Welcome To Wiki!

     In the Hawaiian language, "wiki" means quick. This is a quick, interactive site for English 9 students. Always keep in mind that this public domain is an educational resource; therefore, students must not post anything they do not want their principal, parents, and clergyman/woman to read. Inappropriate content will generate unpleasant consequences.   

Please review our rules for using this site:

• We will post quality work.
• We will respect the work of others.
• We will post only content that is academically relevant.

     In English class, an apostrophe has two definitions. The first one you are familiar with. It is the puncuation mark that indicates letters are missing in words and phrases, such as can't (cannot) and y'all (you all). The second definition is the one we are learning this week.

     Apostrophe is a literary device used when a human is speaking to a non-human object. It is often confused for personification, which is when a non-human object is given human qualitites, as in "The little dog laughed to see such sport/ And the dish ran away with the spoon" (Dogs don't laugh; utensils can't run away).  In the case of apostrophe, the non-human object becomes a participant in a conversation that, of course, it cannot participate in. Think about when your parent is begging the car to staart, or when Ms. Hansen calls the computer names.

     Your assignment is to write an ode. An ode is a poem that praises the attributes of an object. This type of poem is usually reserved for beautiful objects, such as great works of art. For this assignment, you will write an ode to a common, everyday item. Write the ode in second person (you, your) as if the subject had ears to hear you with. 

     And, since we are dealing with non-human objects, what better way is there to read your poem aloud than to have a non-human recite it for you? After you have written your ode, create an avatar from www.voki.com. It's fairly easy to do, and Ms. Rondeau has agreed that you may work on this in computer class. Type your poem on the class page as always, and then insert your avatar over it. It will look like this:   

Oh pencil, oh pencil