Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Wednesday, January 30

My classroom wasn't available today, and so my classes have met in different rooms throughout the building. Unfortunately, I only found out about this a few minutes before school started, so I barely had time to grab my computer, our copies of Lord of the Flies, and head to my first room assignment.

Today we talked about beginnings, and the way writers craft the start of their stories to set up a reader's expectations for what the rest of the story will be like. I used examples from Moby-Dick, Huck Finn, Pride and Prejudice, 1984, and The Graveyard Book.

As they read chapter 1, the students asked some good questions: "what does it mean by 'the scar'?" was one that came up in a couple of classes. So we talked briefly about the context (one boy was standing on the scar, so obviously it wasn't a scar on his face or something) and then by using what they already knew about the story (they're standing on the ground, so the scar is on the ground) the students were able to put together that the scar was the part of the island that was gouged up by the plane crash.

4 comments:

Philip said...

My favorite two opening lines: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity..."

I liked one of these two books. Can you guess which one? (Without looking...)

Clix said...

Well, it's a 50-50 shot, but IIRC you enjoy Dickens in general? Plus, guillotines are kind of freakishly cool. ;)

Philip said...

Nice try, but I didn't like A Tale of Two Cities. It's one of my least favorite classics.

The other one is Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. It's my favorite opening line of any book. ...Ever. ...That I've read.

My favorite title, you ask? (Or wanted to) Things Fall Apart. (But I haven't read it.)

Clix said...

But ... but... the revolution! Yeah, I definitely wouldn't've guessed you'd like Rebecca more than ToTC. Why do you like that opening line so much? It never really stood out to me.

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