Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Argument Essay - Candy Bar Battle
We are doing a version of this activity - Twix v. Snickers
6 paragraph essay:
IntroductionArgument #1
Argument #2
Argument #2
Counter-argument & rebuttal
Conclusion
Battle Bars -- The Edible Argument
An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Debate/DEB0201.html
Submitted by: Mark A. Schneberger
Email: markusschneberger@hotmail.com
School/University/Affiliation: Oklahoma City Community College
Date: November 20, 2001
Email: markusschneberger@hotmail.com
School/University/Affiliation: Oklahoma City Community College
Date: November 20, 2001
Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12, Higher Education, Adult/Continuing Education
Subject(s):
- Language Arts/Debate
- Language Arts/Writing
Duration: 50 minutes
Description: This lesson can be used to teach the beginning stages of argument to high school or college level English composition classes. Students use their writing skills to describe how their group's Snickers are a better buy than another group's Kit Kats, while the other group describes how its Kit Kats are a better buy than Snickers. Students use examples of price, advertising appeal, ease of consumption, appearance, dangers, nutrition facts, feel, smell, and taste to support their topic.
Goals: Students will be able to develop a thesis statement and write paragraphs using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to an audience (for the purposes of persuasion and argumentation).
Objectives:
- Students will be able to develop a thesis statement and two paragraphs which support that thesis statement.
- Students will be able to write a paragraph identifying one opposing viewpoint and write another paragraph that attempts to challenge that viewpoint.
Materials:
- a 20-piece bag (approx.) of Snickers Fun Size candy bars
- a 20-piece bag (approx.) of Kit Kat Fun Size candy bars
- chalkboard or dry erase board and chalk/marker
- writing utensils and paper
[If your college disapproves of bringing in outside food items (those not sold at the often overpriced commissary), substitute homemade nut-filled cookies and chocolate chip cookies for the candy bars. If using cookies, modify the thesis statement to fit.]
Procedure:
Inform students that they are to begin a unit about argumentation. Find out how many students like to argue and how many do not. Tell them that they are going to argue about something very important today -- candy bars! Inform students that the class is going to be split down the middle, and students on one side will receive Kit Kats while students on the other side will receive Snickers. [ Author's Note: You may allow students to choose sides, but you must have (closely) equal representation on each side. Also, tell students not to eat the candy bars.]
Lay a candy bar on each student's desk, or pass the bags around and allow the students to choose their own. Tell the students that they need to imagine that there are only two brands of candy bars in the world -- the ones being discussed. Tell them that their candy bar is the best value, and it is their job to come up with as many "logical" reasons why their candy bars are the best value. Tell them not to consider that the other group is working on doing the same project for another brand. Rather, have them just focus on the question, "Why is my candy bar the best value?" Encourage them to work together to make a list of the top 10 points for why their candy bars are the best.
After they have come up with their lists, have each group elect a representative to write their 10 reasons on the board. The result will be a split board with Kit Kat best-buy points on one side and Snickers best-buy points on the other side. Next, have students vote on which of their side's three reasons best represent why their respective candy bars are the better value. Erase all the others. This will result in a split board with three strong points for each side. Then, tell the groups that they are to individually, or in teams of two or three, write a thesis statement which expresses the idea that their candy bar is the best value. Then they are to craft two short paragraphs of three or more sentences (the paragraphs must be linked with transitional expressions) for each point they've chosen for their side. While students are working, assist each group and view their progress. The result will be a thesis statement and two paragraphs which support it. Allow students to eat their candy bars if they choose at this time. (Sugar may help them write faster!)
After the paragraphing is complete, tell the students how important it is when arguing to be fair and to demonstrate that others may have differing opinions. Then, direct them to individually, or in teams of two or three, assume the position of the other side and identify what they consider to be that side's strongest point about why they have the best value bar. Kit Kat groups will write a paragraph supporting Snickers and vice versa. Encourage students to spend a few minutes in discussion with members of the opposing groups, so they can adequately explain and support their points. Kit Kat members will solicit information from Snickers members and vice versa. While they are working, assist each group and view their progress. The result will be one paragraph, linked to the first two, which demonstrates the opposing position. If students request an opposing side's candy bar, allow them to have one (if there are ones left) to eat.
Finally, explain to students that their job after identifying a strong differing opinion is to directly and convincingly challenge it. Using what they know about candy bars, nutrition, packaging, and logic, they must try to construct one short paragraph (including transitional element) to disprove the other side. Kit Kats will challenge Snickers' strongest point and vice versa. While students are working, assist each group and view their progress. The result will be one challenge paragraph linked to the previous three paragraphs. Encourage students to share their completed paragraphs.
Inform students that they are to begin a unit about argumentation. Find out how many students like to argue and how many do not. Tell them that they are going to argue about something very important today -- candy bars! Inform students that the class is going to be split down the middle, and students on one side will receive Kit Kats while students on the other side will receive Snickers. [ Author's Note: You may allow students to choose sides, but you must have (closely) equal representation on each side. Also, tell students not to eat the candy bars.]
Lay a candy bar on each student's desk, or pass the bags around and allow the students to choose their own. Tell the students that they need to imagine that there are only two brands of candy bars in the world -- the ones being discussed. Tell them that their candy bar is the best value, and it is their job to come up with as many "logical" reasons why their candy bars are the best value. Tell them not to consider that the other group is working on doing the same project for another brand. Rather, have them just focus on the question, "Why is my candy bar the best value?" Encourage them to work together to make a list of the top 10 points for why their candy bars are the best.
After they have come up with their lists, have each group elect a representative to write their 10 reasons on the board. The result will be a split board with Kit Kat best-buy points on one side and Snickers best-buy points on the other side. Next, have students vote on which of their side's three reasons best represent why their respective candy bars are the better value. Erase all the others. This will result in a split board with three strong points for each side. Then, tell the groups that they are to individually, or in teams of two or three, write a thesis statement which expresses the idea that their candy bar is the best value. Then they are to craft two short paragraphs of three or more sentences (the paragraphs must be linked with transitional expressions) for each point they've chosen for their side. While students are working, assist each group and view their progress. The result will be a thesis statement and two paragraphs which support it. Allow students to eat their candy bars if they choose at this time. (Sugar may help them write faster!)
After the paragraphing is complete, tell the students how important it is when arguing to be fair and to demonstrate that others may have differing opinions. Then, direct them to individually, or in teams of two or three, assume the position of the other side and identify what they consider to be that side's strongest point about why they have the best value bar. Kit Kat groups will write a paragraph supporting Snickers and vice versa. Encourage students to spend a few minutes in discussion with members of the opposing groups, so they can adequately explain and support their points. Kit Kat members will solicit information from Snickers members and vice versa. While they are working, assist each group and view their progress. The result will be one paragraph, linked to the first two, which demonstrates the opposing position. If students request an opposing side's candy bar, allow them to have one (if there are ones left) to eat.
Finally, explain to students that their job after identifying a strong differing opinion is to directly and convincingly challenge it. Using what they know about candy bars, nutrition, packaging, and logic, they must try to construct one short paragraph (including transitional element) to disprove the other side. Kit Kats will challenge Snickers' strongest point and vice versa. While students are working, assist each group and view their progress. The result will be one challenge paragraph linked to the previous three paragraphs. Encourage students to share their completed paragraphs.
Assessment: Collect students' paragraphs to assess completeness and students' ability to logically demonstrate argumentation in writing.
Special Comments: If you have further questions about this lesson plan, which uses food as a base for understanding, please do not hesitate to contact: Mark A. Schneberger, Adjunct Professor of English, Oklahoma City Community College.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Compare and Contrast Essay
After finishing the novel, we watched "The Hunger Games" movie in class, and then the students were assigned a 5-paragraph point-by-point compare/contrast essay showing 3 differences between the movie and book, giving their opinion about why they thought those 3 things were changed.
A comparison essay gives similarities between two things, or similarities and differences.
A contrast essay gives only differences.
A Venn diagram is the traditional starting point for comparing and contrasting two things.
There are two ways to approach a compare or contrast essay. A point-by-point essay takes one point at a time, addressing it from both sides, before going to the next point. The subject-by-subject method discusses all the points of one side (book) in one paragraph, and then all the points of the other side (movie) in the next paragraph. If writing a compare AND contrast essay, all the comparisons (similarities) could be made first, followed by all the contrasts (differences).
This pdf document gives a simple template for both a point-by-point compare/ contrast essay and a subject-by-subject (or block method) essay.
https://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/files/wl/downloads/WritingaCompareContrastEssay.pdf
Some words to use in a compare/contrast essay:
A comparison essay gives similarities between two things, or similarities and differences.
A contrast essay gives only differences.
A Venn diagram is the traditional starting point for comparing and contrasting two things.
There are two ways to approach a compare or contrast essay. A point-by-point essay takes one point at a time, addressing it from both sides, before going to the next point. The subject-by-subject method discusses all the points of one side (book) in one paragraph, and then all the points of the other side (movie) in the next paragraph. If writing a compare AND contrast essay, all the comparisons (similarities) could be made first, followed by all the contrasts (differences).
This pdf document gives a simple template for both a point-by-point compare/ contrast essay and a subject-by-subject (or block method) essay.
https://www.sbcc.edu/clrc/files/wl/downloads/WritingaCompareContrastEssay.pdf
Some words to use in a compare/contrast essay:
- similarly
- likewise
- in addition to
- just as
- however
- in contrast to
- on the other hand
- unlike
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Huckleberry Finn - Temporal and Physical Setting
Temporal Setting : "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" takes place in the mid-1800's, prior to the Civil War. The United States at that time was divided into slave states and free states, and there was great debate over whether territories and new states should allow slavery or not.
Physical Setting: The story begins in St.Petersburg (Hannibal), Missouri, and then progresses to the Mississippi River and points along the way, down into Arkansas. The River features prominently throughout the story.
The Great Conversation: "Why Literature? The Case for Huckleberry Finn"
The article below is copied from Crosswalk.com, and originally published in the February 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.
http://www.crosswalk.com/family/homeschool/encouragement/why-literature-the-case-for-huckleberry-finn.html
Parents often ask my wife Missy and me why we give classic literature such a prominent place in our curriculum. We live in a math/science world, after all. I think it’s fitting that my answer usually takes the form of a story...
When I was a boy, I loved Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I read it a dozen times. In my imagination, I camped on Jackson’s Island a thousand nights, glided down the Mississippi on a thousand log rafts, and outwitted crooks in a thousand daring escapes. The atmosphere of the book was intoxicating to me—it seemed that Huck lived the ultimate summer vacation, and I wanted to live it with him. One summer I even convinced my friends to help me build a raft and float it down the little river that ran past our house. Supplied with sack lunches, straw hats, and fishing poles, we spent a glorious vacation reenacting Huck’s adventures.
It would not be an overstatement to say that I entered Huck’s world in my mind’s eye and lived his story in my heart. I recreated all its details as faithfully as I could. This was no English assignment; this was an adventure. I was not doing the work of a literary critic or even the work of a student; I wasn’t working at all. Absorbing Twain’s book wholeheartedly, without preconceptions, without designs of judgment or evaluation, I was reading to experience, the way a hungry man eats. I wanted to see through Huck’s eyes, to be in his world—and I did, and I was.
In his wonderful book An Experiment in Criticism, C. S. Lewis says that this is one of the great powers of literature, a power that it shares with only a handful of art forms: the ability to multiply our experience, to draw us into foreign worlds and allow us to experience them from the safety of our own. “My own eyes are not enough for me,” Lewis says. “I will see through those of others.” I would not have put it in those words as a boy, but I remember feeling that hunger for a broader experience.
As I grew up, I never stopped reading Twain’s novel. Every few years I went back and relived my old pleasures—and as I did, I noticed that the story had more to say to me each time. Huck’s world seemed to grow with me, to mature as I matured. I began to understand that Twain’s boyhood adventure story was merely the setting for a deeper, darker tale. Huck’s relationship with the slave Jim and the terrible choices it involved fell on me as powerfully now as the sunny atmosphere of the Mississippi valley had before. I moved gradually from a sensory experience of the story to a mental grasp of Twain’s theme and purpose. Twain had hooked me by the heart as a boy—as I grew up, he began to engage my mind and make a claim on my opinions.
This is not to say that the sensory, setting-related pleasures passed away. On the contrary, they matured right along with me. I began to notice Twain’s wry, ironic wit in lines that had gone right over my head as a boy. I laughed out loud now, instead of just reading in wide-eyed wonder. I discovered that Twain was not only a master at weaving an atmospheric spell; he was also hilarious.
But I began to notice as well that behind the humor was a bitterness that had been invisible to me before, an argumentative stance toward his characters and their foibles. As I grasped Twain’s theme, I heard his voice more clearly and realized that he had written Huck Finn to grapple with a problem—to identify something deeply wrong with American society and to assign blame for it. He was making a case and asking me to take his side. As I learned my own mind, I found that I could not agree wholeheartedly with every point he made, much as I loved his characters and their story. But perhaps because of that love, the grown-up in me spent as much time and energy thinking about Twain’s argument as the child in me had spent reveling in his story. I was drawn irresistibly into a kind of discussion with Mark Twain in my own mind and heart, and found myself contributing to that discussion, drawing on my own ideas and experience.
Mortimer Adler once described Western civilization as a “Great Conversation” about ideas, carried on between thoughtful people down through the ages. The Great Conversation includes contributions from everyone who has ever puzzled over the good life, human nature, the existence of God, or any other transcendent question. I came to realize that Huck Finn was Mark Twain’s contribution to this Great Conversation, and that my own responses were mine. By embracing his story in my heart, mastering it in my mind, and interacting with its themes, I was participating in a culture-wide, history-long search for Truth.
Lewis suggests that this search is what makes us fully human. “In reading great literature,” he says, “I become a thousand men and yet remain myself...I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see...I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”
This is the glory of literature: it makes the Great Conversation possible across the ages, between men and women from different worlds. It allows us to see with the eyes of others.
I put literature at the center of the curriculum for my own children because I want them to “see with myriad eyes.” I want books like Huck Finn to hook them by the heart and engage their minds. I want them to imbibe the classics as children so that as mature thinkers, they will be able to contribute to the Great Conversation.
Besides, we have a river that runs past our house, and I haven’t built a raft in a long time...
Adam Andrews is the Director of the Center for Literary Education and a homeschooling father of six. Adam earned his B.A. from Hillsdale College and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington. He and his wife Missy are the authors of Teaching the Classics, the popular reading and literature curriculum. They teach their children at home in Rice, Washington.
Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in the February 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the family education magazine. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free TOS apps to read the magazine on your Kindle Fire or Apple or Android devices.
http://www.crosswalk.com/family/homeschool/encouragement/why-literature-the-case-for-huckleberry-finn.html
Parents often ask my wife Missy and me why we give classic literature such a prominent place in our curriculum. We live in a math/science world, after all. I think it’s fitting that my answer usually takes the form of a story...
When I was a boy, I loved Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I read it a dozen times. In my imagination, I camped on Jackson’s Island a thousand nights, glided down the Mississippi on a thousand log rafts, and outwitted crooks in a thousand daring escapes. The atmosphere of the book was intoxicating to me—it seemed that Huck lived the ultimate summer vacation, and I wanted to live it with him. One summer I even convinced my friends to help me build a raft and float it down the little river that ran past our house. Supplied with sack lunches, straw hats, and fishing poles, we spent a glorious vacation reenacting Huck’s adventures.
It would not be an overstatement to say that I entered Huck’s world in my mind’s eye and lived his story in my heart. I recreated all its details as faithfully as I could. This was no English assignment; this was an adventure. I was not doing the work of a literary critic or even the work of a student; I wasn’t working at all. Absorbing Twain’s book wholeheartedly, without preconceptions, without designs of judgment or evaluation, I was reading to experience, the way a hungry man eats. I wanted to see through Huck’s eyes, to be in his world—and I did, and I was.
In his wonderful book An Experiment in Criticism, C. S. Lewis says that this is one of the great powers of literature, a power that it shares with only a handful of art forms: the ability to multiply our experience, to draw us into foreign worlds and allow us to experience them from the safety of our own. “My own eyes are not enough for me,” Lewis says. “I will see through those of others.” I would not have put it in those words as a boy, but I remember feeling that hunger for a broader experience.
As I grew up, I never stopped reading Twain’s novel. Every few years I went back and relived my old pleasures—and as I did, I noticed that the story had more to say to me each time. Huck’s world seemed to grow with me, to mature as I matured. I began to understand that Twain’s boyhood adventure story was merely the setting for a deeper, darker tale. Huck’s relationship with the slave Jim and the terrible choices it involved fell on me as powerfully now as the sunny atmosphere of the Mississippi valley had before. I moved gradually from a sensory experience of the story to a mental grasp of Twain’s theme and purpose. Twain had hooked me by the heart as a boy—as I grew up, he began to engage my mind and make a claim on my opinions.
This is not to say that the sensory, setting-related pleasures passed away. On the contrary, they matured right along with me. I began to notice Twain’s wry, ironic wit in lines that had gone right over my head as a boy. I laughed out loud now, instead of just reading in wide-eyed wonder. I discovered that Twain was not only a master at weaving an atmospheric spell; he was also hilarious.
But I began to notice as well that behind the humor was a bitterness that had been invisible to me before, an argumentative stance toward his characters and their foibles. As I grasped Twain’s theme, I heard his voice more clearly and realized that he had written Huck Finn to grapple with a problem—to identify something deeply wrong with American society and to assign blame for it. He was making a case and asking me to take his side. As I learned my own mind, I found that I could not agree wholeheartedly with every point he made, much as I loved his characters and their story. But perhaps because of that love, the grown-up in me spent as much time and energy thinking about Twain’s argument as the child in me had spent reveling in his story. I was drawn irresistibly into a kind of discussion with Mark Twain in my own mind and heart, and found myself contributing to that discussion, drawing on my own ideas and experience.
Mortimer Adler once described Western civilization as a “Great Conversation” about ideas, carried on between thoughtful people down through the ages. The Great Conversation includes contributions from everyone who has ever puzzled over the good life, human nature, the existence of God, or any other transcendent question. I came to realize that Huck Finn was Mark Twain’s contribution to this Great Conversation, and that my own responses were mine. By embracing his story in my heart, mastering it in my mind, and interacting with its themes, I was participating in a culture-wide, history-long search for Truth.
Lewis suggests that this search is what makes us fully human. “In reading great literature,” he says, “I become a thousand men and yet remain myself...I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see...I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.”
This is the glory of literature: it makes the Great Conversation possible across the ages, between men and women from different worlds. It allows us to see with the eyes of others.
I put literature at the center of the curriculum for my own children because I want them to “see with myriad eyes.” I want books like Huck Finn to hook them by the heart and engage their minds. I want them to imbibe the classics as children so that as mature thinkers, they will be able to contribute to the Great Conversation.
Besides, we have a river that runs past our house, and I haven’t built a raft in a long time...
Adam Andrews is the Director of the Center for Literary Education and a homeschooling father of six. Adam earned his B.A. from Hillsdale College and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington. He and his wife Missy are the authors of Teaching the Classics, the popular reading and literature curriculum. They teach their children at home in Rice, Washington.
Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in the February 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, the family education magazine. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the free TOS apps to read the magazine on your Kindle Fire or Apple or Android devices.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
We talked a little bit about this poem, and the imagery and symbolism of fire and ice in relation to The Hunger Games, with Katniss, the girl who was on fire, versus President Snow. Fire represents heat, passion, love, destruction, cleansing, rebirth (think of the Phoenix rising from the ashes), life (the sun). Ice represents darkness, hate, ignorance, cold-heartedness, cruelty, sterility, death.
We talked a little bit about this poem, and the imagery and symbolism of fire and ice in relation to The Hunger Games, with Katniss, the girl who was on fire, versus President Snow. Fire represents heat, passion, love, destruction, cleansing, rebirth (think of the Phoenix rising from the ashes), life (the sun). Ice represents darkness, hate, ignorance, cold-heartedness, cruelty, sterility, death.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Plants in The Hunger Games
From Garden Design magazine, here is an article describing several of the plants prominently mentioned in The Hunger Games. Several of them have very symbolic meaning in the story, including katniss root, evening primrose, dandelion, and rue.
Botanical Notables: Plants of The Hunger Games
Botanical Notables: Plants of The Hunger Games
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Conciseness
"The goal of concise writing is to use the most effective words. Concise
writing does not always have the fewest words, but it always uses the
strongest ones."
Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab): Conciseness
Top 5 Tips to Cut the Clutter from about Education
Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab): Conciseness
Top 5 Tips to Cut the Clutter from about Education
- Reduce long clauses
- Reduce phrases
- Avoid empty openers
- Don't overwork modifiers
- Avoid redundancies
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
A.Word.A.Day
For vocabulary building sent directly to your inbox daily, you can subscribe to A.Word.A.Day, or just go to the website and peruse the list of words and definitions in the archives.
You'll feel smarter
And rock at Bananagrams.
"Two trucks loaded with thousands of copies of Roget's Thesaurus collided as they left a New York publishing house last Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
Witnesses were aghast, amazed, astonished, astounded, bemused, benumbed, bewildered, confounded, confused, dazed, dazzled, disconcerted, disoriented, dumbstruck, electrified, flabbergasted, horrified, immobilized, incredulous, nonplussed, overwhelmed, paralyzed, perplexed, scared, shocked, startled, stunned, stupified, surprised, taken aback, traumatized, upset. . . ."
You'll feel smarter
And rock at Bananagrams.
"Two trucks loaded with thousands of copies of Roget's Thesaurus collided as they left a New York publishing house last Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
Witnesses were aghast, amazed, astonished, astounded, bemused, benumbed, bewildered, confounded, confused, dazed, dazzled, disconcerted, disoriented, dumbstruck, electrified, flabbergasted, horrified, immobilized, incredulous, nonplussed, overwhelmed, paralyzed, perplexed, scared, shocked, startled, stunned, stupified, surprised, taken aback, traumatized, upset. . . ."
Monday, September 22, 2014
Vivid Words
My students are using s Composition Notebook to create a glossary of interesting words. At the beginning of each class I write a vivid, expressive word on the whiteboard, along with its definition. Students must add an original sentence for the word, and may illustrate the page if desired. Each word has its own page.
So far, the words we have added to the notebooks are tranquility, diaphanous, scintilla, scintillate, rhapsodic, and lithe.
These are some creative pages from my sample notebook:
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
100 Words Every College Student Should Know
100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language
So far, the words we have added to the notebooks are tranquility, diaphanous, scintilla, scintillate, rhapsodic, and lithe.
These are some creative pages from my sample notebook:
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
100 Words Every College Student Should Know
100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language
| Ailurophile | A cat-lover. |
| Assemblage | A gathering. |
| Becoming | Attractive. |
| Beleaguer | To exhaust with attacks. |
| Brood | To think alone. |
| Bucolic | In a lovely rural setting. |
| Bungalow | A small, cozy cottage. |
| Chatoyant | Like a cat's eye. |
| Comely | Attractive. |
| Conflate | To blend together. |
| Cynosure | A focal point of admiration. |
| Dalliance | A brief love affair. |
| Demesne | Dominion, territory. |
| Demure | Shy and reserved. |
| Denouement | The resolution of a mystery. |
| Desuetude | Disuse. |
| Desultory | Slow, sluggish. |
| Diaphanous | Filmy. |
| Dissemble | Deceive. |
| Dulcet | Sweet, sugary. |
| Ebullience | Bubbling enthusiasm. |
| Effervescent | Bubbly. |
| Efflorescence | Flowering, blooming. |
| Elision | Dropping a sound or syllable in a word. |
| Elixir | A good potion. |
| Eloquence | Beauty and persuasion in speech. |
| Embrocation | Rubbing on a lotion. |
| Emollient | A softener. |
| Ephemeral | Short-lived. |
| Epiphany | A sudden revelation. |
| Erstwhile | At one time, for a time. |
| Ethereal | Gaseous, invisible but detectable. |
| Evanescent | Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time. |
| Evocative | Suggestive. |
| Fetching | Pretty. |
| Felicity | Pleasantness. |
| Forbearance | Withholding response to provocation. |
| Fugacious | Fleeting. |
| Furtive | Shifty, sneaky. |
| Gambol | To skip or leap about joyfully. |
| Glamour | Beauty. |
| Gossamer | The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk |
| Halcyon | Happy, sunny, care-free. |
| Harbinger | Messenger with news of the future. |
| Imbrication | Overlapping and forming a regular pattern. |
| Imbroglio | An altercation or complicated situation. |
| Imbue | To infuse, instill. |
| Incipient | Beginning, in an early stage. |
| Ineffable | Unutterable, inexpressible. |
| Ingénue | A naïve young woman. |
| Inglenook | A cozy nook by the hearth. |
| Insouciance | Blithe nonchalance. |
| Inure | To become jaded. |
| Labyrinthine | Twisting and turning. |
| Lagniappe | A special kind of gift. |
| Lagoon | A small gulf or inlet. |
| Languor | Listlessness, inactivity. |
| Lassitude | Weariness, listlessness. |
| Leisure | Free time. |
| Lilt | To move musically or lively. |
| Lissome | Slender and graceful. |
| Lithe | Slender and flexible. |
| Love | Deep affection. |
| Mellifluous | Sweet sounding. |
| Moiety | One of two equal parts. |
| Mondegreen | A slip of the ear. |
| Murmurous | Murmuring. |
| Nemesis | An unconquerable archenemy. |
| Offing | The sea between the horizon and the offshore. |
| Onomatopoeia | A word that sounds like its meaning. |
| Opulent | Lush, luxuriant. |
| Palimpsest | A manuscript written over earlier ones. |
| Panacea | A solution for all problems |
| Panoply | A complete set. |
| Pastiche | An art work combining materials from various sources. |
| Penumbra | A half-shadow. |
| Petrichor | The smell of earth after rain. |
| Plethora | A large quantity. |
| Propinquity | An inclination. |
| Pyrrhic | Successful with heavy losses. |
| Quintessential | Most essential. |
| Ratatouille | A spicy French stew. |
| Ravel | To knit or unknit. |
| Redolent | Fragrant. |
| Riparian | By the bank of a stream. |
| Ripple | A very small wave. |
| Scintilla | A spark or very small thing. |
| Sempiternal | Eternal. |
| Seraglio | Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem. |
| Serendipity | Finding something nice while looking for something else. |
| Summery | Light, delicate or warm and sunny. |
| Sumptuous | Lush, luxurious. |
| Surreptitious | Secretive, sneaky. |
| Susquehanna | A river in Pennsylvania. |
| Susurrous | Whispering, hissing. |
| Talisman | A good luck charm. |
| Tintinnabulation | Tinkling. |
| Umbrella | Protection from sun or rain. |
| Untoward | Unseemly, inappropriate. |
| Vestigial | In trace amounts. |
| Wafture | Waving. |
| Wherewithal | The means. |
| Woebegone | Sorrowful, downcast. |
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Writing Journals
I have a class of reluctant writers, so one of my challenges is to encourage regular writing, and also to convince them that writing can be fun and interesting. Enter the Writing Journal.
Actually, I am encouraging a combination Writing/Creative Journal. My students were instructed to use a bound Composition book such as this for their journal.
Actually, I am encouraging a combination Writing/Creative Journal. My students were instructed to use a bound Composition book such as this for their journal.
First each person had to choose a theme for his/her journal. A couple of the boys are doing Sports, one chose Music, another Cartoons. The assignment is to make 4 entries that somehow relate to the theme each week, and every Monday we'll pass them around so the rest of the class can take a look and see what you have done. Each entry, which should begin on a new page, must include at least 3 complete sentences, at least one design element (drawing, printed picture, graphic, chart, map, border, or other design ) and the date.
For inspiration:
Friday, September 19, 2014
Figurative Language
Figurative Language = language used by writers to produce images in readers' minds and to express ideas in fresh, vivid, and imaginative ways
- simile: a comparison of two things using "like" or "as": Example: "My legs, arms, torso, underarms, and parts of my eyebrows have been stripped of the stuff, leaving me like a plucked bird, ready for roasting."-- From "The Hunger Games", Chapter 5, Pg. 61.
- metaphor: a direct comparison of two different things, where one thing is used to refer to another [without using "like" or "as"] to show that they are similar; Example: ""Katniss, the girl who was on fire.""-- From "The Hunger Games", Chapter 5, Pg. 67.
- hyperbole: extreme exaggeration; Example: "Attendance is mandatory unless you are on death's door."-- From "The Hunger Games", Chapter 1, Pg. 16.
- personification: giving human characteristics to non-living things; Example: "We have to stand for a few minutes in the doorway of the train while the cameras gobble up our images, then we're allowed inside and the doors close mercifully behind us. -- From "The Hunger Games", Chapter 3, Pg. 41.
- alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds; Example: "I noticed him, a boy with blond hair peering out from behind his mother's back.-- From "The Hunger Games", Chapter 2, Pg. 30.
- onomatopoeia: the use of words that sound like what they mean, such as "hiss", "plop", "gurgle", "boom"; Example: "R-i-i-i-p! I grit my teeth as Venia, a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows, yanks a strip of fabric from my leg, tearing out the hair beneath it."-- From "The Hunger Games", Chapter 5, Pg. 51
Symbolism - Cornucopia
cornucopia
[kawr-nuh-koh-pee-uh, -nyuh-]
1. Classical Mythology. a horn containing food, drink, etc., in endless supply, said to have been a horn of the goat Amalthaea.
2. a representation of this horn, used as a symbol of abundance.
3. an abundant, overflowing supply.
4. a horn-shaped or conical receptacle or ornament.
c.1500, from Late Latin cornucopia, from Latin cornu [horn] copiae [plenty, abundance], "horn of plenty," originally the horn of the goat Amalthea, who nurtured the infant Zeus. See copious.
In The Hunger Games, the Cornucopia is the focal point of the Arena, holding an abundance of weapons, food, water, and other supplies the tributes need for survival, but also becoming the site of an initial "bloodbath" as tributes battle each other for these items.
This is another example of the many references to ancient Greek & Roman mythology and history found throughout the novel, and also an interesting twist on the theme of hunger and deprivation.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Inspired by Literature Circles
In planning for this class, I read a couple of articles about Literature Circles, and decided to incorporate some of those elements into my class, particularly assigned roles.
Literature Circles
Literature Circles for Reluctant High School Readers
I have 7 students in my class, so I came up with 7 roles, and each class they draw a number to determine what their role with be for the next class meeting.
1. Questioner
The Questioner's job is to come up with 5 discussion questions that explore important ideas from the assigned reading , and to the lead the next class discussion.
2. Diction Detective
The Diction Detective studies the word choice (diction) of the assigned reading and chooses 3 passages or phrases that are especially descriptive, powerful, thought-provoking, funny, or even confusing. He must share why he chose them, why he thinks the author selected them, how they help the author achieve his or her purpose.
3. Illustrator
The Illustrator finds or creates an illustration related to the assigned reading. It can be a drawing, graphic, chart, or map. You can choose to illustrate a scene, character, idea. or symbol.
4. Storyteller
The job of the Storyteller is to choose an interesting or powerful passage from the assigned reading to recite in class.
5. Bridge Builder
The Bridge Builder looks for connections between events in the text and events in history, other literature, or current events.
6. Scripture Spotlight
Scripture Spotlight looks for connections between the text and a Bible story, passage or verse.
7. Summarizer
It is the Summarizer's job to write a summary paragraph for each chapter of the assigned reading, chronologically highlighting major events and ideas.
I make sure everyone gets a different role each week until they have gone through all seven roles once, and then it will be up to the luck of the draw.
Literature Circles
Literature Circles for Reluctant High School Readers
I have 7 students in my class, so I came up with 7 roles, and each class they draw a number to determine what their role with be for the next class meeting.
1. Questioner
The Questioner's job is to come up with 5 discussion questions that explore important ideas from the assigned reading , and to the lead the next class discussion.
2. Diction Detective
The Diction Detective studies the word choice (diction) of the assigned reading and chooses 3 passages or phrases that are especially descriptive, powerful, thought-provoking, funny, or even confusing. He must share why he chose them, why he thinks the author selected them, how they help the author achieve his or her purpose.
3. Illustrator
The Illustrator finds or creates an illustration related to the assigned reading. It can be a drawing, graphic, chart, or map. You can choose to illustrate a scene, character, idea. or symbol.
4. Storyteller
The job of the Storyteller is to choose an interesting or powerful passage from the assigned reading to recite in class.
5. Bridge Builder
The Bridge Builder looks for connections between events in the text and events in history, other literature, or current events.
6. Scripture Spotlight
Scripture Spotlight looks for connections between the text and a Bible story, passage or verse.
7. Summarizer
It is the Summarizer's job to write a summary paragraph for each chapter of the assigned reading, chronologically highlighting major events and ideas.
I make sure everyone gets a different role each week until they have gone through all seven roles once, and then it will be up to the luck of the draw.
Bread and Circuses
" It was Juvenal that coined this system, a mechanism of influential power over the Roman mass[es]. "Panem et Circenses", literally "bread and circuses", was the formula for the well-being of the population, and thus a political strategy. This formula offered a variety of pleasures such as the distribution of food, public baths, gladiators, exotic animals, chariot races, sports competition, and theater representation. It was an efficient instrument in the hand of the Emperors to keep the population peaceful, and at the same time giving them the opportunity to voice themselves in these places of performance." Capitolium.org/eng/imperatori/circenses.htm
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2012/03/bread-circuses-the-hunger-games-ancient-rome/
Today marks the much-awaited release of the movie The Hunger Games, based on Suzanne Collins’s enormously popular trilogy of young-adult novels. (You may have seen the film’s stars grace magazine covers well in advance of this week.)
In the books, Collins imagines a dystopian future in which children from each district of the nation of Panem fight to survive a barbaric competition (the Hunger Games) in large part for the entertainment of the all-powerful Capitol, which televises the event. Many critics have noted analogies with the modern fad of reality TV, and there are myriad sci-fi details (hovercrafts, genetically designed creatures) that speculate beyond the present day.
However, the Hunger Games series also has plenty of antecedents in the ancient world, especially Rome. While the books easily stand alone as gripping adventure narratives, these historical resonances (which Collins herself has readily noted) provide deeper insight into some of the series’ embedded themes. They also suggest that there may be no better way to achieve contemporary popularity than to retell stories of the distant past.
In examining the connections of The Hunger Games with ancient history, I’ll take a look first at the sociopolitical context in which the titular Games occur and then (in a separate post) at some of the names Collins chooses for her characters.
The Games
In the backstory of The Hunger Games, modern civilization collapsed at some unspecified point in our future, and the North American nation of Panem emerged from the rubble. Seventy-four years before The Hunger Games begins, the 13 outlying districts of Panem revolted against the oppressive Capitol, but the resistance movement died out after the Capitol’s forces essentially wiped District 13 off the map. The Capitol instituted the annual Hunger Games as a perpetual reminder to the districts of the power it wields over them. Significantly, though, the decadent Capitol is also highly dependent upon the districts, from which it imports large amounts of agricultural and manufacturing products.
That this sociopolitical milieu has certain similarities with ancient Rome may be observed by Britannica’s article on the Roman Republic (the precursor to the Roman Empire):
The article further notes that farmers in Rome proper “were unable to raise crops to compete economically with produce from the provinces” and that “the common people were placated by bread and circuses.”
The phrase “bread and circuses” was coined by the Roman satirist Juvenal in reference to the way the ruling class pacified the commoners by diverting them from contemplating their subjugation. In ancient Rome, the “bread” was distributions of grain, and the “circuses” were public games and other mass spectacles. In interviews, Suzanne Collins has admitted she was directly inspired by this bit of history in creating the world of The Hunger Games. Juvenal’s original Latin phrase, some might recall, is panem et circenses.
As a result, both bread and circuses factor into the dynamics of the Hunger Games themselves. Taking place in an outdoor “arena,” the Games bear a distinct resemblance to the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome, in which slaves and criminals engaged in bloody and sometimes-fatal combat before large crowds of riveted spectators. Those in the outlying districts of Panem watch the Games in a state of tense anticipation, since the home district of the eventual victor (i.e., the Games’ sole survivor) is rewarded with food and other gifts by the Capitol (“bread”). Those in the Capitol, with nothing at stake, watch purely for pleasure (“circuses”).
It’s also worth noting, perhaps, that the adolescents who fulfill their civic duty by competing in the Hunger Games are known as “tributes,” a word used in ancient Rome (“tributa”) to refer to the taxes paid to the central government for protection. What’s more, the word is used in Greek mythology (known throughout the ancient world) to refer to the “seven Athenian youths and seven maidens” who, as a form of punishment, were “sent every ninth year (or, according to another version, every year) to be devoured by the Minotaur.” Indeed, Collins has specifically cited this gruesome tale as precedent for The Hunger Games, in which 12 girls and 12 boys are annually sacrificed for their people’s supposed misdeeds.
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2012/03/bread-circuses-the-hunger-games-ancient-rome/
Bread and Circuses: The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome
Spartacus, 19th-century illustration. Credit: Photos.com/Jupiter Images
In the books, Collins imagines a dystopian future in which children from each district of the nation of Panem fight to survive a barbaric competition (the Hunger Games) in large part for the entertainment of the all-powerful Capitol, which televises the event. Many critics have noted analogies with the modern fad of reality TV, and there are myriad sci-fi details (hovercrafts, genetically designed creatures) that speculate beyond the present day.
However, the Hunger Games series also has plenty of antecedents in the ancient world, especially Rome. While the books easily stand alone as gripping adventure narratives, these historical resonances (which Collins herself has readily noted) provide deeper insight into some of the series’ embedded themes. They also suggest that there may be no better way to achieve contemporary popularity than to retell stories of the distant past.
In examining the connections of The Hunger Games with ancient history, I’ll take a look first at the sociopolitical context in which the titular Games occur and then (in a separate post) at some of the names Collins chooses for her characters.
The Games
In the backstory of The Hunger Games, modern civilization collapsed at some unspecified point in our future, and the North American nation of Panem emerged from the rubble. Seventy-four years before The Hunger Games begins, the 13 outlying districts of Panem revolted against the oppressive Capitol, but the resistance movement died out after the Capitol’s forces essentially wiped District 13 off the map. The Capitol instituted the annual Hunger Games as a perpetual reminder to the districts of the power it wields over them. Significantly, though, the decadent Capitol is also highly dependent upon the districts, from which it imports large amounts of agricultural and manufacturing products.
That this sociopolitical milieu has certain similarities with ancient Rome may be observed by Britannica’s article on the Roman Republic (the precursor to the Roman Empire):
The Romans organized [their] conquered peoples into provinces—under the control of appointed governors with absolute power over all non-Roman citizens—and stationed troops in each, ready to exercise appropriate force if necessary.(In Panem, the military police posted in the districts are known as Peacekeepers.)
The article further notes that farmers in Rome proper “were unable to raise crops to compete economically with produce from the provinces” and that “the common people were placated by bread and circuses.”
The phrase “bread and circuses” was coined by the Roman satirist Juvenal in reference to the way the ruling class pacified the commoners by diverting them from contemplating their subjugation. In ancient Rome, the “bread” was distributions of grain, and the “circuses” were public games and other mass spectacles. In interviews, Suzanne Collins has admitted she was directly inspired by this bit of history in creating the world of The Hunger Games. Juvenal’s original Latin phrase, some might recall, is panem et circenses.
As a result, both bread and circuses factor into the dynamics of the Hunger Games themselves. Taking place in an outdoor “arena,” the Games bear a distinct resemblance to the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome, in which slaves and criminals engaged in bloody and sometimes-fatal combat before large crowds of riveted spectators. Those in the outlying districts of Panem watch the Games in a state of tense anticipation, since the home district of the eventual victor (i.e., the Games’ sole survivor) is rewarded with food and other gifts by the Capitol (“bread”). Those in the Capitol, with nothing at stake, watch purely for pleasure (“circuses”).
It’s also worth noting, perhaps, that the adolescents who fulfill their civic duty by competing in the Hunger Games are known as “tributes,” a word used in ancient Rome (“tributa”) to refer to the taxes paid to the central government for protection. What’s more, the word is used in Greek mythology (known throughout the ancient world) to refer to the “seven Athenian youths and seven maidens” who, as a form of punishment, were “sent every ninth year (or, according to another version, every year) to be devoured by the Minotaur.” Indeed, Collins has specifically cited this gruesome tale as precedent for The Hunger Games, in which 12 girls and 12 boys are annually sacrificed for their people’s supposed misdeeds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)