Natalie is trying to complete the work on The Heart of Darkness this week, but it may spill over until after the break. She has parts one and two of the packet (graded as "project") complete, and worked hard on part 3. She is also taking a Heart of Darkness vocabulary test soon. She began the session with a short documentary on Imperialism that included the Congo (as in the book) and expanded out a bit to China and another couple of countries. This was intended to augment background understanding of the book.
Will took a cumulative assessment on the novel, "Lord of the Flies".
It consisted of multiple choice, matching, and sequencing. It also included open-ended questions about conflict and theme. He did a very good job and managed to work on it in a timely fashion. We discussed his tendency to over think answers and he was cognizant of how long he was spending on each section. He did a very good job on this assessment. He continues to build confidence in his abilities. Will has had a great quarter and has worked on increasingly challenging assignments. Wishing him a relaxing and restful spring break!
Will completed his reading of the novel,“Lord of the Flies”. In class, he answered comprehension questions about the final chapter. We had an excellent discussion about the theme, symbolism and conflicts in the story. He did a great job explaining the irony involved in the final fire that resulted in the boys’ rescue. On Wednesday, Will is going to have a final assessment on the novel. I have returned all his comprehension questions for him to look over in preparation for the assessment. Besides basic questions about the story, this assessment will also include a few questions on the theme, conflicts and symbolism in the story. Will has done a fabulous job on this unit, and I feel he is very prepared to demonstrate his understandings.
Natalie studied (and took a quiz on) T.S. Eliot today. She wrote an interpretation of a portion of his poem, "The Wasteland," to be discussed and graded. Natalie then continued to work on her British Literature timeline (major project) and hopes to complete it by March 15 for the end of this quarter.
Today Natalie watched a 25 minute documentary on The Heart of Darkness as shown in the "Great Books" series on public television. It clarified and simplified some difficult parts of the book, and brought out the background and purpose of the author. Natalie took part 2 of the Heart of Darkness Quiz, and continued working through the packet that involves thinking through character analysis, theme, quotes, and so forth.
Sam and I continued our study of the novel. We read chapter 10 stopping to annotate for meaning. We also defined vocabulary that we didn't know by using context clues. We then read an analysis of the chapter from Book Rags. We discussed the author's purpose and the symbolism he employs.
Will reviewed Chapter 11 of "Lord of the Flies" and worked on comprehension questions. He did a great job sharing a synopsis of the actions that occurred in the chapter. He was also able to explain the symbolism of the broken conch shell. Next, Will continued his study of the use of conflict in literature. He practiced identifying the types of conflict in a selection of passages. For homework, Will should finish reading the final chapter of the novel.
Will reviewed Chapter 10 in class today. We discussed the critical actions in the chapter, and Will reread sections for clarification. We then discussed the topic of “conflict”. He learned about the three types of external conflict: man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs. society. He also learned about the internal conflict of man vs. self. Then, he practiced identifying these types of conflicts in photographs. Next, he identified types of conflicts in practice passages. He did a great job on this and we had some very interesting conversations around the topic. For homework, he will be reading Chapter 11.
Natalie studied and took an open-book test on Modernism in British Literature. Today's focus was on William Butler Yeats. Natalie wrote a short paraphrase of a portion of his poem "Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen." She then continued on the "Project" of a creative Timeline for British Literature. I corrected and returned yesterday's 'Literary Terms Test,' and today's work on Modernism.
