While groups are performing, please take notes on EACH scene:
1. Write down what you think is happening
2. Be sure to clarify anything once the scene is explained or described by the presenters
Discussion questions:
1. Which ending is most likely? Why do we think so?
2. Which is most dramatic?Why?
3. In your opinion, which ending is the most desirable? Why?
4.What point is made by each ending?
-Read ending-
What position would the author take in each case?
Authorial choice- texts are built or constructed to make certain points and could be constructed differently to make different points.
(Wilhelm, 2007)
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Using Tableau to Explore Structure
As we discussed yesterday, the word "tableau" derives from the French word for visual presentation. It generally takes the form of a frozen scene or pose that captures a physical, psychological, or emotional relationship.
A very basic form of tableau is called "gestos"
Gestos is a mini-tableau that can be performed by one or two people. The idea is to summarize the relationship between characters (or ideas, objects, or forces) quickly, with a simple gesture or expression.
Example: Describe the emotional relationship between the two characters in this adapted version of "gestos."
What tableau might look like in a classroom
HW: Write a half-page journal entry on the following:
What decision will Maria make? Why do you think so? Using what you know about Maria (supporting details), make a prediction for how this story will end.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Narrative
Unit: Narrative Structure
Narrative: A story or telling of a story, or an account of a situation or event, fictional or nonfictional.
Our two main questions for this unit are:
1. How can paying attention a text's "rules of notice" and its structure aid deeper comprehension of the story and its deeper meanings?
2. How do characters' decisions relate to the theme or message of a text?
The goal will be to discover the different techniques authors use how certain techniques create a particular effect for the reader.
Literary term:
Point of view: The perspective from which a story is told.
First-person (I, me, us, my)
Second-person (you, yours)
Third-person (she, he, them, they)
Write a three-minute horror scene about
-a character getting his/her teeth pulled in the basement of a crazy, teeth-obsessed dentist.
-a character waking up inside a black hole and hearing strange voices
-a character trapped inside the "It's A Small World" attraction at Disney.
Narrative: A story or telling of a story, or an account of a situation or event, fictional or nonfictional.
Our two main questions for this unit are:
1. How can paying attention a text's "rules of notice" and its structure aid deeper comprehension of the story and its deeper meanings?
2. How do characters' decisions relate to the theme or message of a text?
The goal will be to discover the different techniques authors use how certain techniques create a particular effect for the reader.
Literary term:
Point of view: The perspective from which a story is told.
First-person (I, me, us, my)
Second-person (you, yours)
Third-person (she, he, them, they)
Write a three-minute horror scene about
-a character getting his/her teeth pulled in the basement of a crazy, teeth-obsessed dentist.
-a character waking up inside a black hole and hearing strange voices
-a character trapped inside the "It's A Small World" attraction at Disney.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Literary Terms
Figurative language-- words that express ideas beyond the basic meaning
ex. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
Obviously, a person cannot consume a whole horse. The idea is that the person is extremely hungry, possibly starving.
Literal language- words that express facts/truth.
If you say, "I'm literally falling asleep in Mr. B's class" then I am to believe that you are, in fact, entering a sleep cycle.
Two types of figurative language:
Simile- a comparison between two unlike things using like or as.
ex. She could swim like a fish.
Metaphor- a comparison between two unlike things made by stating that one is the other.
ex. She is a tiger on the soccer field.
No HW
ex. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
Obviously, a person cannot consume a whole horse. The idea is that the person is extremely hungry, possibly starving.
Literal language- words that express facts/truth.
If you say, "I'm literally falling asleep in Mr. B's class" then I am to believe that you are, in fact, entering a sleep cycle.
Two types of figurative language:
Simile- a comparison between two unlike things using like or as.
ex. She could swim like a fish.
Metaphor- a comparison between two unlike things made by stating that one is the other.
ex. She is a tiger on the soccer field.
No HW
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Word Studies
From this point on we've read children stories, trickster tales, and basic myths. The language of the texts we read is going to get more complex, which means we need to develop strategies for getting "unstuck" while reading.
One of the ways we can get past difficult words is by taking it apart, no gloves and scalpels required!
In order to be successful with this we need to learn the meaning of word parts that make up many English words. These word parts consist of prefixes, suffixes, and roots (bases).
A root word is the main part of a word (that comes from a different language) to which prefixes and suffixes may be added to.
prefix- A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning.
suffix-a letter or a group of letters that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning or to form a different word
For example, we can determine what invisible means by taking the word apart:
the prefix is in- ("not") + the root -vis- ("see") + the suffix -ible ("capable of") If we know the meanings of each word, we can figure out that invisible means "not capable of being seen."
One of the ways we can get past difficult words is by taking it apart, no gloves and scalpels required!
In order to be successful with this we need to learn the meaning of word parts that make up many English words. These word parts consist of prefixes, suffixes, and roots (bases).
A root word is the main part of a word (that comes from a different language) to which prefixes and suffixes may be added to.
prefix- A letter or group of letters attached to the beginning of a word that partly indicates its meaning.
suffix-a letter or a group of letters that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning or to form a different word
For example, we can determine what invisible means by taking the word apart:
the prefix is in- ("not") + the root -vis- ("see") + the suffix -ible ("capable of") If we know the meanings of each word, we can figure out that invisible means "not capable of being seen."
Post-Peer Review reflection
If you already haven't figured this out, I take a writing almost as seriously as these people take acting. (video)
Good writing takes thinking, revision, reflection, revision, thinking, and revision! So let's reflect:
1. After the peer review, what, specifically, do you need to fix or adjust?
2. What's something you're confident about?
3. What has been the most challenging part of this assignment?
Discussion.
HW: Self-evaluation for the body paragraphs.
Good writing takes thinking, revision, reflection, revision, thinking, and revision! So let's reflect:
1. After the peer review, what, specifically, do you need to fix or adjust?
2. What's something you're confident about?
3. What has been the most challenging part of this assignment?
Discussion.
HW: Self-evaluation for the body paragraphs.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Self-Evals and Peer Review
One of the goals of these peer reviews and self-evaluations is to emphasize that writing is a process--a final product doesn't just happen but it takes editing and revisions, and sometimes going back to the drawing board.
As such, I'm expecting to see changes from draft to draft and a small part of your grade (see rubric) will be based on the revision process--did you take the time to change things that were pointed out as unclear/incomplete, either by myself, a peer, or even yourself.
You'll be given a self-evaluation for your body paragraphs. This will provide you with another opportunity to polish your work or fix some issues before the turn-in date.
Be sure to keep all drafts, the peer review, and the self-evaluations. These will be turned in with the final product.
As such, I'm expecting to see changes from draft to draft and a small part of your grade (see rubric) will be based on the revision process--did you take the time to change things that were pointed out as unclear/incomplete, either by myself, a peer, or even yourself.
You'll be given a self-evaluation for your body paragraphs. This will provide you with another opportunity to polish your work or fix some issues before the turn-in date.
Be sure to keep all drafts, the peer review, and the self-evaluations. These will be turned in with the final product.
Project Time Line and peer review
-Your projects will be due on Thursday. This is the last day in class that we will work on them.
-Please note the VERY RARE extra-credit opportunity on the bottom of your timeline sheets.
-PEER REVIEW:
During a peer review, you are to give helpful advice. Simply saying, "everything's great!" without really looking at someone's work is not helpful and defeats the purpose of reviewing a peer's work.
Elaborate on responses--YES OR NO answers are also not incredibly helpful. EXPLAIN why you think a writer accomplished a certain task, or why you think they did not.
Offer advice--what CAN your peer do to fix an error or an unclear idea in their work?
-COVER ILLUSTRATION
When you have completed your peer review, you may start drawing a cover that goes along with your anthology's theme/title. Make sure the title is on the cover. Also, include: Collected by ___________(your name) as well.
CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
-This is to be rather short, usually around 3-4 sentences. Restate your main message with this anthology and what people would be missing out on if they do not read it. Leave an impression.
MODEL: These stories not only contribute to our growing understanding of our native cultures, but also the idea that we have more in common with them than we realize. Without reading this collection, we miss out on an opportunity to empathize and even bond with these past cultures over the shame they've suffered as a result from the ever-present mischief-maker. In truth, everyone is invited to The Shame Game!
-Please note the VERY RARE extra-credit opportunity on the bottom of your timeline sheets.
-PEER REVIEW:
During a peer review, you are to give helpful advice. Simply saying, "everything's great!" without really looking at someone's work is not helpful and defeats the purpose of reviewing a peer's work.
Elaborate on responses--YES OR NO answers are also not incredibly helpful. EXPLAIN why you think a writer accomplished a certain task, or why you think they did not.
Offer advice--what CAN your peer do to fix an error or an unclear idea in their work?
-COVER ILLUSTRATION
When you have completed your peer review, you may start drawing a cover that goes along with your anthology's theme/title. Make sure the title is on the cover. Also, include: Collected by ___________(your name) as well.
CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
-This is to be rather short, usually around 3-4 sentences. Restate your main message with this anthology and what people would be missing out on if they do not read it. Leave an impression.
MODEL: These stories not only contribute to our growing understanding of our native cultures, but also the idea that we have more in common with them than we realize. Without reading this collection, we miss out on an opportunity to empathize and even bond with these past cultures over the shame they've suffered as a result from the ever-present mischief-maker. In truth, everyone is invited to The Shame Game!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Model for intro
The Shame Game: Mischief Makers in Native American Trickster
Tales (MODEL OF FIRST PARAGRAPH)
Let’s get the
honest and ugly truth out of the way: you can’t trust everybody in this world,
and there hasn’t been a time in our history when you could. Yet, this really
isn’t news. The somewhat startling notion of this reality is that not all people
would like to live in a more trustworthy world. Rather, these shady individuals
live for the thrill that deceit and trickery can offer. That’s where this short collection of Native
American trickster tales comes into play. The
Shame Game: Mischief-Makers in Native American Trickster Tales delivers a
solid variety of stories from this country’s native cultures that demonstrate
the longstanding tradition of trickery that exists to this day. In other words,
this collection explores the individual who disrupts the everyday lives of
unsuspecting people for the sheer enjoyment it brings them, and nothing else.
Yet, these stories, coming from three different Native American cultures, allow
us to see something greater when they’re looked at together, side by side.
Whereas these stories may have served as warnings or simply entertainment in
their own individual cultures, today the troublemakers of these stories can be
read as sort of a societal inevitability—that every community and every culture
has these little chaos-causing jerks, and unfortunately, status, age, physical
size, laws, or really anything else cannot protect you. Perhaps accep6ting this
fact allows us to see that a great many have endured the shame that
mischief-makers cause, and knowing that we’re not alone in dealing with these
individuals helps us cope with being violated ourselves.
7-1 Homework
HW: In journals, complete the freewrite you started in class. You should have about a 3/4 of a page to 1 page of writing.
Bring your charts and freewrites to class tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Starting to Build a Mini Anthology
There are several steps (with mini-steps in between!) to compiling, or putting together a mini anthology.
The first step, is deciding HOW you want to organize your anthology.
In order to do this, you must analyze your data:
1. What types of tricksters do you come across (look at your "scorecards")? (NOTE: don't just focus on physical appearance, i.e. all the tricksters are raccoons--look more deeply for who they represent in society--winners, losers, outcasts, villains, goofballs, etc.)
2. What types of moods are present among the tales you've read?
3. Any thematic/purpose based similarities between the stories?
The goal is to select 3 stories that can fall under a category or label of your choosing, based on one of the above 3 items. The only restriction is that you must be able to discuss how the remaining 2 develop the category you've chosen. The more similarities you have among your stories, the easier this will be.
For mood words, click here.
MODEL: Creating a category based on item #1: Mischief Makers: I would focus on the trickster tales that include tricksters who just create chaos for no particular reason.
"Rabbit and the Tug of War" (cold mood)
"Espun and Grandfather" (depressing mood)
"Yesurhi Indians" (playful mood)
FREE WRITE MODEL:
The first step, is deciding HOW you want to organize your anthology.
In order to do this, you must analyze your data:
1. What types of tricksters do you come across (look at your "scorecards")? (NOTE: don't just focus on physical appearance, i.e. all the tricksters are raccoons--look more deeply for who they represent in society--winners, losers, outcasts, villains, goofballs, etc.)
2. What types of moods are present among the tales you've read?
3. Any thematic/purpose based similarities between the stories?
The goal is to select 3 stories that can fall under a category or label of your choosing, based on one of the above 3 items. The only restriction is that you must be able to discuss how the remaining 2 develop the category you've chosen. The more similarities you have among your stories, the easier this will be.
For mood words, click here.
MODEL: Creating a category based on item #1: Mischief Makers: I would focus on the trickster tales that include tricksters who just create chaos for no particular reason.
"Rabbit and the Tug of War" (cold mood)
"Espun and Grandfather" (depressing mood)
"Yesurhi Indians" (playful mood)
FREE WRITE MODEL:
The Shame Game: Mishchief-Makers in Native American
Trickster Tales
Why would anyone care about a bunch of trouble-makers that
just create chaos for no real reason? Well, in all three stories I collected the
characters bring shame to their community, and isn’t that something that we
should be aware of in our own society? Aren’t there people out there that live to be entertained by the misfortunes of others? Think about it: prank callers, bullies, even some serial killers do what they do because it creates chaos and nothing else. These trickster tales collected here really
explore the idea of trouble-makers in society, and how no one is off-limits, no one is safe from their meddling ways. The stories range from cold and depressing to light-hearted tales. I believe this is done to show how some mischief-makers are more dangerous than others. In my introduction to
the anthology I would describe how two of the stories have a more negative mood
and one has a lighter mood. The darker more negative moods cause audience
members to take these mischievous tricksters seriously and serve to warn people
of the shame and embarrassment they can bring. The Yesurhi tale is indeed
more playful but still offers warning to children: don't misbehave, or else the
Yesurhi indians will get you! Here, the tale uses goofy tactics (define this)
to discourage shenanigans among children. The mischief makers here respond to
poor behavior, whereas the mischief makers in the other two tales seek it out,
making them more dangerous and sneaky, hence why those two tales have a darker,
more serious mood.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Looking at Mood to Determine Purpose
Mood (or atmosphere): the general feeling or emotion created for the reader or audience by the work at a given point.
In literature, descriptive language, sensory details, dialogue, and story action are used to create this atmosphere.
Movie clips: Pay attention to the differences between the clips. How do 2 movie trailers for the same movie create vastly different moods?
Colors are often related to our emotions and feelings. Use crayons or markers to identify which stories have a positive mood and which ones have a negative mood.
1. Choose 4 colors (black, somewhat dark color, somewhat light color, yellow)
2. List the title of each story you've read.
3. Draw a line or dot with the color that you think best represents the mood. In a sentence, explain why you think so.
HW: Complete the mood sheet you started in class. I will collect it tomorrow.
In literature, descriptive language, sensory details, dialogue, and story action are used to create this atmosphere.
Movie clips: Pay attention to the differences between the clips. How do 2 movie trailers for the same movie create vastly different moods?
Colors are often related to our emotions and feelings. Use crayons or markers to identify which stories have a positive mood and which ones have a negative mood.
1. Choose 4 colors (black, somewhat dark color, somewhat light color, yellow)
2. List the title of each story you've read.
3. Draw a line or dot with the color that you think best represents the mood. In a sentence, explain why you think so.
HW: Complete the mood sheet you started in class. I will collect it tomorrow.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Another Tricky Day
In more ways than one. The work ethic has been strong since we started reading the trickster tales in class, but this is taking a bit longer than I had originally anticipated. The tricky part is getting at least 8 stories completed by Monday, with a shortened class period, and section 7-1 missing yesterday's class! Yeesh!
Take a look at all the trickster stories you've read.
Group the ones that are alike. If you have an oddball, leave it as a group of its own.
Think about why you organized the stories the way you did.
Write about the details they had in common,
HW: Type up all the story trailers you've written. You should have_________
Take a look at all the trickster stories you've read.
Group the ones that are alike. If you have an oddball, leave it as a group of its own.
Think about why you organized the stories the way you did.
Write about the details they had in common,
HW: Type up all the story trailers you've written. You should have_________
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Dear 7th graders
You have no homework tonight! I was a bit late in updating today's blog ("Keeping Score"), which originally contained some journal work. Please disregard that as we did not get far enough in class today for you to successfully complete the work. Thanks! Have a good one!
-Mr. B
-Mr. B
Keeping Score
Today, the goal will be to read several trickster tales in class today and write story trailers for each one.
Keep score: Who wins? Who loses? Does everybody win? Does everybody lose?
Keep score: Who wins? Who loses? Does everybody win? Does everybody lose?
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Hey! What's the big idea?
How do we arrive at big ideas while reading? Today we're going to work on putting the plot of a story in one sentence, without giving away the ending!
Plot usually consists of three major elements:
1. Who are the major characters?
2. What seems to be the major problem (conflict) or goal of the characters?
3. Why is this goal or problem there?
THEN, write ONE (yes, ONE!) sentence that captures the plot, but in an exciting way, like you're trying to get an audience to read or watch the story. Be sure to use present tense.
FINALLY, take the role of the audience. Ask 2-3 BURNING questions that might be on their mind, and since you've read the story, you know what important events do happen so your questions can HINT toward that.
Then presto, you've successfully written a basic story trailer/advertisement! Now imagine a dramatic, intense voiceover dictating your trailer.
Here are a few examples: Leaping Beauty
Plot usually consists of three major elements:
1. Who are the major characters?
2. What seems to be the major problem (conflict) or goal of the characters?
3. Why is this goal or problem there?
THEN, write ONE (yes, ONE!) sentence that captures the plot, but in an exciting way, like you're trying to get an audience to read or watch the story. Be sure to use present tense.
FINALLY, take the role of the audience. Ask 2-3 BURNING questions that might be on their mind, and since you've read the story, you know what important events do happen so your questions can HINT toward that.
Then presto, you've successfully written a basic story trailer/advertisement! Now imagine a dramatic, intense voiceover dictating your trailer.
Here are a few examples: Leaping Beauty
After accidentally stepping on a witch’s toe, the once extraordinary
and cheerful Leaping Beauty becomes a Boring Beauty, putting all those around
her to sleep. Will she ever break the spell? Will the people of Ordinary
Kingdom wake up? Will the witch pay for her evil doings? Find out on the next
Fractured Fairy tale, Leaping Beauty!
And another! (Based on "Mai and the Cliff Dwelling Birds)
Mai,
the boundless, rule-breaking coyote, becomes obsessed with learning to fly when
he believes he will never be satisfied as an earthbound creature. How much
chaos will this trickster bring? Will he actually learn how to fly? Find out by
reading Trickster tale, “Mai and the Cliff Dwelling Birds”
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