The K.O.: Writing your conclusion (Your introduction's twin)

Finding Your Thesis, Writing Your Introduction

You thesis should include the following ideas:

• Title and Author of the Book
• Is Holden Caulfield a normal teenager? OR Does Holden Caulfield have a psychological disorder? Which one?
• What are some of the characteristics or symptoms that support your opinion?
• In general, why is your diagnosis harmful to Holden Caulfield’s life?
  OR
  In general, why does Holden Caulfield need to be considered a normal teenager?
  

Once you have all this information, put the ideas into sentences roughly in that order. Don't forget to start your introduction paragraph with a hook!

Kids & Clay

Step 1: Learning about Psychological Disorders

The first step in writing our Diagnosis Essay is to learn about some possible psychological disorders. We will focus on three of them: Depression, Anxiety, & Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. You will read an informational packet on each of them and will text code in the following way:

• __________ = important information
• * =something that sounds like Holden
• ? = something you don't understand
• ! = something that surprises you

After you have read and text coded your packed, you will go back and take notes on the most important information. Get green notes sheets from Heather.

Psychological Diagnosis Essay

We have studied Holden Caulfield’s character throughout our reading of The Catcher in the Rye. Now is your chance to make a statement about his character & psychological health in an essay. We will ask ourselves: Does Holden have a problem? Or is he simply a normal teenager?
You will need to compare Holden’s behavior and character to our earlier definition of a teenager and the psychological disorders presented. Which description seems most like Holden to you?

You must hand in the following elements as a complete project by Friday, June 12, 2009. That is the deadline. The due date. The last day of the semester. You may not hand the project in later.
 Annotated readings about psychological disorders.
 Doctors notes for Holden’s symptoms and evidence.
 An outline of three paragraphs correlating symptoms and evidence (3 paragraphs).
 A first draft of the diagnosis essay.
 Thesis Development sheet.
 Final draft of the diagnosis essay.

Writing Excellent Map Blurbs

For each blurb you write on your map (4 total), you should write a first draft in the format of this outline.

Character – Setting Blurb Outlines
Sentence 1: Name and locate the place
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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Sentence 2: What does/would Holden do at that place
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Sentences 3 & 4: What this place tells us about Holden’s character
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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Titles

If you could give Catcher in the Rye another title, what would it be? Why?
Reading chapters 23-24.
Go back to page 173, what does the title mean? What is the Catcher in the Rye?

Vocab
innocuous (adj)
They said his cough was innocuous and that it wouldn't harm us with an illness.

Phoebe

Describe a sibling or a friend that you confide in?
What does he/she do that allows you to trust them?

Read chapters 21 & 22.

Vocab
confide (v)
Whenever I have problems with school or friends, I know I can confide in my sister. She always listens and doesn't tell anyone else my problems.

New York City Setting-Characater Project

To show your understanding of how setting shows Holden's character in Catcher in the Rye, you will make a map of Holden's places. You need a NYC MTA subway map. Make sure you get the project checklist & description from Heather.

The project is worth 100 points and is due by Monday, May 18, 2009. No late projects will be accepted!

Vocab:

The Setting of New York City

Today we begin to consider how the setting of New York City shows Holden's character. We created a three column chart with the following headings to organize some ideas around setting and character. Read chapter 14.

Places Holden goes/would go
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Quotes about the places
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

What setting says about Holden's character
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Vocab: environs (n)
My environs of New York City keep me energized. There are always people out and about, cabs are rushing everywhere, and there's always a party.

Independent Reading

Independent Reading Response: What question would you ask the protagonist of your book? Why? What do you think their answer would be?

Finishing your Catcher in the Rye summaries, chapters 1 - 14.

Vocab: reciprocal (adj)
My friends and I have reciprocal relationships. If they do something for me, I do something for them.

Reviewing Holden

Wait. What were we doing? Since we haven't had school for the past 10 days, let's spend some time reviewing. In teams of 4, collect the following information about Catcher in the Rye through chapter 14 on posters. You will present them to the class Tuesday.

Topics for Presentation (Each person on the team specializes in ONE topic.)

• Characterization of Holden: What kind of person is Holden?
  
• Side Character: Name 5 other characters and explain why they are important to Holden.
• 3 Conflicts & Resolutions: What are three conflicts Holden has had? How does he resolve them?
  
• 10 Important Event: List 10 important events from chapters 1 - 14.

Vocab
rile (v)
My sister used to rile me up by tickling me until I became hyper and crazy.

Problems

What IS Holden's PROBLEM?
Today we read chapter 14 and identified two problems that Holden shows us in this chapter. The problem could be emotional, psychologoical, physical, or relational. Describe the problem and solution to the problem in the following chart.

A problem Holden has is . . . Another problem Holden has is . . .



The solution is . . . The solution is . . .


This is on page . . . This is on page . . .


Vocab: irate (adj.)
When my mother gets irate, she yells at me and her face turns read and her veins pop out.

One More Woman

Today we read chapter 12 and added Sunny to our Women chart.

Vocab: nonchalant (adj.)

Power of Emotion

With our independent reading today we will consider the meaning of a quote and describe how it relates to the books we are presently reading.

All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature. - Duff Brenna

1. Explain the quote in your own words.
2. Read your book.
3. Describe the ways your book shows the ideas in the quote.
   

VOCAB QUIZ ON MONDAY, March 30th!

Just Vocab

See yesterday's post for our classwork.

Vocab: inane (adj.)

Sometimes I think going to school is inane and pointless, but really I know it means I will be able to have a good life later on.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Today we started reading chapters 9 & 10. We want get to know the other women in Holden's life. As we understand them, we will be inferring more about Holden's character. We made (yet again!) a three column chart to collect quotes and record our inferences. The three columns should be labeled as such:

1. Woman in Holden's Life
2. Quote about Her
3. What she tells us about Holden's character

Journal entry also included a warm up about someone you were infatuated with.
o What was the person like?
o Why were you infatuated with him/her?
o What did you do about it?
o What did he/she do about it?
o What was the result?


Vocab: infatuation (n)
In 6th grade, I was consumed by my infatuation for John Taylor of Duran Duran. In my spare time, I could think of nothing else because he was so cute and the best bass player ever.

NEXT VOCAB QUIZ on Monday, March 30th! Starting with mutinous.

The Lie

Today we read chapter 7 in which Holden decides to travel back to NYC early. He meets a woman on the train and fabricates a huge lie. Again we used this opportunity to get to know Holden's character better. What motivates him to lie? We recorded his lie versus the truth, then speculated why he told that particular lie. Our notes took form of a three column chart: Details of Holden's Lie, The Authentic Truth, Why did Holden lie about this?

Vocab: authentic (adj.)
The statues at the Wax Museum looked so authentic! But we all knew they weren’t real because they didn’t move or talk.

Making Movies out of Books

For independent reading response today, we wrote our picks for casting the characters in our books for a movie. What actors would you want to play the characters in your book? Why?

Dear Jane . . .

Today we experimented with using Holden's voice. We looked at the notes we collected: what words he uses, what sentences he uses, what tone he uses. Then we used Holden's voice to express the following three expressions.

1. School sucks, man.
2. That guy is mad annoying.
3. I wish I could see Jane again.

After this practice, we began writing out letters to Jane. Here's my suggestion for writing the letters.


March 16, 2009
Dear Jane,
Use the first paragraph to remind Jane how you as Holden know her and what you used to do.
Remember when . . . .
OR
The last time we saw each other . . .

Use the second paragraph to tell Jane how you feel about her NOW.

Sincerely,
Holden

Vocab Today: mutinous (adj.)
The prisoners on the pirate ship were fed up with Captain Hook's cruel punishments. They beceam e mutinous and threw him overboard.

VOCAB QUIZ TOMORROW! Including boisterous, sadistic, unscrupulous, idiosyncracy, monotonous

Visit to the Museum of Natural History

We visited the Museum of Natural History as Holden does in Catcher in the Rye and took notes on the museum as a setting. We looked for imagery and described what we saw, smelled, heard, and felt. Here are some pics of our adventures!

Holden's Feelings about Jane Gallagher

Independent Reading

Today we read our independent reading books while focusing on the voice of a particular character in the book.

For your reader response entry, describe a character's voice according to the definition we developed in class.

Characteristics of Holden's Voice

Using our great definition of literary voice from yesterday, we took notes on the details that make Holden's voice so Holden. We read chapter 6 looking specifically for details of Holden's voice. On our notes sheet, we collected the words that Holden typically uses and the kinds of sentences he typically uses (structure and specific examples). Get the notes sheet from Heather!

Today's Vocab
Idiosyncracy (n.)
You couldn’t tell the twins apart except for their particular idiosyncrasies. Fred never wore matching socks and Calvin always had a koosh ball that he played with constantly.

Literary Voice

We listened to four distinct pop culture voices today: Homer Simpson, Darth Vader, Jessica Rabbit, & Bunsen Honeydew. After listening to them we wrote down the characteristics that made their voices unique.

From those characteristics, we generalized a definition for voice. We came up with this impressive definition! Make sure you have this in your notes.

VOICE is . . .

• pitch (high/medium/low)
• speed (fast/slow)
• accent
• volume (loud/soft)
• tone/mood/attitude
• word choice/phrases
• sentences (long/short; simple/complex)

Voice is one way that writers use characterization in literature. (Make sure you have the characterization notes from the poster in the room. Too complicated to put here!)

Today's Vocab:
scrupulous (adj.)
The nuns at my Catholic school were scrupulous, because they always did the right and moral thing. They also made sure we acted scrupulously and morally too!

Snow Day!

If you think your English teacher just sits around reading books all day, think again. Here's a taste of what she does on official snow days! Hope you had a restful snow day and are ready to get back to work! Hey, do I hear vocab quiz, anyone?



TEN extra points on your Teenager Poster Project for all those who can name exactly what I was doing on Monday. Send me an email with your answer at hmnords@gmail.com.

Introducing . . . Stradlater!

In chapter 4, we meet Holden's roommate at Pency, Stradlater. We want to use Salinger's characterization of Stradlater to understand Holden's character better. (Tricky I know!) Using the same method we did for Holden in chapter 2, we took notes on Stradlater and made inferences about both Stradlater and Holden. Create a three column T chart and insert the following topics.

Quotes from Chapter 4
1.

2.

3.

This shows that Stradlater . . .
1.

2.

3.


This shows that Holden . . .
1.

2.

3.

This assignment is due on Thursday, March 5. There will be a quiz on that day.

Introducing . . . Ackley!

In chapter 3, we meet Holden's neighbor in the dorms, Ackley. We want to use Salinger's characterization of Ackley to understand Holden's character better. (Tricky I know!) Using the same method we did for Holden in chapter 2, we took notes on Ackley and made inferences about both Ackley and Holden. Create a three column T chart and insert the following topics.

Quotes from Chapter 3
1.

2.

3.

This shows that Ackley . . .
1.

2.

3.


This shows that Holden . . .
1.

2.

3.

This is due on Monday, March 3. There will be a quiz!

Vocab: conceited (adj.)
Janet is so conceited when she won't accept any criticism. She always thinks she does everything right and knows everything.

Holden's Attitude and Personality

For Chapter Two of Catcher in the Rye we want to gather quotes that show Holden's attitude and personality. We will collect them in a T-chart with two columns in our notebooks. The left column will contain quotes copied from the text. The right column will contain inferences about what we imagine is true for Holden based only on that particular quote.

*Intermediate step: Circle key words that show attitude and personality. Then in the right column find synonyms for those words.

Here's an example.

Quote (left column)
“I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy” (p. 1).

This shows me that Holden . . . (right column)
is not completely sane, may even be crazy ("madman stuff"). He is tired and may be running away from something ("run-down"). He also needs to relax and chill out ("take it easy").

Block D wins the Rock Star Quote Notetaking Award of the day. Congrats!

Homework: Finish reading Chapter 2. Find at least 2 more quotes (for a total of 4) that show Holden's attitude and personality. Maker sure you make some inferences about him in the second column!

Vocab: adapt (v)
I always have a hard time adapting to school after a vacation. I can't ever get up early and I always forget my backpack.

REMINDER: Vocab quiz on Monday, March 2nd!

Introducing . . . Holden Caufield!

Today we met Holden Caufield in Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. While reading the first chapter we recorded our first impressions of Holden in the following chart.

I know . . .
1.
2.
3.

I imagine . . .
1.
2.
3.


Record as many observations as you can.

Block E won the Most Prolific Notetakers Award for this activity! They had 10 in each column! Congrats!

Creating Teen Character Art

Defining Adolescence (or Teenagers)

In our notebooks we wrote 5 sentences to help us define a teenager. Copy the following sentences and fill in the blanks.

1. A teenager is between the ages ________ and ________.
2. A teenager can be described as ____________, ___________, and ___________.
3. One thing that distinguishes teenagers from kids is _________________________.
4. Something that teenagers do/have/are that is different from adults is ______________.
5. One reason teenagers are like this is ______________________________.

Vocab: ambivalent (adj.)
Callie fell head over heels in love with Troy even though she knew he was bad for her. She struggled with her ambivalent feelings for weeks before she decided to stop seeing him.

What Makes a Teenager?

Visual teenager characterization posters are due today! Please see earlier post from February 9.

Have a great vacation everyone!

Character Advice

Independent Reading today. Keep track of your stamina. How many pages did you read in about 20 minutes?

Reading Response Notebook Entry:
What advice would you give the protagonist (main character) in your book? Why?

What Makes a Teenager?

This semester is all about teenagers! Teenagers in literature and film. So to start our brains thinking about the image of the teenager, we created visual characterizations of typical teenagers. Due on Friday, February 13, 2009.

Here's what to do.

Grab a Characterizing a Teenager planning sheet from Heather. In it you will brainstorm the following characteristics of teenagers (in general, not necessarily specifically for you!):

1. SPEECH: What do teenagers say? How do they talk? What kind of dialogue do they have?
2. THOUGHTS: What do teenagers think about? What do they know or feel that they don’t tell others?
3. EMOTIONS: What do teenagers feel? What kind of emotions are typically teenager?
4. APPEARANCE: What do teenagers wear? What styles? What colors? What fabrics?
   
5. STUFF: What accessories are important to teenagers? Why?
6. ACTIVITIES: What do teenagers do? How do they spend their time?
7. SETTING: Where do teenagers – especially in NYC – go? What places are specifically teenager places? You may want to think about what places adults never go.

After you have A LOT of ideas, translate them into a visual (aka picture) characterization of a teenager. Make sure you include as many of the characteristics on your planning sheet as possible.

Here's are some examples:

The Finished Tiles!

Choosing Interview Questions

Vocab: clandestine (adj)
If you plan on sneaking cookies from the cookie jar so your mom doesn't find out, you must be clandestine about it.

Interesting & Fruitful Questions

Vocab: ameliorate (v)
When my nephew cut himself on the swing set, I gave him a Lightning McQueen bandage to ameliorate his wound.

Vocab: perfunctory (adj.)
Brushing my teeth has become a perfunctory activity. I don't even think about it anymore, because it seems so routine.

Vocab: meddle (v)
It's annoying when people meddle in my affairs. If I wanted them to know, I would tell them.

Notes on Self

In preparation to be interviewed for a written profile, you will take notes on some basic information about yourself and your personality. See Heather for the Notes Sheet.

Vocab: introspection (n)

Vocab: reprieve (n)
My vacation gave me a reprieve from New York City's craziness, so I came back feeling rested.