Books vs Movies

This post is for juniors only.

As crazy and out of contral as Mark Borchardt seems, he has one thing in common with Guy Montag (and Ray Bradbury) - they are both passionate. Montag (and Bradbury) are passionate about books...

...and Mark is passionate about movies...

For this entry, please reflect on one of the following topics. Please keep in mind that your responses should be thoughtful and thorough. They should be paragraph length. Grammar, spelling and mechanics all count. You only need to reflect on one of the prompts. Where you go with it is up to you.

• Which are more important to society - books or movies?
• What heroic qualities do Mark and Montag both possess?
• What character flaws do Mark and Montag both possess?
• Whose story is more tragic - Mark's or Montag's?
• Montag's passion for books makes him heroic, and yet Mark's passion for movies makes him foolish. How do you account for this difference?

Scout's Narrative Voice

This blog entry is for Period 2 and Period 7 students.

We spent some time in class watching some of A Christmas Story. You’ll remember that I asked you to pay attention to the tone of Ralph’s voice as an adult. He was excited, boisterous, overly enthusiastic, and easily swooped up into waves of deep emotion (hilarity, tragedy, fear, etc.). In short, Ralph as an adult sounded like Ralphie as a kid. Ralph as a narrator still believed in Santa, still believed in the almost magical power of an air rifle, and still believed in pure Christmas magic. At least, he sounded like he did. This is what made the movie so funny. Triple dogs dares just don't exist in the adult world.

So here we are well into To Kill a Mockingbird, and guess what? The same device is used in the novel. Scout as an adult is seeing the events of the novel through her eyes back when she was a little girl. Barely sad moments are full of grief, and tragic adult moments are hardly visible whatsoever. We might, for this reason, consider Scout what we call an “unreliable” narrator. In other words, we can’t always trust what Scout says.

After all, Scout already knows how the book is going to turn out. She lived it, right? She can’t give away the ending! She needs to create drama, suspense, humor.

One such example of Scout-the-adult-narrator mimicking the voice and vision of Scout-the-six-year-old is in Chapter One when she recounts Jem’s description of Boo. According to Jem, Boo “was about six-and-a-half feet tall” judging from the tracks Boo left behind and “dined on raw squirrels, and any cats he could catch” (Hansberry 16). Scout thinks this is a “reasonable description” (16). The reader, of course, knows Jem’s description is anything but “reasonable.” In fact, it is far from it. Heck, he makes Boo sound like Frankenstein's monster. This is a great example of moment in which the tone (the narrator’s attitude) is contrary to the mood (the reader’s attitude).

Your Task : Find another example of this narrative discord – a moment in which Scout the narrator is being less than straight with the reader and thus creating a chasm between tone and mood. Your comments should be thoughtful and thorough, use correct textual citations (just like my example), and contain correct grammar and punctuation. Remember, we're looking for specific examples, not broad generalizations. Look for short, concise word clusters. Feel free to find your example anywhere within chapters one through eight. One more thing: No repeats! (So be sure to read all of the comments posted before yours.)

Extra Credit: Feel free to comment on one another’s responses. Just be sure to move the conversation along. This is a discussion, not a list of repeated ideas. You may agree or disagree with one another as long as you support your claims with evidence.

Note: When you post your comment, be sure to select "name" on the drop down menu and include your first and last name so you can earn credit for your work.

Citing Prose and Poetry

How to Cite Prose

(books, short stories, essays, etc.)

When citing an author, put the author's last name and page number in parenthesis after the sentence. Remember, (1) do NOT include a comma, and (2) put the period AFTER the entire sentence. Like this:

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).


When including the author's name in the sentence itself, don not repeat it in the parenthetical citation. Like this:

Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

In both cases, the quotation should BE A PART OF YOUR SENTENCE. Like this:

As Weir examines Shane's bullet wounds, he reports that Shane is "alive all right" (Schaefer 146).

The quotation should NOT be jammed in there in its own sentence. Like this:

Weir examines Shane's bullet wounds and reports that Shane did not yet die. "He's alive all right" (Schaefer 146).

How to Cite Poetry

The rules for poetry differ from the rules for quoting prose in two key ways:

• Poetry requires writers to cite line numbers not page numbers.
• Poetry requires writers to keep line breaks in tact.

Use quotation marks around the quotation. Use a slash to indicate the break between lines. Put the line numbers in parentheses. Place the period at the end of the line number(s). Like this:

The speaker explains that he enjoys the little things in life, like going to the horse track and settling "for the 6 horse / on a rainy afternoon" (Bukowski 1-2).

Again, when including the author's name in the sentence itself, do not repeat it in the parenthetical citation. Like this:

Bukowski describes the simple pleasures in life, like going to the horse track and "settling for the 6 horse / on a rainy afternoon" (1-2).

Just like when citing prose, the quotation should NOT be jammed in there in its own sentence. Like this:

The speaker explains that he enjoys the little things in life, like betting at the horse track. "I'll settle for the 6 horse / on a rainy afternoon" (Bukowski 1-2).

451 Essay Poems

For your reference, here are the poems I've selected for you to write about in your 451 essays. Pick the one that speaks to you most clearly, or find one on your own and check it with me. Please note, the poem "Between What I See and What I Say" is missing the last few lines on your handout. The poem is here in its entirety.

Between What I See and What I Say

Octavio Paz

1
Between what I see and what I say,
Between what I say and what I keep silent,
Between what I keep silent and what I dream,
Between what I dream and what I forget:
poetry.
            It slips
between yes and no,
                              says
what I keep silent,
                            keeps silent
what I say,
                dreams
what I forget.
                      It is not speech:
it is an act.
                It is an act
of speech.
                  Poetry
speaks and listens:
                            it is real.
And as soon as I say
                              it is real,
it vanishes.
                Is it then more real?

2
Tangible idea,
                    intangible
word:
        poetry
comes and goes
                        between what is
and what is not.
                        It weaves
and unweaves reflections.
                                        Poetry
scatters eyes on a page,
scatters words on our eyes.
Eyes speak,
                  words look,
looks think.
                  To hear
thoughts,
              see
what we say,
                  touch
the body of an idea.
                              Eyes close,
the words open.

My Heart Leaps Up

William Wordsworth

My heart leaps up when I behold

                A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain

Emily Dickinson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading – treading – till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through – 

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum – 

Kept beating – beating – till I thought

My Mind was going numb – 

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race

Wrecked, solitary, here – 

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down – 

And hit a World, at every plunge,

                And Finished knowing – then – 

The Men That Don’t Fit In

Robert Service

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.


If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.


And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.


He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.

Extra Credit: Write a Poem That Can Make Ladies Cry

This extra credit post is for juniors only.

When Mildred's friends come over to watch "the family" on the living room wall televisions, Montag loses it anb whips out a book of poetry. He reads to them Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach." It's such a sad poem, and it speaks so clearly to the women's sad world, that it brings one of the ladies to tears.

Your task, write an alternative poem that Montag could have read to the women. Here are the requirements:

• The poem needs to reflect, in some way, Montag's world/story.
• The poem must be dramatic and/or tragic.
• You must use punctuation throughout your poem.
• All material needs to be appropriate for class.

Feel free to ask for help if you need it. Poems should be posted in the comments below before the end of the day Dec. 16.

Life's a Dover Beach

In the 1800s, British poet Matthew Arnold wrote a poem entitled "Dover Beach." The poem is about how humanity has lost its faith, hope, and love. It is also the poem Montag read to Mildred and her friends in the novel. Read it four times slowly and then continue with the directions below.

Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Now that you've read the poem several times, go to the "to student" folders, look under the jcowlin folder, and open the document entitled "Dover Beach activity." Answer the questions by typing directly into the document. When you've finished, save it to your own folder using a new document name. Also, print out a copy and turn it in.

If you have any quesitons, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!

Bonus Video - Ray Bradbury's Buddy...The Great Ray Harryhausen

This post is for everyone in the world who enjoys awesome stuff.

One of Ray Bradbury's close friends is Ray Harryhausen, a special effects wizzard who worked from the 50s through the early 80s. He did a lot of incredible stop motion animation. Here are a few clips.  Enjoy.

Mighty Joe Young came after the success of King Kong:



20,000,000 Miles to Earth was part of the 1950's 'invaders from outer space' craze:



The Valley of Gwangi combined two of Hollywood's most successful genres, westerns and dinosaurs:



Jason and the Argonauts is arguably the best of Harryhausen's movies. It's just guys fighting lots of monsters:

An Afternoon with Ray Bradbury

The following entry is for JUNIORS only.

Ray Bradbury was born in 1920 in Waukegan, IL, just about 25 miles north of Glenview. He began publishing stories in magazines in 1939 as a teenager.

Bradbury "is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works -- short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse -- exemplify the American imagination at its most creative.

Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and most beloved books, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, FAHRENHEIT 451 and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, are masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime. His timeless, constant appeal to audiences young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic authors of the 20th Century -- and the 21st."

Your Task: Today you're going to spend some time with Ray. On his website here are posted several short videos of Bradbury being interviewed. Go ahead and watch at least six, particularly "Bradbury on Censorship," "Bradbury on Education," and "Bradbury on the Internet." Then, comment on your thoughts and reactions to at least two of the videos. Each of your comments should be entered as separate entries in the comments below. As always, for extra credit you may post additional entries in which you comment on your peers' ideas.

Southern Gothic

This post if for freshmen only.

Southern Gothic

Literary Tradition

Gothic literature is fiction in which strange, gloomy settings and mysterious, violent, often supernatural events create suspense and terror. Southern gothic literature uses gothic motifs to explore social issues and reveal the cultural character of the American South.

Following are a few characteristics of gothic and southern gothic literature:

1. The gothic novel tries to evoke chilling terror and gloom by exploiting mystery and horror. Gothic is about haunting and possession.  We are supposed to feel a chill at some point in the story, and this emotional response is in part the point of the gothic experience. Paradoxically, this fear is a source of pleasure.  "Tis so appalling--it exhilarates," Emily Dickinson says in a poem.
2. In a Gothic work, there is usually confusion about good and evil. What does ‘good’ actually mean? What about ‘evil’? And how can we tell the difference?
3. Gothic reveals a fear of institutions, such as religion, education, or marriage.
4. Gothic shows the dark and hidden side of things. It rips open the lies and shows a world of cruelty, lust, perversion, and crime hidden beneath society’s rules and customs.
5. Gothic tears through censorship and explodes hypocrisies. It exposes the world as a corrupt, reeking place.
6. Gothic is a reaction to the conventional, common sense, and enlightened world. If society is supposed to be orderly and sensible, gothic shows how it really isn’t.
7. Southern gothic tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut. Sweet Southern belles are crafty and greedy, chivalrous gentlemen are sneaky and perverse, and righteous preachers are manipulative and evil.

Your task: We've tackled three short stories that can be considered southern gothic - "The Lottery," "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge," "Good Country People" and "A Rose for Emily." Select one of the stories, and in a paragraph explain how one aspect of the story meets one of the criteria listed above.  Be sure that your response is thoughtful and thorough and includes a cited quotation. Keep in mind all of the elements of a good paragraph: topic sentence, set-up, quotation, explanation.

 

Banned!

 This post is for JUNIORS only.

Bellow you'll find two articles originally published in Time Magazine. Read both carefully and then check in at the bottom for further instructions.

Banned Books: A School Librarian's Perspective

Sharon Coatney, Time.com - Friday, Sep. 22, 2000

Many years ago, when I began my teaching career in a small rural high school, the library was in a cage. Literally. The books were all locked inside a large metal cage in the corner of a study hall, and that was the library. At that time the library was staffed only one or two days a week, and I suppose it was considered necessary to lock it up for security. Still, I remember thinking that it was a great shame the students had so little access to the books. For most of the year, all of these books were essentially "banned."

 

But banning or censoring books is certainly not a new concept in any kind of library. All libraries have specific policies that are followed in selecting books for inclusion in the collection. Many libraries have very narrowly defined purposes, and books are only selected in those particular fields. Selection is also limited by funding and available shelf space, and often is age- and time-sensitive. For public schools, libraries have the very narrow function of having library collections that adequately support the curriculum.

 

Each year as Banned Books week arrives, I reflect on the ways the collection in my elementary school library has been censored. Every time I chose a book for our shelves it is done according to our school district selection policy, which says books must be age-appropriate and related to our school district curriculum. School librarians are, like all teachers, considered to be "in loco parentis" and are thus responsible for the safety of the children in their care. Over the years, I have developed a very fine collection of materials, but I have often "banned" books. That is my job, but we call what I do "selection," not "censorship." The hardest part of the job is to constantly keep in balance all viewpoints, not push my own agenda and remember that the education and safety of all of the students is my top priority. The exercise of the right to know must be tempered by a child's need for physical and emotional well-being.

 

Still, there is the very real issue of what to do when an individual parent asks that a book be banned from the library collection because he does not want his child to be exposed to it. Certainly, as patrons of that school district, parents do have that right. All school libraries have specific procedures that must be followed to review a contested book; when these are well crafted and followed meticulously, they usually work well. They allow for the school community's representative group to calmly review the book in light of the school's stated selection criteria and evaluate the book on its own merits.

 

Sometimes a book is removed. This usually happens because the selection criteria were not fully met or the process for reconsideration of materials was not followed, or if, upon reflection, the book is deemed to be inappropriate for that age level. In most cases, the complainants begin to look at the book in light of the whole process and realize that although they may not want their child to read a book such as "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson because it has several profanities, it is actually a very fine book that other parents might want their own children to read.

 

Several years ago, the mother of a Muslim child in our school asked that I not allow her son to check out any book about Christmas or other Christian holidays. She was not asking that those books be banned, only that her child be banned from reading them. But I could not ban her child from checking out Christmas books. She needed to do that with her child. Even small children can learn to evaluate materials and decide what is best for them to read or not. This is where teachers, librarians and parents have the very real responsibility to expose kids to only the very best in literature and the most fair and unbiased nonfiction materials.

In my library we teach very young children to try to read a page in their selected material. If they cannot read and understand five words in the first paragraph, the book is probably too hard for them to read by themselves. In this way, children will grow up to be discriminating adult readers. I remember my own daughter, who at the age of eight had already created several criteria to help her select recreational reading materials. She would not read any book in which the main character was older than she was at the time — actually, not a bad beginning criterion for a young child to have.

 

It's dangerous to think that the only banned books are the sometimes outrageous examples highlighted during Banned Books Week. All of us ban. Censorship abounds. It's more important for us to think about how we should be educating our students to make good choices, to know what is worthwhile and to be able to think logically and weigh all ideas in order to choose wisely. Books may no longer be kept in cages, but our students are still often being denied access to the materials they need. Educating discriminating readers today is the way to reduce the inappropriate censorship of tomorrow.

Sharon Coatney is the library media specialist at the Oak Hill School in Overland Park, Kans. She is a past president of the American Association of School Librarians (a division of the American Library Association), and has been a librarian in grade schools at all levels.

Texas: If You Can't Ban Books, Ban Authors

Phil Bildner, Time.com - Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2010

Each winter, Humble Independent School District, located in a suburb northwest of Houston, hosts a literary festival. The all-day celebration of books, which alternates yearly between a children's literature and a teen lit event, has quickly grown into one of the nation's leading festivals. Last January's "Peace, Love & Books" gala at Creekwood Middle School featured nationally acclaimed authors and illustrators and drew hundreds of children and families, despite the damp weather.

But this school year, there will be no such celebration of books. Not because of budget cuts, and certainly not because of lack of interest. This school year's teen literature festival has been canceled because of a string of events that followed the banning last month of best-selling young-adult author Ellen Hopkins — just in time for the controversy to ripen for Banned Books Week, which is commemorated during the last week of September. (See the top 10 banned books.)

Secular and religious authorities have been attempting to ban books ever since people have been writing them. In Germany, where Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press, the first official censorship office was established within decades of the innovation. In the U.S., Anthony Comstock, considered to be the pioneer of modern American censorship, persuaded Congress to enact the Comstock laws, which banned the mailing of materials found to be "lewd, indecent, filthy or obscene." Under those laws, the works of literary giants such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck were censored. Nowadays, beloved characters ranging from Harry Potter to Captain Underpants are frequent targets of censorship.

But banning authors?

"Banning authors isn't the same as banning books, but the intent is the same," says Hopkins, whose most recent novel, Fallout, the final volume of her Crank trilogy, just debuted at No. 5 on the New York Times series list (which is devoted to series of three or more). The trilogy (which also includes Crank and Glass) has been lauded by educators and reviewers alike. Its popularity among teens is rooted in Hopkins' pull-no-punches story lines that tackle issues such as crystal-meth addiction, teen prostitution, suicide and incest. (See the 100 best novels of all time.)

But it's her no-holds-barred approach that has ignited the current controversy. Upon learning that Hopkins was scheduled to speak at this school year's festival, several parents complained to the school board. The superintendent, after consulting with the head librarian, instructed the festival's organizers to remove Hopkins from the roster and rescind the invitation.

Since her books are available in Humble libraries, and because she had appeared at high schools in the district last year, Hopkins was shocked by the snub. After much soul-searching, she reached out to the other young-adult authors who were scheduled to participate. Pete Hautman, who in years past had been disinvited from appearances elsewhere after his work was deemed "inappropriate," withdrew from the festival. Then, in a show of solidarity, Matt de la Pena, Melissa de la Cruz, Brian Meehl and Tera Lynn Childs all followed suit. The district, in turn, canceled the event altogether. "As authors," Hopkins recently blogged, "we must maintain a unified voice against the idea that one person, or even a few, has the right to decide for everyone else what they are allowed to read, or what information they can have access to."

Hopkins' banning and the resulting boycott lit up the blogosphere and social-network sites. Several industry publications rushed to the author's defense, and a letter of protest from six national organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and the National Council of Teachers of English, excoriated the superintendent for violating "basic constitutional principles." "Those kids surely lost out," Hopkins notes. "However, those same kids will now view censorship through completely different lenses, and I hope they understand why authors must defend the ability to write books without fear of would-be censors."

Hopkins' critics questioned whether a formal invitation had ever been extended and contended that a disappointed author was merely throwing a bruised-ego tantrum. Yet Hopkins says she had negotiated the terms of her appearance and received a confirmation e-mail from a festival coordinator. Still, her critics apparently saw little value in young people reading about such edgy and unpleasant topics.

"When middle school parents challenge books, it's often a last gasp to stay involved," says Camille Powell, a Houston area school librarian whose BookMoot website is a go-to destination for educators and kid lit aficionados. "Elementary schools are fairly responsive to parental input. However, the junior high transition years are frustrating and difficult for parents as their control over their children and the school gradually erodes."

Like many, Powell was disheartened by the turn of events in Humble. However, she remains hopeful that the festival can be salvaged and believes the opportunity exists for a valuable teaching moment. "There could be a forum," Powell says, "where parents would be able to ask questions, raise concerns and share views and opinions. What could be more worthwhile than an impassioned, thoughtful tussle over books and how they affect us?"

Hopkins says she'd welcome the chance to participate in such a discussion. "I would pay my own way," Hopkins says. "We need to take back the dialogue. A misguided few cannot be permitted to dictate what's best for an entire community. These young people are depending on us."

Mr. Cowlin here again. Here are a few questions for you to answer. You don't have to answer all of them - just make sure your entry is a thoughtful paragraph. Post your responses in the comments section. Be sure to include your name in order to receive credit. As usual, you can earn some extra credit for commenting on your peers' comments. (Each reaction should be posted separately.)

• Coatney, author of the first article, says, "It's dangerous to think that the only banned books are the sometimes outrageous examples highlighted during Banned Books Week. All of us ban." What are some ways "all of us ban"? Should we stop, or is banning necessary sometimes? (Be sure to include specific examples - real and theoretical - in your response.)

• Author Ellen Hopkins says that "As authors [...] we must maintain a unified voice against the idea that one person, or even a few, has the right to decide for everyone else what they are allowed to read, or what information they can have access to." Do you aree? Why or why not? Is there a time when an individual voice should decide what media others are allowed to read or view? (Be sure to include specific examples - real and theoretical - in your response.)

Junior Grammar Notes - Apostrophes

There are two uses for apostrophes: (I) possession and (II) abbreviation.

I.   Apostrophes for possession indicate something that belongs to someone or something.

    Ex: The girl’s phone never stopped ringing.

Rule 1: To show possessive form of a noun, add apostrophe + ‘s’:

• The school’s library has many books.
• The dog’s collar was missing.
• The criminal’s excuse was awful.

Rule 2: To show possessive form of a plural noun that already ends in ‘s’, add only an apostrophe after the ‘s’:

• Two weeks’ work is not enough to pay for school when you’re in college.
• The dogs’ collars were missing.
• FYI: If you can hear the extra ‘s’ add it
• Charles’s apple was almost gone.
• The Jones’s babysitter told them she would never come back.

Rule 3: If the plural form of a noun does not end in ‘s’, add apostrophe + ‘s’ like you do with the singular form.

• The children’s room was a mess.
• The women’s nails were being polished.
• The men’s basketball games were starting.

II.   Apostrophes for Compression indicate that a word has been shortened or compressed.

Ex: That wasn’t her phone. (= was not)

Rule: The apostrophe shows where a letter has been left out.

• Can’t = cannot
• Isn’t = is not
• Don’t = do not
• Wouldn’t = would not

Junior Grammar Notes - Colons and Semicolons

SEMICOLON

The Big Idea  - When you have two complete thoughts about the same topic that are so closely related you don’t want to split them up with a period, the semi-colon is your friend (and helps you avoid dreaded run-ons).

SEMICOLON RULE 1

Semi-colons join two independent clauses (complete sentences) that are not connected with a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

• I really like Macbeth; it may be my favorite play ever. 
• Macbeth cannot control his own personal life; the witches and Lady Macbeth take over.

SEMICOLON RULE 2

Semi-colons are used before a conjunctive adverb (also, besides, for example, however, in addition, instead, meanwhile, then, therefore, hence, moreover, after all, in fact). The second clause begins with the conjunctive adverb and a comma. 

• I really like the storyline of Macbeth; however, I prefer the characters of Romeo and Juliet.
• Lady Macbeth understands her husband’s weaknesses; therefore, she knows how to get him to do what she wants.

COLON

The Big Idea - Use a colon to introduce an explanation, an example, an appositive, a list, or a quotation.

• At the baby’s one-month birthday party, Ah Po gave him the Four Valuable Things: ink, inkslab, paper, and brush (Kingston).

The words to the left of the colon need to form a complete sentence. DO NOT use a colon if the words to the left of it are not a complete sentence.

• Some natural fibers are: cotton, wool, silk, and linen.

Junior Grammar Notes - Confused Words

They’re, There, Their

• ’They’re’ refers to ‘they are.’
• ’There’ often refers to a place. If you take away the ‘t,’ it’s ‘here.’
• ’Their’ shows ownership.

Your and You're

• ‘You’re’ refers to ‘you are.’
• ‘Your’ shows ownership.

Its and It's

• It’s’ refers to ‘it is’ or ‘it has.’
• ‘Its’ shows ownership.

Affect (VERB) and Effect (NOUN)

• Affect is most widely used as a VERB meaning “to influence.”
• His decision affected the entire family.
• Her time in New Orleans affected her outlook on life.
• Effect is most widely used as a NOUN meaning “consequence, result, outcome.”
• I worried about the effect on his eyes.
• What effect will that have?

Whose and Who's

• ‘Who’s’ refers to ‘who is’ or ‘who has’ and is an apostrophe used for compression.
• ‘Whose’ shows possession.

Terrible Love Poems

This post is for period 1 and 8 juniors only.

 THE HEART OF

THE BAD LOVE POEM

So we're going to write some love poetry. Awful, terrible love poetry. If you'd like some ideas before you dig in, continue reading below.

First, I have a few poems that are considered good love poems. Go ahead and read them and see if they give you any ideas.

A Red, Red Rose

by Robert Burns

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it ware ten thousand mile.

To a Stranger

by Walt Whitman

PASSING stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me, as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me,
I ate with you, and slept with you—your body has become not yours only, nor left my body
mine
only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass—you take of my beard,
breast,
hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you—I am to think of you when I sit alone, or wake at night alone,
I am to wait—I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

Under the Harvest Moon

by Carl Sandburg

Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.

Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.

Longing

by Matthew Arnold

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.

Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!

Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?

Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
 The hopeless longing of the day.

Less than helpful? No problem. If you'd like some examples of what I'd consider pretty cheesy love poems, click through the numbers on this website here. They have a ton of heart shaped cheese.

Remember, all content must be appropriate for class. These are love poems, not lust poems. Keep it cheesy, but keep it clean.

Want some extra credit? Write and extra poem. Let's see just how bad you can get after a little practice...