Mrs. Seale's 9th Grade English Class

This is a Wordle created by my students in which they shared the one word that best summed up 2009.

Recently my students used the details of a painting to create a thematic thesis statement.  I have created links to my favorites below:

Austin S.

Keirstyn G

Trasten T

Ally P

Luis A

Stoney S

Fill in the Method to Meaning Chart to discover how the details of the painting create an overall meaning.  Next, use the chart to construct a thematic thesis statement.

Mrs. Seale’s example thesis statement:

In the painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegal, the indifference of the plowman, the sheppard, and the fisherman to the plight of Icarus illustrates the insignificance of death in a busy world.

Choose a painting from the list below and create your own thesis statement.  The links to the paintings are below the artwork.  Upload the image and your thesis statement to your blog.

Title of the painting:

Cronus Devouring His Children, Francisco de Goya

(1746-1828)

The Return of Persephone (1891), Frederic Leighton

The Forge of Vulcan (1630), Diego Velazquez

Venus and Mars, Sidney Harold Meteyard

Paul Manship Prometheus Fountain in front of the Rockefeller Center in NYC

Students have all of the handouts and word lists below in their Google Doc Essay Folder.

11 Sentence Essay Guidelines for the story of Demeter and Persephone

Word lists to use for creating a thesis statement:

Strong Verbs

Theme Words

Tone Words

Directions for embedding quotes in your essay

Before you write your 11 sentence thematic essay, review the draft and partial model essay we wrote together.

The story of Demeter and Persephone in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology conveys the unending struggle for power.  Even seasons represent powerful forces that struggle for control.  Hamilton states, “she lost her [Persephone] and in her [Demeter] terrible grief she withheld her gifts from the earth, which turned into a frozen desert” (51).  Hamilton emphasizes the contradiction and conflict of two opposing forces: spring and winter, which are represented by Persephone’s life.  Not only do the seasons battle for control in this myth, but family members struggle to compromise and keep the peace.  (Students found several supporting quotes to represent family struggles & the class verbally explained how the quote supported our statement).  Finally, those in power continually seek control.  (The class also found several quotes to represent how powerful people try to control & then students verbally explained how the quote supported that statement).  The class discussed the 11th sentence and how it wraps up the 3 quotes and supports the thesis.

The best tweets for today are:

Great job on the tweets today.  I had many favorites:

My favorite tweets from Wednesday.  Congrats to my creative students!

Mrs. Seale’s favorite tweets of the day:

Students voted on the best Glog in a Twitter Poll.

The first block winner is

Tyler Ellison.

Click here to view his Glog.

The second block winner is

Hunter Schelle.

Click here to view his Glog.

My four favorite tweets for today: