Bella came in late today. We read and discussed a chapter from the novel being read. She cited text that supported the theme of despair. She then analyzed and discussed the protagonists mindset and made predictions based on text for what she might do.
Jaydn read, discussed, and analyzed chapter 14 of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Upon completion she wrote an short essay for the following prompt: Explain in detail how flight signifies escape or freedom in A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Cabo took a written test today on chapters 1-10 of A Thousand Splendid Suns. The essay questions required him to analyze the characters, their motivation, the setting, and the effect of the setting on the character's motivations. We orally discussed the questions in depth after he completed the the test. He displayed great insight with his test answers. We continued SAT work until the end of the session.
During today's session Matthew began his final essay on the book,"Into the Wild". As the essay addressed influences of Tolstoy,Thoreau, and London, I assisted Matthew in organizing his paragraph on Tolstoy and suggested he review specific pages of the book to locate explicit textual support. HW- complete portion of essay on Tolstoy. We will work on the Thoreau and London segments in class Thursday .
Jaydn had read chapter 11 of the novel being studied. She discussed an oral outline of the the complex traits of the protagonist, Miriam, and where these traits might have been created. Jaydn then wrote a short paragraph on the character and the complexity of her character. Jaydn elaborated with her feelings about the characters and the details she cited.
After reading and discussing chapter 17, Cabo wrote a short story detailing the plight of the protagonist, Miriam. Using the SAT vocabulary being studied, he concentrated also on using vivid diction so his ideas were extremely clear to the reader.
During our first session we concluded our class discussion of the book by analyzing Chris' farewell note to the world wherein he recognizes he is dying. He signs using his real name ,not his adopted persona of Alex Supertramp. I explained how literary identity is tied to one's name. Here, life imitates art. Matthew discussed Chris' use of his birth name as a recognition of both his real identity and of his parents, a form of reconciliation . We further examined the author's bias by noting his comparing Chris to a monk who has found peace. Last, we continued the open debate on whether Chris is an admirable character or an arrogant narcissist. Mathew then completed a short answer quiz on the entire novel. During our second session, we worked on Matthew's revision of his persuasive essay on this same topic. I reviewed the need to elaborate on the thesis ,and we discussed how to edit the essay so as to support the conclusion Matthew is advocating. After I demonstrated how to combine certain sentences and to join ideas within the essay, Matthew worked on the revisions. Last, we reviewed the quiz Matthew had completed during the first session. HW- study for final essay test on Into the Wild.
Jaydn read, discussed and analyzed chapters 7-9 of A Thousand Splendid Suns. We discussed and analyzed the theme of the self versus social standards and where it is highlighted by the imagery in the chapters read. As we discussed the theme, Jaydn talked about Miriam's perspective and emotions as she endures the effects of the social standards of Afghanistan.
We continued discussing the author's ongoing defense of Chris McCandles' life, and , in the context of critical reading, analyzing the author's word choice . For example, the author declares Chris a "skilled survivalist " because Chris kept himself alive for over 100 days by living totally off the land. However, the author overlooks that Chris was emaciated and weakened during this time undermining his claim that Chris was "skilled". We further examined the last two books Chris read, focusing on Tolstoy's "Death of Ivan Ilyich" which Matthew recently completed. I pointed out portions of the Tolstoy novel that Chris would have found a justification for his lifestyle choices but then drew distinctions between Tolstoy's fictional characters and Chris. We performed the same exercise by reexamining the portions of Thoreau's "Walden" which Matthew also read. Last, we explored what ideas of Tolstoy and Louis Pasternak (Dr Zhivago) might have induced Chris to attempt to return to a more conventional life. As we will be having final tests on the book next week,I made suggestions for studying and annotating the book which can be used during the essay portion of the test. HW- study for test/continue rewrite of essay by editing and also adding paragraph on Oedipal issues as a motivating force for Chris.
