Creative and Critical Thinking: What If?

Introduction

Effective creative and critical thinking requires that we…

1. 1. Use novelty and value  (to generate and develop ideas)

   2. Analyze and critique information

   3. Question and Investigate text

   4. Develop and design original pieces of text

Consider all of these elements as you work through the assignments in this section.


For your final project in this section, you will choose the project that corresponds to your chosen course (New Media 11, Composition 11, Literary Studies 11, Spoken Language 11, Creative Writing 11).

Source: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/pdf/Core_Competencies_Posters.pdf

Summary Explanation of Assignments

Here is a quick overview of the assignments for this unit.  However, be sure you read over the specific assignment instructions that follow for each one.  Review the marking rubrics for the assignments before you start.

Assignment 1: Genre and Its Purpose

Read several articles to understand genre, its purpose and conventions, while developing note-taking and reading strategies to gather information.

Assignment 2: Interpreting Elements of Fiction

Review the elements of a narrative by viewing and reading several excerpts.

Assignment 3: Comparing Styles

Analyze two pieces of writing to analyze diction, syntax, tone, and voice.

Assignment 4: Show Don’t (Just)Tell? 

Practice the writing technique of showing not telling.

Assignment 5: The Best of the Best in Speculative Fiction FORUM

Share a favorite example of speculative fiction and respond to others. 

Assignment 6: Final Project

Students will create a project based on their chosen course to present a sales pitch for their narrative as well as writing the first part to their story in the form most suitable for their chosen course of study.

What If?

What If? Two simple words can be so powerful. This unit of study will challenge you to use your imagination to consider what if? You will also look at the power of story to imagine a different reality that might inspire change or provide caution.

Since the beginning of civilization, stories have done just that. The genre of speculative fiction has inspired rocket ships that go to the moon, video devices where we can talk to each other on a screen, and deep sea vehicles that can go to the bottom of the ocean. In addition stories have been told that imagine different ways of organizing societies and stories that warn us of how our societies might harm us. How is this more effective than the plain old facts? Research shows that stories affect our emotions, bring us together, provide a vehicle for characters that inspire,  and plots that spark new ideas. 

(© Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection)

So how is this important to you? In this unit you will practice generating ideas, creating something new, and accessing existing resources to do so. In addition you will learn about some writing strategies and how to notices patterns. As well perhaps you will encounter some new stories in the form of speculative fiction that will prompt you to explore further.

ASSIGNMENT 5.1 Genre and Its Purpose

Task:  Read several articles to understand genre, its purpose and conventions, while developing note-taking and reading strategies to gather information.

First, look at this brief overview of Speculative Fiction:

Elements of Fiction

In a few pages, a narrative can capture an event or sequence of events that sheds light on a larger situation. A story gives insight into the lives of its characters and into the lives of all people. This lesson focuses on the elements of fiction including:

• Point of View, Style, Symbol
• Plot
• Theme
• Characters
• Setting

In this section, you will be reading short stories and learning how to interpret fiction through these story elements.

Point of View

Listen to the tutorial below to review your understanding of Point of View. 

ASSIGNMENT 5.2 Interpreting Elements of Fiction

 Task:

When studying any kind of fiction, ask yourself questions about the narrative to help improve your understanding. For each element  watch a short video to review the element, view or read an excerpt from a famous piece of speculative fiction.  Answer the questions as you go on the following worksheet to complete your assignment. 

Assignment 2-Interpreting Elements of Fiction Worksheet (.PDF)

Assignment 2-Interpreting Elements of Fiction Worksheet (.DOCX)

A. Plot: 

Read the first chapter of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. This book, which started out as a short story and has won many prestigious awards,  is considered by many one of the top fiction picks for teens. The book is a military science fiction tale set in Earth's future featuring young recruits that are trained in increasingly difficult war games.

Answer questions 1-4.

B. Theme: 

"When Gattaca  was released in 1997, Dolly, the most highly publicized sheep in history and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, was one year old. The human genome project, hailed as the biological equivalent of putting an astronaut on the moon, was progressing at an accelerating pace towards its goal of mapping and sequencing the entire human genome. These developments triggered widespread ethical debates about genetic determinism." (source).

Watch this trailer of the movie and answer Question 5.

C. Characters:

Read the first chapter of The Hobbit, by J.R. Tolkien.  And Answer Questions 6-7.

D.Setting:

Dune: Read this article.

Answers questions 8-9.
Read Ray Bradbury's short story: All Summer in A Day

E. Point of View, Style, Symbols

Answers questions 10-15.

Style

To describe style, it is necessary to explain the techniques the writer has used, and describe how he or she has created a particular voice and given the work a particular tone. Consider the children's rhyme Humpty Dumpty.

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses, and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again

A person might explain the style of the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty as follows:

"The writer's use of rhythmic language and end rhyme creates a cheerful, playful tone. The simple words and short line lengths create a childlike voice that is interestingly at odds with the literal events - the main character's tragic death by falling off a wall."

Style, then, is the result of the author's choice of diction, figurative language, and sentence structure.

One of the hallmarks of a mature writer is control of style. The most proficient writers can write in a variety of styles, just as a skilled piano player can play a Mozart piano concerto in the manner of the late eighteenth century, then play a Fats Waller jazz piece, and do both effectively. Style for a pianist involves a great deal more than simply hitting the right notes; likewise, style for a writer is more than simply arranging words into statements. Style should be consistent throughout a piece; inconsistencies indicate lack of control or, at least, lack of awareness of style.

Copyright 2010, Open School BC

Diction and Style

Diction deals with the literal meaning of words (their denotation), their emotional loading (or connotation), and the sound of the words (rough or smooth being two contrasts). Let's look at two passages that mean approximately the same thing but are written in two different styles.

• I hate it when I have to walk through a crowd of teen punks at a bus stop. They look me up and down. Their eyes are empty. Their faces are blank. They don't move out of the way for me. I feel that they want to hurt me.
  
  
• I strongly dislike the necessity of walking through gatherings of alienated youth at bus shelters. They slide their expressionless eyes over me without reaction, keeping their faces neutral as though I were nonexistent. They decline to recognize my need to walk on the sidewalk. It appears certain that they desire to cause me bodily harm.

Notice that each of these passages represents differences in tone and style.

The first passage contains many one-syllable words that have negative connotations and hard consonant sounds (e.g., hate, punks, empty, blank, hurt). In addition, all the sentences are short and almost curt.

In contrast, the second passage uses many multi-syllable words. This makes it flow smoothly, so it is mellower in its impact than the first passage. None of the words in the second passage has strong negative connotations. Further, its sentences are relatively long. The general effect is one of smoothness and neutrality.

One style is not necessarily better than the other: both could be equally effective if placed in the right context in a work of fiction. The second passage would seem inappropriate if the character were, say, a young teenage boy. The diction and tone should be in keeping with the speaker they represent.

Figurative Language

Figurative language creates its effect by suggesting meaning beyond the literal interpretation of the words. These words add impact and make both prose and poetry more vivid because they appeal to the reader's imagination. Here is a passage without figurative language, adapted from "The Painted Door" by Sinclair Ross:

She moved briskly, performing each little task with careful and exaggerated absorption, thinking carefully about it, using it to keep from thinking about the surrounding snow and silence. Above the quiet, steady sound of her paintbrush against the bedroom door, the sound of the clock became noticeable. Suddenly her movements became precise and deliberate . . . and she felt that she was not alone and that someone was watching her. It was the silence again, which seemed to be threatening, and always there.

Here is the same passage, with figurative language added in italics:

She moved briskly, performing each little task with careful and exaggerated absorption, binding her thoughts to it, making a screen between herself and the surrounding snow and silence. Above the quiet, steady swishing of her brush against the bedroom door, the clock began to tick. Suddenly her movements became precise, deliberate . . . as if someone had entered the room and were watching her. It was the silence again, aggressive, hovering.

Look closely at the figurative language that was used to heighten the impact of the story.

1. "binding her thoughts to it" is a metaphor showing how she used work to keep her mind occupied, to keep out unwelcome thoughts.

2. "making a screen between herself and the surrounding snow and silence" is another metaphor, showing how the character uses work to create a wall between her and both the silence inside and the dangerous weather outside.

3. "swishing" is onomatopoeia; it imitates the sound of a loaded paint brush spreading colour onto wood.

4. "as if someone had entered the room and were watching her" is a simile that makes the reader more vividly conscious of how uneasy the character feels.

5. ". . . the silence again, aggressive, hovering" is an example of personification, in which the reader easily shares the protagonist's fear of the invisible silence that is always with her.

6. "the surrounding snow and silence"  is an example of alliteration where the repetition of the "s" is repeated to enhance the isolation and silence of the setting.

Tone, Mood and Voice

• Tone is the emotional colouring of a piece of writing. It reflects the author's attitude and the feelings that he or she puts into the writing. It can, for instance, be angry, demanding, or humorous. The author controls the tone by choosing diction, sentence structure, and figurative language that will heighten the desired effect on the reader.  Here is a list of words that can be used to describe tone.

• Mood, by contrast, is the emotional feeling that the reader gets from the writing. Usually the mood is clearly related to the tone, for the tone creates the mood of the reader. Mood is also affected by figurative language, sentence structure, and diction.
  
  
• Voice, if you are thinking along the movie analogy, is a role that the writer takes on while writing. We say the writer writes "in the voice" of someone . . . A personal voice is an expression of a writer's own thoughts and personality. For example, an autobiographical story or personal narrative about an event from the author's childhood might be written as though the author were telling the story in person.

• A persona is a voice created by the writer to help the reader accept the ideas in the writing. For instance, a murder mystery might be told in the voice of a detective. The reader knows the writer is not actually a detective, but the use of words and images from the world of criminal investigation helps make the story come alive. Or, a persuasive essay can be written in the voice of an expert, using impersonal language and a tone of authority. In poetry, the voice may sound very personal, but can actually be a persona the writer has created. There is often no way for the reader to tell.

ASSIGNMENT 5.3 Comparing Style

Task: Compare the style of the two short stories provided by reading them carefully and completing the graphic organizer below:

Assignment 3: Comparing Style Worksheet (.PDF)

Assignment 3: Comparing Style Worksheet (.DOCX)

1. "Great Expectations" by Susan Musgrave

2. "Fathers, Sons, Sports" by Scott Russell Sanders

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.   

Learning Target(s):  Exemplary (6/6):  Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. Student analyzes and communicates comprehension and perspective astutely.  Student can recognize and understand how literary elements, techniques, and  features of texts enhance and shape meaning and impact.  Student demonstrates rich understanding of style in the comparison of two short stories and completion of the graphic organizer.

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful, mature connections with logical organization.

Submission:

Use the "5.3 Comparing Style" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

Estimated Allotted Time: 40 min

Showing vs. Telling

"Don't tell us that the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream." -- Samuel Clemens

Showing vs. Telling.

First, what's the difference between the two?

"Telling" is the reliance on simple exposition: Mary was an old woman.

"Showing," on the other hand, is the use of evocative description:

Mary moved slowly across the room, her hunched form supported by a polished wooden cane gripped in a gnarled, swollen- jointed hand that was covered by translucent, liver-spotted skin.

Why is showing better? Two reasons. First, it creates mental pictures for the reader. When reviewers use terms like "vivid," "evocative," or "cinematic" to describe a piece of prose, they really mean the writer has succeeded at showing, rather than merely telling.

Second, showing is interactive and participatory: it forces the reader to become involved in the story, deducing facts (such as Mary's age) for himself or herself, rather than just taking information in passively.   Source.

How to “Show,” not “Tell”

1.   Use descriptive details. (Think about your five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch.)

2.   Use action. (Strong verbs!)

3.   Use dialogue and character thoughts.

Examples of Effective “Showing”

Read these examples of descriptions that create images and generate emotions in the reader. What are the main ideas, emotions, and impressions that you get from these descriptions?

“Whenever puppies in the pet store window distracted me from our walk, Fido flattened his scruffy ears, growling. But he always forgave me. As his sight faded, the smell of fresh air and the feel of grass would make him try to caper. Eventually, at the sound of my voice, his tail thumped weakly on the ground. This morning, I filled his water bowl all the way to the top–just the way he likes it–before I remembered.”

“When the recess bell rang, I grabbed my chess set and dashed to freedom, eager to win the daily tournament of outcasts. I didn’t look, but I knew Lucinda was watching. I could feel her curly locks swaying as her head tracked me. Of course, I tripped in the doorway. Tennis shoes and sandals stepped around me as I scrambled after pawns and bishops. And there was Lucinda, waiting for me to notice her. She smiled, lifted her shiny patent-leather shoe, and slowly, carefully ground her heel right on the head of my white queen.”

(examples from Jerz’s Literacy Weblog:  http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative1/showing/)

ASSIGNMENT 5.4 Show Don't (Just) Tell

Task: Choose TWO of the following phrases and in a word document, create a paragraph for each that SHOWS what is being stated. Provide the number of the sentences you are choosing. 

1.  Jessica dresses unusually.

2.  The movie was boring.

3.  My room needed cleaning.

4.  Alex was forgetful.

5.  The roller coaster ride was scary.

6.  Gabriel’s cooking was not great.

(examples from “Show, Don’t Tell,”  by S. Williams)

Assessment:

Learning Target - (6/6 Exemplary):  Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. Student analyzes and communicates comprehension and perspective astutely.  An impactful scene is created by “showing” rather than “telling” using several details that consist of strong verbs, and effective, unique adjectives and adverbs.

Written Expression - (6/6 Exemplary): The pieces are written in well-organized paragraphs.  Sentence structure and vocabulary are varied, skillfully written, and carefully chosen.  Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization. Responses are skillfully organized, edited and easy to read. 

Submission:

Use the "5.4 Show Don't (Just) Tell"  link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.

Estimated Allotted Time: 60 minutes

Grammar Check Up

Grammar skills are important in many aspects of our life from education to our employment from our social life to our home life. Grammar lays the ground work for effective communication. When you use your cell phone to call a friend and you have bad reception, you will most likely find that the intent of your conversation will be greatly affected. Your friend may not understand what you are trying to speak to them about. The same can be said for our understanding of proper grammar. Improper grammar can greatly affect the meaning and clarity of our intended message.

1. Click on the links below to learn the following grammar lessons:

Cracking the Sentence Code

Mastering Subject-Verb Agreement

2. Complete these self-marking quizzes to ensure you understanding of the lessons:

Practice Test: Cracking the Sentence Code

Practice Test: Mastering Subject-Verb Agreement

These assignments DO NOT need to be submitted to your teacher. Your understanding of these concepts should be displayed in every assignment you submit and your lack of understanding will result in lower grades throughout the course. They will also be formally assessed on the final exam.

ASSIGNMENT 5.5: The Best of the Best in Speculative Fiction FORUM

Task:

We all have a story whether it is a novel or a movie or some other format that we experienced and perhaps changed us in some way. Maybe it was the unforgettable character that was so flawed yet pushed through their fears to save the day. Or maybe the whole concept of the novel/movie made you think about the world in a different way. Think of a story that makes you say "You have to watch/read it!!"

Start a new post with the name of your piece and what type of medium it is. You should try and choose something that aligns with your course of study: Literary Studies, New Media, Composition, Oral Language or Creative Writing. 

In a well-written paragraph, explain what element of the story (plot, setting, character, theme) made it memorable for you. Refer to your previous assignments to review it in detail. IE Please go beyond general statements and use specific examples  and terms to back up your opinion.

Be sure you:

1. Post your example as described above by clicking Add a New Question.
2. Reply/Respond to your classmates' examples by clicking on their topic and selecting Reply.  Try using the following prompts to guide your response to another post:  "I wonder...", "I know...", "I can...". 

ASSIGNMENT 5.6 PROJECT

Develop a project that clearly communicates the role of an aspiring writer. Present a formal “sales pitch” to a:  publisher, producer dept head, etc., to promote a: novel, graphic novel, podcast, course syllabus, movie, or storytelling website project that you have developed. The pitch will be a short oral and visual presentation followed by a sample of your project (chapter, storyboard, trailer, etc.).  You will write the beginning exposition of your story in a format specific to your chosen course of study.

The Topic:  Develop a speculative narrative that imagines a future where a current world  “issue” has developed. A hero character is on a journey as a result.

Course Specific Projects:

Below you will see handouts outlining the project specific to your course.  Please download and complete the handout that corresponds to your enrolled course only.

 Assessment: Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.   

Part A: Oral Sales Pitch

Learning Target(s):  Exemplary (6/6):  Demonstrates effective speaking skills (including an appropriate tone, clarity of speech, enthusiasm, and suitable speed) that clearly demonstrates preparation and practice of the the pitch.

Ideas and Content: Exemplary (6/6):  The oral pitch includes a greeting, a brief summary of the plot, the context (setting and situation), why the audience/reader would want to see/read your story and a quick wrap-up.

Part B: Narrative Sample

Learning Target:  Exemplary (6/6):  A beginning of a narrative that has an engaging beginning, a short backstory, some dialogue and loose references to some current research. The main character is introduced as well as a conflict.  Literary Studies: A course syllabus with an introduction that accurately references above elements and ties in all texts  chosen with a similar element. 

Style and Conventions: Exemplary (6/6):  Sentence structure is varied and vocabulary is carefully chosen to create vivid description. Dialogue is properly formatted and engaging.   Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.