Agenda:
1. Free Style Friday
2. Where do expectations come from?--Returning to your plates
3. Character reactions
4. Whose side are you on? Activity
Free Style Friday: Please write briefly on the following
Please choose one of your predictions from yesterday. Explain what detail(s) helped you come up with that idea, and what the details connotatively suggested to you (how you actually arrived at your ideas).
If you were right, even partly right, why do you think you were able to make a correct or semi-correct prediction? Is there something universal about life experiences that you picked up on?
If you were wrong, what might have caused you to think in such a different way? Anything about your culture or personal experiences that makes you think this way?
Returning to the plates- How does this expectation/prediction say anything about our culture?
*Character Reactions-in notebooks
ACTIVITY: Whose side are you on?
Friday, October 12, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Expectations
"The Good Corn"
In "The Good Corn" one of the women is a middle-aged wife, the other a younger woman who has come to work on the farm owned by the married woman and her husband.
You may have begun already to form expectations about a story involving these three characters. In pairs or groups, spend a few minutes listing ideas of what "The Good Corn" could be about.
Important words: context, theory, race, gender, class.
Essential Questions: -What expectations do readers have of stories?
-Where do readers' expectations come from?
-Can a story ask to be read in a particular way?
-Do readers read a story in the same way the second, third, or fourth time?
In "The Good Corn" one of the women is a middle-aged wife, the other a younger woman who has come to work on the farm owned by the married woman and her husband.
You may have begun already to form expectations about a story involving these three characters. In pairs or groups, spend a few minutes listing ideas of what "The Good Corn" could be about.
Important words: context, theory, race, gender, class.
Essential Questions: -What expectations do readers have of stories?
-Where do readers' expectations come from?
-Can a story ask to be read in a particular way?
-Do readers read a story in the same way the second, third, or fourth time?
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Nursery Rhyme Presentations
For the sake of fairness, I will give each group/pair/individual about 10 minutes to review the rubric for the presentation and decide what will be presented, who will present what, and how it will be presented in order to perform to the rubric's highest standards.
I do understand that these presentations will probably conclude on Tuesday (our first day back from the extended weekend), but I believe it's better for you to be prepared and comfortable rather than rushed and unsure about the expectations.
HW:
I do understand that these presentations will probably conclude on Tuesday (our first day back from the extended weekend), but I believe it's better for you to be prepared and comfortable rather than rushed and unsure about the expectations.
HW:
Homework:
Please type or write out your response to item #3 on a separate piece of paper.
1. Please read “A Small, Good Thing” by Raymond Carver (1983). Click here for story.
2. Expect a short quiz on Tuesday
3. In a paragraph (5-7 sentences) analyze the bread imagery in the last paragraph. Relate it to the story as a whole, using specific details from the story to support your answer.
Remember what figurative imagery is: the use of vivid descriptions that often appeal to the senses (touch, taste, hearing, smelling, seeing) for the purpose of describing something else—often something abstract that cannot be depicted literally or directly (for example, Emily Dickinson’s ‘Hope is the thing with feathers’ where she uses bird imagery to discuss the abstract idea of hope)
Using Figurative Language to Interpret Nursery Rhyme
Today, I will model how to use The Figurative Language Map so that you will be able to interpret a Nursery Rhyme in a creative, but text-supported way!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Connotative Meaning: Looking at Figurative Language
Knowing the literal, dictionary definition is often helpful, but for close reading, the connotative meanings of words become essential for interpretation. We talked about close reading, but here's a formal definition:
close reading: carefully and analytically considering every component of a text from a variety of angles. Particular attention is paid to figurative language, as well as the form and structure of the piece.
So, we studied connotative meaning yesterday because it requires us to dump literal meaning in favor of a suggested or implied meaning that results from our cultural attitudes or emotional responses. And guess what! Figurative language requires the same approach.
When we speak figuratively, we are speaking abstractly--usually speaking in a manner that is unrealistic, yet still manages to effectively illustrate whatever point we're trying to make. Figurative language includes phrases like: "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse," or "I told you a million times to clean your room." We understand that someone is not going to literally eat a horse. Rather, it is implied that the speaker is just starving at the moment and wants to express his despair by speaking in EXTREME terms. Same thing with the other example--speaking in extremes to convey EXTREME frustration with a lazy adolescent.
So here's that magical and spicy definition of figurative langauge you've all been waiting for:
close reading: carefully and analytically considering every component of a text from a variety of angles. Particular attention is paid to figurative language, as well as the form and structure of the piece.
So, we studied connotative meaning yesterday because it requires us to dump literal meaning in favor of a suggested or implied meaning that results from our cultural attitudes or emotional responses. And guess what! Figurative language requires the same approach.
When we speak figuratively, we are speaking abstractly--usually speaking in a manner that is unrealistic, yet still manages to effectively illustrate whatever point we're trying to make. Figurative language includes phrases like: "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse," or "I told you a million times to clean your room." We understand that someone is not going to literally eat a horse. Rather, it is implied that the speaker is just starving at the moment and wants to express his despair by speaking in EXTREME terms. Same thing with the other example--speaking in extremes to convey EXTREME frustration with a lazy adolescent.
So here's that magical and spicy definition of figurative langauge you've all been waiting for:
Figurative language: Imagery, metaphors, similes, symbols that deepen our understanding of a description, event, place, or person. It is often the figurative elements in a work that subtly convey the theme or message of a work.
Stayed tuned for your activity!
____________________________________________________________
HW: Please read the Hint Fiction article (to be downloaded on my school webpage). Follow the directions on the sheet handed out in class. This is your chance to demonstrate your understanding of connotative meaning. Don't miss out on the feedback. Click here for article.
____________________________________________________________
HW: Please read the Hint Fiction article (to be downloaded on my school webpage). Follow the directions on the sheet handed out in class. This is your chance to demonstrate your understanding of connotative meaning. Don't miss out on the feedback. Click here for article.
Connotative Versus Denotative
Welcome to our next unit: CLOSE READING--An Intro To Literary Studies
We are entering the world of literary criticism...which means you need to put on your literary critic hat...and keep it on...forever.
Today we're going to talk a little about what a literary critic does, why it's important to understand the distinction between denotative meaning and connotative meaning, and how that all ties into close reading.
AGENDA:
1. Read short passage: "I know what you said, but what did you mean?"
2. Connotative and denotative exercise #1
3. C versus D exercise #2
4. C versus D exercise #3
5. Notes
NOTES:
We are entering the world of literary criticism...which means you need to put on your literary critic hat...and keep it on...forever.
Today we're going to talk a little about what a literary critic does, why it's important to understand the distinction between denotative meaning and connotative meaning, and how that all ties into close reading.
AGENDA:
1. Read short passage: "I know what you said, but what did you mean?"
2. Connotative and denotative exercise #1
3. C versus D exercise #2
4. C versus D exercise #3
5. Notes
NOTES:
Connotative meaning: an implied meaning that comes from the emotional weight, social overtones, or cultural implications of a word, which is different from its literal meaning.
Denotative meaning: the literal, dictionary definition of a word, without any extra cultural or contextual meaning.
EXAMPLE:
White House: cultural connotation implies the place where the president resides and operates.
The denotative meaning for "White House", however, is simply a house that is actually painted white.
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