1. Class #3
EWRT 1A

2. • Teams
• Presentation: Vocabulary chapters 1-2
• Discussion: Readings 16-38
• In class Reading: Basic Features (40-41)
• Lecture: Formatting dialogue
• In-Class Writing: Practicing dialogue

3. 2. The teams will change on or near essay due dates.
3. You must change at least 50% of your team after
each project is completed.
4. You may never be on a team with the same person
more than twice.
5. You may never have a new team composed of more
than 50% of any prior team.
1. We will often use teams to
earn participation points.
Your teams can be made
up of 4 or 5 people.

4. • Points will be earned
for correct answers to
questions, meaningful
contributions to the
discussion, and the
willingness to share
your work. Each team
will track their own
points, but cheating
leads to death (or loss
of 25 participation
points).
• Answers, comments,
and questions must be
posed in a manner that
promotes learning.
Those who speak out
of turn or with
maliciousness will not
receive points for their
teams.

5. At the end of each class,
you will turn in a point
sheet with the names of
everyone in your group
and your accumulated
points for the day.
It is your responsibility to
make the sheet, track the
points, and turn it in.
Sit near your team
members in class to
facilitate ease of group
discussions

6. Your First
Group!
• Get into groups of
four. (1-2 minutes)
• If you can’t find a
group, please raise
your hand.
• Once your group is
established, choose
one person to be the
keeper of the points.
• Write down
members’ names
• Keep track of points
• Turn in your sheet
at the end of the
class period.

7. The Game
• With your group, discuss the words on the next
slide for five or so minutes and prepare to compete
• Each team will send one member to the board in
rotation.
• I will read a definition
• The first team member to write the correct word on
the board scores a point for their team.
• The team with the highest score at the end of the
game earns not only the glory of winning but also
five extra participation points.

8. Vocabulary
Chapter 1
1. Entrails
2. Reaping
3. Apothecary
4. Iridescent
5. Paraffin
6. Meager
7. Racketeers
8. Sustenance
9. Tribute
10. Repentance
Chapter 2
1. Synonymous
2. Tenuous

10. “Calling Home” by Jean Brandt
“An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard
“On Being a Real Westerner” by Tobias
Wolff
“100 Miles per Hour, Upside Down and
Sideways” by Rick Bragg

11. Jean Brandt “Calling Home”
1. How does Brandt set the stage for her story? How does she try to get you to
identify with her?
2. What is your first impression of Brandt? What is the author’s attitude toward her
younger self?
3. Point out active verbs that enliven the text. What is the effect of all these action
Verbs? (particularly par 3-5).
4. Look for places in the essay where Brandt discloses her feelings at the time the
event occurred. What do you learn about Brandt from her remembered thoughts in
pars. 5–8?
5. How does your understanding of Brandt deepen or change through what she writes
in pars. 16–18?
6. Note the dialogue. What techniques can you identify? How does the dialogue in
pars. 21–24 add to the drama?
7. What is the effect of interweaving storytelling and describing with remembering
thoughts and feelings in par. 35?
8. How, and how well, does this ending work? Consider it in conjunction with the
introduction.
In your groups, discuss the following questions: 5 minutes

12. In your groups, discuss your
homework posts: 5 minutes.

13. Annie Dillard “An
American Childhood”

16. BASIC FEATURES OF A
NARRATIVE ESSAY

20. Writing dialogue
• Dialogue is an important part of any remembered event.
• It shows what happens instead of telling it. For example,
you can say “she was so mad she yelled at me.” Or you can
show the dialogue and let the reader “see” her mad at you.
“You did what? You threw out my best shirt?!”
“I am sorry, but I didn’t think you wanted that shirt any more. It was
torn and stained”
“What kind of ass are you? Was that your shirt? No, it was mine!”
“But…..ummm”
“DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF! IN FACT, GET OUT!”

21. DIALOGUE MOVES THE STORY
• But we don’t just add dialogue just to say we have it.
Dialogue should move the plot, too. For example, if we
are out to dinner, we don’t write a page of dialogue about
how we decided what to eat. It is just too boring!
“What are you going to have?”
“I dunno; how about you?”
“Oh, I can’t decide between the chicken and the
fish”
“Me neither”
See my point? No one cares about this!

22. Formatting Dialogue
• Each speaker gets his or her own paragraph; a return and indent. This mimics real conversation,
indicating pauses and so forth.
• Attributions (“He said,” “She said” and variations) should be used, but not too much, and varied so
they’re not repetitious; they can be used at the start of quotations, in the middle, or at the end.
When attributions are overused, they get in the way; the key is that the reader should always know
who’s speaking.
• Always use a comma after attribution (She said,) when introducing a quote.
• Example:
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“You lit my shirts on fire? Where’d you learn that?
“Daycare.”
“What? Daycare? You learned how to light shirts on fire at daycare?”
“A kid brought matches one day.”
“I’m calling your daycare.”
“No,” I said. Okay, I screamed it, and he scowled at me.
“Tell me the truth, boy.”
I took a deep breath and let it slide out: “I hate your shirts, Dad.”

23. Write a scene in which one person tells another person a story. Make sure that
you write it as a dialogue and not just a first person narrative; have one
person telling the story and the other person listening and asking questions or
making comments. The purpose of this scene will be both to have the story
stand alone as a subject, and to have the characters’ reactions to the story be
the focal point of the scene.
1. A robbery you witnessed at 7-11
2. An car accident you just had
3. A car accident you almost had
4. Catching a person trying to pick-pocket you
5. Another event you want to write about
Exercise #1

24. Exercise #2
Write a short conversation between multiple people (three or
more) in which no character speaks more than three or four
words per line of dialogue. You can use minimal narration to
enhance the scene, not explain the dialogue.
A man is walking down a deserted street after the bar
closes. He moves quickly but unsteadily. Suddenly,
three teenagers come out of an alley. They grab him and
drag back into the alley. Write the dialogue.

25. HOMEWORK
• Read: HG through chapter 7. As you read, look
for a passage that reminds you of a personal
experience.
• Post #3: The dialogues from the in-class writing
• Study: Vocab (Chapters 1-4).
• Bring: HG and SMG