Novel Study - Web viewGrace Poulos, a sophomore from Glenview, said it was the storyline that...

English 3201

Novel Study

October 2016

Name: ____________________________________________Teacher: Alison Edwards

Instructions: Complete all activities for your chosen novel. You will be given class time to work on this unit. Our projected schedule is as follows:

October 18, 2016 – Introduction to Novel StudyOctober 19, 2016 – Novel Study Booklet distributed, class time given

This unit will take between 11 and 13 classes. Three classes in the beginning of November will be given to the viewing of the movie ‘Pleasantville’. One class will be taken to complete the listening section.

There will be an analytical essay at the end of the unit. Ms. Edwards will take each novel group independently during the working time to discuss and analyze

their specific novels. This time where you will be discussing as opposed to writing has been allocated for in our 11-13 class schedule.

Reading (30):

For the novel you chose, complete the following:For each of the six types of conflict find examples from the novel that match that type.

Person Vs. Person

1. _____________________________

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2. _____________________________

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3. _____________________________

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4. _____________________________

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5. _____________________________

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Person vs Themself

1. _____________________________

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2. _____________________________

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3. _____________________________

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4. _____________________________

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Person vs Nature

1. _____________________________

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2. _____________________________

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3. _____________________________

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Person vs Society

1. _____________________________

_____________________________

2. _____________________________

_____________________________

3. _____________________________

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Person vs The Supernatural

1. _____________________________

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Person vs Technology

1. _____________________________

_____________________________

2. _____________________________

_____________________________

For the novel you chose, find four symbols. For each one, state two quotes from the book which mention it, then explain them. Following those quotes, write a short explanation of why it is a symbol within the novel.

1. Symbol: _______________________________________________________________________Quotes:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meaning:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Explanation of symbol:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Symbol: ______________________________________________________________________Quotes:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meaning:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


3. Symbol: ______________________________________________________________________

Quotes:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meaning:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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4. Symbol: ______________________________________________________________________Quotes:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meaning:1. ______________________________________________________________________________

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2. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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Listening (10):

Listen to the song and answer the questions which follow. The song will be played twice, breaking for three minutes between each play.

Circle the correct response for #1 - #4. (4 points)

1. Why is the statement ‘No One is Alone’ repeated? (A) analogy of classroom setting (B) emphasis of message (C) poetic licence (D) title of song

2. What is the main purpose of the song? (A) to brag (B) to comfort (C) to educate (D) to incite 3. What is the purpose of the reference ‘Witches can be right’?

(A) to demonstrate heroism (B) to emphasize stereotypes

(C) to promote wicca (D) to show defeat

4. What is best symbolized by the reference to ‘light’'?

(A) evil (B) future

(C) hope (D) lamps

5. State the theme of “No one is alone”. Use two specific references from the poem to support this theme. (6 points)

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Viewing (10 points)

Novel Study Pleasantville 2016In each of the novels we are studying, the main character is alienated from society or disillusioned with their life.

Stone Angel:Hagar: In parallel narratives set in the past and the present-day (early 1960s), The Stone Angel

Like our main characters, David is also alienated from his society, and would like to live the simple life of the characters in his favorite 1950’s show, Pleasantville. Make a list of things with which David is disillusioned in his society.

As in any society, growing up means that the “black and white” truths of our childhood become a great deal more nuanced. Write your own list of disillusionments or society struggles. What do you fear or mistrust in our society today?

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Hagar struggles against class expectations as well as struggling to come to grips with a life of intransigence and loss. The themes of pride and the prejudice that comes from social class recur in the novel.

Catcher in the Rye:Holden: Holden’s society, America the early 1950’s, is, according to Holden, full of phonies. He is disillusioned with people and feels alienated from his world. He fears growing up in this chaos, and wants things to stay simple.

A Separate Peace:Gene: Set in 1942, Gene struggles to be an individual in a conformist world. He is trying to determine where he fits in society and how he can become an adult in the changing landscape of society.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:Huck: Set around 1840 in the Southern United States, Huck is 12 and does not fit into the niceties of society. Raised by his father, the town drunk, later adopted by kind women who try to ‘sivilize’ him, reclaimed by his abusive pop, Huck sets himself free to find his place in the world. In this process, Huck searches to find where he belongs and what his feelings are on issues such as slavery.

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What does your main character learn at the end of the novel? Support your response with 3 pieces of evidence from the novel.

What does David learn at the end of the movie? Support your response with 3 pieces of evidence from the film.

What have you learned about life as you grow into an adult? Explain three circumstances that have made you understand this lesson about life.

Writing (30):

Either:

All of the novels you have chosen from are considered classics. They have been found on high school reading lists for many years, and have “stood the test of time” as literature. Read the article “High School Reading: Classics or Contemporary” and write an essay on the following prompt:

What is the message of this article? Based on your perceived message, analyze why your novel has remained on the reading list at PWC. Ensure you make reference to three literary devices in your explanation. You may wish to refer to character development, theme and symbols in your answer.

OR

Re-Write your favourite fairy tale in the voice of the main character of your novel. Here is an example of Goldilocks as told by Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye) to guide you:

If you really want to hear about it, what I’d better do is warn you right now that you aren’t going to believe it. I mean, it’s a true story and all, but it sounds sort of phony.

Anyway, my name is Goldia Lox. It’s sort of a boring name, but my parents said that when I was born, I had this very blond hair and all. Actually, I was born bald. I mean, how many babies get born with blond hair?

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None. I mean I’ve seen them and they’re all wrinkled and red and slimy and everything. And bald. And then all the phonies have to come around and tell you he’s as cute as a bug’s ear. A bug’s ear, bug’s ear for Chrissake. (written by Ms. Jesperson)

High school reading: Classics or contemporary?

March 07, 2014|By Duaa Eldeib, Tribune reporter

Love it or loathe it, Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" has served as a rite of passage for high school students for generations.In addition to the Bard, teachers have long relied on Socrates, Kafka, Steinbeck and a host of other authors whose works earned the distinction of being a classic — albeit rarely landed on teens' top 10 lists.While few dare challenge the texts as exceptional literature, high school teachers throughout the Chicago area and beyond are swapping out the canon for the contemporary, arguing that their selections impart the same themes and skills, with one important caveat:Students don't audibly groan when they whip out their books at the start of English class.For the first time in decades, teachers in northwest suburban Township High School District 214 aren't teaching "Romeo and Juliet" this year to the majority of freshmen. "Hamlet" didn't make the cut in some classes in Glenbrook High Schools District 225. And some teachers at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire replaced Kafka with "Life of Pi," a novel written in (gasp) 2001."We're always going for balance," said Susan Levine-Kelley, instructional supervisor at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview. "So often in the education world, the pendulum swings."That pendulum, teachers and experts agree, has swung toward more modern, multicultural novels written in the same lifetime as the students. Lest Shakespeare devotees feel betrayed, teachers are quick to reassure that they haven't done away with the classics — especially not their beloved Elizabethan playwright."We've scaled back, but we've realized that anyone living in the world should have some cultural knowledge of Shakespeare," Levine-Kelley said.The shift is forcing teachers to consider how much time to devote to classics and how much to recent works of equal merit, said Jordan Catapano, a district leader with the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. Catapano, who teaches English at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, recently decided to trade in Socrates for "Life of Pi." His Advanced Placement colleagues opted for the 2003 novel "The Kite Runner.""I think the perception used to be that those (classics) had an inherent virtue in and of their own that every generation should be exposed to," he said. "I think, especially as lovers of literature, we still believe that, but we definitely are much more flexible now in which texts get those priorities because we want to make sure students are exposed to a diversity of texts."Some districts have an approved list teachers must pull from, while others give educators the autonomy to forge their own. At Stevenson, teachers gravitate toward the classics, but they've opened the doors a bit to include more modern books such as "The Secret Life of Bees," said Doug Lillydahl, director of communication arts.Laurie Elish-Piper, a distinguished teaching professor at Northern Illinois University, is hopeful that high school teachers will continue to push for adding more current texts written by a greater mix of authors. The key, she said, is balance."I think that students will be willing to go along with the program and read something that maybe they feel is written by old, dead, white people — usually old, dead, white men — if they know there's

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something coming along that's going to be a little edgier, a little more modern and closely related to their lives as adolescents," she said.Instead of grappling with archaic language — and resorting to SparkNotes, which offers study guides on a variety of books — students can immerse themselves in the compelling, relatable narratives, she said."One of my hopes is that we can create not only students who can read, but students who really enjoy reading," Elish-Piper said.

Although Shakespeare's language can prove challenging, working through it benefits the reader, said Jeffrey Masten, a Northwestern University professor who teaches Shakespeare. The plays also can get students thinking about gender and race in new ways, he said."There's a real value in identifying with, relating to, characters and texts that don't look or talk or act just like ourselves, whoever we may be," Masten said.Glenbrook South English teacher David Knudson said his students didn't complain when he told them they would read the 2007 sci-fi novel "Unwind" instead of "Hamlet." To his surprise, the book created a different challenge. Students, some of whom said they had never read ahead for class, were doing just that."All of a sudden, one of my biggest problems is trying to figure out what to do with the kids who are 100 pages ahead or have finished the book a week after we've started it," said Knudson.In Julie Schaefer's classroom, students switched between annotating their paperback copies of the 1994 novel "In the Time of the Butterflies" and pulling up questions about the day's reading on their laptops.Grace Poulos, a sophomore from Glenview, said it was the storyline that captivated her; she was inspired further when she learned the historical novel was written by a woman.Her classmate, Charlotty Herman, said she, too, felt empowered by reading such a remarkable book by a female writer. An avid reader, Charlotty said she loves Shakespeare but appreciates the opportunity to branch out."It doesn't have to be old to be beautifully crafted," she said.University of Illinois at Chicago English and education professor Gerald Graff called the debate about which books to read "a red herring," saying the problem isn't so much the type of text as it is that many students are unable to comprehend and write intelligently about what they've read."You can make the text more contemporary and more accessible to students, but a lot of them are still going to need the Cliffs Notes in order to figure out what they're supposed to say about the text," he said. "I think it's kind of a blind alley to think that if we just get the right text and reading list that students will just get better."Some districts are reluctant to fully embrace novels that haven't stood the test of time. But a number of instructors said they found they could incorporate some books, including the wildly popular dystopian series "The Hunger Games," as independent reading options.Any method for getting schools to adopt new books works for Teri Lesesne, executive director of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, an arm of the National Council of Teachers of English. Lesesne said research shows that high school students have been reading the same rotation of texts since the 1960s."Sometimes I look at classics as the books that made our parents want to quit reading and now make us want to quit reading," Lesesne said. "I'm not saying throw out Dickens, throw out Frost, throw out the rest of them. I'm saying why not add in books that speak more directly to a teen?"She's encouraged to see teachers updating their reading lists but fears that Common Core, the educational standards aimed at better preparing students for college and careers, will mean taking a step back.Common Core, adopted by Illinois and more than 40 other states, puts an emphasis on nonfiction. By senior year, students are expected to read 70 percent nonfiction across subjects.

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The fiction it does promote is weighted toward the classics. Some teachers have interpreted Common Core's list of exemplar texts as required readings.But that shouldn't be the case, said Erik Iwersen, an English language arts content area specialist at the Illinois State Board of Education."It's not a prescriptive list," he said. "It's not meant to be mistaken as compulsory."Honoring the spirit of Common Core calls for including a range of texts, Iwersen said. Teachers are encouraged to incorporate their own selections, but the reason so many heavy-hitters made the list likely has to do with Common Core's goal, he said."It's to underline the point that we need to raise rigor," Iwersen said.From "King Lear" to "Heart of Darkness," replacing just one classic can be difficult, even emotional.District 214 teachers realized that parting with "Romeo and Juliet" this year meant saying goodbye to a book that was a staple of their own high school experience, said Sandy Beguin, the division head of English and fine arts at Buffalo Grove High School,."Yet time and again, we also have lamented students' inability to engage the text without significant rephrasing and translation by the teacher," she said.It prompted the question of who was actually doing the reading.She added, "We grieve the loss and embrace the change, knowing that our freshmen still read rich and diverse literature from other classics, as well as contemporary fiction and nonfiction."

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Representing/Speaking (20)

Choose one of the following options. 15 of the 20 marks will be for your representation, 5 of

the marks will be for presenting it to a small group:

- Create a painting or detailed sketch of an important scene in the novel

- Write, compose and perform a song about the main character

- Create a collage which reveals how the main character of your novel is disconnected from

society or societal expectations

- Other as approved by me.

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Novel Study - Web viewGrace Poulos, a sophomore from Glenview, said it was the storyline that...

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