Book Club Selection Reminder & Any Questions
IOC Schedule
O’Brien’s Writing Style & Assign Assessment More about Metafiction
Book Club Titles
Books you can check out from SHS
Books you will need to purchase or check out at another library
To Kill a Mockingbird- Lee
Cat’s Cradle-Vonnegut
The Crucible- Miller (drama)
The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven – Alexie (collection of short stories)
Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury
The Glass Castle- Walls (memoir)
Catcher in the Rye-Salinger
Like Water for Chocolate- Esquivel
The Stone Angel - Laurence
The Glass Menagerie- Williams (drama)
A Good Man is Hard to Find (& other stories) - O’Connor
(collection of short stories)
Choose your book by 4/29
Submit your selection to
www.turnitin.com by 9am Wednesday,
4/29 (it will open by 9pm this evening).
The title of your “paper” should be the
title of the work you most want to read.
Give me two other titles just in case I cannot
give you your first choice.
Please let me know your IB Test schedule in
the body of your submission if applicable.
IOCs this week-3 more
weeks!
Tues, 4/28 Thurs, 4/30
7:30-8:15 Shravani
Kulkami 7:30-8:15 Gleb Sych
7:55-8:40 Jeffrey Cheng 7:55-8:40 Holly Smith
8:20-9:05 Julia Lioubarski 8:20-9:05 Homa Moosavi
8:45-9:30 Sophie Leung 8:45-9:30 Ines Kubat
9:10-9:55 Paul Kim 9:10-9:55 Alyssa
Groscost
Teacher Break Teacher Break
10:00-10:45 Jessica He VanDeBrake
10:25-11:10 Annette Guo VanDeBrake
10:50-11:35 Justin Bu
B Lunch B Lunch
12:20-1:05 Jenny Yang 12:10-12:55 Liam Paup
12:45-1:30 Eric Ke 12:35-1:20 Chris Bechtel
1:10-1:55 Ricky Dua 1:00-1:45 Sisir Gudipati
1:35-2:20 Shama Joshi 1:25-2:10 Thomas
Purchas
Brainstorm: Tim O’Brien’s Style
In your table groups, create a T chart of
ideas and techniques that adequately demonstrate your understanding of Tim O’Brien’s writing style in The Things
They Carried.
Each person should have his/her own T
chart in their journal/notes.
Your lists should be pretty long and
Did you come up with…
Authentic voice
Conveys emotional and intangible truths, rather than literal truths Hard to distinguish what is factual
Incongruous lists, details
Informal diction, conversational Non-linear
Objects take on symbolic significance Repetition
Showing, not telling
Stories as a method of understanding Stories told from various perspectives Straightforward
TTTC
Assessment: Faux
O’Brien
IOP Candidates Exempt
Now that you have read and studied O’Brien’s
work and have absorbed his characteristic style and syntax, you will write an original
story that applies these writing strategies and elements of style to a story of your own.
The strongest papers will show an awareness of the
O’Brien’s style and theme, and the paper will sound like O’Brien.
For this assignment, voice is key. Your voice will be a
Requirements
2 pages typed
1.5 spaced
Original story with an original title
Due: Friday, May 8th
I need a hard copy submitted in class on
May 8th as well as a copy submitted to
Turnitin.com by 7:30am to receive credit.
Staple the assignment sheet (print from IB
Metafiction: Postmodernism
Writing about writing
Self-conscious fictional writing
which systematically draws
attention to its status as an
artifact in order to pose
questions about the relationship
between fiction and reality.
Metafiction does not let the
Metafiction can include…
A story about a person writing a story A story about a person reading a story
A story in which the author is a character in the story Characters who express awareness that they are in a
work of fiction and realize they can influence the story.
The juxtaposition of fictional characters and historical
figures.
A narrator reads a story to the reader, sometimes taking
breaks to make comments on the story or to introduce characters who are also taking part in listening to the story.
The narrator intentionally appears in the story either
NOT the same as a Framed Narrative! (BUT both can be used together)
Frame Story/Narrative: A story within a story.
Ex. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Robert Walton writes letters to his sister telling Dr.
Frankenstein’s story, Dr. Frankenstein tells the monster’s story, and the monster even tells the story of the family he lived with briefly.
Ex. Hamlet: a play within a play. Hamlet uses a play based on what has already happened in the play to test his evil uncle to see if he murdered his father.
Metafiction in Film
I’m going to show you clips from 3
movies
In journals, write down the
characteristics of metafiction that you recognize.
How do each of these movies use
Stranger Than Fiction
(2006)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
tfvwUlCQvkE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
The Neverending Story
(1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
xsVLb5ibKfM
The book (and film) is about a young boy
reading a novel called The Neverending
Story, who eventually finds himself pulled into the book’s world and becomes a major player in its events.
Monty Python & The Holy Grail (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= nMUnbNPCoSw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HjOeCvm2I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Exit Ticket: ½ page
To what extent is
The Things
They Carried
an example of
metafiction? Smoothly
Tuesday: The Things They Carried
Theme Posters
On the provided paper, create a theme poster with your
assigned group for assigned section of the reading.
This poster should highlight a prominent theme in your
given reading section that is supported by specific quotes.
The poster should answer:
Why is this theme important?
How does O’Brien create this theme?
What part of O’Brien’s writing technique best illustrates the theme?
The poster will need to “stand alone” because you will
