…is here.

At long last.

Please note that this pdf includes all six sheets, plus two that we don’t use (Illustrator and Travel Tracer-Something). In order to print, you’re going to need to select the right page range.

Lit Circle Role Sheets

…is here.

Remember: commentaries are now worth 50 points.

Options are here.

Choose ONE story. Print, read (more than once), annotate, and prepare TWO role sheets for your Lit Circle on Monday.

Some people are experiencing technical difficulties related to commenting on each other’s blogs. If this is happening to you, don’t worry about it. You don’t need to e-mail me to be excused from the assignment. I’ll get a debrief from everyone tomorrow and figure out how to make this work. If it is working for you, hooray!

Technology is the best!

Now that everyone has a book or a print-out (my apologies to the lorax), we can do this thing.

You should have read up to and including Chapter 10 on Friday, but some of you may have been playing catch-up. Everyone needs to finish Part One (Chapter 14) and be ready for a Fishbowl Discussion on Wednesday.

If you missed the study questions, they’re here.

If you missed the Spontaneous Prose assignment (Piece #2 due Friday), it’s here.

As you read these last chapters of Part One, you may notice that Kerouac/Sal Paradise refers to a place called “Mill City” a lot. Sound familiar?

It should.

When I told you guys you’re living in the epicenter of this movement, I wasn’t kidding. They may have all met in New York as students, but San Francisco is where they became writers.

“Put down the pen someone else gave you. No one ever drafted a life worth living on borrowed ink. Get to San Francisco. Get to San Francisco in defiance of your geography, your ancestry and the lonely change rattling sad excuses in your pocket. Fuel up on pie and diner coffee and mystic visions and the freedom of not knowing what’s coming next except that you’re burning the road to outrun it.” -Jack Kerouac

You have three things to do this weekend (well, four if you haven’t done your Culture Clash project yet).

1. Work on your Culture Clash project. Presentations are on Tuesday and Thursday.

2. Write and post Commentary #7. As always, it can be about anything you want…as long as “anything you want” is related to Things Fall Apart. Maybe you’re still working through your confusion about the novel. Tell us about it. Maybe you had an awesome epiphany during discussions this week. Please share. Maybe you got some brilliant insight from the Culture Clash presentations today. Don’t be an insight hoarder.

Speaking of being an insight hoarder, I’ve been one for most of the semester. People you know, people you see everyday, people who look just like you–people who might even be you, are writing some amazing things. I’d like to share some of my favorites from Commentary #6. Notice the care, the craft, the effort. It’s not all pretty. Some of these writers are really struggling with this book, but they’re working through their struggles and sharing them with the rest of us. When they hit a wall, they don’t stop and give up. They climb. And it’s sometimes sweaty and messy and not super cute, but it’s honest. Some of you may call these commentaries “just really long.” I call them thorough…and awesome.

Click on the writer’s name to go to his/her page.

I love the way Alexa asks thoughtful questions, and then goes further by trying to answer them.

Kenny is honest about not being able to relate to the book (something we’ve all felt–and probably continue to feel), and I can appreciate that because he takes the time to fully explain his thoughts. I don’t think anyone needs to “like” this book, but they do need to think about it.

Gabe, Ryder, and China have incredible voices. When I read their commentaries, I am intrigued and inspired, but more than that, I feel like I’m reading the words of real (and hilarious) human beings. Your commentaries aren’t process papers for a reason. Feel free to take a risk.

James, Kyle, and Jake are such sophisticated writers. We can all learn from them–myself included.

Kaleigh has an incredible ability to reflect on her own confusion and growth, and to share that reflection in a way that is compelling and sincere.

I love the brave and bold text-to-world connections Olivia H. makes. So far beyond the book.

Have you read Lily and Marley’s words yet? You should. And then you should print them out so when you’re older, you can prove to people that you knew them before they were best-selling authors.

3. Comment on someone else’s commentary. Click through some of the blogs on the right, and when you feel the urge to respond, do so. Most posts have a “Comment,” “Leave a Comment,” or “Leave a Reply” button. Please note that for some blogs you need to click on the “Number of Comments” or “No Comments” link to leave one. When you’re finished, use the handout you received on Friday to write down the name of the blog and why you commented on it.

4. Tell the story of your name. Talk to your parents, grandparents, older siblings, whoever, and ask how/why you got the name you did. Record what they say in the second part of the handout.

BRING YOUR COMPLETED HANDOUT TO CLASS WITH YOU ON TUESDAY.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Rubric and feedback form here.

Links to Igbo culture here.

My Storytelling presentation is below. If I were to grade myself using the Presentation Rubric, it would go something like this:

Minimim Criteria – 4 (that one’s pretty easy to understand)

Insight & Connections – 3/3+ (While I think I showed a high level of critical thinking skills and made the connections between cultures significant, I think I could have done a better job of making them clear and understandable. I also think I spent too much time discussing American culture, and not enough time discussing Igbo culture.)

Use of PowerPoint – 2+ (My presentation was extremely image-heavy, and while images are great visual aids, there should have been a better balance between images and text–that probably would have helped to make my connections more clear.)

Presentation Skills – 4- (I always need to slow down).

Overall Score: 3+ (B+)

Points/100: 89/100

Culture Clash Storytelling.(PowerPoint)

Complete text pdf below.

On the Road COMPLETE TEXT

Please read Chapters 1-4 by Monday.

Rubric below.

Modernism Essay Rubric