Graham's Class

• Review: Taoism and the Tao te Ching
• Go over Verse 2 as a class
• Complete working on speeches as necessary
• Begin giving speeches in class
• Read the verse in the Tao te Ching from the Blue Book in class
• Pages 543-544
• Identify paradoxes and parallelism
  
• Compare verse 29 to Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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• Review Taoism and the Tao te Ching
• Go over Verse 22 in class
• Examine and review parallelism and paradoxes
• Receive individual Tao te Ching verses
• Begin working on speeches to explain verses

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• Today we learn about Taoism, YAY!
• History of Taoism:
• Rooted in apx. 400 BC
• Became official religion of China in the T'ang Dynasty
  
• What are the three tenants of Taoism?
• Balance
• Found through nature
  
• Transformation
• Transcendence
  
• Who developed Taoism?
• Lao-Tzu, wrote Tao te Ching
• Chaung-Tzu, wrote about the butterfly dream, theories on transformation
  
• "Mulan" as Taoist
• Analyze "Mulan" and identify inherent Taoism
• Chinese art as Taoist
• Look at pictures of Chinese art
• How is it Taoist?
  
• Read from the Tao te Ching
• Verse 1: What does it mean?
• Verse 22: What does it mean?
• Define: paradox
• Review: parallelism
• How does it apply to everyday life?
  

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• Review: Lyric poetry
• Read: "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter," 524
  
• Review: Balance
• How did the poems yesterday show balance?
• How is balance an important part of the religion of China?
  
• Review: Feminism
• What is feminism?
• What types of literature have we read so far have been feminist?
• How was "The River Merchant's Wife" feminist? Anti-feminist?
• Show info on feet binding; relate to feminism
• X-ray of bound foot
  
• Close up of bound foot
  
• Different close up
• Folding under of toes
  
• Two old women with bound feet
  
• Link to very good article on foot binding
  
• Compare to other ideas of beauty:
• Corsets
• Neck rings
  
• High heels
  
• Read the "Admonitions"
  
• Show clip of "Mulan" to portray feminist ideas
• Read "Ode to Mulan" in class
• Show "Reading of Ode to Mulan"
  
• How is the poem feminist?
• How is the poem balanced?
  
• Intro to Taoism
• Developed by Lao-Tzu
• Written about in Lao-Tzu's "Tao te Ching"
• Review first verse
  

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• Read pages 510-511 in the Blue Book
• "Balance of Opposites"
• Compare Western religion to Eastern religions
• Christianity, Judaism, Islam --> one, absolute good God
• Hindu, Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. --> sometimes polytheistic, balance of good and bad
  
• "Chinese Poetry"
• Poetry is personal instead of public
• Themes = nature and harmony between inner/outer worlds
• Ultimately, theme = balance
  
• Read selected poems and annotate as a class using the Smart Board
• "O Oriole, Yellow Bird," 515
• "Quiet Night Thoughts," 520
• "Night Thoughts Afloat," 529
• "Jade Flower Palace," 531 & "Ozymandias," 531
• "Peonies," 534
  
• Write your own lyric poem! Yay!
  

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• Read and take notes on novel

• Read "Atsumori" Noh play
  
• Answer questions with the play
  

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• Complete reading "In a Grove"
• Complete work on "In a Grove"

• Define colonialism and discuss social impacts of colonialism
• Describe novel choices and select novels
• Chinese Cinderella
• Things Fall Apart
• Nectar in a Seive
  
• Discuss assignment:
• Essay choices:
• 1st: Colonialism and its effects on a society
• 2nd: Prove whether the work is feminist or anti-feminist
• First task:
• Take notes on colonialism AND on feminism
• Look for quotes to support EITHER of these two topics
  
• Second task:
• Answer discussion questions periodically with groups of same novel
  
• Third task:
  
• 2-3 page essay on chosen topic

• Define Noh drama
• Read pages 596-597 of Blue Book
• Prepare students for reading of "Atsumori" tomorrow in class
  

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• Review: "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter"
• Quiz on "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter"
• Review: Japanese terms
• Using "The Last Samurai," define the following terms:
• tanka
• bushido
• samurai
• seppuku
• honor
  
• Review history: Heian to Edo periods
• Begin reading Akutogawa's "In a Grove"
• Begin chart on "In a Grove" and culpability

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• View Discovery Channel episode on Samurai
• Define:
• samurai
• bushido
• seppuku
• ninja
• nightingale floor
  
• Complete reading of "Taketori Monogatari"
• Answer the following questions in notes:
• What are the five tasks for the suitors?
• What is the meaning of the emperor's love tanka (on last page)?
• How is the tale feminist?
• How is the tale anti-feminist?
• How is Heian society reflected through the tale?
• What are some specific details about the tale, including:
• Kaguya's full name in translation
• Kaguya's origin
• Reason for Kaguya's time on Earth
• Gifts Kaguya gave to her parents/the emperor
• Meaning of "etymological folktale" and its applicability

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• Pre-Reading:
• What are your favorite things about each season?
• What types of things do you:
• Hate
• Like
• Embarass you
  
• Think of the person you like least and describe his/her characteristics
  
• Read Sei Shonagan's "The Pillow Book," from Blue Book, page 581
• Analyze how Sei Shonagan's work reflects her society
• Compare to our responses to each section
  
• Read silently "Taketori Monogatari" from page 18 on

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• Read through
• Complete reading "All About Women" and answer all questions
• Read article on Sei Shonagan and Murasaki Shikibu, "Ladies in Rivalry"
• Origami cranes!
  

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• Read through page 11 of Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
• Review definition of feminist literature
• Read first half of "All About Women," by Muraskai Shikibu
• Answer first half of questions on "All About Women"

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• Japanese Literary History
• Oldest works of literature = 2 histories (written using Chinese characters)
• Manyoshu = 1st book written in Japanese, a book of poetry with tanka
• Tale of the Bamboo Cutter = one of 1st stories of Japan
  
• Tale of Genji = 1st novel, written in Heian Japan
• The Pillow Book, also written in Heian
  
• Japanese Literature theme
• mono-no-aware; feeling of being connected to nature and all things
  
• Feminist Literature
• What is feminism?
• What is feminist literature?
  
• Rice Bowl Women
• Read first pages of Japan history
• How is Heian Japan feminist/not?
  
• Taketori Monogatari
• Read first 5 pages
• How is it feminist?
• How is it not?
  
• Haiku
  

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• Presentations
• Origami: Paper Cranes
  
• Tanka poetry: Introduction and Review of Tanka

• Tanka Poetry: Introduction to Japanese poetry
• Origami: Paper Cranes
  
• Review on slide show
• Interpretation and answering questions on tanka
  

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• Presentations on Asia (as time permits)

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• Review: Asian culture
• What are some things you've learned about Asia from your projects?
  
• Input: Japan
• Japanese writing system is called "kanji"
• Guide students through kanji website and have students answer questions as we go
  
• Guided Practice: Kanji
• Use practice boards to practice kanji
• When done practicing, draw out kanji figures on real paper with ink
  
• NOTE: Be very careful with india ink--it is permanent and will stain anything it touches
  
• Guided Practice: Origami
• When you are done with kanji, try making a crane with origami paper

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• Continue working on group projects

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• Name of country
• Language of country
• Primary religions of country
• Government of country
• Population of country
• Famous facts / history / traditions of country
• Typical foods / daily life / etc. of country
• Pictures of country and citizens
• Other fun and interesting facts about country
• At least one famous work of literature or legend from the country

• Food from the country (enough for the whole class to share)
• Drawing of the country's landscape, people, or copy of art
• Poem or short story about the country
• Clay model of something from the country

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• Begin working on Asia Projects
  
• We will have two work days on this project
• All members of groups must be working!
  

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What to do on the NC Writing Test

• Listen to the directions that the test administrator tells you. Do not start writing until you are told you can!
• Read through the prompt when the administrator reads it.
• When the testing begins, you will have 100 minutes to plan and write your essay.
• Reread the prompt.
• Underline important information that you will want to use in your essay.
• Plan your essay on the blank sheet of paper.
• Write out the audience (who you are writing to), purpose (why you are writing), and context (how you should write).
• Sketch out your response to the prompt. Make sure you address the audience, purpose, and context.
• Make sure you plan your introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Make sure you include specific examples and many specific details.
• Do not only use information from the prompt. Add your own examples and details!
• If you have trouble starting your introduction, plan the body of your paper first and then work on your introduction.
• Write your essay.
• Be sure to maintain your focus!
• Be organized!
• Use details and examples!
• Read through what you have written and check for grammar errors. Repeat this step as many times as you can.

Test set-up

• The Box – Information that you can use for support and elaboration is inside of the box.
• The Prompt (What you have to do!) – The prompt will include the following words: “using the information presented, your own experiences, observations, and/or readings, write…..”
• The List – Near the bottom of the page under the box, there will be a list with a bold title that says “As you write your article/speech/letter/etc., remember to:” This box lists all of the features of writing that you need to make sure you address in your essay. Use this list to plan your essay and to double check that your essay is complete when you finish. Be sure to keep your focus!
  

Planning for a definition essay.

When you plan for a definition essay, you want to include the following pieces of information in the different parts of the essay.

Write your own definition first! Use your own ideas, experiences, and the ideas/quotes in your prompt to come up with your definition.

Introduction

Include what your definition of the word is.
List your examples

Body

You can organize the body of this type of paper two ways
You can list several different examples and write a paragraph about each example explaining how that example meets your definition of a hero.
You can break your definition into different parts and discuss each part in a separate paragraph. You still have to use examples!!
PICK ONE OF THESE CHOICES! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO BOTH!!!

Conclusion

Restate your definition.
Add any final thought on the prompt.

Planning for a cause/effect essay

When you plan for a cause/effect essay, you want to include the following pieces of information in your essay.

Decide if you have to write about causes, effect, or causes and effects. This determines your focus!
Make a list of the causes, effects, or causes and effects depending on what the prompt asks you to do.

Introduction

Introduce your topic.
Include your causes, effects, or causes and effects depending on what your prompt asks for. Only include those that you will write about in your paper.

Body

Look back at your list of causes, effects, or causes and effects.
Decide how to divide your list into paragraphs for the body of your writing.
Hints;
You do not have to use all the ideas from your list.
Center each paragraph on only one cause or effect.

Conclusion

Sum up your ideas and examples.
Make sure to restate your causes, effects, or causes and effects.

Thank you Ms. Parker!

Posted by Graham at 2:49 PM | Permalink

• No short essay
• Short essays will resume after the writing test!
  
• Review different writing test prompts
• Create possible intro paragraphs; examples, uses of quotes, and conclusions for each possible prompt

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• Thesis statement (what are you trying to say?)
• Establish audience (who are you saying it to?)
• Establish style/format (is it a speech? a letter?)

• One main idea per paragraph (no lists! add detail and support for each idea!)
• Support (quotes, examples, real-life experience)
• Focus (don't go off topic! no opinions! no solutions!)
• Organization (don't be random)

• Restate thesis
• For definition prompts: restate your definition, and then restate the things you used to prove your definition
• For cause/effect prompts: restate the problem, the causes and/or effects of the problem, and some of your examples to support this

• Definition prompt: Good afternoon Class of 2008! As we gather together on our graduation day, I'd like to tell you about responsibility, which is being held accountable for your own actions. This is important to us as we are now officially adults, and responsible for what we do and say.
• Cause/Effect prompt: Dear Shelby Star, Today I am going to tell you about a serious problem at Burns: student drop out rates. Many students are dropping out because they are bored with their classes or don't think they need a diploma. Because of this, these students do not become productive citizens, and our school is losing money.

• Definition: Responsibility is important to all of us, because we need to be mature enough to be held accountable for what we do or say. My little brother once threw a baseball in the house and broke a lamp. He was responsible enough to confess his crime to our mother. Even though he got punished, it was still a good thing for him to stand up and admit that he made a mistake. As Josiah Charles Stamp once said, "“It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.”
• Cause/Effect: One reason why students are dropping out of school is because they don't value a diploma. They think it is just the same as a GED, but as Ms. Graham says, "A GED doesn't hold nearly the same weight as a diploma to potential employers."

• Definition: So, class of 2008, I hope you can see from the above examples that responsibility is important to us. We can no longer let our parents or teachers help us; we have to be accountable for our own ideas, thoughts, and actions. Just like my little brother had the courage to admit when he was wrong, you too can have the courage to stand up for your own actions.
• Cause/Effect: I hope that everyone who reads the Shelby Star can see the importance of this problem. Student drop outs are caused for several reasons, as you can see from my above examples, and they effect everyone.
  

Posted by Graham at 2:51 PM | Permalink

• Level I = 1-7
• Level II = 8-11
• Level III = 12-16
• Level IV = 17-20

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• No Short Essay
• Writing for Writing Test
• Student select one of the four prompts discussed in class and write a complete essay on the prompt
• Essays need to between 1 1/2 and 2 pages long
• Essays should be professional and ready to be graded for writing test

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• No short essay
• Review: Writing Exam Practice
• Review test scoring
  
• Review definition prompt
• Use word maps to create outlines for definition prompt
• Guided Practice: Begin writing one of four essays
• Develop thesis statement

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• Outline for Definition Prompts
• Word Maps
• Review various definition prompts
• Go over answers to prompts and analyze grade

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• No short Essay
• Study for Greek quiz
• Take Greek quiz
• If you need extra credit, answer Oedipus essay questions
  
• Review: Writing Test
• Cause and Effect Prompts
• Mapping Cause and Effect prompts
• Outlining Cause and Effect prompts

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