Week at a glance January 30 - February 3, 2012

Curriculum focus: analyzing and interpreting figurative language: simile, metaphor, and symbol (11.1.3.K4a, b, i), identifying and analyzing the development of theme in a narrative text (11.1.4.K10d), identifying and analyzing the author's style: flashback, symbolism, tone, and mood (11.1.4.K11), comparing and contrasting narrative elements: character traits and character motives (11.1.4.K7), identifying and analyzing types of characters: flat, round, static, and dynamic (11.2.1.K1), and contextual aspects of setting: historical, social, and cultural (11.2.1.K2).

Root words for this week (root - definition - examples):

1. cis/cide - cut or kill- precise, homicide
2. crypto - secret/hidden - crypt, cryptography
3. lud/lus - play/tease - delusion, illusion, allude
4. necro - death - necropsy, necropolis
5. nihil - nothing - annihilate, nil, nihilism

"Attention must be paid..." This week we begin reading Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. It's a tale of a salesman desperately aiming for the American dream brought down by his own tragic flaws. As we read the play in class, we'll be focusing on the relationships between the characters and how Miller shows how events in the past inescapably shape our future. We'll also pull from the five American themes we studied during our American Poetry Unit and analyze how the themes are developed in the play.  We'll wrap up the week with a trip to the Library to revise and type the final drafts of the Definition Essay and the American Poem.

• Mon: New root words.  DoaS - Background information and context.  Select parts.  Begin reading/discussing Act One.
• Tues: DoaS - Continue reading/discussing Act One.
• Wed: DoaS - Finish reading/discussing Act One.  Act One, part I study guide due by the end of the hour.
• Thurs: Meet in the library to revise and type the final drafts of the Definition Essay and American Poem.
• Fri: Final drafts - Definition Essay and American Poem due by the end of the hour.