Choice Unit--Day 4

Today we took a quiz on last night's reading. Then, we worked on responding to some questions in notebooks. If you were absent, please complete the following:

Create a notebook page entitled, “Response Questions.” Respond to each of the following questions in a minimum of 2-3 sentences.

Author
1. Explain two important ideas that your author has tried to convey so far.
2. Review the opening of the novel. What does the author do to “hook” the reader?

Characters
3. Who are the main characters? Describe each of them.
4. Are any characters like others you have “met” in other books? How so?

Plot
5. What is the most important event in the book so far? What makes you identify the event as most important?
6. What theme is emerging in the story thus far?

Setting
7. Where and when does the story take place? How do you know?
8. Think of a place like the one in the book. Where is it? Describe it.

Mood
9. What feelings has the reading brought out in you thus far? What about the book makes you feel that way?
10. Has the mood of the story shifted at all? Where and why?

Style
11. How does the author keep you interested in the story?
12. Describe a scene that lingers in your mind. Find that scene in the book. What about the writing causes the scene to be particularly memorable?

5/8 Quiz Make-up
Identify a quote from your most recent reading that helps develop an emerging theme. Type out the quote, including page number. Then, discuss the theme you think is emerging and how you think this quote helps develop that theme.
THIS RESPONSE MUST BE TYPED.

Homework: Read your assigned pages; also, consider working on the individual quote analysis and final project which are due the week of 5/18.

Choice Unit--Day 3

Today, choice groups discussed books using the discussion questions that each member prepared before class.

Homework: Complete assigned reading

If you were absent today, please handwrite the following reflection at the bottom of your typed questions and turn your questions in tomorrow:

What is one unanswered question you have about the book? Do you think your question will be answered later on in the book? Why or why not?

Choice Unit--Day 2

Today we began with 15 minutes of reading time (outside reading books). Then, we took a reading quiz. Finally, students worked on reading and creating discussion questions, which are due tomorrow.

Homework: Read the assigned pages in your book, per your bookmark. Also, create 5 open-ended discussion questions. That is, questions about your book that will spark and maintain discussion--questions about characters, plot, symbolism, theme, etc. The questions SHOULD NOT have yes/no answers, and SHOULD NOT have a definite answer from the book. Hopefully, someone in your group will disagree with your answer to a question, thus sparking a discussion. For each of the discussion questions, you must provide a minimum, 100-word answer. So, 5 questions and 5 100-word responses.

YOUR QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES MUST BE TYPED!! YOUR QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES MUST ALSO BE ORIGINAL. THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT. IF YOU HAVE THE SAME QUESTIONS AND/OR ANSWERS AS SOMEONE ELSE IN YOUR GROUP OR IN ANOTHER CLASS, YOU HAVE COMMITTED PLAGIARISM AND WILL FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR ACADEMIC DISHONESTY.

If you were absent, you missed a quiz, and must complete the following as a make-up:

Find a significant quote from the reading for Wednesday. Type out the quote , then describe the context of the quote in detail (100 words) and discuss the significance of the quote to the book as a whole (100 words). This response MUST BE TYPED.

Vonnegut, Dede, Minerva, and Nicolas

Bring your outside reading book to class tomorrow!!

Today we analyzed these characters. If you were absent, please complete the following in your notebook, and show me your work upon your return so you may earn your daily points:

1. Create a notebook page entitled, "Character Analysis"

2. Find the most important quote said by or about your main character. Write out the quote with page number and explain your choice.

3. If you are reading Butterflies or The Weight: On the back side of your character quote page, work as a group to create a bubble map describing the character. Your map must have a minimum of 5 adjectives with textual evidence (including page numbers) in the frame.
**a minimum of 2 adjectives must come from direct characterization
**a minimum of 2 adjectives must come from indirect characterization

If you are reading Slaughterhouse: On the back side of your character quote page, work as a group to create a circle map defining Vonnegut’s attitude toward war. Include at least 5 words or phrases that define his attitude. For each word/phrase, include evidence in the frame of the map.

4. Create a complete, thoughtful statement about your character (or his attitude if you’re reading Slaughterhouse) and write it at the bottom of the map page.

Bring your outside reading book to class tomorrow!!

Homework: Respond to your outside reading book on the blog. Read the assigned pages from your choice book.

Bring your outside reading book to class tomorrow!!

Choice Unit Kick-Off

Today we completed an A-Z taxonomy on the effects of war. Then I discussed assignments for the choice unit and students got into book groups to plan their reading schedule.

If you were absent, you should complete an A-Z taxonomy on "The Effects of War" in your notebook. Also, see the choice unit documents on Edline. You will need to get a copy of your book and a bookmark from me.

HOMEWORK: Read the assigned pages from your choice reading book.

Framing Friday

On Friday students came in having read, "All the King's Horses," by Vonnegut. We completed two sheets in class, one on satire and one on the story itself. If you were absent, you can find these sheets on Edline.

Vonnegut

Today we analyzed the use of tone in Vonnegut's "The Manned Missiles." If you were absent, complete the following:

Create a notebook page entitled, “The Manned Missiles.”

1. Reread the beginning of Ivankov’s letter, from “I, Mikhail Ivankov,” to “She works very hard so she can forget sometimes her grief for Stepan.” As you reread, underline or circle words or phrases that help convey emotion or attitude.

2. In your notebook, try to describe the tone (attitude) of the letter.

3. Now reread the section of Charles Ashland’s letter on page 291, beginning with, “I tell you, Mr. Ivankov,” and ending with “…it would be cute and silly in Russia, too, and you would laugh and like us better.” As you read, circle/underline words/passages conveying emotion/attitude.

4. In your notebook, describe Ashland’s tone.

I also introduced the choices for the choice book unit. Here are the three choices:

The Weight of All Things by Sandra Benitez

The last time Nicolas saw his mother, she was slumped over him, mortally wounded by gunfire that erupted in a crowded plaza during a funeral for a martyred archbishop. Watching while her body is dragged away with other victims, Nicolas believes that his mother is still alive. He vows to find her again, no matter what. Thus begins the young boy's harrowing journey through his war-ravaged country--a journey that brings him face-to-face with the danger, cruelty, and violence inflicted today on so many parts of the world by terrorism and repression. Inspired by real events, this gripping yet poignant novel will solidify Benitez's place in the pantheon of contemporary authors writing brilliantly about the realities of Latin American life.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

Unstuck in time, Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut's shattered survivor of the Dresden bombing, relives his life over and over again under the gaze of aliens; he comes at last to some understanding of the human comedy. The basis of George Roy's great 1972 film and perhaps the signature student's novel in the 1960's embracing protest and the absurdity of war.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez's eagerly awaited second novel is a powerful story of courage, innocence, and political martyrdom in the Hispanic Caribbean. Based on actual events--the death of three sisters on November 25, 1960--the novel immerses us in an epoch in the life of the Dominican Republic. The "Butterflies," as they were known, lived daringly and dangerously under a regime that imprisoned, tortured, and killed with impunity.

If you really want to read The Weight of All Things, or Slaughterhouse-Five, you should work on finding your own copy this weekend (check the public library and/or used book stores). If you don't have a copy on Monday and I run out of those selections to give to students, you will read In the Time of the Butterflies as your choice unit book.


Homework: Read "All the King's Horses," by Vonnegut