Monday-Tuesday, 24-25 January

We finished our study of Into the Wild. We worked on developing thesis statements, and identifying texts to support these thesis statements. Essays addressing one of the essential questions from the Into the Wild unit are due on Friday.

The final exam will be to work in class on the essay, incorporating passages from Into the Wild and two other texts.

Tuesday, 18 January, 2011

Students turned in their Literary Postcards.

We discussed themes and identified essential questions that seemed most significant to the class based on the postcards. We looked at: Success; Rebelion; and Community.

Students are to read Chapter eight and nine for Wednesday.

Monday-Tuesday, 10-11 January

We studied Emerson's "Nature" an famous essay in American literary and intelectual history. We practiced paraphrasing topic sentences as a way to get familiar with the essay overall.

Homework Tuesday night: write a comparison and contrast of how Emerson's ideas about nature as religion are similar to and different from you own ideas.

Friday, 7 January

In class we reviewed Essential Question Journal entries for the epigrams.

We wrote about and discussed the questions: "To what extent is nature "good"? To what extent is humankind "good"? On what observations and experiences do you base your conclusions.

We considered with what we know about Chris McCandless from the first four chapters how he would answer these questions.

We learned a little biographical information about Ralph Waldo Emerson, a very important American writer about nature who McCandless admired.

Wednesday, 5 January

We studied the epigrams that begin each chapter of Into the Wild.

Then students wrote a "essential question" journal entry for the epigrams beginning at least two of the first three chapters.

Homework:
Read chapters 3 and chapter 4.

Tuesday, 4 January

Today we finished studying the "Author's Note" for Into the Wild. We practiced identifying context clues to help with unfamiliar vocabulary, and we used "google" to look up words, and see pictures of unfamiliar terrain.

We read "Chapter 1" of Into the Wild. Reading "Chapter 2" is homework for Wednesday.

Students got an handout of vocabulary words (with definitions) for the entire book.

Monday, 3 January

In class today we studied the "Author's Note" for Into the Wild. We practiced paraphrase, and asking questions about passages that confuse us.

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