Videochat with author Kim Chinquee

Block 2 will be speaking with author Kim Chinquee on October 25th in the GLS. We´ll be reviewing her work and preparing questions in class before then.

Timed Writing This Week (Summative)

On Thursday or Friday - depending on when we meet - you´ll be analyzing a short story by Kate Chopin. As we´ve been practicing you´ll have to analyze it. The rubric will be the same as the formative rubric we used for our last timed writing (only the grammar section has been expanded to include colon and semi-colon use).

Choices for Today

While I´m conferencing with writers, you can work on semi-colon use:

You can find exercises here.

Watch the first half of a speech by Chimanand Ngozi Adichie and answer these questions:

1. When Adichie mentions her preference for high heels what does she mean by the ¨male gaze¨?
2. Evaluate her use of narration.
3. What does ¨homely¨ connotate in Nigeria?
4. Why does Adichie insist on the term ¨feminist¨?
5. Describe how gender roles do harm to both men and women.
6. Do you agree with Adichie? Why? Why not?

Read and organize our Sentence Elimination poems. Ask your classmates to share the poems with you, then compile them on a new Google doc.


Go back to ¨Wild Iris¨ by Louise Gluck. Compare Edna´s suicide to the perspective of the speaker. Record your discussion then post to Soundcloud.

Author Study Authors

The authors that you can choose from are:
Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Junot Díaz, Sherman Alexie, Edwidge Danticat, Kurt Vonnegut, Zadie Smith, Korean-American Authors (Suki Kim and Krys Lee), Daniel Alarcón or the notorious F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Vacation Reading Assignment

Over break, you must at least read the first fifty pages of your chosen novel. You do not need to take notes, if you do not wish to. We´ll be trying to increase our volume of reading with this assignment and as such will spend less time on annotation.

Sentence Elimination Poem

Please complete your Sentence Elimination Poem. Link your poem on a google document on your blog. Do so by Thursday or Friday - depending on when we meet.

Reminder about Summative Flipgrid Assessment

We´d like to actually watch these Flipgrid conversations in class either Thursday or Friday (when we meet) so the assignment needs to be completed by then. If not, the assignment will be counted as late - given that we have break directly following said date.