Friday, September 6, 2013

September 9, 2013: What's Happening in English 10?

Focus: What does it mean to ask a great question, and how can this help me understand the opening pages of The Kite Runner?

1. Warm-up: Creating symbolic family drawings and interpreting them:

Remember when you were in kindergarten, and you were asked to draw a picture of your house and family?  Little kids, without realizing, draw in an interpretive way rather than a literal way.  For example, they may draw their dad as tall as the house because he's that important.  They might draw a floating turtle in the sky because he's in heaven. They tend to place family members in the spaces in the home where they spend the most time, and how big they draw themselves often indicates how important they feel as part of the family.

Go back to your kindergarten symbolic mind, and draw a symbolic picture of your family and home.  If your parents are divorced or one spends much time traveling, think about how you could represent that.  Think about how the size and location of people in your house represents a larger idea about the dynamics of your family relationships.

When everyone finishes, trade pictures with someone (if you feel comfortable doing so).  On the back of the drawing, write down a 3-5 sentence interpretation of this person's family based on the picture alone.  If you don't wish to trade, interpret your own drawing.

As you meet the family of The Kite Runner today and tonight when you read Chapter 2, think about how the dynamics of this family compare and contrast to yours.

2. Introducing three levels of questioning; please click HERE to read and discuss the explanation, then check out the questions below and decide if they're level one, two, or three questions.

What is a Hazara?

What does Hassan's physical's description represent about his social status?

Why do societies always need a scapegoat?

3. Distributing The Kite Runner and gathering book numbers

4. Reading the opening pages of The Kite Runner together with sticky notes or a reading journal; pausing to write, ask aloud, and discuss your level one and level two questions

HW:
1. Finish reading and annotating Chapters 1 and 2 of The Kite Runner; annotate by asking level 1 and 2 questions using sticky notes or a reading journal; when you can, try to answer some of your questions. What reading strategies can you use to understand these opening chapters?

2. Start working on your List 2 SAT vocabulary flashcards; they are due WEDNESDAY this week.

3. This Friday: Independent reading, List 2 SAT vocabulary quiz.

31 comments:

  1. While reading the Kite Runner I would like to focus on the bigger picture of the story rather than fixating on small details.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I want to be able to see the bigger picture clearly and fully and be able to annotate what i think about The Kite Runner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My goal is to keep up with my reading this semester

    ReplyDelete
  4. My goal for the kite runner is to read every page of it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My goal is to keep up with the reading at home and annotate more.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My goal is to be able to actually stay current with the reading assignments and stay on top of due dates (reading the required pages by the due date).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dalton Keasling
    Period 1

    My goal to get out of the kite runner is to better analyze text, and better understand the bigger picture.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My goal is to learn more about annotation and notice more of the smaller details in the story.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My goal is to annotate well to help me understand the book and enjoy annotating and reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. My goal is to actually read and finish the Kite Runner.

    ReplyDelete
  11. my goal is that im going to find a way to annotate better so that i can improve my reading

    ReplyDelete
  12. I will try to read every page and actually read the book

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm going to get the deeper meaning of every chapter.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. One thing i want to achieve would be to keep up with my reading every day.

    ReplyDelete
  16. My one specific goal that i want to get out of Kit Runner, would be to actual read every page and not skip any pages and understand it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. read the entire book and keep up with the readings so im not falling behind.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My goal is to have meaningful annotations.

    ReplyDelete
  19. My goal for the Kite Runner is too do a better job understanding what is going on in the book. Usually I just lose focus while I'm reading, and only understand enough to get by in class, now I would like to understand what I am reading on a deeper level.

    ReplyDelete
  20. My goal is simply to enjoy The Kite Runner and have an understanding for whats going on in the story.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I wish to overcome all negative emotions and transcend beyond human to a godlike mind. At this point I will then lead the people for the rest of eternity in love and happiness.

    ReplyDelete
  22. One specific goal for me as I read the Kite Runner is to make good annotations, and make sure I understand words in the book that don't make sense to me. When I don't understand a word in the book I will look it up.

    ReplyDelete
  23. My goal is to speak up more during class discussions because I think it is important to speak with the class about what you took away from the book for clearification

    ReplyDelete
  24. When I read this book i want to enjoy it and not just skim over it for school and get the deeper meaning.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I want to stay caught up with my reading in this book

    ReplyDelete
  26. My goal for reading "The Kite Runner" is to not only finish the book itself but to annotate it with more meaning than I have before in previous books I've read in my years of education.

    ReplyDelete
  27. My goal is to make better annotations.

    ReplyDelete
  28. My goal for the kite runner is to read the whole book.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Austin Duffy
    Period 1

    My goal is to understand and enjoy the book

    ReplyDelete
  30. My goal is to thoroughly annotate and read the kite runner, while doing so I want to be digging for the "bigger picture" and the natural insight of the book. I hope to enjoy the book as much as I want to understand it, and the highlighted importance of the book isn't so remote and hard to catch on to.

    ReplyDelete
  31. My goal for the Kite Runner is to understand and read the whole book.

    ReplyDelete