4-10-14
Agenda:
Books talks (multicultural)
Genre review w/additional book talks
Additional work on unit plan and minilesson
Follow up on formal paper
“To understand any writing, we have to know what its genre
is, and we have to know how that genre works.”
Prof. Bart Ehrman, Dept. of Religious Studies, UNC
Musical genres:
Classical
Pop
Rock
Hip-hop
Country
Jazz
Big Band
World
Folk
Soundtracks
Reggae
Ska
…
YA lit genres:
Historical
Contemporary realistic
Fantasy
Science fiction
Graphic novel (???)
Multi-cultural
Adventure
Romance
Paranormal romance
Sports
Horror
Nonfiction
…
“Composition” genres:
Exposition
Description
Narration
Persuasion
Summary
Analysis
Research paper
Letters
*business letter
*friendly letter
*“bad news” letter
“Essay question” response
…
Genre Review:
Contemporary Realistic Fiction
•a.k.a. “problem novels”
•characters from lower-class families
•settings less than idyllic; often harsh
•language colloquial (or lower)
•vicarious experience of bad situations rather
than models of good ones
Issue: What’s the proper role of school? (to offer “good” models only?)
Romanticism
•counterbalance to realism (happy endings)
•generally involves a quest/leaving home
•protagonist undergoes trials, but prevails
•extreme sufferings (nightmare quality)
•unlikely successes (happy daydream quality)
Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Humor
Generally more for pleasure
than for intellectual growth
A Good Adventure Story Has…
•a likable protagonist
with whom readers can
identify
•an adventure in
which readers can
place themselves
•efficient
characterization
•action that draws
the reader quickly
into the plot
•a setting that
doesn’t get in
the way of the
story
Mysteries (sub-genres)
•Amateur detective
•Cozy mystery
•Puzzle
•Thriller
•Private eye
•Police procedural
Scary, Scary/Funny, Funny
Scary elements:
Humorous elements:
•haunted house
•ambiguity
•curse
•exaggeration
•darkness
•incongruity
•rituals
•irony
•protaganist initially
oblivous to evil
•surprise
•word play
Historical Fiction
•Setting that is integral to the story
•Authentic rendition of time, place &
people
•Believable characters with whom reader
can identify
•References to well-known people or events
•Evidence that, even across time, people
face similar problems and have similar
emotions
•In short, the story lets the reader “live” in
another time and place, at least for a while
Learning history through fiction & nonfiction
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Quest - expresses a desire to accomplish a goal
fraught with difficulty & danger, and
seemingly doomed to failure
- includes rites of passage
- may include external
manifestations of internal
struggles
- may occur amid great
turmoil
Lesson Plan (for next week)
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Year-long Plan (APS1)
American Lit
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Unit Plan (APS2-3)
Persuasion:
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Lesson Plan
Understanding Audience
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Minilesson
Writer/Audience relations
American Lit class, Black History Month:
Mon
Tues
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Study “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as
key document in 12-day unit on persuasion
First week: “Rhetoric/persuasion” lecture; study sample texts and speeches; practice
analyzing and writing persuasive text;, begin reading YA novels (civil rights era)
Second week: Watch/read/analyze “I Have a Dream” speech; discuss novels (focus: different
perspectives about civil rights movement and MLK in particular); lecture on “audience”;
analyze texts for clues to target audience or multiple audiences; practice writing for different
audiences; begin targeted analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
Third week: Monday – presentation of analytical papers
Tuesday – written test on persuasion; SSR with other YA novels
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.Writing.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
American Lit class, Black History Month:
Mon
Tues
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Study “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as
key document in 12-day unit on persuasion
In groups of 3-4, read opening paragraphs of selected persuasive pieces. (Each group has a different
text.) Identify specific words or phrases that identify the audience or that give clues about characteristics
of the audience. Write down each word or phrase, then identify or describe the audience characteristic.
Each group reads aloud their text, then lists on the board the “clue” words/phrases and the audience
descriptors.
Each group draws a slip of paper with a target audience. Only group members see the paper.
Each group collaboratively writes a letter or memo to the target audience. Goal: persuade the audience to
sanction Senior Skip Day the day of prom.
Each group reads its message aloud. Other class members rate its effectiveness for the target audience.
To let you "test drive" a tiny piece of the unit before turning it in, and to give you a little
practice using the detailed lesson plan that you will need to use during student teaching,
you will present a minilesson in class on April 10. You will complete the entire lesson
plan for a 90-minute class, but you will teach only a piece of the lesson, maybe 15
minutes in duration. The lesson will be ungraded, but I will provide feedback to help you
make adjustments as you work on the unit.
Create a unit.
Complete the detailed lesson plan for one day.
Turn in the lesson plan for feedback.
Teach a 15- to 20-minute segment of the lesson (as if we were
students in the target class).
Questions?
Conventions:
About the formal papers…
Always start with the instructions:
Topic of interest to teachers
As long as your paper relates somehow to YA
Lit, you have a great degree of latitude with the
specific content; the point is for you to learn
more about some aspect of YA Lit that is of
interest to you, and to share that knowledge with
the rest of the class. … The paper is "formal" in
the sense that it should be appropriate for
publication in a professional journal. Write your
paper "for" a specific journal, following the
publication guidelines for that journal. (Note:
Choose a publication that solicits manuscripts of
at least 800 words in length.)
“Composition” genres:
MLA
or APA format
Exposition
Description
Usually formal tone – though
Narration
some publications allow a more
Persuasion
informal, colleague-to-colleague
tone
Summary
Analysis
Informative title
Research paper
Standard
Letters intro-body-conclusion
*business
letter
Visuals
(graphs,
charts, images)
if *friendly
helpful letter
*“bad news” letter
Claims are supported with
“Essay
credible question”
evidence response
…
“Credible” evidence usually
means other scholarly sources
Genre: Journal article
Next week (really!):
Book Talk #7 (multi-cultural)
Teach a minilesson from you unit
April 24:
Book Talk #8 (humor, sports, adventure, romance)
In-class description of unit
Unit plan due (on wiki)