Presentation of movie trailers for The First Part Last

AGENDA:

1. Present iMovie trailers of First Part Last and discuss

2. Writing prompt--Natalie Goldberg's  "Test 1"--Using Sensory Details

Finish and Present iMovie trailers of First Part Last

AGENDA:

Period 3:
Finish your iMovie project today. If you have finished, go over the following discussion questions with your partner. Does your iMovie address the plot, character, and structure of the book?  Does it make a reader want to read the book?  What information do you need to provide to interest a potential reader?
Proofread your text for spelling and grammar errors!

1. Plot in The First Part Last: What is the central conflict in the novel?  Explain.
2. Story structure in The First Part Last: How does the author structure the novel?  What is the effect of this structure?  Explain.
3. Character in The First Part Last: What internal conflicts does Bobby face in the novel?  What external conflicts does he face?  Explain the source of each.
   
4. Plot in The First Part Last: What happened to Nia during the delivery of Feather?  How is this foreshadowed throughout the chapters in the book?  Explain.
5. Plot in The First Part Last: What important decision does Bobby make at the end of the book?  Why?  Do you think this was the best decision?  Explain.

Period 4:
iMovie presentations

First Part Last

AGENDA:

Warmup: Accept/Except  quiz
http://homepage.smc.edu/quizzes/cheney_joyce/AcceptExcept.html

Linking verbs:
http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/grammar/linking_verbs/quiz522.html


1. Work on the questions from the last class and post your answers on this blog post for credit

2. Continue to work on your iMovie trailer for First Part Last with your partner

First Part Last trailer/Discussion Questions/Character Conflict sheets

Agenda:

1. THINK, PAIR, SHARE:
Please discuss with a partner and answer the following questions in a blog post.

Parts III & IV
1. Read pages 58 - 61 and pages 70 - 75 together.
2. What happened?
   Why did Bobby get arrested?
3. What was the consequence of Bobby taking the day off? (page 95)
4. What decision had Bobby & Nia mad about the baby? (page 106) Why?
5. What happens for the first time on page 115?
6. Where is Nia?
7. What happened to her?
8. What did Bobby decide to do? (page 118) Why? (page 125)
9. Why is the baby's name Feather? (page 124)
10. Where do Bobby and Feather end up?
11. What do you think will happen? Happily ever after?
12. What did you think about this book?

2. Begin working on your iMovie trailer for the book.  Use the tutorial to help you get started if you are unfamilar with iMovie.

3. From the last class: Turn in your Character Conflict sheets

First Part Last/Linking Verbs

AGENDA:  Keep the blog open but minimized and follow the activities for the day.

1. Word Choice List #2


accept: to receive. Gail Devers accepted the gold medal.
except: to exclude. Every swimmer received an Olympic medal except for Janet Evans.
aid: assistance. Students often ask their parents for aid.
aide: an assistant. A congressional aide said the senator was unavailable for comment.
because of: shows cause and effect. Because of a tuition increase, students were angry.
due to: use only with a linking verb. The riot at Johnson Hall was due to a tuition increase.
because: gives reason or cause for something. The bridge was closed because the river flooded.
since: denotes a period of time. The bridge has been closed since the river flooded.
compose: made up of other things, to create or put together (e.g., parts, ingredients). The car is composed of many mechanical and electrical systems.
comprise: takes in, includes or embraces other things, contains. The United States comprises 50 states.
Note: The whole comprises the parts -- the whole is never comprised of the parts.

2. The Linking Verb

Recognize a linking verb when you see one.

Linking verbs do not express action. Instead, they connect the subject of the verb to additional information about the subject. Look at the examples below:

Keila is a shopaholic.

Ising isn't something that Keila can do. Is connects the subject, Keila, to additional information about her, that she will soon have a huge credit card bill to pay.

During the afternoon, my cats are content to nap on the couch.

Areing isn't something that cats can do. Are is connecting the subject, cats, to something said about them, that they enjoy sleeping on the furniture.

After drinking the old milk, Vladimir turned green.

Turned connects the subject, Vladimir, to something said about him, that he needed an antacid.

A ten-item quiz seems impossibly long after a night of no studying.

Seems connects the subject, a ten-item quiz, with something said about it, that its difficulty depends on preparation, not length.

Irene always feels sleepy after pigging out on pizza from Antonio's.

Feels connects the subject, Irene, to her state of being, sleepiness.

The following verbs are true linking verbs: any form of the verb be [am, is, are, was, were, has been, are being, might have been, etc.], become, and seem. These true linking verbs are always linking verbs.
Then you have a list of verbs with multiple personalities: appear, feel, grow, look, prove, remain, smell, sound, taste, and turn. Sometimes these verbs are linking verbs; sometimes they are action verbs.
How do you tell when they are action verbs and when they are linking verbs?
If you can substitute am, is, or are and the sentence still sounds logical, you have a linking verb on your hands.
If, after the substitution, the sentence makes no sense, you are dealing with an action verb instead. Here are some examples:

Sylvia tasted the spicy squid eyeball stew.

Sylvia is the stew? I don't think so! Tasted, therefore, is an action verb in this sentence, something Sylvia is doing.
The squid eyeball stew tasted good. The stew is good? You bet. Make your own!

I smell the delicious aroma of a mushroom and papaya pizza baking in the oven.

I am the aroma? No way! Smell, in this sentence, is an action verb, something I am doing.

The mushroom and papaya pizza smells heavenly.

The pizza is heavenly? Definitely! Try a slice!

When my dog Oreo felt the wet grass beneath her paws, she bolted up the stairs and curled up on the couch.

Oreo is the wet grass? Of course not! Here, then, felt is an action verb, something Oreo is doing.

My dog Oreo feels depressed after seven straight days of rain.

Oreo is depressed? Without a doubt! Oreo hates the wet.

This substitution will not work for appear. With appear, you have to analyze the function of the verb.

Swooping out of the clear blue sky, the blue jay appeared on the branch.

Appear is something a blue jay can do—especially when food is near.

The blue jay appeared happy to see the bird feeder.

Here, appeared is connecting the subject, the blue jay, to its state of mind, happiness.

 3. Questions from First Part Last (Discuss and work with handout to record your responses)
 CLOSE READING:
 How does Bobby feel about Feather? Would this be different if Nia were awake? (pg 81)
Examine the text for examples of  INTERNAL CONFLICT.  Are there EXTERNAL CONFLICTS Bobby faces? Use the handout to record TEXT EVIDENCE and page numbers of places where Bobby expresses his conflicts.

You may need these sections to design your iMovie trailer for the book. You can work with a partner on this project!  Be sure you begin to note key sections of the book.  Start thinking about images and music you will want to use.  NEXT CLASS we will go over how to make a movie trailer and story boarding!  In the meantime, watch these videos.

Here are examples of trailers other students have posted on youtube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSdVSz0jMaE&feature=player_embedded 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blKHHy8Bbng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPDwpV6VMNc  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btYhBAo8Zzg 

4. Book of Lists--Start this in your journal

And if you have time, make a list of 100 (this can be a whole class book project for us down the line).

For example, start a list of things to write a list about or things you love. 

Visit Keri Smith's website!  Se her list 0f 100 ideas

http://www.kerismith.com/popular-posts/100-ideas/

Friday Agenda 10/4

 AGENDA:

HMWK for Tuesday   Read to Part IV in First Part Last
1. Today begin to practice keeping the blog always open but minimized on your desktop so that you can check your progress throughout the lesson.   We will begin by practicing affect/effect by taking the practice quizzes in an earlier post.
Go to these web sites and spend 5-10 minutes trying to get a perfect score:
Quick quizzes:

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar_quiz/effect_vs_affect_1.asp

http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/grammar/among_between/quiz3174.html 

2. Whole class reading: Read the interview with Angela Johnson. As we read aloud,  highlight or mark any sections that you find interesting or important.  Knowing why an author writes and why they believe writing is important gives you an insight into the writing process--and how to develop your own voice.  This handout with your notes will be useful for the final book test.

3. THINK, PAIR, SHARE:
When you have completed 1 and 2, discuss with a partner the following questions and post a comment to Questions 1-4 as indicated.

THE FIRST PART LAST
by Angela Johnson
  Discussion Questions

Parts I & II
1. Who are the main characters?
2. Who is the Narrator?
3. What is this book about?
4. When and Where does this story take place?
5. What do you think about the author's use of language?
   Is the language realistic for Bobby?
6. Discuss the writing style of this book (non-linear): Now/Then.
   Do you like it?
   Does it make it harder to read?
   Why do you think the author decided to write it this way?
7. How does Bobby feel about his baby?
8. How does Bobby feel about Nia?
9. Where do you think Nia is? Why isn't she taking care of her baby?
10. Talk about parents' and friends' reactions to news of the pregnancy?
11. Do you think Bobby is a good kid?
12. What do you think about this book so far?

POST A COMMENT TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. How did Bobby’s parents respond to the news of Nia’s pregnancy (pg. 12)? How did Nia’s parents respond to this (pg. 20)? How would your parents respond to this same announcement?
2. Look at how Bobby’s friends react (pg. 37-40). How would your friends react?
3. What does Bobby mean by saying, “I walk to my room…look around my room and miss me” (pg. 35)?


4. If you have not completed your story, work on your story for the remainder of the period.  Try to finish it.  ON TUESDAY, we will be doing a WRITER'S WORKSHOP in small groups.

5. FOR EXTRA CREDIT:  If you have completed the lesson and your story, try to write a poem based on "I Used to ..."  Go to the website to write one online.  This is like the "now and then"
approach of First Part Last


http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/iusedto.htm

Write an Instant "I Used To..." Poem
Method:	Line   1 I used to Line   2 But now I Line   3 I always Line   4 But I never Line   5  I once Line   6 But now I Line   7 If I could Line   8  I would Line   9  I never Line 10 But I might Line 11 I can't Line 12 But I can Line 13 I won't Line 14 But I might Line 15 I used to Line 16 But now I
Sample:	I used to think that summers stretched slow and lazy for a year But now I know better I always thought "school one year, summer one year" But I never counted off the days on my fingers I once felt hours stretch long and easy But now I hear a panicky tick-tock If I could step into a time machine I would go back and reset the clock I never gave it a thought before But I might seriously consider it now I can't turn life into a sci-fi movie But I can gobble up every day 'til I'm filled up happy I won't ever be 16 again But I might be a teenager at heart I used to think that summers stretched slow and lazy for a year But now I know better

Interview w/ Angela Johnson

http://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=28&a=1

Further Information

• 
• Angela Johnson page on TeachingBooks.net
• Angela Johnson's TeachingBooks.net Meet-the-Author Program
• Angela Johnson's comprehensive bibliography
• Printable version of this in-depth written interview (PDF)

Angela Johnson

In-depth Written Interview

Insights Beyond the Slideshows

Angela Johnson interviewed while in Madison, Wisconsin on October 6, 2005.

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TEACHINGBOOKS: You've won the Coretta Scott King Author Award three times — for Toning the Sweep, Heaven and The First Part Last. Your book, Heaven was written before The First Part Last but is a sort of prequel to it. How did you come to write The First Part Last after having already written Heaven?
ANGELA JOHNSON: The wonderful thing about The First Part Last is I didn't want to write the book at all. As far as I'm concerned, I don't do prequels; I don't do sequels.
Then, I went to New York and visited some after-school programs for a week. I was on the subway and there was this beautiful kid. He looked about 15 or 16, and he was with a baby. It was 11:00 in the morning, and I was thinking, "Why is this kid not in school? Is this his daughter; is this his sister? What's the deal?"
The train stopped, and he got ready to get off the train, I actually wanted to follow this kid down the street and question him. Something came over me. I went back to the hotel and wrote three chapters of what became The First Part Last. I felt provoked, and I didn't want it to happen. Sometimes it just comes over you and there is the story or the character. The First Part Last was the easiest book I've ever written. Bobby was just there. Everything was there.
TEACHINGBOOKS: The First Part Last, like many of your books, carries some heavy messages, though your writing never comes off as preachy.
ANGELA JOHNSON: Preaching to teens about teenage pregnancy is like preaching to a lamp. These are human beings, and they do what they want.
The First Part Last is definitely a cautionary tale, but it's not preachy. Bobby loves his baby, but what has he lost? He's lost the love of his life at 16. He's lost many of his freedoms. His friends still love him, but he's lost part of that relationship. He's lost being a child, because he is now the daddy. I always figure, show what's real — you don't have to preach. I love Bobby's responsibility. He has almost a romantic belief that, "I've lost Nia, so I'm going to raise this baby." It's noble. But then reality sets in, and some of it is not pretty.
The majority of parents have said they like The First Part Last. But, I have had parents say, "I'm not letting my kid read this book because it'll give them ideas." I said, "Ideas about going into a coma? Ideas about having this baby who's weighed you down and you've lost your childhood?" I mean, which idea? Obviously these people haven't read the book.
TEACHINGBOOKS: Will you write about any other characters from Heaven?
ANGELA JOHNSON: Yes. One more book — it's called Sweet. It's about Shoogy. Shoogy is still unknowable to me. I'm writing about her, and yet I still don't really know her. She is an enigma.
TEACHINGBOOKS: You also write and have written many picture books. Where did your idea for A Sweet Smell of Roses emerge from?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I based the two little girls in A Sweet Smell of Roses on two real little girls who had marvelous spirit and participated in civil rights marches. In the documentary called Eyes on the Prize, two women were interviewed who were around seven and eight during the civil rights movement. They shared their experiences about how they would go off to marches without their parents. The wonderful thing is, the adults around them took care of them as if they were their own children.
Something really interesting happened in the creation of A Sweet Smell of Roses. In creating picture books, there's usually little or no collaboration between author and artist. The illustrator, Eric Velasquez, was selected by my editor; I never did share anything to him about why I wrote the book. Would you believe, Eric included artwork from the Eyes on the Prizedocumentary, and he wrote a foreword for the book about the documentary's filmmaker. It's just this bizarre kismet.
TEACHINGBOOKS: Several of your books don't have happy endings. How do you respond when people point this out?
ANGELA JOHNSON: At the end of some of my books, everything is not always happiness and light. Life is not always this big, jolly party. It is just life, and it just goes on. But I always like to leave the end as a beginning. It's not necessarily happy, and it's not necessarily sad. It is just life. I'm a happy person, but I'm a realist and I write contemporary realism.
TEACHINGBOOKS: You also like to include humor in your books.
ANGELA JOHNSON: I believe there should be more fun books with African-American children in them. We're inundated with family stories and folk tales and the happy family. I understand that; I write those books, too. But there has to be a place for humor.
I love humor in any way, shape or form. Where Have You Gone, Vivian Dartow is going to be my funny book. Writing this book, I relived high school all over again — I thought I had it down, and in reality, I was just the biggest nerd.
TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you do when you're stuck?
ANGELA JOHNSON: When I have trouble writing, I do everything but write. I like to travel when I'm blocked, and I usually come out of writing blocks after I travel.
As it turns out, my books are usually geographically motivated. I wrote A Cool Moonlightwhen I was in Aruba. I was on a beach with lots of sunlight writing a book about a child who can't go out in the daylight. I had just come back from Cape Cod when I wrote Looking for Red. The First Part Last came from New York, and Toning the Sweep came from when I was in the desert with my brother. Bird is the one book that was written when I was loving being at home.
There's always going to be something in life that will ignite you. I always believe that. It's going to be a newspaper article. It's going to be something you heard at the supermarket. It's going to be something you felt when you were going for a walk.
TEACHINGBOOKS: What other influences make their way into your writing?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I have two nieces and a nephew. When they were much younger, their presence in my life had an interesting effect on my writing. I took care of them a lot, and it gave me a sense of the world of children. It was wonderful. As they get older, I see myself writing books for older children.
It has always been important in my books that the adults can be even a little emotionally neglectful or just living their lives, but in the end there is a safety net with them. In a wonderfully healthy adolescence and teen world, your parents are there — they're supportive, they're loving, they're not too obnoxious — and you go on about your life. When you're home, you're secure and they're there and they leave you alone and then you go out again. I had a huge safety net in my parents as a teenager.
Every book has pieces from my life. For instance, all my nieces and nephews are biracial. I have gay friends who have children. I had a friend whose child ran away. I take looks around me. Another example is that a female friend of mine died, and one of her children kept thinking she saw her, as a ghost out in the garden. There are so many things that I've incorporated in my books. Obviously, these are subjects that I care about and are important.
TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you like to talk with students about?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I always ask if any of them journal. I find journaling is a touchstone. When kids do that, they are secure in their writing. There are kids who, as far as they're concerned, writing stops when they leave the school. But, there are kids who are putting down any feelings they have; they're raging on paper. I say not everyone is going to be a writer, but everyone can write. No one ever has to see what they've written.
I tell them "We're not all going to be published, but your emotions — all of you have such strong emotions! Start journaling and become comfortable with what you feel. Write it down and remember. If nothing else, when you're 40 you can laugh about it like I do when I look back at mine."
TEACHINGBOOKS: What sorts of things happen when young people write-?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I'm amazed by teen poets — the poetry slams are just amazing. I am in love with the idea of teenagers getting up there and just going for it. The kids who are participating in poetry slams are the ones with something deep about them, and in recent years, now have this incredible outlet.
When I was in school, if there were some guys who were poets, I didn't know it. Now you're seeing these young men who are. I love that they're being handed the power to do something positive.
TEACHINGBOOKS: Have you ever run up against censorship of your books?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I have been asked not to come on author visits. I don't know that I have been banned.
One private religious school asked me not to come because in Toning the Sweep I talk about lynching — not graphically, of course, but I do talk about lynching. Even though I was going to speak to their elementary-aged children, who were too young to have read the book, they said, "We just need to know that you will not mention that book." I said, "No, I'm sorry, I can't do that." So they asked me not to come.
Last year in Michigan, I was speaking to a library reading club, and a couple days before I came, the aide associated with the club decided to call the parents and tell them that in The First Part Last, which was one of the books that the kids were reading, I had "language." She made calls to the library board, she called the parents, and she got nothing. Everyone felt the book was age-appropriate — what kids don't speak like this?
The reasons for banning books are just ludicrous to me. It's interesting to me that the last thing that is banned is always violence. Sexuality, language and content are banned. Violence is not. You can blow up a few buildings, and you can have people dragged down the street. People will stick guns in their children's hands and send them out in the woods to shoot animals, but they don't want to hear about sex. It's so ridiculous.
TEACHINGBOOKS: Please describe your writing process.
ANGELA JOHNSON: I like to write longhand on legal pads. I just stick my legal pad in my backpack and go down to the park. Nowadays, everybody's in the coffeehouses on their laptops. That really freaks me out. I just started with a computer a couple years ago, but I think I'll always have the legal pads with me as well.
I lost the first half of Toning the Sweep on a word processor with no hard drive in it. It was before I understood about hard copies. I lived in a neighborhood next to an elementary school that always used to blow the electricity. At least twice a day the electricity on the whole street would go out. And there I was, page 47, I remember it vividly, had not printed anything. Everything was saved on a disk. I didn't push the little "s." The electricity went out, and it was all gone.
TEACHINGBOOKS: How did you come to write in such a wide variety of formats (picture books, poetry, novels)?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I lucked out in the beginning of my career with my editor, Richard Jackson. He never told me that I had to make choices. He never said, "You write picture books." There was never a time when he said, "You can't write poetry or short stories." I have a collection of short stories. I wrote board books. Anything I wrote, he said, "Okay."
Then, I started meeting other writers and saw that there are people who just write novels. I know I sound naïve, but I was surprised that they just write novels or they just write picture books or they just write poetry. I thought it was a given to write whatever I felt like, and I thought everyone did it. There are no parameters for me, which is wonderful. The only thing I won't touch is adult literature. But as far as kids' stuff is concerned, preschool to teen and all forms in between are great.
TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you believe is the importance of writing books with African-American protagonists?
ANGELA JOHNSON: I can equate it to the first time I was in school and I picked up a book by Ezra Jack Keats. I opened a book and there were children who looked like me. I cannot tell you the world that opened up. When I was a child, Ezra Jack Keats' books were the only ones with African American children in them.
What he was doing was looking out his window and these were the children he was seeing. It doesn't matter that he was white. There was a little girl in a tiny library in Ohio — me — who opened up this book and saw someone who had my skin color.
In all my books, though the stories are universal, the protagonist will likely be an African-American child, because I remember that feeling of being in a sea of books where no one looked like me. My textbooks did not have any African American children. Finally in the '70s I started to see books with African-American child protagonists, including the book Cornbread, Earl and Me.
Even though I want this to be a universal experience, I love the idea that there is an African-American child saying, "This belongs to me. Someone has recognized that kids who look like me are important and valid."
I've gone to schools that were mostly white, and I've had children ask me, "Why do you just write books with black children?" I say, "I'm African American, and I'm writing through my eyes." And then I say, "When you go into your library, how many books do you pick up that have kids who look just like you?" And they always say, "Yeah, there are a lot of them, aren't there?" Then I say, "Don't you think you need a few more like these, too?" And they say, "Yeah, okay."
TEACHINGBOOKS: Despite an emphasis on African-American characters, the themes and emotional journeys in your books strike a universal chord.
ANGELA JOHNSON: I believe we're all connected. One of the big problems in this country is people don't always feel that they are connected. We're all on this road together, bumping into each other, and we're all so connected. We have been thrown in this place. There has to come a time where we say, "It doesn't really matter if he's black or if he's Asian or if he's white. This is a universal story."
In the end what I want is for anyone to be able to pick up one of these books and it doesn't matter: the color of the children, where they live. All of these stories are everyone's story. If anyone can pick my book up and say, "Yes, this is just a wonderful story; I've felt this; I knew someone who felt this," then I've done what I was supposed to do. What else is there? It's great. It's better than ice cream.

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