Please have on your desk:

1. Please have on your desk: Your note taking guide from The Open Window Your Elements of Literature textbook. Something to write on (paper) and with (pencil/pen) Your novel (Which you should be reading RIGHT NOW) 

2. Step One: • Review your note taking guide from The Open Window. Think about the choices the director made in the film interpretation of The Open Window. • Reading “Writing a Thesis Statement” at the top of page 220 in your Elements of Literature textbook. • On your paper, write a thesis statement for an essay evaluating the choices the director made in the film interpretation of The Open Window (page 110).

3. Peer Conference: • Share your thesis statement with the person beside you. • Does it identify the story? • Does it take a stance on the director’s interpretation? • Does it clearly identify the topic of the essay?

4. Step Two: • Read “Organizing the Report” on page 220. • Make an outline for your essay evaluating the director’s choices for the film interpretation of The Open Window.

5. Peer Conference: • Share your outline with the person beside of you. • Does it sort the information into several categories? • Does it sort categories into subtopics? • How is the information organized? • Does the organization make sense? • Does the outline show the introduction? • Does the outline show at least two body paragraphs? • Does the outline show a conclusion?

6. Step Three: • Read “Drafting” on pages 220 – 222. • Review with your group what we have learned about: • Hooks • Topic Sentences • Support • Unity • Elaboration • Clincher sentences • Write the BEST introductory paragraph possible . The topic sentence for the introductory paragraph is your THESIS.

7. Peer Conference: • Evaluate this introductory paragraph: • Liar, liar, pants on fire! Regardless of the differences, the film and text of “The Open Window” emphasize Vera’s constant lying. Since the plot is about a girl who makes up a story to scare a nervous visitor, this was a good choice by the director. The director highlighted Vera’s lying by showing close ups of her face and using camera angles to make her appear different. While most people say the book is always better, the director of The Open Window stayed true to the story by focusing on Vera’s lies. • What feedback would you give? • Now, switch with the person beside you and provide feedback.

8. Round the Room Round-Up! • With a partner, add as much information to each of the posters as possible. • When you are done, have a seat and skim the Language Handbook pages 891+ in the Elements of Literature textbook. • If you see any corrections that need to be made to the posters, please make them. • In your language arts notes, take notes on: • Nouns • Verbs • Adjectives • Adverbs • Prepositions • Pronouns • Conjunctions

9. Editing: • Look at your introductory paragraph. • Rewrite your thesis statement in your notes. • With the assistance of people at your table, identify the: • Nouns • Verbs • Modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) • With the assistance of people at your table, draw one line under your subject and draw two lines under your predicate. • Look at the rest of your paragraph, try to find the subject and predicate in each sentence. If you are unable to do this, you may have written a sentence fragment or a run-on. In this case, you need to revise your sentence! • Use pages 891+ to help you.

10. Completing the essay • Use pages 219 – 223 and pages 891+ of the Elements of Literature textbook to finish writing the first draft of your essay. • Remember to: • Use the correct paragraph format (w.8.2) • Use evidence from the text and movie (W.8.9) • Organize your essay and use elaboration (W.8.8)