ELL4 Short Stories

 The Sound of Thunder - Ray Bradbury

English 12

 This is our last major working day. Your projects are due next class! Today we're doing a lot of thinking and work around O'Brien and Winston's character. Here's the plan:

1. Using the questions that you were assigned last day, work in groups and share your responses. As this discussion continues, consider how the information shared here may inform the outlook of your project.
2. With this done, we'll begin examining O'Brien and Winston's character further. Both hope and despair lead to Winston's downfall. Fill in the chart with your table and give this a shot :)
3. The last thing we'll do today is to organize ourselves into groups by project selection. We need to decide which project we'll be doing over the coming days. You can change your mind later, but the ideas you'll be getting in this group will help inform some of your own choices.

Cross Grade marks are done. Feel free to come by and get your updated grades any time.

ELL4

Good morning! Today we're going to take our essay work a step further. We read the Lottery on Monday, so today we're going to go over the answers today as well as an opportunity to try our hand at essay writing. 

After going through the components of the essay, we'll try one of the following topics:

1. Are traditions important in our lives? What does The Lottery teach about tradition?
2. Is the final act of The Lottery collective murder?

English 12

 Questions to get us thinking about our project:

1. Why does O'Brien pretend to be Winston's friend/part of the Brotherhood?
2. Despite the evidence, why does Winston consider O'Brien a friend?
3. How has Winston's perception of O'Brien for the first two parts of the novel influence the reliability of the narration?
4. Why does Orwell dedicate so much time to "Goldstein's Book" when it turns out to be a product of O'Brien's own hand?
5. Examine the interrogation and torture of Winston in part 3. Find at least 5 quotes that explore O'Brien's rationale for the torture and The Party's existence.
6. Do the same for part 3, except find 5 quotes that explore Winston's feelings about his own torture - and modified mindset.

ELL4 Day 1

Today we continued reading The Giver through to the end of chapter 4. Please do this if you haven't finished it in class. Once that is done, write an extended response to the following question:

• In Jonas’s community, every person and his or her experience are precisely the same. The climate is controlled, and competition has been eliminated in favor of a community in which everyone works only for the common good. What advantages might “Sameness” yield for communities? Should we lose our diversity for these advantages?

ELL4 Day 2

 Day Two ELL4 is reading The Scarlet Ibis. There's much to discuss here. Read the story and answer these questions for homework - before you return on Thursday, November 5.

1. What symbols do you think add meaning to the story?
2. Early in the story, the narrator decides he is going to kill Doodle, why does he change his mind? Why did he consider this violent act in the first place?
3. Find at least five phrases, sentences, or events in the story that foreshadow Doodle's death at the end.
4. Doodle has a significant physical disability. How does the narrator's attitude about disabilities transform through the story?
5. Why is this narrator telling the story? (think about how the story begins)

Discussion Questions - we will discuss these on Thursday. These questions are for you to read. They are not homework:

1. What is one important message that "The Scarlet Ibis" relays to present-day children?
2. Discuss the significance of the scarlet ibis in the story.
3. Is the narrator to blame for Doodle's death? Why or why not?
4. What is the relationship between pride and love in "The Scarlet Ibis?"

The Giver!

Wow - a whole new book for a whole new unit. Time to rock and roll!

Chapter 1
1. What is your impression thus far of Jonas's community?
2. How would you feel if your parents had a feelings ritual? That is, every evening you would share your feelings or concerns with your family members.

Chapter 2
1. If some older people in your community were to observe you, what job do you think they'd give you and why?
2. In your family or community, how is a child's coming into a family different than the way it is described in Chapter 2?


Chapter 3
1. What do you think of the way differences are treated in the community?
2. What do you think happened to the apple?

Chapter 4
1. Do you think the rule against bragging is a good one? Why or why not?
2. What do you think about release now?