Warm Ups Set #4 - Due Friday, December 1st

LOTF Silent Conversation and Annotation Stations

Here are all the documents from our station activities today.

Station 1 is an annotation station. Follow these directions to annotate this passage and respond to the analysis questions on your own paper.

Station 2 is another annotation station. Follow these directions to annotate this passage and respond to the analysis questions on your own paper.

Station 3 and 4 are both silent conversation theme stations. For this station, follow these directions (they are the same for both station 3 and station 4) to create a response to TWO of the following themes:

1. Anyone can become savage if the situation is bad enough.
2. Leadership is a balance between discipline and wisdom.
3. Savagery lives in even the most civilized people.
4. Fear brings out the worst traits in people.

Remember that for these stations you need to pick one character or symbol and you need TWO quotes along with analysis to support your response. 

Station 5 is a review station. Complete this review of chapters 7 - 9 using your book. The page numbers that contain the answers are in parentheses at the end of each item. 

Here are the resources for chapters 10 and 11 in Lord of the Flies. Remember, chapter 10 should be read by Friday, December 1st. Chapter 11 should be read by Monday, December 4th.

Get ready for the feels in these chapters! Who do you think was right: Simon or the Lord of the Flies? Are people good or are they just rotten to the core?

Chapter 10


Chapter 10 Summary and Quiz
Chapter 10 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 11


Chapter 11 Summary and Quiz
Chapter 11 Summary and Analysis

How to Write a Theme Statement

Only 17 days remaining until Christmas Break! Let's start this off with some good news! Say "hello" to our newest classmate, Regal the Eagle!

That's the answer to our bonus question this week. Be ready to give the answer on Friday for some candy!

This week, we will begin discussing theme and theme statements in relation to Lord of the Flies. 

We began today by clarifying the difference between a thematic subject and a theme statement. A thematic subject is usually one or two words and identifies the subject matter present in the text. A theme statement extends this to include the author's message or perspective on the subject. 

For example, here is a list of all of the thematic subjects we came up with during class based on our current reading:

Survival
Savagery
Childhood
Family 
Obstacles
Civilization
Isolation
Danger
Hope
Leadership
Fear
Nature
Adventure
Loneliness
Beauty
Innocence
Logic/Intelligence
Learning
Death
Evil/The Devil
Exploration




Imperfection
Maturity
Hatred
Masculinity
Teamwork
Friendship
Responsibility
Recklessness
Culture
Freedom
Violence/Ruthlessness
Self-defense
Adaptation
Sanity
Authority
Discipline
Courage
Instinct
Corruption
Abandonment
Identity

We then proceeded to begin step 1 of our Theme Statement Generator. We started by narrowing down our list of thematic subjects to 1-3 ideas. 

You can use this generator for any text - just insert the title into that blank and PRESTO!

As you can see, I chose more than 3 (sorry, overachiever alert!). I chose subjects that I felt like, if I had to, I could explain them and how they show up in LOTF verbally.

For the next step, find out who the author of the text is. So, I reached into my bag and found my book and...

Yes, I was extra enough to make a gif of me getting my book out. WHEN IN DOUBT, TAKE YOUR BOOK OUT!

AHA! The author is William Golding. Not WG. Not Will. Not Gucchi Golding. Not Ya Boi Willy G. 

William. Golding. 

Put the author's name in the FIRST blank of the question in step 2. 

Now, it's decision time. Take a look at your 3 (or 5 in my case) thematic subjects and choose ONE that you feel like, if you had to, you could write at least three sentences about how that thematic subject shows up in LOTF.

So, I chose to focus on the thematic subject of fear, since it shows up in so many different ways in the text. I wrote this subject in the second blank of the question in step 2.

But, now I have to actually ANSWER that question.

When it says "what does William Golding believe/say about fear," it doesn't mean what did he write about that had to do with fear. It's asking me what does he believe about the CONCEPT of fear. What does William Golding have to teach us about this very powerful emotion? What lesson can we learn from this text regarding fear?

So, I thought about it and considered the way that fear affects the course of the story and the characters involved. A majority of the boys, except possibly Roger and maybe Jack, are not inherently mean. In fact, they are more interested in having fun and playing around and swimming in the lagoon than anything else at the beginning of the book. It isn't until someone brings up a beastie or a snake that the boys begin to change and focus more on "survival" and destroying whatever might threaten them. 

It isn't until each of the boys feel fearful or threatened by something that they begin to turn to a more brutal nature. Jack's role as leader of hunters is threatened by Ralph's authority; Piggy's intelligence and logical voice is threatened by the bullying and teasing of the other boys; the littluns' safety is threatened by the Beast. 

From that, I began to deduce that maybe William Golding was trying to teach us that fear can bring out our worst tendencies. It can uncover our darkest potentials (thanks, Miguel V. from 2nd period for that awesome insight!)

When writing your response, try to avoid just finishing by saying "is important/good/bad/some other adjective." You can say this, but you need to follow it up with a "because."

Still having trouble? Try these sentence stems:

Thanks for the sentence stems, Mrs. Wise!

The last step is the EASIEST. Just cross out the first 3-4 words (the part that says "William Golding believes/says that...") and PRESTO!

There's a working theme statement!

I say WORKING theme statement only because we have to do a little fine-tuning to make sure the metaphorical engine of our literary analysis powerhouse is running smoothly. 

Go through each of the fine-tuning tips and check off each one as you confirm you have followed their guidelines.

And that's it! We wrote our final theme statements on a notecard and put our names on the blank side, so if you were not in class today, be sure to get a notecard when you come to class tomorrow to turn yours in!

Now get a good night's sleep and be ready for our station activities tomorrow!

Lord of the Flies Summative Test Ch 1-6 Tomorrow and Thursday!

Don't forget that your Lord of the Flies summative test over chapters 1 - 6 is tomorrow and Thursday! If you're feeling a bit nervous, or if you have been absent, the links below will be super helpful for getting caught up!

Here is the review that we completed in class today. The numbers after each statement indicate the page numbers in the book where you can locate the answer! Be sure to do the back pages too. There will DEFINITELY be some questions on the test over symbols and characters!

Here is a quizlet with 87 different study questions over chapter 1-6!

If you're still feeling uncertain, review the section entitled "English II" on this blog to locate other resources such as summaries, audio recordings, and videos.

As always, get a good night's sleep!

Yes, that is my cat. His name is Winston. Want a piece of candy? When I ask what the answer to the bonus question is at the end of the warm-up during class on block day, tell me his name. 

LOTF Ch 5 and 6 Resources

Here are some resources for Chapters 5 and 6, as well as our annotation activity handouts from today and Friday (they make great reviews for the test!)

Chapter 5

• Summary and Quiz to Review

Chapter 6

• Summary and Quiz to Review

Chapter 4 Annotation Activity

Chapter 5 Annotation Activity

Vocab Quiz Tomorrow!

Don't forget you have a vocabulary quiz tomorrow! Seriously, don't forget! If you totally forgot, here's all the resources you might need!

1. Context Clues Sentences
2. Notes Chart
3. Vocabulary Powerpoint to fill out the Notes Chart above
4. Quizlet to study
5. Extra credit frayer model (complete 1 model for each word for a total of 10)

And get a good night's sleep!

LOTF Foldable Part 2

On block day, after we finished our essay, we set up the last three sections of our Lord of the Flies foldable. Remember that you should be adding to this throughout your reading of the book!

The first section we set up was the one titled "Symbolism." Symbolism is when you attach intangible or abstract ideas (peace, love, evil, bravery, etc.) to a tangible, visible object or symbol (dove, heart, snake, lion, etc.). Tangible items are things you can see, hold, buy at Walmart, or just generally physically interact with. Intangible things are those big ideas that you can't hold, buy at Walmart, or physically interact with. You can experience and express them, however, using symbols.

For instance, the symbol we most commonly associate with love is a heart.

There is nothing inherent in the shape of a heart that means love. Human beings have just used it to express love because love is a big, complex, intangible idea that we can't exactly buy at Walmart and give to people.

In Lord of the Flies, we see TONS of symbols that represent big ideas like authority, evil, intelligence, and even paradise. For instance, the conch that Ralph uses to call the boys acts as a symbol of order and authority.

Ralph blowing the conch like...

Set up your symbolism flap like shown above. Then, you will pick ONE of the symbols below to track throughout the novel. There isn't an "easy" one, by the way. They are all equally difficult/easy.

• Conch
• Fire
• Piggy's glasses
• Pigs
• The island
• A mask
• Spear
• The "Beast"

Then, on your flap, you will draw a picture of your symbol, find out what it represents, and who it is associated with throughout the book. Below, you will collect quotes about your symbol (WITH PAGE NUMBERS) as you read. 

The next section is the Transition Tracker. 

One of the main themes of this novel is the idea that man is constantly struggling between the urge to be civilized and the urge to be savage. As the boys' time on the island lengthens, we will see them go through the same struggle. So, we will be tracking 3 things as they waver between civilized and savage.

Set up this section like it is pictured above. I've given  you a freebie for the boys. They  begin as civilized because they are still making rules, electing a leader, and trying to be logical.

Finally, we have plot. 

Set up this final section as it is pictured above. I've labeled the first and last part of our plot pyramid because students usually forget these two exist. The first is the exposition, or the part of the plot where we learn what the situation or setting is. The last is the denouement. That's basically like the epilogue of the story. 

In the example above, I've also given you a few "milestones" to get you started. The first conflict is where Ralph and Jack cannot agree on who should lead and how. It gets progressively worse from there, honestly. The climax of the story will occur in about chapter 8 or 9, so you can track the events of the plot as you read without wondering if you've gone too far. 

Summative assignment tomorrow and Thursday!

Remember that we have a SUMMATIVE writing coming up tomorrow and Thursday! Be prepared to write a persuasive essay! If you need to review, I would review the posts I made recently regarding our recent persuasive process essay (1, 2).

If you want to look ahead, you may want to take a peek at the chapter 4 annotation activity we will be working on for the SECOND half of class tomorrow.

Then, get a good night's sleep! I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Persuasive Process Essay Continued

Today we examined a model persuasive essay as an example for how to structure our own persuasive process essay. Here is what we observed.

Putting on our annotation "specs"

This is the essay we analyzed. We identified the thesis, the restated thesis, the transitions and proper nouns, and also the overarching ideas ("buzzwords").

Here is the thesis.

Notice that the thesis clearly states the topic and position ("It is better to live in a big city...") and the reasons why ("because opportunities are endless in the career you want to pursue.") Based on this thesis, we know that the writer will defend big city livin' because of the awesome jobs one can acquire while there.

Then, we noticed that the author sort of repeated this thesis in the conclusion.

The restated thesis is underlined in green above. The thesis in your conclusion should be RESTATED, not repeated. In other words, you may use many of the same  "buzzwords" (circled in green) as your original thesis, but you might also change them up and change your sentence order. Another good way to restate your thesis without repeating it is to simply reverse the emphasis of the sentence. For example:

"Living in a small town is better because it promotes concentration and compassion"
becomes
"Concentration and compassion are both key features of small town life."

Living in a small town is the emphasis in the original thesis. The components of compassion and concentration become the focus in the restated thesis.

After we located the thesis and the restated thesis, we went about identifying the specific and detailed examples in the essay. This was relatively easy because the author used proper nouns to elaborate and give details.

The proper nouns are circled. You can see them labeled off to the right side. The author is detailed by stating the title of the movie or show, the name of the main character, and even the names of the settings. Moreover, they use chronological order to explain their examples!

You might also notice that the author uses transitions at the beginning of each paragraph after their introduction (which contained only their thesis). Using transitions and transitional phrases at the beginning of and within paragraphs help move the reader along and gives them as sense of how all of your ideas fit together.

Finally, we circled the "buzzwords" in green. These are words that were present in the original and restated thesis statements. They represent key ideas in the essay. Words like "career" and "opportunities" and "pursue" and "endless" all refer to the point the writer wanted to make in their essay.

Your body paragraphs should contain "buzzwords" from your thesis! If you are worried about repeating yourself too much, write your rough draft first with as much repetition as you want, then go back and circle each use of the word and upgrade a few using the thesaurus. For example,

big city --> metropolitan areas
Living in --> residing in
more people --> highly populated
less crime --> safer communities
job --> career/occupation/employment

And remember, WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW! I know sometimes it's tough to think up examples, but with practice, it WILL get easier.

Your examples should be things you DON'T have to look up last minute on Google. They should be the things you can recite from memory. It's okay if you have to do some minor fact-checking now, but remember that you won't be able to on the day of the STAAR!

Now, make sure you have your green outline packet done when you come to class on Tuesday! You must turn it in by Tuesday in order to be allowed to use it during our summative cold write on block day!

LOTF Ch 3 Resources

• Here are all of the resources for chapter 3 of Lord of the Flies. Make sure you have completed chapter 3 by block day of this week!
• Chapter 3 Summary
• Chapter 3 Summary and Themes
• Video Summary of chapter 3
• Chapter 3 Focus Questions

Week 10: Nov 6 - 10

We are now in week 10 of our school year! There were a couple of changes to our course calendar due to student needs and attendance from last Friday, so the most updated schedule is detailed below and in the weekly email sent out Sunday night.

Here is an overview of what we will be working on between November 6th and 10th. If you are absent, remember to get the work from the tabs to the left/above.

Week 10: November 6th - 10th

Weekly Update: English II Level

Announcements, Reminders, & Due Dates:

Reminder:

• Students with an Incomplete for the first quarter must make up missing work by Friday, November 10th. 
• The quiz over our first vocabulary unit will be on Friday, November 10th.
• Also, our AHS Annual Food Drive is now in full swing! Students may donate to any teacher, but the 5^th period class with the MOST donations will receive a pizza party on November 17^th! The following items are being accepted at this time:

  ·         Soup

  
  

  ·         Stuffing mix

  
  

  ·         Canned vegetables

  
  

  ·         Corn bread mix

  
  

  ·         Mashed Potatoes (boxed)

  
  

  ·         Turkey Gravy – can, jar, or packet

  
  

  ·         Dry beans – 1 lb bags

  
  

  ·         Rice – 1 lb bags

  
  

  ·         Brownie or cake mix

• 5^th period students can donate directly to Ms. Hamman. 
• Students from other periods who wish to donate may donate to their 5^th period teacher or to Ms. Hamman for a small thank-you gift.

Grades this week:

• Process Piece Packet - Formative - Originally due Friday, November 3rd, extended to Tuesday, November 7th
• DBA #2 - Formative - Tuesday, November 7th
• Summative Cold Write Essay - Summative - Block day, November 8th and 9th
• Vocabulary Unit 1 Quiz - Double Formative - Friday, November 10th
• Vocabulary Unit 1 Extra Credit - Friday, November 10th - You can find it HERE

Homework!

Don't forget! We have our reading check quiz over LOTF Ch 1 and 2 tomorrow! Read chapter 2 tonight and review using the resources posted under the English 2 tab!

Persuasive Process Essay

This week, we began working on our first persuasive process essay. We are primarily focusing on thesis and body paragraphs for this first essay.

Here is the prompt. You will notice that it gives three different directions (highlighted: Read... Think... Write...), but I only want you to pay attention to the direction that says, "Write an essay..."

Persuasive Prompt Page

When you are persuading, you are convincing someone of something or making them feel a certain way. In other words, you are making your reader choose between two sides. Which means YOU have to pick a side.You can't pick both sides or refuse to pick any side at all. You have to go with one or the other. You should always go with the side you can prove the best, with the best reasons.



Here is the brainstorming page we did for each side:

Brainstorming: Big City vs. Small Town

We discussed both sides. At this point, you have to pick a side:


Pick a side and give your two best reasons why that side is the best.

Next, we use a HELP chart to figure out how to support our two reasons.

HELP Chart

Your evidence can come from anywhere, as long as it's detailed, and it proves your thesis. You can use HELP, LeCHEF, ROSE, or any other strategy, but I used HELP here. You don't have to have an example for every category, but the more examples, the better, even if they don't end up working out later.


H = History. As in, all of human history, ever. You can use anything that has happened in the past to prove your point. All nonfiction.
E = Experience. This is personal experience - anything that has ever happened to YOU.
L = Literature, but not just literature. All stories, all fiction. Movies, TV shows, comics, anything.
P = Pop culture. This is anything that is happening right now.

Next, you need to stop and think. What side did you pick and what reasons did you give for that side? Do you have something on your HELP chart to prove that side, with those reasons? Does that example contain ANY proper nouns (those SPECIFIC nouns that need to be capitalized)?

Once you have a side, reasons for that side, and examples picked out to prove those reasons, you may proceed to write a thesis!


Here is my thesis:



My thesis.

Pick a side, take your stance, and list your reasons. My thesis doesn't look too great yet. It's a little long and it doesn't exactly fit perfectly together. It's only a combination of some boxes, so it isn't meant to sound great. But I want my thesis to have my personal writing voice and sound really sophisticated.


So, I juiced it up by consulting a thesaurus and changing some words and word order:




I changed my thesis a bit. Instead of listing my reasons separately and using the word "because," I shorted my reasons down and added the action verb "promotes." That just matches my thinking and writing style more. If you compare my thesis from the box to my completed thesis, you can see that I made a few small changes.

Below that, I wrote out exactly what I would focus on in my body paragraphs to ensure I knew what I would be writing about. Below that, I wrote down the example I had chosen to use.

This is where we ended after block day, so anything beyond this is a preview for FRIDAY! :)

First off, get rid of the page pictured below. It's an organizer page but I really don't like the way it is laid out. Put an X through it. 

I've got one less problem without you...

Next, pull off the last page of the packet. It's an outline page and the rubric. But I really don't like either of them. We recycled them in some classes. You just need to worry about the green packet I gave out in class or you can write it out on your own paper. 

Here's my first paragraph:

Paragraph 1

And here's my second paragraph:

Paragraph 2

Make sure you have two body paragraphs written before class on Monday. You can do it on the green outline pages provided, or use your own paper. We will have some time to look at model essays and possibly write them during class on Friday after our Reading Check Quiz.