Literature

Literature **POETRY **  **Week of 5/9: ** **For Tuesday 5/10 : **Read "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver (find it at Poetry 180). Read the poem several times. Focus on the last two lines. What might you do with your "wild and precious life"? Think about that: what might you do today? Tomorrow? In 5 years? When you are an adult? How do you want to live your life? What is important to you? What do you hope for? What do you want to leave behind? What do you wish you didn't struggle with? What if that weren't in your way? How then would you live? If this part doesn't resonate with you, look at the first line and wonder "Who made the swan?" Try to think metaphorically (the mysteries of nature), not literally (evolution...). Or, you might look at the line about not knowing how to pray and reflect on whether you feel that way too, or care about that. How does Mary Oliver deal with not knowing that? What does she think is important? After you do all this thinking, write your thoughts in your writer's notebook. Fill up at least one page. C'mon...there's LOTS here to work with. Be ready to share at least one thing from what you write. **For Wednesday 5/11:** Read the poems on pages 21, 48, 49-50, and 51-53. Write a response to and author notes for two (2) of the four, particularly reflecting on what the poet is trying to say about his or her place in the world as a person of color. Do the poets successfully take you, especially if you are white, into a place that you appreciate? In other words, while you don't have their experience of the world, can you begin to understand or at least visualize their experience through their words? **For Thursday 5/12:**  Read "A Summer's Reading" by Bernard Malamud on p. 225 in __Little Worlds.__ 

**Week of 5/2 ** **For Monday 5/2: **Bring in your artwork or your 1 page typed WIT on one of the poems we have read.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For Tuesday 5/3: **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Read the poems on pages 46, 47, 69, and 96. Find a story in a recent __New York Times__ about conflict somewhere in the world and write or construct a poem using some of the words or information from the story. (Example: On Saturday, one of Quaddafi's sons and three of his grandchildren were killed in NATO raids on Libya.) Bring the poem in TYPED on a separate sheet of paper--- 14 point font. For this class, you do not have to write a response to the poems. <span style="color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Note: This week, I will check your notebooks during class periods. You should have the assignment and the note about the author of EACH poem you read. Although your 5 vocab words aren't due until Friday, you really should be looking up unfamiliar words AS YOU READ. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**For Wednesday 5/4:** Read the poems on pages 32, 35, 36-37, 38, 39-40, 41 and 42. Write a response to three (3) of the poems OR write a Shakespearean-style sonnet of your own (3 quatrains and a couplet). Write notes about the authors of the three (3) poems you chose to write about OR write about three (3) anyway, if you chose to write the sonnet.

**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Week of 4/25 ** **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For 4/26: **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Read the poems on pages 54, 55, 70, 71, 81, and 108. In your notebook, write responses of 4 to 5 sentences for at least three of these poems. Here are some questions to prompt your thinking/writing. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;"><span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Flash Cards" What does the father's saying about mastering what you don't understand mean to you? What comes "faster"? Why do you think the second stanza goes into such detail about natural elements? What is a highball? What does the father's reading material say about him? Whose "thin voice hissed"? What did the author want to say? Why? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;"><span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Arithmetic" Is this poem funny to you? Do you relate to any of the descriptions of math? Do you recall any of the rhymes or math tricks he mentions? What is the effect of the next to last stanza, where he repeats words for "no"?What is the feeling that comes across in the last stanza? <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Fears of the Eighth Grade" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Who is the narrator of this poem? What is going on here? What do you think has happened to the children? Has something happened to them or are they afraid of just what might? What is "this little box of consecrated land"? Why bring in the paper products? What do they suggest? <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">﻿"When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">﻿The poet is afraid of "ceasing to be" before what? What does he hope to do before he dies? What is the ﻿"high romance" symbolized by the clouds? Whom does the poet address when he says, "That I shall never look upon thee more"? What is the poet's solution to fear? <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"The Sacred" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">What happens when the "others knew the truth had been spoken"? How can they (or you) tell when that happens in a classroom? What is your sacred place? Why? <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">﻿ <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Used Book Shop" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Can you describe the rhyme scheme of this poem? What did you imagine from reading this? What picture did the poem paint for you? Have you browsed in used bookshops before? Have you come across books with writing in them? What effect do old books have on you? Do you have any books that your parents once loved? Could you write a poem about books? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Also, look for interesting biographical facts about the authors of the three you chose. Remember to continue to collect vocabulary from the poems. Begin working on an excellent collage or drawing depicting one or more of any of the poems you have read. The artwork will be **due on Monday 5/2**. **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For 4/27: **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Read the poems on pages 20, 23, and 43. Note the use of repeated phrases. Write a poem of your own, modeled after one of these using that author's chosen repeated phrase (such as "because") or using a phrase of your own. Remember to get biographical facts about the authors and vocabulary from the poems. **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For 4/28: No class/Field Day. **

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**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Week of 4/18 ** **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For 4/19: **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Read "Eating Poetry" on p. 75 and "How I Discovered Poetry" on p. 107 and write responses to each in your notebook. What is going on in these poems? How can we tell? How do they make you feel? **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For 4/20: **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Read "Baseball" on pp. 103-105 and write a response in your notebook. What feelings does the poem evoke? How do you think "Bill" felt when he was in the field? How do you think he feels about this event as he writes the poem? If you don't play baseball, can you still relate to the moment expressed? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**For 4/21:** Bring in your poems from other people, typed on a clean sheet, not printed on the class printer. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Also-- Read all 4 poems on the handout from Sydney. Write a response of at least 1/2 page in your notebook on <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">__one__ of the poems, answering these questions: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">1. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"A Poet's Advice to Students" : What does e.e.cummings mean when he says that a poet is "somebody who feels, and who expresses his feeling through words"? By this definition, isn't everyone a poet? Doesn't everyone feel? How does writing poetry help us be nobody-but-ourselves? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">2. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Poetry" : John Fox suggests that writing poetry requires letting go of fear. What does he mean by this? What is the sense of "vulnerable" in this poem? To what is the poet vulnerable? Whaty does writing poetry require courage? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">3. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Poetry": William Stafford uses personification to make poetry "dance{s} on the bridge." What other images does he use to describe poetry? What is common to all the images he chooses? What does he suggest poetry calls us to do in contrast to what "commanders" call us to do? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">4. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">"Poetry" : What does Pablo Neruda suggest happened to him when he "wrote the first faint line"? How did his life (as he writes it in the poem) change? How does his use of images of the vastness of the universe affect you? Does he go too far? Can you imagine feeling (or do you already feel) as "drunk with the great starry void" about anything in your life? Does anything you've done or tried to do given you some nearly indescribable feeling of connecting with the universe of possibilities? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">5. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">﻿"How To Be A Poet" <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">: Why do you think silence is important to Wendell Berry? What does he mean by "Any readers who like your work, doubt their judgment"? What is an "unsacred" space as compared to a "sacred" and a "desecrated" place? Why does he want poets to think of places this way? Does it help you to understand this poem to know that much of Berry's poetry is about nature and the earth? How? **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Week of 4/11 ** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**For 4/12:** Read the Publisher's Note, the Introduction and the first two poems. Keep a running list in your writer's notebook of any unfamiliar words and their definitions. Bring your writer's notebook and a pencil to each class. Come to class thinking about what poetry is, what a poem is, and ready to discuss how you felt about the poems. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">**For 4/13:** Read "Still I Rise" on pp. 4-5 silently. Then, read the handout, "How to Read a Poem." Reread "Still I Rise" on pp. 4-5 -- this time, aloud. Read the poem a third time, aloud. In your writer's notebook, respond to these questions in 4 or 5 thoughtful, complete sentences: Do you think poetry is better when read aloud? Does reading aloud help your understanding? What did you think about when you read "Still I Rise" silently? Did your thinking change when you read it aloud? Does this poem say anything important to you? If so, what? **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">For 4/14: **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Bring in a copy of your favorite poem (it might be one you've just discovered, your favorite poem this week, or your favorite childhood poem--just bring one you like). In writing, we'll write about why this is a favorite, so think about why you like the poem. Do you like the images it provokes in your mind, the sound of the words, the topic, the rhythm? What else? **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">HOMEWORK for 4/21 **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Ask 2 people (only one can be in your immediate family) what is their favorite poem and why. Find a copy of the poem and bring it in, along with a short, typed piece about who the person is and why they like this poem.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 180%;">Jim the Boy by Tony Earley

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">For Thursday 3/24: Bring in lit notes and all lit quizzes. If you have lost any quizzes, go to the link to reprint and bring the blank one to class. (You should fill it in later.)

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">If parent signature is required on a quiz, make sure you have that by Friday goal sheet check.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Tuesday 3/1: Read the next assignment. You MUST have at least one example of figurative language in your notes and one question or comment for class.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">**__For 8th Graders by Friday 2/25__**: Write one page (typed, 1.5 spaced, 12 or 14 point font) on one of the following topics: // The best birthday I ever had was when...because.... // // A piece of advice my [parent/grandparent/other relative] gave me is.... // // When I look at [the ocean/the night sky/the mountains/or something else], I feel...and think about.... // // One time, my [father/mother/grandparent/other adult] did something that was completely out of character when s/he... //

__**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">For Everyone **__ <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Remember that the reading assignments are on your notepages. Make sure your pages are in order. Continue to take notes as you read, paying special attention to expressions and figurative language. I will check notes on Friday 2/25.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">__For Tuesday 2/15__: Read the Prologue and pages 7-34. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Download and print out the Notes pages here: The Notes pages have the remaining assignments. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">By Friday: From the sources in the classroom, read and take notes on The Great Depression (see the last page of your Notes pages for a place to write).

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">No lit this week 2/7 <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 29px;">Begin __Jim the Boy__ next week


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Ellen Foster Essay Topic (8th grade only)[[file:Ellen Foster Essay.doc]] **


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Ellen Foster Possible Test Quotations [[file:Ellen Foster Possible Test Quotations.doc]] **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Ellen Foster Quizzes [[file:Quiz 1.doc]][[file:Ellen Foster Quiz 2 Name.doc]]
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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">Ellen Foster Reading Assignments <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">REVISED
<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">For Tues. 1/18: Chapters 5, 6, and 7; pages 23-45 (22 pp) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">For Wed. 1/19: Chapters 8 and 9; pages 46-59 (13 pp) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">For Thurs. 1/20: Chapter 10; pages 60-73 (13 pp) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">For Tues. 1/25: Chapters 11, 12 and 13; pages 74-101 (27 pp) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">For Wed. 1/26: Chapter 14; pages 102-115 (13 pp) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">For Thurs. 1/27; Chapter 15; pages 115-126 (11 pp)


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">TEST 8th graders: Tuesday 2/1 7th graders: Tuesday 2/8 **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 27px;">ESSAY: 8th graders will write an in-class essay on Wednesday 2/2 (topic will be assigned in advance and you may use your notes) **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">__Ellen Foster__ Note Paper - For this book you must take notes on this paper while you read. Open the file, download it and print it out at home. Put it in your lit binder and bring to class each time.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 65px; line-height: 97px;">

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Adrian Mole Reading Assignments: For Tuesday 12/7: Green Book: pp. 30-59; entries 2/23-4/18 Blue Book: pp. 22-42; entries 2/23-4/18 Vocabulary and Terms sheet for 12/7

For Thursday 12/9: Green Book: pp. 60-98; entries 4/19-7/27 Blue Book: pp. 43-70; entries 4/19-47/27

For Tuesday 12/14: Green Book: pp. 98-145; entries 7/28-12/1 Blue Book: pp. 71-106; entries 7/28-12/1 Vocabulary and Terms for 12/14

For Thursday 12/16: Green Book: pp. 146-185; entries 12/2-4/3 Blue Book: pp. 106-135; entries 12/2- 4/3 Vocabulary and Terms sheet for 12/16

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 65px; line-height: 97px;">

Answer key for The Pearl test.

Here is the PrepPack for the test. See Writing Page for the Essay requirements.

**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">__THE PEARL__ By JOHN STEINBECK ** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">To prepare for reading our first novel, __The Pearl__, by John Steinbeck, we went over some basics about reading for a lit class. Essentially, you are now reading with a pencil: taking notes, thinking, making sure you understand each reading before coming to class. Use the things we've learned about in the short story study to help you read the novel. Click on the icons below to see (and print for yourself) the active reading reminder sheet, the plot diagram, and the literary elements sheet (for taking notes when you read). **<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">SYLLABUS, LITERARY ELEMENTS, VOCABULARY **   **Changed on 11/5, so check it out!**   <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Note: Read the syllabus VERY carefully. There are things due at each class meeting. We will only meet 4 times for this book, so vocabulary is due each time, as well as a new assignment, Reader's Response.


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">RESOURCES **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Here are some resources for everyone. Eight-balls will find interesting information about Steinbeck as background for the social class paper. Seventh graders will use these and other resources for their geography project.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">National Steinbeck Center

[]

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University []

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The Field Museum <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Pearls Exhibition []

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">PBS' Nova program on the history of pearls []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Little Worlds test will be Thursday, October 21. To prepare, we'll review in class on Tuesday and with study groups on Wednesday. You should also review the following:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Names of stories and authors.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Author photographs. Click here for those: [|Author Photos-1.doc]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">All 12 quizzes (Note: there are two quizzes called #4 and no quiz called #5, but there are 12 in all.)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Chapter prefaces.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Chart (we'll make in class).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Your notes from class.

//"We're seeing this story as a little world in space, just as we can isolate one star in the sky by a concentrated vision."// Eudora Welty

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">We're beginning with the short story, using that genre to identify and discuss the basic elements of fiction: plot, character, setting and atmosphere, point of view, irony, symbol and theme. This will give us a foundation for reading longer works of fiction. We're using an anthology of short stories <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 140%;">, __Little Worlds,__ which takes its name from the above quotation. =====

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">The syllabus for this unit, with all the assignments, is here. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 31px;">There is a short quiz at the beginning of each class. Vocabulary assignments come from the selected readings and are checked every Friday. Students may earn indies by doing additional vocabulary. =====

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;"> Eighth graders are required to turn in a WIT (think piece), ED (art), or ASR (author/setting research) each Thursday. These assignments have been optional for 7th graders but this week (10/4) 7th graders will do an ASR. For additional information about doing a WIT, ED, or ASR, look here:. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: large;">﻿ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 160%;">For Edgar Allen Poe's story, "The Masque of the Red Death," Theodore created a mask for his ED, dressed as the grim character and walked the halls, sure to enter seven rooms.