Theseus, Finally / Critical Lens Part 1

Apologies for missing the last couple days' posts. My cup runneth over onto the table and all over the floor....

College Prep 12

• Yesterday I emphasized the importance of putting real effort into essay rewrites. If I keep making the same corrections, then we are spinning our wheels and not improving.
• Read from the book The Best College Admission Essays a sample essay and advice about mechanics.
• Today: read The Legend of Theseus and discussed the questions at the end of "The King Must Die."
• Tomorrow we will view a video of the story Orpheus and Eurydice.

Grade 10

• Yesterday we constructed the outline for "The Bass, the River and Sheila Mont:"
• 
  "The Bass, the River and Sheila Mant" by W.D. Wetherell
  The "Big Four"
  Characters: Sheila, W.D., the fish
  Theme: know what you really want, set your priorities correctly, be realistic about your chances, don’t let fleeting desires control you
  Plot: W.D. wants to go out with Sheila, she says yes, he puts his fishing stuff in the canoe and drops in the line, picks her up, hooks a huge bass, he is torn between the fish and Sheila who thinks fishing is dumb, chooses Sheila who doesn’t even care about him and gets left for another guy
  Setting: Vermont, on a river, summer, in the country
  Plot Breakdown:
  Motivation: W.D.’s attraction to Sheila
  Conflict: Fish or girl?
  Complication: he hooks a fish, she doesn’t care about him
  Suspense: keeping Sheila from finding out about the fish, what will he choose
  Climax: he cuts the line
  Denouement: she dumps him, he’ll never make the same mistake again
  Analytical Elements:
  POV: first person
  Other literary elements: imagery, characterization, irony, setting, conflict
• Today we studied the introductory paragraph for the critical lens essay. Students copied the following model:
• 
  According to Duff Brenna, "All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature." In other words, literature shows us the power of feelings. Feelings, not thoughts, inspire characters in books to act. The Silver Kiss, by Annette Curtis Klause and Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare illustrate the truth of this theme.
• Then they copied the following quote:
  "In literature, evil often triumphs, but never conquers." (Anonymous)
• We discussed how to praphrase the quote. Specifically, identify the most improtant words and generate a list of synonyms. Choose the best ones. So this quote can be reworded to: In litereature, evil can win much of the time, but in the end does not succeed.
• A full introductory paragraph was generated from this.
• No homework.