English II Honors - Descriptive Writing Activity

Hey guys! 

I will be in and out of the classroom today working on the photography for our Postsecret Project, so I wanted to give you guys something to work on that would be creative, fun, and linked to the unit we are working on.

Personal narratives need to be very descriptive - the places, the people, the events, and the feelings involved all have to be explained with great accuracy and using beautiful language. For this exercise, I want you to work on your descriptiveness - the ability to delineate the characteristics of something, good and bad, and explain it to the world.

Please complete the following activity. It will be due on Monday, posted or handwritten. 

Like the Back of My Hand

Your task is to describe your hands in as much detail as possible. A page would be considered an appropriate length for this activity.

You may answer the following questions, or find other creative ways to express your descriptiveness.

1. Do you have any white spots on your nails? Which ones?

2. If your hands were flat in front of you, would the tip of your thumb reach the second knuckle on your index finger?

3. Are your fingers hairy, or devoid of hair?

4. Do your fingers have any scars or marks? How did you get them?

5. Which is longer, your index finger or your ring finger?

6. Do you have freckles or moles on your hands?

7. Are your fingers or hands callused? Why?

8. Do you bite your fingernails? Paint them? Are they dirty?

9. When your index finger is stretched out, how many wrinkles do you have in your middle knuckle?

10. Are the lines on the inside of the hand prominent?

11.  Are your hands big or small?

DO NOT SIMPLY ANSWER THE QUESTIONS - THIS ASSIGNMENT IS TO BE WRITTEN IN THE FORM OF A NARRATIVE, WITH A BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND CONCLUSION.

Good luck on this activity...hope you find your descriptive abilities quite handy (Pun intended...groans optional).

English II - Transactive Writing Genre Characteristics

Hey Guys!

As you know, today we have been looking at transactive writing - the form of writing in which information is actively transferred between the writer and the reader. 

I have detailed the kinds of transactive writing that we will be looking at this year - news articles, feature articles, reviews, persuasive letters and editorials, and speeches. I would now like you to get a better understanding of the genres by reading several examples of each online.

1. Find three examples of each kind of transactive writing online.

2. Complete the following information for EACH example:

- Who wrote it?

- Where was it published? (Include URL and description)

- What is the purpose?

- Who is the audience?

- Summarize the information that is being shared with the reader.

3. Write a multi-paragraph entry on the differences you were able to notice between the genre types.