Wednesday 10.31 - Thursday 11.01

Text #4: "The Cage" by Martin Raim
Reading/Critical Thinking Objectives:

• Identify extended elements of the plot: Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action & Resolution.
  
• Identify setting and the influence of setting on the Plot.
  
• Read for details/answer comprehension questions; teacher model re-reading techniques for context clues.
  
• Make inferences based on common knowledge as well as on repetive details in the text.
  
• Introduce lexical textual analysis as a basic building block of understanding emotional power of the story.
• Theme is a unifying subject or an idea is a story.
  Theme in a short story is usually a lesson or moral that relate to other texts as well as to human nature. The theme of a piece of fiction is its view about life and how people behave. Students brainstormed the theme for "The Cage" and came up with universal ideas relatable to other texts and to human nature.

Writing Objectives/Collaborative Learning - Evaluating a Story

Students examined individual story elements such as characters, plot, setting, and theme. Students learned to evaluate a short story based on the following guidelines:

• Entertainment
• Believability - Are the Characters believable? Are the reasons convincing?
  
• Originality - Are the writer's thoughts original or unique?
• Emotional Power - Does the writing evoke strong emotional response?

Students read each other's stories (see the links below) and peer-evaluated fiction based on the four guidelines. The poster contains original quotes that illustrate the four elements of evaluation.