29.4. "Why My Mother Wants Me Dead," Personal Essay

What Are We Practicing Today

Sabatina James, the author of today's
personal essay.

We are learning the single best thing to know about reading, that BACKGROUND DETERMINES PERSPECTIVE.
We are reading a personal essay about parenting as part of our Extreme Parenting Decisions.
We are determining the central idea of the that essay. (RI3).
We are analyzing how a nonfiction text compares and contrasts two different concepts about parenting.

What Should We Remember to Do Our Work?

1. Central Idea = WHO+WHAT+WHY -- if you can't determine this, then you did not understand the reading.
2. Remember that a person's background determines perspective. A person's values and viewpoint is always heavily affected by where they're from. It's one of the reasons that we should get to know people before we judge them.
3. A personal essay is a chained together group of logical paragraphs. You understand it if you can make a chain of main ideas, even if you don't write them down.

The Text

Here's a personal essay about parenting from Newsweek.com's excellent website.

Write a Chain of Main Ideas Summary of the Thing in a Google Drive File.

Be ready to talk about the following:

Imagine that you are this writer's parents. How can you defend your decisions?

29.3. "My First Free Summer," Julia Alvarez, RI2., W9.

What Are We Practicing

We're working on reading informational text and determining the central idea of such. (RI2.)
We're working on writing open-ended questions with clear answers, valid explanations, and relevant and sufficient text support. (W9.)

Rafael Trujillo, Dominican dictator,
was assassinated in 1961.

What Information Will Help Us Perform Our Task Well and Efficiently?

1. Always read the open-ended question first.
2. As soon as you're done, always ask yourself, "What was the WHO+WHAT+WHY of this reading?"
3. This is a piece of narrative nonfiction, so it makes sense to use the Five Fingers to analyze it.
4. The title of a story is nearly always symbolic..

The Text

This nonfiction narrative I first became interested in because of the role that the narrator's parents play in the story. They are probably doing interesting, exciting things while the narrator is dealing with her own childhood experiences. We will want to talk afterwards about how the values of parents are transmitted to children, even thought the open-ended question that I have written does not deal with this. Anyway, read Julia Alvarez's narrative essay, "My First Free Summer."

The Assignent:

Open-Ended Question (Complete in Criterion if available)

The title of the essay, "My First Free Summer," has two different meanings.

• How does the meaning of the title change from the beginning to the end of the piece?
• How does the title show the important lesson that the narrator learns at the climax?

29.2. "Best Practices for Raising Kids? Look to Hunter-Gatherers," by Jared Diamond, RI2.

What Are We Practicing Today?

We're practicing reading a passage and identifying the central idea. This will help us answer multiple choice questions on the passage. (RI2)

We also wish to think about how a writer, when composing an information article or an essay, will place reasons or examples into categories to help us understand their point better. Sometimes, the author will use subheading to break the piece into smaller pieces, sometimes not.

Things That You Can Keep in Mind to Make Your Work Easier and Better

1. The central idea is our way of saying "the main idea of the whole thing." They mean the exact same thing; I just like "central idea" better because it is shorter (I'm lazy and don't want to write) and clearer (I'm lazy and don't want to explain).
2. The central idea for any reading in our class -- short story, informational article, nonfiction narrative, or essay -- takes the same form, WHO+WHAT+WHY.
3. WHO is the main character or main topic (the WHO can mean "the subject," like, "Andersonville prison camp" or "the Titanic."
4. WHAT is what they are doing or what is being done to them.
5. WHY is why a smart English person would care -- for stories, it's the theme, for nonfiction, it's the answer to, "Why does knowing this make you smarter/more successful?"

The Text

This article, "Best Practices for Raising Kids? Look to Hunter-Gatherers," is by the excellent writer Jared Diamond who wrote Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. His new book, The World Before Yesterday, is probably also really interesting and great, and I think that you should buy (or borrow it from a library and read it).

29.1. "The Veldt," Ray Bradbury

What Are We Learning/Practicing This Week?

This week, we are learning our skills in reading nonfiction readings and taking multiple choices tests on them to show that we understood them sufficiently. (RL1, 2, 3, 4)

What Should We Remember to Help Us Be Good At This?

1. Don't leave multiple-choice answers blank OR make random guesses. Always guess towards the WHO+WHAT+WHY sentence.
2. When you are reading, determine whether you are reading a story or an informational reading as soon as possible from previewing. Understanding these two kinds of texts requires very different tools.
3. If it's a story (fictional or nonfiction), remember to use the Five Fingers in order to help you look for things. If you are taking a multiple choice test, you won't want to write a whole summary, but the Five Fingers still tells you what you are looking for at any given moment.
4. Thumb -- Know the BPD (background, personality, and desire) of the protagonist first and before you finish the first quater of the story.
Forefinger -- Know the conflict (both the external and internal aspect of it) by the end of the first third of the story.
Middle finger -- Track how the conflict changes as the protagonist and his friends try unsuccessfully to solve the problem. Watch how the internal conflict remains unchanged.
Ring Finger -- The last quarter of the story should present a tense moment or scene where the both the internal conflict and external conflict is resolved.
Resolution -- After you read the last words, try and determine the universally applicable lesson that the main character usually learns (and if they don't, understand that that's why the story ended unhappily for them).

What Are We Thinking About and Discussing This Week?

Sometimes, it's easiest to understand how to be good at something by observing people who are really terrible at it. To wit:



We're still talking about how parents and elders should behave and how young people or children should behave.

Art, with its perverse love of irony is especially fond of showing bad models -- the psychologist who is crazy, the teacher who is an idiot, the parent who is actively hostile towards his children. It's fun, the sour layer that covers the Warhead and makes the center seem especially sweet. The novel (and subsequent film which isn't as good, but is still pretty darn good) Matilda by Roald Dahl does this really well (if you haven't read Matilda, you need to, it's just as good when you're 14 or 34 as when you're 11).

Weirdly, you can learn better sometimes from watching people screw up.


The Text

Ray Bradbury (this year we've read "A Sound of Thunder," "Marionettes, Inc.," and "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by him, too) imagined a lot of the 21st century before it started. This is one of my favorites, "The Veldt," from my favorite amongst his collection, The Illustrated Man. It's called "The Veldt." I thought the text on this page was too small; if you want it larger, hold down [Apple Key + Shift] and press the = button. The text will enlarge. Click here to read "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury.

The Assignment

Write a Five Finger summary of the story in Google Drive.

27.4. "Tao of Tough Love," Gish Jen on Amy Chua, the Tiger Mom, W9.

What We're Working on TodayOur skill is the same as yesterday's -- choosing good support from the right spot, crafting sentences that cite this support, and using an ellipsis to indicate where we cut parts we didn't need.
Our thematic objective is to think about the different beliefs that people have about raising kids, to come to a decision ourselves that helps us think about our status as children and (one day, perhaps) parents.

Things that We Need to KnowIt's Thursday, if you don't know what you're doing by now, ask your peers or check the other posts this week. At some point, you have to be able to take the training wheels off.

The Text:
"Tao of Tough Love," writer Gish Jen's review of the nonfiction book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.

The Product:The author of the book reviewed states in the article that, "nothing is fun unless you're good at it."

• According to the text, how has that belief affected her behavior?
• Do you agree with this assertion? What in youur life has led to think as you do?

Assessment: Again, same as yesterday.

SCI8 "Climate Change Forces Sea Change in How, Where We Live" RHST1./W9.

What Are We Practicing?

• We are practicing our ability to read on science topic and understand the content of what we've read by citing* the best evidence in the text. (RHST1.)
• We are practicing answering LANGUAGE ARTS open-ended questions using clear answers, logical and thorough explanations, and well-selected evidence. (W9.)

What Are We to Do?

First,
Read this article about climate in America, "Climate Change Forces a Sea Change* in Where, How We Live."

Then, answer this

Open-Ended Question

The article details how and why Americans are being forced to adapt* to changes in the climate of our country.

• What do scientists believe is causing these changes in weather patterns?
• If you were the mayor of Dover, New Jersey, what actions, if any, would you consider proposing to the town's residents based on what you have read in the article?

How will we be assessed on this?

Science: Have you clearly answered the questions and provided valid explanations that demonstrate an ability to understand the science topics taught previously?

Language Arts: Have you structured two logical paragraphs well and selected an apt* quotation to prove your analysis? If necessary, have you employed* an ellipsis* to show words that you have omitted*?

Vocabulary Help You May Need

citing - using as proof

"sea change" - this is an expression that means a huge change that affects everything in your life.  

                        It's an allusion to Shakespeare's Tempest, which also gives us the expression  

                        "Caliban," "Prospero," and "Brave New World."

adapt - to change in response to a change around you

apt - fitting, smart

employed - used to do a job

ellipsis - the three dots that show that you've left out some words in a quotation [ . . . ]

omitted - left out

alleviate - help a painful situation

Extra Credit: The end of the article mentions that geo-engineering may help alleviate* some of the consequences of the changing environment. What story have we read in Language Arts this year warns against the practice of geo-engineering? Type or write the answer after your open-ended question response.

RHST1./W9. Science-Language Arts Interdisciplinary Reading

What Are We Practicing?

• We are practicing our ability to read on science topic and understand the content of what we've read by citing* the best evidence in the text. (RHST1.)
• We are practicing answering LANGUAGE ARTS open-ended questions using clear answers, logical and thorough explanations, and well-selected evidence. (W9.)

What Are We to Do?

First,
Here's an interesting article about a new energy technique from one of my very favorite non-USA countries, Japan. Click here to read "An Energy Coup* for Japan: 'Flammable Ice.'" Read it.

Then, answer this

Open-Ended Question
The article states that Japan has possibly discovered a way to extract* fuel energy from undersea methane hydrate, or "flammable* ice."

• What, according to the article, are the reasons that Japan would be excited to pursue this opportunity?
• What are the possible drawbacks* presented in the article to using this "ice" as an energy source?

How will we be assessed on this?

Science: Have you clearly answered the questions and provided valid explanations that demonstrate an ability to understand the science topics taught previously?

Language Arts: Have you structured two logical paragraphs well and selected an apt* quotation to prove your analysis? If necessary, have you employed* an ellipsis* to show words that you have omitted*?

Vocabulary Help You May Need

citing - using as proof

flammable - able to be burned easily, explosive

drawbacks - problems or negative things about a proposed plan

apt - fitting, smart

employed - used to do a job

ellipsis - the three dots that show that you've left out some words in a quotation [ . . . ]

omitted - left out

Extra Credit: In the 1600s, English created the word "inflammable," which means "easily burned." Then, in the 1800s, English created a second word, "flammable," that means the same thing. Can you guess why they decided to coin this second word? Send Mr. Holder an email with an answer (looking it up on Google is cheating, though I'll still be happy that you're learning about words).

28.3. "Negative Parenting Style Contributes to Child Aggression," W9., RI1.

What Are We Learning This Week?
We're learning to answer open-ended questions with clear answers; thorough, logical explanations; and evidence drawn directly from the text.

Things to Know About This

1. Read the open-ended question first, always. It can be very difficult to find a quotation if you aren't looking for it when you are being time. If you have the question in you mind, you can just take note of the paragraph when you find the answer.
2. Quotation beats summary and paraphrase, but better a good paraphrasing than a bad quotation.
3. Never use a quotation to stand alone as a sentence in your answer. Write what you are proving with the quotation in the first half and then use the quotation.

Example: The reader can tell that the narrator suffers from delusional beliefs very early in the story when he claims that he "can hear all things in Heaven, indeed many things in hell."

4. A well-written open-ended question should focus pretty directly on the central idea. At the end of the second paragraph, it's a good idea to state the WHY part of this.

Example: It just goes to show that people are happiest in life when they value people and experiences and not possessions.

The Text

We're exploring what parents and children owe each other and how they should treat each other. Here's a reading that explores this idea from a scientific perspective.

The reading addresses a research project examining a connection between the behavior of parents and that of their children.

• According to the text, in what way were the parents shown to affect their children's behavior?
• What can parents do to help make sure that their children do not act aggressively?

Assessment

Same as yesterday, see the blog post for that one.

28.2. "Papa's Parrot," Open-Ended Questions RL1, RL3., W9.

What Are We Learning This Week?

This week we are practicing creating responses to literature by responding to open-ended questions. This is Writing Standard 9, which asks that you respond to literary texts in writing appropriately.

What Are We Practicing This Week?

We're practicing drawing text evidence to support our answers to the questions and we're analyzing how a line of dialogue in a story helps a character come to an important realization of the story's theme.

What Do We Need to Know in Order to Do This Well?

1. Our school's open-ended question format mimics the one on the NJ ASK test, which is a general statement about the text, followed by two related questions marked off by bullets.

Here's an example:

In the The Tell-tale Heart, the narrator is clearly mentally unbalanced.

• What does the narrator say that helps the reader conclude that he is mentally ill?
• How does Edgar Allan Poe show through his style choices this imbalance?

The two questions are separate, but related; both bullets are about the same topic, the nameless narrator's mental problem.

2. Write a logical paragraph (a SEE, state-explain-example paragraph) that answers each question, so you'll write two paragraphs.
3. The examples for the first paragraph (always) and the second paragraph (often) are drawn from the passage.
4. Use an apt* quotation if you can find one to prove that what you said is true.
5. Make sure that what you say is supported by the text; don't ramble on to fill up space.

The Text
Today, we're reading a gentle story about a father and son. Remember, our writing and theme discussions for the next few weeks will be about what parents and children owe one another, so make sure that you are thinking about that while you read -- a smart, lazy person will be gathered up examples for the inevitable* essay that I will assign you at the end of the week.

The Product

Answer the following open-ended question first by typing it into a Google Drive document.

Harry realizes something important at the end of the story about his father.

• How does Harry come to his realization and what is it?
• How does the father's parrot work as a symbol in the story?

How will we be assessed?

I will be reading these looking for correct answers, thorough explanations, and quotations from the text to support your analysis. 

4 - Both answers are right, explanations are clear and thorough, at least one appropriate quotation is employed.

3 - Both answers are right, explanations are clear and thorough, examples are correct.

2 - Answers might be "kind of" right, explanations require me to have read the story, evidence is limited.

2 - The student has included something in the answer that is off-topic or incorrect about the story.

1 - Neither answer can be described as correct; the student has not understood the story.

* apt -- fitting, relevant, smartly picked (when it describes a student, it means "smart")

28.1. "The Nest" RL Assessment and W9.

What Are We Learning This Week?

Skill: We are learning to deal with standardized testing formats -- the multiple choice test (RL) and the open-ended question (W9).

Essential Question: What do parents and children owe one another?

What Are We Practicing This Week?

We will use this to practice previously learned skills (RL1, RL2, RL3, and RL4). The test format is new, and important to get accustomed to*, but the questions that are on the test are all aspects of fiction and nonfiction that we have been discussing, analyzing, and practicing all year.

27.5. "Ode to Billie Joe," Bobbie Gentry RL1./L2.c.

What Are We Practicing Today?

We are practicing our skills in citing text evidence that supports our analysis of a lyric poem.

What Do We Need to Remember?

1. When you are analyzing a text to make a conclusion, you must make inferences from incomplete information

2. When an artwork is vague about anything on purpose, it is called ambiguity, and it's an art technique. The writer is trying to do two things. 

• On a basic level, people remember things that aren't fully explained better than ones that they do, so if you leave something ambiguous, your story can be more memorable. 
• Secondly, the author can use ambiguity to force the reader to focus on the theme by denying them information about the plot. By refusing to tell you whether Jonas dies at the end of The Giver, Lois Lowry forces you to think about how it doesn't really matter, that Jonas's decision to leave the community was what mattered, which is thematically more important that if he survived physically.

3. When you are unclear for no reason, it's called "vagueness." That's not art -- you messed up.

4. Use ellipses to remove words that you don't need for your example.

5. When you are drawing a conclusion about something, it's because it's NOT explicitly stated. Use the sentence stem, It should be concluded from the text that . . ., then state your claim and give your quoted evidence.

The Text - "Ode to Billie Joe," Bobbi Gentry
(I am going to play the song in class, so if you are absent and doing this as make-up work, I would find the song on Youtube or Spotify and listen to it -- it's creepy and really good.)

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billie Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billie Joe
And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge

And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

The Product

When asked about her song, Bobbie Gentry has said that she became frustrated because so many people asked her about what the narrator and Billie Joe threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge, when she felt that the parents behavior was the most important part of the song.

• From the clues in the text, what do you think the two teens threw off the bridge?
• What is surprising about the parents' response to Billie Joe's death?

How Will We Know That We're Good at This?

We'll have shown for the last time that we can use an ellipsis to indicate an omission. The ellipsis solves our dilemma: we need to copy out quotations word for word, but we cannot include anything in a paragraph that doesn't support the main idea.

More importantly, of course, is the ideas that we are exploring about literature and life. We'll know that we have a great answer to this question when we have clear statements; logical, valid explanations; and sufficient, specific evidence for what we think.*

*Note on writing: It might seem weird here that I have written this list with semicolons instead of commas. I did this because there were commas inside list items ("logical, valid explanations"); if I'd used all comma, the reader would have thought that my list had six items and it would have been more difficult to understand.

27.4. On the Importance of Parents W1.

What Are We Trying to Do Well Today?
Today, we are practicing the timeless art of writing out our arguments (our opinions backed with the world's facts) about a topic. (This is W1., which is all of the parts of writing an argument essay combined into one standard - thesis, introduction, transitions, writing formally . . .* all of it)
We are also trying to think carefully about what we think about something that has a huge effect on all of our lives -- parenting. As teens, youu probably think mostly about things from a child's perspective. As you know, though, our job here in Language Arts class is to learn to look at things from foreign perspectives.

What Do We Need to Remember?1. Don't start writing until you have a thesis -- your position and three ideas. This is a 30 minute timed prompt, so make sure that you limit your thinking to 5 minutes; if you only have two supporting reasons, get moving.
2. Every argument essay can be started with the rhetorical question hook, so don't hesitate. Teachers who taught you that the explanatory prompt was radically different weren't totally wrong, but they were mostly wrong. Unless the prompt asks for a story, the 3?RT introduction works fine.
3. Don't forget your transitions! They're easy, and they're worth points.
4. Sensory details and a great simile in the conclusion.
5. When you're finished with your draft, don't ask me what to do. I am telling you right now that you should add specific examples to the shortest of your body paragraphs, and try to include something smart in quotations.

The TextConsider the following quotation from a great American writer:

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” 
― James Baldwin

Do you agree or disagree with the idea expressed by the author? In your opinion, then, what should a parent do in order to try and help their children become successful?

Writing PromptWrite an essay in which you express you position on this topic. You have 30 minutes to write. Make sure to  use supporting reasons and examples from your own life, your knowledge of the world, and any texts that you deem appropriate.

How Will We Know When We've Done Well?Criterion's going to grade this baby, and then we'll have a peer grade it for the ideas. I'm going to take a nap in the back of the classroom, because you guys should be self-sufficient at this point in the year. Wake me up if the classroom catches fire, or if you forget how to spell "detrimental."

Footnote on Language Use:* That ellipsis is to indicate an omission. There are two or three other parts, but we've gone over them, so I am just using the ellipsis [. . . ] to show that there are others, but I am not going to include them, in this case because you'd already know them if I did.

27.3. from "Barrio Boy," Open-Ended Questions, and Using Ellipses Well L2.b, W1.b.

Buy this book.

What Are We Doing Today:
We're practicing answering an open-ended question with good evidence (explicitly stated or should be concluded level), a skill that we've gone over. (CCSS Standard W1.b., which asks that you answer question and cite evidence that shows that you understand a topic or text, though this is also RL1.).
We're also going to make sure that we choose a quotation to support that needs some off-topic parts excised, and we'll use an ellipsis to legally indicated that we haven't quoted word for word. (L2.c.)

27.0 Misusing Quotation Marks, Writing Formally

How Do People Use Quotation Marks Correctly?

Quotation marks are used to show that the writer is now writing down words that somebody else is saying. This is important for three main reasons:

27.2. "When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?" RI2.

What Are We Learning That's New?

Using an ellipsis to remove words from a quotation that do not prove the point we want them to make.

What do You Need to Know for Today?

1. The open-ended question requires two SEE paragraphs. Because the two questions are related, you don't need to worry too much about transitions.

2. The examples must be specific information drawn from the text.

3. A direct quotation is most specific and therefore best, but good paraphrasing (if you can't find the quotation) or summarizing (if the proving example is scattered across a whole paragraph or is something that you inferred) is fine, too.

4. Use an ellipsis ( . . . ) to excise words from a quotation that do not prove your statement/explanation.

5. We're dropping the "extension" part of past years, instead include a sentence that you think expresses the WHY of the passage. Start it with, "It just goes to show that . . ." Here, I would use the theme that there is no accounting for taste, which means that what people like is either random or inscrutable.

What Is the Text?

This article from the great Smithsonian's website, "When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?'

What Is the Product?

Answer this open-ended question on the Criterion website (if it's available to you).

The article explains the historical roots of clothing.

• According to the author, at what point did it become standard to dress little girls in pink and little boys in blue?
• Again, according to the text, who was most responsible for this change? Why?

26.2. "The Tell-Tale Heart" Text and Film RL7.

First, read this classic tale of madness, murder, and hearts telling stuff:

"The Tell-tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
1. First, think about the point of view.
Then, check out this awesome 1953 version of the same story by Columbia Pictures (this is a YouTube video, so it's only going to work at home, sorry).




Think about what the adapters that made the movie kept in, took out, or changed. For example, the narrator invites the police to stay for a cup of tea and then drops it, shattering the cup and causing the tea to drip. Why have they made that change? What does it replace in the original? Do you think that it's an improvement? The writers also make it clear where they think the story is being narrated from.

Product: Write a paragraph that answers the question, "Why did the creators add the cup to their version?" Think about how a movie and a printed story are different -- your answer should relate to that.

Insufficient Answers:

• They thought people would like it more. Okay, but why?
• They thought it would be more interesting. That says nothing, right, "interesting" is whatever you are interested in?
• They wanted the reader to be able to visualize it better? This is okay for "Reading" class, but not for "Literature" class.

26.1. "A Sound of Thunder" and the Butterfly Effect, L2.c.

What are We Trying to Learn Today that May Be New to Us?

We are going to learn how to eliminate words from quotations that we don't need to prove our point, replacing them with an ellipsis ( . . . ) to show that we have removed them.


Six Things that We Need to Know to Do This Well

1. When quoting, a writer often finds that parts of a sentence or paragraph are needed, but others are not.
2. Unnecessary words should not be included in any piece of writing, so these words do not belong.
3. In addition, by cutting out the unnecessary words, you can make it clearer to the reader your intentions in using the quotation.
4. One problem -- a quotation means that what's between the quotation marks is quoted EXACTLY -- you can't just change words or cut things out.
5. The solution -- writer use the ellipsis ( . . . ) to indicate that they cut words from the text that they did not need. The reader can go back and look at the full quotation if they wish in the original.
6. An ellipsis should be written as three periods each separated by a single space [. . .] Remember, periods don't get along with one another and should not touch.  



What are We Trying to Do Well Today? What is Our Objective?

We're focusing on reading a short story (Ray Bradbury's famous classic "The Sound of Thunder") and using that story to create an explanatory essay on a quotation that expresses the story's theme ("A butterfly flutters its wings in Honolulu and, six weeks later, a typhoon hits Tokyo.")

What is Our Product?

Construct an essay responding to the following quotation:

"A butterfly flaps its wings in Hawaii, and six weeks later a typhoon hits Japan." (35 Minutes)

Students must use quotations from the Bradbury story to make their case, and they must select quotations and employ an ellipsis to indicate an omission.


How Will We Decide How Well We Did?

The essay will be scored for content, grammar and usage by the Criterion program.


I am going to look over your use of ellipsis and grade you as "developing," "proficient," or "expert."

26.0. "Wahbegan" Weekly Assignment

Here's the set of daily questions for the eighth grade due on Friday, March 8^th.

The focus of this set of exercises is an excellent poem by Jim Northrup about the experience of war. Because poetry in America now connotes flowers and feelings and touchy-feely-ness¹, you wouldn't necessarily think of war and poetry going together well. This belief, that there is something feminine about poetry, is a recent prejudice, though. Oddly², novels were considered to be girly when the were invented, but somehow that flipped over. Some of the most acclaimed poetry in American (and world) history is about the horrors and the glories of war.

If you're interested, here's some: