboard do this: Go to your dashboard (click on the blogger icon on the top left of your screen) and add the class blog address : mcceng2d.blogspot.com to your READING LIST. 

HOW ? There is a way!! What is that way????
While on your dashboard, scroll down to the bottom half where you will see 'READING LIST' Look for the button that says ADD - click on it and follow the instructions (once you have done this, it will be that much easier to access the instructions on the class blog, as you will only need to go to your own dashboard to get to the class blog.)

2. If your name is NOT listed on the class blog list to the right of this post, come and tell me what your blog address is (www. ?????.blogspot.com) and I will link it to the class blog.

3. Finish your first two posts.....you are WAYYYYY behind now.
                                    ___________________________

NOW THIS WEEK's POST. . . .

This week in class we have been defining words - the connotation and the denotation and describing what effect the words have had on us and our perceptions of the characters we have been introduced to. This week you will be defining and describing. 


As always, begin your blog post by identifying the novel you are currently reading. Do this correctly using the MLA format for citations. You can use  easybib.com - which is a great tool for creating correct MLA bibliographic entries.

See another example of a properly formatted MLA citation below:

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay. New York: Scholastic, 2010. Print.
(You may also choose to add a visual for the novel using the 'Add Image' icon found on your NEW POST toolbar. Be sure to include a citation for your borrowed image.)

Remember too that when you include a DIRECT quotation from your novel, be sure to you include an 'in text citation' identifying its source. 
SEE BELOW:

(Collins, Mockingjay 15) 

This week I want you to write about the theme of justice, revolution, rebellion or courage as it applies to your novel. Below are instructions for a three paragraph response.

1. Identify and then define the theme as you understand it. 

2. Then describe how (there is a way. . . ) it is presented in your novel (relate your description specifically to character, plot, conflict, setting etc.). Use a direct quotation to help you provide evidence of the existence of the theme you selected.  

3. Finish your post by explaining  what you believe the character , plot, conflict or setting you selected to describe has TOLD you about your theme. 

There is a student sample of the second part of your required response below: (note - this response is missing a description of the context of the excerpt and the definition of justice which weakens it). 

_

Sanderson, Brandon, Isaac Stewart, Ben McSweeney, and Greg Call. The Way of Kings. New York: Tor, 2010. Print.

“I understood in a moment of stillness. Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees.” (Sanderson, The Way of Kings 122)

This is a part in the novel called The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, where the main character Kaladin becomes enlightened. He realizes that humans, like the flame of a candle, can be fragile but can also be deadly if there is no justice and law holding them back. The highlighted part of this excerpt is the revelation that he comes to. What we take from this excerpt is that all men are as fragile as glass; the only thing holding them back from harming themselves and others, is the presence of a box to confine them which is metaphorically the presence of justice. This excerpt tells me that the presence of justice is the only thing that prohibits men from destroying each other. Men when “left alone, [would light] and warm” (122)  but when me are “let run rampant” (122) without the law or justice, they would destroy everything.

2. Identify and sort

First, make sure you are done your first post. 
If you are not - go back to the instructions found in the blog archive to the right and finish it. You always have one week (Friday to Friday) to complete your blogging for the week.

This week, begin your post by identifying the book or books you would like to address for today's post. Use the MLA format taught last week to create a properly formatted MLA citation. You may also choose to include an image of the book cover to add further visual interest to your blog (use the 'add image' icon found on the tool bar at the top of your 'new post' page).

Today you will be identifying and sorting.

1. First, identify five main elements of your novel. Use your note "Elements of the Short Story" as a reference. (NOTE: Because this hand out is talking about good fiction - we can transfer our understanding of short fiction to longer pieces like novels.)

2. Then, sort these elements according to their importance for your engagement in your reading. Put the most important element to you at the beginning of your sorting list.

3. Once you have identified the most important element for your enjoyment, describe how this element has been used (or is lacking) in your novel.

4. Use a direct quotation from a section of your book as evidence. Be sure to include a properly formatted MLA style citation following your direct quotation. Do not leave the quotation standing on its own - make sure that you explain its significance to the element you have selected as your top engagement feature. 

AS A REMINDER USE THIS MLA STYLE IN TEXT CITATION: (Author, Title page)

A sample student entry of the third and fourth activity for this week is below:

Imagery

     This element is used quite often in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Imagery is the use of visual, auditory or tactile descriptions to help you understand a place better while using your senses. I think imagery is the most important element in this book because it projects a vivid impression of what is being described: a hollow within which lies a flesh-eating soulless creature. The imagery helps the reader to really imagine themselves in the scene with the characters: "A vast, lunar bog stretched away into the mist from either side of the path, just brown grass and tea-colored water as far as I could see, featureless but for the occasional mount of piled-up stones. It ended abruptly at a forest of skeletal trees, branches spindling up like the tips of wet paintbrushes, and for a while the path became so lost beneath fallen trunks and carpets of ivy that navigating it was a matter of faith." (Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  78). Even if I didn't want to imagine this bog, I couldn't help it after reading this excerpt. This is one of the less gag-inducing parts that I could have chosen. But it's true, sometimes you are happy to imagine a place of beauty and peace. But you might be forced to imagine a dreary bog, or a spine tingling creature. That's the best part about imagery, it's like real life because you can't choose what you want to see or how long that image lasts in your mind.

Riggs, Ransom, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk, 2011. Print.

1. Your first post

Today you will begin your blogging about your independent reading.

Before you begin, read the POST EXPECTATIONS described on the page on the toolbar above. 

As your first blog post:

1. In the first part of your blog post, identify three qualities you expect from a 'good book'.

2. Describe whether the book(s) you have read so far contains these three qualities you listed in the first part of your blog post.

3. Use the proper MLA style you reviewed in the exercise above to identify the book(s) you described in 2. (You are encouraged to include more than one book here) but be sure to alphabetize by author.

eg. Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. New York: Scholastic Press. 2009. Print.

Here is a student sample:

In a good book, three qualities I'd expect it to have is description, suspense, and emotion. The book should be able to deeply explain anything in order for you to actually imagine it and feel as though you're not just reading the book but you're part of it. It should also include suspense because I find it's just something every kind of book needs to allow the reader to think about what could possibly happen next instead of the author just telling you. And by arouse your emotions I mean, if it's a sad part and it's meant to be terribly sad it should make your heart melt and tears welt as though it was a loss you had suffered as well.

The book I'm currently reading is The Communist's Daughter by Dennis Bock. I think since it's a book based on a medic in the war it contains the descriptive feature, it does have quite a bit of suspense here and there, but it hasn't had any sad parts that have made me cry. In this part of the book it built up some suspense because you ask yourself 'what's going to happen next!?!' this is the part:

"We felt the walls and on we walked, using the flame only when we became unsure of our footing or when we found another door. Your mother reached for my hand in the dark. I couldn't help smiling. The world was ending and here I was, smiling because a pretty girl was holding my hand. The Lord's mysterious ways, as my mother would say. I felt the walls with the other hand, reading them as I read the inside of an open chest or abdomen. Now we were inside the entrails, and here I was smiling." (Bock 29)

Works Cited MLA

Bock, Dennis. The Communist's Daughter. Canada: HarperCollins, 2006. Print

Welcome Grade 10 Bloggers!!

The Joy of Books....

reading matters

....introduction.

Watch and enjoy the following stop motion film:

" The Joy of Books - YouTube ."YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . N.p., 9 Jan. 2012. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.

Welcome to your ENG 2D independent reading blog!!

Similar to last year in ENG 1D, it is from this class blog that you will receive your instructions for your grade 10 independent reading blog, as well as instructions and support for your Final Assessment (Independent study - worth 15% of your term mark).

Each week this class blog will be updated with specific instructions for you to complete a post on your own blog. You will be given 35 minutes a week on computer to complete the writing necessary for your independent reading (Blog Fridays).

Enjoy your reading . . .

check out the book profiles in the sidebar. . .

answer the poll found in the sidebar. . .

we begin today.

NOW. . . Go to the toolbar above and

open the page entitled BLOGGING TIPS.

Read through these rules before you begin to blog.