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IB Review for Oral Commentary Exam Year 2017 What to Expect 1. You will have 20 minutes to prepare your commentary with the passage. 2. Then, you will write the time you began on your paper to keep track of it. 3. Remember, you must speak non-stop for 10 minutes. I will then ask questions to round out your commentary (5 minutes). They will help you earn more credit for exploring parts of the passage not fully covered or expanding on connections you made. 4. I will tape record your commentary. 5. I will be taking notes during your commentary to write down all that you say. The Day of Your Commentary 1. You may miss ONLY the class period prior to your commentary. During this time, you need to be on campus either relaxing or studying. 2. You do not have to turn in ANY HOMEWORK the day of your commentary or take any reading quizzes. 3. Make sure you are in the front lobby at least TEN MINUTES PRIOR to your appointment. You do not have to bring anything with you. I will have everything you need. Details: Your preparation time will take place in the viewing room. Your commentary will take place in the viewing room. Be in Mrs. Biela’s office when it is time for your appointment. I will come greet you when it is time for you to begin your prep time. When it is time for your preparation, you will be set up in the viewing room with noise canceling headphones. I will give you your passage along with paper and a pen. You will have twenty minutes to prepare for your commentary. After the twenty minutes, I will ask you to stop preparing and come to the other end of the viewing room. There will be a digital clock and tape recorder next to you. Right before pressing record, I will write two times on your paper—the time when you have talked for ten minutes and the end-time for question and answer. That will mark your goal. We will let the tape record for 10 seconds before you begin. Then, you will state your name and candidate number. Jump right into your introduction and commentary. Look at the clock to see when you need to conclude your commentary. You will want to begin your conclusion at nine minutes. IMPORTANT: You may NOT discuss what passage you received with other students. This is considered academic dishonesty. When everyone has completed their commentary, you may discuss but not before. What to Consider— During your 20 minute prep. time: 1. Address the following details: WHO is speaking? TO WHOM? WHAT? WHY? situation, purpose WHERE? WHEN? setting HOW? PATTERNS? structure, form TENSION? contrasts, conflicts, ironies SO WHAT? dominant effect 2. Address connections to other poems/parts of the work. 3. Analyze Literary Structure and Devices: Prose Passage: Narrative a. Narrator i. Dramatized? ii. Undramatized? b. Narrative Distance—Degree of distance between… i. Author and narrator ii. Narrator and characters iii. Character A and Character B c. Levels of Narrative i. Objective ii. Commentary iii. Colored narrative iv. Dialogue or monologue Characterization d. Character traits/personality/character e. Morals/values of character Poem: Speaker Form—structure—stanza—shifts Rhyme and meter Enjambment, sound devices Poetry Meter Rhyme Speaker Stanza Diction Imagery Syntax Fig Lang: metaphor/simile, symbolism, paradox, allusion irony, other tropes Dialogue Narrative Pace Point of View—Levels of narrative: Dramatized: 1st Person Undramatized: 3rd Person Colored by Character’s Thoughts Prose Both: Diction (tone)—detail—imagery—figurative language (metaphor/simile, allusion, irony, symbol, personification, etc.)—syntax Suggestions for Organizing the Commentary Write an outline on the passage to keep you on track during the commentary Intro: Begin with the major issues in the passage/poem that appear in the whole work or the poet’s body of works. Thesis: dominant effect of the passage as it relates to those issues Body: Base structure on the passage’s structure, pattern of imagery, etc. Support with specific references to and explanations of the passage Analyze literary devices IF a particular part of the passage connects to another poem or another part of the work, make the connection here. Conclusion: Completely define dominant effect based upon preceding analysis Make big connections (supported with specifics) to the rest of the work or other poems by the poet. End with the meaning of the whole work, or the poet’s body of work, as this passage reveals it or connects to it. After having annotated the text given to you, make statements in which you “…comment about the theme and the ways the author uses elements such as structure, tone, images, and other stylistic devices to communicate his/her purpose.” - Dominant Effect should be your thesis about the passage. Structuring the essay: Find the pattern of the poem/passage and structure around it. Try to find all the faults of the connection you’ve made. What doesn’t it account for? What evidence does it leave out? Remember that the passage doesn’t have to resolve ambiguities or tension, though it may; it may be about an ambiguity or tension that you simply want to appreciate rather than resolve. REMEMBER EXPOSITORY PARAGRAPH Topic sentence = relates to thesis Transition Example from text Analysis of how it relates to thesis Study Notes 1. Novel/short stories by Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Hills Like White Elephants Suggested study route: Show awareness that these are Modernist texts and fit into the genre of the “Lost Generation”. Make an outline of the plot events/scenes Note roles of different characters and their internal and external conflicts Write a statement of meaning for the works as a whole (consider moral and tone) Make a list of major themes Consider the primary symbols, images, allusions, patterns/motifs, and the nature of dialogue in each of the texts (consider the “Iceberg Theory”) 2. Novel/short stories by Kate Chopin, The Awakening, The Storm, The Story of an Hour Suggested study route: Review the cultural context of the author Make an outline of the plot events Note roles of different characters Write a statement of meaning for the works as a whole (consider the moral and tone) Make a list of major themes Make sure to know the general progression of the parts of the novels and stories (what happens when) 3. Poems by John Donne Suggested study route: Review the cultural context of the author (Donne- 17th century Metaphysical poet). Re-read the poems from the poetry packet. Write a statement of meaning for each (i. e. what is the overall meaning, impression of the poem). Note major images/devices and what each poem is about. List major motifs, repeated themes for each author. Things to Remember Based on IB’s Suggestions for Success Pulled from the IB subject guide: Students are expected to demonstrate their ability to communicate in a sustained and organized manner. The commentary should not be a series of unconnected points concerning the text. Students are expected to use a register appropriate to the commentary. During the commentary students must focus only on the text. If the text is an extract from a novel, for example, the relationship to the whole text or other works by the writer should be mentioned only when relevant. Students should not use this activity as an opportunity to discuss everything they know about the larger text. They are encouraged to integrate responses to the guiding questions into the commentary. Pulled from the IB Subject Report for 2005: “The best commentaries achieved coherence with a clear central thesis that was systematically developed through thematic or structural approaches.” “The few best commentaries were effective and engaging, detailed, even occasionally original. They were a pleasure to listen to, and they had obviously been a pleasure for the candidates to deliver.” “Recall that context can and should also include character revelation, thematic development, the interplay of imagery, changes in tone, and so on.” “The best candidates succinctly compared the treatment of themes, imagery and tone in the poems they were given with other specific examples by the same writer (or other writers, when the “work” included two or more writers).” Grade Equivalents Total of 30 Points 1: 0-5 2: 6-10 3: 11-13 4: 14-16 5: 17-20 6: 21-23 7: 24-30