Dr. Louis' Blog

Getting to know your students is paramount in your year being a successful one. That's one of the reasons why the Diagnostic Essay is important that first week. Pretty soon, you'll discover who your kids "really" are, and some or many of them might be longing for "the call for adventure." For those of you teaching literature where loss is involved, you might consider discussing "The Orphan" with your students and tell them at different stages of our lives, we all experience this archetype.

excerpt from "Crossing Thresholds: The Hero Archetype

and an Introduction to the Individuation Process in Homer's Odyssey."

By Deborah E. Louis

The disappearance of a parent, whether through death, divorce, war, or self-seeking adventure, leaves a child with what Joseph Campbell describes as an "unsuspected world, and the [child] is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood" (51).Activated by abandonment, betrayal, victimization, neglect, or disillusionment, this state of woundedness, according to Carol Pearson, launches the child into a form of the Orphan archetype (83). But one or both parents do not need to be missing in order for someone to experience the Orphan archetype. According to Pearson,

[w]henever we feel wounded by an injustice in our lives or an injustice in our society, whenever we realize that this life is not always fair, friends talk behind our backs, people of authority cannot satisfactorily answer our questions, and truths are contingent at best, the Orphan archetype comes to  the forefront. Whenever we lose our idealism, our Innocence, even for a moment, and feel a sense of hopelessness, we are facing our Orphan. (89)

Concerning its place in hero archetypes, the Orphan is a critical stage of a person’s growth and development. Woundedness, too, is an integral part of our human condition and, more importantly, how we deal with that woundedness. According to Pearson,

[t]he gift of the Orphan is to help us acknowledge our wounding and to open enough to share (in places that are safe) our fears, our vulnerabilities, and our wounds. Doing so helps us bond with others out of a grounded, honest, vulnerable place. This provides the bonding that  allows intimacy to happen and also to open the heart so we may learn to be compassionate with ourselves and one another. (92)

While the feelings associated with the Orphan archetype are full of pain and alienation, conversely, according to Pearson, “[t]he gift of the Orphan archetype is [ultimately] a freedom from dependence, a form of interdependent self-reliance. We no longer rely on external authority figures, but rather learn to help ourselves and one another” (85). Therefore, at some point in our crisis of abandonment is the beginning of the hero’s journey, the “call to adventure.”

Works Cited

Campbell, Joseph.The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Bollingen, 1968.Louis, Deborah E. "Crossing Thresholds: The Hero Archetype and an Introduction to the Individuation Process in Homer's Odyssey."Approaches to Teaching Archetypal and Mythocultural Literature in a Technological World. Dissertation. April 2013.Pearson, Carol S.Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991.

Dear Dr. D'

I want to teach the writing program, a literary work, grammar, vocabulary. I don't know where to start or how to get it all in. I wanted to begin with Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; but I'm now thinking I should start with a short story. What should I do?

Alison

Dear Alison,

Slow and Steady Wins the Race! Easy for me to say, right? The fact of the matter is that I spent many years wishing in February that I had slowed down in September. So, let's talk about how to get it all in without losing your mind. Your kids need you, so we have to keep the teacher healthy and happy. Here is my recommendation if you want to jump into literature at the beginning of the school year: START WITH YOUR CENTERPIECE: THE NOVEL OR THE DRAMA OR THE CHAPTER BOOK and have everything revolve around it!

Step One: Make a list of the novels and/or dramas that you plan to teach this year (For those of you who teach only excerpts, I want you and your administrators to reconsider this decision. A novel or drama is a journey that the teacher and his/her students take together. Everyone benefits from the rich vocabulary and rigor of completing a long work; the indepth discussions that find themselves continuing at home; the laughter and tears of getting to know the characters and each other in the classroom; and the rigor and rewards of completing a full novel or drama.)

Step Two: Determine in which order you are going to teach the works during the year.

Step Three: Now, set your table.

Place setting for Guest #1: Writing Prompts -- For each work, create a set of writing prompts that you give the students (two to five prompts that can be used for the final essay; two to five prompts (literary and expository) that can be used to guide reading throughout the work) -- Read the earlier Blog about Prompt Writing!

Place setting for Guest #2: Vocabulary, the talkative aunt

• Select the vocabulary words from the novel/drama/chapter book.
• Give the students the words and definitions before they start reading. I have a workshop on this.
• 10 words per week ahead of their reading. Practice them each day. Repetition. When they see the word in the text, they'll yell out, "Dr. Louis, that's one of our words!" And you'll nod like it is a surprise to everyone!

Place setting for Guest #3: Themes -- the parents

• Think of the many themes in the first work. See Analytical Response to Literature guide, 4th edition for "Discovering Theme."

Place setting for Guest #4: Other Fiction and Nonfiction -- children of themes

• Essays - find nonfiction (current and historical events) that relate to the theme. (Create an expository prompt.)
• Short Story -- find a short story that goes with your centerpiece.
• Poetry -- find a poem that goes with your centerpiece.

Place setting for Guest #5: Film Night -- the favorite uncle who only comes around occasionally

• Tuesday night is Film Night with Family. I like to do this to get the families involved, but some of our kids don't have this option, unfortunately, so this must be optional, or you can have an AFTER SCHOOL film presentation. Each week that you are reading the work, select a theme and find a companion film or documentary (Ken Burns's new Civil War documentary is coming out in September. For those of you teaching novels with an African-American focus, consider novels with African-American themes (e.g., Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird; Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry).

Place setting for Guest #6: Grammar - the grandparents

• What grammar, mechanics, usage, syntax are your studying? In the above texts ("texts" include film), find places where you can teach the grammar;
• Pull sentences from the various texts that demonstrate the conventions you are teaching;
• For your JSWP Shaping Sheet, tell the students they must highlight or circle/underline the rules you are studying; and
• Grammar Mondays -- Grammar tutoring -- English department -- Each week, one teacher takes a convention and presents it for tutoring. Anyone can come, and everyone who comes gets extra credit. Rotate the responsibility.

Integrate all of these while you are reading your novel, drama, chapter book.

Finally, create a syllabus -- your menu -- to send home, showing the parents what you will be doing with this novel, drama, chapter book as the centerpiece. Dates, Prompts, etc.

Everyone wins! It's a hearty meal!

Keep reading and writing!

Warm regards,

Dr. D'

Dear Dr. D'

I am a high school English teacher, and because the Writing section of Common Core does not list Literature, I am expected to teach non-fiction for writing purposes. Students need to learn and write about the classics! How do I keep my job and my conscience in tact?

Yours truly,

Distraught‍

‍

Dear Distraught, While some states, like Texas, have a separate category in their composition standards for Literary Analysis, Common Core does not. However, that does not mean that literary analysis is not important, and if you study the literature section of the Common Core State Standards, it clearly states that students must perform. How do they perform? Writing is one way. So, do not get discouraged. Let me give you a tip on how to achieve what you want.Let's say you are teaching John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. You want them to write a literary analysis; yet, you also want them to practice writing about nonfiction. Create a prompt that asks them to write about both.

• Prompt #1:

• The Great Depression brought many unlikely people together. Carefully read John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Then In a multiparagraph essay, explain why this historical era brought unlikely characters together (1-2 body paragraphs; 2+:1; 1-2 chunks) and analyze how George and Lennie's relationship evolves over the course of the novel (2-3 body paragraphs; 1:2+; 1-2 chunks per paragraph).
• Prompt #2

• Before you read. Of Mice and Men is about dreams that we have for our lives. In a multiparagraph essay (2-3 body paragraphs; 2+:1, 1-2 chunks), describe one dream of your own or of someone you know, explain how the dream was or will be brought to reality, and discuss the significance of that dream.
• Midpoint of the novel. Of Mice and Men is about dreams that we have for our lives. In a multiparagraph essay (2-3 body paragraphs; 1:2+, 1-2 chunks), describe one of the character's dreams, explain how the dream will be brought to reality, and discuss the significance of that dream.
• Prompt #3
• Before you read. The belief in the American Dream--the belief that anyone can achieve a better life through hard work--has always been an important part of the Amercan character. Steinbeck, however, is questioning the reality of this belief in his novel. Write an essay analyzing the current status of the American Dream. Determine whether it is still possible, and if so, discuss the dreams Americans have these days that might differ from previous years. If not, explain what has happened to our concept of achievement through hard work (2-3 body paragraphs; 2+:1, 1-2 chunks).

Keep Reading and Writing!

Warm regards,

Dr. D'

I am constantly being asked for a Scope and Sequence, and I've always been reticent to provide one, because I want teachers to have flexibility. Sometimes, an entity will put out a Curriculum, and then it becomes mandatory and leaves no room for teacher flexibility and creativity. Each week, I will provide a guide, and that's what it is -- a guide -- you know best what is good for your students. I am here to honor that and to provide assistance.

WEEK ONE - The Diagnostic Writing Sample

• Give the students one or two lined pages of paper, depending on the length of your assignment (make this a contained assignment -- you simply want to get to know the kids and their writing);
• So to make this more enjoyable for you and the students,give them three or four prompts from which to choose;
• Allow 40-50 minutes to complete the assignment;
• Tell them, "I want you to show me your best writing so that we do not have to review skills you learned when you were younger!"
• Do not score these. Rather, create a spreadsheet for each class (export from gradebook, if possible)

• For each student, list 1) overall strength (e.g., handwriting; punctuation; spelling; commentary; humor); 2) recurring errors (e.g., a lot; frags; run-ons; apostrophes; it's, s/v; p/a)
• For each class, can you assess overall strength; recurring errors?

EXPOSITORY PROMPTS

Career and Technology

• There are several personal qualities that make an employee a good worker. Think about those qualities. Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc),, explain one of those qualities that you possess. –Maria Smith, 10th Grade, Health Careers

English Language Arts

• Writing is a difficult but rewarding skill. Think about your own writing and its strengths and weaknesses. Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), describe your greatest strength and why that is important for you to understand and your greatest writing weakness and how I, your teacher, can help you improve this year. – Autumn Carberry, 11th Grade, English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), explain the characteristics (2+) of a former favorite (1) writing assignment. – Monica Murillo, 11th Grade, English Language Arts
• “Genre” is a word we use in English class to explain the different categories of reading. The most widely read genres in literature are

• drama (tragedy, comedy)
• novel (mystery, romance, adventure)
• poetry (epic, lyric, narrative, dramatic)
• essay (articles, creative nonfiction)
• short story (fiction that can be read in one sitting)

Recall your favorite texts. Then, demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), identify the genre you like most and why. – Kristin Gilbert, 9th Grade, English Language Arts

Mathematics

• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), explain why you like or dislike Math. - Araceli De La Torre, 9th Grade, Mathematics

Science

• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), explain one of the seven steps in the Scientific Method that you also use to solve a common problem in your daily life. - Sherry Peñaflor, 10th – 12th Grade, Science

Social Studies

• If you love history, then typically you have a favorite historical period. Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc.), explain a moment in history that you particular enjoy studying and write details of the period and why you especially like this part of history.

World LanguagesSpanish (or simply translate the following prompt into different languages):

• Tema de Escritura: Escribe un párrafo que describa algo que hayas hecho en tus vacaciones de verano, que refleje una costumbre de tu familia, cultura o comunidad. (Translation) Writing Prompt: Write a paragraph that describes something you did over summer vacation, that reflects a family, cultural or community custom/ tradition. -Salomón Álvarez and Ana Briceño, 9th – 12th Grade, Spanish

General Diagnostic Prompts

• Without naming anyone and demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a paragraph that names a weakness of an ineffective teacher. Provides examples that support that weakness and explain how a student is effected by that weakness. -Roger Perez and Eva Tafoya-Tapp, 10th Grade, English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a paragraph that explains your favorite subject. Provide examples of what activities you like in that subject and explain why you like those activities. – Brenda Lopez, 9th – 12th grade, English Language Development
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a paragraph that lists the activities that Honors English classes do and what insight into literature, writing, grammar, or thinking you hope to achieve by being in this Honors class. -Elisa Santillan, 10th grade, English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a paragraph that describes one characteristic that you believe a successful college student has. Provide an example of that characteristic and explain why that characteristic is important to success. – Monica Perez and Irma Martinez, 11th – 12th grade, English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a oparagraph that describes your favorite place in the world. – Annie Contreras, 9th grade, English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a paragraph that discusses the steps you plan to take to be successful after high school. – Tonisha Oliver, 12th grade , English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), write a paragraph that explains the greatest accomplishments of your freshman year and how those accomplishments have made you a better student and/or person. - Diosa Montes, 10th Grade, English Language Arts
• Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), Write a paragraph that describes your best moment in ____ grade. Explain why that moment stands out in your mind. – Dio Zavala, 9th Grade, English Language Arts
• During middle school you had several different teachers. One or two of them made learning easy. Think back over your middle school classes to determine which teacher was the best. Then, Demonstrating your best writing (paragraphing, transitions, spelling, punctuation, etc), Write a paragraph that describes him or her. Provide a classroom experience, activity, or strategy and explain how that example positively affected you. – Keri Arrage, 9th grade, English Language Arts

NARRATIVE PROMPTS (Elementary, Middle School, and High School)

• Write about a time you learned something important about life and discuss how it affected you.
• Much of what we learn happens outside of school, not in class. Write about a time when an outside-of-school person, sport, experience, or vacation helped you learn something important and why.
• Write about a time when you respected or disliked someone for something he or she did and say why.
• Write about a time when you did the right thing and how you felt about it.
• Write about a time when you appreciated something or someone.
• Write about a time when it was important to appreciate your heritage.
• Write about a time when you made a good decision regarding money.
• Write about a time when you did something you’re proud of.

LITERARY ANALYSIS PROMPTS (Middle School and High School)

Go to our Response to Literature Guide (Grades 6-12) and look at the easy writing prompts on p. 59 and the passages in the packet. If the students are not familiar with JSWP terminology, remove the ratio and chunking descriptors. Ask the students to write on one of those passages. For middle school students, limit the writing to Graham's short story, having the students write on the first half of the story. They will be able to do it in one class period.

Dear Dr. D',

My 10th grade American Literature students just don't get it. I mean, when they are reading a fictional piece or a non-fictional piece, they don't know how to infer. They don't know how to look deeper into a piece. They don't want to look deeper, and they shut down. Please HELP! I'm at my wits' end.

- Shannon

‍

‍Dear Shannon,

First, have a glass of wine, a nice cup of coffee, or your favorite beverage; take a deep breath; and realize that you are not alone. "Inference" is not easy to teach. It's a green monster (CM)! But, look at it this way, you have some time to organize your thoughts about how to approach this skill for next year. Let's see if I can get you started.Start the first week of real school (usually takes a few days to level the classes) introducing your students to diction, denotation, connotation, and tone. Then, for the rest of the year, don't let up on these four terms.

• Diction. "In linguistics, diction means word choice" (Holman)
• Denotation. "The basic meaning of a word, independent of its emotional coloration or associations" (Harmon 144).
• Connotation. "The emotional implications that words or phrases may carry, as distinguished from their meanings" (Harmon 114).
• Tone. "[. . .] the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal, informal, solemn, sombre, playful, serious, ironic, condescending, or many another possible attitude" (Harmon 510).

Harmon, William and Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 6th ed. New York: Macmillan, 1992.Harmon, William and Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 9th ed. New York: Macmillan, 2003 (This reference is now in its 12th edition, and it is a must-have for all ELA teachers!).Look at the denotation, connotation, and tone of similar words and then ask the students, "When and, more importantly, why would a person prefer one word over the other? Give examples."

• house vs. home;
• large vs. ponderous;
• sit vs. flop;
• giggle vs. snicker;
• lie vs. fudge;
• anger vs. disdain;
• happy vs. giddy;
• and more . . .

Next, pull a rich passage from one of your texts:

‍“A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.”

• "throng" -- large group, mob-like mentality (Ask the students questions. Why didn't the narrator say 'large group?' Why did the narrator choose the word, "throng?" What is implied by a "throng?" What is the author's purpose?)
• "sad-colored garments" -- Ask the students questions. Why "sad-colored?" Why not just say 'black' or 'navy'? It implies a sombre tone, yet it's a "throng." Hmm. Something is strange here -- irony -- (appearance vs. reality) -- sad, but mob-like. Hmm.
• "steeple-crowned hats" -- Ask the students questions. What do you think of when you think of a steeple? The word 'steeple' has a religious connotation. Religious people? Religious people wearing dark clothes. Dark? Dark on the outside and the inside, maybe? Mob-mentality, dark on the inside. A religious mob? Pointed Hat. Narrow. Maybe narrow-minded? What is the narrator implying? What is the author's purpose?
• "women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded" -- Ask the students questions. Why would a person wear a hood? What does a hood do? hidden (secrets) vs. open? "bareheaded" -- Does that mean nothing inside those heads?
• "door of which was heavily timbered with oak" -- Ask the students questions. What is the purpose of a door? A door opens and closes. What do you think of when you think of the difference between 'open' and 'closed?" This door is closed. It's oak -- stubborn, unmoving, inflexible . . .
• "[. . . and studded with iron spikes" -- Ask the students questions. What about these "iron spikes?" torturous, ominous, unyielding, dangerous, wounding . . .

Who knows what's right and/or what's wrong with the above interpretations, with the above inferences? All of the green above is inference.

‍After you study the sentence, tell them the sentence is the first sentence and the first paragraph of Chapter 1, titled "The Prison Door" in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. From this one sentence, you already gain insight about the characters. Say to the students, "With insight like this, the reading becomes much easier to understand and to anticipate.

"Present one sentence a day during the first ten minutes of your class; make it a rich sentence and let the students discuss the subtleties and complexities of the diction. Don't correct them when they say something that makes you want to hang your head and cry. Let them be creative. Of course, they have to use evidence from the sentence (CD). I ask my students, "What words or phrases pop? If they pop out at you, pause and think about why they pop? They popped for a reason. What is that reason? (CM)"  You can also create a bank of sentences this summer. Then, at the beginning of the year, assign each student one of those sentences to present to the class on a certain date. (In your mind that date will correlate to a passage or chapter you will be introducing.) Practice! Practice! Practice! The more the students practice under your watchful eye, the more the skill of inferencing will sink into your students' minds--this is close reading. Next up -- Point of View/Perspective. But that's another blog! One more consideration: What I have learned is that the students do not understand how to deconstruct a prompt. They do not understand what the prompt is asking them to do. That, too, is a skill that needs practice. Make sure you give the students reading and writing prompts so that they will become familiar with and eventually master how to deconstruct or decode a prompt. If they are not taught the skill of prompt deconstruction, they become paralyzed. Before they begin reading, give them a prompt. Doing so will help with the close reading, because they will be searching for what the prompt is asking them to do. Do not wait until after they read. Some teachers say to me, "Deborah, I want them to find the nuances on their own." I answer, "Yeah, wouldn't we all! But, you have to teach them the skill first, and giving them reading prompts as well as writing prompts prior to their reading helps them to be successful.

"We, as teachers, can always learn, too. One of my mentors, Sharon Kingston of Lubbock, Texas, taught me that the reason Hester made the “A” so ornately on her bosom was because to her, it stood for “Arthur.” I never saw it!! Remember, when you were in high school, ladies, and you would create a beautiful, ornate rendering of your boyfriend's initials on your notebook?? So, being a student of inference is a life-long journey, for sure – in and out of school, right? . . . (I’m just saying).

Most of our students are not as giddy about the written word as we are. Be patient. And practice. Those two keys will unlock the door. Keep Writing and Reading!Yours truly,Dr. D'

Dear Dr. D',

I was talking to an administrator who was not understanding why the students were struggling to write even when they were given graphic organizers and step-by-step instructions on what to do ("Read the prompt, brainstorm, plan/outline, draft, revise"). I explained that just because students are told those steps, doesn't mean they know how to apply them. Most writing programs give the steps and various graphic organizers. What they don't provide is the metacognitive writing piece--"How do I think my way to an idea?" Or "What comes next?" Or "How do I think my way through that step?"

What's GOLD about Jane is that we first show a model of every step, and then we do group writing so students see each step in action and learn the thinking behind each step. We don't send them on their own until they are ready. Some are ready before others, but the program allows us to modify for this. Each student can come to a full understanding of the writing process in his/her own time. I've not seen any other writing program that does that. Sure, some programs give a bazillion handouts and types of topic sentences and color-coding and what goes where--but they don't have what [Jane] has in terms of modeling or commentary and, most importantly, the thinking behind coming up with the thoughts that are put on paper.

Lauren Roedy-Vaughn