Character Interviews

I have assigned a character to each group (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs, and jays), and students will become the expert of the character. On Monday, we will mix groups, and each student as his or her character will appear as a guest on Mrs. Adler's talk show. Some questions may include:

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite food?

What do you like to do on vacation?

John, Phillipa, Groanin	Nimrod, Layla, Rakshasas
·        How did you feel when you learned about the djinn? ·        What do you think of Egypt?	·        What do you think about Iblis’s accusation that the Marid are fighting an uphill battle? ·        How will John and Phillipa help the Marid?

Thesis Trees, a writing plan

You have written a thesis for each Children of the Lamp essay question. Today I instructed the class to make a graphic organizer for each prompt. Here is my example.

Evaluate Groanin's wish to have no more wishes. Why is this a wise wish?

                                 Even though you may be careful,
                                 wish can be a curse.

"He frittered away his first two                        My family moved to a new
wishes on something really                              house with a smashed mail-
useless" (Kerr 116).                                        box. I said, "I wish we had
                                                                     a new mailbox." My mom
                                                                     gave me a new mailbox
                                                                     for my birthday.

Intro. Paragraph = Hook + Thesis

To answer an essay question, students will be able to compose an effective introduction paragraph. Today in our notes, we focused on writing a hook and thesis.

The hook connects the audience to the topic. We talked about three ways to begin an introduction paragraph.

1. Write "Imagine" as the first word of your paragraph and create a situation the reader can visualize about the subject.

2. Write definition or fact about the subject.

3. Write a famous quotation related to the subject.

In our notes we reviewed our first writing assignment of the school year: Describe a summer movie. Students wrote these example hooks.

Imagine	Imagine teenagers battling against evil forces to save their school.
Definition	The Merriam-Webster’s School Dictionary defines adventure as an undertaking involving unknown dangers and risks.
Famous Quotation	Manohla Dargis, a New York Times movie critic, says about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part Two, “It isn’t often in the summer that you enjoy the intense pleasure of a certain kind of old-fashioned cinema experience, the sort that sweeps you up in sheer spectacle…”

The thesis is specific and communicates your perspective about the topic. Perspective is the author's view or interpretation.

Example:

Many fans will agree with me that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows is the most thrilling adventure story.

I have fact fragments; now what?

As an exit pass, students used their fact fragments to write a new Egypt paragraph. Students paraphrased the essential information about Cairo.

Egypt Paragraph

You only need to write the fact fragments in your spiral notebook.

     "Nearly half of all Egyptians live in cities. Cairo, the nation's capital and largest city, is also the largest city in Africa. Cairo is very crowded because many people move to the cities from rural areas. They hope to find a better education and jobs. As a result, there are traffic jams and housing shortages. Some people live in tents that they have set up on boats on the Nile River." (Prentice Hall World Studies 461)

Movie Poster

You will have class time to work with your partner Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I expect posters to include the book's title, the two main characters, and three items from the Egypt list. Characters other than John and Phillipa are optional.

Remember to compose a creative illustration; this will be a blockbuster hit!