Analyzing Fiction - Suspense

Today in class we read the short story Heading Home by Ramsey Campbell. It's a very short story with a LOT of suspense packed in, and almost all of you were totally surprised by the ending. I love stories like that!

If you've ever watched a scary movie, read a creepy book, walked through the woods in the dark, or have been left home alone at night, you've probably experienced the sensation of suspense. It's that uncomfortable nervous feeling you have when you're not sure what's going to happen next, but you can almost guarantee that it won't be good.

In movies, suspenseful moments are pretty easy to identify. The following movie clips are some of the most famous suspenseful scenes of all time. Cue the foreboding music!

Jurassic Park (1997): Velociraptors want to know, "Why you no want to hang out with us, childrens?"

Jaws (1975): The shark attack that filled my nightmares. Warning: there will be blood.

The Dark Knight (2008): The Joker has a totally psychotic social experiment. Fun on a boat!

 

While movies have the luxury of music, lighting, and set design to create nail-biting, breath-taking, heart-pounding moments, in stories, we depend on the author to provide suspense for us. Not an easy task! So, how do they do it? I'm so glad you asked!

After you've read and annotated the short story Death by Scrabble by Charlie Fish, you will need to visit this website to learn all about how writers create tension (suspense) in a story. Taking notes on that page would be helpful, but is not required. Once you've studied that page closely, head on over to Google Classroom for your assignment!

Analyzing Fiction - Justifying Evidence

Howdy ya'll! Today we're going to be talking about how to justify the evidence you collected to prove your theme. Sound confusing? It's not so bad!

The first thing you need to understand is that not all evidence is created equal. The process you'll go through today will help you identify the information that you want to keep and weed out the stuff that doesn't really help make your case. So, let's talk a little bit about evidence, shall we?

Good evidence...

• directly supports the idea you are presenting.
• is clearly explained on how it supports. (This is what you're doing today!)
• is directly from the text.

Bad evidence...

• somewhat supports your idea, but it's a stretch. Not super clear; feels forced.
• is not explained; just listed. 
• is all summarized and very brief.
• doesn't support the complete idea you're presenting.

Ugly evidence...

• doesn't support your idea at all.
• seems random.
• has no explanation.
• just plain doesn't exist!

In the video below, I'll walk you through my process and then you'll do the same with your story. Remember, to prove a theme, you need to have evidence from throughout your entire story. So, you may have a theme that is strong, but maybe you haven't considered all of the evidence you could include. 

Analyzing Fiction - Finding the Theme

Hey kids! Time for another mini-lesson video from yours truly. Only fifteen minutes this time! Notes are optional but definitely encouraged. Go ahead and watch the video for your next assignment. You will find your actual assignment in Google Classroom. Enjoy!

(Optional) More resources for finding theme:

• This teacher is awesome. Watch his video. It's way better than mine...and shorter! ;) 
• This is a great anchor chart. Feel free to copy it as your notes to keep in your mini-lesson section of your binder.
  

Logging in to Google Classroom

Google Classroom is an awesome tool that can help our flipped classroom be more streamlined and organized. I'm really looking forward to using it with you guys! But before you use it, you'll have to log in. Here's how you do it!

 

1. Go to google.com.
2. Click "sign in" at the top right hand side of the page and enter your sign in information.
3. If this is your first time signing in, it will ask you to accept the terms of your Google account. Please click that you accept.
4. Now that you're signed in, it takes you back to google.com. You'll have to do a search for google classroom to find it though. Click on the first search result you see.
5. This should take you to a page that has your name on it and asks if you're signing in as a student or a teacher. Click student. Duh.
6. Next you'll see a big chalkboard with a plus sign in the right hand corner. Click on that to add your hour and put in your class code. You'll only need to do this once.
7. Now you should be in! Look around and see what there is to see. Please answer the reflection question and get the test assignment done. Have fun!

Class codes:

• 1st hour - 4prfwo
• 2nd hour - bx913bi
• 6th hour - 843qpk
• 7th hour - qu28jg3

If you want to use your phone or tablet, that's cool, too. There is a Google Classroom app that you can download free of charge. You will also need to download Google Docs to be able to work on and turn in assignments.

Hahahahaha!

For my The Fault in Our Stars lovers out there. This shirt is the best! :)

You can buy it here: http://www.lookhuman.com/design/54121-the-fault-in-our-pizza

Analyzing Fiction: Explicit vs. Implicit Information

Howdy all! Today instead of just watching or listening to me in a video, I have an activity for you that you'll do with your group. Read the post all the way through, and then get together with your group to complete the activity. If you have any questions, comment below or let me know!

Before we get started, go ahead and get a note page set up to look like this:

An important part of analyzing fiction is being able to use a combination of explicit and implicit information to make an inference.

Yeah, I know. I'm pulling out the big guns with those words. They'll be less confusing once we define them though.

• Explicit – information that is clearly stated so there is no room for confusion or questions. (The prefix ex means OUT. So this is information that's out in the open for anyone to see.)
• Implicit – information that is implied or suggested, but not clearly stated. (The prefix im means IN. So this is information that is hidden in the text.)
• Inference – a conclusion made based on both information/evidence and reasoning.

Now that we've defined those words, let's practice identifying explicit and implicit information with some movie trailers. Movie trailers attempt to balance explicit and implicit information. They reveal enough explicit information to give you a sense of the movie’s premise, yet they rely on implicit information to capture their viewer’s imaginations. If the movie trailer has been successful, the audience will be intrigued enough about the movie to pay to see it.

Watch this trailer of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and record as much explicit information as you can on the left side of your t-chart.

There's a lot of information there, so watch it a couple of times if you need to. When you are finished recording explicit information, get together with your group and try to brainstorm the implicit information revealed in the trailer.  Any implications about Prim perhaps? Or what Katniss will do to President Snow?

Let's try again with another movie trailer. This time, let's watch the trailer for something less familiar. On your t-chart, write Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. As you watch it, record as much explicit information as you can on the left side, and then once again, brainstorm the implicit information on the right.

Are you starting to see how the explicit information and the implicit information work together in movie trailers to make you want to see a movie?

And, now for your assignment! It's only a five minute video! ;)

And a quick shot of my example in case you need to refer back to it:

That's it from me! Work with your group and have fun! :)

Analyzing Fiction: Summarizing Review

Hi guys! Welcome to a new week of school! You'll be responsible for watching three videos this week, so make sure you're keeping up with your work. I'll have another one ready for you to go tomorrow night.

Also, don't forget your vocab quiz over "gen" words is on Wednesday. Anyone who made an additional study guide will get extra credit points on the quiz! If I have your packet because you handed it in late, be sure to get it from me so you can study.

Your first video this week is about summarizing for fiction. We talked about this quite a bit last year, and some at the beginning of this year when we were talking about responses, but making sure you have summarizing down to a science is a big part of being able to analyze fiction well, which is what we're getting into this week. See the video below for my example using "A Retrieved Reformation".

And here is a clearer shot of my finished summary in case you'd like to read it again:

This week, you'll be working with a small group to read a short story that you'll choose together. There are 3-4 options, so hopefully you'll be able to agree on one. ;) The stories are all laid out on the jellybean table, and you will find your and your group member's names near the collection of stories meant for you. Spend some time checking them out, and then decide on one you'd all like to read.

I'm going to talk in class about what you'll do once you have your story chosen, but part of it will definitely involve a summary, so keep this mini-lesson in mind as you move forward.

Since notes for this video were optional, what I would like you to do is leave a comment on this blog that tells me your goal for summary writing this week. What is something you need to work on when it comes to summarizing? What did you see in the video that you'd like to try. Let me know below for participation points!

Short Stories by O. Henry

Hi guys!

On Monday we officially start our Analyzing Fiction unit, during which you'll have the opportunity to choose short stories to read and analyze. The genre of short stories is hard to define, but usually they focus on a set number of characters, typically take place in one location, and have one central conflict. Short stories utilize literary elements such as character development, plot, and theme, but to a much lesser extent than novels do. They can be any genre and any length, but most are under thirty pages or so.

See what I mean? Short stories are tough to define! 

Today in class, everyone read "A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry for our Analyzing Fiction pretest, but it will also serve as our mentor text for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to link to the story here in case you ever need it at home.

"A Retrieved Reformation"

O. Henry is considered by many to be the master of short stories - having written over 600 in his lifetime! Some people really enjoyed "A Retrieved Reformation", so I thought I'd also link some of O. Henry's other short stories. Here are some of his most famous ones:

"After Twenty Years"

"The Gift of the Magi" (One of my favorites!)

"The Ransom of Red Chief"

"Last Leaf"

And here is a link to a whole lot more! Feel free to use any of these to write your next reading response!

Week of 9-8-15

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I want to try to update the blog weekly to let you know what's going on in language arts. Better communication with parents is a huge goal of mine this year, and I want to make sure you're as in-the-know as possible when it comes to what your kids are doing.

We started using the flipped classroom model in language arts last week, and it was pretty successful. Below this post, you'll see four posts from Friday that show reflective conversations about how the kids think the flipped classroom is going, and they seem to love it so far. I do, too! It was a really great week, and I look forward to continuing with this model throughout the school year.

Here are a few thoughts from our first week:

• Many of the students chose to watch the videos at school instead of at home. This is fine, but each video takes between 30-45 minutes to watch, which means it takes up almost all of their language arts hour. If they have other obligations to fulfill during our LA time, they may need to start watching the videos at home, after school or during study hall time. If students use their time wisely, they should be able to watch the videos during class, but they shouldn't count on always having a free day to view them - especially if they wait until the last minute.

• The students had two mandatory videos last week and one optional video. I strongly suggest they watch the optional videos, but they are not required. The mandatory videos are taking place of the instruction I used to do during class time, so those definitely need to be viewed by every student. Next week, we will be starting note-taking during each video, and students will get a participation grade for taking notes as they watch.

• I like the pace of mini-lesson videos so far. Two mandatory videos a week seems pretty manageable. If I need to do more lessons, I will most likely just teach them in class as a group. Optional videos will continue to pop up, but may not be something you see every week. 

• After each video, I would like to include links to other resources. If you watch the video with your student and aren't sure they get the concept, or if you just see them struggling, feel free to use these extra resources to help. Parents regularly ask me how they can help at home, so I thought that might be a feature you would find useful.

As for this week, your kids took a Performance test today. Tomorrow is for makeups and talking about Performance results, and they also have a language packet (gen root words) due. We will have an analyzing fiction pretest Thursday and Friday. No videos for this week, but they will most likely have one to watch over the weekend! Keep a look out! As always, please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to leave a comment on this post or email me at samantha.boehle@pekin.net. Have a great week!

Flipped Classroom Reflection

Alright, guys. We've been working under the flipped classroom model for a week now. What do you think about it so far? What are the pros and cons now that you're in it? Let's talk about it!

Flipped Classroom Reflection

Alright, guys. We've been working under the flipped classroom model for a week now. What do you think about it so far? What are the pros and cons now that you're in it? Let's talk about it!

Flipped Classroom Reflection

Alright, guys. We've been working under the flipped classroom model for a week now. What do you think about it so far? What are the pros and cons now that you're in it? Let's talk about it!

Flipped Classroom Reflection

Alright, guys. We've been working under the flipped classroom model for a week now. What do you think about it so far? What are the pros and cons now that you're in it? Let's talk about it!

OPTIONAL - Process for Writing a Reading Response

Hey guys, I thought it might be helpful for you to see the thinking process I use to write a reading response. Check out the video below if you'd like! Below you can see a picture of my completed response. Don't forget that we have Reading Response Organizers that will help you write a great response! See you tomorrow!

My finished response: