We will begin working on creating our own commercials for the next unit.

But first—

this week we will finish up our About a Boy essays. We will work on our essays on Monday, so be sure your outlines are chock full of quotations. This will make it simple to write a draft in class, since you know what you will write; you just have to concentrate on keeping a formal tone and communicating your ideas clearly. If you are stuck, email me or come talk to me before school on Monday. This is the longest essay we’ve written, but Hornby gives us plenty to write about. We are taking it slow to make sure each step is perfect before we move on. Plus, this assignment will be graded several times. Some of you are falling behind; this is a good chance to catch up. As always, you can raise your grade on a paper if you come talk with me about it and turn in a revised copy. If you don’t finish the draft in class, take it home so we can edit them in class on Tuesday.

The advertising unit will begin late this week or early next week, depending on when we wrap up the essays. Be thinking about a product you would like to sell, while finding commercials and advertisements that employ the rhetorical devices we discussed last week.

If you did not turn in your three ads with analysis pages today, please do so tomorrow. I will take off some points for lateness, but that is better than a zero.

If you were absent Tuesday or Wednesday, get the rhetoric in advertising worksheet here. If you have any questions, email me or talk to me in class tomorrow.

We will be writing an essay on Friday over chapters 1-28, with an emphasis on content from 17-28. I have given you the prompt early for previous essays, but I will not be doing so this time. Your essays have improved dramatically since the beginning of the year, and I believe you can go into this one without knowing the prompt ahead of time. I want you to read closely and journal thoroughly in preparation for this exam. Remember:

• Write the name of the author (Nick Hornby) and title (About a Boy [underlined])
• Thesis statements are important. They should let your reader know how you will answer the prompt.
• Quotations from the text are necessary. Include page number and author for each quotation: (Hornby 7).
• Cover the story up to chapter 28. We are near the end of the novel, so everything is important.
• Watch grammar, spelling (look it up if you don’t know) and punctuation.
• Personal pronouns and contractions should never be used.

Continue reading About a Boy this weekend. We will have a quiz over the next four chapters (17-20) on Monday. Have a good break!

If you were absent today, here is a copy of the Character Analysis worksheet.

You may use the worksheet and your journal to write the essay tomorrow. Here is your prompt:

Choose one element of the author’s style (diction, tone, characterization) or the novel’s theme and compare and contrast this element as it applies to each main character, Marcus or Will, throughout Chapters 1-16. How are these elements used before and after the characters meet? Use examples from the text to support your argument.

We wrote over a major theme before the last essay (connection and emotional bonds). You may elaborate on this theme for the essay today.

Just a reminder:
Be sure you have read through chapter 10 in About a Boy and filled your journal accordingly. Some of your essay grades suffered because you had insufficient evidence from the text. The essay on Friday will be structured like the last one, so plan accordingly.

Look over the “Words to Know” handout and your notes from class for definitions of literary devices that may be in About a Boy. You don’t need to find all of them, but look for as many as you can.

There will be a quiz over chapters 7-10 on Tuesday, and 11-12 on Wednesday, if you would like to read ahead.

Please let me know if you have any questions.