Bell Ringer 10/24  Please get out your copy of The Catcher in the Rye so that I can collect it.  Period 1

Bell Ringer 10/24  Please get out your discussion question answers from yesterday so that we can go over your answers.  Period 2

Bell Ringer 10/24  Please get out your character map and background article for Death of a Salesman.  Did you remember to add Howard to your character map?  Howard: Willy’s much younger boss, inherited his business from his father (Willy’s old boss)  Period 3

Bell Ringer 10/24  Please answer the following questions with a partner:  How did Arthur Miller view the purpose of writing plays? How did his plays reflect this purpose?  Be ready to discuss this at the beginning of class.  Period 4

Bell Ringer 10/24  Please discuss the following question with the people around you.  Why do playwrights write plays? What are their ultimate goals?  Be prepared to share your answer with the class.  Period 7 & 9

English III  EQ: How did Arthur Miller’s point of view and purpose shape the content and style of Death of a Salesman?  Agenda  Bell Ringer: Goals GO HW Check  EQ/Agenda  Historical Discussion/Character Intro  Discussion Questions  Arthur Miller’s Obituary  Discussion Questions  Irony (definitions and examples)

Historical Context/Character Intro  With a partner, please read the handout on the historical context of Death of a Salesman.  How did economics and politics affect the lives of regular American, middle class people?  Read the character descriptions:  Where do our characters fit into the economic situation of the late 1940’s?  Answer these questions with your partner, in full sentences, on one paper for each pairing.

Arthur Miller’s Obituary  In groups of 3:  Read through the discussion questions together.  Take turns reading Miller’s Obituary.  Answer the discussion questions AS YOU READ.  Be detailed and support your answers.

Irony  Situational: an event occurs that contradicts the expectations of the characters, of the reader, or of the audience.  Dramatic: there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows.  Verbal: a word or a phrase is used to suggest the opposite of its usual meaning.

Irony Activity  With a partner, come up with an example for each type of irony:  Dramatic, Verbal, Situational  Use these characters and situation in your examples:  Sarah – 16 year old girl  Allen – 16 year old boy  Sarah and Allen are taking a road trip in a beat up old car.

Foils  Foil – a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character.  A foil usually either differs drastically or is extremely similar but with a key difference setting them apart.  Example: Dumbledore vs. Voldemort

Foil Activity  Take a look at our character map.  Who could we pair together as foils?  Predict what comparisons we could make.

Bell Ringer 10/24  Please get out your 3 Short Story Ideas homework so that I can check it.  Get ready to share your ideas with the class.  Period 6

Creative Writing  EQ: How can we engage and orient the reader when writing a short story?  Agenda  Bell Ringer: Discussing SS Idea Homework  Agenda/EQ  Plot Notes/Activity

Plot  Basic Framework: Beginning, Middle, End  Short stories begin at the moment of change, however slight or subtle.  Something is happening or just about to happen.  The middle develops this problem or situation until it is solved or resolved in some way with a brief ending.

Plot  Examples of Proportion  Too much beginning, some middle, and no ending  They simply fade away (Where is Here?)  Some stories develop an ending which lasts several pages  Some stories jump straight from the beginning to the end and have no middle development  Leaves the readers wondering how the characters got there

Plot  Get a stack of index cards and divide into four or five stacks  Pile 1: write a character – postman, gardener, airline pilot, teacher, rock star...  Pile 2: write a random place – shop, cinema, top of a bus, outside the National Gallery...  Pile 3: write an object – knife, ice cream cone, old car, broken comb, theatre ticket...  Pile 4: write some kind of dramatic, strange or dangerous happening – getting lost, meeting a stranger, sensing danger, a sudden pain, an accident...  Pile 5: write a twist: the wrong house, a nightmare, a childhood memory, finding something...

Plot Activity  Write out 5 cards:  Character, place, object, dramatic event, twist  Place cards on appropriate pile, shuffle  Each person picks 5 cards (1 from each pile)  Start playing the “What if?” game  Come up with a story premise using all the elements from your cards  Apply “What if?” and the six journalistic questions: who, what, why, where, when, how.