Today is Monday, February 13, 2017. We have a full week ahead of us with conferences just around the bend. Your Compass Learning for the week is a "Look Back at Theme". Now that we are getting past the exposition and into the rising action of The Outsiders, it's time to take a good long look back at what THEME is. Many Language Arts and English teachers describe theme in different ways. Some say it's a moral or lesson to take away from the story. Some say it's a reoccurring idea, concept, event, or scenario. They say the theme is kind of a pattern woven throughout the story. I agree with definitions such as these because they both let a student know that theme is a story element that must be searched for. The author never really gives a theme to you directly. A theme is not a topic or subject, and this is where 7th graders get confused. Authors give us the subject and topic directly. The theme, on the other hand, is something that takes analysis.
On that note, do not forget to finish the RAFTS from last week. This week we will be having a RAFTS quiz during our centers this Thursday and Friday. Here is the RAFTS from last week below:
R: Self
A: Mr. C & Class
F: Essay
T: How has a character shown a “Contrast & Contradiction”? What does that “Contrast & Contradiction” mean?
S: EXPLAIN & ANALYZE Well folks, it's time for some bad news. I can no longer get Mind Field here in school. The filters have caught me, and there is no skirting around them. It sucks too because there was a new episode that came out last Wednesday on Freedom of Choice. However, I did manage to find the Vsauce I was looking for. The question Michael Stevens tries to answer is Why Do We Get Bored? Again, it's another good one, and it's loosely connected to the first Mind Field We watched called Isolation where Michael locks himself in a white room for 72 hours. I hope you like the Vsauce for the week. As always, have fun and enjoy!
Love, peace, and taco grease,
Daddy C
P.S. The task is not to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what no one has yet thought about that which everybody sees. -Arthur Shopenhauer
From the cluttered mind of C, Teacher
Kenosha Unified School District
