It's difficult ( sometimes hopeless) for an English teacher to inspire the use of correct punctuation in her students. Punctuation matters. Here's a story of the terrible consequences that can occur when punctuation is not correct.

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Another story of Zen origin. There's an important life lesson in this one about anger. I live by the underlying message - anger destroys the one who carries it, not the one against whom it is directed. Here goes:

A venerable guru was walking along a path that followed the river with his disciple, a younger monk who greatly respected the elder guru. They walked for miles in silence, enjoying and contemplating the bounty of nature. They came upon a beautiful young woman standing by the river's edge. She was in great distress because she couldn't get to the other side. The venerable guru went over to the woman, picked her up, carried her to the other side of the river, and gently put her down. He returned to the younger disciple and they continued on their way. The guru couldn't help but notice that the disciple was greatly agitated and clearly angry as they walked along. The younger disciple was breathing heavily, sighing loudly and walking with a heavy foot. After several miles, the guru stopped and serenely asked the younger man what the problem was. In a sudden angry outburst, the disciple said, " Why did you carry that woman across the river. You're a guru and you're forbidden by our religion to touch a female. You had no right to pick her up and take her to the other side. How could you do that! It's forbidden. You are, after all, a venerable guru and you must set an example for your disciples." Calmly the venerable guru responded, "I put her down on the other side, you're still carrying her."

To my grade 11 classes: Now that you've read your book, at least I hope you have, would you comment on it. Did you like it? Was it reader friendly? Would you recommend it to a fellow classmate? I'd appreciate it if you'd respond so the others might read a book that was of interest.

I read an interesting editorial in The Gazette today about the greed of North Americans. "Our children are mirror images of ourselves. Just as we are unsatiable in our quest for the best of everything that North American life has to offer - from the biggest, meanest SUV to the flattest, sharpest TV - our children know no bottom to their greed." The piece begins with an American Indian parable that goes like this:

A child asks an elder about good and evil. The elder explains that we have 2 wolves living within us. One is avaricious and proud, belligerent and argumentative, unkind and mean-spirited; the other is selfless and humble, kind and accomodating, generous and loving. These wolves are constantly fighting. Which one wins, the child asks.
The one you feed, said the elder.

Here's a story that was told to me when I was 17 years old by a friend of my mother's. At first, I did not understand it, but there is great wisdom embedded in it. It served me well over the years, so I'll share it with you.

True story. A senior in an American high school is accused of cheating on a math exam. He swears to his teacher that he wasn't. The teacher refuses to believe him. The more the students insists that he's innocent, the angrier the teacher becomes.The teacher still doesn't believe him, tears up his paper and sends him to the principal's office. The principal also accuses him of cheating and supports the teacher's accusations. Again,the boy insists that he wasn't cheating and that his teacher has wrongly accused him. He pleads, he swears, he promises, he insists - but the principal just doesn't believe him. There is nothing the boy can say to prove his innocence. Nobody is listening and as far as he is concerned, he's unjustly condemned. Finally, the principal says that not only did he cheat on the exam, he's lying about it as well and punishes the boy. He has to run around the outdoor track 2 times ( roughly 2 miles)The boy says nothing, and leaves the office dejected.

It's the middle of December and the weather is cold, windy and it's snowing. The teacher and the principal are gazing out the window of the school watching the boy run around the snow-covered track. They watch him run around once, twice,
and are shocked to see him continue running around another 8 times.

Do you think the boy was innocent or guilty?

So I was thinking about my grade 11 English classes and the supplementary reading books. It would be of benefit to all if you would discuss your books with each other and brainstorm some ideas regarding the assigned topics. The most difficult part of writing is generating ideas; once you have some thoughts about your book, the rest will unfold more easily and writing an essay won't be so difficult for you. Allow the ideas to percolate in your head. Then write an outline - it's like a map that will give you direction and a path to follow. Talk to your friends in the other English class and see what they have to say about the book. Be wise when it comes to making your choice of topic - go for the one that will be the easiest to write about.