Our student
PoPo’s story
was
published in
this book.
PoPo’s
published
story
Extremely Important!
When posting your homework in the
forum, please also copy and paste the
original homework instruction.
Be sure to put your grade number in
the writing title!
Every week, each student should
only post one writing (the
revised or the new assignment)
to guarantee writing quality.
Editing priority goes to the
original writings. Revised writing
should be posted in the original
writing thread.
To make our students
more comfortable, our
class goes from 9:10 pm
to 10:50 pm starting
Nov. 14, 2015. Thank
you!
To make our classes better,
we have started to use ZOOM
online meeting platform from
Nov. 14, 2015. The Class Link
(long-term) for Grades 7 and 8
is:
https://zoom.us/j/877787985
DrJoeWriting.Com Forum ID Registration
All enrolled students who have not registered
for a forum account yet need to email the
following information as soon as possible to
DrJoeWriting@gmail.com
 1. The student's class name (which should
not be changed and will be used as your
forum username)
 2. The student's grade level
 3. Your email used to receive class
PowerPoint slides and recording
Once we get the above information of yours, we
will email you a temporary password.
Please immediately log in to our new forum
http://drjoewriting.com/forum1/?q=forum with
your username and temporary password. After
you log in, you can find a link called "My account"
on top of the page. Click the "My account" link
and you will get to your account info page. On
your account info page, click the "Edit" tab so you
can change your password.
Then you can start posting your homework
assignments or free writings on our new forum.
When you post your homework
in the forum, please also copy
and paste the original
homework instruction (which
includes title, word limit, due
date, etc.). This will make the
editing and commenting easier.
Dr. Joe’s Writing-Reading Classes
I Write, I Read, I Love.
Jan. 9, 2016
Great News!
Our student PoPo has won the Top Group in the
PolarExpressions National Short Story Writing
Contest, and her winning story "When Robbie
Moved In" has been published in a book titled
"The Chance" in December 2015.
Congratulations, PoPo! We are proud of you!
Please don’t share
class recordings
and slides with
other people.
Please don’t change
your class nickname.
This can cause
confusion and waste
class time.
I tell you what to do and
how to do; you do the DO
part!
Review and exercise, review
and exercise! No big deal,
but also terribly big deal!
Please start posting your writings
on our new forum NOW! The new
forum web address is:
http://drjoewriting.com/forum1/?q
=forum
The old web site
http://englishwritingschool.com
and its forum will remain as the
backup.
Please post your homework assignments,
questions and comments on the forum.
Email me only about issues that are not
proper for forum discussion.
When you post your writing on the forum,
make your title like this: “Grade Number Writing Title.” For example, you are in
grade 8 and the title is “I Like Books.”
Then you type “Grade 8 – I Like Books” in
the title area.
To enhance class efficiency and class
dynamics, we will have more in-class askand-answer exercises other than student
reading. The students will all be put on the
mic line, but the answering and discussing
sequence will be random. This will make the
students stay alert during the class time
and thus improve the class efficiency and
effectiveness.
So don’t play games or websurf
before the break—you might get caught
off guard!
I. Quiz Time
Rules:
After each question, the answer
will be disclosed, so please record
your rights and wrongs for final
result. Every multiple-choice
question has only one correct
answer. Each blank in a fill-in-blank
question needs to be filled with one
word, more than one word, or part
of a word .
Question 1:
If I Ever Get Out of Here was by Eric
________.
Question 1:
If I Ever Get Out of Here was by Eric
Gansworth.
Question 2:
“Samuel sells salted shells
by the seaside” is
_______.
Question 2:
“Samuel sells salted shells
by the seaside” is
alliteration.
Question 3:
A verb normally taking a direct object is
considered a _______ verb.
Question 3:
A verb normally taking a direct object is
considered a transitive verb.
Question 4:
“me” is a _____ object here:
He introduced me to his uncle.
Question 4:
“me” is a direct object here:
He introduced me to his uncle.
Question 5:
chew the fat
To ___ idly or generally waste time _______
Question 5:
chew the fat
To chat idly or generally waste time talking
II. Recommended Author and Book
Laurence Michael Yep (born June 14, 1948) is a
prolific Chinese-American writer, best known for
children's books. In 2005, he received the
biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his career
contribution to American children's literature.
Today’s Book
Dragonwings: Golden Mountain Chronicles: 1903
by Laurence Yep
Publisher:
HarperCollins
Publication date:
25th edition (Jan. 23 2001)
Age Range: 10-14
Overview of Dragonwings
In this Newbery Honor Book, Moon Shadow is eight
years old when he sails from China to join his father,
Windrider, in America. Windrider lives in San Francisco and
makes his living doing laundry. Father and son have never
met.
But Moon Shadow grows to love and respect his father
and to believe in his wonderful dream. And Windrider, with
Moon Shadow's help, is willing to endure the mockery of the
other Chinese, the poverty, the separation from his wife and
country, even the great earthquake, to make his dream come
true.
Inspired by the account of a Chinese immigrant who
made a flying machine in 1909, Laurence Yep's historical novel
beautifully portrays the rich traditions of the Chinese
community as it made its way in a hostile new world.
III. Student Writing Analysis
PAUSE Jan 9 2016
What? I wrote this? I can’t believe my eyes!
---- The Student
Yes, you did it. Do you have the courage to read it again? But you
have to because you have no choice!
---- Dr. Joe
 “write leap-of-faith story no word limit due dec.12
-----------------------------------------I don't understand how to write this...” – a student
 ************************************
 Dear Student,
 Natasha is a quiet and peaceful elementary student in
the year of 209,000. She never knows anything about
war and fighting. However, an external universe
Purple Cave from eight trillion light-years away is
attacking human kind, and the biological species is
facing life-or-death choice. The only person who can
save mankind is the physiologically weak Natasha,
according to the oracular guidance of a super brain.
The little girl faces the no-choice choice: To shoulder
the fate of zillions of individual humans.
 Natasha makes the leap of faith and leads the
time-blowing ultimate war in creature
history—against Purple Cave!
 Bianca, do you want to tell the saga of that
heroic girl? I trust you do! And I trust you
know how to write it now. Just do it!
 Dr. Joe
The student writing analysis is based on a real
class assignment, but some adjustments may
have been made for better teaching result.
Assignment
can of worms A troublesome situation; an issue
whose resolution is difficult or contentious, but not
necessarily complex.
can't get enough
To greatly enjoy; to like a lot
Write a short science research review meant for
the general public including the above idioms. It
should be easy to understand and engaging for
the laymen. 500 words or less.
• The Original Student Writing
• The Editing and Comments
Note: We only edit the student writings for
best presentational results. Dr. Joe and his
team don’t necessarily endorse any of the
personal views posted by the students.
IV. Diction
(continued)
diction / dɪkʃ ə n / noun
1 the way in which someone pronounces words
2 the choice and use of words and phrases to express
meaning, especially in literature
Note: This section is about the second meaning.
Figures of Speech
Jan. 2, 2016
A climax is a figure of speech in which
words, phrases, or clauses are arranged in
order of increasing importance.
For instance:
It's a well-hit ball... it's a long drive... it might be... it
could be... it IS... a home run!
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird... it's a plane... it's
Superman!
Write an example of climax.
V. Rules and Theories of
Language and Writing
PAUSE
Jan 9 2016
Kinds of Verbs
Verbs are classified according to the way they function
in sentences. A verb normally taking a direct object is
considered a transitive verb. A transitive verb makes a
transition, conveys a movement, from its subject to its
object:
She has good taste. He introduced me to his uncle.
Greg never neglects his homework. She expresses her
ideas eloquently. He stuffed himself with pizza. Where
did you put that book?
A direct object answers the question consisting of
the verb and what or whom:
Introduced whom? Me.
Never neglects what? Homework.
Expresses what? Ideas.
Stuffed whom? Himself.
Put what where? Book.
VI. Idiom and Proverb Exercise
Dr. Joe and his team edit
writings only to improve
their artistry and quality.
We don’t change the
writers’ opinions.
Allison [D]
The actor would often chew the fat, wasting time instead of practicing. But
when it came to performing, he would always chew the scenery.
Josh[D]
Herman, the actor of a very popular TV show, was the new main character.
Although he chewed the fat, he worked while talking. But when acting, he
chewed the scenery and had too much emotion for his role, a CIA agent. This
made his popularity decrease.
Omega [D]
Jimbo Chi, a famous actor, once was walking on the street and immediately met
with one of his biggest fans. They started to have a long chat until one of his
other fans also saw him. He wanted to ask for attention, but couldn't get it. He
told the other fan to not chew the fat. The other fan began to chew the scenery
in exaggerated shock.
Hua [D]
In the famous year of 3984721, there lived an actor named Fatty. She, unlike any
other actors of her time, chewed the scenery, and some of these other actors,
disliked her way of acting, so they chewed the fat, talking all of the time just to
get out of the range of her acting. The end.
Start from
next slide Jan
9 2016
chew the fat To chat idly or generally waste
time talking.
chew the scenery To display excessive
emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner
while performing
Write a paragraph about an actor including the above
idioms. 100 words or so. The wording can be
changed slightly when necessary. Class discussion will be
made.
Steph [D]
When it came to meeting new people, the actor always chews the facts, since
he likes to talk. When is was time to act, he chews the scenery.
Nicole [D]
Walking into the movie set, Casey had little time to waste, yet she sat down and
chewed the fat with her co-star. But when acting, she chewed the scenery as
the spoiled little girl, which displeased the director.
Bianca [U]
On the set of Teen Wolf, Dylan O'Brien ran over to Tyler Posey who was quietly
sitting on a bench just chilling.
"Hey Tyler!!!" Dylan said as he tried to chew the fat by having a long chat with
him instead of doing some work from high school. Tyler ended up chewing the
scenery and gave an excuse to leaeve the conversation, ending up making Dylan
going to do his homework
Daniel [U]
Walking down the sidewalk by the park, Tom decided to bore Jacob by chewing
the fat, talking about the new games that he has, which anoided Jake. Since
Jake's parents forbid such games, Jake, being Jake, started to chew the scenery,
being too dramatic about his lake of games.
Acewrite [U]
Steve Jobs is quite the actor. Although he is charismatic, flattering, and likeable,
he can be cold, distant, and cruel at times. His attention was like an intense
beam of sun; while you had it, you basked in the warmth and glory, but when it
left you, the world was a cold and desolate place. He coud be charming when he
wanted, but sometimes he woud just chew the fat and act like he didn't care
about anything. Other times, he would chew the scenery with violent outbursts
of raw emotion. Some thought he had bipolar disorder.
Megan [U]
The new actor, Hannah, was acting out a scene. She was chewing the scenery.
She was NOT very good at displaying her emotions. However, She also chewed
the fat. She talked way too much, so, gradually, people began to disliked her.
Alisonaz [U]
"Is she always like this?" I asked to no one in particular. "Yea, Melinda always
chews the fat but she says it helps her chew the scenery better, so Ms. Path lets
her talk. She will let anyone do anything they want if she believes it gives them
inspiration.
Start from
next slide Jan
16 2016
come thick and fast
repeatedly.
To appear
come through To survive.
Write a paragraph about a disease including the
above idioms. 100 words or so. The wording can be
changed slightly when necessary. Class discussion will be
made.
A
A
Start from
next slide Jan
9 2016
VII. Vocabulary and Word Collocation
[combination/connection]
 err / ɜːr / verb [ intransitive ]
 1 err on the side of caution to be more careful or safe than is
necessary, in order to make sure that nothing bad happens : It’s
always best to err on the side of caution .
 2 old use to make a mistake:
 “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” ― Alexander Pope
 Write an example sentence of err (either meaning).
 er‧rat‧ic / ɪˈrætɪk / adjective
 something that is erratic does not follow any pattern or plan but
happens in a way that is not regular : His breathing was
becoming erratic.
 his erratic behaviour
 — erratically / -kli / adverb : He always drives erratically.
 Write an example sentence of erratic or erratically.


THESAURUS
 e‧rode AC / ɪˈrəʊd $ ɪˈroʊd / verb ( also
erode away ) [ intransitive and transitive
]
 1 if the weather erodes rock or soil, or if
rock or soil erodes, its surface is gradually
destroyed : The cliffs are being constantly
eroded by heavy seas.
 The rocks have gradually eroded away.
 2 to gradually reduce something such as
someone’s power or confidence : Our
personal freedom is being gradually
eroded away.
 Repeated exam failure had eroded her
confidence.
Start from
next slide Jan
9 2016

VIII. Dr. Joe’s Reflection
The (Academy Award) ceremonies are a
two-hour meat parade, a public display with
contrived suspense for economic reasons.
---- George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 –
September 22, 1999) was an American stage
and film actor, director, and producer. He was
best known for his stage work, as well as his
portrayal of General George S. Patton in the
film Patton, as General Buck Turgidson in
Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I
Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,
and as Ebenezer Scrooge in Clive Donner's 1984
film A Christmas Carol. He was the first actor to
refuse the Academy Award for Best Actor (for
Patton in 1970), having warned the Academy
beforehand that he would refuse it on
philosophical grounds.
The (Academy Award) ceremonies are a two-hour
meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense
for economic reasons.
---- George C. Scott
Dr. Joe’s Reflection
Some fame is not an enjoyment for
someone.
Write a short paragraph about movie
quoting the above statement. 100 words
maximum.
The students post their
writings based on the
quote in the chatting
area on Jan 16 2016.
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
Start from
next slide Jan
9 2016
IX. Reading, Writing, Critique
Michael Shaara (June 23, 1928 – May 5,
1988) was an American author of
science fiction, sports fiction, and
historical fiction. He was born to Italian
immigrant parents (the family name was
originally spelled Sciarra, which in Italian
is pronounced in a similar way) in Jersey
City, New Jersey, graduated during 1951
from Rutgers University, where he
joined Theta Chi, and served as a
sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division
prior to the Korean War.
The Orphans of the Void
by Michael Shaara
The planet of the lonely robots: When Steffens comes to
a new planet, he discovers a race of robots waiting for
their masters to return. Programmed always to serve,
the robots now wait for a dead creator and must be
given a new purpose.
Originally published in Galaxy magazine, June 1952.
The Orphans of the Void
by Michael Shaara
An Excerpt
Start from Jan. 16, 2016
Finding a cause worth dying for is no
great trick—the Universe is full of them. Finding
one worth living for is the genuine problem!
In the region of the Coal Sack Nebula [nebula: a cloud of interstellar gas
and dust], on the dead fourth planet of a star called Tyban, Captain
Steffens of the Mapping Command stood counting buildings. Eleven.
No, twelve. He wondered if there was any significance in the number.
He had no idea.
"What do you make of it?" he asked.
Lieutenant Ball, the executive officer of the ship, almost tried to scratch
his head before he remembered that he was wearing a spacesuit.
"Looks like a temporary camp," Ball said. "Very few buildings, and all
built out of native materials, the only stuff available. Castaways
[castaway: anything cast adrift or thrown away], maybe?"
Steffens was silent as he walked up onto the rise. The flat
weathered stone jutted out of the sand before him. [rise: a
spot higher than surrounding ground; weather: to expose to
the open environment; jut: to stick out]
"No inscriptions," he pointed out. [inscription: words that
are written on or cut into a surface]
"They would have been worn away. See the wind grooves?
Anyway, there's not another building on the whole damn
planet. You wouldn't call it much of a civilization.” [groove: a
long, narrow cut or low area in a surface]
"You don't think these are native?"
Ball said he didn't. Steffens nodded.
Standing there and gazing at the stone, Steffens felt the awe of great age. He had a
hunch, deep and intuitive, that this was old—too old. He reached out a gloved hand, ran
it gently over the smooth stone ridges of the wall. Although the atmosphere was very
thin, he noticed that the buildings had no airlocks. [awe: a strong feeling of fear or
respect and also wonder; hunch: a belief or idea about something that is not based on
facts or evidence; airlock: a small room that has two doors which can be sealed tightly
so that no air enters or leaves and that is used for moving between two spaces with
different air pressures in a submarine, spaceship, etc.]
Ball's voice sounded in his helmet: "Want to set up shop, Skipper?" [set up shop: to
establish a business or an organization; skipper: a person who has command of a vessel]
Steffens paused. "All right, if you think it will do any good."
"You never can tell. Excavation probably won't be much use. These things are on a
raised rock foundation, swept clean by the wind. And you can see that the rock itself is
native—" he indicated the ledge beneath their feet—"and was cut out a long while
back." [ledge: a more or less flat shelf of rock protruding from a cliff or slope]
"How long?"
Ball toed the sand uncomfortably. "I wouldn't like to say off-hand." [toe: to touch, kick,
or reach with the toe; off-hand: at once]
"Make a rough estimate.“
Ball looked at the captain, knowing what was in his mind. He
smiled wryly and said: "Five thousand years? Ten thousand? I
don't know." [wry: humorous in a clever and often ironic
way]
Steffens whistled.
Ball pointed again at the wall. "Look at the striations. You
can tell from that alone. It would take even a brisk Earth
wind at least several thousand years to cut that deep, and
the wind here has only a fraction of that force." [striation:
any of a number of scratches or parallel grooves on the
surface of a rock, resulting from the action of moving ice, as
of a glacier; brisk: quick and active]
The two men stood for a long moment in silence. Man had
been in interstellar space for three hundred years and this was
the first uncovered evidence of an advanced, space-crossing,
alien race. It was an historic moment, but neither of them was
thinking about history. [interstellar: situated or occurring
between the stars]
Man had been in space for only three hundred years. Whatever
had built these had been in space for thousands of years.
Which ought to give them, thought Steffens uncomfortably,
one hell of a good head-start. [one hell of a: used to emphasize
the extent of a thing, also "a hell of a", "one heck of a", “a heck
of a“, "hell of a", or "heck of a"; head-start: an advantage given
or acquired in any competition, endeavor, etc., as allowing one
or more competitors in a race to start before the others]
[stop Jan 9]
*************************************************
While the excav crew worked steadily, turning up nothing,
Steffens remained alone among the buildings. Ball came out
to him, looked dryly at the walls.
"Well," he said, "whoever they were, we haven't heard from
them since."
"No? How can you be sure?" Steffens grunted. "A spaceborne race was roaming this part of the Galaxy while men
were still pitching spears at each other, that long ago. And
this planet is only a parsec from Varius II, a civilization as old
as Earth's. Did whoever built these get to Varius? Or did they
get to Earth? How can you know?"
He kicked at the sand distractedly. "And most important,
where are they now? A race with several thousand years...."
"Fifteen thousand," Ball said. When Steffens looked up,
he added: "That's what the geology boys say. Fifteen
thousand, at the least."
Steffens turned to stare unhappily at the buildings.
When he realized now how really old they were, a
sudden thought struck him.
"But why buildings? Why did they have to build in stone,
to last? There's something wrong with that. They
shouldn't have had a need to build, unless they were
castaways. And castaways would have left something
behind. The only reason they would need a camp would
be—"
"If the ship left and some of them stayed.“
Steffens nodded. "But then the ship must have come back.
Where did it go?" He ceased kicking at the sand and looked
up into the blue-black midday sky. "We'll never know."
"How about the other planets?" Ball asked.
"The report was negative. Inner too hot, outer too heavy
and cold. The third planet is the only one with a decent
temperature range, but it has a CO2 atmosphere."
"How about moons?"
Steffens shrugged. "We could try them and find out.”
***************************************************
The third planet was a blank, gleaming ball until they were in
close, and then the blankness resolved into folds and piling
clouds and dimly, in places, the surface showed through. The
ship went down through the clouds, falling the last few
miles on her brakers. They came into the misty gas below,
leveled off and moved along the edge of the twilight zone.
The moons of this solar system had yielded nothing. The
third planet, a hot, heavy world which had no free oxygen
and from which the monitors had detected nothing, was all
that was left. Steffens expected nothing, but he had to try.
At a height of several miles, the ship moved up the zone,
scanning, moving in the familiar slow spiral of the Mapping
Command. Faint dark outlines of bare rocks and hills moved
by below.
Steffens turned the screen to full magnification and
watched silently.
After a while he saw a city.
The main screen being on, the whole crew saw it.
Someone shouted and they stopped to stare, and
Steffens was about to call for altitude when he saw that
the city was dead.
He looked down on splintered walls that were like
cloudy glass pieces rising above a plain, rising in a
shattered circle. Near the center of the city, there was a
huge, charred hole at least three miles in diameter and
very deep. In all the piled rubble, nothing moved.
Steffens went down low to make sure, then brought the ship around
and headed out across the main continent into the bright area of the
sun. The rocks rolled by below, there was no vegetation at all, and then
there were more cities—all with the black depression, the circular
stamp that blotted away and fused the buildings into nothing.
No one on the ship had anything to say. None had ever seen a war, for
there had not been war on Earth or near it for more than three hundred
years.
The ship circled around to the dark side of the planet. When they were
down below a mile, the radiation counters began to react. It became
apparent, from the dials, that there could be nothing alive.
After a while Ball said: "Well, which do you figure? Did our friends from
the fourth planet do this, or were they the same people as these?"
Steffens did not take his eyes from the screen. They were coming
around to the daylight side.
"We'll go down and look for the answer," he said. "Break out
the radiation suits."
He paused, thinking. If the ones on the fourth planet were
alien to this world, they were from outer space, could not
have come from one of the other planets here. They had
starships and were warlike. Then, thousands of years ago.
He began to realize how important it really was that Ball's
question be answered.
When the ship had gone very low, looking for a landing site,
Steffens was still by the screen. It was Steffens, then, who
saw the thing move.
Down far below, it had been a still black shadow, and then it
moved. Steffens froze. And he knew, even at that distance,
that it was a robot.
Tiny and black, a mass of hanging arms and legs, the thing
went gliding down the slope of a hill. Steffens saw it clearly
for a full second, saw the dull ball of its head tilt upward as
the ship came over, and then the hill was past. [end of
excerpt]
Homework
Review the teaching materials.
Be ready for the quiz.
Write a full essay about writing based on the Steve Martin
quote exercise. 300 words or so. Due Jan. 10, 2016 on the
forum.
Extend the section VI writing to a full story. No word limit.
Due Jan. 17, 2016 on the forum.
Review the discussed excerpt of A Separate Peace and write
a recollection of a treasured part of your life. You can borrow
the ideas, style, words, expressions or anything relevant from
the excerpt. 400 words also. Due Jan. 24, 2016 on the forum.