8 th grade language arts Discovery MYP Unit Narrative Writing

Standards Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well- structured event sequences.

Essential Question How does discovery affect our lives and/or the world? How do we understand what we are reading? What makes a good story?

Area of Interaction (AOI) Human Ingenuity Human ingenuity focuses on the contributions of humans in society. These contributions result in the ability to appreciate and develop the human capacity to influence, transform, enjoy and improve the quality of life Understand the relationships among subjects through examining, experiencing and reflecting on the creative process Human Ingenuity Human ingenuity focuses on the contributions of humans in society. These contributions result in the ability to appreciate and develop the human capacity to influence, transform, enjoy and improve the quality of life Understand the relationships among subjects through examining, experiencing and reflecting on the creative process

Making the Connection How does story-telling relate to Human Ingenuity? (Think about stories that have shaped/influenced a culture, community, or even within your own family). By yourself: In your journal, spend three minutes brainstorming stories that you feel represent Human Ingenuity; be ready to share with others as well as EXPLAIN your reasoning.

For Example For those who celebrate Christmas, the story of St. Nick only giving presents to ‘good little boys and girls’ is meant to inspire children to be on their best behavior, especially in December!

In Europe, there is another story, but this one is a little darker. Krampus is St. Nicholas’ counterpart, or opposite partner; he is the one who gets to punish children who are naughty, not nice. Again, this story/legend was created/is told to help influence people to lead more positive lives.

Human Ingenuity and Stories _________________ is a story/legend/myth that shows Human Ingenuity because _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ ____________. Remember, you want to focus on stories that transform, inspire, influence and/or somehow cause a change in humans.

Time to Share Room is split into quadrants: story that affects only you or your family; story that affects just your surrounding community (as in Hillsboro); story that affects an entire culture (La Llorona); story that affects the entire country/ world (the Bible). Decide which category your story fits into, and then walk over to the appropriate corner of the room. Share your story with the rest of the group. Each group will then share one story to the entire class. Time to Share

Learner Profiles In this unit we will focus on the following learner profiles: – Open minded – Risk Takers – Reflective How do these qualities help people to discover?

Persistence What does persistence mean? Working hard, not giving up even when times are tough. How do you practice persistence in your own life? Why is persistence important in school and in life? Persistence

100 Questions Write down 100 questions that you have about the world, life, or anything you are curious about. You will need to use persistence! Write your questions in your language arts journal. 100 Questions

Elements of Narrative

Narrative Writing What is narrative writing? How do you know that you are reading or writing a narrative story? Can you remember a time when you have written a narrative story?

Narrative Stories What are some characteristics of narrative stories? Think-pair-share One minute to think of everything you know about narrative stories or examples of narrative stories you have read or heard about.

______________ is an example of a narrative. A defining characteristic of narrative stories is _______________. The key components of the narrative genre are _______, _______, _______, _______, ________, and ________.

Get ready to take notes Use your Cornell notes format: – Two columns – First column write the topic – Second column write the details and important information

Summary Topic: Questions/Main Ideas: Name: Period: Date: Notes:

Plot Setting, mood, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution Setting & mood Rising action Climax Falling action Resolution

Narrative Elements Plot In a _____, there are five key elements: _______ and ______, _______, _________, _______, and ______.

Setting Time – Historical period – Time of year – Season – Time of day Place – Geographic region – Environment – Community

Point of View 1 st person – “I”, “Me”, “My” – The audience sees the world from the perspective of the main character only. – The audience only knows the thoughts of one person.

Characterization TOAD T= thoughts of the character O= opinions of the character and opinions that others have of the character. A= actions of the character D= dialogue

Conflict 7 major types of conflict – Man vs. nature – Man vs. self – Man vs. technology – Man vs. society – Man vs. man – Man vs. supernatural – Man vs. unknown

Summarizing Your Notes The notes on_______________ explain the key elements of the genre (type of writing). The main components of this category include the following: ________, __________, _______, __________, and ___________. It is ___________ that these elements exist in order to make a writing piece considered ____________.

The Great Rat Hunt By Laurence Yep

Take Notes on each Vocab Word Each group writes a sentence for each word. Each group writes a sentence for each word. I will be the judge – best sentence wins! I will be the judge – best sentence wins!

1) Perpetual (adj): lasting for an indefinitely long time; continuing without interruption Example Sentence: Ms. Talbot’s classroom is in perpetual darkness.

2) Fumigate (verb): to use smoke or fumes in order to kill off rodents or insects; to disinfect Example Sentence: A person must leave a building that is being fumigated for insects, because it is impossible to breathe when the room is full of smoke.

3) Rationalize (verb): to make self- satisfying but incorrect explanations about one’s behavior Example Sentence: John rationalized flunking in all of his 8 th grade classes because middle school ‘didn’t matter’; when he got to high school and flunked his freshman year, he wasn’t feeling so satisfied as he grumbled through summer school.

4) Brusquely (adverb): in an abrupt, sudden manner Example Sentence: Enrique brusquely stopped picking his nose when he noticed the gorgeous Natalie staring at him in disgust.

5) Reserve (noun): self-restraint in the way one looks or acts Example Sentence: Politicians have to have a lot of reserve while facing protesters and hecklers.

6) Ineptitude (noun): incompetence, clumsiness, displaying a lack of judgment Example Sentence: The player showed his ineptitude by hitting the ball with his face instead of the bat.

7) Mug (noun): the face Example Sentence: A mug shot is a picture of one’s face that is taken when one is sent to jail.

8) Barricade (noun): a structure set up to block a passage Example Sentence: Every Saturday in Hillsboro, there are barricades put on opposite sides of Main Street for the Farmers’ Market so that people can shop in the streets without cars being in the way.

9) Improvise (verb): to put together or act with little or no preparation or planning Example Sentence: When the student tried to improvise his speech, not surprisingly, he earned an ‘F’.

10) Ravage (noun): serious damage; widespread destruction Example Sentence: Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans in ravages.

The Great Rat Hunt Narrative Analysis 1.What is the setting of the story, The Great Rat Hunt? Be as specific as you can with time and place. 2.What point of view is the story told from? Give specific examples from the story to prove your point. 3.What are two conflicts in the story? Which categories are they in (man vs.)? 4.Describe the character Yep through TOAD. Give at least one example of his thoughts, opinion, actions, and dialogue. 5.What did Yep discover about his family throughout this story? 6.How did what he discovered about his family affect him?

Challenge Enhancement Yep describes his failures in dramatic and exaggerated terms. Look for three examples in which Yep uses overly strong language to describe his failures. – Copy down the three quotes – Give a reason why you think that Yep uses such dramatic language to describe his failures. Yep believes that his father would rather have Eddy’s help than his. Do you agree with Yep’s interpretation of his father’s silence? Give specific examples (2) from the text to explain your answer.

Ticket Out The Door “The Great Rat Hunt” is set in ____________. The first major event is __________________. Next, ________________________________. Then, _________ occurred, which led to ____. The climax of the story is when _____________________________________. In the end, Yep discovered _______________.

Life Map Think of a minimum of 10 significant events in your life (ex: birth of brother or sister, broken arm, moving to a new house or school, death, learning how to ride a skateboard or a bike). Chart these events along with images, either drawn or pasted from magazines, computers, or photos. The final project should be a representation of your life up to this point. You may be as creative as you want in this project remember to have at least ten important events and a picture to go along with each event.

Raymond’s Run

Take Notes on each Vocab Word Each group writes a sentence for each word. Each group writes a sentence for each word. I will be the judge – best sentence wins! I will be the judge – best sentence wins!

Relay (noun): a race in which each side uses several team members to complete the race; each member has a turn to finish a set part of the race and is then replaced by another team member to finish the next part, and so forth There are many relay races in the spring sport of Track.

Clutch (verb): to grasp or hold tightly The rotting zombie mercilessly clutched my ankle as it crawled out of its dark, dank grave.

Prodigy (noun): a person with an exceptional talent Kobe Bryant is considered a basketball prodigy; Honey Boo Boo is NOT a child prodigy.

Sidekick (noun): a close friend CP3O and R2D2 are the famous sidekicks in the Star Wars movie series.

Periscope (noun): a tube-shaped optical device that lets one see into an area beyond the area he or she is in; a periscope is used by submarines to see above the surface while remaining underwater. When the captain looked through the periscope, he realized that his ship was under attack.

Characterize Squeaky is _______________ because ________ _______________________________________. I know Squeaky can be ___________ because ______________________________________. I would describe Squeaky as ___________ since she ____________________________________.

Ticket Out the Door The main conflict in “Raymond’s Run” is _____________________________________ _____________________________________. This conflict type is _________ vs._________.

Summarize or Characterize *If you did not pass with a 4 on the previous summary paragraph for “The Great Rat Hunt”, use that paragraph to write a similar one for “Raymond’s Run.” *If you got a 4 or 5 on the previous paragraph for “The Great Rat Hunt”, write a paragraph characterizing one character from “Raymond’s Run.”

3, 4, or 5 in writing? “The Great Rat Hunt” is set in San Francisco, CA. The first major event is when Eddy finds rat droppings in their store. They tried setting traps and fumigating the store, but nothing worked. Their father then got a rifle and he takes Yep with him to go shoot the rat. The climax of the story is when they’re trying to shoot the rat and they find out that it’s rabid. In the end, Yep discovered that no one is good at everything. His dad wasn’t either. The rat mysteriously disapears and they start to make a wood block to put the rat on if they ever find it dead. An example of a narrative element in this story was the conflict: man vs. self. There were several conflicts, but this one stood out the most to me. You can tell this is the conflict because he’s constantly saying that he’s a failure. Later, he realize he’s not.

3, 4, or 5 in writing? “The Great Rat Hunt” is set in Chinatown/San fransisco. The first major event is Rat droppins in dads store. Next, Laurence’s dad and brother named eddy all set mouse traps, poisionus pellets and none of them worked. Then, it occurred, which led to laurance and his father are bonding. The climax of the story is when the rat escapes. In the end, Yep discovered that rat had escaped. An example of a narrative element in this story was laurance talking. It was evident by/in the way that laurance feels sad because of what happened to the rat.

Characterize Authors describe ____________ so readers can __________ with them. A main character in “Raymond’s Run” was __________. I can characterize her/him as ____________ because ___________________________________________. Additionally, she/he is _____________ since ______________________________________. The most stand out trait about __________ is _______________ as shown by ______________. I can assume all of these traits to be true of ______________ because I read her/his thoughts, _______________, actions, and _______________ in the story.

“When I was Puerto Rican”

Dialogue Lesson Yellow Spiral Book

“When I Was Puerto Rican” 1.What is the setting of the story, When I Was Puerto Rican? Be as specific as you can with time and place. 2.What point of view is the story told from? Give specific examples from the story to prove your point. 3.What are three conflicts in the story? Which categories are they in (man vs.)? 4.Describe Esmeralda through TOAD. Give at least one example of her thoughts, opinion, actions, and dialogue. 5.Create a plot diagram of the story – be sure to include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Dialogue Formative Assessment Construct an imaginary conversation between you and one of the characters from any of the previous stories we have read.

Dialogue Frame

State of Being Verb vs Action Verbs

The Barn As you read the story, each person will search for one of the following: – State of being verbs (blue) – Action Verbs (green) – Adjectives (red) – Transitions (black)

Adjective Activity Each group will have two minutes to list as many adjectives (descriptive words) for the picture at the table. After two minutes, each group will rotate to the next picture. Continue to list adjectives, but you may NOT use any of the previous groups’ words!

Go back to your original table group. Ticket out the door: write a descriptive paragraph about the picture, using any of the adjectives on the list.

Emotions Make a list of as many emotions that you can think of.

Emotions Think of a time in your life when you felt that emotion.

Writing Rubric

Emotions In your journal write down as many emotions as you can think of. Be ready to share Take five of the emotions and think about a time when you intensely felt one of these emotions. Write down some details about each of those experiences. One of these might be a good story to write about.

Pre-writing Decide on an experience that you will write about. – The experience should be something that actually happened to you and that was somehow important to you. Create a plot map BEFORE you begin writing. Decide what your climax is and work from there. – Make sure that you have an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and a resolution. – Once you have that, you should begin a rough draft.

Dialogue “I think I’ve hooked a big one,” screamed Jeff as he grabbed the pole and tugged hard. “This thing must weigh a ton.” “Make sure the drag is set properly,” directed his father. “If there is too much tension on the line a heavy fish like that will snap in no time.”