Wednesday, February 22 & Feb. 23,, 2012

Hi guys,
This is a long blog and one you must read and read carefully to successfully get through this class. I am sick (obviously) but must move forward if I want you guys to stay on track so we have no other option. PLEASE SEE THE BOTTOM FOR INFORMATION ON THURSDAY!
Your sub is going to give you a sheet entitled “List of Previously Used Thematic Topics for the Part A English 30-1 Exam”. You are to read these over and highlight the topic words in each one. As you do this, look for topic words with the same or similar meaning. One way I do this is to type in the topic words and do a synonym check to see if other topic words appear. You could also grab a thesaurus from the wall with the dictionaries and do the same thing that way. It MUST be done. What you will discover is that Albert Learning isn't all that creative, meaning that you CAN help yourself get a handle on the exam if you look back over previously used themes.
Now, you are to create summaries for all of the stories we have read (“The Rocking-Horse Winner”, “The Painted Door”, “Outside Edges”). Attempt to do so in such a way that you have a fairly comprehensive overview with details including things like irony, point of view, main characters, climax, etc.
Now, take your list of thematic topics and come up with one to match one of the stories we read (in other words, this is a thematic topic that you think you could easily write on if you were forced to do it on a particular story). You cannot use June, 2009!
Now, locate a different thematic topic to match up with a different story... then another different thematic topic to match up with a different story (so you will have a different thematic topic for each story to work on)
Now, you are going to have to create a thesis for each of these using the stories. If you had me last year, you know the process. I could simply ask you to pair up and struggle through as this is a skill you already are supposed to possess... but I will try to put enough notes here to help (this is where it gets difficult... I HATE not being in class!)

How to create a thesis from a thematic topic
Be sure you understand what the topic word means! (I put them in my own words)
Make a chart with a character column, a column for the topic word (or two charts if there are two words), and an outcome column (I will use June 2009's topic here so you can't)

So... I will have a column of characters for "The Rocking-Horse Winner" (Hester, Bassett, father, sister(s) (Joan and one without a name), Uncle Oscar, Paul).
I will then have a parallel column where I will have "idealism" (I would change this to "what they want their worlds to look like") and another column with "truth" (I would change this to "what the reality is")
I would then have a column on "outcomes"
Now, I would look at each character (okay... maybe I'd end up with Paul, his mother, Hester, and the Uncle)
I would examine what the truth of their lives are (Paul is not loved; luck is open to interpretation - how lucky are you if you die trying to prove it?)
I would then look at what they want their worlds to look like (Paul wants his mother to love him; wants to be lucky)
I would then look at the outcome "Did Paul succeed in reaching his ideals? (some would argue that he did prove he was lucky... I don't think so... after all, he died. Same with his mother loving him. His obsession to prove this ended in dismal failure)
After doing this with all the characters, I can see that I have more negative outcomes from attempting to arrive at an ideal. From here, I can come up with a thesis.
What I do is take the command statement and flip it using the word "sometimes"
ie: "Sometimes, ideals become so significant that reality is forgotten, leading to dismal failure."
I would then drop the "Sometimes".
Now, this thesis, as it stands, really only works for the mother and for Paul. If I had to write this paper using this theme, I would also create a paragraph on the effects the pursuit of the ideal (money) also has on the house (it screams for more).
Therefore, I have a five paragraph essay.
PLEASE be kind to me... I am doing this up at 7 am. I expect you guys, rested and not sick, can do the same. Again, use each other for the discussion as most of you were introduced to this last year. Also, if you are truly stuck, call me (826-8931).
Now, based on conversations with the class, I am extending this activity into Thursday. On Thursday, you will also need to explain the personalities (in writing) of the three main characters looking for similarities. I want everything handed in today (NO EXTENSIONS). From what I gather, there was a fair amount of off-task behaviour yesterday. You don't want to waste class time, guys.