What We've Been Up To...

I haven’t posted here in a while, and I apologize for the lapse.  (That is, I apologize to anyone who might be reading…the tricky thing about a blog is one can never be sure if anyone’s checking in!)  So here’s what we’ve been up to in language arts.

We’ve been reading and discussing a variety of poems and short stories, honing our ability to look at the figurative meaning of texts.  We’ve been examining how various literary devices appear in the poems and stories and, of course, doing some creative writing of our own.  We’ve read and analyzed “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “The Silken Tent” by Robert Frost, “Garden of My Childhood” by Kuangchi C. Chang, and “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou.  Today, students will begin work on a formal analysis paragraph about one of those pieces.

Next week, after critiquing and finalizing the analysis paragraphs, we’ll begin studying Shakespeare’s Macbeth, beginning with a look at some background information about Shakespeare’s time, then launching into a “reader’s theater” reading and discussion of Macbeth.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable winter break.  We return to school with the beginning of the second semester; it's hard to believe we're halfway through the school year already!  There's a lot to look forward to in the upcoming months.

During the first week back, we'll be studying a list of literary terms.  Students will complete a project to help them learn the terms and definitions, and we'll be reading a variety of short stories and poems to analyze how the literary devices work in literature.  Analyzing literature will be a focus for the upcoming quarter, and I'm excited about the writing and discussion that always emerges from the variety of texts we study.    The first significant assessment for the quarter will take place next Wednesday, January 16th.  It will assess students' ability to define the literary terms from the list.  An understanding of these terms will not only help students analyze texts we study this year, but it will prepare them for success in their freshman year Introduction to Literature classes.

Here are links to some of the assignments we'll be working on in class this week:

LITERARY TERMS LIST

Literary Terms Project (Your Choice)

"The Lottery" Analysis Questions (link to the story)

I look forward to great reading and writing in the upcoming semester!

This Week in Language Arts

The end of the quarter is right around the corner.  Here’s a quick guide to what’s coming up in language arts and social studies over these next two weeks.

The common theme during these weeks is persuasive speaking, whether it takes the form of courtroom testimony or a formal speech.  In language arts, students will present speeches based on their persuasive essay.  Last week, students wrote notecards, and we discussed techniques for effective speeches.  This week, students will practice their speeches in small groups (and, ideally, at home too).  Beginning on Wednesday, students will present their speeches to the whole class.  The will be the last major grade of the semester in language arts.

In social studies, we are preparing for a mock trial based on the events of the Boston Massacre.  Every student will study a role and write answers to direct examination questions.  At the beginning of the last week before the winter break, we'll have a quiz on courtroom terms.  Students should prepare for their roles in the Boston Massacre by studying their questions and role sheets, as well as the courtroom terms.

Book Recommendation: DEAD END IN NORVELT

Dead End in Norvelt stars an awesome kid named Jack Gantos, who finds himself very, very grounded after shooting a gun his father brought back from World War II.  In Jack’s defense, he had no idea the gun was loaded when he aimed at the distant drive-in movie screen for some participatory, non-sanctioned viewing.  On the other hand, Jack’s also a kid who, when his mother asks him, “[D]oes your dad know you have all this dangerous war stuff out?” Jack replies, without skipping a beat, “He always lets me play with it as long as I’m careful,” which, as he himself points out a second later, “wasn’t true.”  In fact, Jack quite clearly recollects his father telling him that “This swag will be worth a bundle of money someday, so keep your grubby hands off it.” 

This book reminded me a little bit of The Teacher’s Funeral, in that it’s set in the midwest, and in a different time period (granted, the two books are set years apart, but it’s all history to the modern reader, especially the modern reader under age sixteen).  It’s funny and sweet, and I think it would appeal to kids who like books with crazy facts in them about everything from war to mummies, as those are just the kinds of facts that appeal to young Jack.  Plus, there’s a bunch of dead people, and obituary writing, and mystery, plenty of bloody noses, and an old plane that might just get off the ground again.  It’s all just kind of great, a book that takes flight from the very first scene, with a little boy and a Japanese gun and a distant drive-in movie screen.   

This Week in Language Arts...

This week in language arts, we'll be working with the rough drafts of the persuasive essays, editing and revising.  Though we often think about writing as a solitary endeavor, I believe that once a draft is complete, the writing process becomes shared.  I tell students that the more readers they receive feedback from the better.  I know that even in graduate school, I could always find something useful from every reader; in critique sessions, that could mean ten or more readers giving me ideas about how to improve my work.
In the beginning of the week, we'll talk about effective critique partners and how to give feedback.  (Here's a handout that summarizes the expectations and steps for critique groups.  And here's a chart students fill out to give one another feedback.)  Students will become editors, responding to each other's work.  I'll read the essays and give feedback too, so that every student will finish the week with a stronger version of his or her essay.  One of my favorite things about being a writing teacher is this: seeing a piece of writing evolve and improve and shine.  This is a great week to witness that process.

Book Recommendation: DELIRIUM

Love is beautiful and wonderful and amazing.  Sometimes.  It is also the root of some of our very deepest pain.  If you could protect yourself from the pain, would you give up the wonders?  Lauren Oliver’s dystopian novel Delirium is about a society that has decided that’s exactly what they want: a nice, even existence with sensible life pairs that are assigned at eighteen, pairings that will never cause either party any pain.  It’s a society that has found a cure for love.  One catch: you don’t get to choose whether or not you want to take the antidote.  It’s required.

Enter Lena Haloway, a seventeen-year-old who has been counting down the days until her eighteenth birthday, the day she will receive the cure.  She lives with the fear that she might catch the disease of love before she gets the antidote, a disease that could jeopardize the life of safety and contentment she’s long seen as her due.  And then, on the day of her evaluation, Lena finds herself saying that Romeo and Juliet is “beautiful” when she’s supposed to say “frightening.”  And then she says that her favorite color is that of the sky “Right before the sun rises…the pale nothing color,” when she’s supposed to say “Blue.”  When a herd of cows painted with the words NOT CURE. DEATH comes storming through the labs, Lena catches a glimpse of a laughing boy, and her world starts to fracture.

I love a book with a great question at its center, and that’s definitely the case with Delirium.  I mean, I love “love,” but I’m not sure I’d say that if I were suffering a broken heart.  Is passion always better than security?  Is freedom better than safety?  Is one perfect kiss worth the pain of loss?  I know what I’d say—and it’s pretty clear where Oliver stands—but I not only followed Lena’s evolution with a rather ravenous zeal, I’m also looking forward to seeing where her decision takes her in the sequel: Pandemonium.

This Week in Language Arts...

This week students will continue to work on their persuasive essays.  They will write outlines and rough drafts.  We'll talk about the importance of a concession paragraph, and students will write concession paragraphs about their topics.  Here's a link to the pages about concession paragraphs in the persuasive essay packet.

This might be a good week to read some of the essays students wrote in previous years such as this one about an ice rink in the valley or this one about gun safety classes in schools.  Reading model essays is a great way to see the big picture as we work through the steps to completing such a major essay.