September 19-23

I'm looking forward to opening the doors for "Back to School Night" this week: please mark your family calendars and ask parents and guardians to come to your classes on Thursday night, September 22.  We will have a minimum day on Friday following this event.  We'll get to enjoy each other's "Setting the Stage" projects displayed in the room and work on creating our own narratives about how we/our families came to be in California as we travel with the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath.

MONDAY: Journal warm-up.  Enjoy each other's Setting the Stage projects.  Discuss the characters we've met so far in Chapter 8 of The Grapes of Wrath.  Name one character you can think of from another book, movie, or TV show that is similar to one of the Joads.  Notes - more analysis terms: types of imagery and its effects on a reader.  The class will interview each other and write down how their partners' families came to be in California, adding at least one form of figurative language to their interview. 

Due:
Setting the Stage projects.

Finish reading Grapes, Chapter 8. Do any of the characters remind you of other characters in books, movies, or TV shows?

Ask your parents/guardians how you/your family came to be in California and be ready to talk about it in class next week.

Homework: Read Chapter 9 of The Grapes of Wrath for Friday and make a list of what you would bring on a similar journey if you had to move and could only take one backpack with you. Be ready to share on Friday.

Bring your interview sheet with you on Friday.


WEDNESDAY: Journal warm-up.  View excerpts from Steinbeck's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.  Hear about how the novel was received: its commercial success and the controversy and bans.  Four-corner debate with examples, evidence: should some books and materials be banned in the United States today?

Due: n/a

Homework:
Study for the quiz.

Bring your interview sheet with you on Friday.

Read Chapter 9 of The Grapes of Wrath for Friday and make a list of what you would bring on a similar journey if you had to move and could only take one backpack with you. Be ready to share on Friday.


FRIDAY (minimum day): Quiz covering the week's vocabulary, grammar and Grapes reading for the week.  Discuss Chapter 9 and the contents of your backpack.  Group exercise: agree on 1 backpack and share with the class. 

Share excerpts from interviews on Tuesday (each student should have 1 paragraph minimum describing how they/their families came to be in California with 1 example of imagery included).    View examples of effective narratives - student examples and Chipotle example. 

Due:
Read Chapter 9 of The Grapes of Wrath for Friday and make a list of what you would bring on a similar journey if you had to move and could only take one backpack with you.

Bring your interview sheet with you on Friday.

Homework:  Add at least 3 instances of imagery and/or figurative language that are original to the interview sheet and bring it with you on Tuesday.

Read the first 10 pages of Chapter 10.  Which Joad family member are you or your family like, and why? 

Make sure your journal is filled down an entire page or marked "absent" for the days you weren't in class.  We'll have a journal check where you leave your journals in the bin in the classroom at the end of the day on Tuesday.