Quick info: Radio Show that focuses on topic applied to each book

Work: Planning due Wednesday by midnight/show due Friday by the end of the school day (dropped in MP3 format and posted on Podbean).

Topics: groups will focus on different topics regarding the reading of each individual book.

Length of Podcast: 10 Minutes

Points: 30 per week

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You will be creating a weekly podcast show together.  The show will be recorded on one laptop as a group and shared in order for you to upload the show to your podbean account.  The goal of this activity is to use group dynamics to attack elements of your story.  You will be given various instructions as to the weekly goal (which will change from week to week).  You will each meet on Monday regarding the goal.  The meeting will last around 5 minutes.  Each individual will worry about his or her goal and prepare for the show.  Each individual will post their game plan for the show on his or her wiki site (in the podcast show folder on the podcast page). The recording of the show will take place between Wednesday and the due date Friday.  You will always be given 15 minutes in class each Friday.  This may or not be enough time.  You might need to work on this together at other times between Wednesday and Friday.

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You must have: Intro music, a group name, equal talk time from members, and a consistent format.  The format is basically how your show is put together.  The topics will change each week, but your logical show progression will remain unchanging.  

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Topics

--Week 1 (week of Oct. 24th 2011)

Conduct a close-reading of one element from a passage or two in your collective novel so far.  Make sure you pick a passage or a part that seems to have significance. Decide the roles in your group and how this task should be equally divided.   

--Week 2 (week of Nov. 7th  2011)--->you should be reading the same pages each week

For this week your group will consider the social and historical values your novel reflects and embodies.  Your task, as a group, is to take the idea into pieces and decide what you should research.  Remember, you should be going beyond the basics and obvious.  You need to research and think your way through this by making connections and providing commentary.  You will need to go deep and have a conversation with the text in the context of your individual and group role.

--Week 3 (week of Nov. 14th)

For this week you guys will focus on a deeper understanding of the psychoanalytical Criticism as per class discussions and lessons as well as your own inquiry into the topic.  One of the sources you can use is at the Purdue Owl site. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/04/ You can also fish around for additional information such as Mr. Caruso's site: http://homepage.mac.com/acaruso/mr_caruso/page14/page35/page87/page87.html

or this chunky site: http://www.ap.krakow.pl/nkja/literature/theory/psychoanalysis_in_literature.htm

--Week 4 (week of Dec. 1st 2011) (Click Here for Style info)

For this week, your group is going to focus on the style of your writer.  You want to have a lively discussion about what makes your writer have a unique style.  For a writer, words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters reveal the DNA of a writer's style.  This unique thumbprint can be analyzed with different parts.  Your task this week is to break up the parts and have a real discussion about your writer.  Your should include some samples form your text that support your findings.  Enjoy and make this one your best yet.

--Week 5 (week of Dec. 20 2011)

For this week (a four day week), your group will take on character development and characterization.  It is said (by myself and others) that stories are all about the conflict and the characters.  Decide how you want to handle this topic.  Remember, your goal is to have a deep understanding of this book.  Is there one character that you can do justice to as a group in analyzing and categorizing him or her?  Should you focus on a few?  Remember that less is more.  Make your choice and think deep analysis vs general overview.

--Week 6 (week of January 3rd 2012)

For this week, you will focus on the narration style of your book.  This is an important issue to consider in a novel.  What do we learn from the narrator of the text?  Can he or she be trusted? Narration is not to be confused with prose style which is a choice of words but narrative style is the choice of who is going to be the narrator, who is going to tell the story? We have three basic modes, first person, second person, third person, just like our favorite pronouns.  Identify the type in your group novel and spend time talking about the role it takes in the novel.  Figure out a way to break it down in order to have a really worthwhile discussion.  How much do we learn from the narrator?  Is there an attitude or tone present as words unfold throughout the narration?  This should get you started.  As always, figure out how to break this down.

--Week 7 (week of Nov. 28th 2011)

For this week, you will focus on the use of imagery in your book.  This is something that can be really oversimplified (which is bad).  Images that are provided play a role.  They serve a function (as does everything in a novel).  Your job is to break down.  What qualities and/or abstractions are created from key images.  What is suggested or possible  because of imagery in your novel? 

--Week 8 (week of Dec. 5th 2011)

For this week, you will focus on cultural context of the text and consider what motivates the protagonist.  Nothing happens in a vacuum and the same is true within a text.  What social norms tie him or her (restriction) and what social norms are challenged or defeated?  Each text is different so a reader must carefully look at various elements established by the author.  Gary provost stated, "Once upon a time... something happened to someone, and he decided that he would pursue a goal. So he devised a plan of action,and even though there were forces trying to stop him, he moved forward because there was a lot at stake. And just as things seemed

  as bad as they could get, he learned an important lesson, and when offered the prize he had sought so strenuously he had 
 to decide whether or not to take it, and in making that decision he satisfied a need that had been created by something in 
 his past."  Spend some time thinking of Provost's Classic Dramatic Structure and see how this applies to your text regarding 
 culture and motivation.  Thereare many things going on in the question and you need to define it as a group and "pursue a goal".  

--Week 9 (week of Dec. 12th)

For this week, you will focus on the complex elements of conflict.  Define the majors and the minors as well as how

conflict functions in the book/play. Pay attention to the way conflict is resolved (or not resolved).  What is done to combat

conflict in your text (maybe without trying to resolve it)? What are the various attitudes regarding conflict from major

protagonists and antagonists. What is the functionality of conflict in your little 'ecosystem'.