Montana Quiz

AGENDA:

Work on Montana Quiz and Essay

Use a word document for your essay.

Continue to edit and polish your short stories for a final grade.  All stories should be at least 4 pages long, double-spaced, Times New Roman font.  

Be sure that that you have proofread and revised them before turning them in.

MISSING STUDY GUIDES????

SUBJECT/PREDICATE VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdUXxdmhIsw

Montana 1948

AGENDA:

Montana 1948  TEST ON MONDAY!

Working in small groups, go over the discussion questions in the earlier post (and on handout).  Take notes on what your group members say and post a comment to three of the questions.  Be sure to number your responses and list the names of all of your group members.

PLEASE TURN IN YOUR STUDY GUIDES 1 and 2 FOR CREDIT  IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY.  They will be returned to you tomorrow so that you can study for the test.

Continue to work on your stories.during Period 4.

Grammar Blast Subject and Predicate 9/24

AGENDA:
1. Subject Predicate Mini-lesson
2. Word Choice Mini-lesson for quiz on Thurs. (see previous post)
3. Discussion questions Montana (see previous post)
4. Work on stories Period 4

Review
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/6_8/grammar/

Subject and Predicate

Every complete sentence contains two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject is what (or whom) the sentence is about, while the predicate tells something about the subject. In the following sentences, the predicate is enclosed in braces ({}), while the subject is highlighted.

Judy {runs}.

Judy and her dog {run on the beach every morning}.

To determine the subject of a sentence, first isolate the verb and then make a question by placing "who?" or "what?" before it -- the answer is the subject.

The audience littered the theatre floor with torn wrappings and spilled popcorn.

The verb in the above sentence is "littered." Who or what littered? The audience did. "The audience" is the subject of the sentence. The predicate (which always includes the verb) goes on to relate something about the subject: what about the audience? It "littered the theatre floor with torn wrappings and spilled popcorn."

Unusual Sentences

Imperative sentences (sentences that give a command or an order) differ from conventional sentences in that their subject, which is always "you," is understood rather than expressed.

Stand on your head. ("You" is understood before "stand.")

Be careful with sentences that begin with "there" plus a form of the verb "to be." In such sentences, "there" is not the subject; it merely signals that the true subject will soon follow.

There were three stray kittens cowering under our porch steps this morning.

If you ask who? or what? before the verb ("were cowering"), the answer is "three stray kittens," the correct subject.

Simple Subject and Simple Predicate

Every subject is built around one noun or pronoun (or more) that, when stripped of all the words that modify it, is known as the simple subject. Consider the following example:

A piece of pepperoni pizza would satisfy his hunger.

The subject is built around the noun "piece," with the other words of the subject -- "a" and "of pepperoni pizza" -- modifying the noun. "Piece" is the simple subject.
Likewise, a predicate has at its centre a simple predicate, which is always the verb or verbs that link up with the subject. In the example we just considered, the simple predicate is "would satisfy" -- in other words, the verb of the sentence.
A sentence may have a compound subject -- a simple subject consisting of more than one noun or pronoun -- as in these examples:

Team pennants, rock posters and family photographs covered the boy's bedroom walls.

Her uncle and she walked slowly through the Inuit art gallery and admired the powerful sculptures exhibited there.

The second sentence above features a compound predicate, a predicate that includes more than one verb pertaining to the same subject (in this case, "walked" and "admired").

Take quiz 1 above

Word Choice

Week 1:
affect: (verb) means to influence. The flood will affect the harvest.
effect: (almost always a noun) means "result." The effect of the flood was frightening.
effect: (as a verb) means to cause. He will effect many changes in the agricultural rules.
allude: to make an indirect reference to something. President Clinton alluded to the problems of past Republican administrations when defending his record.
(Note: To refer to something means to mention it directly.)
elude: to escape or avoid detection. Newt Gingrich eluded the fashion police.
among: implies a "distribution" involving three or more persons or object that have no explicit relationship. The lottery money was divided among Oregon's five lucky winners.
between: refers to position or action of two persons or objects, and is also used if there is a "definite relation" between persons or objects. Between you and me, this building will never be completed. Negotiations have broken down between architects, builders and the owner.
anxious: afraid or worried. Sally was anxious about the championship game.
eager: excited. Sally was eager to play in the championship game.

Discussion Questions Montana 1948

Discussion Questions
1. What motivates Frank Hayden's final act? (The author has characterized it as both a selfish and a selfless act.)
2. Late in the novel, Gail Hayden changes her attitude. She no longer wants her husband to continue the course of action that earlier she encouraged him to follow. What causes her to change?
3. What does Wesley Hayden mean by his admonishment not to "blame Montana"?
4. A great deal of attention is paid to locating Bentrock (a fictional community) on the map. Why? What role does the setting play in the novel?
5. Whose story is this? Wesley's? David's? Why?
6. Who is the moral center of the story? Why?
7. How does prejudice play into the story?
8. Why is Wesley Hayden especially concerned when his son David tells him that Len McAuley might "know something"?
9. What would the outcome of the story have been had David's father publicly arrested his uncle? Would things have turned out better? Worse? Would you have done the same thing as Wesley had it been your family?
10. Was there any justice for the crimes committed by Uncle Frank?
11. Most of the novel's action takes place in 1948. Why did the author choose that year? Could the events occur today?
12. In what ways is the novel about privilege and the abuse of power?
13. What is the effect of David Hayden telling this story so many years after the fact?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

Montana 1948/WRITING

AGENDA:

TODAY IS A WRITING DAY!

Read article on Montana aloud.  Discuss.

Continue to work on study guides for Montana 1948

Continue to work on your short stories

More Grammar and "Montana" Stories

AGENDA:

Period 3  Review of Commas

Introduction to Grammar Bytes:

Interjections in the house!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2sAGY6viDA

Grammar Bytes website
http://www.chompchomp.com/menu.htm

Comma Exercise
http://www.chompchomp.com/hotpotatoes/commas01.htm

Part II Montana Study guide--Look over the study guide and work on CLOSE READING of the text.  Cite page numbers and use text-based quotes where needed.

Please hand in your Part I study guides today--late penalty will be applied after today!

Period 4
Continue to work on your prologue, flashback, epilogue stories!

Grammar Review/ Finish Montana handouts/Short Stories

AGENDA:

Review parts os speech from previous post and comma rules.

Finish and hand in Montana handouts

Work on short story:

Your Montana story is to be written in the first person POV  (I).  It should begin with a prologue in the present that may be only a paragraph or so long from the point of view of the protagonist several years after the main incident in the story (he or she is older and wiser).  Then FLASHBACK to the key incident that made him or her "grow up."  Let your story be a "coming of age" story.  At the end, write an epilogue from the point of view of the character in the present.

USE MLA HEADING, TIMES NEW ROMAN font 12 pt. only, and double space!

HMWK:  Read to page 102 (Part Two) in Montana 1948 for Wednesday.

Montana 1948

AGENDA:

CLOSE READING
Share out Notice and Note bookmarks

With a partner, work on Montana 1948 Part 1 packet

Word of the Day:  Bildungsroman

n literary criticism, a Bildungsroman (German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːn]; German: "novel of formation/education/culture"),^[1] novel of formation, novel of education,^[2] or coming-of-age story is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (coming of age),^[3] and in which, therefore, character change is extremely important.<sup>[4]

Grammar Exercise:

Eights parts of speech

Noun: a person, place, thing or idea (chicken, dancehall, ocean, belief)
Pronoun: replaces a noun (he, she, it, her, them, who, which)
Adjective: describes a noun or Pronoun (lovely, tattered, obese, violet)
Verb: an action word (ransack, stir, rejuvenate, are)
Adverb: modifies or describes an adjective, verb, or other adverb (gladly, helpfully, subtly, slowly)
Preposition: links nouns and pronouns to phrases (over, under, in, near)
Conjunction: links lists, phrases, and clauses (and, but, or, when)
Interjection: conveys emotion (wow, what, ouch, man)

Writing practice:
Write four sentences in which you use all eight parts of speech. The catch? You can't use any part of speech more than once in each sentence.
 

Period 4:  Work on your own short story</sup>

Comma Rules

Rule No. 1: In a simple series, use a comma to separate the elements, but don’t put a comma before the conjunction.	Rule No. 2: Use a comma to separate two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction.
Rule No. 3: Use a comma following an introductory clause or prepositional phrase of four words or more.	Rule No. 4: Use commas to set off modifiers that are not essential to the reader's ability to identify a particular person, place or thing.
Rule No. 5: Use commas to separate adjectives of equal rank.	Rule No. 6: Use commas to set off words that add emphasis, shift attention or provide a fuller explanation (parentheticals, "yes," "no," names in direct address).
Rule No. 7: Use commas to set off participial modifiers that come at the beginning of a sentence or after the verb.	Rule No. 8: Use a comma, carefully, to set off quotes or paraphrases.
Rule No. 9: Use a comma with hometowns, ages, years with months and days, names of states and nations with cities, affiliations and most large numbers.	Rule No. 10: Use a comma to separate duplicate words to eliminate confusion.

Rights and Responsibilities /Montana1948 part 1

Rights and Responsibility Assembly


Study Guide, Part I
Montana, 1948, prologue (and chapter one, pages 11-54) 

CLOSE READING:
Guiding Questions
1. Before you even begin reading, the novel story announces in its title the importance of its setting. What expectations are established with this title? What do you know about Montana, about 1948, about Montana in 1948? What do you know about novels and stories set in the West?

2. In the prologue, the narrator, David Hayden, explains a few things: how old he was when the story took place, how old he is now, and what has happened since. List this information, and then speculate: why, perhaps, is he telling the story now? What expectations does this establish for the story to come?

3. Also in the prologue, David offers a list of images. What do these images suggest? And what do you make of his insistence, on the following page, that these images, and others like them, be viewed simultaneously, not chronologically?

4. Lastly, David describes himself at the bottom of page 12 as "a witness." What does this word mean? List all its possible meanings.

5. On page 15, David introduces the setting promised in the title. What are the important facts, figures and details of this description? What kind of place is Mercer County?

6. On page 16, he describes that time in his life as "a new, blessedly peaceful era." How so? And how is this related to David's own age? (Why is 12 more peaceful than, say 10, or 15?)

7. On the same subject, what do we already know about Mercer County that tells us to be suspicious of this idyllic description?

8. The following pages are devoted to a description of David's father, in particular his job. In what ways does he defeat our expectations of the typical Western lawman?

9. Along the same lines, a great deal of time is devoted to a description his gun and holster. How does this encapsulate his failure to conform to our image--and David's image-- of a "typical" Western sheriff? How does Dave seem to feel about this?

10. The badge, too, gets some attention, and here David comments on something he later learned about it (page 19). What is the significance of his new, adult understanding of the reason his father never wore a badge?

11. On pages 19-21, we learn that the Hayden family is something of a dynasty in law enforcement. Later, on page 21, David describes his father as a man "who tried to turn two ways at once." Describe this conflict, including in your answer some thoughts on David's reference, in the same paragraph, to his "grandfather's domain."

12. A patriarch is a father figure, one who heads a family. A patriarchy is a society that is ruled by men. If the world of Mercer County is a patriarchy, what values are its principle values? What is the LAW?

13. On page 22, David lays out a second conflict. What is it?

14. Why is it significant that David and his family live "in the middle of town"? (page 23) What does this positioning suggest?

15. Comment intelligently on David's other life--his country life--at his grandfather's ranch. Is he, like his father, a man pulled two ways?

16. What do you make of the story of the toothless Indian woman on page 25? What does it show about Bentrock, and the general attitude of whites toward Indians? And how does this foreshadow the accusations later made against David's uncle?

17. On the following pages, 25 to 29, David descibes Marie Little Soldier and his feelings for her. Comment on two details: the incident, mentioned on 29, in which he accidentally sees her naked (what else in the story does David see that is naked?); and his remark on page 25 that "her body could be ready, at a moment's notice, for sex or work."

18. Why do you think David mentions his own encounter with chicken pox on page 28? Hint: he's speaking of a childhood disease, suffered as an adult. 

Montana 1948

AGENDA:

Take the grammar quiz from the previous post.

Sign out Montana 1948

Read the Prologue and discuss.

Write Montana 1948 exercise.

If time permits, let's create a padlet (formerly known as wallwisher)

http://padlet.com/wall/el9oud00zm 

isearch for images and information on the web:

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1948.html

http://www.brainyhistory.com/years/1948.html

Welcome Back Creative Writing majors!

Welcome to SOTA's  Creative Writing Lab and the Creative Writing program...

1. Review Course Criteria/Writing Lab procedures and assign lockers

2. Introductions--About the Author--Using Word on the Mac--How to log in, go to blog, save as favorites,

Write a short biographical paragraph about yourself in the 3rd person (he or she)for the publication of your new book. Describe yourself to let your reading public know more about who you are, what you have accomplished, what interests you, and what your life is like.

Share bios.  Post in comments on blog.

3. Visit Grammar and Style Websites--Using the internet

Stephen Fry on Language:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY&feature=youtube_gdata

Grammar Girl
www.grammar.quickanddirtytips.com

Grammar Bytes


The Blue Book
www.grammarbook.com

Take the pretest and post your results:
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar_quiz/grammar_pretest.asp