November 1, 2009
You have all adjusted well to the structure of the paperless class, only a few warnings about appropriate computer usage. I place a huge responsibility on all of you to make good choices about your time in class. You will never hear me nag about your choice to zone out, unless it becomes a distraction to others. Your choices will reflect in your final grade of the class, I am sure, but you may not pull others down with you. I encourage all of you to make good choices. Keep checking the grade book and the blog, as it is your responsibility to know your class standing.
Here is what to expect in the week to come:
Seniors- We started our unit with a focus on critical reading using lenses, specifically, feminism and or psychoanalytic. Frank O’Connell’s “Oedipus Complex” was a brief example of strategies to read text using a critical lens. Now on to our class update… I wonder if you would have enjoyed House of D as much, had you not studied, intensely, the stages of development as theorized by Freud or the importance of viewing a film through a single lens. I am going with a “no” on that conjecture. This week you will gather your prewriting, questions and answers, and write an in class essay. Once the essay is turned in we will continue to the focus of our course-reading, analyzing, and loving Modern Literature. Hemingway is our first author to study; are you ready to be blown away by great literature? Stop rolling your eyes, and get excited about this, I assure you you will develop an appreciation for Hemingway. Let’s do this, I can’t wait!!
Juniors- We started out the week with a vocabulary test followed by a discussion on using good, better, best test strategies. I am confident vocabulary scores will improve after our discussion on strategies to “own” words. The focus of last weeks critical reading was to properly characterize Hester, Chillingworth, and Peal’s, thoughts, feelings and reactions to the events of the chapter. Keep in mind, once you understand the character fully then you ask the question; “What purpose does the thoughts, feelings and reactions, serve in the novel?” Your diary entries were fantastic. In fact, the shared entries may have been intimidating to some; the examples were very well thought out. A little nudge to those that may not put as much time or thought into their homework; you get out of it, what you put into it! A quick perusal of the in class essay made me smile… I am pleased with the composition and grammatical structure, but most of all the personal voice many of you have established in your writing. Continue to work hard, ask questions and seek understanding.
Posted by dbrosius



