BINDER  CORE:                 33 // 1 11 1 / 2 0 1/ 2 0 1 33

HAIR PULLING? The third quarter blahs and blehs are,

much to my chagrin, in full swing. The number of late and incomplete assignments has increased dramatically and the effective use of class time has plummeted faster than a boy-band’s popularity once it members reach puberty. It can be a veritable trifecta of frustration—student, parent, and teacher.

For you few, wonderful people who read the newsletter and attempt conversations with your students…Thank you. It is difficult to pry into the life of a teenager, but your interest and support are crucial. Together, we will make it out of third quarter alive.

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READING DISCUSSION GROUPS

Students should be reading and working on the fourth and final discussion’s assignment. The list of chapters or pages to read and each person’s assignment is listed on the bookmarks that were handed to each student in class. The assignments and the bookmarks are available on the “Reading” page of my website.

I recommend keeping the bookmark and assignment with the novels the students are reading. Students should work on the assignment as they read, not try and cull meaningful quotes or descriptions after reading the entire section. The only exception might be the summarizer, but even then the student could be summarizing each chapter into a sentence as s/he goes. Yes, reality says that most students will not do that. It would, however, make their lives a lot easier.

Discussion #4 assignments are due at the beginning of class on Thursday (3/21) and the final discussion is Friday (3/22). Students will complete the “post discussion” portion of the assignment after the discussion and submit it to the correct (AM or PM) reading tray.

BODY BIOGRAPHY The culminating activity for

the third quarter discussion novel is a body biography for a significant character in the novel. Students have been constantly and continually reminded (which, of course, means that most of them have forgotten) to take notes and document information on their character as they read. It is too difficult to comb through a 200+ page novel after reading to

cull information on a character. It can be done, but it is much more difficult.

For the chosen character, students will be creating a body biography—a visual and written portrait illustrating several aspects of the character’s life within the novel.

There are many possibilities for filling up the giant sheet of paper. I have listed several, but please feel free to come up with your own creations. As always, the choices you make should be based on the text, for you will be verbally explaining (and thus, in a sense, defending) them at a showing of your work. Above all, your choices should be creative, analytical, and accurate.

After completing the portrait, you will participate in a showing in which you will present your masterpiece to the class. This showing should accomplish these objectives:

• review significant events, choices, and changes involving your character

• communicate to others the full essence of your character by emphasizing the traits that comprise that person

• promote discussion of your character

Although I expect your biography to contain additional dimensions, your portrait must contain the following:

• a review of significant happenings in the novel (with regards to the character)

• visual symbols that represent meaningful images, objects, etc. for the character in the novel

• an original text presenting your view/interpretation of the character and his/her/its role in the novel

• the character’s three most important lines/scenes from the novel.

The project is due after Spring Break. It is due on Friday, April 5. The fourth, and final, discussion takes place the Friday (3/22) before Spring Break. Students will have the week after Spring Break to trace a “body” onto butcher paper and adorn it with words and imagery.

Please do not fool yourself…the 30+ minutes provided each day (Monday-Thursday 4/1-4) are barely sufficient to complete the artistic aspect of this project. Students who do not have the information and plan already in hand at the beginning of the week will suffer.

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WRITING

SYMBOL POETRY We begin our trek into

symbol poetry by reading some of symbol poetry’s most infamous works during the week. Symbol poetry relates an experience, lesson, moral, or insight using a representation in poetic prose.

A symbol is a person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance. Symbols are educational devices for evoking complex ideas without having to resort to painstaking explanations that would make a story more like an essay than an experience.

Conventional symbols have meanings that are widely recognized by a society or culture. Some conventional symbols are the Christian cross, the Star of David, a swastika, or a nation’s flag. Writers use conventional symbols to reinforce meanings. Kate Chopin, for example, emphasizes the spring setting in “The Story of an Hour” as a way of suggesting the renewed sense of life that Mrs. Mallard feels when she thinks herself free from her husband.

A literary or contextual symbol can be a setting, character, action, object, name, or anything else in a work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting other meanings. Such symbols go beyond conventional symbols; they gain their symbolic meaning within the context of a specific story. For example, the white whale in Melville’s Moby-Dick takes on multiple symbolic meanings in the work, but these meanings do not automatically carry over into other stories about whales. The meanings suggested by Melville’s whale are specific to that text; therefore, it becomes a contextual symbol (Michael Meyer, “The Online Glossary,” Bedford Introduction to Literature).

This week we will be sharing classic symbol poems: “The Road Not Taken,” “To Be of Use,” “The Caged Bird,” and several others during class. Additionally, we will be creating and refining ideas for writing our own narrative during the week. Students will create multiple ideas, pen one draft, workshop the poem, and edit and revise it into a final version. A visual is not needed, but can be added to enhance the final product. The final narrative poem is due at the beginning of class next Friday (3/22).

GRAMMAR #11 Second semester vocabulary

includes grammar—and list eleven continues our work with commas—those tricksy little Hobbits. Some writers use a shotgun approach to using commas; scatter them everywhere and, hopefully, some of them will be correct. Other writers use commas like the reserve forces of a crafty military commander; waiting to the last minute to lose them and deploying them only when they think the grammatical battle is in danger of being lost. Another group, the mathematical nerds, uses a reverse correlation theorem to determine the correct ration between the number of letters in words and the placement of commas. The last identifiable group treats them in a pseudo sacrosanct and malicious manner; both afraid to offend the deity of grammar in using the holy sepulcher that is the comma and terrified to use the comma in fear of being associated with the unholy (“She turned me into a newt. I got better.”).

With grammar #10, we explored the use of commas to:

• set of introductory words, phrases and clauses • clarify meaning and set of explaining phrases • and the use (or not) of with essential and

nonessential clauses

With grammar #11, we explore the use of commas for separating: independent clauses, items in a series (like this), and items in dates or addresses. For grammar #12 we will frustrate ourselves with separating equally important adjectives, sentence elements, and the use of commas in letters.

Students will work through and practice various aspects of the lesson for grammar #11 on Monday and Tuesday (3/11-12), and the assignment is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday (3/13).

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HISTORY CURRENT EVENT #11

Current event #11 must come from South America. Make-up and missing presentations occur on Monday (3/11). I have been telling the students all year, it is in the current events guidelines, and it is mentioned online—if a student misses, is not ready, or somehow “spaces” presenting on his/her assigned day then s/he should present as soon as possible. Do not wait for the make-up and missing day. If you missed your assigned Monday, then prepare and present Tuesday. Do not wait.

We will update and review the most significant news items as well as reviewing the map of South America on Tuesday and

Wednesday (3/12-13). Maps are available online via my website (the “Current Events” page), as well as links to handy-dandy online map quiz pages.

MEDIEVAL VILLAGE Students need to complete several tasks by this week. I

eliminated our reading of “The Hunting of the Snark” in order to devote more time—well…any time at all—to our medieval village. Students need to complete a character biography for their medieval character and a structure for our village.

The character biography should have two “bulleted” lists. One should be a listing of physical characteristics (height, build, hair color and length, eye color, etc.) and the other list should be personality characteristics (shy, mean, hard-working, etc.). In addition to the lists, students should provide any background information necessary to help understand the character.

Students also need to write a two (or more) paragraph description of the character. How would you describe the character to someone else (beyond the bulleted lists). Last, but not least, a visual needs to accompany the character biography. Gifted visual artists are more than welcome and encouraged to draw their character. Those of us who struggle with visual arts should collage or digitally create our character. The character biography is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday (3/13).

We have been talking about and discussing the requirements and guidelines for the village structures. Each student is responsible for creating an accurate representation of a medieval structure. Students need to bring in supplies (cardboard, dry grass/straw, own scissors for cutting cardboard, objects to represent their character, etc.). Construction finally began last week.

Students should research the types of homes available to their role and the materials that would have been used to construct the homes. I fully realize that an animal dung and straw mixture was used as “plaster”, but we can simply use clay or mud to simulate the dung. No one wants a room fully of poop-plaster homes and shops. Other items should be accurate or simulate the materials and layout in a realistic way. Lego constructed homes and shops, sorry, are not permitted on this project—except the Lego people. They are cool.

Medieval residences (homes and workshops) should be, at maximum, 4x4x6. The length and the width can only be 4 inches and the height 6 inches. Portions of the structure should be detailed, but the rest can remain fairly amorophous—example, a section of the interior wall can be wattle and daub, but the rest of the interior can be simple cardboard. To make the entire structure baroque and extravagant would take weeks—time we do not have.

Additionally, a detailed(ish) representation of the medieval character should be present with the structure. It should be in proportion with the structure. Characters should be between 1 to 1.5 inches in height. Representations for children and a spouse should be made, but toothpick or paperclip people are sufficient for family members. Last, but again not least, a sign should adorn all structures, except serf residences. The sign

should have the symbol of the trade/business or contents of the structure to advertise for the illiterate.

Medieval characters that inhabit (or work) in the castle have been assigned specific portions for the construction of the castle. AM Core is working on the outer wall and the structures within the outer baily (armory, stable, barracks, storehouse, etc.). PM Core is working on the inner wall, keep, and related rooms (throne, banquet hall, etc.). The roof of each structure needs to be removable so that we can explore the inside of the structure. The theme, much like that of the residences, is detailed portions and the rest can be simple. Yes, a representation for the character and its family members do need to be made.

I have been and will continue to add links in the “History” page of my website to assist with the research. Please let me know if you stumble across any gems.

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