Mr. Verlin South Philadelphia High School September 19, 2014

Preliminaries  “PIERCE CITY, Mo., May 5—The relentless barrage of some 80 tornadoes that tore through the nation’s belly on Sunday did not simply kill 39 people, smash hundreds of buildings, and knock out water and power for thousands in eight states.”  Read the paragraph above and answer the following questions (20 classwork points):  From whose point of view is the paragraph written?  How would you describe the narrator’s tone?  How many sentences are in the paragraph?  What information did you get from the paragraph?  Where do you think this paragraph originally appeared?”

Objectives:  The students will be able to identify the characteristics of newswriting.  The students will be able to write news articles about the flood stories they studied recently.

Focus Lesson: News Articles  Byline: writer’s name  Lead: the first paragraph of a news story  Anecdote: a brief, interesting account of an incident or event  Primary source: a firsthand account of an event.  Secondary source: is an interpretation based on one or more primary sources.  Point of view: is the psychological position from which one views events.  Tone: something about attitudes and presuppositions of the author

Focus Lesson: A Deluge…  Reconvene as a class to discuss students’ findings (e.g., Noah’s culture valued goodness and taught against wickedness).  Find 3 instances where numbers appear in these tales. What mystical meanings might they have? Why are they mentioned here?

 Re-read the last 5 paragraphs of the “39 Left Dead…” article.  Answer the following questions in small groups:  How does the lead paragraph entice the reader to continue reading the article?  Identify 2 primary sources and 2 secondary sources.

Homework  “Explain how the Gilgamesh version of the flood story is different from the others you have read so far. Do the differences make the story better or worse? Why?” 20 homework pts.  Due 9/25