The Seven Stories

Here are the links to the stories.  You should have looked at them all for tomorrow.  You will have time with your partner to make the final decisions.

The Bet

The Treasure of Lemon Brown

The Monkey's Paw

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Elevator

Lamb to the Slaughter

Old Glory

Reading Closer and Thinking Deeper

That was the thrust of today's class.  It is through close reading and deep thinking that you will find the true gold hidden in the stories and be able to expand upon them so that you can offer a fleshed out, unique piece of writing.

Tonight, as you write your two page theme paper, I want you to push yourself to write a complete theme analysis, using all the relevant details the author offers.  Don't just settle on the protagonist or the first idea that comes to mind.  Analyze all the characters, all that happens in the story so that you can write the most comprehensive piece possible.

Bring those two complete pages to class tomorrow.

As I said today, I won't be in class tomorrow.  You will be doing some reading and selecting.  I'm giving you seven choices.  That leaves only about 8 minutes per piece of writing.  You won't have time to read all of the stories but I do want you to look over as many as you can.  As you read them be thinking about the types of papers you will be writing this quarter.

Which of the stories will offer the best opportunity to write a theme paper?

Which of the stories will offer the best opportunity to write an analysis of the author's writing style?

Which of these two stories will offer the best opportunity to write a compare/contrast paper?

Ask yourself these questions while you are reading the pieces.  Select the two that you think give you the best opportunity to write these papers well.  Let me know on Friday.  If you need more time with them, look here tomorrow night for a link to the pdfs.

Until next time...

The Start of the Literary Essay Unit

Investigative Journalism is in the past and the Literary Essay is now here, but that doesn't mean you should forget everything we went over during the first unit.  Instead, you should be drawing on the writing aspects that carry over to this type of writing.  

You are still going to need to write creative leads.

You are still going to need to use paragraphs.

You are still going to be making claims.  

You are still going to need to support your claims with evidence and quotes.

You are still going to need to balance your writing between narrative and argumentative.

You are still going to need to close with a BANG! or a jolt or a clever twist or a cohesive ending.  

You are still going to need to write and edit and revise and submit a polished paper when we are finished.

Our first literary essay will be theme based.  You will be writing an essay identifying and supporting a theme from a short story.  With that in mind we agreed on a definition for theme:

A theme is a sentence that identifies the universal moral/message/central idea the author is trying to get across.

We also distinguished between thematic ideas:

love

curiosity

power

And themes:

Love is blind.

Curiosity killed the cat.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Sorry, all the above examples are cliche, but you get the idea.

For tonight, the honors classes are completing their two page writing on a theme they identified from "All Summer in a Day".

For tonight the standard classes are taking two thematic ideas (period three: hope and jealousy) (period four: individuality and jealousy) and turning them into themes that could be used in conjunction with "All Summer in a Day".

We will read and write more tomorrow.  

Until next time...

Classics

Here is a list of classic novels for you.  This list is not all-inclusive.  If you want to read something not on this list, just let me know, and I will check to see if it is okay.

Gulliver's Travels

The Great Gatsby

Brave New World

The Sound and the Fury

Catch-22

Grapes of Wrath

1984

Slaughterhouse Five

Invisible Man

Native Son

As I Lay Dying

All the King's Men

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Lord of the Flies

The Naked and the Dead

The Catcher in the Rye

A Clockwork Orange

Heart of Darkness

Lord Jim

The Call of the Wild

Sophie's Choice

To Kill a Mockingbird

Battlefield Earth

The Hobbit

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Dune

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Martian Chronicles

Fahrenheit 451

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

Jane Eyre

Emma

Wuthering Heights

Pride and Prejudice

David Copperfield

Oliver Twist

A Christmas Carol

Great Expectations

White Fang

Treasure Island

Kidnapped

Tess of the D'Ubervilles

The Count of Monte Cristo

Of Mice and Men

A Tale of Two Cities

Dracula

Frankenstein

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Gone with the Wind

The Once and Future King

Watership Down

Moby Dick

The Three Musketeers

The Man in the Iron  Mask

Four Day Break

Enjoy your time away from school.  Check back here this weekend for a list of classic novel possibilities.

Student-Lead Conferences Day II

Another long night tonight, but it's all worth while if I get to meet some parents.  Can't wait!

Today we looked at theme in the honors class.  We agreed that it

-was the central idea of a piece of writing
-shared the point the author was trying to get across
-was the moral
-was universal in scope
-was a stated in a sentence, not a single word (like courage)

When it came to the theme in "All Summer in a Day" one class emphasized the importance of thinking through decisions before acting.  Another class stressed the power of jealousy and how it makes us act. Period 6? I'll find out in an hour.  the classes offered support and argued for their selection in a debate.  Good material.

As you can tell from the Acuity tests, knowing how to identify themes is an important skill.  You will be tested on it again so we will be working on it often this year.

The standard class had a good discussion on "All Summer in a Day".  We didn't get to theme, but we still managed to demonstrate our understanding of the text and dig a bit into character motivation and development.

Tomorrow we will write for 45 minutes.  Be sure you have a good topic you feel fired up about.   It would also behoove you to have some research handy.  Facts, figures, quotes and evidence will all add credibility and strength to your paper.  Remember, you will be writing this essay tomorrow and won't have access to a computer.  I also will not be allowing any printing tomorrow. Bring what you need to school tomorrow so that you are prepared.

Until next time...

Preparing in Lab C

Today was a rather low key day after a late night at student-lead conferences.  It was great seeing a lot of you with your parents.  It's easy to see where you all get your intelligence and good looks.  (Shameless brown nosing.)

We went to Lab C to do a bit of research for the upcoming Unit II pre-write this Thursday.  On that day you will be writing about a topic you feel strongly about, something that really gets you excited and passionate (there's that word again!).  We often feel we know a lot about what we feel strongly about, but a little hard evidence and a few facts or statistics go a long way.  That's what today's (and tonight's and tomorrow night's) research is for.  Find the quotes, the facts, the support that will lend strength and credibility to your argument.

Remember you will not be typing this on the computer.  You will be writing this in class on a piece of lined paper, so you need to have your researched notes printed out or written down.  Since you might use material that you found through research, you must, of course, have the information necessary to cite the material in your paper.

Tomorrow we will bring our discussion of "All Summer in a Day" to a close.  Have an idea what you think the theme of the story is so that we can have an amazing conversation.  Can't wait to see where this discussion ends up.

Until next time...

The Weekend Post!

Ah!  The weekend has arrived and we can now relax and slow down for a couple days...unless you have some travel tournament in the next time zone that has you leaving tonight and getting back late Sunday.  I must say that I am glad those days are behind me.

Once you have recovered a bit and before I see you again on Monday, be sure to do a couple of things.

The irony assignment is due on Monday.  No 10/10 score is possible after that.

We are on the home stretch of the QBTs.  If you haven't gone yet, be sure to practice.  These last few should be the best ones yet seeing as you've been able to watch well over 20 examples by now.

Honors:  Be sure to look at the prompts for "All Summer in a Day" again, especially the one on theme.  You'll need to be able to identify what the theme of the story is and back it up with evidence from the text. That's all of you!  Also you should be thinking about the classic novel you will be reading second quarter.

Standard: You need to revise that synthesis paper.  Make it as strong as possible.  Then clean it up. Get rid of all the highlights and comments.  Print it off and bring it to class on Monday.

Until next time...

Diversity Discussion and Synthesis Writing

How does diversity shape people's perspectives?

That's the question that was posed today in the honors class.  The responses were thoughtful and they varied from increasing acceptance to sparking creativity to encouraging ignorance.  While we didn't make connections to "All Summer in a Day" yet, you can bet those will be coming.

In order to enhance our discussion in class tomorrow, be thinking about the following prompts.  You do not need to write out responses, but you should make little notes on your story that will help you respond quickly in class tomorrow.

1) What do you think the title of Bradbury’s story means? Do you think it’s a good title? Why or why not?

2) How might this experience effect Margot and the children who mistreated her? Will they react more positively toward each other now or will the relationships be even more strained?

3) How does the setting of this story (including the weather) serve as a major plot

element? Would there be a story if Bradbury’s Venus had less extreme weather? Explain.

4) From what you know of her character based on her behavior throughout

the story, how do you think Margot will react when she is let out of the closet? Should

Bradbury have described what happens next, or do you like the story as it is? Explain.

5) There is a rain shower of metaphors throughout this story. Identify some and explain how Bradbury uses the metaphors? What does he convey with the metaphors?

6) Make a real world analogy for the children's reaction to the arrival and departure of the sun.

7) What is the central idea/theme of “All Summer in a Day” what message was Bradbury trying to get across?  

In the standard class we were working on synthesis writing.   You shared ideas on what should be included in your writings and the list was pretty solid.

1) Leads

2) Titles and authors

3) Clearly stated claims

4) Quotes for support

5) Cited quotes 

6) Explanations of those quotes and how they tie into your claim

7) Conclusions

I was impressed.  Now the real challenge will be if you are able to produce all of those things in a well written essay.  We tried today and will assess those short essays tomorrow.

Until next time...  

The Student Lead Conference Preparation Day

Here is a link to the prompts for the reflection on the Investigative Journalism Article.

Today we prepped for the Student Lead Conferences next week.  If you haven't completed the reflection that we started in class today, be sure to click on the link above and finish responding to the prompts.  Then, save it to your LA submit folder and be sure to print off a copy and bring it to class tomorrow.

No QBTs to day but we will be on them again tomorrow.

Honors students: Be sure to print, read and annotate a copy of Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" short story.  We will be using it in class tomorrow.  Be thinking about how the setting of the story serves as a major plot point.

Until next time...