Wesley, November 5, 2014

Learning Target

I can write strong inferential and evaluative questions to help myself and others explore complex and meaningful literature.

1. Take out a sheet of paper and at the top of the paper, write the letter of the 1984 prompt you are leaning towards and write your draft thesis. Then spend some time just capturing your thoughts without worrying about organization or spelling.  Fill up a page with ideas and insights related to your thesis and paraphrase portions of 1984 which might think you might quote or allude to in your essay.

• Write as much as you can in 7 minutes.

2. Now, let’s take a look at page 16 of your yellow writing book.  We will read the poem.  Then we will review the Thesis statement mini-lesson on page 17. 

3. Now, rewrite your thesis so that it makes a more precise claim and previews how that claim will be defended. Follow the guidance and examples provided in the lesson.

4. Okay, please take out your poems from yesterday.  Self-assess your interpretive question from yesterday using the checklist on the screen.

Lines 65-70 say “and moved and moved and changed/ her name/and sounded precise/when she spoke    And frowned away/ our sloppishness. ” Is Molly just growing up or is she becoming distant? Did she lose hope? Was she embarrassed of her family or more worried for them? 

1.     Lines 35 through 42 have a lot details about things her sister did: “knew all the written things that made us laugh…walked among flowers and brought them inside the house…looked bright…made dresses, braided hair…frowned on wasp bites…”.  Some of these things sound like the things mothers usually do.  Why did Molly do all of these things for her younger brothers and sisters?  What position did Molly play in the family? Use evidence from the poem and your own insights to support your response.

Final Paper Due November 12

Inferential question self-assessment

Characteristics                                                                                                  Yes or no. If no, why?

1.       You should be able to write at least two different answers to it, supporting each answer with evidence from the text.
2.       The question should express serious genuine doubt or concern.
3.       The question should be specific to the text under discussion. If the question can be asked, with only minor changes, about other written works, then it is probably too general. For example, the question Why does Antigone have a sad ending? is not sufficiently specific. But Is Antigone doomed because she is the daughter of Oedipus, or does she determine her own fate? is more specific and therefore easier to address.
4.       Does it include a quote from the text? For our purposes, interpretive questions should always include a quote, thus clearly rooting it in the text.
5.       The question should be clear, and easy for another person to grasp immediately. Make sure your question and follow-up questions/hypotheses are precise and clear, not leaving the reader guessing at what you mean. Use simple and direct language.

Score out of 5  ________?

Part 2 of assessment: Look again at your question(s). 

Could it be evaluative?                                                                                  Answer and Explantion

Is it truly inferential or is it perhaps evaluative?
If some parts are inferential and other parts are evaluative, which parts are fall into the inferential category and which are evaluative?

Homework: Read the excerpt from Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes (page 13 of yellow book).  Then read the lesson Improving Your Focus: Creating Continuity Between Your Thesis Statement and Body Paragraphs following the guidance and examples in that lesson. Then, tonight, type a basic outline which includes your thesis statement, and clear topic sentences for each of your body paragraphs.  The number of body paragraphs is up to you.  Leave several spaces between each of your sentences so that you can do some self-editing tomorrow.

Outline:

Thesis:

Topic Sentence 1:

Topic Sentence 2:

Topic Sentence 3:

Topic Sentence 4 (etc):

First Draft due Friday, November 7.

Almost Final draft due Tuesday, November 11

Final Paper Due November 12