Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Happy New Year!

It's been great seeing everyone back at school this week. I am one of the lucky people who actually likes her job, and one big reason for that is YOU. I have great students - thank you!

I'm doing a little research today for our next unit on Macbeth, and I found some succinct definitions of common literary terms I'd like to share. These are from a chapter of Carol Ann Tomlinson and Caroline Cunningham Eidson's book Differentiation in Practice. The chapter is written by Lyn Fairchild.

Here's how she defines "motif," a word we've been using a lot in our talk about McCarthy: "A motif is a physical element (such as blood) or some other image or idea that, in itself, does not have any particular meaning or represent any higher truth; it just is. However, when an author uses this element repeatedly in various places within a literary work, a reader can begin to draw conclusions about a higher truth or meaning."

Many of you are drawing fascinating conclusions about the motifs in ATPH and The Road.

As we begin Macbeth, I'll post Fairchild's definitions of paradox and oxymoron. It'll be something to look forward to!

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