TO DO:
(1) Reread your brainstorming paragraph. Are you still happy with the idea? Do you want to change your subject? Either way, it’s fine. Change or keep what you have. But, by our next class, I’d like you to write a topic sentence like the ones we went through today that states the purpose of your paragraph. What is it you want to show in a revised version of that paragraph? Bring that topic sentence to our next class.
cycle 1, class 5 august 20, 23
Artistic Interpretation 101: Day 1
(1) Today, before we look at your topic sentences, we’ll begin a two-day process of learning how to be more critical readers of works of art. Our goal today is to come up with a series of topic sentences about some of the still images below. You’ll see that we can write about visual art in the same way that we write about literature.
TO DO:
(1) Select one of the works of art in the gallery below. This will be one you work with for a couple more weeks, so choose one that resonates with you.
(2) Work through the same process we did today in class with your chosen work. Write a topic sentence that defines the interpretation you have about your chosen work. Bring this to class next time. By now, you should have a topic sentence for your paragraph on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and a topic sentence for your paragraph on your chosen work of art.
cycle 2, class 1 august 24, 25
Artistic Interpretation 101: Day 2
(1) How did you do with your chosen work of art? I’d like for a number of you to put your topic sentence up on the wall. Before we move on, let’s go through our notes from last class one final time.
(2) Let’s try the same process with a short film. We’ll use Pixar’s “Paperman”. Our goal is to make a connection between the style of the short and the story’s main idea: How does the form develop the content? That’s a central question in artistic interpretation. What kind of evidence do we use to build the idea? What kind of evidence do we use from a book to develop an idea?
(3) We’ll finish with two more “images” below!
TO DO:
(1) Go back to your paragraph on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It’s time to add evidence to your paragraph. Please bring to class 3 or 4 direct quotations from the book you think would do a good job to help explain or show the main idea of your body paragraph. Type those quotations on the bottom of your doc. During our next class I will teach you how to blend/integrate them into your own sentences.
cycle 2, class 2 august 25, 26, 27
(1) Today we’ll consider quote integration. Why do we need quotes in our writing? Why should those quotes be short? How do we actually embed those quotes into our own sentences?
TO DO:
(1) Make an attempt at integrating your 3 or 4 quotations in the manner we did today during class. You may continue to do this on your original brainstorming document, which by now should have a topic sentence and more concrete evidence to build the idea.
cycle 2, class 3 august 27, 30
(1) Today we’ll look at 3 body paragraphs from former students. These body paragraphs have a strong topic sentence, helpful direct quotation, and clear elaboration on the evidence.
TO DO:
(1) Your body paragraph on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is due on either September 1 or 2, depending on when I have you in class. You will have our next class to work on the paragraph. I will come around to see what you have and to take any questions, so make sure you have whatever you’d like to show me and to receive feedback on.
cycle 2, class 4 august 31, SEPTEMBER 1
(1) Setting up your final document. Open this template with MLA formatting. We’ll transfer what you have written already to this doc. Whenever you submit a written assignment in this class, you’ll use this template with proper formatting. We’ll also practice submitting a document to turnitin.com.
(2) You’ll have the remainder of the period to work on your paragraph with me in the room in case you have questions. You should have questions!
TO DO:
(1) Your paragraph on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is due to turnitin.com by 3:30 PM on the day of our next class. This is your first major grade of the semester. Make sure it is submitted on time to avoid the 20% deduction.
cycle 2, class 5 september 1, 2
(1) Today is the first day of our first unit of the year: ELEMENTS OF FICTION. Our first element of fiction is PLOT. We’ll define PLOT in a few different ways, but particularly by using two similar stories about family picnics. One has a plot; the other doesn’t.
(2) We’ll read in class and begin a plot diagram for Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. NOTE: Though you’re welcome to read all our short stories in your e-text of Literature to Go, you’ll only be able to use the hard copy of the story I provided to you while you’re in the classroom.
TO DO:
(1) Finish the plot diagram for “The Story of an Hour.” Bring it completed to our next class.
(2) Also by the next class, you will read Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," a short story with a very different type of plot structure when compared to “The Story of an Hour”. Make sure you have your hard copy of the story in our next class.
You will have a reading quiz on the story during our next class. The quiz will also assess your knowledge of these vocabulary words from the story.
what's due?
September 1, 2 - Final Body Paragraph
September 7, 8 - “A Rose for Emily” Reading and Vocabulary Quiz
DOCS TO HAVE HANDY
current text to have daily
fall final essay questions
“The Appointment in Samarra”: To what extent do the characters in the stories we read have personal determination, that is, control their fate?
“The Scorpion and the Frog”: If characters have personal determination, to what extent are their choices a result of their nature?
fall reading list
Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Boyle, “The Hit Man”
Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”
Updike, “A&P”
Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”
Jackson, “The Lottery”
O’Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”
Satrapi, Persepolis
Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Achebe, Things Fall Apart
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.”
