Sample Synthesis Thesis Statement

Both "Body in a Box" and "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" are concerned with the inevitability of  mortality, but while Green's lyrics suggest that they only antidote is to live life fully, Thomas' classic poem urges all of us to die well, to die fighting death.

Song Poems

I am even more sick today then I was yesterday, so I am home resting. Please make sure that you do not use my absence as an excuse to accomplish little. Our wrap-up of poetry and the online literature circle is intense and we have much to get done before the holidays.

To Do Today:

1) Silent Reading (your novel should be done by Friday)

2) Your Final Poetry Response - a compare and contrast essay. See handouts. If I were doing this assignment I would likely compare "Do Not Go Gently" to "Body in a Box." Love Dallas Green (City and Colour)!



3) Library - try to get to step four today.

Two Tasks on Tursday

1) Browse Poems to find one that you are willing to try to memorize and recite out loud: http://www.poetryinvoice.com/poems

2) Finish your poetry response to "To a Sad Daughter."

(and make sure you have read to the 3/4 point in your novel)

Tintern Abbey and More Time to Write...

1) Silent Reading

2) Tintern Abbey Questions - small groups followed by discussion...

• To the extent is “Tintern Abbey” about Nature? What does Wordsworth mean by Nature? What lines of the poem tell you what he means by nature? Go beyond the obvious. What are the characteristics of nature?
• The speaker also speaks of the "sublime" and uses descriptions that sound like a sermon. Given this tone and his religious diction, what do you think Wordsworth is asserting as a new sort of faith, a new sort of God, if you will?
• This is also a "spirit of the place" poem. Genius Loci (Lt.) What place is your (semi) sacred place? Why? What it is it about the place?
• The speaker directly addresses his sister. What does he see in her that delights him? What does he hope for her?

First Poetry Response

In 300 - 500 words consider the Father-Son relationship in either "My Papa's Waltz" or "Those Winter Sundays."  This is a formal, academic response. As such, this paragraph cannot be written in first person.

Include:

• A catchy opening
• A clear thesis statment - author, title, your main idea, and a sense of direction
• Several supporting points.
• Many, many supporting quotes. See examples here.
• Evaluate your ideas.
• Use transitions. PEET model.
• Conclusion - check your thesis.

Tara, this is Stupid Stuff (or, into the wild...)

1) Questions to ask of a Poem  - click here. 

2) Picture this. I'm a poet. I write a lot of sorrowful, questioning poems. I share them with my friends. Maybe I post them on Facebook, or I actually read them to my friends. And then, one day, I'm in a bar, having a beer (maybe some nachos too, I like nachos...) and my friend says to me, "Why do you write such sad stuff all the time?" I pause. I ponder... and then in a long-winded poetic way I provide an answer:

Tara, this is stupid stuff!

Like short stories, we first ask about setting and speaker. (We are entering into the wilds of a dramatic situation - we need to figure out who, where... and then what, when, how... )

3) Time to work on questions (or time to finish test or time to work on creative project).

4) Tomorrow we'll check in with your answers.

Getting Wild with Leonard

Book Talk first.

Unit handout. No textbook. Return The Kite Runner.

Discussion:

What do we think of, when we think of "The Wild?" 

Think of the last wind storm...think of a crazy night... think of whirlwinds of emotion... think of huge concerts and crazy people and...................

What do we think of when we think of poetry?

What do the two share in common?

I didn't always like poetry. Until I came across Batter my Heart Three Personed God. What did I see and hear and feel in it?

There's a storm inside us all. The sounds. The feelings. We are poetry!

~~ Leonard Cohen Creative Activity...

Journals are due next week!

1) Vocab Overview - Quiz moved to Monday...

2) New Journal Topics - and a sample.

3) Review Chapters 18 - 19

"How could I have been so blind? The signs had been there for me to see all along..."

"I was learning that Baba had been a thief."

"There was a way to be good again. A way to break the cycle."

"Again, the car sickness."

Farid is ________________________....

The hospitality at Wahid's house. An ancient code.

The dream. pg 252 - foreshadowing.

"Once over these mountains, I had made a choice. And now, a quarter of a century later, that choice had landed me back on this soil."

The watch. "The fistful of money." - Karmic cycle? All events come full circle in this story - an Afghan tradition.


4) Read Ch. 20 Or, time to work... really work, not pretend to work.

• Homework: read chapter 21 
• We'll finish the book soon. I will read the last chapter (a condensed version) on Monday. 
• Prepare to read this weekend!

Vocab and Stuff

1) Chapter 18 - two question quiz:

• Why does Amir now call Baba a thief? 1 mark
• Why does Amir decide to go to Kabul? Explain. 4 marks

2) Vocabulary - check... one student per word... Friday vocab quiz - sentences.

Hazara Kids

3) Life is a lottery - Hazara or Pastun?

4) Read

5) Time to work on journals and chapter questions...

Secrets

1) True Story - once upon a time I lived in an old house with my best friend, Shauna. We were young students. We worked hard. We played hard. We were tough cookies. We had it all going on... then, one day the phone rang....

2) Quiet Think - heads down.... remember a time when you told a big lie, maybe to cover up something you did, maybe just because you weren't really thinking... whatever the case, you knew what you were saying was wrong, maybe you even knew that people would get hurt, as a result. Remember it? Now, ask yourself, has the truth been told? If not, should you clear the air and come clean? Would it be better to hold the lie? Would it be healthier to tell the whole story?

3) Class Discussion - Way back when, I asked, "Why Do We Lie?"

Today, I am asking you, "Why do we sometimes decide to stop lying and tell the truth?"

4) Review Chapter 16 - quick summary.

Read Chapter 17 - all stay... this is one of the most important chapters in the book.

Your job, as you listen, is to think about how this peripheral character, Rahim Khan, is integral to the whole of The Kite Runner. What would this book be without him? What does he represent?

5) Time for journals, chapter questions, vocabulary. 

6) Read to the end of Ch. 18 for homework. And, get vocab sheet done.

Chapters 11-13 Review

1) Chapter 11-13 - review chapters - discussion questions on board.

2) 

Journal topics - what makes you happy? What keeps you from being happy? In your opinion, why do people become unhappy? Why is Amir becoming happy?

What is love? Why do we want/need it? Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

3) Reading and working time...

Monday!

1) Discussion - you were supposed to read up to the end of Chapter 13. With your partner, or in a group of up to four people, discuss the following:

• According to traditional Afghani views, what should men be like?
• According to our own North American views, what should men be like?
• According to traditional Afghani views, what should women be like?
• According to our pop culture and internet culture, what should women be like?
• Who is more right? Us or them? Why? How do you know?

Even consider our differing notions of female beauty:

Young Afghani Woman

Young Pop Star

Send one person up to the board to write down you most interesting insights on one of the boards.

• What are the rules of courtship/dating/marriage according to traditional Afghani culture?
• What are the rules of dating/marriage here?
• What could we learn from the Afganis?
• What could they learn from us?

Send one person up to the board to write down you most interesting insights on one of the boards.

NEW JOURNAL TOPIC(s) - any of the above questions.

2) Reading - teacher to read Chapter 14... (others can go out to the halls and read)

3) Time to work on journals and questions and vocabulary.... (the new question sets and vocabulary handouts are somewhere in the mess of Kite Runner stuff on the table at the front of the class by the door. (Not in one of the binders... just in a pile somewhere).

4) VOTE: Tomorrow is Drop Everything and Read Day. Do you want to have a giant read-in? I'll bring hot chocolate... vote.

Speed Mash and Review!

1) Group Review of Part One of the novel - 10 groups 

• Each group has a chapter... 
• Find a way to present a highspeed re-telling of the chapter that you have been assigned. 
• Here's the odd add-in.... you must mash your re-telling with a genre/style that makes your review memorable.
• Operatic chapter one, cowboy chapter two, heavy metal chapter three, Star Wars chapter four, Shakespearean chapter five, Sesame Street chapter 6, etc.... you get the idea.... 

2) Reading time - Chapter 11

3) Next set of questions

4) HOMEWORK - read to the end of chapter 12.

Chapter 7 and 8

1) Pop Quiz - 13 marks

The Lamb

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

Gave thee life & bid thee feed. 

By the stream & o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice! 

         Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

         Little Lamb I'll tell thee,

         Little Lamb I'll tell thee!

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb: 

He is meek & he is mild, 

He became a little child: 

I a child & thou a lamb, 

We are called by his name.

         Little Lamb God bless thee. 

         Little Lamb God bless thee.

2) Discussion - chapter 7 and 8

• Why does Amir completely fail to react in that alley way? 
• After the fact, why does Amir not tell the truth?

3) Reading - chapter 9

4) Time to work on journal, questions, vocabulary...

A block Tuesday

B block English 11 is in an assembly today.
To be fair, and keep you all at an equal pace, we'll make today a work day! :)

Things TO DO:
- catch up on your journal
- answer the chapter questions
- start defining the vocabulary list (put a check mark beside the words you already know)

OR - Participate in the Globe and Mail Student question: Have you learned anything in school that helped prevent bullying? (You can use the ipods - they are working now!)

Irony, Vocabulary, and more...

1) Irony:
A literary device where the opposite of what you expect occurs.

That is, it is ironical when there is a difference between what is spoken and what is meant (verbal irony), 
what is thought about a situation and what is actually the case (situational irony), 
or what is intended by actions and what is their actual outcome (dramatic irony). 

This guy is young and way funnier than me. Let him explain the three types of irony to you.

2) Review Chapter 6 - Winter, a symbol? Kite running introduced. Lying and eating dirt. "Maybe you'll win." Television, a symbol?


Kite Running Short Doc:

3) Chapter 7  - see psychological dissociation at work...

4) Time to work - add in vocabulary...

Why all this sad stuff?

1) Discussion: New story about bullied girl, my own sad news...

From the Amanda Todd video.

Why should we reflect on sad stories 
(in the news, in literature)?

2) Time to Read - Ch. 5.

3) New journal topic - same as discussion topic.

4) Time to work on journal, notes, questions...

5) Homework: read to the end of Ch. 6

Symbols, Motifs, Buzkashi

Buzkashi Video, as promised... what does this video teach us about Afghani culture?

1) sym·bol/ˈsimbəl/

Noun:

A thing that represents or stands for something else, esp. a material object representing something abstract. A symbol's meaning can shift to represent more than one thing, especially in a longer piece of literature. Examples from the Kite Runner (so far). What do these represent? Hassan's Hairlip The Pomegranate Tree "Feeding from the same breast" Kites

2) mo·tif/mōˈtēf/

Noun:

A recurrent and distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition.  Examples from The Kite Runner: Tragedy and Loss Father and Son Relationships Wounds/Scars/Disabilities The Connection between the Social and Political Discrimination (Pashtuns vs, Hazaras) What is Masculine?

3) Other terms - foreshadowing, metaphor

4) Next Journal Topics (pick one or two):

• Characterize Baba and Amir's relationship. Why does "hate" enter into their father/son relationship? What quotations show us, the readers, the raw truths about their feelings towards one another?
• Children are not colouring books.
• Much of this novel is about discrimination and cultural divides across political/social/religious lines. Is it human nature to hate the "other"? Do we in Canada have our own stories of ugly discrimination? Or, what about right here in the hallways of Highland, what ugly divides and discriminations happen here? How can we deal with this sort of hatred?
• Do you identify with Amir in any way? Most students see at least a glimmer of themselves in the complicated relationship he has with his father. In what ways are you like Amir?

5) What is reflective writing? 

Reflection is a form of personal response to 
experiences, situations, events or new information. 
It is a ‘processing’ phase where thinking and learning 
take place. There is neither a right nor a wrong way 
of reflective thinking, there are just questions to 
explore. 

Reflective writing is:
• your response to experiences, opinions, events or new information
• your response to thoughts and feelings
• a way of thinking to explore your learning
• an opportunity to gain self-knowledge
• a way to achieve clarity and better understanding of what you are learning and thinking about in class
• a chance to develop and reinforce writing skills
• a way of making meaning out of what you read and discuss in class

Reflective writing is not:
• just conveying information, instruction or argument
• pure description, though there may be descriptive elements
• straightforward decision or judgement (e.g. about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad)
• a summary of course notes
• a standard formal essay

6) Time to work on journals or questions...

Post-Turkey Tuesday

1) Ch 4 Quiz

Kabul, Afghanistan - in the 60's and 70's before the wars.


2) Review Ch. 3 and 4

3) Read Ch 5

4) Questions and vocabulary work....

5) Tests back.

6) Tomorrow: Symbols, Motifs...

Into The Kite Runner

1) Take out The Kite Runner - B block, please silent read to end of Ch.2
2) Discussion: Think back - who was your best friend when you were about 7 or 8? Did you ever do something "bad" with them? Do you remember how you felt? 

Are there absolute rights and wrongs?

Terms/ideas to Consider - are we all designed to avoid pain?

Hedonism - pursuit of or devotion to the pursuit of pleasure.

Altruism - Unselfish concern for the welfare of others. An altruist is not concerned with pursuing pleasure.

What is a False Dichotomy?

3) Review first two chapters - characters chart

4) Read: Ch. 3

5) Journal Topics: 

• How did you learn what was right from what was wrong? Can you remember and describe a specific event?
• What is it like living in a world that preaches good, but exemplifies wrong? Let`s look at what`s in the headlines right now. Tainted meat, unfair death of civilians in Syria, Harper celebrated for being the most deceptive prime minister yet, and so much more in the world of celebrity worship... and all the ordinary stuff of your world that is so not cool. How does this relate to our novel?

HOMEWORK: Read to the end of Chapter 4 - note takers for chapters 2, 3, 4

Wednesday!

1) Who needs to finish the test?

2) Wanna finish the movie? Vote.

3) The E word.

4) Afghanistan World Cafe

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text

Twitter Movie Thingy

https://twitter.com/ColbornesClass

Quiz

 

Name:     ID: 

 

Email: 

Fiction Terms Quiz                                            _______/17

Multiple Choice Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
A B C D	1.	What is the best definition for the theme of a story? a. A one-word message. c. A timeless piece of advice that you never forget. b. A universal statement about life, and what it is like, that is considered in a story. d. The motif.
A B C D	2.	Lengel is an example of a: a. Dynamic Character c. Round Character b. Annoying Character d. Stereotyped Character
A B C D	3.	An epiphany is: a. the peak of the action. c. a timeless idea. b. a character’s sudden realization. d. a place where an earthquake starts.
A B C D	4.	Stokesie is a character foil for: a. Sammy c. Queenie b. Lengel d. The Sheep
A B C D	5.	“I quit!” is an example of what part of the plot of a story? a. The Rising Action c. The Introduction b. The Falling Action d. The Climax
A B C D	6.	The character of Sammy is what three types of characters? a. Antagonist, Mysoginist, Flat c. Protagonist, Dynamic, Round b. Round, Dynamic, Stereotyped d. Protagonist, Static, Quitter
A B C D	7.	What element of fiction do tone, mood and social and political context share in common? a. Theme c. Suspense b. Setting d. Foreshadowing
Matching - Select the best match of definitions and terms. Put the letter selected by each numbered term.   _____/8
		a. Camera-like perspective. e. God-like perspective. b. Character details are explicitly stated. f. An idea or ideas that seem contradictory but eventually prove to be true. c. A long piece of literature. g. Time, place, season... d. A character that is like a real human. h. The closing details of a story.
A B C D E F G H	8.	Epic
A B C D E F G H	9.	Round Character
A B C D E F G H	10.	Denoument
A B C D E F G H	11.	Omniscient Point of View
A B C D E F G H	12.	Objective Point of View
A B C D E F G H	13.	Paradox
A B C D E F G H	14.	Setting
A B C D E F G H	15.	Direct Presentation
Short Answer - 2 marks
	16.	List three types of external conflict:

Manic Monday!

 1) Quiz!
 2) Presentations - an late additions?
 3) Think Back - What did the street poet want?

 4) The First Big Essay - 600 words.... more... CHOICES - decide on topic and write a thesis.
 5) Journal topic

Theme and...

1) How did it go yesterday? Go over "Identities" questions. Time to finish answers up and hand in.

2) Notes on Point of View and Theme - on board. Also...

3) Next Story: 

Figuring Out Identities

1) What is the CONNOTATION of the word?
 Connotation - Any idea, word, meaning suggested by a thing. (In this case, what other words, ideas, meanings come to mind when you think of the word Identity?) As a group, discuss the word, and create a brainstorm of all the connotations on the board.

2) Story of the day: Identities, by Valgardson p.3 of Inside Stories.

Read aloud to class and then, quietly, and in pairs or alone, students should skim back through the story to answer the following questions:

• What kind of identities are at play in this story? 
• What is our protagonist like? How do you know? (What quotes)
• Why does he leave his neighbourhood of twice cut lawns? What is his motivation? 
• This story has some very detailed and descriptive passages. What setting description stood out to you? What is the point of the contrast between the two settings of suburbia and urban slum?
• Using the glossary at the back of the book to review the following terms - point of view, simile, symbol and metaphor.
• What similes, symbols and metaphor are used? To what effect?
• What is the point of view? How do you know?
• If the theme of a piece of literature is a generalized understanding about how life is, then what do you think the theme of "Identities" is? In other words, what's the big idea here? 
• Due Tomorrow!

4) Terms on the board - can put these up to support students who are struggling:

Motivation - see the definition in the back of Inside Stories 
Simile
Metaphor
Symbol (scroll down)
Here is a great link to all the literary terms you are responsible for by Grade 12:http://www.openschool.bc.ca/courses/english/glossary.html

First Literary Analysis

1) Return first assignment - discuss and review... place in portfolio. What are these 6 point scales?

2) Anyone want to go to Bard on the Beach?

2) Literary Analysis Paragraph - The Character of Sammy.

Topic: In a well-developed paragraph explain how Sammy, in Updike's "A & P," is a round character. (In other words, describe Sammy's conflicting character traits.) 

This response should be in third person, and formal in tone. Include and integrate into your sentences at least 4 short quotations that support your main idea.


The thesis will contain the title of the story and author's name. The thesis is the most important sentence - show me you best critical thinking!

See the sample here.

Don't forget our ever expanding style checklist:

• Sentence Variety
• Elevated Vocabulary
• Avoid Contractions
• No slang
• Avoid cliches
• Minimal use of be verbs and passive voice

Elements of Fiction:Character in A&P

1) I'm away to take my little girl who's been sick for weeks to a doctor's appointment.
Never fear, Ms. Petch is here!
2) Group Discussion Questions - a little something to wake up the brain...

• Who can remind us what happened in A&P? Tell us the PLOT but in short form. No judging or critiquing the central character (yet)... just give us the "First this happened and then that happened..." and so on and so on.
•  Is Sammy's quitting a form of rebellion or a statement of some sort? Does it have any meaning? What is he rebelling against? Are there unconscious targets of his rebellion? Who is the enemy here? Are there any forms of oppression at work in the story? Who is oppressed (or "embarrassed" for that matter)? Is Sammy's standing up for the girls in some way a form of standing up for himself? 
•  Is the girls behavior itself a kind of statement or rebellion of some sort? What message are they sending by walking into the A&P in their bathing suits? What messages do the girls send to "the sheep" of the store? Why is it significant that they choose a supermarket for their self-display?    
• What are Queenie and the girls symbolic of? Is Queenie an upper class girl? How do you know? Is she more free than Sammy? Why?  How does he imagine her life? How does he contrast his own existence to that of Queenie? What does Sammy know for a fact about her? What in a sense is he trying to achieve by impressing Queenie?
• What does Sammy want? How do you know? What are we told he wants? What are we shown that he wants? 

3) Character - consider the following slides, and the notes that follow,

   

Certain types of characters appear in many stories.  They are:

<  The protagonist is the central character (person, animal, or personified object) in the plot's conflict.

<  The antagonist is the force in conflict with the protagonist. It may be society, nature, or fate, as well as another person. It can also be the protagonist's own self, if he or she has an internal conflict.

<  A character foil is a character whose traits are in direct contrast to those of the principal character. The foil therefore highlights the traits of the protagonist. The foil is usually a minor character, although if there are two protagonists, they may be foils of each other.

Also:

- A Flat Character is one dimensional, only has one character trait.
Ex. Lengel, the store manager is conservative.
- A Stock Character or Stereotyped Character is one of a type that we all recognize - the nerd, the jock, the grumpy boss. Yup, Lengel is also an example of a Stereotype.
- A Static Character is a character that does not change. Ex. You guessed it... Lengel.

- Sammy is a round and dynamic character because he has many character traits and he changes over the course of the story; he has an epiphany. An epiphany is a moment of sudden realization.

4) Your Task:

With a partner, or on your own, make and fill in a chart that looks like this:

Sammy – protagonist, round character, dynamic character
Direct Presentation Quote:	What were we told about the character:	Indirect Presentation Quote:	What do we infer about the character”

Find TWO examples of direct Presentation and at least SIX of indirect.
DUE TOMORROW.

5) Assembly or.... for the other block: How is a short film like a short story? What do we learn about character studies from Pixar?