Feb. 24 - 28: Short Stories

Complete student information form (3 marks)
 
Fri. Feb. 28 -  Freedom to Read Week: Censorship and Journalism
- Part of this class will be spent with the librarian discussing information freedom issues.
- The lab is also booked in the library.
- In the lab: Complete the Freedom to Read activity sheet. This is out of 25 marks and will be collected at the end of class. Use the websites below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments
www.banned-books.info
 
When finished:
Review the Fundamental Freedoms (section 2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Fundamental Freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.

Freedom of the press is an important cornerstone of a democracy.

1. Find out where Canada currently ranks on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. Where did Canada rank in 2002?
2. Review yearly  Attacks on the Press
3. Review statistics on journalists killed

Thurs. Feb. 27, 2014 - God Is Not A Fish Inspector
- You'll be reading "God is Not a Fish Inspector" (Inside Stories II p. 42)
- Read the story and complete the terminology notes according to the long sheet instructions. 

Wed. Feb. 26, 2014 - The Tell-Tale Heart 
- Use the first 25 min. to complete terminology notes for "Harrison Bergeron" and "Ashes for the Wind." If finished, enjoy reading a book or magazine of your choice.
- Today we're reading the classic gothic horror, The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe. Complete terminology notes for this story according to the long sheet instructions.

 

Tues. Feb. 25, 2014 - Ashes For the Wind
- Use the first 25 min. to complete terminology notes for "Harrison Bergeron."
- Read "Ashes for the Wind" and complete terminology notes according to the long sheet instructions.
"Ashes for the Wind" was written by Colombian journalist and author Hernando Téllez. Although Téllez wrote this story around 1945, the problems of Colombia's internally displaced persons (IDPs) persist today.
Current news connection: Canadian mining companies in Colombia 2013 article.
This Refugees International YouTube clip, produced in 2008, outlines the scope of the IDP problem in Colombia.
An April 2008 news agency report provides another view on Colombia's IDP crisis.
In 2009, LinkTV produced a documentary, Stories That Kill, about the state of journalism and freedom of expression in Colombia. 


Mon. Feb. 24, 2014 - Harrison Bergeron
- Complete paragraph composition responses to the following media topics (use your writing code as these will be peer-edited):
1. Is remixing content a legitimate form of creativity, or is it intellectual property theft?
2.  Write a narrative description of your Olympic media event audience experience - school hockey game viewing or another Olympic sport you've watched. (You can use the Olympic Audience Media Experience question sheet as an outline for your response).
- Start short story unit:
  Read Harrison Bergeron (see stories link). Complete terminology notes according to the long sheet instructions.
Harrison Bergeron was written by American author Kurt Vonnegut. In this YouTube clip, Vonnegut offers advice for short story writers. After reading "Harrison Bergeron," do you think that Vonnegut has followed his own advice?
- Vonnegut offers eight rules of short story writing.

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.