Em-dashes, en-dashes, and hyphens AND our reading for tomorrow

First, here's our reading for tomorrow, Why I'm Black, Not African American by the linguist John H. McWhorter. I chose this essay from among your summer reading essays because it touches on some interesting and important issues related to both the complexities of race and culture and the evolving nature of the English language. Please read it and write a one-paragraph response in your notebook. Take your response in any direction that your reflections on the essay lead you toward, or simply discuss which of McWhorter's arguments for "Black" (and against "African American") persuade you and which you find limited. [Fourth period students, you aren't required to read this essay because of Mr. B's lesson this week. See my email from this morning for details.]

And here is the information I shared with you on dashes and hyphens today in class.

As I mentioned, many writers feel passionately about the em-dash in one way or another. If you’re interested, here are two perspectives enthusiastically in favor of the em-dash––Em Dash: Why Should You Love It? by Kimberly Joki and Regarding the Em Dash by Adam O'Fallon Price. And one perspective urging us to use the em-dash sparingly––The Case—Please Hear Me Out—Against the Em Dash by Noreen Malone.

Avoiding redundancy, navigating contractions, and the secret to great grammar

Here are some tips on avoiding common redundancies.

Here are some thoughts to revisit on hitting a consistent tone with more casual or more formal language, including contractions.

And here is the big but pretty simple secret on How To Avoid Grammar Mistakes (cue heroic music).

The article above refers to "the manual," which used to be one of any number of actual books. These days, it's more likely an online source. The ones I recommend are the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), the University of Illinois Center for Writing Studies Grammar Handbook, and Grammar Girl (with Grammar Girl, there's not one great central location to explore, but if you type in any grammar issue such as "comma splice" or "punctuation quotation marks" and "grammar girl," you're likely to come up with a relevant, helpful, and witty article).

Multimedia Project Examples

Here are a few examples of multimedia projects from former students:

Elizabeth's graphic story of her first personal essay

Lizzie's diorama/sculpture of her first personal essay

Grant's painting based on his information essay about Hawaii

Grace's diorama of her argument/information essay on the importance of nature in our screen-filled lives

Maggie's film on ballet as athleticism

Raphaelle's comic on school dress code double standards

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

If it's not already on your radar, you should all be aware of the The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. This is a rare writing contest for high school students in that it has a wide range of categories to submit to. Your writing in this class could fit into one of at least two of the following categories, and if you're a creative writer or a journalist, you may have writing that fits into many or all of these:

Critical Essay
Dramatic Script
Flash Fiction
Humor
Journalism
Novel Writing
Personal Essay & Memoir
Poetry
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Short Story

If you're a graduating senior, you can also submit a whole Writing Portfolio.

The deadline in our region is December 1st, so you have some time to think about and prepare your work for submission. Be sure to choose your best writing, spend some time revising to make it even better, and proofread before you submit. Feel free to ask me for advice if you have any questions or need some guidance.

Visual artists, note that there are a number of art categoriesto check out, as well!

Examples of Information Lists and Works Cited for Essay #3 and Essay Writing Clichés to Avoid

Here are some examples of Works Cited and information lists from Information-Plus-Reflection essays that students have written in the past.

Also, here's a brief list of Essay Writing Clichés to Avoid:

• Opening with "Since the dawn of time" or other sweeping temporal or historical phrase
• Opening with a dictionary definition (or using a dictionary definition at any point without a specific, meaningful, and interesting reason)
• Closing with a simple "moral of my essay" or cliché

Notebook work for "This Is Water"

In your notebook, I asked you to write about which passages you would choose to include in a hypothetical short film based on this commencement speech. Look at those passages and draw from them three major themes or idea categories that you would want to hit on in this hypothetical film. Also in your notebook, list them in short phrases (no more than ten words; a single word is fine) and choose a one-or two sentence quotation that you think illustrates each of them especially well. Spend about five minutes on this.

Now shift gears for ten minutes, putting the film idea on hold and writing in response to this prompt: David Foster Wallace says “In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” What do you worship now, as a not-yet-adult, and how do you feel about that? And what do you aspire to worship as an adult, five years out of college or so, and beyond? (It’s okay if the two are the same. It’s also okay if either or both answers might make you look good––or bad––in the eyes of others. Try not to judge your own answers too much; just be as honest as you can).

Peer editing for essay #3

Hello Nonfiction Writing students,

I'm very sorry not to be with you today. My cold never fully cleared up. Instead, it blossomed into a sinus infection, a misery I hope you've never experienced. I hope to be back at school on Tuesday. Read David Foster Wallace's commencement speech (and listen if you care to). Seventh period students, I forgot to tell you that in addition to being a towering figure of late-twentieth-century postmodern fiction, Wallace was also a local back in his youth. He went to Yankee Ridge elementary school and Urbana High. Mr. Rayburn taught with his mom at Parkland.

Okay, now for peer editing. See below.

Best regards,
Dr. Majerus

*     *     *

If you're sharing your essay via googledocs, use these questions and instructions.

If you brought your essay in hard copy and would like to read it out loud, use these questions and instructions. You can print them in the library or at the hallway printing station before you begin workshopping.

Using questions to guide revision (& the audio for "This is Water")

Here's the handout that I would have printed if the English department printer was not kaput. Refer to it, and answer the questions in your notebook.


And, if you're interested, the audio of the commencement speech that the text for "This Is Water" is based on:

Reflecting on Writing Process

Writing process reflection:

In a pair or a group of three, share your writing process for essays #1 and #2 (you should have at least two sets of notes, and possibly as many as four, in your notebook). You can either read your notes (if they're more written than visual), show the two visual representations (if you drew your process), or describe either in a more general sense. 

After everyone has shared their summary of their writing process, go to the document linked here and contribute a concise statement of least one thing you learned from mapping your own writing process, and (scrolling down) one thing you realized, learned, or were reminded of from hearing your partner(s) describe theirs. (If you see that someone else has expressed exactly what you intended to, you can simply add a √ after that sentence.)