Eh 200 Summer 2010 Class 6

Housekeeping:

Mini-Review: (Suggested: 5-10 Minutes)

Yesterday, we talked about a strategy for approaching literature.

It involves abstract thinking.

1)      Find a plot point in a story = a place where one thing causes another.

2)      Consider how it relates to the concept of play

3)      Express this relationship with examples that relate to one or more of our frames: class, income, setting, boredom, and so on.

Now, we can do this with stories like “The Untold Lie” and “The Gift of The Magi.”

However, we can also move the frames around and can come up with other interesting things to say.

Play, Class, Income, Setting, Boredom: How you organize these frames is up to you.

It is not the case that every combination will always work, but, generally, you should be able to find something to say by considering these terms as we have discussed them.

We also started to think about Work yesterday.  I asked you to tell me about your best and worst workplace experiences.

We will come up with a definition for work today, but I want to start off with a in-class journal entry:

In-class journal writing: (Suggested: 10 Minutes)

How is the way you work similar to or different from the way or ways in which your parents work or worked?

Group Discussion: (Suggested: 5-7 Minutes)

In your groups, I want you to share your findings and come up with a group statement that explains these similarities and differences that uses our basic class concepts:

Play, Class, Income, Setting, Boredom

Group Presentations: (Suggested: 5-10 Minutes)

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

Work: activities undertaken to maintain or advance a social position.

In-class writing: (Suggested: 10 Minutes)

In either “The Gift of The Magi or The Untold Lie, how is work represented, and how does it connect with two or more of our class concepts? Use good examples from the text to back up your claims.

Break

Now that we have talked about work for a little bit, we are going to talk about a literary concept, the concept of Tone.

In-Class Journal/New Concept: Tone: (Suggested: 10-15 minutes)

·         Part One: What does the word “tone” mean to you when it is used to describe the feelings or intent behind a conversation, event, or set of circumstances? What are some things that have “tone”?

·         Is it possible for a story to have a tone? If so, what would you say the general tone of either “The Untold Lie” or “The Gift of The Magi” would be?

You need to back this up with specific details that relate to our core concepts: class, setting, income, plot, play and work.

Groups Discuss Findings: (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

Group Presentations: (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)

Class Discussion of group findings.

·         Tone is perhaps the most abstract concept the class has tackled so far, and, at this level, it can only be reasonably addressed through examples that actually appear in the text.

Tone: An emotional quality or aspect of a literary work. The way the story or parts of the story makes you “feel.”

Okay, now let’s put our two concepts from today together:

Short in-class writing: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

What is the tone of your work?

Class Discussion: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

Précis (two pages maximum).

Here, again, is the description of the Precis:

The Précis (Pray-SEE)

There are three simple parts to a Précis.

The point of a précis is to lay out an argument for an audience who needs to know about a text without reading the entire ten-, twelve- or twenty-page document. We have to inform the audience on the argument without “dumbing it down” or oversimplifying it!

To write a précis, you will need to incorporate direct quotations from a story to express those points that are better articulated by the author than you yourself could articulate them.

You will sometimes need to use words in quotes to emphasize the author’s original tone. It is hugely important that you do not comment on or editorialize the story. Do not use “I” anywhere in this piece.

You will need to paraphrase quite a bit in this document. The point here is to report on the narrator’s comments, and to leave your own opinions at the door (there will be time enough for voicing your opinions in the future).

The three parts of the précis: Situation, Issue, Thesis

*Each section should be titled as such. This is okay in a précis.

Situation

·         The very beginning of your précis.

·         It should lay out what the audience needs to know about the author, the full title (including subtitle), and whatever publication info you have in MLA style (except for the author’s name which should be done first name first).

·         Next, you need to establish the basic context for the writing: who is writing it (what do we know about the author and or his or her position, profession etc), to whom are they addressing the piece (audience), when was it written, and whether there is any particular EVENT that has driven this response. Some stories may have this, and some may not. You can expect to take the better part of a paragraph to convey this information.

·         SITUATE the writing for an audience who WILL NOT READ THE FULL STORY. What general information do they need to know about it in order to have a clear idea of what the story is about?

Section II

Issue

·         The author may use culturally specific lingo in the argument. You need to begin your ISSUE section by defining these terms for the contemporary reader. Clarify for the ready any terms or phrases you think may cause him or her difficulty.

·         Lay out the basic questions that the author addresses or raises about the nature of play (or work) and how it relates to lower-income financial status and setting.

·         END WITH THE MAJOR QUESTION ABOUT THE NATURE OF PLAY (or work) and how it relates to lower-income financial status and setting. The major issue question is the question the author attempts to illuminate.

Section III

Thesis

·         Thesis section. This is where the THESIS appears (the statement or argument the story appears to be making about the nature of play and its relationship to lower-income financial status and setting).

·         It is also where the other, secondary claims about the nature of play (or work) and its relationship to lower-income financial status and setting and evidence for those claims (as well as the major claim) will appear.

·         This is the lion’s share of the précis.