Show, Not Tell

So what did you think of throwing the recycle bin across the room? Shocking, yes, but useful? I'm not so sure. Worth the extra clean-up? Possibly not. Let me know.

On the homework "tip", know that the S/NT is easy if you sit down and let your imagination flow. Here is the file in .doc format.

LotF Assignment Sheet

Here's the LotF assignment sheet in .doc format, and the reverse side in .doc and .pdf format.

Island Adventure, Day 3

Day 3: Part 1: What kind of beast?

Share your stories of the beast(s) you encountered and discuss the following:

1. How do you feel about the beast you saw and why?
2. Have you used all of your senses to describe the beast? If not, what did you miss? If so, what was each group members’ favorite description?

Discuss with your group, then write in your island journal:

1. Justify any conflicting information you have about the beast(s)
2. Where do you think it lives (they live) based on the description?
3. What will you do about it/them?
4. Whose job will this be?

Day 3: Part 2: Attack!

Somehow, the beast has wounded one of the members of your group. Mr. Welch will roll a die to determine who this is. One of the other members of the group will have to stay and watch over the wounded member at all times or else he or she will die.
Decide:

1. Will you take care of this person? If not, he or she dies. Send that person to Mr. Welch for further instructions. The remaining group members must, on their own, write the justification for letting him or her die, and write the experience of watching this person die in agony over three hours. How do you cope?
2. If you do take care of this person, the remaining members of the group will have to distribute the remaining jobs, but not all of them can be done. As a group, choose two jobs that will no longer be done, then each group member write how he or she feels about the decisions and how they affect their experience on the island.

Island Adventure, Day 2

Day 2: Homework: The Beast

Something has happened to make you and your group suspect that there is some danger on this island. You each go out to explore. While you’re exploring, you think you see something that might be the source of the danger. It is a living thing that threatens your safety. You hurry back to the others in the group and tell them what you think you’ve seen!

Write a one page written or 1/2 page typed description of what you saw and your encounter with it. Both you and it are alive after this encounter.

Summer Adventure Day 1

Day 1, Part 1: Summer Adventure

You just won tickets to anywhere in the world, but you’re leaving tonight! You and your group decide to take a trip before going back to school – a “last hurrah” before going back to school. You book your flights, pack your bags, and off you go to LAX!

Day 1, Part 2: Crash!

Oh no, the plane was swept off course by a freak storm and you crashed into a previously unknown island. No one is hurt, but you quickly realize that you are stranded. Most of what remains of your plane is swept out to sea by the storm. Mr. Welch will roll two dice to find out if any bags stayed on the beach with you.

Your survival is dependent entirely on you and the other members of your group. It is important to know that there is no sign that you’ll be rescued in the immediate future, but there is a chance that a ship or plane may pass by the island eventually.

Time to make a guide to help you survive here!

1. Give your island a name.
2. Make up a list of at least 5 things you must do to survive.
3. Organize that list in order of priorities.
4. Assign tasks to members of your group so that the things on your list will be accomplished by certain people.
5. Decide how and when these tasks will be accomplished.
6. Keeping in mind your list of priorities, make a second list of five rules everyone needs to obey.

Day 1, Homework: The Island

It’s time to explore the island. Assign each member of your group an area to explore (north, south, east, west – groups of five could have a “center”). Each person must provide a complete description of what they discover in their section of the island. Consider the physical features, the dangers, and what useful things you might find in the area, as well as the flora and fauna.

Write your report in your exploration journal in a detailed (1 page typed or two page written) report. Be sure to include descriptions that relate to all of the senses (see hear, smell, taste, and feel).

Dickinson w/notes

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~ Emily Dickinson


How to think through a poem
When reading a poem, you should think about why the author chose to use each word. The following series of questions will take you through the basic questions you might ask.
Please answer each of the questions in complete sentences on a separate sheet of paper, then re-read the poem to see how (if at all) your understanding of the poem has increased. When you’ve finished, write a LONG paragraph in which you explain the extended metaphor (using the example from class).

Stanza one
Dickinson uses the standard dictionary format for a definition; first she places the word in a general category ("thing"), and then she differentiates it from everything else in that category. For instance, the definition of a cat would run something like this: a cat is a mammal (the first part of the definition places it in a category); the rest of the definition would be "which is nocturnal, fur-bearing, hunts at night, has pointed ears, etc. (the second part of the definition differentiates the cat from other all mammals). Hope is a "thing" because it is a feeling; the thing/feeling is like a bird.
How would hope "perch," and why does it perch in the soul? As you read this poem, keep in mind that the subject is hope and that the bird metaphor is only defining hope. Whatever is being said of the bird applies to hope, and the application to hope is Dickinson's point in this poem.
The bird "sings." Is this a good or a bad thing? The tune is "without words." Is hope a matter of words, or is it a feeling about the future, a feeling which consists both of desire and expectation? Psychologically, is it true that hope never fails us, that hope is always possible?

Stanza two
Why is hope "sweetest" during a storm? When do we most need hope, when things are going well or when they are going badly?
Sore is being used in the sense of very great or severe; abash means to make ashamed, embarrassed, or self-conscious. Essentially only the most extreme or impossible-to-escape storm would affect the bird/hope. If the bird is "abashed" what would happen to the individual's hope? In a storm, would being "kept warm" be a plus or a minus, an advantage or a disadvantage?

Stanza three
What kind of place would "chillest" land be? Would you want to vacation there, for instance? Yet in this coldest land, hope kept the individual warm. Is keeping the speaker warm a desirable or an undesirable act in these circumstances? Is "the strangest sea" a desirable or undesirable place to be? Would you need hope there? The bird, faithful and unabashed, follows and sings to the speaker ("I've heard it") under the worst, the most threatening of circumstances.
The last two lines are introduced by "Yet." What kind of connection does "yet" establish with the preceding ideas/stanzas? Does it lead you to expect similarity, contrast, an example, an irrelevancy, a joke? Even in the most critical circumstances the bird never asked for even a "crumb" in return for its support. What are the associations with "crumb"? Would you be satisfied if your employer offered you "a crumb" in payment for your work? Also, is "a crumb" appropriate for a bird?

X

X: A Fabulous Child's Story