Gatsby PreRead WebQuest

• Click on: http://www.huffenglish.com/gatsby/gatsbyhunt.html
• Follow the directions given for each section. Answer thoroughly in complete sentences on your own paper. Do not "cut and paste" -- rephrase the answers in your own words.
• If there are any problems with the links you are still responsible for answering the questions through further Internet research.

Secrets of the Samurai Sword

Examine the thousand-year-old art and science behind the making of a Japanese warrior's signature weapon on the NOVA special from PBS.
Take 10+ notes while watching OR write a 5+ sentence paragraph reaction after watching.

Supply & Demand

Play the game as a class.

Drafting Realistic Short Story

Choose one of your story ideas (one of the ones that you wrote a descriptive paragraph).  Write a first draft for that story.  It should contain the following elements:

·        A conflict (person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. society, and/or person vs. self)

·        Beginning (exposition), middle (rising action & climax), and end (falling action & resolution)

·        Sensory descriptions (imagery) of setting and at least one character

·        Dialogue

Hostess Strike

Hostess workers are striking in Biddeford.  See why on NBC news.

Realistic Short Story Brainstorming & Descriptive Writing

1. Think of some ideas for your own short story.  Think about your own experiences.  "Write what you know" is a famous piece of advice.  The stories that you read last week (by Malcolm X and Sandra Cisneros) were autobiographical.  Think of at least FIVE ideas of stories that have happened to you or someone that you know well that you can retell in a short story (creative licence is fine here to fill in some details).  

2. So that you have some other options, write down THREE ideas in which you can be a little more creative.  That is, you don't have to write about an actual instance in your life, but base it on what you know.  Nathan Englander explains that sometimes, “Write what you know isn’t about events… It’s about emotions. Have you known love? jealousy? longing? loss? Did you want that [video game system] so bad you might have killed for it? If so, it doesn't matter whether your story takes place in Long Island or on Mars – if you’re writing what you know, readers will feel it.” 

3. Read the following imagery-rich passage, paying attention to details that make you see, hear, smell, taste, and/or feel that which is being described:

The hot July sun beat relentlessly down, casting an orange glare over the farm buildings, the fields, the pond. Even the usually cool green willows bordering the pond hung wilted and dry. The low buzzing of mosquitoes hung about us.  Our sun-baked backs ached for relief. We quickly pulled off our sweaty clothes and plunged into the pond, but the tepid water only stifled us, and we soon climbed onto the brown, dusty bank. Our parched throats longed for something cool—a tart strawberry ice, a tall frosted glass of sweetly sour lemonade.

We pulled our clothes out of the crackling underbrush, the sharp briars pulling at our heavy, wet clothes.  We wriggled into our damp jeans and ambled toward the watermelon patch. As we began to cut open the nearest melon, we could smell the pungent skin mingling with the dusty odor of the dry earth. Suddenly, the melon gave way with a crack, revealing the deep, pink sweetness inside.

4. Then, list ten examples of phrases from the passage that show imagery & classify them by the sense that they appeal to (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch).

5. Choose your top THREE story ideas from numbers 1 & 2 above.  For each of those three story ideas, write a descriptive paragraph that focuses in on a character or a setting within that story idea, using imagery. 

PLEASE NOTE:

Since next week is so short, you will not have additional assignments next week, and I will give you until Tuesday of next week to turn in your work.  To summarize, submit the following assignments by Tuesday, November 20:

• FIVE (5) story ideas based on your life/experiences (a phrase or sentence describing the event is fine)
• THREE (3) creative (but realistic) story ideas (Ex. "A story of a girl named ____________, who lives in _____________ during _______________ and does ___________________/________________ happens to her.")
• TEN (10) imagery phrases from the above passage that are categorized by the sense that they appeal to
• THREE (3) descriptive paragraphs that would work in three different story ideas that you listed.

Multiple Intelligences

In 1983 Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner published his theory of multiple intelligences in his book Frames of Mind. Gardner identified eight separate intelligences. He defines intelligences as independent mental abilities characterized by core operations. For example,  musical intelligence focuses on the core operations of recognizing pitch and rhythm. Gardner states that most people have at least seven of these intelligences, but that in some people one intelligence may dominate, and in other people the intelligences blend. Below are descriptions of Gardner’s eight intelligences.

• Linguistic intelligence: the ability to use language to express one's thoughts and to understand other people orally or in writing
• Musical intelligence:  the ability to hear music in one's head, and to hear tones, rhythms, and larger musical patterns
• Logical-mathematical intelligence:  the ability to manipulate numbers, quantities, and operations accompanied by a love of dealing with abstraction
• Spatial intelligence:  the ability to represent the spatial world visually in one's mind
• Bodily kinesthetic intelligence:  the ability to use the whole body or parts of the body to solve a problem, create a product, or put on some kind of production.
• Intrapersonal intelligence:  the ability to know and understand one's self, including goals, tendencies, talents, limitations
• Interpersonal intelligence:  the ability to notice and make distinctions among other individuals; a strong understanding of other people
• Naturalist intelligence:  the ability to discriminate among living things and to see patterns; also, a sensitivity to features of the natural world

DIRECTIONS:

GO TO: Literacy Work's Multiple Intelligences Assessment, take the survey, print out the results, and answer the following reflection questions:

According to your results, what were your top three intelligences?  (If you don’t know what some of these terms mean, please look them up on dictionary.com)

Do any of the other intelligences sound more like you?  If so, click on them to learn about them.

How do you think you learn best?

Cuckoo Questions for pages 129-173

Follow the link and choose a set of questions to answer in a complete paragraph by yourself, with a partner, or in a group of no more than three students.  Do not choose a series of questions that have already been claimed.

Volunteer Survey

Go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/C3K32M3

Of Mice and Men

Finish reading/listening to chapter 3 of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
We stopped reading at the middle of page 54.  This corresponds with 1:33:42 on the YouTube audio.

Publishing and Mentor Texts

1. Upload your three PowerPoint stories into MyPlick.  If you need help uploading, use the following video to help:
2. Add narration to at least one of your videos and sound effects or music to at least one more.
3. Send me the links to your MyPlicks for grading.
4. Read and respond to the following short, autobiographical stories.  Responses need only be a paragraph each, similar to your reading journal, but you should also think about how the authors' writing techniques and styles could help you in your own writing:
1. "Hair" by Malcolm X 
2. "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros

Events Leading up to the Revolution Jigsaw

For your assigned event, neatly, legibly, and colorfully include the following on a blank white piece of paper:

• Name of event
• Date(s)
• Location(s)
• What happened
• How it led to the Revolution
• Your opinion
• A picture

If you finish before the end of class, please see Ms. Kappelman to begin a second event for a potential bonus point!