Just warming up…. Anne O. Tate, an overlooked, underpaid, eclectic educator of the McCarthy era, was recently nominated for an honorary Teacher of the.

Just warming up….

Anne O. Tate, an overlooked, underpaid, eclectic educator of the McCarthy era, was recently nominated for an honorary Teacher of the Year Award. The announcement has been long-in-the-works. While America primed herself for Thanksgiving 2007, the Montopolis, Texas chapter of the national Lemming Society embarked on a quest to locate the remains of Tate, its most notorious supporter. Delaying the mission, Lemming followers learned that Tate was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. After more than a decade’s search, the Lemming Society isolated a distant member of Tate; ceremonial plans for Tate’s recognition ensued. Ed U. Tate, Anne’s second cousin, five times removed, shed a tear as he received Anne’s new headstone:

Anne O. Tate

Never Again Unnoted Teacher 

The above story best illustrates what literary term?

Textual Functions

A few things that text CAN DO…

DESCRIBE or LIST

• The text paints a picture with words or gives a series of items that suggests a picture. The text is characterized by lots of adjectives and sensory words.

• EXAMPLE: William Warbler possessed luxurious, green and red feathers that fanned elegantly behind him.

EXPLAIN

• The text teaches or shows the steps of a process. It gives the reasons for each phase of a situation.

• EXAMPLE: To prepare a turkey, first soak it in a brine mixture overnight. Next, stuff its backside and tie its legs together. This helps maintain the natural juices of the bird.

COMPARE

• The text shows similarities of characters, events or items.

• EXAMPLE: Both the tom turkeys proudly puffed their black chests while displaying their equally impressive tail-feathers.

CONTRAST

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• The text shows differences in characters, events or items.

• EXAMPLE: Male and female turkeys behave very differently. On Thanksgiving, female turkeys will ask directions for the quickest way off the farm, whereas male turkeys will spend hours circling the chopping block before asking for help.

REBUT

• The text offers a counter-argument or the flipside of an issue.

• EXAMPLE: For every ten content carnivores, there are roughly two vegans that swear a tofu turkey is just as good as traditional toms on Thanksgiving. Such plant-loving individuals boast a kinder, healthier, and gentler feeling on this most decadent of holidays.

OFFER PROBLEM and/or SOLUTION

• The text raises a problem or presents a solution.

• EXAMPLE: William Warbler became a pest on the farm. He gobbled constantly, which kept Farmer Brown awake at night. Farmer Brown could not function without a full eight hours of sleep, so he shot ole William dead.

OFFER CAUSE and/or EFFECT

• The text offers the reason or result of something.

• EXAMPLE: The turkey was painfully hungry so began rooting around for worms. When the man was mistaken for food, his face skewed with embarrassment.

DEVELOP CHARACTERS

• The text shows how a character thinks, feels or reacts - often through actions or dialogue.

• EXAMPLE: Mrs. Brown was not a traditional farmer’s wife. She loathed family feasts, hated the tedious tasks attached to Thanksgiving and was, in fact, so put off by the event, that she could scarcely remember where she put the turkey.

ESTABLISH TIME OR COURSE OF EVENTS

• The text presents events that led to a particular situation.

• EXAMPLE: For years William Warbler endured the wrath of Farmer Brown. In 1910, he organized a covert movement that mobilized thousands of turkeys across the Southwest. Within a decade, Warbler amassed an army primed for offensive revenge.

INTRODUCE TURNING POINT / FURTHER PLOT

• The text leads to a response or argument – often through a question, new conflict or introduction of new character.

• EXAMPLE: In a fowl sea, Warbler cast his eye. He simply had to find her before Brown’s cross-hairs did! But how would he spot his beloved hen in the feathery horizon?

OFFER PRO’s and CON’s

• The text weighs the good and/or bad of something.

• EXAMPLE: William Warbler could see how a wild hen provided him more support on the battlefield, but he also appreciated the tender daintiness of the fairer domestic hen.

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SUMMARIZE

• The text recaps an overview or restates a beginning, middle and end of something.

Practice: read the following text and decide on ONE function it does perform, and FOUR it does not. Write your affirmative response on the thumb of your hand-turkey, and your negatives on the fingers.• Hunting the wild

turkey is one of the safest sports there is - much safer than riding a bike to the corner store or playing a few sets of tennis. In fact, turkey hunting is four times safer than playing Ping-Pong, and you are 50 times more likely to take a trip to the emergency room if you play golf.