Exams

Writing your essay...

A Child’s Christmas In Wales

This story is, in essence, a story about the power and manipulation of memory. We read an adult’s recreation of childhood memories, but the cool thing is we never really know if it is the adult speaking or the child speaking--or perhaps it is simply a dream of a recreated perfectness and a desire to return to that perfectness as an adult.

The reality of the exam is for your to answer the prompt--and that might take some research. There is not way for you to be totally ready to write a true analysis after one reading without further study. So research, read again and figure out a direction to go.

Some students get stuck on the setup before the quote. The Setup for the paragraph focuses on the sentence building techniques you have already studied and should be something like this:

When Thomas describes the scene in the garden when he and Jim are “hunting cats,” he employs a variety of figurative writing techniques, including: parallel structure, similes, metaphors, muscular verbs, and images and actions to paint a scene of young boys engaged in imaginative play:

But there were cats. Patient, cold and callous,[parallel structure] our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered, spitting and snarling, they would slink and sidle over the white back-garden walls, and the lynx-eyed hunters, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurl our deadly snowballs at the green of their eyes. The wise cats never appeared. [ Child’s Christmas in Wales.]

[and in your head and heart] Thomas uses parallel structure to blah blah blah...You can even throw in more phrases and sentences in your head and heart to further prove your point.

I can help you in class, but don’t wait for that time. Get started writing now.

Here is an essay written by a Fenn Student--and a good one: https://www.thefennvoice.org/nicholas2019/2018/12/a-childs-christmas-in-wales-literary-analysis.html

And another by Timmy Smith: https://www.thefennvoice.org/smith2019/2018/12/a-childs-christmas-in-wales.html

 

More Resources:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/childs-christmas-wales-dylan-thomas-1955

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Child%27s_Christmas_in_Wales

And another good essay!

https://thelifeofhenry.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/literary-analysis-of-the-dylan-thomas-story-a-childs-christmas-in-wales/

 

Get at it. Words will come...


Exam Prep Portfolio

Fitz Freshman English 

Mid-Year Exam Prep Portfolio

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Failing to plan is the same as planning to fail
~Ben Franklin

Your mid-year exam is composed of four parts. Share with me as Last Name Midyear. I estimate it will take six-eight hours to thoughtfully work through this prep sheet. Four to five hours will be in in class time. The rest is on your own—so “Eat your cow” lest the King will have your head.

  1. The first part is this Exam Prep Portfolio. Complete this over the course of the next week. It is meant to mimic the amount of time you should spend preparing for a major exam.

  2. The second part is to write five Exam Prep Metacognition’s. Three this week and two next week.. Be sure to put your metacognition’s in this portfolio in a timely way!

  3. During the exam period, comment thoughtfully on your classmates’ “Power of Tradition” narrative paragraphs and “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” essay. Copy and paste your comments into the attached “Commenting Sheet.” 

  4. The final task is to write a 350 word reflection/metacognition "after" finishing the exam that explores your exam experience. Post the metacognition at the top of your exam portfolio.

And then you are off until January. I do appreciate all of the hard work you have done during this first half of the year. 

 

Exam Prep Portfolio

Download Freshman Mid-Year Exam

Resources...to use as you need them