December
9
ELA 20: Dec 9 “Goalie” discussion / questions…
- Students were reminded today that their Character Analysis essays were due today. I will accept them until Friday and then I will change the essay topic and anyone late will have to start their essay from scratch.
- We have a small class for a few days (five or six students) so I encouraged those here that they’re going to have to really pick up the slack in our discussion! We talked about their first impressions from reading the short story “Goalie” and any comments. Then we looked at the questions and they each carefully and thoughtfully added to each other’s responses. There is a PDF file attached of our written answers to the questions.
- We talked about the theme and the realization that parents can feel at a loss or helpless when they recognize significant changes in their children but are unable to do anything for them. The father in this story, “Goalie” admires his son’s growing independence but feels sad that he is no longer able to protect his son (literally and physically as well as figuratively speaking). I shared a few examples of occasions I’ve had with my own parents where I scolded them for their actions, which seems contrary to the way a parent-child relationship should be. The reality is, though, that all people can “Anticipate” going through the same stages where your relationship with adults in general begins to change. No longer do you have to assume that the adults are always correct, but you can begin to make your own moral / ethical / personal decisions for yourself and accept your own consequences.
- We started reading aloud together the short story titled “The Broken Globe”. There is a definitive writing style in this particular story through the author’s use of dialogue. It is clear to understand the characterization of the older man / father through his broken use of English. It’s also a story that creates a great deal of tension towards the climax and also includes excellent examples of symbolism, which we’ll discuss soon. I asked students to have the rest of the story read for our class tomorrow. (There are only a few paragraphs left on the final page to read.)