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Graphic Novel: Frankenstein

The two most prominent themes that I believe can be found within Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein are, the human instinct to judge, and the role that a self-fulfilling prophecy can play in affecting one’s life. Both themes are heavily represented within the excerpt of Shelly’s work that is contained within The Graphic Novel Cannon and both themes ultimately shape the behavior and fate of the famous monster within the story. Regarding the tendency of humans to judge, and how it is portrayed in the story, no better example can be found than the villagers’ reactions to the monster, who, at first glance, appears to be a rampaging and terrifying brute that has evil intentions. However, this is merely due to the creature’s grotesque appearance. The creature is in fact, not only a gentle giant, but an educated one as well, and the only time this is ever acknowl...

Night Mini Lesson

TPA Lesson Plan #_______ Course: _______ 1. Teacher Candidate Shawn Peterson Date Taught November 20, 2017 Cooperating Teacher N/A School/District N/A 2. Subject English/Language Arts Field Supervisor Lucy MonteCalvo 3. Lesson Title/Focus Elie Wiesel’s Night and the Holocaust 5. Length of Lesson 20 minutes 4. Grade Level 10th Grade 6. Academic & Content Standards (Common Core/National) RL. 9-10.6 Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work for literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature. RI9-10.6 Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose. 7. Learning Objective(s) Given the...

Edgar Allen Poe and the Use of Setting

Edgar Allen Poe’s stories are well known for their dark and horrifying nature, with many stories such as, “The Fall of the House of Usher, containing elements that are meant to build a sense of unease and suspense within his readers before delivering his big finish in a terrifying conclusion that largely leaves his readers in a state of shock and horror after they finish reading. This is something that many readers of Poe can attest to and he uses many literary tools to accomplish this task. However, none of his tools are more effective in this endeavor than his use of the settings of his works. In the case of “The Fall of the House of Usher”, one can observe that the setting certainly adds a horrific element to the story that also provides clues to what lies within it. The entire story takes place on the property of Rodrick Usher, the speaker’s boyhood friend who is suffering from a severe m...

Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Sherman Alexi’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian does an excellent job of portraying what it’s like for a student to transition from their own culture to that of a largely different school culture. However, that is not all the book does well. Junior’s story tells a very inspirational tale for students about managing to overcome a phenomenon known as “Learned Helplessness.” This condition is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “a condition in which a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic event or persistent failure to succeed.” (OED Learned Helplessness) This is a prevalent theme in Junior’s story and it is an obstacle that he works very hard to overcome as the novel progresses. Junior’s struggle against the learned helplessness of his tribe is prevalent from the very start of the novel, early on he...

Kelly Gallagher's Readicide

Kelly Gallagher’s book, Readicide introduces the term as “The systematic killing of a love of reading, often exacerbated by the innate mind-numbing practices found in schools.” (Gallagher 7) Gallagher demonstrates a wealth of causes for this problem, chief among them being the way standardized tests are addressed regarding reading. Gallagher presents this as the overarching problem that acts as the reason for many of the additional problems that lead to readicide. One of the most shocking things that I found regarding the involvement of standardized tests with this problem is that the intense pressures that standardized tests put on schools can cause struggling readers to be swept under the rug within testing data, thus marginalizing them and preventing them from getting a lot of the help that they desperately need. Gallagher points out this issue and explains how this circumstance occurs within the following excerpt ...

Cris Tovani's I read it but I don't get it.

Cris Tovani’s I Read it but I Don’t Get It offers a wealth of reasons why many students struggle with reading, either for pleasure or understanding within school. I myself can identify with many of the reasons that were stated, despite my reputation of being very proficient in both reading and English as a subject. The reason I can identify with many of the students discussed in this text is because when I was in high school I was what Tovani calls a “word caller”. According to Tovani a word caller does understand how to read and also reads for pleasure, but is unable to understand that reading requires thinking. (Tovani 15) I can honestly say that I used to fit this bill perfectly in high school. I could memorize plot details very well which made quizzes on books a breeze, however, I struggled with the idea that texts often said more than the words that were on the page. This made argumentative papers very difficult for me, especially during m...