“When we make a decision to accept others for who they are, not who we believe they should be, the gift we receive is more tolerance and understanding for ourselves as well. In the story, the brother’s epiphany comes when he acknowledges that he cannot be a part of a world that does not accept Sonny, in all he is, for this world cannot exist without Sonny.”
week 11
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Over the weekend you’re to work on one body paragraph of your “Sonny’s Blues” essay. What you choose to work on is entirely up to you—remember that I will not micromanage your progress from here; it’s up to YOU to determine what you think you need to do to meet the deadlines.
green/white 1 october 26, 27
Today we’ll review body paragraphs by first looking at one I wrote for you. Then we’ll look at another model paragraph on “Sonny’s Blues” in great detail.
At the end of class I’ll ask one or two of you to share your draft with the class.
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Please remember that a thesis and two full body paragraphs are due on Thursday. I’ll walk you through the editing process!
Please note that next week you’ll need to bring Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. You’ll need to bring this everyday through the end of the semester. You’ll also need this unit reader that I put together for you to enhance our study of the novel. You can choose to have a hard copy if you’d like.
green/white 2 october 29, 30
Thesis and body paragraph REVISION DAY:
All about quotes and MLA citation
At the level of the sentence
Making your argument
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Take what we learned today and apply to the draft of your thesis and body paragraphs. Remember that the final version is due next week. I’ll teach you how to write an introduction and a conclusion on Monday or Tuesday.
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week 10
green/white 1 october 19, 20
Green order students: Today we’ll learn how to take a thesis statement and break it up into topic sentences.
Breaking up a thesis into topic sentences
White order students: Today, because of our missed day last week, we’ll get caught up to the Green order classes by looking at your thesis statement drafts. Then we’ll turn to breaking up your idea into topics.
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Take what we’ve learned today to break up your thesis into two or three topic sentences. Write them out on the topic sentence doc we used in class.
flex wednesday october 21
During our next class we’re going to begin work on styling sentences and improving readability. Open this doc in Notability and read it all the way through. Mark three tips for improving readability you plan to use in this next essay.
green/white 2 october 22, 23
The art of styling sentences BOOT CAMP Day 1
Comma splice or fused sentence?
HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:
Over the weekend you’re to work on one body paragraph of your “Sonny’s Blues” essay.
what's due?
October 29/30 - “Sonny’s Blues” Thesis and Two Body Paragraphs
November 5/6 - “Sonny’s Blues” Final Draft
November 9/10 - Quiz on first 20 Things Fall Apart vocabulary words
November 19/20 - Quiz on next 20 Things Fall Apart vocabulary words
docs to have handy
A step-by-step guide to writing the essay (“Sonny’s Blues” Edition)
Breaking up a thesis into topic sentences
The Single Story Supplemental Readings
OUR VIRTUAL CLASSROOM CODE
Each time we’d have a regularly scheduled class, you’ll follow this link and enter code:
640-291-5956
current text to have daily
STUDYING short fiction
General questions for most short stories
"A Rose for Emily" Study Guide
What is a story of initiation? See Updike, "A&P"
Questions for Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades"
ONGOING Extra Credit
Required reading can at times feel like drudgery. And while it's important to do the reading I set for the class, I fully recognize that you'd rather have a say in what it is we read. Unfortunately the freshman curriculum has little student choice built in, so your ongoing extra credit gives you the opportunity to read an outside text in your own time at some point during the semester. I'm very happy to reward you with additional course credit if you take it upon yourself to read a text outside of class and meet with me to discuss it. A few things:
(1) This must be a text you've never read before.
(2) It should be imaginative and of recognized literary merit. The text must be approved beforehand.
(3) The amount of credit awarded is variable depending on the chosen text and how our follow up conversation goes.
(4) While you may read as much as you'd like, I will only award extra credit once per semester.
enjoying literature
“In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.”
