REVIEW: EXAM - Tuesday, June 26 9-10:30

EXAM STRUCTURE:


PART A: ‘sight passage’ - K/U
- 10 multiple choice questions
- study your short fiction question sheets
- review logic unit (power point; syllogisms)
- review literary terminology (OSSLT sheet)
- review your deconstruction of "12 Year Old Blasts Banks" by Victoria Grant and “I Have A Dream Speech” by Martin Luther King Jr. These are both available on the blog.
- review how to answer a question about significance

PART B: ‘essay’ T/I and COMM
- series of organized paragraphs based upon the given sight passage and another passage which you will have time to read through
- review the expectations for organized paragraph responses and good answers


PART C: ‘short response’ APP
- personal response based upon the sight passage
- review your personal responses completed throughout your justice journal
- review the structure of a good personal response (topic sentence, body, closing sentence)

WHAT YOU NEED TO HAVE COMPLETED ON YOUR BLOG BY JUNE 15

-16 comments on your peers' blogs

-7 blog posts

- a list, post or page for the titles of novels you have read for 'extra' reading (if applicable)

-WEB 2.0 gadgets and visuals that contribute to the purpose of the blog (independent reading). Remove those visuals or gadgets that have nothing to do with reading.

AND

-PAGES for your Tapestry

7. LAST POST: An Inductive Leap too far

THIS IS THE LAST POST. . . DUE by: JUNE 15.

"Inductive Reasoning and Logic | BlazingTruth.com." Blazing Truth. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2012.

Thanks to Sarah B for this image. . .

This is the most difficult post you have had to complete thus far. It will give me a sense of those of you who are ready to move into 3U, and those of you who might be better suited to the 3C pathway.

PLOT DEFINITION: The cause-and-effect working out of choices (made by characters and for characters) set in motion by conflicts and complications within the story.

Based on any novel you have read this semester, explain how an error in logic, specifically induction – an inductive leap too far – advances the plot of the novel. You will have to review your notes about induction.

How?

- Summarize the part of the novel where the inductive leap occurs. If you can use a text excerpt all the better. . . do not forget about the citations.

- Next, justify your ideas about the that this inductive leap has on the plot of the novel (Create further complications for the character? Change relationships??? - go back to your note on significance. . . ).

HERE IS A GOOD SAMPLE FROM MR. HINDLEY'S CLASS:

In Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O Mitchell, the character Brian goes through a process of understanding life until he becomes a mature young adult at the end of the book. Near the beginning of the book however, Brian remains a somewhat ignorant but yet very imaginative character. This can be seen through his plans to fly using "string with pillow feathers" (Mitchell 27). Because he does not fully understand how things (ie. flight) work, his curious, imaginative mind believes making wings to fly is a brilliant idea (THIS IS THE INDUCTIVE LEAP). With his friend Forbsie they begin gathering feathers from "pillows' stummicks" (27) and tying them together with string. While they are working, "Arthur Sherry, a six year old cynic" (28) comes to ask what they are doing. This sparks what will later change Brian's mindset. When Brian explains "Making wings" (28), Arthur replies with "Anybody knows you can't make wings" (28). They continue to argue, but Arthur proves to have much stronger points than Brian , resulting in Brian's defeat.

The inductive leap Brian made by stating he was "going to fly" (28) set up the argument he had with Arthur, which harshly gave him the knowledge for a better understanding of the line between his own imagination and the reality around him.

Although it may seem to be an unimportant event in the book, it is one of the many experiences that will later help Brian understand the world, and near the end, his father's death.

In my book, Death Cloud, many of the adults are known for being the ones to take an inductive leap too far. This proves to be true when two men are killed, and many of the adults conclude that it must be the effect of an illness such as the plague. Specifically stating, "We have to assume we're dealing with the bubonic plague and act accordingly" (Lane, 65). They assume this because the men whom were killed had been found with large boils on their faces. Meanwhile, however, the main character Sherlock Holmes isn't so quick to decide on this opinion. He sees that "the grass was a slightly different colour - more yellow than the grass elsewhere in the woods" (Lane, 69) where one of the dead men were found. Once Sherlock sees that it is a yellow powder, he isn't so quick to make the same induction.

The fact that many of the adults in this story take an inductive leap too far does much for the plot. While Sherlock believes that the cause of death wasn't an illness, there are few adults who believe him. This pushes Sherlock to move forward in the story, looking for answers on his own. It is when he goes to a professor that Sherlock is told that he had found "bee pollen" (Lane, 143). By the end of the story, Sherlock is able to prove to the adults that their inductive leap is faulty, as well as prove that the bees (as well as their pollen) were the cause of the deaths, and not the plague.

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6. Style

This week I want you to look specifically at the STYLE of your novel.

1. Identify and define one poetic device used within your narration to add interest to the writing. You will have to consult your poetic devices hand out to do this.

2. Then, include the text excerpt that contains the poetic technique and include a properly formatted citation.

3. Finally, explain the purpose of this device to the scene, character or theme of the novel. (This AGAIN is related to significance.)

For example:

In the Hunger Games series, there is a good use of symbol. A symbol is an object or item that represents something more than its physical state. In the Hunger Games, Rue's flowers symbolize much more than Katniss' sadness at the loss of a friend.

After the death of her ally Rue, Katniss covers the body of the young girl with flowers as a symbol of Rue's humanity and a tribute to her short life. By calling attention to the sacrifice that Rue made during the Hunger Games, Katniss challenges the idea that Hunger Games – and the people who play them – are mere entertainment for the audiences back in the Capitol. For Katniss, Rue isn't simply a character on a television show. She is a human being who is worthy of respect, admiration, and mourning.

As Katniss says: "I want to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do that there is a part of every tribute they can't own. That Rue was more than a piece in their Games. And so am I." (Collins, The Hunger Games 145)

Covering Rue with flowers is an intense act of rebellion against the Capitol. The experience of witnessing Rue's death inspires Katniss to go on and win the Games – and to prove to the Capitol that they can't strip the tributes of their humanity, however they might try; the symbolism of the flowers is not lost on the Capitol.

5. Social issues

One of the forms of poems we have been examining in class during our poetry unit is DIDACTIC. A Didactic poem's purpose is to teach or inform its audience about a social issue, while helping to (by requiring the reader to reflect upon their role within the larger issue) correct the issue.

"Snake" by D.H. Lawrence is about man's relationship, and ultimate control over nature; the guilt felt by the boy at the end of the poem reveals this: "And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords / Of life./ And I have something to expiate:/ A pettiness." (71-74). As well, the author is able to present a commentary about what our education system is teaching us in terms of what it means to be a man: "The voice of my education said to me / He must be killed" (23-24), "And voices in me said, If you were a man / You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off" (27-28). The guilt felt by the speaker, upon reflection of his act of violence towards the snake, reveals to us that we must act according to our own conscience, rather than the teachings of society sometimes.

This week you will be examining: What social issues are present in the novel you have been most recently reading? (ie. poverty, justice, inequality, crime, discrimination, human rights, disrespect, moral or value struggles, misuse of power etc.) and What purpose do these social issue serve in the novel itself?

INSTRUCTIONS:
In your blog post this week, describe ONE social issue present in your current novel, prove it exists with direct reference to the text and then explain its purpose to the story.

NOTE: To satisfy the last requirement of this week's post, you will need to return to your lessons on SIGNIFICANCE as you are really answering, "Why has this social issue been presented in your novel?".

Comment on a peer's blogs - take two

Each of you should have FOUR blog posts complete as of today. If you do not have this done, it needs to become a priority over the weekend to get caught up!!

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This week, instead of creating your own blog post, you will again be writing comments on four of your peers' blogs. Everyone will write one comment on each of the two posts written most recently by their classmates this week (4 peers x 2 posts = 8 comments in total).

WHOSE BLOGS?: Select the blogs that belong to the four students whose names are listed ABOVE your name on the CLASS BLOGS list found in the sidebar to your right.

HOW DO I DO THIS?: You need to comment on what the person has said in the blog post you are commenting on selected. Read the rules below before proceeding......

Do not be rude.
Do not be sarcastic.
Do not just tell the blogger they are awesome or that it is the best blog post you have ever read. Do not make an inside joke.
Do not insult or otherwise demean the writer.

DO. . .
Genuinely look at what they have said about their books and respond accordingly.

Make an intelligent comment on the book, the topic or the ideas presented by the blogger.

Extend the blogger's thinking by linking their ideas to something else (another text, your personal experiences or the world).

Ask the blogger a question about what they have read or what they have said.

Offer a suggestion for another book they might like based on what they have read and the themes and ideas presented in the blog post.

Give the blogger tips for improvement based upon the expectations for each post (using quotations; checking for punctuation, spelling or sentence structure; adding length through further description or support; organization of elements on the blog).

You may also comment on the style or form of the blog itself (the design of it; the visual elements: colour, organization, font style and size; use of gadgets; readability; title and description etc.).

As a blogger, you should read these comments and respond accordingly to what your peers have posted. Fix what they have suggested, start a dialogue.

4. Significance of. . .

Let's begin with a review of the expectations set out at the beginning of the year for each blog post:

For blog post #1-3 did you. . .

1. Properly identify the novel you wrote about (you can do this through an image; at the least provide the title and author; an MLA style citation is preferred)?

2. Check that you used proper language conventions (punctuation, spelling, grammar, sentence structure) after you posted each?

3. Organize your response into a coherent paragraph by writing a topic sentence, developing the details fully in the body, and concluding with a closing sentence rather than a list of items?

4. Use the text as support for your ideas by providing a direct quotation from the novel(with proper MLA style citations) ?

5. Make sure that you gave short responses (between 60-100 wds) and answered each of the tasks you were required?

If you did not say yes to all of these go back and edit your first three blog posts and only then proceed with this week's assignment described below.

Here is a sample of a post that contains all of the required elements from Allison's blog#1:

She included a picture of the cover of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins as well as a proper MLA style bibliographic entry at the top of her blog post.

This novel uses suspense by creating scenes in the story where I question what is going to happen. The main character, Katniss, makes decisions based on instinct and heart by the author making her like this it creates suspense. The author uses suspense with many of the decisions that Katniss makes. "From behind door 3908 comes a sound. Just a tiny whimper. Like something a cowed dog might make to avoid being struck, only too familiar. My eyes meet Gale's for just a moment, but it's long enough for two people who operate the way we do." ( Collins, Mockingjay 46). This line in the novel creates suspense by wondering what or who those sounds are coming from and also wondering what Katniss and Gale are going to do.

THIS WEEK:
In class we have begun to work on figuring out how to describe the significance of elements of fiction we have found in our reading.

This week I want you to identify two significant elements from the book you are currently reading. You may choose an element of setting, a character, an event, a quotation or really anything 'important' in the text thus far.

Use a direct quotation (with a proper citation) to first identify the element in the book.

Then, after you have consulted your significance list, describe how the element you picked is significant, making specific connections between elements of fiction.

Use the supports given to you on the page entitled "Significance Support".