Agenda for the week of September 21 through 25
Please take out your binder, your text, and a pen. Copy the part of
today’s IRLA prompt that is highlighted in yellow. Be sure to put the
date in the margin. You must use ink.
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Bookbags under desks, please. Remember there is to be no electronics usage in class.
SLANT—Sit up, lean forward, ask/answer questions, nod, track speaker
The objectives for “Independent Reading and Literary Analysis” are directly related to typical
English Language Arts examinations. This activity is meant to help you review literary
terminology with which you are already familiar, learn new literary terms, and apply those terms
to your analysis of, and writing about, literature.
All IRLA responses are to be complete, well-supported paragraphs with clear topic
sentences and EVIDENCE to support your opinions. This evidence takes the form of
quotes and specific references to the events, characters and setting in your novel.
DAY ONE
IRLA #5 in set: Due upon completion of response. The first student in each row needs to go to
the glass-fronted cabinet and pick up enough copies of the reference book Writer’s Inc. for his
row and distribute to the students in his row.
Preview “exposition” in Writer’s Inc., section 419.
Reread the first three to five pages of your text. Discuss what you believe your author has
included as exposition. Why do you need to know these things? What is revealed about the
setting in the exposition?
If you have all five of your Independent Reading response, staple them together nicely and
neatly in the upper-left-hand corner and put in the LEFT pocket of the class folder. You
have until tomorrow AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS to submit this set of responses with no
penalty for lateness. If your set is not complete, complete all unfinished responses for
homework.
Work Period:
 Class discussion of exposition.
1. What is exposition?
2. Why is exposition important?
3. How does exposition help you to follow the plot of your text?
Pass Writer’s Inc. forward to first student in your row, who will then pass them to his right. Deion,
Skyler, Brennan, Tyrell, Jamier would you please stack the books neatly back in the cabinet? Thank you!
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Overview of ring binder organization:
Section 1: Independent Reading and Literary Analysis
Section 2: Common Core Handouts
Section 3: Work in Progress
Section 4: Read-Aloud notes
Section 4: Reference Handouts—including grammar and spelling
Section 5: Returned Work
Section 6: Annotated Bibliography
Wrap-Up: What questions do you have about policies, procedures, binder organization or
anything else we have covered so far? (Class discussion)
DAY TWO
Please take out your binder, your text, and a pen. Copy the part of
today’s IRLA prompt that is highlighted in yellow. Be sure to put the
date in the margin. You must use ink.


Bookbags under desks, please. Remember there is to be no electronics usage in class.
SLANT—Sit up, lean forward, ask/answer questions, nod, track speaker
IRLA #1 in set: New set, new heading. Last set due now.
 Appropriate heading (leaving a one inch margin ALL AROUND THE PAPER’S
EDGES):
Your name
English X, Per. X
Mrs. Tassey
Date
The first student in each row needs to go to the glass-fronted cabinet and pick up enough copies
of the reference book Writer’s Inc. for his row and distribute to the students in his row.
Study “conflict” in Writer’s Inc., section 418. Be sure you understand and memorize the five
different types of conflict discussed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What do you think is the main conflict in your text at this point?
Which of the five types of conflict is this?
Who is involved?
How do you know this is the main problem or struggle? Explain.
Work Period:
 Class discussion of conflict
4. What is conflict?
5. Why is conflict important in a novel, biography or autobiography?
6. Of the different types of conflicts, which do you think is most interesting and why?
Pass Writer’s Inc. forward to first student in your row, who will then pass them to his right.
Deion, Skyler, Brennan, Tyrell, Jamier would you please stack the books neatly back in the
cabinet? Thank you!
Wrap-Up: What questions do you have about protagonist, antagonist, exposition and conflict?
DAY THREE
Please take out your binder, your text, and a pen. Copy the part of
today’s IRLA prompt that is highlighted in yellow. Be sure to put the
date in the margin. You must use ink.
IRLA #2 in set: Last set overdue. Review “setting” in Writer’s Inc, section 424. How does
setting define the intellectual atmosphere (milieu) in your book? What attitudes and beliefs
contribute to the action that might be different if the action happened in a different time and/or
place?
Work Period: Class discussion and small group activity on setting and conflict.
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How does setting help shape conflict?
Count off by fours (or fives). Each group will work with the same characters—an AfricanAmerican boy of 14, a white boy of 13, and a middle-aged man—either white or AfricanAmerican. You will be assigned a setting based on your group’s number, 1—4 (or 5). Your job
is to make up an external conflict that might take place in your setting. You may pit any
character against any other two, or all three might be in conflict. Name your characters and
describe the conflict as a basic plot summary. (This is also a quiz on your knowledge of
American history.) Select one student to act as group recorder.
Settings
1. A dock in New Orleans in 1850
2.
3.
4.
5.
A battlefield in Pennsylvania in 1864
A hotel in New York City in 1950
A high school in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
The cafeteria of LAFYM in 2015
Each group will select a member to present your plot to the class, and we will discuss the impact
the various settings had on how you chose to develop your conflict. Essential questions:
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What does the word “universal” mean?
Why do you think I’m asking you this question? 
Wrap-Up: Class vote for best conflict. Is there a clear winner? What do you find the conflict
you voted for more interesting than the others? What does this tell you about the type of book
you should think about selecting for independent reading?
DAY FOUR
Please take out your binder, your text, and a pen. Copy the part of
today’s IRLA prompt that is highlighted in yellow. Be sure to put the
date in the margin. You must use ink.
IRLA #3 in set: Review “plot” and “plot line” in Writer’s Inc., section 423. We have already
looked at “exposition,” the first of the five basic elements in a basic plot. Where, in terms of a
plot line, are you now in your text? Describe the events that make up this part of the plot.
Work Period: Copy the last page of this agenda exactly as it appears. Place it in section 4 of
your binder.
Introduction of “Read-Aloud, Think-Aloud, Talk-Aloud” or “RA-TA-TA”:
Essential Questions:
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Why is it important to be able to listen, understand and recall what you have heard?
In what situations is listening a critical skill?
What makes it difficult for you to really follow a speaker?
What makes it easy for you to follow a speaker?
Every Friday will be RA-TA-TA day, but due to NWEA testing, we will begin today with the
novel A Life for a Life (ALFAL), by Ernest Hill. Listen carefully as I read. You will want to
focus on setting and exposition today. You may want to think about protagonist and antagonist
as you listen, as well.
(Class notes on Smart Board and individually on paper).
 What do you think the author has included as exposition so far?
 Why does he include this information?
 Describe the setting.
 Why is this particular time and place important, do you think?
 How would you describe the mindset of the people who live in this time and place?
Wrap-Up: The week in review—what questions do you have about all of the things we have
covered this week? Review the agenda carefully. Is your binder divided and organized? Do you
understand all of the IRLA prompts? Are you confident about the quality of your responses?
DAY FIVE (Period 8 Only)
Do Now: Place the packet of spelling “demons” in the “Reference Handouts” section of your
binder. Go over the first lesson on the list, “Getting Letters in Correct Order,” and place this
small mark – next to each word you KNOW you do NOT know how to spell.
Work Period: Consonants, vowels, and syllables
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What are the five letters that are ALWAYS considered vowels?
Which letter is sometimes considered to be a vowel and sometimes a consonant?
When is it a vowel and when is it a consonant?
What is a syllable?
How does sounding out a word by syllables help you get the letters in the correct order?
Sit down with a partner and go over your individualized lists of words you have trouble with.
Come up with some strategies for remembering letter order. Study these words and quiz each
other. When you feel confident that you know a word, place a  on the – in front of the word.
Wrap-Up: Spelling bee knock out! Divide up into two even teams and line up in front of the
cupboards and the windows, each team facing the other. Beginning with the team on the left, I
will give each member a word to spell. If you spell it correctly, you stay on your feet and I move
on to the other team. If you spell your word incorrectly, you take a seat. The team with the most
players left standing when we finish (either because of time or because we’ve gone through all of
the words on the list) wins, and those standing receive a gift certificate for 20 preparation and
participation points or ten assignment bonus points.
Your name
Themes
Your name
Symbols
Your name
Plot
Your name
T1
Characters
SY 1
Your name
Per. ___
Mrs. Tassey
Date
A Life for a Life
A novel by Ernest Hill
P1
Exposition and Setting
C1
E&S1