Transcript Writing Workshop & ALBD Objectives: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9

USE YOUR TIME
WISELY BECAUS
WE ARE LIMITED
HOW MUCH TIM
WE HAVE. THE
ASSIGNMENT IS
DUE AT THE EN
OF THIS MONTH

In a group of 3 –
share your
narrative.

In A Lesson Before Dying Grant struggles with the
notion of whether people can change their own
nature and by doing so effect their own
environment. Different characters represent the
two views.
◦ Protagonists - The individualist faction, which
included Vivian, Tante Lou, Reverend
Ambrose, believed that a man is capable of
determining his own destiny.
◦ Antagonists - The fatalist faction, which
included Sheriff Guidry, Henri Pichot, and
Professor Antoine, believed that race
determines your fate.
◦ Jefferson struggles to overcome his fatalist
attitude and to understands his own
importance as a symbol of pride and dignity
for the entire black community.
1.
How does Grant
view himself and
his community?
Describe his
existential crisis.
1. * See the next slide
for possible answer
1.
The main conflict of A Lesson Before
Dying lies within Grant himself.
He struggles to manage in the racist white
society, his primary struggle is with his own
mind. As he says to Vivian, he cannot face
Jefferson because he cannot face himself and
his own life.
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Is Jefferson or Grant the hero of the
story? What evidence supports this?
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List the specific traits for each of the
prototypes of the hero.
Consider the hero archetypes and how books
you have studied fit into particular categories.
Consider which categories Grant and Jefferson
fall into. Support your response.
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Hero is of national or legendary significance.
Hero often refuses at first to begin his quest.
Hero undergoes many adventures on a long
journey to unknown places.
Hero receives supernatural aid or intervention.
Conflict is in the form of battles or feats.
Hero is handsomely rewarded
and/or mythologized.
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Hero has a dark and troubled past.
Hero is in some form an outlaw or has no status
in society, so he must wander on fringes of
society.
Hero rejects values, rules, attitudes of society
and political establishment.
Hero seeks to establish his own rules and ethics.
He often does “the wrong thing for the right
reasons.”
We are sympathetic with the hero despite
distinctly negative character traits—he is often
angry, crude, selfish or even dishonest.
Hero goes on a (sometimes obsessive) quest for
self-actualization.
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Hero is of noble stature and be highly regarded.
Hero commits a tragic mistake due to a character
weakness, also known as tragic flaw or hamartia.
He usually falls prey to his own hubris or
overarching pride.
Hero’s error in judgment leads to his/her demise.
Hero experiences a reversal of fortune and
eventually has an epiphany in which he takes
responsibility for causing his own misfortune.
The story culminates in catharsis or emotional
outpouring, in which audience feels pity for
the hero and fear that we may be like him.
Hero is a person of lower status or less worth or
consideration.
 Hero commits a tragic mistake due to a character
weakness, also known as tragic flaw or hamartia.
 Hero’s error in judgment leads to his/her
demise.
 Hero may die without any epiphany of his
destiny.
 Hero may not have the needed catharsis
to bring the story to a close.
 Hero may suffer without the ability to
change the events that are happening to
him.

Is Jefferson or Grant the hero of
the story? What evidence
supports this?
Film to Movie Comparison
A Lesson Before Dying –
The book is written by Ernest Gaines in 1993 and the movie is
directed by Joseph Sargent in 1999
RL.9-10.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence ; Students should demonstrate the ability
to read a fictional passage or text, understand and articulate what the text directly & indirectly
states in order to make an assumption about or respond to prompts from the text.
RL.9-10.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development
over the course of the text
1.
How DO specific characters, THE setting, and elements of the plot reveal
and contribute to the theme of the text? Identify and cite text to thoroughly
support YOUR response.
1.
IN YOUR TASK FORCE - write a summary of the text that is free of bias and
personal opinions.
1.
WHO ARE THE main and subordinate CHARACTERS IN ALBD? Round and flat?
2.
Dynamic and static?.
What is Grant’s motivation?
How do characters conflict with and influence each other? How do
characters respond and change as the plot moves forward?
3.
WHAT incidents in ALBD further the plot? Reveal character traits directly or
indirectly? Provoke characters to make decisions based upon the incident?

Comma splice: use of a comma to join two
independent clauses
◦ Ex: She went home that night, she just wanted to be
alone.
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Fix it:
◦ Add a conjunction
◦ Use a semicolon
◦ Separate the sentences into two
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Ex: She went home that night, for she just
wanted to be alone.
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A lot happened in my first year of high school, I
have to say it was all a lesson learned on who you
can and cannot trust.
I always get sidetracked by any small noise, this
particular noise happened to be the sound of one
of the meanest girls in sixth grade.
I always loved making my parents proud, they
were my mentors so I had to show them what I
could do.
http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/ph_hss_mycomp
lab_25/75/19253/4928996.cw/index.html#topo
fquiz1

Can join two sentences together.
◦ Ex: Jimmy took my suitcase upstairs. He left his own
bag in the car.
Jimmy took my suitcase upstairs; he left his own
bag in the car.
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If a sentence has too many commas, use a
semicolon to join them instead.
◦ Ex: I wrote to Ann, Ramona, and Mai, and Jean
wrote to Charles, Latoya, and Sue.
I wrote to Ann, Ramona, and Mai; Jean wrote to
Charles, Latoya, and Sue.

When you are listing things, use semicolons to
join items that already contain commas.
◦ Ex: They visited Phoenix, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico;
and San Antonio, Texas.
◦ Ex: Mr. Schultz, my science teacher; Ms. O’Hara, my
English teacher; Mrs. Gomez, my math teacher; and Mr.
Jones, my social studies teacher, attended the seventhgrade picnic.
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DO NOT use semicolons to join an independent
clause with a dependent clause or phrase.
◦ Ex: I really wanted to go home; but couldn’t.
◦ Ex: As if she read his mind; he walked to the door.
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The contestants came from Dubuque, Iowa Memphis,
Tennessee and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I got all dressed up for the party, however, my best friend
wore jeans.
Berman is a difficult language to mater, however, if you
plan to be a scientist, you may want to study this
language.
The roof was leaking, and the walls were sagging,
therefore, the Smiths hired a contractor to repair the
house.
Applies are usually sold by the pound oranges are sold
by the dozen.
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Don’t use second person in formal writing.
◦ You (also thee, thou, thy—but I don’t think you’ll be
tempted to use these)
◦ Letters and “How-tos” are different.
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An informal style may make listeners feel more
comfortable when you are speaking, but a formal
writing style can make a good impression.
You should sleep eight hours each night.
(informal)
One should sleep eight hours each night. (formal)
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Too bad, because the three year old sitting in
the booster seat next to you wants to scream
at the top of her lungs.
Running long distances in the rain is not the
first thing that comes to mind when you think
of wrestling.
It’s like when you run until you can’t feel your
legs anymore.
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Stay in one tense throughout your entire
writing piece.
Don’t shift between past and present tense.
◦ Ex: I was so excited to go home. I arrive and tell my
mom how much I can’t wait to greet my sister.
◦ ALL PAST: I was so excited to go home. I arrived
and told my mom how much I couldn’t wait to greet
my sister.
◦ ALL PRESENT: I’m so excited to go home. I arrive
and tell my sister how much I can’t wait to greet my
sister.
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I tell her to wake up, and she ignored me.
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He screamed in my face, so I tell my mom.
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I laughed so hard, I start crying.
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Write your name on folder.
◦ Last, First.
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Put your name and information on your Cover Sheet.
Read through your comments and rubric.
Complete the feedback section.
Then go through your essay and fix places where you
made any of the following errors:
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Comma splice
“You”
Semicolon misuse
In consistent verb tense
If you don’t have any errors there, go through and
see how you might combine some of your sentences
using commas and conjunctions or semicolons to
make your writing flow more smoothly.