Holy, Spoiler Alert, Batman!

First, I distributed the poem evaluation rubric.  Students are asked to submit one of their poems from Writer's Workshop on Monday November 5th,  to be marked.  You are permitted to choose from the following poems:

• poem about a thing
• memoir poem
• scar/broken bone/accident poem
• poem of who/what raised you

Then, I totally spoiled the ending to Lord of the Flies.  Like, totally.  I apologize a million times for this error.  I was trying to prepare the class for the fact that they will need to do dramatic presentations in a couple of weeks, once we've finished the book.  There... FYI: presentations to come.

Students were asked to read Chapters Seven and Eight, and to complete a character continuum for Monday.  A reminder that Mrs. Montabello will be teaching the class on Thursday, in Ms. Mac's classroom, next door.

Students will be writing in-class paragraphs on Monday.

I am who I am because....

We reviewed the responses to our Chapter Six assignment to begin class today.  I returned these assignments and students recorded marks in the summative assessment column on their assignments record.  Students who missed today's class will find the assignment in their folder.

I collected quotation integration practice pieces from those who had completed the exercise.  If you would like feedback on your ability to integrate quotations before you write a formal paragraph that I will evaluate, you will need to submit this activity next week, before Thursday.  If you did not get a copy of the exercise, there is a link to it at the side.

We finished class with Writer's Workshop, writing poems to celebrate the people and things that have raised us.  We read a poem called, "Raised by Women" by Kelly Norman Ellis, and noted her use of diction, repetition and specific detail in creating an homage to the women who raised her.  Students brainstormed "mini-webs" of details about the people and things that have most influenced them, and then began drafting poems about where we came from.

I will be asking you to select a poem to be evaluated at the end of next week.  You may wish to begin polishing a few of them....

Chapter Six Assignment

Yesterday, students completed a reading comprehension assignment, based on Chapter Six of the novel.  There were six questions to answer, which tested students' ability to make inferences, make connections and explain significance of quotations.

Students were then given a quotation integration practice assignment.  Please complete this for Friday's class.  I will collect them and ensure students are feeling comfortable with the process of integration, before we write a paragraph to be evaluated.

Finally, keep working on your poems.  You should have, at the very least, a poem about a thing, a memoir poem, and a poem explaining a scar.  I will collect a poem to evaluate in the first week of November.

Quotation Integration 101

Writer's Workshop today consisted of fifteen minutes to write about a scar.  Or a broken bone.  Or an accident.  Or, if you are one of those lucky people who has none of these things... then to make up a story about someone else's scar.  We will return to these poems next day.

We then spent the bulk of today's class working through the art of quotation integration.  We did some practice examples on the overhead, and then students practiced integrating the quotations provided by their peers on post-it notes.

Students were asked to read Chapter Six for Wednesday, in anticipation of an in-class reading comprehension assignment.  The assignment WILL be open book.  You're welcome.

Lord of the Hockey Riots

We began today's class with a Writer's Workshop, where students were asked to think about beginning their poems "in the midst of things."  Students spent some time working with their memoir poems, and people who want me to read over and give feedback on their poem, left the poem with me. 

We then talked about how we see individuation at work in Chapter Four.  We mentioned that the hunt and kill of the pig, plus the chanting and dancing in this chapter both fit the criteria for deindividuation.  We noted that the boys appear to have no sense of self, very little personal accountability, and their painted faces (and long hair) help them to feel more anonymous. 

We then watched a clip from the Vancouver hockey riots and discussed that many of the same factors were present in this video.  The differences we noted were the age of those involved, the size of the group, and the fact that in the riots, basic survival was not on the line.  We will contine to consider how deindividuation presents itself in further chapters.

I distributed a quotation integration information package and asked students to read over the information before Monday.  I also asked students to read Chapter 5 and prepare notes on their understanding of Jack's and Ralph's different leadership qualities and styles.  It would be helpful if you noted actual quotations from the chapter, for this exercise.  We will use this information to practice quotation integration on Monday.

What do you remember?

We began with Writer's Workshop today, looking at two samples of memoir poems.  We noted the successes of each piece: use of figurative language, imagery, powerful and specific vocabulary, thorough description and creation of mood/emotion.  We then spent time writing our own memoir poem draft, which we will return to on Wednesday.

We then looked at the social psychology concept of "deindividuation" and shared our definition placemats.  We discussed the hockey riots and bullying as examples of deindividuation.

Students were asked to consider how this concept applies to Chapter Four of the novel and to bring these thoughts on Wednesday.

Deindividuation... say what?

We started today's class with students posting questions and inferences from Chapter Four on the whiteboard.  We discussed the inferences and made attempts to answer the questions.  There are lots of subtleties being noticed by students... good stuff!

Then, we did a quick experiment, where Ms. Barsky asked students to write down what they would do if they could be invisible for 24 hours, and, no matter what they did, nobody would find out and they would face no blame.  We had some intriguing results....  Four people would behave in a "prosocial" manner, while 17 people would behave in an "antisocial" manner.  Hmmmm....

Then Ms. Barsky distributed a handout on the social psychology concept of deindividuation.  Students were asked to read the piece of informational text, and create a definition placemat for it.  Four quadrants, each one representing a different aspect of the definition: definition in your own words, synonyms, examples and non-examples.  Students were asked to have the definition placemat ready to discuss for next class.

Gallery Walk

To start yesterday's class, I handed back the literary paragraphs students wrote last week.  Students were asked to consider the descriptive feedback I provided, and we reviewed some student samples, as well.

Then, we went on a gallery walk, making observations and asking questions about the character posters groups made last day.  Students were asked to note one thing they hadn't thought of before, and create one question about something that didn't sit well with them or that confused them.

We came back to class after the gallery walk and debriefed our observations.

Students were asked to read Chapter Four for homework, and to create a POT to accompany the reading.

What's goin' on?

We began class today with a sharing session of the six-word memoirs I received from students.  Beautiful and poignant.  Thank you for contributing.

We then had students break into groups, choose one of the prominent characters (Jack, Ralph, Piggy or Simon) and complete a character profile.  Students were asked to create a life-sized body on a piece of poster paper, and to fill it with quotations and ideas about the character.  In particular, students attempted to focus on the inner thoughts/emotions we are exposed to as readers, versus the outward appearance and behaviour a character might exhibit.  We are examining whether the characters behave in a manner that is congruent with what they seem to feel and believe, or if they are merely putting on a front, so to speak.  What's really goin' on with these boys?  We will discuss and debate this next day.

For homework, I suggest re-reading Chapters One through Three, paying close attention to the information we are privy to related to these characters.  In what way(s) are their internal selves reflections of, or in opposition to, their outer selves?

My Life... in Six Words

We began with Writer's Workshop today, with a stream of consciousness write about our lives, so far.  Then we reviewed our writing and highlighted powerful, vivid words and phrases.  We then took those words and tried to construct six-word memoirs to encapsulate our lives so far.  Students were asked to leave me their memoirs if they would like to share them with the class.

Then, we reviewed the different points of view at our disposal as writers.  We talked about what makes each point of view unique, and we discussed that there are benefits and drawbacks to each one.

Finally, students began reading Chapter Three, "Huts on the Beach," analyzing the chapter to appreciate point of view.  Students were asked to record both the behaviour and dialogue (observable) and thoughts and feelings (un-observable) of Jack, Ralph and Simon in this chapter.  We will discuss which point of view is utilized in this novel, and the effect it has on character and plot development, next class.  If you missed class, a copy of the Chapter Three POV assignment can be accessed at the side.