1. Warming up by taking ten minutes to comment on each other's reading journals
2. Opening the tightly packed emotional baggage from the grandmother's and grandfather's narratives
Left side of the room:
- Find a chapter written in the grandfather's voice.
- Identify one short sentence or phrase that alludes to his history/background/emotional baggage.
- 2nd hour: Stand up and read it aloud. 6th hour: Write it on the front whiteboard.
- Turn to the chapter written in the grandmother's voice.
- Identify one short sentence or phrase that alludes to her history/background/emotional baggage.
- 2nd hour: Stand up and read it aloud. 6th hour: Write it on the back whiteboard.
Everybody
- What are noticing about the grandparents?
- What are you wondering?
3. Enjoying our first Fishbowl discussion: Pages 85-141
Outer circle reminders:
Outer circle reminders:
- Hit F5 to refresh the screen.
- When you're replying directly to someone, hit "reply."
- Bring a quotation into at least one of your comments/questions.
- Stay consistent from the beginning of the conversation to the end.
4. Wrapping up
HW:
1. For Thursday: Read pages 142-173 in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; complete your 4th journal entry. You can continue journalling in the same way, or you can try out some of the creative options below! Whatever you do, make sure you post it on your blog:
If you miss a Fishbowl or Socratic, you must make it up. Fishbowl: Read over the syllabus and blog comments, then add an extended comment to the class blog. Socratic: Read over the syllabus and the class notes, then add an extended comment to the class blog.
- Write about your day in Oskar’s voice, or Thomas’ voice, or any of the character’s voices.
- If you had a book like Thomas’ in which you wrote out the phrases you needed most, what would they be this week? What does that suggest about you as a character?
- Turn a chapter you just read into a poem. Give it a title.
- Take pictures. Use them to seek connection/understanding in the same way Oskar does. Or draw. Make sure you explain the connections.
- Find clues to your own life (it’s up to you to decide what you’re trying to figure out). You could use headlines from newspapers, from social media, or any other “artifacts” from your daily life. Describe your journey compares to Oskar’s (or the grandparents’).
If you miss a Fishbowl or Socratic, you must make it up. Fishbowl: Read over the syllabus and blog comments, then add an extended comment to the class blog. Socratic: Read over the syllabus and the class notes, then add an extended comment to the class blog.
2. For tomorrow: We will begin our READING JOURNAL CONFERENCES in class tomorrow (Wednesday). Click HERE for the rubric.
3. THIS FRIDAY IS THE END OF 6 WEEKS. All make-up work from the first 6 weeks must be submitted by this date. After Friday, any grade in IC will remain as is.
Why does grandpa blame himself for Anna's death?
ReplyDeleteI think he feels bad that he had to go home when he promised himself he would "stay until he found her"
DeleteI think he feels bad that he "abandoned" her and doesn't know how to cope with her death.
DeleteWhy is Thomas never going to write again?
ReplyDeleteI think it is because he is struggling with his own physiological end emotional issues that have scared him. He feels the need to leave his situation and his responsibilities
DeleteWhat types of pressures caused Thomas to leave? What type of father could do this?
ReplyDeleteHe had a rule that he wouldn't have kids with the woman. In the book he is explaining his reasons for leaving. We don't quite know everything yet.
DeleteWhat happened to Anna?
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding she died in the bombings.
DeleteShe most likely died in Dresden.
DeleteCould the "renter" be the grandfather?
ReplyDeleteIs the renter the grandpa?
ReplyDeleteDo you think the renter is Thomas?
ReplyDeletewhy did Thomas say he was going to stop writing? Is it to hard for him or is there some other reason?
ReplyDeleteWho is the renter, and how are they related to the story?
ReplyDeleteThe renter might be Oscars grandpa because grandma brought a huge rock to her apartment and Oscar didn't ever see the rock and we know that Thomas is a huge sculpture. "Maybe its the renter?"No," she said."(106)
DeleteIf the renter is the grandpa then why would the grandma not let him meet oskar?
ReplyDeleteWhat made Thomas not want to write again?
ReplyDeleteIt could have something to do with his PTSD and his guilt of leaving.
DeleteWhy might they be keeping the grandpa a secret from oskar?
ReplyDeleteWhy did Thomas settle for someone who he is not in love with?
ReplyDeleteI think he settled because the grandmother was the closest to Anna he could ever get, and even though he knew it wasn't her, he still wanted to try so he could get some kind of connection similar to what he had with Anna.
DeleteResponding to ella, I don't feel like Oskar has a disorder, Most people who have a disorder have a hard time feeling emotion, and he wants to find this lock so he can have a last connection to his father. That motivation comes from the love he had for his dad. He is different but in someways I feel like he just thinks in a more advanced way then most 9 year olds too because of his curiosity, his dad taught him to not only be curious, but to use his knowledge to figure out the "bigger picture", which taught Oskar to think of things in a different way then most kids his age would.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Oscar was raised very well because he clearly does not have very good manner and also has a tendency to lie.
DeleteI agree with Reid but I also think it is very possible that he could have a disorder.
DeleteI think that Oskar most likely has a disorder. I think his behavior has less to do with how he was raised. It seems like his parents both cared about him regardless of what he might believe.
DeleteDid decide not to talk or did he begin to just physically not be able to talk?
ReplyDeleteWhy does the grandmother kind of hide the renter, is it because she has a special type of relationship to him?
ReplyDeleteElla: Does Oskar have a disorder is it the way he was raised?
ReplyDeleteMakayla: I think it was the way he was raised because that's how him and his dad acted.
Amber: Isn't he nine? Because for a nine year old he is extremely smart.
Delan: Do you think the renter is Oskar's grandfather?
Ella: I don't this so because he said he didn't want kids. I would think he would just leave.
Makayla: I think he would come back after his actual child died, Oskar's dad, but he wouldn't want to show up just out of the blue.
Ella: What do you guys think happened to Anna?
Delan: She probably died in the bombing.
Cole: Thomas and Anna were together in Dresdan and after the bombing he saw Anna's sister, the grandmother, and made the connection.
Makayla: I don't think Thomas and the grandmother actually love each other they are just connected through a tragedy.
Are they together because they have both suffered?
ReplyDeleteWas Oskars grandmother Thomas's last connection to Anna and was that why he fell in love with her?
ReplyDeleteYes. I think Thomas fell in love with the similarity between Anna and Oscar's grandmother.
DeleteMakayla:
ReplyDelete-On page 135 you can infer that Oskar's grandfather could not want to show up out of the blue.
-Thomas wants to be in the house so that the grandmother is not alone and has someone to rely on.
-How would the grandmother's sister stay alive?
-The both do not really love each other they just have a connection because they went through something tragic.
Ella:
-Does Oskar does have a disorder or is it how he is raised that is making him act the way he is?
-He is extremely smart and the way he recalls information in unbelievable.
-What do you think happened to Anna?
Faythe:
-
Emily:
-Its a disorder bc, when I parent dies it brings them closer to their family but in the book he is pulling away from it.
Amber:
-Oskar is 9 years old so it is making him act this way.
-Why then would they be obsessed with each other?
Delan:
-Is it possible that the renter is actually Oskar's grandfather back from Dresden?
-The apartment is the same room where the renter is saying where the flashbacks are coming from.
Cole:
-Thomas and Anna were together in Dresden and after the bombing he saw Anna's sister, the grandmother, and made a connection with eachother.
Brandon:
-
Why are the pages 121-123 blank?
ReplyDeleteI think it is just a symbolic meaning of Thomas' life and those pages are dedicated to Anna and he has no words to express his feelings?
DeleteI was thinking that he was just lost for words and had nothing to say as there would be no other explanation.
DeleteWhy are pages 121-123 blank?
ReplyDeleteThe pages 121-123 are blank because she was writing her life story and she could not see, so they were blank. There was no ink in the type writer, so she wrote her whole life story but are actually blank pages. She was almost blind.
DeleteOn page 76 & 77: Why is the uncle important?
ReplyDeleteI think the significance of the uncle in these pages is to shows the problem past and family history of the grandmother. The world is in a bad stop and many people are suffering. We see this throuh passages of murders and talks of consentration camps.
DeleteWhy is the grandmother testing Thomas to make sure that he loves her? How could he not, she's all that he has.
ReplyDeleteI think Thomas will only ever love Anna. By finding the grandmother, that is the closest thing he has to Anna but it's not her.
DeleteDo you think that the picture of the window on page 103 is suppose to be the renters window that lives with grandma?
ReplyDeleteOn page 75 why are some of the words in the grandmas letter blocked out? Is there a connection between them or are they completely random?
ReplyDeleteWhy can't he talk? Is it because he doesn't want to or can he physically and mentally just not speak?
ReplyDeleteI think that Thomas can't speak mentally because he suffers from PTSD from the bombing of Dresden.
DeleteI think it is because of the tragedy he faced and why he does not talk because he mentally is scared. All of the words he can not say are related if you look very closely at it.
DeleteHe has something called selective mutism it's often seen in kids but can also be triggered in adults from a traumatic event in his case it was the Dresden bombings that triggered his selective mutism. It's all mental there is no physical defects he can still talk just his brain can't pull the words out into the air.
DeleteI also think it is a very serious result of PTSD from the bombing of Dresden. It could have also just developed over time from some other event or disability.
DeleteHow would Thomas react if the renter is actually Thomas?
ReplyDeleteIsn't on of the Thomas's dead?
DeleteWhat do you mean?
DeleteThomas' reaction or Oskar's?
DeleteWhat is the point of nothing spaces?
ReplyDeleteIs the renter Thomas?
ReplyDeleteWe do not know for sure because the renter is mysterious. The grandma will interact with the renter but she is not revealing any information regarding the renter to Oskar or the mom. I do think there are some specific things that could lead the reader to the thought that the renter is Thomas. I think later in the book there will be the identity of the renter will be revealed to the reader but not to Oskar for a while. It will be something the reader knows but not the family of the grandmother.
DeleteIf the renter was Thomas then why would he still be with Gramma becuse they broke one of their rules.
ReplyDeleteI think Thomas most likely found out that their son died. After this he probably had regret for not raising and carry for his child. Sense he has come back it may be an effort to reconnect with Oskar to make up for his absence.
DeleteIs the significance behind the key finding it our the adventure that Oscar experiences? Is it the people who he meets that means more than the key?
ReplyDeleteIs the renter Thomas or are the two different people?
ReplyDeleteWho is Anna and why does Thomas blame himself for her death?
ReplyDeleteIS there something else behind the renter and the grandmothers relationship?
ReplyDeleteI think that the renter is Thomas but because Oskar doesn't quite know his grandfather, his grandmother did not wanna open a new door after the tragedy with his father.
ReplyDelete