Literature Circles Post #1

This post is due before class starts on Thursday, Feb. 1.

Now that you've had a chance to get started on your book - either Frankenstein, Black Boy, or The Color of Water - you should be thinking about some of the important themes or big ideas that are starting to emerge.

1. Select one of the themes listed below, or identify your own.


2. Record that theme on your group's wiki page - click here to access the wiki.


3. Write about 100-120 words that explain how the theme is shown in the book so far, and point out an important event that helps illustrate this theme.


4. Remember to put your first name after your posting, so I can keep track of it.

Some possible themes:
racism, isolation, alienation, hunger, family, perseverance, the search for identity

To earn credit, evidence of your work needs to be on the class
wiki. If you have questions or problems, please use the comments section.

Pulling out a passage from the excerpts

This blog posting is due before class starts Monday, Jan. 8. Good luck...

We read three novel excerpts - Frankenstein, The Color of Water, & Black Boy - and you've been asked to highlight passages that made you stop and think, and those that raised questions, and those that provoked a strong reaction. If you're reading carefully and thoughtfully you should have no problem encountering such passages.

Here's your chance to share one of them with your classmates. Your assignment is to post your passage - it should be at least a sentence and most likely a little more. Write a 100-150 word response about why you chose it, what ideas it may raise about the book, how you may connect it to something significant outside the text... or other related thoughts about it.

Cite your passage with the title of the novel and page number like so - "Words and sentences from the book, blah, blah, blah..." (Book title, 12)