7th ELA with Mr. Moorehouse Short Story Unit Week 2
We are Continuing a unit on short stories by specifically looking at characteristics of specific genres.
Recommended Materials: Reading and Assignment Goal this week: Computer, tablet or phone Finish Story, , and the Lined paper corresponding activities Pen or pencil If you want to chunk it for daily
Any unfinished activities or activities, I recommend: writing from Tangerine Monday: Before Reading activities Tuesday: Read, annotate +
Quizlet Wednesday: After Reading questions
Thursday: Challenge +Verb Tense Exercises Friday: After Reading (Cont.)+
optional activities
The following chart explains the additional assignments posted and the reading each connect with. These activities will help you continue to analyze the text for literary elements (plot, setting, conflict etc.) as well as figurative language (similes, metaphors, etc.). It also encourages some writing too! Wednesday 1 :30. Remember to submit assignments through Teams or Outlook (email). 6 Breakdown ies
Monday Focus on finishing your Tangerine essay and beginning the second Short Story, . Focus on the Before Reading
Tuesday Read the short story, annotate, and complete the Quizlet
Wednesday Complete the after reading questions and be prepared to discuss during the Teams meeting. Thursday Complete the Verb Tense Exercises and the Challenge
Friday Finish the After Reading (Cont.) and the optional activities related to the Covid-19 Journal As always, please don’t hesitate to connect with me via e-mail or through Teams! Happy reading! Stay healthy! --Mr. Moorehouse
Week 8 “Future Tense” by Robert Lipsyte 7th ELA Before Reading: 1) In the story, you will read about a kid named Gary who likes to write and is “feverish with creativity.” This means he is overly excited and overcome with the desire to create something. For him this means he just wants to write! Share a time you felt “feverish with creativity.”
2) One of the recurring elements in the story, Future Tense, is that the main character is continually asked to revise a piece of his writing. What are your thoughts about revising? List two to three descriptive words that would fit your connotation for revision. After each descriptive word, explain your thinking. Example: Helpful- Revising allows me to take a second look at my writing and maybe be more thoughtful about word choice.
3) Imagine aliens had had infiltrated the human race and were walking around among us, trying to pass themselves off as human. Would you be able to tell? What signs that they weren’t really human would you look for? Consider those questions as you complete the creative writing prompt below. Finish the following scene:
Everything was essentially the same. A new day. A new year. Another year older. Another boring list of classes. And math. Don’t get me started about math. Although, there was something…something strange about my new teacher. Something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
During Reading: Please click the link >>>> Future Tense-TEXT to read the text! If you’d like to listen and follow along, here is an audio version of it! As you read, you can annotate the text by jotting notes and thoughts related to the main character, Gary, and how he describes the people around him.
After Reading: Access Quizlet to review the vocab and the story. Quizlet Link: Future Tense Quizlet Next, restate and answer the following questions. Some questions require you to use text evidence too. 1. In what two ways did Gary add a twist to his assignment?
2. What did Gary carefully select in his rewrite (3 things)? How did Gary’s draft evolve over the course of the story? Provide three specific details.
3. What, according to Mrs. Jones, manipulates adolescents (3 things)?
4. Finish Gary’s sentence, “Creative writing means...”
5. Finish Dr. Proctor’s sentence, “Writers are...”
6. Gary uses descriptive language to describe several of the teachers he interacts with throughout the story. How does Gary describe his new teacher, Mr. Smith? Record at least three examples of how he uses words to create a picture in the reader’s mind.
Now, select one person in your life and write a description that would make Gary proud.
7. Refute the following statement: Mr. Smith gives Gary specific advice regarding ways to improve his story. Use specific evidence from the story when writing your answer. When writing your answer, incorporate the word vague.
8. Irony: a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated or expected. The ending of Future Tense is an example of irony. Use the definition of irony from above to explain how the story’s ending is ironic.
Grammar Review: Verb Tenses Review verb tenses by completing the verb tense chart. The first two are done for you as an example. Past Present Future trapped trap will trap drank drink will drink leaned shake gave will write think
Challenge: Read the excerpts below, highlight each verb and add them to the blank chart at the bottom. Then complete the chart to show past, present and future tense for each verb. *The number in parentheses at the end of each sentence corresponds to the number of verbs.
a. The new teacher’s beady little eyes missed nothing, for they were the optical
recorders of an alien creature who had come to earth to gather information (4).
b. The alien’s probes trembled as he read the student’s composition (2).
c. Could that skinny, bespectacled earthling really suspect its extraterrestrial
identity (2)? Past Present Future
After Reading (cont.): Go back to the Before Reading creative writing prompt and REVISE your writing. Make it stronger. In other words, You can do better! Look to word choice and your use of sensory details and figurative language in order to improve your initial draft.
Optional Activities: #1: Answer the following question in your Covid journal.
-Has staying at home made you more or less creative? Explain why and what you have been doing to keep yourself busy (not schoolwork). -Want to get more creative? Consider including visual notes and/or sketches to help show what you’ve been doing.