Wednesday, May 28

We began class by close reading the chapter"Father" from the book Living Up the Street. This is Daily Assignment #19.

Following the close reading, we had about 30 minutes of time for typing our memoirs. With five minutes remaining, everyone printed a copy of their work thus far for Mr. Andrews and myself to review. If you were not in class today to print out your draft, please email it to me at ncliedl@gmail.com.

Tuesday, May 27

Today was a memoir work day. Daily Assignment #18 accompanied today's work. Rough drafts are due on Friday.  

Friday, May 23

Today we continued analyzing memoir writing, reading an excerpt from This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff and watched some of the accompanying film. Our work today was Daily Assignment #17.

Thursday, May 22

We began today by analyzing a passage of Richard Wright's Black Boy. The passage uses exceptional description to set the scene. To write a successful memoir, you will also have to use similarly vivid description. 

Following our close reading of Black Boy, we worked on our memoirs for the remainder of the hour. You will be marked on your productivity and in class work for every day we work on memoirs for the remainder of the quarter. You have to be here to get points. Each day you can earn 5 daily work points. If you are on your phone or not working productively, you will receive 1 or 2 points out of 5. 

Tuesday, May 20 and Wednesday May 21

We got started on our written memoirs. To help us get started, we completed Daily Assignment #15, in which we brainstormed some ideas, narrowed them down, and finally, chose one, which we outlined in greater depth. Before you begin writing your memoir, you must complete brainstorming and outlining to show you're ready to write!

Monday, May 19

Three weeks left!!! Today we finished "The Things They Carried" with students reading independently. To wrap up the book, we had a short quiz which is Daily Assignment #14. 

Friday, May 16

We began the chapter "Lives of the Dead," which is the final chapter of the book. The big question we looked at is "How do the different characters/soldiers deal with death?"

Additionally, I provided an overview of the final project, which is a 2-3 page written personal memoir and some kind of visual presentation. Students will present during final exam time during the finals week.

Finally, we had some fun working with Figurative Language, which is Daily Assignment #13. 

Thursday, May 15

Today we read the chapter "Night Life." Our focus was on Narrative Perspective/Point of View, which was Daily Assignment #12.

Monday, May 12 to Wednesday May 14

Mr. Liedl was out during this time. We made progress in the book, completing the chapter "In the Field" and getting started on "Ghost Soldiers."

During this time, we added Daily Assignment #11 and Notebook Assignment 4.10.

Friday, May 9

Today we worked on a Criss Cross puzzle with vocabulary and characters from The Things They Carried. This is Daily Work #10.

Thursday, May 8

Following our independent reading, we worked on Notebook Assignment 4.9 and responded to quotes about courage. Next, we watched more of Tim O'Brien's lecture, focusing on "Ambush" and how truth is not absolute and can evolve. To get through the book more quickly, we started jumping around a bit, reading "Good Form" and "Notes." As always, it's your responsibly to get caught up with the text if you missed class. 

Purpose: Explore how truth can evolve and change. 

Essential Question: Is truth an absolute, fixed thing?

Wednesday, May 7

Today we completed two, related chapters "The Man I Killed" and "Ambush." We took a class vote on whether the story was true and then heard from author Tim O'Brien on its accuracy. As we've found before, the "truth" in "The Things They Carried" is rarely black and white. The "truth" is usually somewhere in between.

Daily Assignment #9 is an exit slip which relates to these two chapters. Borrow a book from class or read Sparknotes to get caught up if you missed and are behind. 

Tuesday, May 6

Today we finished "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong." In groups, we read the chapters "Stockings" and "Church." Then students discussed and completed a worksheet together on those chapters.

Purpose: Analyze and discuss "Stockings" and "Church."

Essential Question: How can fiction help us understand the truth?

Monday, May 5

We finished up the quizzes (Daily Assignment 4.7) from Friday and also finished reading "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong." Notebook Assignment 4.8 went along with our reading of the chapter.

Purpose: Analyze and discuss "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong."

Essential Questions: Is the story true? Why or why not? What parts are true?

Friday, May 2

Today we began listening to the chapter, "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong." We also took a quiz, which is Daily Assignment #7.

Purpose: Support your ideas/opinions with textual evidence (quotes).

Essential Question: Did I use evidence from the book to support my idea/opinion?

Thursday, May 1

We read just one chapter, "The Dentist," from "The Things They Carried."

For the remainder of the hour we used vocabulary.com to study words from the book which will be on our quiz tomorrow.

Purpose: Master vocabulary from the book.

Essential Question: Can I use each word correctly in a sentence?

Wednesday, April 30

We finished reading "How to Tell a True War Story," discussed the chapter, and brainstormed the many definitions of a "true war story" provided by O'Brien. Next, we watched a TED Talk about soldiers in the Iraq War and discussed the video.

Purpose: Analyze O'Brien's definition of a true war story.

Essential Questions: 1) What's a true war story, according to O'Brien?
2) Why is it difficult to talk about war?

Tuesday, April 29

We started reading the chapter "How to Tell a True War Story," discussed key passages in the chapter, and completed Daily Assignment 4.6. Additionally, we added three words (comrade, rectitude, and credibility) to our vocabulary list, Notebook Assignment 4.3.

Purpose: Analyze "How to Tell a True War Story."

Essential Questions: 1) What does O'Brien say about true war stories?
2) Which definition of a true war story do you prefer?

Monday, April 28

We again began class with about 10 minutes of independent reading. Next, we wrote in our notebooks for Notebook Assignment 4.7. Finally, we read the chapters "Enemies" and "Friends" and discussed their significance.

Purpose: 1) Make a personal connection to the text.

2) Discuss key passages of the book in small groups.

Essential Questions: 1) What's the main point of the chapters "Enemies" and "Friends"? 

Friday, April 25

We began class with 10 minutes of independent reading as we will do for the remainder of the year. Next, we listened to the rest of the chapter "On the Rainy River" and discussed some key passages. For the last ten minutes of class, students worked on Daily Assignment #5, which can be picked up from the shelf at the front of class. 

Thursday, April 24

Today each student selected a memoir from a choice of 20-25 books. We independently read for the rest of the class. For the remainder of the year, we will begin class with 10-15 minutes of independent reading of a memoir of your choice.

Purpose: Select a memoir that you want to read.

Essential Question: What kind of memoir do you want to read?

Wednesday, April 23

Today we discussed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) today and in the book. We looked at the story of Pat Tillman, an NFL player who joined the Army Rangers and served in Afghanistan. Yesterday, was the tenth anniversary of Tillman's death. The details of his death remained a mystery for some time. For several years, the Army stated Tillman was killed by militants, but later admitted he had been killed by friendly-fire. Steven Elliot, a fellow Army Ranger, recently came public, stating that he believes he may have fired the shot which killed Tillman. 

Additionally, we covered some vocabulary for the chapter "On the Rainy River." This is Daily Assignment #4. There is a worksheet to help you through.

Purpose: 1) Learn about PTSD today and in the book.
2) Make a text-to-self connection.

Essential Questions: 1) How do individuals/characters in the book deal with PTSD?
2) If you were in Tim's situation and got drafted, what would you do?

Tuesday, April 22

Back from Spring Break and into the "home stretch." Stay strong and persevere.

We read and discussed the chapter "Spin" and began the chapter, "On the Rainy River." Refer to Sparknotes to get caught up if you missed.

We added a character to our character charts (Notebook 4.4) and also had Notebook Assignment 4.6. 

Sunday, April 13

Mr. Liedl got married.

Friday, April 11

Spring Break is finally upon us! Rejoice!

Today we watched a couple videos on the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement:
1) How the Vietnam War Changed America
2) Anti-Vietnam War Movement Documentary
Watch these videos and write some commentary. This is Notebook Assignment 4.5.

Thursday, April 10

Today we finished the first chapter, "The Things They Carried," as well as the second chapter, "Love." We also worked on Daily Assignment #3, The Things You Carry. Refer to the Daily Assignments page for details. 

Wednesday, April 9

As we continued the first chapter, students made a character chart table for Notebook 4.4 assignment. There was also an exit slip, which is Daily Work assignment #2.

Purpose: Analyze and make inferences about the characters.
Examine the writing style of chapter one.

Essential Questions: How are the characters introduced and developed?
What do you notice about O'Brien's writing style?

As I mentioned yesterday, if you're behind in the book, refer to Sparknotes to get caught up.

Tuesday, April 8

Today we started reading The Things They Carried. Before that we went over some vocabulary featured in Chapter 1. This is Notebook Assignment 4.3.

Purpose: Learn vocabulary from the first chapter.
Analyze and discuss chapter one.

Essential Questions: How are the characters introduced and developed?
How is the action in the first chapter ordered?

If you missed class, refer to Sparknotes to get caught up. 

Monday, April 7

Our main objective of the day was Notebook Assignment 4.2 parts A and B. I detailed my own personal plot map before we worked on author Tim O'Brien's plot map. 

Thus far we've discussed The Things They Carried as a memoir but it cannot be put into a single genre (style, category). The opening of Tim O'Brien's novel identifies The Things They Carried as a work of fiction. In libraries and bookstores, you will find it with other novels. More often than not, however, readers who complete O'Brien's novel feel that they have read a true story, or nonfiction. How can this be the case? Though it might seem confusing, we should read O'Brien's novel through a variety of lenses. At various points, it may read as historical fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir or meta-fiction. O'Brien writes in a unique voice with varying styles, using the following genres:

1) Historical Fiction

2) Memoir

3) Creative Non-fiction

4) Meta-fiction

Friday, April 4

Everyone wrote a five sentence paragraph describing what happened in yesterday's class. Several students shared their version of yesterday's events and I did as well. Next, we voted on whose story was the "most true" and "least true." In hour 2, the class decided that Deron's story was the "most true." Kody's story was determined to be the "most true" for hour 4. For some reason, my version of events was declared "least true" in each hour. The point of this exercise was to show that although we all shared a similar experience in class yesterday, we had different version, different interpretations, of what truly took place.

Refer to Daily Assignment #1 for the day's exit slip.

Purpose: Identify stylistic elements of the memoir genre.

Essential Questions: 1) Can "truth" be interpreted differently?

2) If so, how does one determine which truth is the most true?

Thursday, April 3

We will be reading the amazing and powerful memoir, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. I LOVE this book and I think you will too. Quite simply, it's an incredible piece of writing. It's especially fascinating to me because I lived in Vietnam for two years. Of course, the war ended long ago and Vietnam is a much different place today. However, the "American War," as it's known in Vietnam, still casts a long shadow, both in Southeast Asia and here in the United States (This short video breaks down the war into simple terms.).

Today we delved into some history about the Vietnam War. We viewed this Prezi and I shared some photos from my time in Vietnam. We also watched this incredible time lapse of traffic in Ho Chi Minh City and I talked a little bit about what the country is like today (Here is one more video of the crazy traffic!)


Purpose: Analyze the memoir's setting.

Essential Questions: What do we know about the setting?
How can we describe the setting?

Wednesday, April 2

Mr. Liedl is out today. Essays are due by midnight. You can leave them in the basket or better yet, email them to me at ncliedl@gmail.com

Today in class you are doing a close reading with the substitute.

Purpose: 1) Perform a close reading, annotating the text.
2) Write a one paragraph response to the reading.

Essential Question: Is it ethical for an author to publish a work as non-fiction if it includes fictional elements? Why or why not?

Tuesday, April 1

Today is the final in-class work day for your essays. If you turned in your essay last week or Monday, I will return it to you with some feedback of what I liked and what you can improve. Email your essays to me by midnight on Wednesday at ncliedl@gmail.com

Everyone should focus on their third body paragraph, which focuses on their issue and Their Eyes Were Watching God, and make sure they have included the following:

Women's/guns/marriage rights are supported/violated in Their Eyes Were Watching God because...

AND

The issues with women's/guns/marriage rights in the book are the same as/different than the issues with women's/guns/marriage rights today.

Monday, March 31

ESSAYS: Many of your essays still need to be handed in! Essays were due Friday and are officially late. You will be slightly marked down for handing them in late, but GET THEM IN. To those that have handed them in, I’ve provided you feedback but your grades are a secret. Judging by my comments, you should be able to tell whether your essay needs work or not. All of you could improve and re-submit. Wednesday is the last day to submit any missing work. Everything is late at this point and will be marked down. You can email me your essay until midnight on Wednesday (ncliedl@gmail.com).

QUARTER 4: Today is the first day of fourth quarter. Our focus for Quarter 4 is on memoirs. A memoir is "a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources." We brainstormed about what memoirs are and watched this video explaining them. 

NOTEBOOK 4.1: We did Notebook assignment 4.1: 6 Word Memoirs. Writer Ernest Hemingway famously wrote this six word memoir:

For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.

A touch depressing, huh? 

Notebook 4.1 is to write at least five of your own. They don't have to be personal. They can be about life, how you're feeling today, the Badgers and the Final Four, whatever. We watched this three minute Youtube clip to give some ideas. Here are some of Mr. L's examples: 

• My passions: teaching, traveling, hiking, Packers.
• Oh crap. Getting married on Sunday.
• Minnesota, Madison, California, Vietnam, Chicago, Madison.
• Last Final Four I was 16.
• Just turned 30. Let's do this.
• Sunday Game of Thrones. And marriage.
• Get busy living or get busy dying.
• Eddie Lacy. The new Marshawn Lynch.