Friday, 11/13/2009

MODERN PROSE

• We walked to the Public Library and read.  (Some people made a detour to the coffee corner first.)

AP


Critical Approaches

• We went over what the HISTORICAL approach is, and what the BIOGRAPHICAL approach is.  I handed out Allison's paper as a way of showing some specific ways to connect the historical time, or the life of an author, to his or her work.  I handed back everyone's connections, and hopefully people are more clear now about how to do this, and that you need a specific textual example to support your point. 

A Christmas Carol/Victorian Era

• Here's a copy of the handout I gave in class.  Allie and Allison, please make sure you check out these websites and are able to answer these questions verbally on Monday.

Saying Good-Bye to Charles Dickens (For Now)

We need to mark the closing of our time with A Christmas Carol in some way. 

Today, I’d like you to do some perusing and contextualizing.  I’d like you to go to the following website, then click on the links I have listed below.  I want you to read the material—it’s good stuff!—and I want you to discuss it with your group.  Please answer the questions I asked under each link.

I expect you to have a good time with this and learn some things.  But I also expect you to take the assignment seriously and learn from it.

On Monday, we will have a test over A Christmas Carol and Victorian times.  At the end of the block today, you make ask me any question you like about what will be on the test.

I expect you to make the most out of this, in spite of it being Friday.  J  Than you in advance for your perserverance.

http://www.desoto.k12.wi.us/srit/reading_8_files/CDWebquest.htm

http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/VictorianEngland.htm

Read all of the material here, and discuss it with your group. 

·      What did you already know about the Victorian Era? 

·      What surprised you? 

·      How was it different from the Romantic Era?

http://www.victorianweb.org/history/poorlaw/dietwh.html

·      What was a typical week in the workhouse like, do you think?

·      Why could you be sent to a workhouse?

http://www.logicmgmt.com/1876/schoolday.htm

·      What were some of the rules students had to follow?

·      What was a typical day like in a Victorian classroom?

Basic Website with all kinds of good information!

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians.html

Miscellaneous

• Brittany read her villanelle, since we didn't hear it yesterday.
• Jackie directed (and very finely, I might add) a dramatic rendition of a Victorian classroom, complete with lining up by height, bowing, curtseying, and "yes ma'am" all around.  This is how I will expect everyone to behave in class from now on.  :-)
• We played the chair game for the last fifteen minutes. 

Homework

• Check the wiki, please.  I'll post it by Saturday morning.

CREATIVE WRITING

Organization

• We picked up the new section of the textbook.

Free Write #4

• We wrote for ten minutes, on whatever topic was on our minds.

Small Sharing Groups

• I talked about the importance of trust and the golden rule.
• I handed out expectations for small group sharing.
• I handed out a prep sheet for people to record the three pieces they're reading today, and why.
• All three groups went their separate ways to share--we had about thirty minutes for that.

Words

• Prompt Word Poem--we wrote down two of everyone's Death of Language lists on page 27.  I'll explain what to do with them on Monday.
• Playing w/Words:  Connotations (p. 29)--as a class we did numbers 2, 3 and 4.  Everyone seemed to get a hang of the idea that words can have connotations unconnected with their dictionary meaning.

Homework

• Journal #2--two pages minimum, typed, on any topic;