lesson 9.notebook
December 23, 2014 Noticing how an author tends to write What message do you think this photographer is sending?
Craft: (imgarcade.com)
Craft is anything done on purpose by a writer to make their writing look or sound a certain way. Craft is the art of writing
Authors, like photographers, do things on purpose. An author doesn't throw in a smile or repeat a phrase for no reason. The author used technique, just as the photographer does when she turns the mother's face this way or thatto convey a message. (Library of Congress)
Teaching point: when writing literary essays, you have choices. One way to write an essay is to put forward an ideas that the story suggestsa theme (which you've just completed). Another way to write a literary essay is to focus on the craft moves an author tends to use, and to write an essay where you argue that the author's craft choices have a specific purpose or pattern. What they use
Excerpt from "All Summer in a Why did Bradbury use Day": They were all nine years old, those metaphors, that and if there had been a day, seven descriptive language? years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering gold or a yellow crayon or a coin large metaphor enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, simile/imagery in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. Why they use
Answer the question using chart: • Bradbury uses metaphors and descriptive language to show character's motivation Be strategic in the scenes you review: • I am going to stick to scenes that the narrator describes the sun •
"All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was, and how hot. And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it: I think the sun is a flower,That blooms for just one hour" ("All Summer in a Day"). "It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large. And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color. And the jungle burned with sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling into the springtime" ("All Summer in a Day"). "But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron..." ("All Summer in a Day"). "...but most of all they squinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces; they put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they breathed..." ("All Summer in a Day"). "Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles. They ran for an hour and did not stop running" ("All Summer in a Day").
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Rough/initial thoughts in notebook: Bradbury uses metaphor throughout "All Summer in a Day." He describes the sun "like a lemon," and "like a flower," and when the children are playing in the sun he describes them "...like animals escaped from their caves" ("All Summer in a Day"). One effect of metaphor is to create a vivid setting in the readers's mind. When he says the sun is like a lemon, I know exactly what that looks likejust how bright and yellow it shines. Another effect is to raise the stakes by showing the sun as something so good, and maybe even a little wild. For example, when the children get into the sun they act like freed animalsthis simile really shows how the sun frees the children from their own caves of existence. This raises the takes because it show the sun as something so desirable that the children might do anything to get it.
Writing goal: 1. Finish finding examples of craft within the text and answering questions/ completing steps above 2. Write two pages in your notebook, where you write long about a few different craft moves you see the author using over and over.
Good musings starters: • "I'm not sure, but maybe..." • "Then again, perhaps it's..." • "I wonder...Could it be that...?" refer to lesson 3 student notes if you need help with author's craft
(evotivemarketing.com)
Look for standout moments •
They ran among the trees, they slipped and fell, they pushed each other, they played hide andseek and tag, but most of all they squinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces; they put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they breathed of the fresh, fresh air and listened and listened to the silence which suspended them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion ("All Summer in a Day"). This seemingly runon sentence creates a sense of urgency. Why did Bradbury do this?
Homework: 1. Keep doing the work we did today. Write two more pages of "musings."
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