Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Tuesday, 12/1/2009

MODERN PROSE

  • We read for about seventy minutes.

AP
Fable

  • We whipped around the room, and each person shared the title of a fable he/she knew, and summarized it very briefly.
  • We listened to four of Aesop's fables and jotted down what the moral of each was.  To review them, visit the following website:  http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/aesop/index.html.
  • I put up two of James Thurber's fables--"The Scotty Who Knew Too Much", and "The Little Girl and the Wolf".  Go to this website to read more:  http://4brightminds.info/thurber_fables.htm

George Orwell's Animal Farm

  • I handed out the first two pages of the unit (intro page, vocabulary, study guide).
  • I read aloud from chapter 1, just a few pages to introduce the story.  
  • I encourage people to create a list of characters, and include a detail or two about each.
  • Everyone had about twenty-five minutes to read.
  • We spent the last five minutes talking about distinctive orators/speakers, and finding out who would perform part of Old Major's speech AS that orator.  So far we have Nick as Malcolm X, and Greg as Tom Brokaw.

Writing Conferences

  • I conferenced with Tyler and Allie.

Homework

  • Finish reading chapters 1-2, if necessary.
  • Read through all the study guide questions, and think about them.  Make sure you are prepared to answer them during class discussion tomorrow.
  • We will have a reading quiz over chapters 1-2 tomorrow as well.
CREATIVE WRITING

Homework Due
  • Theme for English B
  • Reality TV Journal

Point of View/Perspective
  • We talked a lot today about what point-of-view is, and how it affects the way a story is told.
  • We talked about how people see things differently depending on age, background, gender, life experiences, etc.
  • We spent about twenty minutes writing "Life at Thirty".
Writing Experiment #8
Start Time: 2:00
End Time: 2:20

Life at Thirty—THE BIG PICTURE!
Pretend today is your thirtieth birthday (or fortieth, if you need).  
Tell me what your life is like!  Focus on whatever
WRITE IN PRESENT TENSE!  
Use FIRST PERSON (“I”).

You might want to include (but don’t have to):
Family
Kids
Job/Profession/Occupation
Living situation (house)
Possessions (car)
Environment (on the moon?)
Happiness!  Satisfaction with life?
Health
Financial standing (money)
  • Economy
Youthful appearance still?
Receding hairline?
Married?
Where you live
Hobbies

I read Ben and Ashley's Life at Thirty pieces to show a couple of possible directions you could take when you revise.

Early Memory
  • I read Alyssa's story, "The Sandwich Bed", and people took notes about WHY the story sounded like a child was telling it.  Here's what they came up with:  simple vocabulary, short sentences, repetition, etc.
  • We had about twenty-five minutes to create a typed draft of this piece--a memory of yours from ages 5-8, occurring during a short time frame, and including at least four sentences of dialogue.
Christmas Wish List
  • I handed out index cards, and people wrote down five things they want for Christmas--they could be realistic, or not; serious, or not; major, or minor....
Homework
  • None

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