Theme Video Viewed in Class

Mood Paragraph Example

Planning Template

Topic Sentence

In the story “No Matter What” the author created an uncomfortable and suspenseful mood at the beginning of the story.

Point 1

Joan Lowery Nixon describes the weather as “…hot and sticky and the wind is filled with dust…” (p.71)

Point 2

Danny enters the house and runs to the washroom and throws up; “I heard the bathroom door slam and the sickening sounds of violent retching.” (p.70)

Point 3

Bart Ridgeway comes to the door and acts suspiciously; “If you are with the sheriff’s department, why aren’t you wearing a uniform?” (p.74)

Concluding Sentence

Joan Lowery Nixon successfully draws the reader into the story through by using character’s actions as well as the weather to create an uncomfortable and suspicious mood.

Sample Paragraph

In the story “No Matter What” the author created an uncomfortable and suspenseful mood at the beginning of the story. One of the ways in which an author can create the mood of a story is by describing the weather; for example, a sunny day would create a happy mood. Joan Lowery Nixon describes the weather as “…hot and sticky and the wind is filled with dust…” (p.71). Experiencing this weather would be uncomfortable; by writing about this, the author can create a less comfortable feeling in the reader. As well, Danny enters the house and runs to the washroom and throws up; “I heard the bathroom door slam and the sickening sounds of violent retching.” (p.70) Upon reading this, the reader feels that something very strange is happening and wants to find out; this adds to a suspenseful mood. As the story continues, the reader meets Bart Ridgeway and he acts in a very suspicious way; “If you are with the sheriff’s department, why aren’t you wearing a uniform?” (p.74) In addition, he doesn’t allow Megan any time to view his police badge. The reader is left to think that something untoward is happening. Joan Lowery Nixon successfully draws the reader into the story through by using character’s actions as well as the weather to create an uncomfortable and suspicious mood.

All Summer in a Day

Here is the link to the online copy of the story we read in class. You are expected to write one well formatted paragraph that describes the mood of this story, You are required to use specific details from the story to help support your ideas.

http://www.btboces.org/Downloads/6_All%20Summer%20in%20a%20Day%20by%20Ray%20Bradbury.pdf

PLEASE HAND IN YOUR COMPLETED PARAGRAPH PLANNING TEMPLATE ALONG WITH YOUR TYPED PARAGRAPH.

This assignment is due on Monday January 18th.

Evaluating Presentation Strategies Task

At this point in the term you have viewed a variety of presentations from your peers and some examples online. You have also had the opportunity to prepare and present a poem in front of the class based on success criteria.

For this task, you are going to critique and evaluate the presentation strategies of two individuals who are presenting their poetry. You should consider the success criteria we developed in class as a way to critique the poetry readings. You may also write any personal critique (positive or negative) that you feel is important to share.

Please follow these steps:

1. Review the success criteria below:

• Pace of reading the poem helps the poetry reading be more effective
• Intonation helps bring poem to life
• Uses good expression
• Eye contact with the audience
• Standing straight, confident, no slouching
• Use appropriate gestures
• Voice is clear and easy to understand
• Volume is loud enough for everyone to hear
• Practice is evident

2. View the two videos below: 

3. Using the proper paragraph structure we learned in class, write a response explaining which of the poetry readings you preferred. This response will need to be several paragraphs in length. You are expected to use specific details from the poetry reading to support you choice. You will also need to relate your response to the success criteria reviewed in step 1.

4. Type up your response using proper formatting:

a. Use only one font
b. Do not exceed 12 point font
c. Single space your text
d. Separate paragraphs with a double-space
e. Indent paragraphs with a single "tab"

5. Hand in this task on Thursday January 14th 2016