October 16

ELA 20: Oct 16 Listening and drawing… at the same time!

  1. We started the class by answering the questions for Chapter one of the novel. Then I offered the students a choice: continue working on their illustrations while I read, or read the second Chapter together. (Some people can focus on two tasks at the same time, while others cannot. They seemed pretty confident they could focus on both.)
  2. I started reading the novel, but then realized I could just play the narrated version I have on tape. They worked, I worked, and we all listened. It was a good class!
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October 16

ELA A10: Oct 16 Study period in exchange for Homework!

  1. The 10s came into class early today prepared to make a bargain – they’d do today’s work at home over the weekend in exchange for the class time to study for their Forensics exam next period. It seemed like a fair exchange.
  2. I had a few students complete small assignments they were missing, as well, so we checked a few things off our list.
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October 15

ELA A10: Oct 15 Three different versions of “The Raven” performed…

  1. Before watching / listening to the versions performed, we looked at an interactive version of the poem online. This website highlights the unfamiliar words and defines them on the side, points out the internal rhyme and line rhymes, the alliteration, and assonance. This was really helpful, I think, in helping students visually see how carefully the structure of the poem was constructed. You can see the website for yourself here.
  2. To really appreciate how great a mood can be created when carefully reading out this poem, we watched The Simpson’s version of it, narrated by Lisa Simpson with Homer and Bart playing the parts of the narrating character and Raven.
  3. Next we listened to a wonderful British actor’s version, one where he really gets into the tension that builds up! As we listened, we followed along on the smart board to the text on the screen.
  4. For a finale, then, we listened to Christopher Walken’s version, complete with the eerie guitar music in the background. They’re all very nicely done.
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October 14

ELA 20: Oct 14 Begin Reading To Kill a Mockingbird…

  1. Students were given their copy of the novel. Their names are written in and I have marked down the number of the book they were assigned. This way, when they hand in a novel at the end of the study they’ll know they’re handing in their own, not someone elses.
  2. We started right into the reading. It is easy to become engaged with the characters of the novel quickly because they’re written so carefully.
  3. Students were also given their first assignment with the novel – to create a representation illustration of either Boo Radley’s house or his person. I showed them examples from former students who did the same assignment. They watched for the references as we read and made note of them.
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October 14

ELA A10: Oct 14 “The Raven” enchants us!

  1. We began our study of “The Raven” today by reading through the poem and pointing out any unfamiliar words. See full size imageStudents used a vocabulary sheet to make sure they understood some of these terms. Then we read through it again focusing on the plot.
  2. Students were then asked to paraphrase each of the 18 stanzas, focusing on making sure they wrote down what question the narrator posed to the Raven and the repeated answer of “Nevermore” (meaning “No, never”).

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October 13

ELA 20: Oct 13 Begin To Kill a Mockingbird Novel Study…

  1. Today is the beginning of a month-long (approx) study of the wonderful novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Students studied a unit on Equality with me last semester in Gr 10. We reviewed some of those topics and the setting for their last novel study, Of Mice and Men. They all seemed to really enjoy that novel and I tried to make it clear that when we are done with this next novel they’ll have enjoyed it equally if not more!
  2. To help set the environment of the novel, we looked through a PowerPoint show that highlighted some important factors to understand in the novel, such as the economic situation of the time, the segregation of Blacks from Whites, and the role of women in society.
  3. We also had a discussion of the author, how she published the novel with a slightly ambiguous name so the book wouldn’t be rejected since it was written by a woman. Around the time the book was written and published, a lot of issues were coming to a head in American society after several major court cases brought awareness to the fact that Black people were not getting fair trials. One particular such case was the Scarborough Case where a few white women accused several black men of raping them. Through the different levels of appeal, though, it became more and more clear that the women had concocted the charges.
  4. Tomorrow, we’ll begin reading through the novel together. We’ll read it aloud in class, answer the chapter questions as we go, and look for evidence of growth in two of the characters. This will make their major project of a literary essay much easier to plan for.
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October 9

ELA 20: Oct 9 Archetypes in Literature / Modern Fairy Tales…

  1. We started the class today with looking at a list of archetypes often found in children’s stories. These are models or prototypes of characters that are universally recognized. Just by being that archetype in a story, the reader / viewer already has an expectation of what their behaviour and personality may be like. For example, when a pirate is created in a story, the reader will understand what to expect from that character for the most part. The author will create interesting aspects of the character’s personality of role in the story, but for the most part every pirate acts quite the same. Another example may be the Nurturing Mother archetype – again her role in the story will be anticipated and understood for the most part.
  2. The handout students were given had a list of different types of archetypes, included ones demonstrated by the male and female Gods of Greek mythology as well as male and female archetypes in basic literature.
  3. We also discussed again the difference between a traditional fairy tale and a modern twist on the storyline.
  4. To help students recognize both these aspects of children’s literature, the archetypes and modern changes to the story, we watched the first forty or so minutes of Shrek 3. They had a work sheet and were to fill in examples of male and female archetypes (like the male hero / rescuer, the faithful companion; the female fairy godmother, the heroine) and aspects of the traditional nature of the story (everyone lives in a magical kingdom, the princess’s parents are royalty) and the more modern twists on things (the hero is ugly and clumsy, the dragon is a girl and very affectionate) etc. We’ll discuss what they wrote down on Monday.
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