Language Lessons

Hey Team

Key Concepts:

Writing in the "RAW"

Reading Comprehension skills Predicting 
 

Predicting:  You become a more engaged reader by having a direct connection to the text.  You want to know if you are right.  The more detailed the prediction the greater involvement you will have with the text.  Thus you will have a better understanding and by an extension become a better reader. 

 


Narrative Text:

 

We Are the Characters in the Story in Rebound.  The power of narrative writing is that we as the reader realize we are the characters in the story.  We learn about ourselves by learning about the characters.  The characters, settings, and conflicts are tools the author uses to highlight who we are.  Knowing who we are allows us to make better and more informed decisions.

As well narrative provides us the opportunity to explore are own biases and realize that the world we KNOW and preach and understand does not match the way we interact in the world.  Sitting in our classroom desks we easily make moralistic stances and finger wave poor behaviour but in the real world we often make the same judgments and actions.

The key idea is being aware of how we evaluate text and situations at our desk do not match how we interact in the world.  Knowing they are different gives us the knowledge and power to act in better correlation with that knowledge.

Overall narratives teach us about ourselves. 

WORK and TASKS

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

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“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

1.    Look up the words Efficient, Magnify, Apply and add them to your Word Wall. (they will be needed to evaluate the text)

2.    What does this quote mean?

3.    Do you agree?

4.    How can you connect this quote to what we spoke about this morning in class about devices.

5.    How can you APPLY the lesson taught in this quote to your use of devices in class?

Why Bother: This quote taps into many things we want to improve on, it builds are vocabulary, it provides an opportunity to explore your understanding of how devices should be used and importantly highlights how we interact with them.  

Rebound:

Reading Response

1. Who is going to win the game of 21? Sean or David? Give details about how close the score will be and how will the winner and loser handle the result?

2. David seems confident that the car was not close to him when he went across the street, Sean is confident that it nearly hit David. How close was the car?Why do you think that David and Sean have such a different perspective of what happened?

Quote of the Day

SYMBOLISM – find a definition for symbolism and add it to your word wall. (The root word is symbol)

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

1. What does this quote mean?

2. Do you agree or disagree?

3. How can you connect this quote to leaders you know (be specific in selecting a leader either from the real world or text)

4. How could you apply the message from this quote into your leadership? Give a specific example.

Why Bother: This quote allows us to explore symbolism in writing and develop and expand our ability to comprehend high level concepts. Seldom is everything so simple in regards to analyzing text and speech often it is covered with symbolism. In Rebound the wheel chair is simply a symbol the large concept is that the story is about people that are perceived to be different from the “norm”.

Journal Response:

The first month of school is over look back on your first impressions, goals, and expectations for Grade 8. Is this year going according to plan? Better then you could have expected? Or is it starting to spin out of control? Be specific with your response.

Consider things like the class blog, trailers, terry fox presentation, lectures!

Now understanding the “path” you are on what are you going to do to continue or change?

Focus; Vocabulary 5 high end words (highlight), 5 paragraphs, . , “ “. ITALICS

Why Bother: Its important to reevaluate and see how you are doing in class. Doing such keeps the teacher informed about class enthusiasm and thus can impact future planning. The writing is always continual practice to write better in the RAW.Learning to use paragraphs, vocabulary, and grammar instinctively.

Reading Responses

1. Are David and Sean Friends? Explain why you think so?

2. What character do you think you are most like? Why? Provide an example.

3. Can you make a connection (world) with Scott acting so cool in the lunch room but suddenly turning so cowardly when the VP arrives? 
 

Rebound

Reading Responses

1. Sean was saved by David and spent the night dancing rather then go out side with Scott and meet up with Nick and Gavin.  What do you think happened with Scott, Nick, and Gavin? Explain how their dance night ended up.

2. Sean’s older sister is in a constant battle with her parents make a connection to the ongoing battle from your life?

Oral Communication/Drama Reading comprehension

Why Bother:  This is a great skill to enhancing reading comprehension.  Acting out makes recall far easier as well adding scenes to the story that are not in the novel bring a greater depth of understanding.  We learn that authors do not tell every detail and you the reader must CONSTRUCT the details of characters and settings.  Doing so will strengthen your ability to understand why characters act out they way they do and will make your predictions founded on far more information than previously.

How too use Dialogue Effectively

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writingrules/a/Writing-Story-Dialogue.htm

By Grace Fleming, About.com Guide

Writing verbal conversations or dialogue is often one of the trickiest parts of creative writing. New writers often go into a story thinking it should be easy; after all, we all hold conversations several times a day!
What new story writers quickly realize is that crafting a relevant dialogue within the context of a story requires much more work than carrying out natural conversation.
Dialogue isn't just about creating direct quotations from different characters. Sometimes dialogue is best when it's put into a summarized form, rather than the drawn-out form of an actual conversation.
If you think about it, our conversations are boring to read, for the most part. A normal exchange would go something like this:
"Hi Tony," said Katy.
"Hey," Tony answered.
"What's wrong?" Katy asked.
"Nothing," Tony said.
"Really? You don't act like nothing's wrong."
Pretty tiresome dialogue, right? But by condensing a conversation within the narrative, the writer can convey relevant information that isn't important enough to merit its own dialogue segment. You might think of dialogue as feelings that are verbalized in an abbreviated way.
Instead of writing a dialogue like the one above, a writer could condense the scene:
"Hi Tony."
Tony looked down at his shoe, dug in his toe, and pushed around a pile of dust. "Hey," he replied.
Katy could tell something was wrong.
There are several important things to remember when writing conversations like the examples above, which are called direct dialogue:

• Do not use dialogue simply to convey information. Dialogue should set the scene, advance action, give insight into characterization, remind the reader, and foreshadow. Dialogue should always be doing many things at once.


• Keep the character's voice in mind but keep it readable. Dialogue doesn't have to be grammatically correct; it should read like actual speech. However, there must be a balance between realistic speech and readability.


• Don't use too much slang or misspelling in order to create a character's voice. Also remember to use speech as a characterization tool. Word choice tells a reader a lot about a person: appearance, ethnicity, sexuality, background, and morality.


• Tension! Sometimes saying nothing, or the opposite of what we know a character feels, is the best way to create tension. If a character wants to say 'I love you!" but their actions or words say 'I don't care,' the reader cringes at the missed opportunity.

Using Thoughts in Dialogue

Using thoughts or memories of occurrences and conversations can also show important details of a story without unnecessary character interaction. This indirect dialogue is another way of creating the feel of exchange without quotations. This often takes place internally in one of the characters.
"Hi Tony."
Tony looked down at his shoe, dug in his toe, and pushed around a pile of dust. "Hey," he replied.
Katy braced herself. Something was wrong.
It is important to keep in mind when writing thoughts not to use quotations. If you must write a direct thought, always italicize what is being "said" within the character's mind.

Formatting Short Story Dialogue

Format and style are key to successful dialogue. Correct tags, punctuation, and paragraphs can be almost as important as the actual quotations themselves.
The first thing to remember is that punctuation goes inside quotations.

• "I can't believe you just did that!"

Dialogue tags are the he said/she said's of quotations. Very often they are mistakenly used as forms of description. For example:

• "But I don't want to go to sleep yet," he whined.

While these types of tags are acceptable and even necessary at times, they should only be used sparingly. The dialogue and narration should be used to show the emotion or action stated in the tag. One of the most important rules of writing fiction is: show, don't tell.
Instead of telling the reader that the boy whined in the example above, a good writer will describe the scene in a way that conjures the image of a whining little boy:

• He stood in the doorway with his hands balled into little fists at his sides. His red, tear-rimmed eyes glared up at his mother. "But I don't want to go to sleep yet."

Paragraphs are very important to the flow and comprehension of the dialogue. Remember to start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes within the dialogue. This helps the reader know when someone new is speaking (and who it is).
If there is action involved with a speaking character, keep the description of the action within the same paragraph as the dialogue of the character engaged in it.
Creative writing is one of the few activities where hearing voices is not only a good thing, it is a necessity. If you find yourself having difficulty coming up with new voices for your characters, there are a few things you can do to help develop the voices in your head.

• Start a dialogue diary. Practice speech patterns and vocabulary that may be foreign to your normal habits. This will give you the opportunity to really get to know your characters.


• Eavesdrop. You should always carry a small notebook with you and write down phrases, words, or whole conversations verbatim to help develop your inner ear.


• Read! Reading will hone your creative abilities. It will help familiarize you with the form and flow of narration and dialogue until it becomes more natural in your writing.

As with anything, practice makes perfect. Not even the best writers get it right the first time. Start off writing in your dialogue diary and once you get to drafting, it will be a matter of molding your words into the feel and message that you intend.

Quote of the Day

If you spend too much time hoping for things that aren’t or may never be, you’ll never get on with your life.

1.          What does this quote mean? Explain in your own words.

2.          Do you agree with David’s mother? Why justify your answer.

3.          Do you give out advice like that to your friends?

4.          What can you learn from this quote?

5.          Find a quote that has a similar meaning (cite who the author is and any other detail you can)

Rebound

(Hand in your Visualization assignment)

Read Aloud

Reading Responses

1.          Why did Scott not go after Sean to fight or argue after he walked away?

2.          Did Sean do the right thing not telling David’s mom the truth?

3.          What do you think Sean should do? Look for David/tell his mom the truth/forget about it and go to the dance/call the police/