Entering Emily Grierson's House: October 31, 2018

Focus: What are the roles of the house, guest, and hosts in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"?

1. Warming up with a little Faulkner vocabulary (5 minutes)

• Go to www.quizlet.com

• Find "A Rose for Emily" vocabulary.

• Spend five minutes using whichever Quizlet review technique you like (flashcards, Gravity, Matching, etc).

2. Listening to "A Rose for Emily" (21 minutes); try to fill out the Gothic Mystery #1 Note Catcher as you listen

3. With partners, using yesterday's Gothic Mystery #1 Note Catcher to unpack ideas about the Gothic house, host, and guests if time allows

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Please finish filling out the last section of the Gothic Mystery #1 Note Catcher if you did not finish in class.

2. FOR FRIDAY-TUESDAY: Continue working on your ELIC-inspired memoir. If you'd like to conference, come on by! I'm off 1st and 3rd, and I am around after school.

Final drafts are due between Nov 2 and 6 by 4:00 pm in www.turnitin.com.

Entering the Gothic House: October 30, 2018

Focus: What role does the house play in American Gothic literature?

(image from https://www.thinglink.com)

1. Warming up with a visualization / activation of your pre-existing knowledge of Gothic homes

2. Investigating Gothic Mystery #1: What is the role of the Gothic house?

• Create a folder called "Gothic Literature" (or something of that nature).

• Place it inside your shared American Literature folder.

• Click HERE for the Gothic Mystery #1 Note Catcher; make a copy, and save it inside your Gothic Literature folder.

The Others: 0-10:00
Edward Scissorhands: 7:55-16:30

3. Reading the first page of "A Rose for Emily" together with a focus on Faulkner's depiction of the house, the host, and the guests

4. Wrapping up with an exit ticket

HW:
1. FOR FRIDAY-TUESDAY: Continue working on your ELIC-inspired memoir. If you'd like to conference, come on by! I'm off 1st and 3rd, and I am around after school.

Final drafts are due between Nov 2 and 6 by 4:00 pm in www.turnitin.com.

2. FOR THURSDAY: Heads up: We will continue reading "A Rose for Emily" in class tomorrow, and the homework tomorrow will be to finish it and the questions at the bottom of your Gothic Mystery #1 note-catcher (linked here and on website) by Thursday.

Nine-Week Check-In: October 29, 2018

Focus: Where have we been, and where are we going next?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Reflecting on our first 9 weeks of Academic Character and checking in with how we're doing

3. Playing musical chairs with Gothic topics

(image from https://www.thinglink.com)

4. Making predictions about the Gothic stories with the quotation on the front of your booklet:

• By yourself: What does this quotation mean? Do a little bubble brainstorming or freewriting to unpack it.

• With a partner: How does this quotation connect to any or all of the brainstorming you did during musical chairs? What topics do you think we're likely to find in these Gothic stories?

5. Taking a time-out to explore how this unit will work and to set up your folders:

• Create a folder called "Gothic Literature" (or something of that nature).

• Place it inside your shared American Literature folder.

HW:

1. The turn-in window for the final draft of your memoir is Nov 2-6 (4:00 pm). Please submit it to www.turnitin.com

2. Please turn in your school copy of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close if you have not yet done so.

Editing Your Memoir: October 26, 2018

Focus: What do we need to focus on as we revise our memoirs?

Please make sure your memoir is labeled "READ THIS ONE" and is in your shared folder.

1. Warming up with a mini assessment on Grammar You Must Know #3: Run-On Sentences

2. Peer or self-editing your memoir with the editing sheet

• At the top, make a note of one thing you're doing well in this memoir.
• Make a note of one thing you're struggling with in this memoir.

3. Revising your memoir based on today's feedback

4. Wrapping up: Read over the completed editing sheet, and review what you wrote at the top. What do you still need help/direction with?

HW:
1. Turn in your ELIC  book.

2. Final draft is due in www.turnitin.com between November 2 and November 6 by 4:00 pm. I will grade them in the order in which they are turned in.

Using Narrative Arc To Finish Your Draft: October 25, 2018

Focus: What is a narrative arc, and how can you use it to bring meaning to your writing?

1. Warming up with negotiating a final due date and offering you a draft of the rubric

2. Returning to narrative arc and how to use it to develop your essay

• Shaping your memoir using the narrative arc; figuring out which scenes still need to be written
• Try to identify your turning point first; the rest of the arc will fall into place.
• Remember: If your memoir has no turning point, then it has no point.

3. Finishing the draft of your memoir to give it a narrative arc

• Do you need to develop your exposition (who, what, when, where, why)?

• Do you need to develop your rising action (building conflicts / heightening tension)?

• Do you need a turning point in which you experience a shift in your thinking? Do you need to slow down on your turning point?

• Do you need more falling action and resolution in which you come to understand something better or differently?

HW:
1. For FRIDAY: Complete rough draft of memoir due (30 points in Attempt and Completion).

2. Final draft of memoir is due in www.turnitin.com between Nov 2 and Nov 6 (4:00 pm). I will grade them in the order in which they are submitted.

Shaping Your Memoir: October 24, 2018

Focus: What is a narrative arc, and how can you use it to bring meaning to your writing?

1. Warming up with a sample artifact memoir: "Eleven," by Sandra Cisneros

• What sensory imagery do you find the most engaging?

• What is the narrator's epiphany (light bulb moment)? In other words, what does she come to realize better or differently?

2. Returning to memoir writing and considering your narrative arc

• Trying it out with "Eleven"

• Making sure you've chosen your memoir, labeled it "READ THIS ONE," and placed it inside your Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Folder.

• Shaping your memoir using the narrative arc; figuring out which scenes still need to be written
• Try to identify your turning point first; the rest of the arc will fall into place.

3. Editing your memoir to give it a narrative arc

• Do you need to develop your exposition (who, what, when, where, why)?

• Do you need to develop your rising action (building conflicts / heightening tension)?

• Do you need a turning point in which you experience a shift in your thinking? Do you need to slow down on your turning point?

• Do you need more falling action and resolution in which you come to understand something better or differently?

HW:
1. For FRIDAY: Complete rough draft of memoir due.

2. For TUESDAY, Oct 30: Final draft of memoir due in www.turnitin.com by 4:00.

Writing in Reverse, Continued: October 23, 2018

Focus: What can we understand better or differently by writing in reverse?

1. Warming up with a sample essay written in reverse

• Where do you see the writer using multiple senses? 

• Which sensory imagery is the most powerful to you?

• What does the narrator come to understand better or differently by putting this event in reverse?

2. Returning to yesterday's writing (click here for the slides)

Step 1: Sensory Imagery

• Which senses are you using? Which do you need more of to create a multidimensional universe? Enhance what you've written using sensory imagery.

Step 2: Finish the Story

• Finish telling the story. Keep writing the event in reverse until you get back to a peaceful starting point.

Step 3: Find the Epiphany

• Epiphany: A lightbulb moment in which you suddenly see something in a new or exceptionally clear way
• Once you’ve finished writing, think about what you understand better or differently from putting this event in reverse.
• Write your epiphany as the final line.

3. Returning to memoir writing and considering your narrative arc

• Trying it out with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

• Making sure you've chosen your memoir, labeled it "READ THIS ONE," and placed it inside your Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Folder.

• Shaping your memoir using the narrative arc; figuring out which scenes still need to be written
• Try to identify your turning point first; the rest of the arc will fall into place.

HW:
Take whichever memoir starter you got the most out of and spend about 20 more minutes writing the rest of the story. Keep writing until you have one single-spaced or two double-space pages.

Writing in Reverse: October 22, 2018

Focus: How can we use writing in reverse to resolve a difficult memory?

1. Warming up with three good things and Grammar You Must Know #3: Run-ons

2. Enjoying a crash course on sensory imagery

2. Experimenting with writing in reverse: Click here for today's slides.

3. Workshop share!

HW:
1. Spend 20 minutes completing today's writing exercise. Decide which of your four memoir writings you'd like to revise for your formal writing assignment. Here are the choices:

• Day 1: One-Word Biography
• Day 2: Rimba with Jovan Mays (turn it into a memoir)
• Day 3: Artifact Writing
• Day 4: Writing in Reverse

2. Bring your ELIC book to turn in if you have not done so yet.

3. FINAL DRAFTS OF MEMOIRS ARE DUE TUESDAY, OCT 30 BY 3:00 PM IN www.turnitin.com

Artifact Writing: October 17, 2018

Focus: How can you use artifacts to write memoir?

Please have out your purple sheets from Monday's workshop with Jovan Mays.

1. Warming up with a reminder of our memoir overview

2. Finding the story in your artifacts: Click HERE for today's memoir slides.

HW:
1. Spend 20 minutes continuing today's writing exercise. 

2. Bring your school copy of ELIC to turn in by Wednesday at the latest.

3. Please make sure all your journals are published as I will be grading them over the weekend.

Resolution in Reverse: October 16, 2018

Focus: What does Foer want us to understand better/differently from the ending of his novel?

1. Warming up with World War II in Reverse and your emotional response to the novel's ending

• As you watch: Which images stand out to you? What's it like to watch a war in reverse?

• After you watch: Reread the ending of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, starting on page 325. What effect did these final pages and images have on you? How do these final pages connect to the video you just watched?

2. Considering the final stage of the archetypal hero's journey and your intellectual response to the novel's ending

In the final stage of the hero's journey, the hero returns home, but he has gained a new understanding of the world around him. He can no longer live in fear of the future nor regret over the past. 

• To what extent does Oskar (or the grandmother or grandfather) fulfill the final stage of the hero's journey? 

• In other words, how does he return home? What's his new understanding of things? To what extent has he confronted his fear of the future/regret over the past? Why does Foer put the ending in reverse?

3. Enjoying our final fishbowl discussion of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Page 307-end

4. Wrapping up with our responses to the focus question

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: 

• Bring in five items that hold significance to you (an old, printed photo, an object, something you carry around for luck, a gift you received, a letter, etc).

• Make sure your ELIC journal entries are complete and published. I will be grading them over the long weekend.

2. Bring your school copy of ELIC to turn in by next Friday at the latest.

Memoir Writing, Out Loud: October 15, 2018

Focus: What can Mr. Jovan Mays teach us about memoir writing?

MEET IN THE THEATRE AND SIT TOGETHER AS A CLASS.

HW:
1. For TUESDAY: Finish the book and your final journal entry. 

2. For WEDNESDAY: Bring in five items that hold significance to you (an old, printed photo, an object, something you carry around for luck, a gift you received, a letter, etc).

The Falling Man: October 12, 2018

Focus: What is the significance of the "falling man" image in ELIC?

1. Warming up with a short overview of "The Falling Man"

2. Discussing "The Falling Man" in small groups

• Some people found this image disturbing and disrespectful. Others said that this part of story 9/11 needed to be told. What do you think?

• In a documentary on this image, one woman claims that this man brings comfort to those who lost loved ones on 9/11. She said that they can see this image and think, "Maybe that's _____." What do you think she meant by this?

• What role does this image play in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? Flip through images throughout the novel and consider the motifs of flying and falling. To what extent does this image disturb Oskar, and to what extent does it bring comfort to him?

3. Reading ELIC and conferencing with me on your journals

HW:
1. For MONDAY: Meet in the theater and sit together as a class.

2. For TUESDAY: Finish the book and your final journal entry. 

3. For WEDNESDAY: Bring in five items that hold significance to you (an old, printed photo, an object, something you carry around for luck, a gift you received, a letter, etc).

Dark Matter: October 11, 2018

Focus: What do Foer's characters fear? What do they do to feel safe?

1. Warming up with puzzling together the motif of "black" in grid groups

Round 1: Put a sticky note on page 284. Hold it close. Hold it far away. 

• What does it look like? 
• Find a quotation from this chapter that you think explains somewhat why this page looks this way (literally, why is it black?).

Round 2: Put a sticky note on page 305. Reread Stephen Hawking's letter. 

• Look up "dark matter." How does it connect to this book?
• Look up a summary of Hawking's A Brief History of Time. How does it connect to this book?
• How does his letter connect to your response from Round 1?

Round 3: Everyone Oskar visited on his quest had the last name "Black." Foer could have chosen any name in the universe, but he chose to repeat the name "Black." 

• How does this connect to the answers for Rounds 1 and 2?

Round 4: Put a sticky note on page 318. Flip back and forth between page 284, page 305, and page 318. Read over the answers to Rounds 1, 2, and 3. 

• Make a thematic statement: What do you think Foer is up to with the concept of "Black"?

2. Enjoying our penultimate fishbowl discussion: ELIC, pages 260-306

3. Wrapping up with takeaways (for an extra challenge, work in a new tone word)

HW:
1. For MONDAY: Meet in the theater and sit together as a class.

2. For TUESDAY: Finish the book and your final journal entry. 

2. For WEDNESDAY: Bring in five items that hold significance to you (an old, printed photo, an object, something you carry around for luck, a gift you received, a letter, etc).

Oskar's Inventions: October 9, 2018

Focus: What do Oskar's inventions reveal about his quest?

THURSDAY'S LEADERS MAY USE THE BEGINNING OF CLASS TO START THEIR SYLLABUS.

1. Warming up with Oskar's inventions:

(a) Make a journal entry on YOUR PERSONAL BLOG to generate a list Oskar's inventions.

Pages I found with Oskar's inventions (I may have missed a few): 

1, 3, 35, 38, 72, 73-4, 217-223 (the "Sixth Borough is really Oskar's dad's invention, but it works), 235, 250, 258-9

Oskar tells the renter, "I want to stop inventing. If I could know how he died, exactly how he died, I wouldn't have to invent him dying inside an elevator that was stuck between floors, which happened to some people, and I wouldn't have to imagine him trying to crawl down the outside of the building, which I saw a video of one person doing on a Polish site, or trying to use a tablecloth as a parachute, like some of the people who were in Windows on the World actually did. There were so many different ways to die, and I just need to know which was his" 

(Foer 257).

(b) According to Oskar's statement above, why has Oskar been inventing? Why does he want to stop?

(c) Pick two or three of Oskar's inventions that interest you. How do they relate to your answer to question (b)?

2. Taking a musical stroll with your blogging buddies:

• Read what they wrote and say hello.
• Ask a Level 1, 2 or 3 question about something they wrote (something you'd genuinely like answered). 

AND/OR

• Offer a meaningful reflection on something they wrote.

3. Enjoying ELIC Fishbowl #5: Pages 207-259

HW:
1. For WEDNESDAY: Read the first 15-ish pages of this week's reading assignment in ELIC. Since we don't have class tomorrow, you will not have that in-class reading time.

2. For THURSDAY: Read through page 306 and complete your next journal entry. Thursday's leaders should prepare and post their sylabus.

No vocabulary or grammar this week.

NY Landscapes: October 8, 2018

Focus: What role does the New York landscape play in this part of the novel?

1. Warming up with a map of NY's boroughs, and image of Central Park, and a virtual tour of the Empire State building

The Boroughs

Central Park

Making Predictions:

• Why might Foer include a chapter about an imaginary 6th borough?

• Why might the Empire State Building symbolize in the story?

2. Reading ELIC, pages 208-259; tomorrow's leaders may use this time to prepare

HW:

1. For TOMORROW: Read pages 208-259 in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; complete your next journal entry.

If you miss a Fishbowl, you must make it up. Read over the syllabus and blog comments, then add an extended comment to the class blog. 

2. We will continue our READING JOURNAL CONFERENCES in class next week. Click HERE for the rubric. 

Regrouping: October 5, 2018

Focus: How can Oskar's journey help us move forward with our journeys?

1. Warming up with a 5-minute Friday freewrite:

2. Taking 15-20 minutes to skim back through today's reading, catch up on a journal, or get ahead (today's fishbowl leaders can take this time to regroup)

3. Enjoying ELIC Fishbowl #4: Pages 174-207

HW:
For TUESDAY: Read through page 259 and complete your next journal entry; leaders should prepare and post their syllabus. Please see revised fishbowl syllabi below:

• 2nd hour revised fishbowl plan 
• 6th hour revised fishbowl plan

Weathering the Storm: October 4, 2018

Focus: How can we take good care of ourselves and each other?

1. Warming up with house, people, storm

2. Drawing each other's happiness/comfort

3. Offering you the revised fishbowl plan and taking the time to read

• 2nd hour revised fishbowl plan 
• 6th hour revised fishbowl plan

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Read through page 207 in ELIC and complete your journal entry. Leaders should please finish their syllabus. We will finally have our fishbowl on these chapters.

2. For TUESDAY: Read through page 259 in ELIC and complete your journal entry. Leaders should prepare their syllabus. 

Note: All subsequent fishbowls will be pushed back by one fishbowl date. See above or below for the revised schedule; please note this in your student calendars and check your new dates.

• 2nd hour revised fishbowl plan 
• 6th hour revised fishbowl plan

People Who Share the Name "Black": October 2, 2018

Focus: What role do the minor characters play in Oskar's journey?

1. Warming up with some visits to everyone named "Black":

• Flip through Oskar's chapters and list everyone he's visited so far named "Black."

• For each person, write one word that indicates your initial perception or Oskar's first impression of this character (one-word biography style).

• IF APPLICABLE...Then cross it out, and write down your final perception or Oskar's shifted impression of this character.

2. Combining partnerships to form groups of four and compare answers

• Why is each Black significant to Oskar's journey? What does each one help him question or understand differently?

• What do all of the Blacks have in common? 

3. Reading and conferencing on ELIC

HW:

1. For WEDNESDAY: Read and journal on pages 174-207; leaders should prepare their syllabus.


2. For FRIDAY: Read pages 208-259 in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; complete your journal entry. This is longest reading assignment you will have, spread it out across two nights. Also, you will have 20-30 minutes of reading time on Th and Fri to help you stay caught up without stressing you out.

If you miss a Fishbowl or Socratic, you must make it up. Read over the syllabus and blog comments, then add an extended comment to the class blog. 

No vocabulary or grammar this week.

One-Word Biographies, Continued: October 1, 2018

Focus: How can a one-word biography help you uncover a shift you've undergone?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Finishing Friday's freewriting: Click HERE for today's memoir slides on creating one-word biographies

OR, use the ten minutes to journal on the heavy heavier boots you're wearing today.

3. Reading, journaling, and conferencing with Ms. Leclaire on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

HW:

1. Read pages 174-207 for tomorrow in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; complete your journal entry using either the three passage, three question format or one of the more creative choices. Do what works for you! 

If you miss a Fishbowl or Socratic, you must make it up. Read over the syllabus and blog comments, then add an extended comment to the class blog. 

2. Spend five minutes today with the first 10 words in your ELIC vocabulary list ("Pacifist" through "Condescending"); we will have an assessment on Friday. All vocab can be found on www.quizlet.com.