Lesson 5

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • “Theme” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017

• • “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner, Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1930
  • “The Far and the Near,” Thomas Wolfe, Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1935
  • “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1948

Materials

Tools

• Telling Stories: Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist

• Analyzing Relationships Tool

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Telling Stories: Wolfe Language Use Handout

Reference Guides

• Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide
• Mood Reference Guide
• Narratives Reference Guide
• Questioning Reference Guide
• Theme Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Telling Stories: Section 2 Lesson 5 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Telling Stories: Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist

• Analyzing Relationships Tool

• Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool

• Telling Stories: Section 2 Lesson 5 Question Set

Activity 1: Discuss – View

We will watch a pixar in a box video, “Theme,” to learn about the literary concept of theme and discuss ways in which the theme of a story is a response to the question, “What Is An Author Trying To Say?”

Before watching "Theme," discuss what you think the authors are trying to say in the stories you have read, and the ways in which the stories’ themes have emerged through the authors’ development of plot, setting, atmosphere, and characterization.

Following this discussion, view the Pixar video that focuses on theme as a central element of a story’s structure. Think about how the video explains a narrative’s theme as the moral of the story, or what its author is trying to say or suggest. Also note how the video connects the development of a theme to a character’s wants and needs.

Access the Theme Reference Guide and read its definition of the concept of theme and the process for analyzing a story’s theme. Discuss how what you find in the guide compares to what you learned from the Pixar video.

Activity 2: Write

We will continue to think about the stories we might tell, this time in relation to possible meanings or themes.

After watching the short Pixar video, "Theme," consider the stories you might tell, this time in relation to possible meanings or themes. Consider the questions below and write responses in your Learning Logs.

1. List a series of experiences from your life that might turn into stories you could tell. For each, what was its meaning to you?

2. How might you turn one of these experiences into a story with a theme that would unify the story and make it meaningful to others?

3. How might the theme emerge from your story's structure and your characters' wants, needs, and the obstacles or conflicts they face?

Activity 3: Discuss

We will discuss first impressions of “The Far And The Near,” noting descriptive passages that stood out.

As a class, discuss your first impressions of "The Far and the Near," noting descriptive passages that stood out to you and what they made you think about.

In your class discussion, brainstorm possible meanings or morals of the story, as you learn about the literary concept of a parable (see the Narratives Reference Guide, p. 10).

Activity 4: Read

We will do a close rereading of the first three paragraphs of “The Far And The Near,” considering text-specific questions about the author’s use of description and characterization.

As a class, reread the first three paragraphs of "The Far and the Near," considering the following questions:

1. The first two paragraphs of "The Far and the Near" describe a scene that is almost like a landscape painting. What details of the scene and the train that passes through it stand out?

2. In Paragraph 3, the characters are introduced, but not named. Why might Wolfe have chosen not to name them?

Activity 5: Read – Write

Individually, we will do a close rereading of the story’s fourth paragraph and complete an Analyzing Relationships Tool in response to a text-specific question about Wolfe’s use of details to characterize “The Engineer.”

Reread the story’s fourth paragraph and complete an Analyzing Relationships Tool in response to the following questions:

1. The anonymous engineer becomes a real person with very real and disturbing memories when Wolfe says in Paragraph 4, "four times he had seen before him on the tracks the ghastly dot of tragedy converging like a cannonball to its eclipse of horror at the boiler head." What images of horror have apparently haunted the engineer during his "ten thousand" trips across the land?

2. How do those images contrast with his view from his train of the woman and her daughter?

3. How do those images complicate his character and the story?

Activity 6: Discuss – Read

We will learn about the literary concept of mood and discuss the mood of paragraph 4 in the story. Then we will work in reading teams to examine the mood of another paragraph from the story.

Step 1

Follow along as your teacher introduces and discusses the literary concept of mood (you might want to access and review the Mood Reference Guide). Discuss how mood is developed through description, and the mood suggested by the description in Paragraph 4 of the story.

Join with other students in a reading team to examine the mood of another paragraph from the story. Select one of the six paragraphs from the Wolfe Language Use Handout to read and analyze more deeply as a team.

Annotate and analyze the descriptive paragraph from "The Far and the Near," paying attention to the mood created by the details of the descriptive language.

Step 2

Consider the following questions to guide your annotation and analysis:

1. What key descriptive words, phrases, and details does Wolfe provide?

2. What is an overall mood developed by Wolfe’s details in the passage?

3. How does the passage and its mood contribute to the story’s meaning?

As a class, share and compare what your reading team has determined about the mood of your selected paragraph, and how it compares and contrasts to the moods of other key paragraphs in the story.

Discuss the third question and use it to consider observations about what a theme of “The Far and the Near” might be and how these passages contribute to the development of that theme.

Activity 7: Write

We will individually consider text-specific questions about the story’s ending, title, and theme, and form a claim about the relationships among these elements and Wolfe’s choices in developing the story.

Step 1

Review the information about the concept of theme from the Theme Reference Guide. Using the process outlined in the reference guide, think about how you might identify and articulate a theme for “The Far and the Near.”

On your own, re-examine the final paragraph of "The Far and the Near," considering how it contributes to the story’s meaning for you—and how it might connect to the theme you have identified.

Form an evidence-based claim in your Learning Log or on a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool inresponse to the first question below. Then consider how you might extend or revise your claim, based on what you think about the story’s title.

1. In the final paragraph, Wolfe suggests that "suddenly [the engineer] knew he was an old man." How do the descriptive details that follow this realization suggest a theme for the story?

2. How is the story’s title symbolic of its meaning and theme?

Step 2

Read your claim and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the claim clearly stated?

2. Does the claim communicate your opinion or conclusion about the topic?

3. Is the claim based on evidence that you gathered from the text?

4. Is the claim specific to the questions? Is the claim original? Can it be supported by evidence?

If you answered "No" to any of the questions, think about how you might revise your claim.

Activity 8: Write

For homework, we will prepare for the Section Diagnostic by analyzing the prompt, selecting a story, and reviewing claims we wrote previously in this section of the unit.

For homework, prepare to write a short narrative based on one of the three stories you read in this section of the unit. Think about the author’s use of point of view to tell her or his story, and how the story might change if told from a different perspective.

As a first step to planning your narrative, read, annotate, and analyze the Section 2 Diagnostic Checklist.

Think about which of the stories, and which part of that story, you will choose to rewrite for the Section Diagnostic. Reread the story, making notes about the key events you will need to narrate through a character’s point of view, and how that character might view those events.