January 10

Happy New Year everyone!

Before break you were asked to check the blog prior to the first day of class. Those who remember this simple instruction will be richly rewarded, as follows:

Tomorrow you will have an in-class essay exam in which you be asked to compare Three Cups of Tea with The Kite Runner. To prepare, review your active reading notes and be sure to bring them with you. You may refer to them (if you have time) during the essay, but remembering them well will help you more than shuffling through them in the limited time you have to write.

HERE IS THE QUESTION YOU WILL BE ANSWERING:
What have you learned about the benefits and risks of helping people in a different group or culture? How can these lessons help people in Afghanistan—or Haiti, or even Americans who experience traumatic events in our communities (such as last week’s shooting in Tuscon, Arizona)?

You MAY include your own experience, or the experience of someone you know who has tried to make a positive contribution to the lives of others. You MUST support your answer with at least two quotes (each) from The Kite Runner and Three Cups of Tea that you think exemplify the differences between fiction writing and nonfiction writing.

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Tomorrow we will also have a vocabulary list and a journal topic; see January 11 post to get a head start and avoid having to do everything for homework tomorrow night. (If you need background on the shooting in AZ, click on the rollover link in the journal topic.)