Last week you studied how to properly use quotation marks, and we reviewed all of the A-List Academic Vocabulary. We also did a very in-depth review of The Metamorphosis and the characters. This week, you get the opportunity to put all that together with the writing skills we have worked on this year.

Today you will begin writing the first of several essay’s concerning the texts we have read in our unit study of Magical Realism. The essay prompt is:

What role does each character play in Gregor’s metamorphosis and how does it affect the family?

You will need to select specific words, quotations, and scenes throughout the text that reveal the conflicting motivations of the characters. In your essay, you will explain how these scenes support inferences drawn about the familial relationships and reactions to the metamorphosis. How do these develop a theme of The Metamorphosis?

Today you will select those specific words, quotations, and scenes throughout the text that reveal the conflicting motivations of the characters. This should take you about 15 minutes.

The second step will take a little longer, you will have 25 minutes to take the prompt question and turn it into the thesis statement you plan to use in writing your essay.

Everyone must have a thesis statement fully written and approved prior to the end of class today.

Tomorrow you will write a full, timed essay in response to today’s prompt. It is not cheating to plan what you will be writing in class tomorrow.

Remember the following important parts of any essay:

Introduction

• Hook
• Title and Author
• Thesis Statement

Body Paragraphs

• A topic sentence for each paragraph that supports your theses
• Support for topic sentence that is properly cited
• Transitions to and from next paragraph

Conclusion

• Restatement or Wrap Up of the thesis
• So What statement

MLA Requirements

• Proper 4 line heading
• Proper in-text citations
• Works Cited page

Essays may be hand written on paper or typed as a Google doc and printed off by the end of class as we will be doing a class activity with the printed copies of the essay’s the following day.

 

Today was the last full class workday for completing The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

Students were reminded to have their Week 6 – Quotation Marks WSQ turned in by tomorrow. Students were also reminded that no late work will be accepted for this grading period after tomorrow. 

Students were informed that next week (which is the last week of the grading period) will be a Week of Writing about The Metamorphosis. Each day’s task will be used in the next day’s lesson, so it is important to be here every day and complete each day’s task.

While today was the second of three work days for Section III of The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, we also made the final selections of the books each group will be reading in their new groups.  The program will be a combination of Literary Circles and Independent Reading, both of which we have done in the past.

Each group will read the same book instead of each individual reading a different book. The group will read at their own pace as long as they are using their in class reading time appropriately. Appropriately for this group reading will be either reading or discussing the book. Once a book is finished the group will schedule with Mrs. Scales to do a group book talk for the class and a recommendation poster will be made. After a group has completed their book talk and poster, they will select another book and repeat the process. Dependent upon the length and complexity of the selected books, regular English class groups will be expected to complete 1 – 3 book talks by the end of the school year. Dependent upon the length and complexity of the selected books, Honors English class groups will be expected to complete 2 – 4 book talks by the end of the school year. Extra credit may be earned for book talks exceeding the expected number of book talks, with advance approval from Mrs. Scales. Each member of the group earns the same number of book talk points.

Book Talk Packets have been loaded into the Resources area of Canvas with all instructions.