Class Novels

Students are starting to read class novels. In 9th grade we are reading Of Mice and Men.
In 10th grade we are reading To Kill a Mockingbird. 


Some students who have studied these novels before are being given alternate assignments. 

Students will be expected to read each night, and should expect a comprehension check (assessment/quiz) multiple times a week.

The overarching question for the novel study unit is how a writer develops theme through the story elements of Setting, Character, and Conflict.  

Literary Response Essay Checklist

**FINAL DAY TO TURN IN ESSAY is Monday! 

Literary Response Essay Assignment

Students are analyzing Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse. See bottom of post for prompts. 

**NOTE: PARACHUTE Assignment added: If a student cannot complete the OOtD prompt (due to not reading the book, etc.), an alternate assignment is to analyze a theme, or big message about life, from one of our memorized poems, using the same analytic essay structure and checklist below. Students MAY NOT choose "Hope..." as that is the example shown in the body paragraph below. **

Here is a basic checklist for the essay.

1. Introduction Paragraph:

• Hook—engaging statement to grab reader’s attention (Optional)
• Thesis –statement you will prove that addresses the prompt, include author, title, and genre (book/poem/essay) **See Sample frames below for simple guides to thesis formation
• Short summary of the novel—important character, setting, conflict information—concise but precise
• Preview of points that will support your thesis (see below for specifics for each prompt)

Sample Thesis Frames:

THEME: In the novel ______________ by ____________, the author explores the theme of ___________________________[big message about life that can apply to anyone]

HISTORICAL REF.:In the novel ______________ by ____________, the author uses historical references to illuminate the main character’s journey.

POETIC ANALYSIS: In the novel ______________ by ____________, the author uses poems to tell the main characters story in order to…

2. Body Paragraphs: (use this structure for each)

P.E.E.L structure with transitions (ex. “In the beginning of the novel the theme is shown when…” “In the following quote…”:

• Point that supports your thesis
•  Evidence (quotation)
• Explanation of Evidence: Explain the context and the meaning of the quote in your own words
• Language and Link: Dig deeper into Language: Discuss the significance of specific words, language devices, poetic terms, repeated symbols, references to important events to support your point. Link ideas back to the point in a final sentence.

Here is an example of the P.E.E.L. strategy using “Hope is the Thing With Feathers,” by Emily Dickinson. 

[Point] In the poem, “Hope—“ by Emily Dickinson, the theme is to never give up even in hard times. [Evidence] In the opening stanza, Dickinson says, “Hope is the thing with feathers/that perches in the soul/and sings the tune without the words/and never stops at all.” [Explanation} In this stanza Dickinson says you must keep going, even when you don’t know what’s ahead. Even if things are unclear, like a song without words, hope is always possible. [Language and Link] Dickinson uses the metaphor of a songbird to explain the need for hope in dark times. The image of the songbird with "feathers/that perches in the soul," creates an inspiring symbol for the reader, which illustrates the theme of having resilience despite challenges you may encounter.

**For Literary analysis essays where you analyze theme, the points from your body paragraphs can come from:

a.  the beginning, middle, and end of the story or

b.  one to two significant struggles and a triumph that shows the theme.

**For Historical Analysis the points for your body paragraphs can come from:

a. specific historical references in the book that CONNECT to Billie Jo’s personal struggle.

**For Poetic analysis, the points for your body paragraphs can come from:

a.  Specific poems that illuminate Billie Jo’s struggle AND use strong poetic devices

3. Conclusion:

• Restate the thesis in a new way.
• Summarize main points of essay (characters' growth through the theme, connection between historical references and character's growth, poetic devices/why novel is written in poems)
• Why does this book/theme matter to the larger world? Why should we care?

Your conclusion should end strong, inspire your reader, and answer the question, “So What?”

Out of the Dust Essay Prompts: Due end of class, 1/22/14

For all prompts you are expected to form a thesis and use specific evidence and explanations in your essay. Your essay should be at least 4-5 paragraphs, with an introduction, analytic body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Choose one:

Poetic Analysis

Provide a rationale for writing the novel in poems. Pick three “luminous” chapters and explain why they are significant to the work as a whole, using poetry terms to analyze the author’s language and how it contributes to the story-telling.

Historical Analysis

Using specific examples, explain how the author uses historical references to enhance the story elements (setting, character, conflict). How is this historical time period significant to the story, and how does the author use details and fact to make it come to life?

Literary Analysis

Identify an important theme, or message about life, that is explored in the novel. Use specific examples to show how the theme develops over the course of the book, and how it is revealed through character, setting, or conflict.

Or…

Propose a prompt to Ms. Witham that you think would be interesting to use to analyze Out of the Dust. 

O Me! O Life! Poetry so good, Apple uses it to inspire you...

Back in first semester, our young STEMM scholars memorized 5-6 poems. One of them was the following, "O Me! O Life!" by Walt Whitman. At the time it was one of the more challenging poems to memorize: it was clunky, it didn't rhyme, it had a lot of "of's," yadda, yadda, yadda. But it had at its heart, the question, that we all must ask: What good am I, little tiny me, amid all this noisy chaotic mess of life? 

Even better? It had an answer: 

"That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."

Two days ago, a bright young scholar (that's you John!) came up to me, ecstatic, saying, "Ms. Witham! They used that Walt Whitman poem, "O Me! O Life!" in a commercial for the iPad! I couldn't believe it! I knew it!"

Here is the commercial, and an article about how it will give you chills: http://business.time.com/2014/01/13/apples-latest-ad-is-probably-going-to-give-you-chills/

The commercial is narrated by the one and only Robin Williams, with echoes reverberating from his speech in Dead Poets Society (Which is required viewing for February, scholars--get a copy!). Those echoes span miles, years, heartbreaks, barbaric YAWPS, to remind us why poetry matters. 

Thanks to John D. and SaraJoy S. for bringing the commercial to my attention, and to a certain VHS parent who told me that the moment of poetic recognition made her wonder: 

Has she written her verse?

Have you?

O Me! O Life!

By Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

Out of the Dust Novel Study Expectations

Scholars have read Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, which chronicles life in the dust-ravaged midwest during the Great Depression. This was a time when people truly believed the end of the world was upon them. It was the greatest man-made natural catastrophe the United States has ever experienced. 

By now students should have:

• Finished the book
• Taken a quiz on it
• Learned how to do a "Close Reading" of a chapter, through Ms. W's modeling of the first pages, and then one they are to complete on their own, in preparation for discussion on Friday.

Students will spend Friday discussing their close reading, identifying the essay prompt they plan to tackle, form a thesis, and begin planning for the in-class essay, to be completed by Wednesday, 1.22. 

After we complete the essay next week, it's on to a research unit called the Curiosity Project. 

Enjoy these images of the Dust Bowl for a visual sense of what Americans were dealing with:

http://www.weru.ksu.edu/new_weru/multimedia/dustbowl/dustbowlpics.html