Will was very excited to report that he completed his homework independently. He shared that he read the assigned chapter, took notes and then accessed online resources to help find some of the answers. Will is very intent on being as independent as possible and improving his “English” by tackling more challenging work. After reviewing his homework, we continued our work in developing a deeper understanding the three types of “irony”. He completed his practice identifying the types of irony in various passages. Next, he took an online assessment of the three types of irony. He has been working very hard and is showing continual improvement.
Will did an excellent job on his Chapter Eight homework questions. He only had one error and was able to fix that demonstrating good comprehension. After discussing the actions and symbolism in the novel, he dug into the next literary device that he will be studying which is "irony". He reviewed a power point I created and took notes on the three types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. Then, he practiced identifying examples of all three types of irony and explaining why they were a particular kind of irony. He did a wonderful job and understands that author's use irony to provoke the reader into thinking harder and analyzing a situation. Will had a great class today, and he did a wonderful job on his assigned tasks. For homework, Will is going to read and answer questions for Chapter Nine of our novel.
Natalie began a "project" today for British Literature. Tara and I took a laptop and possible materials for Natalie to use in this creation. It will be a time-line of British Literature, including writers, some of their works, and the literary periods. It will be fairly detailed. The source we provided is the British Library where the progression of writing is clearly categorized in boxes containing the author's chronologically (as Natalie learned them) and detailed information from which she can select. The entire period was spent in preparation and information gathering. Next Thursday, Natalie should be ready for a literary terms test.
Natalie submitted her second rough draft, a great revision with many improvements. I will have her do one more revision before the final essay grade. The essay is a rebuttal to Adlai Stevenson's veto of the "Cat Bill." There are solid arguments with relevant sources. Natalie also has flashcards for literary terms to study for next Thursday -- test. We will continue to work on how to put in citations and do Works Cited in MLA format. Natalie is continuing to read The Heart of Darkness and is completing the activities.
Will continued working with theme today. He read four passages and identified the theme and explained his rationale. We reviewed his questions for Chapter 7 of “Lord of the Flies”. He was able to state literally the actions that occurred but needed assistance thinking about the deeper meaning. We discussed the fact that a character's actions and thoughts can symbolize deeper meaning in literature. We also began discussing foreshadowing and the role it plays in Golding’s work. For homework, Will is going to read Chapter 8 and answer comprehension questions.
We read chapter nine of the novel. We continued our study by answering the accompanying study guide questions. We also annotated the text to increase understanding. We circled unknown words and researched their meanings either through using context clues or looking them up in the dictionary.
In today’s class, we reviewed the literary term "theme". We discussed the fact that theme is what can be learned from a story; it is the central message. We also discussed that the theme is not explicitly stated but inferred and that theme is a big picture idea and not just an action occurring in the story. Next, Will practiced finding the theme in several passages. He grasped the concept by the end of this lesson, and he was able to articulate his reasoning. After this lesson, we reviewed Chapter 6 of “Lord of the Flies”, and he shared his responses to the comprehension questions. We discussed the emerging themes in the text and revisited the essential questions. For homework, he will be reading Chapter 7 and answering comprehension questions.
Natalie studied and took an open-book quiz on Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Additionally, she studied four pages from two excellent textbooks on thesis statements and revised ten for practice. She will take a quiz on thesis statements next week, as well as submitting her revised documented argumentative essay.
Natalie turned in a four-page essay that I gave a great deal of attention in correcting. We will count it as a rough draft. The method of citing from sources in MLA format using a variety of signal phrases should be better understood as she makes the revision. I not only wrote many notations and instructions on her paper, I also typed up rules and examples. Other corrections should be seen on the revision due next week. There will be at least one more longer documented research paper due before the end of the semester. Natalie chose a great topic concerning cats, arguing that domesticated cats should not be allowed to roam free, and supporting that with strong, valid reasoning and evidence. It is a brilliant rebuttal of the "Cat Bill" vetoed by Adlai Stevenson some decades earlier. Additionally, Natalie worked on gaining an understanding of Heart of Darkness to fill out the packet of activities focused on theme, quotes, vocabulary, and analysis of that book.
Will reviewed his responses to Chapter Three. He had some insightful answers and is beginning to grasp one of the central themes of civilization verses savagery as he reads about the changes in the main protagonists. Next, we reviewed Chapters 3 & 4 and discussed the symbolism of the “beast”. Will shared that he felt the “beast” might be the boys themselves. Wow! We discussed the questions-answer relationship (QAR), and I shared that many of the questions I have been asking are not directly stated in the text, but instead go beyond the text as the reader infers meaning. For homework, Will is reading Chapter 6 and answering questions for the chapter. He is encouraged to note page numbers or quote evidence directly from the text to support his answers. He did a great job today and is working hard at being independent.
