Make a chart, list, or find your own digital template to analyze the Mom, the boy, the border guard, Laetitia, and Mel from Thomas King’s short story “Borders”. List some adjectives  (click for a list of adjectives to choose from) that describe their personality and provide examples from the story. In addition, provide a brief physical description of each character.

Use the list provided here – Prose Terms – to add the character terms round, flat, dynamic, static, and stock/stereotype to each character on your analysis template.

Choose one of these characters and make a “Fakebook” page on classtools.net . Fill in all the  informational sections and under the heading “About You” write a character sketch.

Remember, a character sketch is written in paragraph form and must include: specific adjectives that describe the character, examples from the story that support your choice of adjectives, the character’s morals and values, and a brief physical description.

Hi class,

Here is the story we will be reading today: Borders by Thomas King.

Before reading, please research and answer the following questions in full sentences:

1. As a member of an Aboriginal group in Canada, are you considered a Canadian citizen?
2. Do Aboriginal people follow the same procedures as Canadian Citizen when crossing the US/Canada border?
3. Has this always been the case?
4. Where does the Blackfoot band reside in Canada?
5. Where does the Blackfoot band reside in the US?

After Reading, please respond to the story by answering the following in proper sentences and paragraphs:

What do you think of the character’s actions in the story? Were they justified?

Some information for the final project –

The final project and test for the Short Story unit, will both be happening the week before Spring Break. In the document below is information about the project and the test:

Final Project

If you are feeling confused, or not sure what to write about for the written assignment (as some of you expressed you are), here are some more specific guidelines:

• State the theme of the story and make sure that it is correct! Yes, this may require taking another look at the story or looking up a summary of it.
• Say whether or not you think this theme is an important message (this is the “agree or disagree” part). Is it a good message that you think the world needs to hear? Or not?
• If you agree with the theme, choose specific events or lines from the story that you liked and think did a good job of emphasizing this theme. If you disagree with the theme, choose specific events or lines that you disagree with, think are inaccurate, or are unrealistic.
• Explain why these specific examples are important to the story and how they support the theme.

For the creative part, remember that you must present your work to the class. There must be a visual aspect to this presentation; there must be something for you to show the class.

As a class, we will define the terms on this worksheet to help you study for the Short Story Test.

Short Story Terms worksheet.

Please respond to this journal question for “The Veldt” using proper sentences and paragraph form:

Do you think that digital technology is harmful or helpful to society? Why or why not? Explain your opinion.

This Journal Entry is due on Thursday and will be marked using the Writing Rubric . Please post it to your Edublog site. 

If you would like to finish it, here is the link to the movie we watched in class today. It is called Radio Days. Click on the title to be directed to the movie online.

Enjoy!

This week, we will be starting off with a new short story, The Veldt – Ray Bradbury.

At the end of class, you will need to log on to m.socrative.com  and join room 824492. There will be question posted for you to answer. Please do so using proper, full sentences and paragraph structure. If you do not have spell check on your browser, you can copy and paste your answer from a word processing program that does (if you are not confident in your own proofreading and spelling skills).

For those of you who have received spelling and grammar feedback from me on some of your assignments, this is a great opportunity to practice some of the thing I have mentioned. If you need a refresher on proper sentences and paragraphs, scroll down a few posts to find examples. You can also use an online dictionary to check your spelling and use OWL Purdue for grammar help.

Here are the definitions of the three types of conflict we came up with in class on Friday.

Man vs. Man / Human vs. Human – a disagreement, conflict, or argument between two people. It can be physical, mental, or verbal (spoken).

Man vs. Self / Human vs. Self – a conflict or struggle in one’s thoughts; an internal conflict. Examples: guilt, good angel/bad angel, making hard decisions.

Man vs. Environment / Human vs. Environment – a battle with the world in which we live. Examples: inanimate objects, things not living, or natural disasters conflicting with humans. Can be as simple as stubbing your toe or tripping on a rock and breaking a bone.

Today, we are reading “The Father” by Hugh Garner.

Once you have finished reading, use Text2Mind or Bubbl to create a mind map showing the different types of conflict found in the story. We will then be using our chart from last day to relate “The Father” to our own lives. You can make a chart on your own, or use this template: Conflict Chart 2.

Then, please complete the Short Story Summary for “The Father“.

In your journal, please consider the following and respond in 2-3 proper paragraphs:

What is the main  conflict in “The Father”? Does it get resolved? Why or why not? What do you think the author, Hugh Garner, is trying to communicate or teach us about life through his story?

Please use a quote from the story to support your thoughts.

Today we are going to learn about literary devices using “The Sea Devil” to help us. Once we are done our discussion, please work on completing this worksheet for “The Sea Devil”

Sea Devil – Plot and Literary Devices

For each story we read, you will have a worksheet like this to fill out. As we learn new concepts (plot, conflict, point of view, character, literary devices) they will be added to the worksheets.

Now that we have practiced as a group and had lots of time to discuss, you are going to do a plot structure assignment on your own.

Choose a short youtube clip, vimeo short film, short story, or commercial (perhaps from the Superbowl this past weekend) and create a presentation to identify the six plot elements we have discussed in class, as well as the protagonist and antagonist.

Choose a method of presentation. Options include: Prezi, Exploratree, Storybird, ichart, or PowerPoint..

You must include a brief plot summary to tell what the story is about, identify the following plot and character elements, and explain how you identified the elements.

• exposition
• initiating event
• rising action
• climax
• falling action
• resolution
• antagonist
• protagonist