agenda W/Th May 17/18: review KR, M and poetry terms

learning goal: what overlaps (large or small) exist between Shakespeare’s play and Hosseini’s novel?  what insights emerge from this comparison–insights about either work, about literature in general, or about life and the human condition?

exercises TBA–based on elements of fiction, and this trio of story-aspects (conflict, resolution, revelation)

with a side order of poetry and poet’s tools

agenda Th/F Feb 9/10: next letter step

learning goal: how best to arrange ideas in a letter to an author

 

strategies and tactics of effective letters

whole-class discussion of basic principles

feedback given in working groups

time to read novel, or begin drafting letter (due by start of class M/T Feb 13/14)

agenda M/T Jan 30/1: conflicts, details, etc.

learning goal: at the halfway mark in The Kite Runner, specifically name one major and one minor conflict.  What makes them major and minor?

group conversation about major and minor conflicts

group presentations

detailed references from the group: brief research and application of learning to group’s major and minor conflicts

agenda F/M Jan 20/23: conflicts in THE KITE RUNNER

learning goal: what main conflicts emerge from the first quarter (100 pp.) of The Kite Runner, and what connections do you see between or among any of these?

(5′) explanation of sample entries on large post-its

(15′) in groups, list significant conflicts–both external and internal; where possible provide page number for direct or indirect reference to the conflict

(10′) review lists on the other groups’ post-its

(10′) general discussion

(30′) open “prescribed template,” and individually,independently, begin composing paragraph (topic TBA); by end of class, submit current draft to TURNITIN (KR draft)

agenda Thu/Fri Jan 5/6: finish film WHALE RIDER

learning goal: what distinguishes the protagonist’s situation in the film Whale Rider from that of the corresponding characters in Antigone and A Doll’s House?

review first part of film watched in last class

finish film

agenda Mon/Tue Dec. 5/6: A Doll’s House

learning goals: how do you decide which questions about plot and character need answering before others?  How do authors use uncertain situations to bring readers or audiences into a story?  Does a play do this differently than a short story or novel?

 

Review questions that people have after the first two acts of Ibsen’s 1879 play, A Doll’s House.

What are the current ramifications of the play’s title?

Take parts and together start reading Act 3 together

(How do you imagine the play’s conflicts will be resolved?  What in the play so far leads you to imagine such resolutions?)

agenda Tue/Wed NOV 15/16: Antigone, the next layer

learning goal: gods, irony, elders and empathy–how do these elements combine to produce meaning in the play?

 

round-robin exercise TBA

 

 

agenda Thu/Fri Oct 20/1: the rest of “Rashomon”

learning goal: what film techniques emphasize certain aspects of Akutagawa’s original  short story, “In a Grove”?

watch and discuss rest of the 1950 film, directed by Japanese filmmaker Kurosawa

 

agenda Thu/Fri Oct 13/14: more revisions, more masterpieces

learning goal: what do these three Quickmarks have in common: “Active Voice,” “Adj Spec,” and “There is”?

warm-up: reactions to data about chosen masterpieces (10′)

Qmark instruction (15′) see learning goal

revision time (40′) for “SS assessment” about a masterpiece

submission time (5′) submit revision to TURNITIN (SS assessment | Revision 1)

due by midnight of day revisions start in class (Thu or Fri)

agenda Fri/Mon Aug 27/30: characters’ choices

learning goal(s): what are basic ways a story can reveal the nature of a character? For example, what they say.  How else do readers learn about a character’s core?

re-visit Camus’s story, “The Guest”

re-join assigned pairs from last class, to compare thoughts on how the story’s characters would answer our course’s Essential Questions (EQs)

identify choices that each main character makes, or has made: Balducci, Daru, the Arab

how do that person’s choices indicate the presence or absence of  any of these qualities–love and compassion for others, hatred of injustice and cruelty, responsibility to treat others with respect and concern, opposition to evil, struggle relieve human suffering