Friday 12/19

We worked on Draft One of the Nighjohn essay today.  All work was done in google docs and shared with me.
The essay must be completed before the end of the day on Tuesday.

Thursday's poll

Here is the poll we need you to fill out before Friday.
Please be serious as it wil impact your group choice!

POLL

Wednesday 12/17

Today we outlined the essay we will write in class tomorrow.   If you finish this before class is over, you will begin drafting your essay in your reader's notebook.

HW: Complete the essay outline worksheet and bring ot class tomorrow

Tuesday 12/16

Today we looked at our longwrites to determine if we had connected the literary devices to the theme we selected.  Suggestions were made to use transitions to make those connections.  Students then began doing LW#11 which is a rewrite of LW#10 but with transitions.

I also collected Reading logs today.  There will be no further reading logs until after break.

HW: Complete LW #11

Monday 12/15/14

Today I am expecting you to:

1. Pull out the list of literary devices we talked about on Friday and review them. 
2. Choose a critical scene from Nightjohn to reread
3. Reread the scene looking for literary devices that are used by the author to help develop theme
4. Write Longwrite #10 where you think out loud about how the device illustrates or develops the theme. Be sure to use transitions to push your thinking and to make connections clear.

Look here for an example of the type of longwrite I am expecting for Longwrite # 10 literary devices  critical scene 1 (hint: label the longwrite this way!).

Due tomorrow:
Logs with 150 minutes and Longwrite #10.

Friday 12/12/14

Today we talked about how essayists go further than just investigating how plot furthers theme, they reread looking for author's craft moves that help develop theme.  These craft moves are typically literary devices that author's have at their fingertips.  We talked about how the next step is to reread the critical scenes with our detective glasses on looking for craft moves that help develop theme.  We looked specifically at Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" at the scene where Margot is pushed into the closet. We talked about the author's use of commas and long sentences and how that related to the theme.

HW: Be sure to have reading logs completed by Tuesday (I will be out Monday) 150 minutes are expected. Be sure also to have Nightjohn books in class on Monday. You will be doing the work we talked abut today.

Thursday 12/11

Yesterday was a snow day so we did the work from yesterday today--We wrote another longwrite about another critical scene in an effort to reveal something more about our theme. By the timeyou come to class tomorrow, you should have completed 3 longwrites (#7,#8,#9) on three separate critical scenes.  We willwork with thes in class tomorrow. Also keep reading!

Tuesday 12/9

Today we spent time writing Longwrite # 8 critical scene # 2. This is to be a full page that investigates the language Paulsen uses and how themes works in the scene.

HW: Finish the longwrite if you didn't in class and read

Monday 12/8

Today we discussed the next step.  After deciding which theme to write about, students identified critical scenes that, if htey were considered, would reveal much more about theme. I modeled how to write a longwrite that investigates closely each critical theme. students are to write one full page that discusses the critical scenen and how theme works in it.  If stuck, use the prompt here to push you to write more and in depth.

HW: LW #8-critical scene #1
Logs due Monday

Friday 12/5

Today we discussed the next step in the process of becoming essayists--identifying critical scenes and reading closely to discover how theme works in those scenes. We walked thorugh the example of "All Summer in a Day" by Bradbury.  HW is to make sure your logs are done by Monday 12/8.

Thursday 12/4

Today we worked on thinking of other possible topics around which theme is developed in Nightjohn.  A version of the list is below.  We then started our third and fourth longwrite about theme in NJ.

HW: Complete LW #5 theme in NJ take 3 AND LW #6 theme in NJ take 4
  I will be collecting logs on Monday 150 min

POWER
RESPECT
SACRIFICE
EDUCATION
KNOWLEDGE
DETERMINATION
BRAVERY/COURAGE
PERSEVERANCE

Wednesday 12/3

Today we shared the problems we saw in the story and began trying our hand at possible themes by following the steps on the chart.
In reflections section students labeled a new page LW #3 Theme NJ take 1 and identified the problem, and what they were supposed to learn by looking at the problem in the story.  They were instructed and coached to write at least a page for this longwrite.

HW is to write LW #4 theme take 2 which is about another problem and possible theme that can be found in the book NJ. AND logs are collected Monday 12/8 with 150 minutes.

Please see my example of theme longwrites for "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury here to get an idea of what is expected in your own longwrites about theme.

Also here are some great ways to push yourself to add more to your writing.

Tuesday 12/3

Today we discussed the longwrite entries and how essential it is to use these as a space to tinker around with the  theories we have about potential theme. All students approach it differently and that is ok--some need to write first about the problem they see in the story then they can get to the theme, others can just jump right in and say the emerging theme is.... and then follow that up with examples and thinking through the text.  Remember your goal is to state a theme that is a full sentence and that applies to life.

We then spent time reviewing the story of Nighjohn as it has been a long time since we read the book in its entirety. Please see the summary cheat sheet here.

HW for tonight is to create a bulleted list(in reflections section of RN) of problems in the novel Nightjohn.  This list will be used in class tomorrow to begin writing long about potential themes in the book.

Also Logs will be collected Monday 12/8 150 minutes.

Monday 12/1

Welcome back from break.  I hope you were all able to relax.  We started new logs today--they will be due on Monday 11/7 with 150 minutes logged.  We read for 10 minutes then discussed the idea that themes surround us in life, we listened to about a minute and a half of Taylor Swift's Safe and Sound and talked about the possible themes in this song.  We came up with several different ones and realized that this text can have more than one theme.  I reminded students that all narrative texts have themes within them-- When we and literary critics search for these themes, we ask questions like, "What is this text really about?" or "What is this text trying to teach me about life?" Then we often explore those ideas more closely by writing long about them.

We then talked about the idea that Ray Bradbury's story "All Summer in a Day" does try to teach us about life.  I modeled the steps to writing a thematic essay by following the idea of jealousy through the story (see the chart linked for the steps).
Students then found other themes in the story. We noticed that it was easier to identify what the story was about than to identify what the author was trying to teach. With some support, everyone was able to identify a theme and we had a pretty good list of many different lessons presented in the story.

Tomorrow's work will be done with Nightjohn so be sure to bring those books to class.

Tonight's homework is to read for 20 minutes and write long about a possible theme in your book.  You can do this by choosing to write long on a post-it you have kept about a central problem or just by working through the steps outlined in class. If you are stuck on ways to extend your writing, try these ideas to help you write more. this needs to be in the reflections section of your notebook.