EF7 11 Class 21- Reading strategies, "Dead Man's Path"

 

Good morning, everyone.

 

Quotation of the Day:

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. Malcolm X

 

Today’s agenda:

·      Distribute Animal Farm novels

 

Online  http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100011h.html

 

·      Begin “Dead Man’s Path”

·      Continue “ ”

·      Prepare for Test#3 – paragraph Monday

EXTRA- IF TIME

·      Phrasal verb exercises

·      Verb tense exercises from last week.

·      HW   Read AF Ch 1 for Tuesday. Make notes for the Thought

Questions

 

Monday

·      Test#4 about “I Confess” and/or “Dead Man’s Path”

·      Begin Animal Farm module

 

Tuesday

·      Begin Animal Farm

 

 

 

portmanteau

brunch- breakfast + lunch

smog – smoke + fog

motel – motor + hotel

Burquitlam- Burnaby + Coquitlam

bromance- brother + romance

 

Bowen Island

 

trekking- hard hiking

walking- gentle hiking

 

 

 

Animal Farm

Do one chapter every approximately two days.

Feel free to read ahead.

My advice: Don’t fall behind in your reading. It’s hard to catch up.

 

Thought Questions- your benefit

handholds to help with compehension

If you have an understanding of the quetions, than you probably have an understanding of what’s happening in the novel.

MY EXPECTATION OF YOU: I want to see notes written about each of the thought questions on the day we do that chapter.

e.g. Start with Chapter 1 on Tuesday

 

 

Talk about reading.

One of the big benefits of reading for you is the struggle, is the hard work.

It’s like going to the gym and exercising.

There are chapter summaries online that you read. That’s ok. A summary boils the chapters down to the simplest explanation.

Let’s take on this challenge for ourselves.

 

 

Reading Strategies

 

EF7/11/12 – high level class

-expectations that students will read texts and prepare for class

-check your notes from your reading- comments, key points, quotable words   Evidence that you are prepared for class

I will check for notes every day.

 

Some people find reading for school to be challenging. They may not read much in their personal life. It seems like video is replacing books for information delivery and entertainment.

Video is a pale comparison to a book.

Personally, I strive to be a daily reader.

 

In high school and expecially post-secondary, you will have to read large amounts of content daily. In college and university you will be reading and processing large amounts, dozens and dozens of pages a day.

 

MY TECHNIQUE

 

For school, I read a book or a text at least twice. (3-4 times ideally)

 

FIRST READING – “armchair reading”

- relaxing in a comfortable chair, cup of tea

                               - quiet place, earplugs, helps with concentration

                               - Turn off the phone! – hurts your concentration

                               - minimize the distractions

 

*** multitasking is a lie-       You cannot do two activities that require brainpower at once. i.e. listening to music and studying at the same time

 

First reading – read for basics of the text:

FICTION-setting, characters, conflict, plot,

NON-FICTION- the main ideas, the argument

The first reading is a relaxed reading.

 

SECOND READING- “desk reading”

- school or work desk

- with a pencil or laptop

-making notes

- make notes as you read, make notes on what you read.

- something interesting or noteworthy? make a note with page #

                               - seems important? make a note with page #

                               -confused, difficult? definitely make a note with p#

 

Prepared for class. Good feeling.

 

- jot down key words and ideas as you read them

-find quotable words and phrases

“second-class citizens”p?

big part of academic is quoting from texts

 

You should make notes because you will forget if you don’t. If you don’t refresh the new information, it will be gone in three days.

 

Keep your notes in a safe place. You can go back and refer to your notes many years later. The notes will jog your memory of what the content of the book was. You can use text notes or mind maps. Mind maps are visual representation of information.

 

Notetaking is a very powerful tool. It will really help you get through courses and school feeling organized and prepared.

 

Our class blog is just a collection of notes from the daily class.

 

My school reading routine is first reading and second reading. Then I feel like I am ready for class. It takes time, but you get faster and better at it with practice.

 

ADVICE:

First reading- armchair and tea.

Second reading- desk and pencil.

 

 

***

Meeting unknown vocab when reading.

STRATEGY#1 Infer meaning though context. Make a good guess.

If you can’t guess and it doesn’t seem like a super-important word, just move on.

STRATEGY#2 Underline or write the word down to check for later.

STRATEGY#3 NOT A GOOD STRATEGY Look up the word in a dictionary.

 

 

 

 

·      “Dead Man’s Path” module

·      Chinua Achebe- African writer, Nigeria

 

·      Big question:

Does a teacher from away have to respect the culture of the local students, even if the teacher isn’t part of that culture?

 

Bigger question

Does a person in a position of authority who comes from a different culture have to show respect for the local culture?

 

-story about Mr. Obi, a headmaster, principal of a school

BIGGER, DEEPER LEVEL- metaphor for colonialism, one country colonizing another- taking over, not respecting the existing culture

 

the village- a metaphor for any colonixed place

Mr. Obi- represents colonizers

 

Canadian context- First Nations Peoples

 

English 12- very popular novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

 

 

Read aloud.

 

unprogressive (negative-sounding)

conservative, traditional (positive-sounding)

 

“young” “energetic”- positive words to descrive Micheal Obi (ironic)

 

Mission –  church, Christian church establishment

missionary – someone who shares information about their religion, often travel to other countries

proselytize(v) – teach about religion

 

 

“wonderful ideas”

 

 

sound-strong(adj)

 

pivot- change direction

 

“narrow views” – limited, judgemental vocab

Nancy’s fantasy about her role and position p1

“Nancy was downcast.”

 

physical description on Micheal – not impressive

“he was not unhandsome”

 

IDIOM “A penny for you thoughts.” say to someone who is lost in thought

 

backward – undeveloped, not modern- negative meaning

 

comparison between beautiful garden and “rank” ugly local plants

 

“you people” insulting way to address somebody

 

big row- big fight, big problem

 

 

Chinua Achebe is an amazing writer, in full control of word choice.

 

pagan – religion, but not monotheistic

 

monotheistic- mono-1   the-god  belief in one god

polytheistic – poly-many

 

barbed wire- used in farms for animals, and prisons

 

priest – slight stoop, like Micheal Obi

Micheal Obi – young and misguided

priest – old and wise

 

cordialities- greetings, welcomings

 

Obi “highway” “thoroughfare” exaggerating for effect- hyperbole

 

Priest “Look here, my son.” establishing his authority as an elder

-         explains how the life of the village is based on the path

 

satisfied smile- smug face

 

Obi “eradicate” kill completely, destroy

“fantastic” like a fantasy

“teach your children to laugh at such ideas”

 

priest “let the hawk perch and let the eagle perch.”

birds of prey- hunting birds

 

You can see hundreds of eagles in Brackendale which is close of Squamish.

 

Priest is asking for tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence.

Obi is unwilling to allow that.

 

Obi was inflexible. He paid a big price.

The villagers tried to negotiate, meet in the middle, make a deal, give and take, compromise, etc.

 

IDIOM When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

 

 

Thought Questions- small group discussion

 

Today and tomorrow-

Prepare to use quoted text.

Go through the story and find good words and phrases that can be used for quoting.

 

 

Notes:

 

·      Michael Obi

-motivated by ex

 

-doesn’t seem to care much about the villager’s traditions, beliefs

“eradicate just such beliefs”

-young, energetic, enthusiastic, capable, outspoken, motivated, confident, yet unrealistic and inexperienced.

-also selfish, glib, close-minded, arrogant, lacks communication skills, lacks diplomacy, inflexible.

“My way or the highway.”

 

-“Dead men do not require footpaths.”

- thinks that his “modern methods” are better than the old ways

-expects his students to adopt these ways, even though their religion and village life reflect a different way of life.

-He is cause of his own problems

-believes in “many wonderful ideas,” but has not had a lot of experience with people to guide him

-Obi has “modern” ideas; the villagers have old-fashioned traditional ideas

 

·      Nancy

-young and modern

-is a bit innocent because she thinks her husband, as a headmaster, knows best how to do things

-is a bit of a follower, of fashion and of what’s in magazines.

“imitating the woman's magazine she read.”

- vain, unrealistic, uncritical

“become completely infected” by Obi’s new ideas

“queen of the school”

 

-the school is the “ruins of his work.”

Enthusiasm is evidently the most important factor in many successes. But, “misguided zeal” can make things much worse.

 

“The whole idea is just fantastic” – fantasy, illusion(n), illusory(a)– not true, imagination

 

·      Taps into the idea of Colonialism

Colony –

 

·      Talk about Canada’s history of not respecting First Nations cultures

-Residential schools

 

Taking “the Indian out of the Indian”