Creative Writing Week 1: 9/10-9/14

Course expectation:  In this course, we will study various forms of creative writing.  This will include both reading the works of others as well as writing our own original pieces.  I will post your assignments week by week.  All of the tasks will be due on Friday (or the last day of the school week if we do not have school on Friday of a particular week) of that week either submitted via email to ms.kappelman@gmail.com or turned in by hand (my mailbox works). 

If an assignment is late, I will deduct 10% of the grade per day late, up to 50% off.  That is, if you turn in an assignment on Monday that was due the previous Friday, the maximum score you can get on it is a 90.  If you turn it in on Wednesday after its due date, you can receive a maximum of 70 on it.  If you turn it it a week late or later, the most you can get is 50.

I will take into account shortened weeks will less work.

A note about plagiarism:

What is plagiarism?

Unless you properly cite it, you are not allowed to turn in for a grade anything that someone else has created: that includes any sentences or phrases, thoughts or ideas, images or graphs.  In A Primer on Plagiarism, Louis Sirico says students typically commit plagiarism in one of three ways:

• using someone else’s words without quotation marks or citation.
• paraphrasing someone else’s words without citation.
• using someone else’s ideas without citation.

Plagiarism is also defined as:

• copying or paraphrasing all or part of another’s homework.
• allowing another person to copy or paraphrase your work.
• receiving help on assignments that have been identified by the teacher as work to be completed individually.

 Consequences of plagiarism at Scarborough High School:

Plagiarism is cheating, and according to the student handbook, “Students committing academic dishonesty will receive a zero for their work and a Loss of Credit Form will be issued.” (133)

If you cheat, you will be assigned a zero for the assignment, without the option to make it up, and I reserve the right to grant you loss of credit for the class meeting (which is 3 hours that you will NOT be able to make up.

If asked, you must be able to prove that a piece of writing is your original work.  Therefore, it is important that you compile evidence of your writing through prewritings, rough drafts, edits, etc.  If a piece of writing is suspected of being plagiarized, the burden of proof will be on you.

Week One:  For this week, please complete the following tasks:

1. Complete this worksheet about the elements of fiction.  You will need to use the ReadWriteThink link to find your answers.  Please note, the elements are in a different order on the website than they are on the worksheet.
2. Learn about the different types of literary genres with this slideshare presentation. As you go through the presentation, take notes answering the following questions: 
1. What is a genre? 
2. What are the main genres of fiction? 
3. What are the defining characteristics of each genre? 
4. Which genre do you find most appealing and why? 
3. Focus in on some of the oldest forms of fiction: myths, legends, fables, folktales, and fairy tales.  
1. In a few sentences, write down what you think the similarities and differences between these terms are.  
2. Visit the following websites and create a good definition for each of the terms (myths, legends, fables, folktales, and fairy tales): http://www.ability.org.uk/mytholog.html, http://classiclit.about.com/cs/10th14thcentury/a/aa_definemyth.htm.

Remember, this is all due by Friday September 14, 2012.