Contemporary Literature

Week 7 October 1-5, 2012

Monday, October 1, 2012

Walk-IN: Pick up a white binder, sit in your book club group, and open up to your notes from Friday.If you have your book club book, take that out please.

Learning Objective: Students will understand that note-taking is a scaffold

for summarizing and synthesizing information; readers must work to determine important information, connect & clarify ideas, and gather textual evidence to form purposeful generalizations and draw sound conclusions.

Agenda: Where Are you Going, Where Have You Been

Due Today:Book Club Book

Homework:All Reading Responses and

Week 5 Reading Responses due Blockday

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

In this column ask any level 2 and level 3 questions.

IN THIS COLUMN list any vocabulary words that you do not know, or any vocabulary words that you feel are strong and others should know.

1. 2. 3.

Important passages Pg #/Location + Beginning of Quote Importance:

Passages that develop Theme/Conflict Pg #/Location + Beginning of Quote Message or Conflict:

Passages that show What Makes a Family Successful Answer Pg # and quote

Passages that show What Breaks a Family Apart Answer

Pg # and quote

While reading the short story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been your task is to find passages that you feel are important to the story in particular, hint at the story’s theme, and passages that relate to What Makes or Breaks a Family?

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Walk-IN: Pick up the Book Club Job Handout from the table, sit in your Book Club Groups and turn to your notes from yesterday.

Learning Objective: Students communicate and collaborate by setting up a

book club calendar and assigning jobs. Students will understand the expectations for Vocabulary

and Passage Jobs

Agenda: Book Club Calendar and Job Set-up Vocab Job Passage Job

Due Today:Book Club Book

Homework:Week 5 Reading

Responses due BlockdayRead and Prepare for Book

Club #1

Vocabulary Job: Option 1Vocab. Word 1: _________________ Page number and sentence in novel where the word

appears:___________________________________________ 

___________________________________________________________________________________________(Author’s Last Name pg) .

 Dictionary definition:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Name: Guess: Name: Guess: Name: Guess: Name: Guess: Name: Guess:

You MUST COMPLETE THIS FOR 5 WORDS

Vocabulary Job: Option 2 Vocabulary Job Procedures:

Fold your paper in half. Direct your group to where the word appears in your book, and read the relevant sentence(s) out loud.Show your visual representation to your group.Record each person’s guess for the vocabulary word (YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS FOR 3 WORDS)Vocab Word 1:  Word in Context: (sentence it appears in):

Dictionary Definition:

Visual Representation: Name: Response:

Name: Response:

Name: Response:

Name: Response:

Name: Response:

Book Club Jobs: PassagesPassages Preparation: Select at least 2 important passages

from the assigned text. A passage can be as short as a paragraph, or as long as a page. Choose each passage because it is key to understanding that section of the novel or the book as a whole, and/or because it is funny, confusing, or simply because you like it. For each passage: identify its location in the text, and write down the beginning of the passage. Next write a one sentence summary of the part of the reading the passage comes from, AND write a paragraph that explains, in detail, why you chose it. Skip about six lines for discussion notes.

Wednesday/Thursday, Oct 3-4, 2012

Walk-IN: Pick up a white binder, sit in your book club group, and open up to your notes from Monday.

Put all 5 weeks of Reading Journals into the Box

Learning Objective: Students will understand that note-taking is a scaffold for summarizing

and synthesizing information; readers must work to determine important information, connect & clarify ideas, and gather textual evidence to form purposeful generalizations and draw sound conclusions.

We can learn about the world and about ourselves when we form purposeful generalizations and draw sound conclusions from a variety of literary and informational texts.

Agenda: Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Synthesis Job Critical Lens Synthesis Paragraph

Due Today:Week 5 Reading

Responses

Homework: Read and prepare (two jobs) for Book

Club #1

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been

In this column ask any level 2 and level 3 questions.

IN THIS COLUMN list any vocabulary words that you do not know, or any vocabulary words that you feel are strong and others should know.

1. 2. 3.

Important passages Pg #/Location + Beginning of Quote Importance:

Passages that develop Theme/Conflict Pg #/Location + Beginning of Quote Message or Conflict:

Passages that show What Makes a Family Successful Answer Pg # and quote

Passages that show What Breaks a Family Apart Answer Pg # and quote

While reading the short story, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been your task is to find passages that you feel are important to the story in particular, hint at the story’s theme, and passages that relate to What Makes or Breaks a Family?

Synthesis Job (green = before book club red = during book club)

What Makes or Breaks A Family?

What is the difference between Love and Lust?

Why do people resort to violence?

+

In-Class Connections

Out-of-class connections

=

Emerging Message

+ =

+ =

+ =

Theme/Generalization/Conclusion according the group based on discussion:

Summarized Examples from Book Club Book + Other Examples it Reminds

Me of… (Synthesis) =Conclusion based on examples

Synthesis Job (green = before book club red = during book club)

What Makes or Breaks A Family?

What is the difference between Love and Lust?

Why do people resort to violence?

In-Class Connections

Out-of-class connections

Emerging Message

Connie’s dad escapes from the family when he gets home and doesn’t have a sense of obligation

Flanagan says in “Is There Hope for American Marriage” purpose of a family is to raise the next generation

If a family is not focused on their children and family as a whole then it may lead its members to act selfishly and make the family vulnerable

Connie desires/lusts for attention from the “ideal” men in her life that fit the popular image

Bernard says in “Love, Lust, and Marriage” lust is full of passion and desire…covetousness

Oftentimes an intense lust or desire for someone will drive a person toward immediate gratification despite the repercussions

Connie’s mother is emotionally violent because she used to be like Connie and is ashamed

From “Emotional Violence” includes refusal to listen, denial of or shaming of feelingsGilligan in Violence says violence stems from internal shame

A person will resort to violence, specifically emotional abuse when they are unhappy or ashamed of their own lives.

Summarized Examples from Book Club Book

Other Examples it Reminds Me of…

(Synthesis)

Conclusion based on examples

Synthesis Paragraph Synthesizing what you learned about love and

lust from the articles The Perfect Family, Is There Hope for The American Marriage, and Where Are You Going, Where have You Been come to an overall conclusion or answer to the class question that applies to all texts. Support your generalization or conclusion by writing a detailed synthesis paragraph using textual evidence from your sources and analyze your evidence by explaining how it supports your generalization.

Synthesis Paragraph Synthesizing what you learned about love and

lust from the articles The Perfect Family, Is There Hope for The American Marriage, and Where Are You Going, Where have You Been come to an overall conclusion or answer to the class question that applies to all texts. Support your generalization or conclusion by writing a detailed synthesis paragraph using textual evidence from your sources and analyze your evidence by explaining how it supports your generalization.

According to the texts, Emotional Violence, Violence, and Bullet in the Brain, emotional violence leads to physical violence because when a person is disrespected, they feel the need use physical violence in order to gain control and respect, but also because of the prior feelings of shame that the person is feeling. Emotional violence can be defined as “the refusal to listen to, or denial of, another person’s feelings, telling people what they do or do not feel and ridiculing and shaming of their feelings” (Emotional Violence). In the article it is also stated that a person who is a victim of emotional violence they feels as thought they have not been given “equal importance or respect” and can make this person “feel, powerless, fearful, or angry” (Emotional Violence). These acts of emotional violence, that may seem trivial to many, actually serve as a catalyst for violent physical behavior. In the excerpt from James Gilligan’s book, Violence he interviewed inmates that committed acts of physical violence. A common response that he receives from most of the men he interviewed focused on emotional violence first. One inmate said “life ain’t worth nothin’ if I take somebody direspectin’ me” and that “if you ain’t got pride, you got nothin” (Gilligan 107). These acts of emotional violence that take away pride and respect lead to physical violence because the victim feels the need to regain their pride and control. Another inmate stresses this idea when he says, “I never got so much respect before in my life as I did when I first pointed a gun at somebody” (Gilligan 109). This never ending “vicious cycle” as Gilligan calls it, does not “diminish the intensity of shame and replace it” with “pride” because of certain preconditions within the people who commit these acts. This precondition is that these people “feel ashamed—deeply ashamed…over matters that are so trivial…it [is] even more shameful to feel ashamed about them” (Gilligan 111). In the story Bullet in the Brain, by Tobias Wolff this precondition is present in the main character Anders. Anders is a book critic, in a “murderous temper” who is held hostage during a bank robbery. Throughout the robbery Anders repeatedly becomes emotionally violent toward the people around him, which causes the bank robber to shoot Anders in order to gain the respect he feels he deserves with a gun in his hand. It is not until the reader enters Ander’s mind before his death, that the reason’s for his violence are due to what Gilligan noted as a necessary precondition for senseless acts of violence and when “self preservation does not hold” due to being “so overwhelmed by shame that one can only preserve one’s self by sacrificing one’s body” (Gilligan 111). As Anders is dying the reader see glimpses of his past where he cannot remember “his first lover”… “his wife”… “having his ribs kicked in at an anti-war rally” and most importantly he cannot “remember the pleasure of giving respect” (Wolff 160). The fact that Anders does not remember these moments in his life suggests that he is ashamed at what his life has become. This shame is what causes him to act emotionally violent toward others, and it is this shame that causes him to sacrifice his own well-being in an effort to gain control and respect over the gunman. As one can see in Emotional Violence, Violence, and Bullet in the Brain the complicated cycle of emotional violence leading to physical violence, due to feelings of shame and disrespect will only end when the deep rooted feelings of shame within a person can be dealt with.

Main Idea: Introduces texts and topic

Evidence:First sourceSynthesi

s:First to Second Source

Evidence: Second Source

SynthesisSecond to Third Source

Evidence: Third Source

Synthesis:Overall

Friday, October 5, 2012

Walk-IN: Sit with your book club group and take out your book, book club jobs, and a new sheet of paper.

Learning Objective: You will increase enjoyment and understanding of a novel

by discussion questions, passages, characters, vocabulary, artistic interpretations, and areas of synthesis.

Agenda: Book Club # 1

Due Today:Book Club #1 Jobs

Homework:Read and prepare for

Book Club # 2

Book Club before discussionSet up header:Book Club #1 Name:Novel: Date:Jobs:Pages Read:

Summary Paragraph Write a summary paragraph about what happened in your

book so far. Include information about the setting, characters, conflict, and any other important ideas or events.

When finished, discuss your summaries with your group.

Book Club Discussion

Question Job Procedures

Lead the group in a discussion about each question. Allow everyone in your group to participate before you say anything. Take notes on who said what during the discussion of each question. Once everyone has contributed, share your own ideas about the answer to the question. Repeat with each question

Passage Job Procedures

Direct your group to that passage in the book, and have them read along with you as you read the passage out loud. Allow everyone in your group to comment on your passage before you say anything about it, and take notes on who said what during discussion. After everyone has participated, share your written explanation with the group.

Character Job Procedures

Share your Introduction/Update about each character with your group. After sharing about all characters, lead your group in a discussion about relationships, conflicts, and predictions about each character. Allow all members of your group to participate before you offer your own ideas, and take notes on your chart about discussion.

Art Job Procedures

Present artwork to the group. Allow all members to make observations and ask questions before you say anything about the image, and take notes who said what during discussion. Share your ideas about your image after everyone has participated.

Vocabulary Job Procedures

Identify word/phrase/term and direct group to where it appears in the text. Read the sentence/paragraph in which the word appears out loud with the group. Ask the group to share ideas about the word’s meaning and/or significance to the story, and take notes on who said what. After everyone has participated, share your definitions, explanations with the group. Repeat process with each word.

Synthesis Job Procedures

One example at a time, lead the group in a discussion of each example, how it relates to the question. Allow your group to suggest In-Class and Beyond-Class connections BEFORE you suggest any. Fill out your chart as you discuss with your group. For each question, discuss with your group what how all the examples work together to suggest a common answer to each question, the Emerging Message; this should be written in the form of a theme statement.

Book Club After discussion Reflection Paragraph:

In a detailed paragraph, explain how book club increased your enjoyment or understanding of the novel. Include the jobs you enjoyed or helped you better understand and explain how this made you enjoy or understand the book more.