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monday, september 11 (5)

Welcome back. We'll begin by talking a little about the past few weeks. Then we'll move to discuss the change in schedule.

You've read Part One at the very least and probably most of Part Two, so you know a little bit about how the narrative works in Crime and Punishment. Dostoevsky is well known for organizing every single event in his plots, for including every major and minor character, for detailing what seems excruciating minutia for one reason: to put THEME into focus. That is to say everything in the novel is trying to help you understand something about one of Dostoevsky's ideas. The dream sequence, the letter, the internal monologue, the unbearably stuffy atmosphere in the tavern, the clean and dirty linen bundled together, the recollection of the conversation between the student and the soldier are all related and connected thematically. Once you have identified what it is you are going to trace and what theme you think is being developed, you will be reading with a purpose -- you'll be reading like a writer.

So, here are some things you might track as you continue reading, but you also want to follow your own interest and know that it's okay to change or follow multiple:

Your one reaction to Raskolnikov from the summer assignment; shifting emotions and feelings; understanding and lack of understanding; dream-states; modes of narration; decision and indecision--wavering and wandering; tempering emotions with reason; perceived role of education for character; the causes of good and bad actions; supermen and extraordinary persons; what it is to be a good human being; psychological transfer of one character's attributes to another; suffering; coloring on faces; the way characters move; color; setting; interiors and exteriors; being on bridges and turning corners.

These will become the basis for your first full-length essay of the year that I'll assign after the first body paragraph. NOTE: Your reading quiz on Monday, September 25 will ask you in some way to use what you have been tracking.

tuesday, september 12 (6)

Crime and Punishment, Part 1, Discussion:

How does the author build suspense, increase tension? How might the novel have been different if it were written solely from the perspective of Raskolnikov? I'd like to look at the various narratorial modes of the novel and the effects they achieve.

Nietzsche's concept of the Superman is one of the most exciting and yet weird aspects of his thought. What did he really mean by this unusual word?

WEDNESDAY, september 13 (1)

Crime and Punishment, Part 1, Discussion:

Sections 6 and 7 should respond to the following during the period we'd normally meet:

(1) In part one what do most of the characters seem to be motivated by? What drives everyone for the most part? Use three or four characters as case studies. Based on your findings, what kind of a society is this?

(2) Watch the video to the right. In what ways is the novelist, even at this early point in the novel, engaging Nietzsche's concept of the Superman?

thursday, september 14 (2)

Today we'll look at the first of two sample body paragraphs to prepare you for the writing of your own draft over the weekend.

friDAY, september 15 (3)

Crafting a strong argument, interpretive versus evaluative claims, sample debatable claims

monday, september 18 (4)

We'll begin this week's body paragraph instruction by discussing topic sentences in more specific terms. We'll begin on page 77 of CEA, looking at topic sentences from sample body paragraphs (some better than others). What are the components of the topic sentences? Let's define the function of the topic sentence together. Then we'll turn to page 220, looking at the editing symbols and what they mean. Here's a selection of topic sentences from your drafts. They all need work in some way. Let's go through them together.

Now, interrogate your own topic sentence. Does it need a stronger focus? Are you stating a fact or summarizing an event in the plot? Is your language too vague? Have you left anything undefined?

Remember that you have a vocabulary quiz this Wednesday and that you should be read through Parts 2 and 3 of C&P by next Monday.

tuesday, september 19 (5)

Today is all about evidence. We'll review basic concepts for blending quotations into your own sentences (CEA pages 192-6). Then we'll try to ensure that your elaboration on your topic is complete while removing any and all summary that be in your paragraph (198-202; 205-7; 215-7).

WEDNESDAY, september 20 (6)

Vocabulary quiz: Crime and Punishment, Part 2

We'll pick up where we left off yesterday after the quiz.

thursday, september 21 (1)

Today we'll discuss transitions, word glue, logic glue, and topic strings.

Tonight you must submit the latest revised version of your body paragraph to Peergrade. Now that you're registered, upon log-in, you'll immediately be prompted with the submission instructions. This MUST be posted by 8AM Friday or you will not get credit for the editing quiz.

friDAY, september 22 (2)

Today you'll use Peergrade to respond to two student essays. The work you do today, its completeness and its accuracy, will count as a quiz grade.

Remember that your body paragraph is due on Monday, hard copy in class or to my office and electronic copy to turnitin.com by 3:30 PM. We will begin Monday our discussion of Crime and Punishment, Parts 2 and 3.

Your next vocabulary quiz (the words from Part 3 of C&P) is next Wednesday.

monday, september 25 (3)

Today, after a short quiz, I'd like to look closely at the first two chapters of Part Two. What are the biggest changes we see in Raskolnikov from Part One?

Please do remember that Part Four of the novel is due next Monday.

tuesday, september 26 (4)

Today I'd like to look closely at Chapters 4 and 5 in Part Two and Chapter 3 of Part Three. You're going to break into groups to catalogue Raskolnikov's reactions to the actions and speeches of the other characters, as well as any emotions associated with those reactions. This is designed to help you see how a series of small actions within the plot of a novel shape your response to a character. See if you can't find the vital action of the section you're assigned just as a theatre director would try to find when staging a play. Your report can take any form you'd like, though you might consider setting up a chart like the one in the image to the right. At the end, you'll write a sentence or two about what the exercise helped you discover about Raskolnikov. There are, at least, 15 actions I've been able to identify in Chapters 4 and 5 of Part Two, for instance -- putting his head on a pillow, turning toward the wall, etc -- that respond to a stimulus and correspond with an emotion. Half the class will do pages 131-54; half the class will do pages 222-35. Below are some sample responses from the example to the right.

"We've been writing [Raskolnikov] off like he is not capable of true human relationships and never has been, but in seeing his true emotions and soft side flash up in his interaction with his mother and sister and in his sentimental recalling of his first love, I believe there is more to Raskolnikov."

"This exercise helped me to see the impulsiveness and randomness of Raskolnikov's actions... he is not mentally present... His subconscious takes over, especially at the moment of the knife."

"[T] he act itself, not the consequences of being caught, causes him the most guilt and anxiety."

"We see in this chapter that while Raskolnikov can appear to function like a normal person to a limited degree, he still retains the scars of his actions, evident in his false, alienated smile and his not-so-subtle references to the murders. He has gone, for better or worse, from incapacitated by guilt and shock to almost emboldened by it."

WEDNESDAY, september 27 (5)

Vocabulary Quiz: Crime and Punishment, Part 3

Presentation of the actions and emotions.

thursday, september 28 (6)

Presentation of Raskolnikov's actions in II.5 and III.3. Then we'll begin discussing our introduction to Sonya and what the events of the end of Part Two do to Raskolnikov.

friDAY, september 29 (1)

Your next major assignment of the year will be due Monday, October 9; it's in four parts and will be worth 100 points. It's the next step toward your major piece of writing--1200 words--on Crime and Punishment that you'll soon complete once you've finished reading the novel. What I expect you to submit on the 9th:

(1) A thesis that clearly defines the topic and the debatable claim associated with it, one that can be argued using evidence from the text. See CEA, pages 93-105 for help with thesis statements.

(2) A list of what you think your thesis demands you do in order to show it fully in your essay--that is, a list of topic sentences.

(3) A full revision of your first body paragraph with changes in red. I'd like you to include in the packet you submit the body paragraph I handed back to you.

(4) A second body paragraph that includes a topic sentence with nothing undefined, that appropriately incorporates plot details and extends elaboration; that blends all textual support, adds necessary transitions using logic and word glue, and maintains maintaining topic focus by including a topic string.

More to come Monday, but I wanted you to have the rough sketch now so there are no surprises. This weekend would be a good time to get a head start.