Monday, September 30, 2013

Beware of Due Dates & Short Weeks!



Greetings!

We only have three days with students this week due to the state of Idaho’s mandatory teacher in-service days this Thursday and Friday (October 3 – 4). Due to the short week with kids, there will be NO SPELLING OR VOCABULARY LISTS AND TESTS. We do, however, have our infamous Mugshot sentences and paragraph—which is due when students arrive to class on Wednesday. Our normal schedule will resume with a new list of Greek and Latin roots next Monday.

Due to mass confusion regarding the literary elements of plot when we discussed the novel Tuck Everlasting, I knew that we needed to continue to study plot, especially the fact that there are many pieces of rising and falling action within a story. The climax has also been difficult for the class to pinpoint, so today I read them Walter the Farting Dog (by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray, illustrated by Audrey Colman). As I read the 32-page picture book aloud, students created individual plot pyramids and worked to determine where each part of the story should be placed on their paper. As a class, we then discussed who had what where, and why they believed it was exposition or the inciting incident, etc. The most confusion surrounded the climax of the story. Is it when Dad decides Walter has to return to the pound or does it happen when the house is being burglarized? After a good discussion, the students realized that even though Walter was bound for the animal shelter, more trouble erupted when burglars climbed through the window to rob the family. Boom, there is our climax. I won’t go into any more details because I’d hate to spoil the story for anyone who wishes to read it, but reviewing these elements with a picture book was definitely beneficial. There was also a lot of laughter and the kids might start blaming flatulence on your family pets.  

Following our discussion and dissection of the plot pyramid, we reviewed story elements such as setting, characters, protagonists and antagonists. Tomorrow we’ll go over conflict (internal and external), characterization (direct and indirect), all sorts of character types (flat, round, static, dynamic), mood and atmosphere, imagery, and theme. All of these notes that should be taken in class will be crucial when they’re ready to work on the Independent Reading Project for the mystery novel that will be broken down on a cereal box.

As we go over the elements, we’ll use examples from Tuck Everlasting. For instance, Tuck Everlasting has internal conflict (man vs. himself) as well as external conflict (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. fate). Students will reflect on these in class and we’ll discuss ideas.

Finally, several people were unhappy with the ending of Tuck Everlasting. They wanted a different version of the story. Tra-la-la…now they get to have a different version because they’re going to write it! Bwahahahaa! We’ve already discussed point-of-view (first, second, and third-person), and we’ll talk more about VOICE as well. Students will borrow a copy of the novel and rewrite the ending from the point-of-view of Jesse, Miles, Mae, Tuck, Winnie, or the toad. They’ll write in first-person and need to be true to the voice of that character when writing. The piece will begin right after the first paragraph (which follows) from page 134 of the novel:

The sign said WELCOME TO TREEGAP, but it was hard to believe that this was really Treegap. The main street hadn’t changed so very much, but there were many other streets now, crossing the main street. The road itself was blacktopped. There was a white line painted down its center.

Here is where students will pick up the story and write from the point-of-view of any of the aforementioned characters. What does that character see, feel, know? What has he or she experienced? This is an opportunity for creative writing (yay!) and for everyone to rewrite the ending that they want. (Note that even if you, the student, like the original ending of the book, you will rewrite it from first-person point-of-view and let the reader inside your character’s head.) Also, endings WILL be shared with the class, so take the time to be creative, use a lot of wonderful details, and pay attention to the proper use of English as a writer. (The standard writing rubric will be used to grade this assignment AND it’ll also be graded on proper implementation of the point-of-view, details, and the depth of the story. One or two paragraphs WILL NOT BE A GOOD ENDING. TRUST ME. TAKE THE STORY SOMEWHERE NEW AND RUN WITH IT!) Also, make sure your writing is at its best. The final copy is due on Monday, October 7. I’d prefer your paper to be typed, but if you don’t have access to a computer, a NEATLY written copy will be satisfactory.  

While we’re on the topic of writing, I handed out brochures regarding the Patriot’s Pen essay contest last Wednesday. Students had all day in class the following day to brainstorm ideas for their paper and to begin writing; I was not here and returned Friday to learn that several students said they brainstormed solely in their heads, even though I left specific instructions with my sub to have the students create webs, lists, free-writes, outlines, anything they could to have something ON PAPER. A handful of students shared what they had written and from there we simply discussed ideas. I intended to grade their papers but I didn’t want the kids’ grades to suffer in case the sub didn’t tell them what I did. It was all written on the board, but apparently the students went to a different classroom to work so, again, I can’t assume they were told to use PAPER for this assignment and don’t want their grades to suffer if they weren’t properly informed of my expectations.

Prior to the weekend, I told students the final draft of the Patriot’s Pen paper was to be typed in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. They should also have a complete heading AND note the word count (which needs to be 300-400 words, but if they’re a LITTLE bit over that is okay—I told them I’m a master at getting rid of words to pare down the count). They were also told that their papers would be due when they arrived to class on Wednesday, October 2. I fear that many students are procrastinating because I had only one tell me today that she had her paper written and it simply needs to be typed. Please make sure that the papers are ready for Wednesday: We are doing a peer-editing activity and POINTS WILL BE LOST FOR LACK OF PARTICIPATION IF A FINAL COPY OF THE ESSAY IS NOT TURNED IN AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS.

I appreciate those of you who are using this blog to keep track of due dates and know what we’re doing in class. Remember, our quarter ends on Friday, October 18, and there are some big assignments (Patriot’s Pen, Cereal Box Book Report, rewriting the ending to Tuck) that are due before then. Some grades will rise and some will fall—make sure that you climb to the top and earn the grade that reflects your best effort and understanding of the material that we’ve covered.

Now, before your head crashes into your keyboard with boredom, I’ve had several people ask how to post comments to the blog. If you don’t have a gmail account, it’s simple to create. Go to gmail.com and create an account. It can be used by parents or the student—it makes no difference to me—but the gmail accounts are able to post to the blog. I fear it’s a sinister plot for Google to take over all things Internet, but if that’s the worst thing that happens, life is pretty darn good.

Until next time,

Mrs. Gott

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