Now that we have finished the book...

We will be working on Newscasts! You will present your newscasts on Tuesday the 20th and Wednesday the 22nd.

Next week there will be little to no homework. We will be examining Things Fall Apart through several lenses to set you up for your Literary Analysis essay. Lenses include: the tragic hero; cultural conflict--assimilation and dissolution of culture through colonization; author's purpose and how he achieved it; and an examination/comparison of TFA with William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" from which the title "Things Fall Apart" is derived.  Once we look at the each lens, you will decide which best suits you and begin the writing process. The writing process will kick off next semester.

You all have done so well thus far that I am excited to see you craft strong ideas about the book into interesting and varied essays.

Your only significant homework next week will be preparing your independent book project for your final. You have had plenty of time so far to get started at least thinking about your projects, but next week the real work should begin.

I look forward to your ideas come to life!

Over the Weekend!

Finish Things Fall Apart! Create your last 3 dialogue journals for chapters 23, 24, and 25.

There will be a short quiz on Monday.

Also remember to consider taking a few steps toward drafting your Newscast script. You will be performing with your groups on Thursday and Friday.

Finally, consider steps you might want to make toward completion of your book project for your final. Each project will be accompanied by an artist statement 2-3 paragraphs long. I will give you examples next week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. B

Welcome Back!

The grades are now up to date! I will be entering zeros this evening so that you can really tell where your grade is at this time including missing work. This could be a scary moment for some of you. Please use it as a wake-up call to get in gear as we head toward the end of the semester!

Homework for Tuesday/Wednesday: Read chapters 19 and 20. Come ready to discuss. You do not need to write dialogue journals. I will provide them for the chapters and you will work with a partner to meaningfully analyze the quotes I pull out in class.

Over Winter Break!

Hello Brilliant Ones,

Over winter break you will be reading through chapter 18 and completing dialogue journals, 1 page per chapter, 3 quotes per page.  Remember that your analysis should follow the CARPE note making strategy. You should be:

C onnecting (text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world)
A sking strong, analytical questions
R eviewing what you know or understand
P redicting the significance of an event or action
E valuating the structure, tone, style, and purpose of the author. *This is your highest level thinking.

Topics you should track in your dialogue journals should belong to the following categories: An analysis of cultural codes and customs, the importance and meaning of proverbs (how do they help tell the story and convey both the culture but also the message Achebe is trying convey), Okonkwo's actions / words / characteristics (what they show), and how the arrival of missionaries creates cultural conflict (what does it mean for the culture, the community, and individuals within the society?)/

You may stop when you get to chapter 19. We will finish the book together the week we get back. If you read ahead please don't spoil it for others.

I will be entering grades over the break and pretty much glued to my computer so if you have questions or need help on something, please just email me. You will likely begin to see your grade take shape based on the last set of assignments. By the end of the break I intend to be caught up on grading so you have a sense of what you need to do in the weeks leading up to the end of the semester.

*Remember that the break is a great time to consider and even begin working on your final project for English 3 based on your independent reading book. If you have not read an independent book yet this year, I am expecting you to have a strategy to complete this requirement in time to create your independent project exploring theme and symbolism of your chosen book.
**If this completely panics you, it is your responsibility to contact me for suggestions.

Have a lovely break and don't forget to scroll down to see what you might have missed!!!

Over the Weekend

All Students:

1. Over the weekend read to chapter 13. There will be a test on Monday of chapters 6-12. If you used your time well today, you should be through chapter 8 and have completed dialogue journals for 7 and 8 in the new dialogue journal packet. You may use your dialogue journal and notes on the test.
2. Please remember to put your name on your dialogue journal packets!!!
3. Also, remember your responses to quotes should show not just understanding, but analysis. For example, if you explain what a proverb means, you must also discuss how it is important to the book. Why is it used? What does it illustrate? What is Achebe trying to show?
4. If you have not turned in your "Role of the Writer" essay, please do so ASAP. 
5. Take some time to look over the semester final project and consider which book you will use for your creative project and artist statement.
6. With your family, talk over the option to see an author speak, either Michael Chabon at the Schnitzer downtown (free tickets if you have read the book), or Jay Asher, author of 13 Reasons Why who will be speaking at Grant.

Have a beautiful weekend. You are brilliant, funny, and a joy to work with!

Thursday/Friday

Periods 1 and 2:
Read to chapter 6 and complete the last page of your first packet of dialogue journals.

Your Role of Writer / Role of Storytelling Final Essay is due on Thursday + 5 points if you turn it in early.

Scroll down for a detailed description of how to fill out dialogue journals. Scroll down for other information you may have missed!

Periods 5 and 6:
Read to chapter 6 and complete the last page of your first packet of dialogue journals.

Finish your illustrated proverb and bring to class.

*All: if you have not brought in a Nigerian image, fact, poem, song, statistic or other artifact. Please still bring it in. It's not late, but I want it for the board in class.

Thank you all for being wonderful.

December!

We will begin reading Things Fall Apart together in class Tuesday and Wednesday, so bring your books!
Remember to scroll down to previous posts to make sure you don't miss anything.

Period 1: 
Solid, well-crafted, typed drafts are due on Thursday December 4 for peer-editing. Finish reading chapter 1 and complete your Chapter 1 dialogue journal--at least three quotes with succinct, intelligent responses. Remember your Nigerian artifact for the board!
Period 2: 
Solid, full-length, well-developed typed drafts are due at the beginning of class on Thursday December 4th for peer-editing. Complete your dialogue journal page for Chapter 1 of Things Fall Apart.

Period 5: Read chapters 1 and 2 of Things Fall Apart. 

• Fill in one dialogue journal page for each chapter (2 pages total due on Friday). Each page of your dialogue journals should include 3 quotes  (gathered from each chapter), so, for chapter one, you will select three quotes either about Okonkwo as a character; Igbo cultural practices, values or beliefs; proverbs or folktales; roles of women; or conflict with the missionaries. Do the same on the second page for chapter 2.
• Place the quotes on the left side of the table. Place your responses on the right side of the table. Use the CARPE note-making strategy to vary your responses. 
• Follow the directions on the example sheet. 
• Your summary goes at the bottom of the page.
• Final drafts were due on Wednesday December 3. Make sure your peer-editing sheet is completely filled out by two different editors!

• Period 6: Read chapters 1 and 2 of Things Fall Apart. 
• Fill in one dialogue journal page for each chapter (2 pages total due on Friday). Each page of your dialogue journals should include 3 quotes  (gathered from each chapter), so, for chapter one, you will select three quotes either about Okonkwo as a character; Igbo cultural practices, values or beliefs; proverbs or folktales; roles of women; or conflict with the missionaries. Do the same on the second page for chapter 2.
• Follow the directions on the example sheet. 
• Place the quotes on the left side of the table. Place your responses on the right side of the table. Use the CARPE note-making strategy to vary your responses. 
• Follow the directions on the example sheet. 
• Your summary goes at the bottom of the page.
• Final drafts for "The Role of Literature/Role of Storytelling" were due at the beginning of the class on December 3. 

*All STUDENTS: IF you forgot to turn in your Nigerian fact, image, or statistic, please turn it in--bulletin board ready (that means beautiful--typed, great font, etc.) ASAP.

Here are the instructions for your synthesis essay "The Role of the Writer/Role of Storytelling" from the power point as promised:

If you follow the prompt and the instructions on the sheet I gave you, you should have a very strong essay. 

Introductory Paragraph

Hook:

Begin with a quote:

•“Chimamanda Adichie said…” or

•Begin with a question:

•“What would culture be without stories?” or

•Begin with an anecdote:

•“Once upon a time…” my dad began, as I snuggled deeper into my x-men sheets.” or

•Begin with a statistic:

•“Every year, Amazon sells _______ number of books. And they say reading is dead…”

Background

•Set up your idea. This is the background or context

 For Example: Stories shape the lives of humans starting from a very young age, whether those stories are fables, tall tales told at the dinner table, church gossip on Sundays, or fantasies read before bed. Stories have a profound impact on the way our cultural identity is shaped, on our sense or right and wrong, as well as on our ability to understand other people.

Thesis:

For Example: Stories in my life have been a shield from tension at home, offering me other lives to slip into, other realities to explore. Stories have offered me new worlds and perhaps, most importantly, stories have taught me that I am not alone.

Body Paragraph #1

•Open with a topic sentence, for example: I suppose I might not have become a reader if I had not needed to escape the heated conversations between my parents during my second grade year. I'd seek out princesses in peril, trolls set on terrible vengeance, and kids who could time travel. At first I just wanted to escape, but later I found myself entering strange new reading territory, journeying into lives wildly different from mine but more realistic. 

Follow with quote and enough background to develop your idea, for example: Turkish writer Elif Shafak said, Stories can punch holes in your mental walls” and that was certainly true for me. Growing up in a tiny, conservative town, I had never known anyone who was hungry, anyone who looked different from me, anyone who was anything but a patriotic, God-fearing American. The first time I read about a child living in entirely different circumstances was in the seventh grade when…
Close with analysis: •Shafak’s idea that stories can offer release and relief from the staggeringly narrow confinements of our inherited experiences is proven by my secret awakening, sparking in me a curiosity to travel and see the world beyond the little valley I called home. My mental walls had been punched, and ideas started pouring in.

Body Paragraph #2 

Choose your next idea.

•Develop it in a similar manner using quotes to support your thinking. Use your author packet to help give you ideas.

Body Paragraph #3

Same idea. Choose a different author or a new point to develop.

•If this is hard for you, you may want to return to your thesis for guidance.

•My thesis said that stories offered me escape. Shafak is probably the best author to quote for that because she loved to travel into the lives of others by virtue of her active imagination.

•In my thesis, I also said stories helped me realize I was not alone. I could call on Uwem Akpan and Chimamanda Adichie finding a quote about how universal the human experience is, like when Akpan said “My dear American brothers and sisters, this is not just an African problem. Children all over the world suffer.” This might help me say I realized suffering was universal, or it helped me realize how small my problems were compared to the struggles of others, or how much power I have to change my life, just like children in the stories were brave enough to change their lives. The result was that I felt less alone.
-Do you see how I am making connections here? I am connecting the thoughts of these authors with my life and explaining my realizations as well as the effect those realizations had on me. 

Conclusion:

Conclusions do more than restate the thesis. They eloquently build on ideas presented in previous paragraphs driving home the importance of what you have said.

•Think of your essay as moving in a circle. The last part should not be an echo, but it should bring you to a peaceful or profound sense of ending.

•Do not introduce new ideas.

•Do leave the reader thinking, moved, or satisfied.