The Return of the Choice Books

We began today with peer evaluation of the choice book essay. After peer evaluation, students worked on graphic projects.

The deadline for the final choice essay has been extended to Monday. Here's what you need:

PERFECT MLA heading
PERFECT Page number headers
PERFECTLY FORMATTED Creative title

Submit final draft with:
Rough Draft w/ peer comments (required)
Prewrite/thesis sheet (required)
Any other prewriting/outlines/drafts

**No technology excuses—figure it out. NO LATE COUPONS!!

The Final Graphic Project is due on Tuesday, June 2nd.

**IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO, PLEASE REVIEW THE FINAL EXAM INFORMATION ON EDLINE!!

Persepolis is a GREAT Read!

That's what we decided in class today. After discussing Persepolis, students worked on reading choice graphic novels and/or creating the graphic project.

Homework: Rough draft of choice book essay due tomorrow for peer evaluation.

Persepolis, choice graphic, project...

...so much to do and SO LITTLE TIME!!!!

Today we began with the vocab. quiz. If you were absent, make arrangements to make up the quiz soon! Then, we used the hour to work on finishing Persepolis, reading choice graphic novels, and planning the graphic project.

Tomorrow we will discuss Persepolis and continue working on the choice graphic and final project.

Please see Edline for information about the final exam.

Persepolis II

Today students tried to finish reading Persepolis. Some were unsuccessful--we'll finish next week.

Homework: Work on choice book essay; acquire a choice graphic novel (the library has a great selection); study for vocab quiz on Tuesday.

**Also--see Edline for a review of the 2nd semester final exam. The review will refer you to other documents, also found on Edline. All vocab from the semester can be found in the Vocabulary folder.

Persepolis

We used class time today to read Persepolis. If you were absent, you'll have to get started on the book tomorrow and finish it over the weekend.

Homework: Work on choice book essay. I recommend that you complete an outline of your paper by tomorrow.

Graphic Novels!

Today we began talking about the genre of graphic novels. Then, groups spent time sharing thesis statements.

If you were absent, please get the Comic Book Primer(white packet) and a copy of the final graphic assessment (green sheet) from the side table in the classroom. See a classmate for information about graphic novels and the requirements of the unit.

Homework: Work on acquiring a choice graphic novel (don't forget about the public library--it is not necessary to purchase one!); Work on thesis statement--move to outlining.

Tomorrow you will begin reading Persepolis in class.

Recommended and Required due dates for the choice essay:

¨Recommended Outline – Friday, May 22
¨Recommended Rough Draft – Tuesday, May 26
¨REQUIRED PEER REVIEW – Thursday, May 28
*The peer review is worth 10 points
*NO EXCEPTIONS
¨Required Final Draft – Friday, May 29

Choice Unit--Day 8: Choice Essay

Choice Essay - Due Friday, May 29
Requirements
-4-6 pages
-Double-spaced and typed
-Follow MLA Guidelines (heading, header, citations)
-You do NOT need to do outside research

Post-it Notes
-Arrange your Post-it Notes on printer paper
-The Post-its should come out of the book in chronological order
-You should make sure you have the page number (from whence it came) written down before you take the Post-it out of the bookReflection
-Read over your Post-its once they are in chronological order
-Look for patterns in your thinking
-Did you often look at symbols?
-Were you interested in characters?
-Did structure catch your fancy?Reflection Worksheet
-List the patterns of thought you most often see in your Post-it Notes
-Explore your favorite topic in a free write

Thesis Worksheet
-If you can go straight from the reflection to the thesis worksheet – great!
-If not, take a look at your list again and see if something else interests you…
-If all else fails
– think of your group’s discussion from yesterday (think tree maps) and try to come up with a topic you could live with

Group Work
-Go around in your group and share thesis statements
-Person 1 shares his/her thesis statement-Each group member says something positive and then offers a thought for considersation
-REMEMBER: A GOOD THESIS STATEMENT SHOULD BE SOMETHING TWO, REASONABLY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE COULD ARGUE ABOUT
-Each person has to sign off on the thesis statement before I see it

Recommended Deadlines/ Required Deadlines
-Recommended Outline – Friday, May 22
-Recommended Rough Draft – Tuesday, May 26
-REQUIRED PEER REVIEW – Thursday, May 28-The peer review is worth 10 points-NO EXCEPTIONS
-Required Final Draft – Friday, May 29

Homework: Complete both sides of freewrite/thesis worksheet

If you were absent, print the post-it reflection and thesis sheets from Edline (both dated 5/19) and complete both completely.

Choice Unit--Day 7

Today we prepared for group discussion before spending the hour in groups, discussing choice reading books.

If you were absent, please complete the following:

1. Create a notebook page entitled, “Novel Commentary”
2. Create a tree map with 4 branches, labeled: character, style, theme, and an appropriate 4th label of your choice.
3. Review your post-its—don’t remove them, just peruse them.
4. Add details from your post-its to your tree map.

Tomorrow we will begin to organize the post-it notes to create a thesis statement for your literary analysis paper.

Choice Unit--Day 6

Today I shared the examples of literary elements that groups submitted from their choice book. You will be responsible for the literary terms from the blue and yellow sheets on the final exam. Then, groups discussed the books using the questions and quote discussions that were due.

Homework: Read assigned pages; vocabulary cards due Tuesday.

Choice Unit--Day 6

We used today as a reading day.

Homework: Read assigned pages. Also, to prepare for tomorrow's discussion, complete the following:

TYPE
3 discussion questions (open-ended, thought-provoking questions)
1 significant passage (with page number) and discussion (100+ words) of the quote's significance.

Choice Unit--Day 5

The BIG Discussion

Today in class you had BIG discussions about your books.

Toward the end of the discussion you talked about the literary terms from Sherlock Sheets 1 and 2. Each group was told that it is responsible for finding 2 terms from the book.

You then designated one person to do the following tonight:Create a PowerPoint slide for each term (2 total) that includes the following:
1. the term and its definition
2. a typed out example from the text
3. explanation of how your example fits the literary term

PLEASE PICK SOMEONE FROM THE GROUP THAT CAN MAKE IT LOOK PRETTY ON THE SLIDE. DON'T WORRY ABOUT BACKGROUND DESIGN SINCE I HAVE TO MERGE ALL SLIDES TOGETHER.

When you are done, please e-mail me the document for use in class tomorrow.

Choice Unit--Day 4

Today we took the Nectar vocab quiz. Then, we worked on reading choice books.

Homework: Read/Post-It assigned pages. Tomorrow you will have a group discussion of your book so far, so be where you are supposed to be in it! New vocabulary (due next Tues.) is on Edline.

If you were absent today, be sure to make arrangements with me to make up the vocabulary quiz.

Choice Unit--Day 3

Today we worked on researching our authors and special topics in our books. If you were absent, please complete the assignment (on your own) that is described in the previous blog post. Turn your handout in to me tomorrow.

Homework: Read/post-it the assigned pages in your choice book.

Team Research--Monday, May 11

Your assignment for today:
Create a 1 page handout that is pretty and accessible. The handout should include information on the author of your book and information on an important historical event. It should look like something you would appreciate receiving from a teacher.

In groups of 4-5 (big book groups MUST break up into EVENLY balanced smaller groups) select
1 leader and 3-4 researchers: 1-2 working on author info, 1-2 working on setting/event info.

Leader’s responsibility:
Organize information into concise, well-organized word document
Cite sources--URLs is enough
Review finished document; print copy for each group member and one for teacher; include student names on handout for teacher

Each researcher:
Research your specific topic
Send information to leader including citation (URL)

Suggested Topics:Each group will research the author and an historical topic. You are not limited to the topics below.

The Namesake
Jhumpa Lahiri
Indian immigration to U.S.

The Weight of All Things
Sandra Benitez
Civil War in El Salvador

What is the What
Dave Eggers
War in Sudan/the Lost Boys

Suite Francaise
Irene Nemirovsky
French Occupation during WWII

Animal Dreams
Barbara Kingsolver
Native American Myth
Water Pollution in Arizona
Alzheimer’s

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
Alex Fuller
Conflict in Rhodesia

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut
Dresden bombings
Post-traumatic stress disorder

Choice Unit--Day 2

With so many out taking an AP exam, we used today as a reading day.

Homework: Read and post-it assigned portion.

Choice Unit--Day 1

We began the hour today by reading reviews of the choice books. Then, we briefly discussed some advanced syntax techniques that you should be looking for as you read your book.

Homework: Complete your assigned reading and post-it noting (2 questions and 3 comments).

If you were absent today, you will need to pick up a review of your book from me tomorrow. Also pick up the handout with the syntax technique vocabulary and definitions/examples.

You Better Bring Your Book

Your copy of your choice book must be in class with you tomorrow, or I'll place you in a new group, with a book that I have on hand. The reading doesn't officially begin until tomorrow night. In class tomorrow, we'll look at some reviews of your books.

If you were absent today, please TWIST--on a new page in your notebook--the introductory paragraph of your choice book. The following is a breakdown of the acronym:
•Tone: the writer or speaker’s attitude toward a subject, character, or audience. The emotional effect of the writing
•Word Choice: consider denotative (dictionary, literal) and connotative (emotional, figurative) meanings
•Imagery: language that creates sensory impressions and evokes specific responses to characters, objects, or events
•Style: a particular way of employing language. Could be specific to a genre or a specific writer.
•Theme/thematic idea: a central message of a literary work. All of the above elements should support the theme.

Beginning tomorrow night, you will have reading homework each night from your choice book. Additionally, you are required, for each night's reading, to complete 2 question and 3 comment post-its.

Responding to Nectar

Today we completed the final response to Nectar. If you were absent, you may make it up on Thursday during 1st lunch or after school.

Homework: work on getting a copy of your choice novel. You will need to have a copy of the choice novel in class on Thursday. If you have no book, I will give you a copy of whatever I have on hand.

Here's how the books/groups work out:

4th hour

SH5: John, Charlie, Lars, Julie, Colin Austin , Scott, Andy, Kshitij, Anna, Sam, Olivia, Greer

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs: Leah, Emma

Suite Francaise: Alexa, Ali, Linnea, Hannah

The Weight of All Things: Rebecca, Marcella, Rohini, Elizabeth

5th hour

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: Hailey, Katie G., Hannah, Molly, Margaret, Maggie (already claimed my copy), K-Cool

SH5: Michaela, Connor, Nick, Andre, Linnea

Animal Dreams: Jimmer, Max

Namesake: Emily, Makeena, Greta, Ellen, Reed

Suite Francaise: Aimee, Sarah, Katherine P.

Let me know--you can comment right on this post, if you'd like. If you're interested in either The Weight of All Things or Animal Dreams, both of those books were first choices without enough people, so go ahead and request either of them and I'll create a new group.

Choice Book Unit--IMPROVED

The Road is no longer an option for the choice book unit. Instead, please consider the following titles (the $ symbol=you will need to purchase/check-out your own copy of the book).

$ What is the What by Dave Eggers
In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated. In this book, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, we come to understand the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

$ Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs by Alex Fuller,
When the ship veered into the Cape of Good Hope, Mum caught the spicy, heady scent of Africa on the changing wind. She smelled the people: raw onions and salt, the smell of people who are not afraid to eat meat, and who smoke fish over open fires on the beach and who pound maize into meal and who work out-of-doors.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

$ Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

$ Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, “old same,” in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she’s painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. Together, they endure the agony of foot-binding, and reflect upon their arranged marriages, shared loneliness, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood. The two find solace, developing a bond that keeps their spirits alive. But when a misunderstanding arises, their deep friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Again, here are the options previously presented and still available:

$ 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 VonnegutUnstuck 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/

The Namesake by Jhumpa LahiriAn engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along a first-generation path strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. The New York Times has praised Lahiri as "a writer of uncommon elegance and poise." The Namesake is a fine-tuned, intimate, and deeply felt novel of identity.http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Black Boy by Richard WrightBlack Boy is Richard Wright’s unforgettable story of growing up in the Jim Crow South. Published in 1945, it is often considered a fictionalized autobiography or an autobiographical novel because of Wright’s use of fiction techniques (and possibly fictional events) to tell his story. Nevertheless, the book is a lyrical and skillfully wrought description of Wright’s hungry youth in rural Mississippi and Memphis, told from the perspective of the adult Wright, who was still trying to come to grips with the cruel deprivations and humiliations of his childhood. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Animal Dreams by Barbara KingsolverDreamless and at the end of her rope, Codi comes back to Grace, Arizona to confront her past and face her ailing, distant father. What the finds is a town threatened by a silent environmental catastrophe, some startling clues to her own identity, and a man whose view of the world could change the course of her life. Blending flashbacks, dreams, and Native American legends, Animal Dreams is a suspenseful love story and a moving exploration of life's largest commitments. With this work, the acclaimed author of The Bean Trees and Homeland and Other Stories sustains her familiar voice while giving readers her most remarkable book yet. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/



Given these new and improved options, please consider the following before class tomorrow:

1) The people in your group (4-5 members )
2) Your group's book preferences.

Tomorrow in class you will complete a final response to Nectar in a Sieve. The response will require you to review a new text (a poem) and apply the new text to the novel.

Researching the Novel

Today's Research Assignment

If you were absent today, Monday, May 4th, complete the following assignment and turn in a typed copy by Wednesday, May 6th.

Directions:

Read the following two articles about Nectar in a Sieve.

Article #1

Article #2

Construct three paragraphs.
Paragraph 1 – Respond to the first article. Do you agree or disagree with the author’s assessment? Explain.
Paragraph 2 - Respond to the second article. Do you agree or disagree with the author’s assessment? Explain.
Paragraph 3 – Provide your honest assessment of the book.

Create a Works Cited page that includes the following:
Article 1
Article 2
Nectar in a Sieve


Formatting
Proper Heading
Proper Header
Double-spaced
1 inch margins
Times New Roman, 12 pt font
Works Cited should be the last page of the document



Resources:
Use the following document to assist you in your citations.

Hacker Site

Friday

Friday students worked in groups to discuss Nectar.

If you were absent, please respond to the following in your notebook:

Describe a scene from the novel that lingers in your mind and explain why it is a scene that lingers in your mind.

2. What secret involving Kunthi does Nathan reveal to Rukmani? What secret does Rukmani reveal in turn? What does their willingness to confess suggest about their relationship? Do you think they are right to confess? Why or why not?

3. How does Raja meet his death? Why do the men from the tannery visit Rukmani a few days later? In your opinion, what is the purpose of this scene in the novel?

4. Ira is very unhappy after she tries to answer her son’s difficult questions about his birth. What does Nathan say to Rukmani about comforting Ira? What do you think he means by this advice?

5. Rukmani switches to the present tense when describing Raja’s funeral. Reread this passage in chapter 15 (p. 89). What effect does the change in tense produce? Why might the author have chosen to tell this episode in the present tense?

6. At the end of chapter 19 (pp. 110-112), Kennington and Rukmani discuss their approaches to suffering and injustice. Sum up each person’s opinions. With which person do you agree? Why?

7. In chapter 23 (pp. 131-132), Rukmani describes the influence of the tannery on the lives of the villagers in such a way that the tannery becomes a symbol. In a paragraph, explain what the tannery symbolizes. What aspects of the tannery lead you to this conclusion?

8. Family values is a popular topic among politicians, religious leaders, educators, journalists, and others. Although opinions differ on just what values are appropriate for families, most people agree that families are the best vehicles for teaching important moral lessons. Discuss the values that Nathan and Rukmani pass on to their family. Provide specific examples from the text for support.

Homework: Finish reading Nectar.