We discussed themes indicated by the quotations Katya selected from last night's reading. HW: Read the chs. "And a Partridge," "Red vs. White," "Wake," "Valentine Heart."

Katya did not have her graffiti writing revision, so she will bring it tomorrow. We briefly reviewed mechanics issues from yesterday: affect/effect, all of a sudden/all the sudden, using semi-colons, piece/peace, coordination conjunction use and punctuation, different from/different than. HW (begun in class): Read 162-194 THE ABSOLUTE..., writing down at least 4 quotations that suggest important themes in this section of the reading.

Katya decided to Skype in today. We worked together to revise her graffiti paragraph, with emphasis on the following: avoiding run-ons, affect vs. effect, using semi-colons to join closely related sentences, the expression "all of a sudden" (not "all the sudden"), using "different from" (not "different than"), and READING ALOUD as a method of detecting needed revisions. HW: Type a polished revision of this assignment to submit tomorrow -- along with the original version containing revision notes we made today.

Katya and I discussed key themes in the homework reading, citing specific text that supports each.

Katya chose from several topics to write an in-class essay about her reading for today. She also defined three vocabulary words found in context. HW: Read pp. 131-161 of novel.

Katya demonstrated her understanding of theme (and vocabulary) in pp. 64-99 by finding quotations and drawing images that align with key ideas in this section of the novel and writing a brief explanation of how and why these quotes and images apply. HW: Katya will read pp. 100-130. She also has a paragraph revision due tomorrow (graffiti).

I gave Katya feedback on her graffiti argument (great support for position). She will revise it for Wed., with emphasis on eliminating run-ons. We discussed pp. 25-63 of THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY... with emphasis on understanding the novel's cultural context, as well as character motivation and developing themes. HW: In addition to the paragraph revision for Wed., for TOMORROW, Katya will read pp. 64-99 of the novel.

Katya submitted her argumentative paragraph for/against graffiti. We will review it together next week. We also reviewed her recent vocabulary words, and she drew a graphic to represent her "favorite" new word. I delivered a very short lecture about alcohol use and abuse among the Native American population, especially among those who live on reservations. We discussed pp. 21-25 of Sherman Alexie's novel, then read to page 35 aloud.

We discussed opposing viewpoints from a NYT forum about whether graffiti is art. We also discussed two art-related vocabulary words: ethereal and tactile. I introduced the writer/spoken word poet/cartoonist Sherman Alexie, and we began reading his novel THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, stopping to discuss Alexie's frequent use of hyperbole as a rhetorical strategy.

Katya was absent today.