English IV Agenda: Week of September 15 through 19

Baseline essay is overdue.

Remember: All IRLA responses are to be complete, well-supported paragraphs with clear topic sentences and EVIDENCE to support your opinions. This evidence takes the form of quotes and specific references to the events, characters and setting in your novel.

The objectives for “Independent Reading and Literary Analysis” (IRLA) are directly related to the Regents examination. This activity is meant to help you review literary terminology with which you are already familiar, learn new literary terms, and apply those terms to your analysis of, and writing about, literature.

Monday, 9/15

Mini-lesson: Review “protagonist” in Writer’s Inc. (section 423). What is wrong with the definition in the text? How can you expand it to more accurately reflect contemporary fiction?

IRLA #4:Due tomorrow upon completion of fifth responseIdentify the character you believe to be the protagonist in your novel. Describe this character, both physically and psychologically. For all indirectly characterized traits, tell what you read that implied this to you.

Work Period: Today we will begin working with the core literature, which you will keep in section two of your binder. Our objectives this week include being able to:

  • Analyze key details to deepen understanding.
  • Use questions to examine a text’s topic, information and structure.
  • Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says

explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

  • Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,

including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details;

  • Provide an objective summary of the text.

Preview the “Reading Closely” and “Text-Centered Discussion” checklists and the “Questioning Texts” handout.

Preview images in groups of three or four students. Have one student record the details that stand out to you and the questions you have about the images.

Wrap-up: Class discussion—what did you notice about the images? What questions do you have about them? How are your questions text specific? What difficulties and issues have you already noticed or anticipate having with this unit?

Tuesday, 9/16

Mini-lesson: Review “antagonist”(section 417). in Writer’s Inc.

IRLA #5: Due upon completion of response. Identify the character or circumstances you believe to be the antagonist in your novel. Describe this character or thing, both physically and psychologically. For all indirectly characterized traits, tell what you read that implied this to you.

Work Period: Continue work on close reading begun yesterday. Select questions from your group lists, the class list, or the “Questioning Texts” handout to begin trying to answer. Study the details of the images closely as you begin formulating your response.

Wrap-Up: Select one question you feel sure you have a solid answer for to share with the class. We’ll see what responses you receive before you share YOUR answer.

Wednesday, 9/17

Mini-lesson: Review “conflict” in Writer’s Inc.(section 418).

IRLA #1: New set/new heading. Last set due now. Discuss what you believe to be the major conflict in your novel. Is it internal or external? What do you think will stand in the way of the conflict being resolved?

Work Period:Finish work on answering the questions you selected yesterday. When your group is done, please chart your questions and answers on poster paper and post around the room.

Wrap-Up: Gallery walk—annotate the other groups’ posts with your reactions and questions. Group share. Move to Friday of this week.

Thursday, 9/18

Mini-lesson: Review “point of view” (first person and third person) in Writer’s Inc.(section 423).

IRLA #2: Last set overdue. Discuss what you believe to be the point of view in your novel. How would it change the novel and your reading experience if your author chose to write from the other point of view? Formulate your topic sentence carefully and explain FULLY.

Work Period: Continue close reading with Text #2, “A Case for a Tragic Optimism,” by Viktor Frankl. Annotate your text as I read it aloud with those passages you feel help to answer this focus question:

  • What information or ideas does this text present?

Wrap-Up: Group share of responses to focus question. Move to next week. Focus on point of view with “Summer Nights” activity.

Friday, 9/19

Mini-lesson: Review “plot” in Writer’s Inc.and using poster “Types of Plots in Modern Literature.”

IRLA #3: Describe the plot in your novel. Is it easy to follow? Does the author jump around from one character’s story to another? From one point in time to another? What is the impact of your author’s choices on your reading experience? Explain.

Work Period: Continue close reading with a rereading of the Frankl text using these questions as your focus:

  • What words and phrases stand out to me as I read?
  • What is the author saying about the topic?

Wrap-Up: Ticket out the door—in ink, with a complete heading.

What does the phrase “swine and saints” tell you about Frankl’s view of human nature? Move to next week.