Assignment #7 Cliches - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

TEACHERS - There is a cliche assignment on the grade 12 blog site as well. This one is a bit more specific. It's not a bad idea if students have an assignment each year that makes them aware of how often they use cliches without realizing it.


The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a story in which the meek, mild-mannered protagonist drifts into a variety of daydreams. Your task is to write one more fantasy to add to the story. Of course, Walter is always heroic. Use the following as your first line.

After Mrs. Mitty came out of the drugstore, they climbed into their automobile, Walter fastened his seat belt, turned on the windscreen wipers and carefully pulled away from the curb. As they drove out of Waterbury he noticed...

Here's the twist. You are going to fill this paragraph with cliches - tired, worn out, overused expressions. ...as white as a ghost, ...built like an ox, ...happy as a clam. You get the idea. Search Google for cliches and use at least 20 in your paragraph. The idea is that if you recognize cliches, you might NOT use them in your writing in the future.

Italicize or change the color of each cliche so that they stand out and I can see that you have used at least twenty.

Some suggestions: Walter might become involved in a daring rescue, he might be a star athlete, or he might see a beautiful woman and it is love at first sight for the two of them.

Assignment #6 Top 3

Today's blog challenge is to choose the top 3 (of anything) and justify your choice. You may choose the top three hockey players of all time, the greatest musicians, the top three reasons to do something...the possibilities are endless. Here is a suggested sequence of events for the blog:

1. Choose your topic

2. Choose the criteria you are using to make your choices, and explain it to the reader. For example, if you are ranking the top three hockey players, how are you choosing to judge them? Points scored? Plus/minus rating? Years in the league? Stanley Cups won?

3. Type your blog out by first explaining the topic you have chosen, and the criteria for your choices. Then state each of your top three choices, and dedicate approximately a paragraph to each one that justifies why it deserves the ranking you gave it. As always, formal language and proper spelling and grammar applies.

Student example:

The Top Three Zombies EVER!!

I will base my criteria these different characteristics:

1. Learning Ability/Intelligence
2. Killing Effectiveness
3. Legitimate Zombiosity (If it stays in the criteria of being a "Zombie")
4. Appearence



#3. Thriller Zombies
The Zombies from Michael Jackson's Thriller get number 3 on my list mostly because of their pure dancing skill. Clearly, because they can dance so well and in unison they must be quite intelligent. They also look quite "zombie" like. That being said, a true zombie craves brains and wants nothing more than to chomp down on someones cranium. These zombies truly lack these cannibalistic qualities. Therefore they are only number 3, because zombies simply cant dance.



#2. Night Of The Living Dead Zombies



One of the classic zombie movies of all time was definitely Night Of The Living Dead. The zombies in this film also perfectly matched most of the qualities a zombie should have. They were dead. They craved human flesh and stopped at nothing to get it. They also fit the physical requirements for a zombie. All this being said they are not as interesting as they could have been. Zombies that can run instead of lumbering around and are more intelligent are more effective in the killing department. This brings us to our number one zombie.


#1. Dawn Of The Dead Zombie's
For me, nothing beats the vicious, fast and terrifying as the zombies from Dawn of the Dead. They perfectly fit all the criteria of what a zombie should be: Dead, cannibals, scary and they've got the looks too. They are even faster than the classic slow moving zombie which increases their killing effectiveness. They are also quite smart and can adapt to things. Because of these reasons, the zombies from Dawn Of The Dead reached number one on my list.

Assignment #5 Gossip

Something to talk about...
For your second post you need to read the article: "Gossip, When It's Not Too Nasty, It Has Its Good Side" from the Sept. 8, 2007 edition of the Vancouver Sun (available through Google). Please follow these steps as you go through the article.

In your own words, write down what you think are the 5 most important points made in the article, and then summarize the entire article in one or two sentences. (Pretend someone asks you what the article is about, and you have to explain it to them in a short amount of time).

Next, you need to write a personal response about whether or not you consider gossip to be an ethical activity. Think carefully about whether you are one of those people who spends "two hours a day talking about people who are not there". Do you associate gossip with low morality, or do you agree with some of the advantages mentioned in the article? Please provide reasons for your opinion, and attempt to persuade others to see your point of view. (You may write in first person)

Finally, you will be asked to comment on another person's blog. You need to focus on one or two SPECIFIC points that they make and respond to them. Respect for other viewpoints is a must, and of course all writing expectations for spelling and grammar apply.

Assignment #4 Which way does your moral compass point?

Which way does your moral compass point?
The topic of today's blog is your moral value system. It is important to clarify that what you are meant to discuss is NOT your particular morals, but instead what causes you to have the value system that you do. (You will have an opportunity at the end of the blog to give your opinion on one controversial topic.)

Please read the article "Which way does your moral compass point?" from the Vancouver Sun (available through Google) and respond in your blog. Use the following questions to guide your response.

1. What do you think are the three most important factors in your life that affect what your value system is? Why do you think each of these are important?
2. Are all value systems (of all people) equally acceptable?
3. Are you a person with a strong sense of what you believe to be clearly right and wrong, or do you see a lot of gray area in many issues?
4. Do you expect that your morals will change in any way over the course of your life. If they do, what will cause them to change?
5. How acceptable do you feel it is to impress YOUR value system on others?


The second part of the blog is to give your opinion on ONE of the following topics:

a) Conducting MEDICAL experiments on animals
b) Wearing fur
c)Cloning humans (or intentionally altering the characteristics of a fetus-as was mentioned in yesterday's class)
d)The death penalty

Assignment #3 Descriptive Writing - effective similes and metaphors

The first basic rule of good description is keep it original - do not use cliches. Good description also depends on imagery. Make sure your diction is interesting and specific. We also discussed what makes a good analogy - similes and metaphors. Compare two ideas that are different but related in some way. Don't compare apples to apples, but don't compare an apple to an elephant unless there is a connection. Make your analogies detailed, but don't get carried away.




Your task is to write a paragraph describing the character in the picture. Consider this an excerpt from your latest best-selling novel. It needs an interesting introduction and a concluding sentence, but the emphasis is on description, not plot. Include one or two similies and one or two metaphors. Your description should follow some sort of logical order, top to bottom or bottom to top.

Student example: Note- too many sentences begin with "His" - a common weakness.

I thought I had escaped. The noise of his boots cut through the silence that surrounded me. I turned my head around to see his old, worn out hat sliding down, shadowing his face. His eyes were deep holes, burying down to his skull, staring at me. His shabby jacket smelled heavily of cigarette smoke and whiskey. He held his guns with great confidence, like nothing he could do, could go wrong. His skin red and rough from the elements of the earth around him. His beard was like brown grass sprouting from his cheeks. His eyebrows were like two cateripillars crossed over his eyes, raising slightly as they glazed my way. His jeans were worn and dirty, hanging from his waist. He cornered me against a barrel and the gun was held to my face