All Boys, All Blogged: November 2, 2012

Focus: Augmenting your vocabulary and your understanding of the hero's journey

1. Warm-up: SAT List 7 vocabulary review:

Scattegories: Round 1

• Something you would do to gird yourself for a zombie attack
• A type of animal that daunts you
• A student behavior that would keep English 10 in a state of flux
• A place where you might find a hovel
• An exclamation that a cadaverous pirate might make

Scattegories: Round 2

• Types of sounds that you would hear in a gothic, haunted mansion
• A country where many people suffer from penury
• The place in your house that serves as an egress to the magical land of Narnia
• A kind of food that brings you great felicity
• Something a despot would say to his subjects

2. SAT List 7 quiz

3. Overview of the hero's journey essay (click here for the electronic version of the essay overview).

4. Time to finish brainstorming and to start narrowing down the topic of your essay.

PLEASE SIGN UP FOR A BOOK TALK DATE TODAY.

HW: By Monday, your yellow hero's journey chart needs to be finished, as does the chart in your essay overview (including specific quotations); continue working on book talk.

All Boys, All Blogged: November 1, 2012

Focus: Analyzing the conclusion of The Kite Runner film and the conclusion of the novel; reviewing vocab.

Warm-up: Hero's journey human minesweeper

Finish watching and discussing film version of The Kite Runner

• What is the single most powerful choice you think the director made?  
• What is the worst choice you think the director made and why?

SAT List 7 vocabulary review

HW: Finish the second page of the hero's journey chart by tomorrow; study for tomorrow's SAT List 7 vocabulary quiz; work on book talk.

All Boys, All Blogged: October 31, 2012

Shortened class: 11:00-11:28

Focus: How does the film version of The Kite Runner alter or heighten (or ruin? Hopefully not) your interpretation of the novel?

Warm-up: Mrs. Makovsky's notes about you.  Also, how was the PSAT?

Finish watching and discussing the film: What is the single most powerful choice you think the director made?  What is the worst choice you think the director made and why?

Overview of the hero's journey essay; start brainstorming using the Joseph Campbell chart.

HW: Complete the first page of the hero's journey chart.  Attempt to fill in each box in specific detail, but you may leave one blank if it simply doesn't apply.  Also, continue working on your speech; prepare to sign up on Friday.  Lastly, start studying for Friday's List 7 vocabulary quiz (we will review briefly in class tomorrow).

All Boys, All Blogged: October 29 and 30, 2012

Focus: How does the film version of The Kite Runner challenge, enhance, or flat-out contradict your understanding of the book?

1. Welcome, Mrs. Makovsky!

2. Overview of blogging during the film:

At least five times throughout the film (and preferably more), please post a comment about the film that responds to one or all of the following:

• What aspects of the film don't match the way you thought about the book?  How are they different?
• What aspects of the film support the way you thought about the book?  How so?
• If you could ask the director questions about the choices he made in this film, what would you ask?  Feel free to respond to other peoples' questions as well.
• If you were directing this film, what would you do differently?

3. 5 minutes: Large group discussion (aloud)

HW: Work on your independent reading book talk; you should finish Step 1 (the brainstorming portion) tonight.  Remember that when I return on Wednesday, we will be starting a challenging essay on The Kite Runner. 

All Boys, All Blogged: October 26, 2012

Focus: Augmenting your vocabularies and drawing your discussion of The Kite Runner to a close

1. SAT List 6 vocabulary quiz

2. Independent reading/speech writing

3.  Kody's lesson?

4. Final thoughts on The Kite Runner:

• What is the purpose of this book?  How do you know?
• Does this book achieve that purpose?  How do you know?
• Why do we read?  Is this a book, in your personal opinion, worth reading?

HW: Finish your independent reading book and begin working on your speech.

All Boys, All Blogged: October 25, 2012

Focus: Did Amir find a way to be good again?  Did he achieve true redemption?

Warm-up: List 6 SAT vocabulary review

The final fishbowl discussion: Chapter 25 of The Kite Runner

Wrap-up: Final take-away's

HW: Study for tomorrow's List 6 SAT vocab quiz; independent reading books due Tuesday; bring your independent reading to class tomorrow.

All Boys, All Blogged: October 24, 2012

Focus: Reading between the lines: Foreshadowing in Chapter 24

Warm-up: Here are two questions posed during yesterday's fantastic fishbowl that deserve a little personal writing: 
         (1) If guilt leads to good, can we achieve redemption?
         (2) What does it take to trust someone?  
Please spend the first 10 minutes of class freewriting on one or both of the following questions.  

Large class discussion: Finding the subtle foreshadowing in Ch. 24 for the disaster at the end of the chapter, as well as hints as to whether Sohrab lives or dies.

My feedback from yesterday's fishbowl discussion.

Time to start reading Chapter 25 together.

HW: Read and annotate the end of The Kite Runner; prepare for our final fishbowl discussion! Start studying for Friday's SAT List 6 quiz; independent reading.