Almost There . . .

TODAY IN CLASS

Creative Writing Day:  We will be reading a short excerpt from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, and you will see why we did what we did today.  The idea was to imagine that a culture completely unaware of modern life or ordinary technology suddenly came across familiar objects that we take for granted.  Without "naming" the item or knowing its actual intended purpose, students were paired up to write descriptive paragraphs about three items:  a watch (required), and two of the following:  a phone, lipstick,  a CD or DVD, a flash drive, gum, a hairbrush, or a Nano.  You were to provide a very precise description, make an "educated" (or wild!) guess about its possible use, and even make a conjecture about the person/culture to whom the items belong.  For the watch, I stipulated that you had seen a person using it--that is, looking at it--from time to time, but of course you don't know why.  In both classes, I said to write a "formal report" as though some one were making an official statement to someone in the government or some sort of "head honcho" person.

In 4th, the context was left vague--basically up to you.  By sixth, I said that for the watch, especially, imagine that Chaucer's pilgrims were joined by a "time traveler" during the meal at the Tabard, and then that person disappeared overnight.  But a bag or purse was found containing the other items, and they were described in an official report.

FOR TOMORROW
Although some folks turned in your Hamlet essay today, most did not.  That's fine.  But be sure to have it tomorrow!  You need to submit both the first draft and the final draft to me, and you need to submit it to http://www.turnitin.com/ by the 3:00 p.m. deadline on Friday.

And bring your Hamlet book to turn in tomorrow as well, please.