English 3 - fall 2018, cycles 1-2

thursDAY, AUGUST 16 (1)

Welcome.

"The Scorpion and the Frog"

Course introduction; Policies; Failing well

To do tonight:

1. Register on Turnitin. The Class ID is 18603382. The password is magis. Please use your full first name, last name, and mail.strakejesuit email.

2. Register on Peergrade. The course code is 2NRCE7. Please use your full first name, last name, and mail.strakejesuit email.

3. Make sure you have Google Drive, Google Docs, and Socrative Student loaded on your iPad.

Why should we spend our time reading novels and poems when, out there, big things are going on?

4. Review ALL of the policy page. Familiarize yourself with how the class works. Look through the website to see what's available.

5. Watch The School of Life's presentation on the value of reading literature to the right. What does it say about the importance of literature?

Monday, august 20 (3)

Today I'll be checking your text for annotations, your first assignment of the year. Then I'll introduce the ongoing extra credit assignment. Priorities one and two in this class are to answer two questions: why do we read? and how do we read? So we'll use the School of Life video to think about how we might answer those two questions at this point in the year. What I think we'll probably conclude is that literature can help us understand some of life's big questions. What, for instance, does the novel have to say about religion? Or what does the novel have to say about reputation? These are questions worth asking and trying to answer, so we're going to start the year by doing just that. Come to class tomorrow with two things in your notes: (1) a clear question you think the novel asks and (2) a short ¶ responding to that question. I'll be checking for completion. Use your summer reading assignment for help with coming up with topics. This will be the foundation for your in-class essay.

tuesday, august 21 (4)

Today we'll look at your in-class essay topics, making sure everyone has a topic worth exploring and a beginning to an answer. This will involve some general discussion of the novel. How do we turn this topic into a thesis? What is a thesis?

thursDAY, AUGUST 23 (6)

What is a body ¶? Don't worry. This is just a crash course. We'll have lots of time during the next cycle to go into greater detail about writing thesis statements and body ¶s.

On Friday you will have a modified in-class essay (a thesis and two body paragraphs) on Strange Case of DJMH. You may bring your book and any handwritten notes you have. You will need a charged iPad, too. Have this template with MLA formatting ready to go. Make sure you know how to upload to turnitin.com. We'll have practiced in class.

FriDAY, AUGUST 24 (7)

The in-class essay is due at the end of the period to turnitin.com.

Remember that this is JUST A DRAFT. There's no great pressure here. It will count for 30% of the 100 point summer reading assessment. A revision of this draft (worth 70%) will be due Friday, September 7 after receiving my feedback on the draft and extensive classroom writing instruction.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28 (1)

I hope you all had a nice weekend. Welcome back. We'll begin today by quickly looking at my annotation guide, a way of formalizing what I said in class the other day. Use this as your guide for the rest of the year.

ARGUMENT, DAY 1 - What is the difference between argument and interpretation? We'll use both images and the classroom space to think about the difference between the two.

thurSDAY, AUGUST 30 (3)

ARGUMENT, DAY 2 - Interrogating your idea in the body paragraph: Is what you have an observation or an interpretation? How can you use syntax to ensure you have an idea? We'll look at plenty of sample topic sentences. Here you can find my body paragraphing primer.

By our next class I'd like you to read pages 66-75 of John Trimble's Writing with Style, the finest book that I know on developing a personal writing style. You're welcome and encouraged, of course, to read the entire chapter, but we'll only be discussing 66-75 when we meet next. This is one of the more important things you'll read all year.

tuesday, september 4 (4)

Historian Michael Wood returns to his first great love, the Anglo-Saxon world, to reveal the origins of our literary heritage. Focusing on Beowulf and drawing on other Anglo-Saxon classics, he traces the birth of English poetry back to the Dark Ages.

I hope you had a nice long weekend. Our first two classes this week will continue to revolve around your body paragraphs on SCDJMH, which are up for revision and due by Monday, September 10.

We'll begin today with a quiz on Trimble's "Readability" chapter. I'll then assign the first vocabulary words of the year. We'll finish class by continuing to work through my guide on writing body ¶s.

By Friday's class I'd like you to watch the video to the right to the 22:15 minute:second mark. It's a 1-hour documentary--I want you only to watch part of it--produced by the BBC by Michael Wood all about the first text we're going to read this year, Beowulf. It'll supplement my introduction to the poem on Friday.

Additionally, you are to begin reading Beowulf, which can be found in Volume A of your anthology. Read lines 1-85, pages 41-3. Note the good qualities of a king as outlined in the early parts of the poem.

thursday, september 6 (6)

Sample essays up on the board.

Revision day.

friday, september 7 (7)

An introduction to British Literature and why I think we study it. Why is it so important in the eyes of our school and in my eyes that we should devote an entire year to it? Then we'll move to an introduction to the Anglo-Saxons. Strap in for a history lesson. We'll look at a little bit of Old English and how it has influenced the way we speak today.

We'll pause for a quiz on the Michael Wood Beowulf documentary before beginning our study of the first 85 lines of the poem.

By our next class I'd like you to read lines 86-490 of Beowulf. Questions to keep in mind while reading:

What magnificent work did Hrothgar undertake? Who attacked it, and with what result? How long did the attacks last? What was the response of the Danes? What does Beowulf do when he hears of Hrothgar's problems with Grendel? Whom do the Geats first meet when they arrive in Denmark? What does he do, and what do they do? They next meet Hrothgar's herald. Who is he? What does he tell them? What does he tell Hrothgar? What does Hrothgar respond? Are you surprised that Hrothgar knows Beowulf so well? What does Beowulf tell Hrothgar when he enters? What did Hrothgar do for Beowulf's father?

Take us to THE PASSAGE: Please come to class with at least one passage you found captivating or to contain an odd way of putting an idea. We'll start with your passages in class.

what's due?

Friday, August 24 - DJMH (in-class) essay DRAFT (30%)

Monday, September 10 - DJMH essay REVISION (70%)

Thursday, September 13 - Vocabulary Quiz, Units 1-2

current text to bring daily

texts to buy now

Copy of August 31

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.