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1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser Reading Materials English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: The Transaction by William Zinsser A school in Connecticut once held "a day devoted to the arts," and I was asked if I would come and talk about writing as a vocation [1]. When I arrived I found that a second speaker has been invited — Dr. Brock (as I'll call him), a surgeon who had recently begun to write and had sold some stories to magazines. He was going to talk about writing as an avocation [2]. That made us a panel, and we sat down to face a crowd of students and teachers and parents, all eager to learn the secrets of our glamorous [3] work. [4] Dr. Brock was dressed in a bright red jacket, looking vaguely bohemian [5], as authors are supposed to look, and the ﬁrst question went to him. What was it like to be a writer? He said it was tremendous fun. Coming home from an arduous [6] day at the hospital, he would go straight to his yellow pad and write his tensions away. The words just ﬂowed. It was easy. I then said that writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just ﬂowed. Next Dr. Brock was asked if it was important to rewrite. Absolutely not, he said. "Let it all hang out," he told us, and whatever form the sentences take will reﬂect the writer at his most natural. I then said that rewriting is the essence of writing. I pointed out that professional writers rewrite their sentences over and over and then rewrite what they have rewritten. [7] "What do you do on days when it isn't going well?" Dr. Brock was asked. He said he just stopped writing and put the work aside for a day when it would go better. I then said that the professional writer must establish a daily schedule and stick to it. I said 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 1/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. that writing is a craft, not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself. He is also going broke. [8] "What if you're feeling depressed or unhappy?" a student asked. "Won't that affect your writing?" Probably it will, Dr. Brock replied. Go ﬁshing. Take a walk. Probably it won't, I said. If your job is to write every day, you learn to do it like any other job. A student asked if we found it useful to circulate in the literary world. Dr. Brock said he was greatly enjoying his new life as a man of letters, [9] and he told several stories of being taken to lunch by his publisher and his agent at Manhattan restaurants where writers and editors gather. I said that professional writers are solitary drudges [10] who seldom see other writers. "Do you put symbolism in your writing?" a student asked me. "Not if I can help it," I replied. I have an unbroken record of missing the deeper meaning in any story, play or movie, and as for dance and mime, I have never had any idea of what is being conveyed. "I love symbols!" Dr. Brock exclaimed, and he described with gusto the joys of weaving them through his work. So the morning went, and it was a revelation to all of us. At the end Dr. Brock told me he was enormously interested in my answers — it had never occurred to him that writing could be hard. I told him I was just as interested in his answers — it had never occurred to me that writing could be easy. [11] Maybe I should take up surgery on the side. [12] As for the students, anyone might think we left them bewildered. But in fact we gave them a broader glimpse of the writing process than if only one of us had talked. [13] 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 2/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. For there isn't any "right" way to do such personal work. There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you. Some people write by day, others by night. Some people need silence, others turn on the radio. Some write by hand, some by word processor, some by talking into a tape recorder. Some people write their ﬁrst draft in one long burst and then revise; others can't write the second paragraph until they have ﬁddled endlessly with the ﬁrst. But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. [14] They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don't just write what comes naturally. They sit down and commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to ﬁnd the real man or woman behind the tension. Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is. [15] I often ﬁnd myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me — some scientiﬁc quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his ﬁeld. How was he drawn into it? What emotional baggage did he bring along? How did it change his life? It's not necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become involved with a writer who did. This is the personal transaction that's at the heart of good nonﬁction writing. [16] Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth. Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize" the author. It's a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest clarity and strength. Can such principles be taught? Maybe not. But most of them can be learned. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 3/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Source Copyright c 1976, 1980, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2006, by William K. Zinsser from On Writing Well, Seventh (30th Anniversary) Edition, published by Collins. Reprinted by permission of the author. 1. Deﬁne vocation. 2. Deﬁne avocation. 3. Deﬁne glamorous. 4. Do you think the writer is being serious or sarcastic when he uses the phrase "glamorous work"? What is he implying? 5. Deﬁne bohemian. 6. Deﬁne arduous. 7. Why do you think that the author believes professional writers focus so much on revision and rewriting — and why does he consider it to be the essence of his profession? 8. The author claims that a lack of inspiration is no excuse for taking a break, because it means the writer is not doing his or her job and won't get paid. Describe a time when you couldn't ﬁnd inspiration for a task and what you did to get back on track. 9. What does Dr. Brock mean by this statement? 10. Deﬁne drudges. 11. Why do you think the authors were so surprised by each other's answers? 12. What is Zinsser's point? 13. How important do you think it would be to hear from many people if you wanted to learn more about a career? Explain your answer. 14. Why does the author believe that writers are vulnerable and tense? 15. Is Zinsser following his own advice in this reading? Explain. 16. Explain what personal transaction means and give an example from nonﬁction that you've read. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 4/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 5/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser Reading Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: While you read: Each of the following questions is related to an underlined passage or word in the reading. Be ready to answer the questions as you read. Write your answers below. 1. Deﬁne vocation. 2. Deﬁne avocation. 3. Deﬁne glamorous. 4. Do you think the writer is being serious or sarcastic when he uses the phrase "glamorous work"? What is he implying? 5. Deﬁne bohemian. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 1/6 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 6. Deﬁne arduous. 7. Why do you think that the author believes professional writers focus so much on revision and rewriting — and why does he consider it to be the essence of his profession? 8. The author claims that a lack of inspiration is no excuse for taking a break, because it means the writer is not doing his or her job and won't get paid. Describe a time when you couldn't ﬁnd inspiration for a task and what you did to get back on track. 9. What does Dr. Brock mean by this statement? 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 2/6 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 10. Deﬁne drudges. 11. Why do you think the authors were so surprised by each other's answers? 12. What is Zinsser's point? 13. How important do you think it would be to hear from many people if you wanted to learn more about a career? Explain your answer. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 3/6 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 14. Why does the author believe that writers are vulnerable and tense? 15. Explain what personal transaction means and give an example from nonﬁction that you've read. After you've read: 1. Why do you think the author points out that Dr. Brock was going to talk about writing as an avocation (rather than writing as a vocation)? Why does this difference seem to matter to the author, and do you think it matters as much to Zinsser after their talk? 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 4/6 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 2. Which author (the speaker or Dr. Brock) do you think considers his job as an author "glamorous," and do you think this has any effect on that author's writing? Explain your answer. 3. The author of this article states that it may or may not be possible to teach someone how to create the personal transaction that's at the heart of good nonﬁction writing, but it is possible for people to learn how to do it. Why do you think he makes this point and what does it mean? 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 5/6 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.1.2 Read: From On Writing Well by William Zinsser 6/6 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.1.3 Study: Understand Writing Versus Speech Study Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: Write the deﬁnitions of the following words. If you come across a word you don't know, write it in a blank space below. Try to ﬁgure out what the word means by looking at its context. Then use your dictionary or the Internet to look up the correct deﬁnition for the word. Word Deﬁnition prose Write a short answer to each question. 1. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of speaking? 2. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of writing? 1.1.3 Study: Understand Writing Versus Speech 1/3 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 3. Why do you need to identify what you're writing and who you're writing it for before you start? 4. List at least ﬁve examples of prose writing. 5. What are the four major differences between informal speech and prose? 6. Why do you think prose is an important element of language? 7. In what ways are you already a prose writer? 1.1.3 Study: Understand Writing Versus Speech 2/3 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. In one or two sentences, write down the gist, or main point, of this study. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.1.3 Study: Understand Writing Versus Speech 3/3 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.1.5 Read: Two Readings about Pluto Reading Materials English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: Preface from The Pluto Files by Neil deGrasse Tyson Gathered here in one place is a record of Pluto's rise and fall from planethood, given by way of media accounts, public forums, cartoons, and letters I received from disgruntled schoolchildren, their teachers, strongly opinionated adults, and colleagues. In February 2000, the American Museum of Natural History opened its $230-million Frederic Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space, containing the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium on the corner of 81st Street and Central Park West in New York City. The newly conceived exhibits treated the solar system in a way that was without precedent for public institutions, even though murmurs had already begun in the planetary science community that something needed to be done about Pluto's classiﬁcation in the solar system. The exhibit models, their accompanying text, and the overall layout of the Center organized the principal contents of the solar system by objects of like properties, rather than as enumerations of planets and their moons. This decision landed Pluto among the growing number of icy objects found in the outer solar system, and left it unmentioned and out of view of our models for the rocky, terrestrial objects (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). By this organization, we practically abandoned the concept of planet altogether. This decision represented the consensus of the science committee for the Rose Center's design and construction, of which I served as head. While the accountability and originality of our pedagogical approach to the subject lies equally among us on the committee, as director of the Hayden Planetarium I became the most visible exponent of this decision when, a full year after the Rose Center opened to the public, the New York Times broke a page-1 news story that we had "demoted" Pluto from its 1.1.5 Read: Two Readings about Pluto 1/2 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. ranks of planethood. I was thenceforth branded a public enemy of Pluto lovers the world over. This distinction prevailed until August 2006, when the International Astronomical Union (IAU), prompted by pressure from the professional community of planetary scientists as well as from the general public, brought Pluto's planethood to a vote at a triennial General Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic. The result? Pluto was formally downgraded from "Planet" to "Dwarf Planet," thereby helping to diffuse the negative attention that I, and the Rose Center, had been receiving for six years running. It's one thing for a single institution to re-examine Pluto's standing in the solar system, but it's quite another for an international organization of astronomers to do so. When the IAU voting results were made public, a media-frenzy followed, temporarily displacing news stories on terrorism, the Iraq War, genocide in Darfur, and global warming. The Pluto Files chronicles and documents Pluto's remarkable grip on the hearts and minds of the public, the professionals, and the press. Source: From THE PLUTO FILES: THE RISE AND FALL OF AMERICA'S FAVORITE PLANET BY Neil deGrasse Tyson. Copyright c 2009 by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.1.5 Read: Two Readings about Pluto 2/2 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.1.5 Read: Two Readings about Pluto Reading Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: After you've ﬁnished reading, write short answers to the following questions. 1. In the preface from The Pluto Files, Tyson writes that Pluto has a "remarkable grip on the hearts and minds of the American public." In the NPR interview, he jokingly says that he's blaming Disney and Mickey's dog, Pluto, for America's fascination. Why do you think he takes a more lighthearted tone during the NPR interview? 2. According to the scientiﬁc community, there is no doubt that Pluto should be classiﬁed as a dwarf planet. Why, then, do you think the Rose Center exhibit caused such a stir? 1.1.5 Read: Two Readings about Pluto 1/2 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 3. Which parts of the interview with Tyson show that his tone is playful when discussing the topic of Pluto with the general public, even though he may take it more seriously the rest of the time? 4. A key part of scientiﬁc inquiry is reexamining beliefs and theories. Do you see any value in questioning and ultimately changing Pluto's planet status? Explain your answer. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.1.5 Read: Two Readings about Pluto 2/2 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.1.7 Study: Analyze Expository Writing Study Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: Write the deﬁnitions of the following words. If you come across a word you don't know, write it in a blank space below. Try to ﬁgure out what the word means by looking at its context. Then use your dictionary or the Internet to look up the correct deﬁnition for the word. Word Deﬁnition expository writing paragraph introduction paragraph body paragraph conclusion paragraph Write a short answer to each question. 1.1.7 Study: Analyze Expository Writing 1/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1. Expository writing is fact-based, so why does it sometimes include more than just facts? 2. Explain why prose must express complete ideas, while conversation doesn't. Use an example from Tyson's preface and interview to illustrate this difference. 3. Explain how prose is more complex than conversation. Use examples from Tyson's preface and interview to make your point. 4. Which is more organized, prose or conversation? Use examples from Tyson's preface and interview to explain. 5. Why is an introduction paragraph important? 1.1.7 Study: Analyze Expository Writing 2/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 6. Why should each body paragraph address only one piece of a topic? 7. The conclusion paragraph has two jobs. What are they? 8. What might happen to writing if paragraphs didn't exist? How would that affect the reader? In one or two sentences, write down the gist, or main point, of this study. 1.1.7 Study: Analyze Expository Writing 3/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.1.7 Study: Analyze Expository Writing 4/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" Reading Materials English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: What's Your Story? Are you a lucky or an unlucky person? Don't overthink it — what's your knee-jerk reaction? As it turns out, the way you answered this question may have a big impact on whether you actually experience luck during your life. Psychologist Richard Wiseman sought out hundreds of people who think of themselves as either lucky or unlucky [1] and conducted a series of experiments to try to understand why some folks are luckier than others. For example, he gave newspapers to people who thought of themselves as lucky or unlucky and asked both groups to tell him how many photographs were in the newspaper. On average, the people who identiﬁed themselves as unlucky took two minutes to report back. The lucky people took just seconds. Why? "Because the second page of the newspaper contained the message: 'Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper,'" Wiseman says. "This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than 2 inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it."1 Beliefs such as "I'm lucky" and "I'm unlucky" are like tiny stories we tell ourselves about who we are and how things will work out for us. [2] But how can these simple little stories affect what actually happens to us out in the real world? According to Wiseman, numerous personality tests have shown that people who think of themselves as unlucky tend to be a bit more tense, as if they're already bracing themselves for bad things to happen. Why does this matter? As Wiseman explains: Research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected. In one experiment, people were asked to watch a moving dot in the centre of a computer screen. Without warning, large dots would occasionally be ﬂashed at the edges of 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 1/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. the screen. Nearly all participants noticed these large dots. The experiment was then repeated with a second group of people, who were offered a large ﬁnancial reward for accurately watching the centre dot, creating more anxiety. They became focused on the centre dot and more than a third of them missed the large dots when they appeared on the screen. The harder they looked, the less they saw. And so it is with luck — unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else . . . Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.1 Wiseman's research on luck points to a larger idea that researchers are taking more seriously: The stories that we tell ourselves about who we are, where we've been, and where we're going have a tremendous impact on how our lives actually unfold. [3] We love stories in whatever medium [4] we encounter them. We play video games to get to the next level, face the next challenge, and see where the journey will lead us. We read novels and watch movies and plays to see how their plots unfold [5] and to witness characters facing challenges, suffering, making decisions, and ending up better or worse off as a result. We pay close attention to how these stories work out because we're on our own challenging journeys. Keith Talbot of National Public Radio once said, "Every story is an answer to the question: How should I live my life?" If we look to stories as maps or guidebooks, it's because our own stories are in the process of unfolding and we wouldn't mind a little insight or advice along the way. You are the main character of the story called "Your Life." You're narrating it every day, whether you're conscious of it or not. "When we ﬁrst started studying life stories, people thought it was just idle [6] curiosity — stories, isn't that cool?" says Dan McAdams, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University who has been studying our internal storytelling for years. "Well, we ﬁnd that these narratives [7] guide behavior in every moment, and frame not only how we see the past but how we see ourselves in the future." 2 Whether or not you've ever told your life story to someone else, you're narrating it within your own mind as you experience events, link them together, and make sense of how one thing has led to another. According to 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 2/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Frank Bures, McAdams believes this habit is one of the things that makes us truly human and claims we start this behavior early in life: Building a life story is a process that begins around the time we turn two years old. That's when we develop what McAdams calls a "primitive autobiographical self." [8] As we move into adolescence, we start to emphasize . . . events in which we learned something or changed. Then, during our late teens we start to develop a more complicated "personal fable," in which we dream of the people we could become, like astronauts and presidents. McAdams calls this a "ﬁrst draft" of our identity. We choose episodes based not only on who we think we are, but also on who we hope we can become.3 So shaping and changing our life story is part of the process of growing up. Antonio Damasio, a behavioral neurologist, [9] believes that we're constantly rearranging our life story based on the experiences we go through and changing the ways that we imagine our future will unfold. Damasio studies the science and brain chemistry behind this phenomenon [10] but believes that it's our unique human awareness that our lifetimes are limited and that eventually we will die that pushes us to want our personal story to mean something.4 We never really ﬁnish our story — not until the end of our life, that is. So narrating our life story is like drawing the map for a road trip we're still on, making sense of the sharp turns we didn't see coming and explaining the detours and byways [11] we've chosen to take. Until the journey ends, we continue revising, telling the story of that family vacation (or school year or sports tournament) a little differently each time, and imagining new plot twists for what might come next. [12] Research demonstrates that the simplest stories we tell ourselves — "I'm a lucky person" or "I'm an unlucky person," for example — may not change what happens to us, but they do affect how we interpret those car wrecks, homework assignments, new jobs, or lost friendships. Does that mean that the more complex stories running through our heads have a similar effect? Daytime talk-show hosts and pop psychologists talk about "laws of attraction" that allow you to "manifest" [13] 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 3/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. anything you want as long as you believe in it strongly enough. But it can't be that easy, or we'd all own expensive cars and live in fancy houses, right? We're still exploring the amazing terrain of brain chemistry and human consciousness, and the jury's still out about how strongly our personal stories affect our real lives. But here are some questions to think about in the meantime: If you are the main character of your own life story, and you'll be revising that story throughout your life as you face challenges and develop new strengths, then it makes sense to pay attention to how you're making connections, drawing conclusions, and telling that story. Are you narrating a life story that will hold you back or help you forward? Will the story you're telling yourself today open you up to new possibilities or close you off from them? [14] These questions are important because every great story leaves us wondering the same thing: Where will the next chapter take us? Works Cited 1. Richard Wiseman, "Be Lucky — It's an Easy Skill to Learn," Telegraph, January 9, 2003, accessed January 12, 2013, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-an-easy-skill-to- learn.html. c Telegraph Media Group Limited 2003 2. Benedict Carey, "This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It)," New York Times, May 22, 2007, accessed January 8, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/health/psychology/22narr.html? pagewanted=all&_r=0. 3. Frank Bures, "The Secret Lives of Stories: Rewriting Our Personal Narratives," Poets & Writers, January/February 2013, accessed January 12, 2013, http://www.pw.org/content/the_secret_lives_of_stories_rewriting_our_personal_narrati article_page=2. 4. Jon Hamilton, "Our Storied Lives: The Quest for 'Something More,'" NPR, August 30, 2010, accessed January 11, 2013, http://www.npr.org/2010/08/30/129471712/our- storied-lives-the-quest-for-something-more. 1. Why might some people consider themselves unlucky, but others consider themselves lucky? 2. Describe a time when you felt lucky and why you felt that way. 3. How might this research be useful to you? 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 4/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 4. Deﬁne medium. 5. Describe a story from a book, movie, or video game that has inﬂuenced your own life story. 6. Deﬁne idle. 7. Deﬁne narratives. 8. What does McAdams mean by primitive autobiographical self? 9. Deﬁne neurologist . 10. Deﬁne phenomenon. 11. Deﬁne byways. 12. Think about a personal story that you like to tell others. Describe how that story has changed since the ﬁrst time you told it to someone else, or how it might change in the future. 13. Deﬁne manifest . 14. Describe how your internal storytelling will either positively or negatively affect your future possibilities. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 5/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" Reading Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: While you read: Each of the following questions is related to an underlined passage or word in the reading. Be ready to answer the questions as you read. Write your answers below. 1. Why might some people consider themselves unlucky, but others consider themselves lucky? 2. Describe a time when you felt lucky and why you felt that way. 3. How might this research be useful to you? 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 1/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 4. Deﬁne medium. 5. Describe a story from a book, movie, or video game that has inﬂuenced your own life story. 6. Deﬁne idle. 7. Deﬁne narratives. 8. What does McAdams mean by primitive autobiographical self? 9. Deﬁne neurologist. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 2/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 10. Deﬁne phenomenon. 11. Deﬁne byways. 12. Think about a personal story that you like to tell others. Describe how that story has changed since the ﬁrst time you told it to someone else, or how it might change in the future. 13. Deﬁne manifest. 14. Describe how your internal storytelling will either positively or negatively affect your future possibilities. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 3/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. After you've read: 1. Where do you think the next chapter of your life will take you? 2. Do you consider yourself to be a lucky person or an unlucky person? How has this self-assessment inﬂuenced your life story? 3. Do you think your life story would be very different if told by someone else? Explain your answer. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 4/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.3.1 Read: "What's Your Story?" 5/5 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.3.2 Study: Understand Narrative and Plot Study Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: Write the deﬁnitions of the following words. If you come across a word you don't know, write it in a blank space below. Try to ﬁgure out what the word means by looking at its context. Then use your dictionary or the Internet to look up the correct deﬁnition for the word. Word Deﬁnition climax conclusion conﬂict exposition narrative rising action 1.3.2 Study: Understand Narrative and Plot 1/3 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Write a short answer to each question. 1. How is a narrative different from a piece of expository writing? 2. What is the main difference between plot and narrative? 3. Why is conﬂict a crucial element of all plots? 4. What happens in the exposition stage of a plot? At what point in a story does this stage appear? 5. What is rising action? Why does most of a story take place in this stage? 1.3.2 Study: Understand Narrative and Plot 2/3 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 6. What is the "Aha!" moment of a plot? Explain your answer. 7. The conclusion of a narrative goes by different names, but all of those names mean the same thing. What is the purpose of the conclusion? In one or two sentences, write down the gist, or main point, of this study. Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of Apex Learning Inc. 1.3.2 Study: Understand Narrative and Plot 3/3 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller Reading Materials English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: Excerpt from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller CHAPTER IV The most important day I remember in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Mansﬁeld Sullivan, came to me. I am ﬁlled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects. It was the third of March, 1887, three months before I was seven years old. On the afternoon of that eventful day, I stood on the porch, dumb, expectant. I guessed vaguely from my mother's signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to happen, so I went to the door and waited on the steps. The afternoon sun penetrated the mass of honeysuckle that covered the porch, and fell on my upturned face. My ﬁngers lingered almost unconsciously on the familiar leaves and blossoms which had just come forth to greet the sweet southern spring. I did not know what the future held of marvel or surprise for me. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually for weeks and a deep languor had succeeded this passionate struggle. Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was. "Light! give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour. I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my hand as I supposed to my mother. Some one took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things to me, and, more than all things else, to love me. 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller 1/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. The morning after my teacher came she led me into her room and gave me a doll. The little blind children at the Perkins Institution had sent it and Laura Bridgman had dressed it; but I did not know this until afterward. When I had played with it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word "d-o-l-l." I was at once interested in this ﬁnger play and tried to imitate it. When I ﬁnally succeeded in making the letters correctly I was ﬂushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my mother I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my ﬁngers go in monkey-like imitation. In the days that followed I learned to spell in this uncomprehending way a great many words, among them pin, hat, cup and a few verbs like sit, stand and walk. But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything has a name. One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled "d-o-l-l" and tried to make me understand that "d-o-l-l" applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words "m-u-g" and "w-a-t-e-r." Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that "m-u-g" is mug and that "w-a-t-e-r" is water, but I persisted in confounding the two. In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the ﬁrst opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the ﬂoor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment of tenderness. I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure. We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, ﬁrst slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller 2/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. whole attention ﬁxed upon the motions of her ﬁngers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten—a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was ﬂowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me. On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes ﬁlled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the ﬁrst time I felt repentance and sorrow. I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them-words that were to make the world blossom for me, "like Aaron's rod, with ﬂowers." It would have been difﬁcult to ﬁnd a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of the eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the ﬁrst time longed for a new day to come. Source Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, ed. John Albert Macy (New York: Doubleday, Page, 1905). Copyright © 2018 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning ® and the Apex Learning Logo are registered trademarks of 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller 3/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. Apex Learning Inc. 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller 4/4 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited. 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller Reading Guide English 10 Sem 1 Name: Date: After you've ﬁnished reading, write short answers to the following questions. 1. Keller is describing a day when she was six years old. Do you think her memories are really this detailed, or do you think she has built on or added to her memories? Does it matter? 2. At the time she smashed the doll, Keller says that she felt "no strong sentiment of tenderness." What sensations do you think she might have had at that age? If she couldn't see or hear, what sensations would have given her joy or sadness? 3. Imagine living for years without being able to see or hear. Imagine not even knowing that you're unable to do these things because you've never been able to 1.3.4 Read: The Story of My Life by Helen Keller 1/2 Copyright © 2019 Apex Learning Inc. Use of this material is subject to Apex Learning's Terms of Use. Any unauthorized copying, reuse, or redistribution is prohibited.