Don't forget--your first posting and your first response for this nine weeks are due by 2/25/08!
In addition to types of nonfiction (e.g., memoir, news article, essay, etc.), there are various nonfiction structures. For example, NC 7th graders learn about problem/solution structure in great depth as they prepare for the writing test. Other common nonfiction structures include cause/effect, compare/contrast, sequence/chronological order, and description. (Some include "question/answer" as an additional category.)
Identify a piece of nonfiction writing that you would like to share with your classmates. Include a summary of the piece, your reason(s) for recommending it, and what you believe to be the text structure. Justify your choice of structure using information from the text.
If you would like more information on nonfiction types versus structures, ask me in class. If you are at home, you can check out these links:
Types:
http://www.npusc.k12.in.us/high_school/languagearts/Characteristics%20of%20Nonfiction.pdf
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/files/nonfictionposters.pdf
Structures:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/nonfiction/fiveTextStructures.pdf
http://www.umass.edu/wmwp/ReadingInitiative/Reading%20Strategies%20Page.htm
http://www.somers.k12.ny.us/intranet/reading/signalwords.html
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22 comments:
Hey guys!!!
My peice that I am recommending is The Cage. It is a nonfiction novel about the holocaust. Riva, the main character, continously goes through horrible situations of the holocaust. Just one after the other. Towards the climax, she gets delirious and is sent to the infirmiry. The nurse knows how much she enjoys writing and secretly sneaks pen and paper to her. Riva writes a beautiful poem, and the German officer finds out about it. Instead of getting really angry, the officer notices how she hasn't completely destroyed Riva's feelings, as was her intention. The novel continues, and it is very coincidental how lucky Riva becomes. The german officer favors her, and lets her stay in the hospital longer. I thought that it was a really good book.
At first glance, I thought it was going to really boring, but it was actually pretty cool. No offense, but it was a lot better than Night. although they were both the same conditions. It gave a lot more emotion and description.
Well, this has been bedell24l speaking, and now I am signing out.
HEY!!! THIS IS BEDELL11M AND I READ "STAR SNEAKERS; 100 YEARS OF CONVERSE". THIS PIECE IS ABOUT THE CHANGES IN cONVERSE OVER THE YEARS AND THE CELEBRITIES THAT WORE THEM, MAINLY BASKETBALL STARS. CONVERSE'S CHUCK TAYLOR'S ALLSTARS ARE LIKELY ONE OF THE MOST IONIC AMERICAN SHOE BRANDS EVER. Sorry about the all caps. I would recomend this book to anyone interested in shoes or basketball. Did you know that Wilt Chamberlain wore them when he scored his record high of 100 game points? A few other famous people who wore them were Orlando Bloom, Kurt Cobain, John Travolta, Rocky Balboa, and so many more. Back then, you could only purchase converse in black and white. Now you can purchase them in any color or material under the rainbow. The structure of this story is cause/effect, description, and compare/contrast.
Peace out!
--BEDELL11M
Dear bedell24l,
You've summarized the autobiography; what text structure (description, cause/effect, problem/solution, chronological, compare/contrast)does it represent? How do you know?
-Ms. Bedell
Dear bedell11m,
You mention three types of text structure: cause/effect, description, and compare/contrast. Is there an overall structure, or are there three distinct sections? What clues you in to the structures in this particular piece? Be specific.
-Ms. Bedell
In response to ms. bedell reponding to my post, the overall structure of my piece, Star Sneakers, 100 Years of Converse, would be compare and contrast, because the entire page consists of timelines for comparing converse from then to now. there is desciption, like who wore them and what colors they were in and cause/effect is also on the timeline. what happened to change this style, what caused chuck taylor to join converse in the first place. So actually, i guess the overall structure is a bunch of different little things.
--BEDELL11M
well,
The story of anne frank.
Im sure you've heard of the book the diary of anne frank, well this book is sort of like that except a story instead of a diary.
The story is about, of course, Anne Frank and her struggles as a Jew during World War II. The book starts out with a exposition about how her life is normally and through out the book her life slowly changes. She eventually has to go into hiding and it turns out that her and her families lives are all up to one man who could give them away at any time. She stuggles with the difficulties of of hiding and not being able to do the things that normal teenage girls do. One day she gets caught and her family gets seperated. She has to go to a concentration camp and she has to endure man different obstacles.
I recommend this book because, personally i dont like reading diaries but i do like reading stories. This story gives you a chance to see what people had to go through in the holocaust and how your religion could impact your life. This is a very moving biography about a normal girl taht has to go through extraordinary thing.
Howdy! I am bedell25j, and if I ever get rich, I'll send you all a fruit basket. Anyway, the nonfiction book I read was called "Guiness World Records 2006". In case you didn't know, "Guiness World Records 2006" is a book telling just about every single world record you'll want to know and more. Categories of world records include human body, human achievements, natural world, science & technology, modern society, art & entertainment, engineering, and sports & games. Some records include highest jump by dog, most yo-yo tricks in one minute, largest cellphone, largest annual food fight, first perfect PAC-MAN score, and most batters hit by a pitcher. I would say the text structure of this book is description/list because the whole book is just one big list of world records. I liked this book and I would recommend to people who just like to know random facts. I should also mention that some things in this book can be a little disturbinng and disgusting. Well, that is all for now. Donuts rule, go Obama, and the shortest living woman is 25.5 inches tall.
-bedell25j
Howdy! I am Bedell25j and the highest possible score on PAC-MAN is 3,333,360. This is a response to Bedell24l. When I was in 6th grade, I read "The Cage", and I thought it was a pretty good book for its genre. It is one of the few books that showed not every single person in the concentration camp that wasn't an inmate was a monster (although verry few weren't). The plot seemed kind of slow though, but that was probably because I read it in Mrs. Porterfield's class and she made us read at a rate of 1 chapter per every 2 weeks. I think "Night" is better though because,as I said before, the plot moves kind of slow. Well, now I need to work on other English homework, so goodbye. Donuts rule.
-bedell25j
Hey classmates!!!! I read a piece I chose to show people to never give up and always keep trying or you will get nowhere. It was about a man named George Sovas that was taking snow off his Ex- wife’s roof. While doing what was called a “good deed,” he was suddenly pushed by some ice and fell off his ladder. Buried in face first by snow he struggled to make his way out. Half of his body was cover by snow for an hour and a half. Finally, he remembers that his cell phone was in his pocket and he managed to call 911. I recommend this piece because it showed how important it is to never give up in life. The text structure in this article was cause and effect or problem and solution. This structure was shown by having a conflict, which was him being covered by snow and then having a solution to the conflict, which was him being able to get out of the snow. Here is some article citation information: Jones, Brent. "Good deed leaves man buried upside down in snow." USAtoday (2008):
Bedell13m
Response to bedell24l:
I recommend the Cage as well, its a great book to read and it has a less gritty picture of the concentration camp so its good for younger readers. I disagree with you about what structure it is though. It contains some elements of chronological structure, compare/contrast, and descriptive structure but it is really a mish-mash of all those structures.
sincerly,
bedell27t
Hi bedell27t here,
I read the article: Man's Amazing Recall of Mundane Events Stumps Doctor in the News & Observer. It is about one mans amazing ability to recall mundane events such as "He can tell you it was Aug. 18, 1965 when his family stopped at Red Barn hamburger during a road trip. He was 8 years old at the time. And he had a hamburger of course." this amazing ability is thought to be rare and that his memory is exceptional. The whole stories structure is description because there isn't any action or cause and effect. the story represents an interesting phenomnon that may be common that previously thought.
Sincerly,
bedell27t
Hey guys!
In response to bedell24l...
I also read The Cage and thought it was a really good book. It is very similar to Night, but I agree with you that The Cage gives more description and emotion. Night described more of what was happening to the Jews in general at Auschwitz, and The Cage was more focused on following the story of a specific Jew. This book tells you a lot about the way things were during the Holocaust, and I would reccomend it to all of you.
-bedell10e
Hey guys!
I read a non-fiction newspaper article titled "Clinton Says Debate Remark Not Meant As Farewell." (New York Times 2/22/08)The article talks about Clinton's current position in the election and her views on where she stands. In a recent debate, Cliton made a comment that many people took to mean she expected to lose. She is trying to make it clear that she did not mean that, and that she is still in the race. The structure of this article was probably description with a little problem/solution in it. The problem is that people seem to be giving up on Clinton, thinking she doesn't have a chance. She is trying to find a solution to this problem by finding ways to prove she is still in the race. For the most part, the article is description because it is describing Clinton's campaign.
It is an interesting article and it is definitely important that poeple read articles like this one. You should be informed on what is going on in your country and newspaper articles are a good way to stay informed.
-bedell10e
hey this in response to the cage posting. i have been looking for a good book about the holocaust to read, that's no too gory/depressing but not too boring. this sounds like it could be a good book...I was wondering if anybody considered it too boring/uninteresting.
hey guys !
this is in response to bedell11m's post about converse over they years. I was wondering, what do you think that author's purpose was for writing this piece?
-bedell08m
Bedell24l is back!! In response to ms. bedell, I should say that The Cage has a description structure because throughout the novel, Riva describes the situations in the holocaust, she describes what the holocaust was like. She walks you through all of the horrors, fears and sightings that she witnessed.
In response to bedell27t,
I agree with your ideas about the structures, it is a big mishmash iof description, compare/contrast, I'm not really sure of the chronological, but it also has a little bit of cause and effect.
bedell24l
This is in reply to bedell24l-
I think The Cage sounds great. The holocaust interestes me and it soudns like an over all gerat book. I do like how the way you said that the german officer instead of gettin mad or anything, he sees how he hasnt crushed all her soul. i think that sounds cute. You also didnt mentin it was in some weird way such as diary or anything so i think im going to like it. Thanks!
~bedell17m~
In response to BEDELL08M's response to my post on Star Sneakers; 100 Years of Converse. She asked why would someone write an article on shoes. doesnt matter that they are some of the most poular shoes in america! [jk i dont know for sure!:)] obviously the author felt passionately about converse sneakers, and wanted to share his/her knowledge with the world.
This is BEDELL11M signing off!--
10-4
sup class?!
The book that im recommending to all of you and i would like to share with you, is called, The Innocent Man. The piece of non-fiction is about a women being brutely murdered in the town of Ada, Oklahoma near the home of an aspiring proffessional baseball player named Ron Williamson who has been going down hill recently while being caught up in alcohol,drugs, and women. He is sentenced to death in a trial filled with tainted and messed with evidence and lying witnesses.
I recommend this book because it seems like a thrilling and interesting law and mystery book that will be able to keep your attention. I believe that the text structures are set up to make it look like a story and a legal thriller when these are really strongly researched events. I know this because if i hadnt read the back of the book i would have never know that this book was a non-fiction because of the way that it was strutured. Im pretty sure that the author had to do a number of interviews but he was able to just incooporate the information into a story.
This story is also structured like a cause and effect story. This is because that man Ron Williamson would never have been put in the situation in getting the death penalty if he had made a few better decisions as far as who he hung out around.
bedell04p
I choose an interview with Barack Obama (Obama on the Record). I thought it was a pretty interesting interview and it asked some pretty tough questions. I thought maybe my classmates wanted to read some of his answers. The article starts with a couple questions about the enviroment and then moved on to a lot of other issues. Its a pretty good interview you should read and you might possibly get some answers about Barack. I believe the text stucture is question/answer. It is ann interview which means answers and questions. That seems like the best choice of structure to me.
peace out
J.H.
Hey y'all this is Bedell19m.
In response to bedell24l, this book sounds like an extremely interesting book to read. It's a very inspirational book it sounds like. I hope you got this from the library and if not, could I borrow it some time?
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