College Writing and Literature Block 3, Term 4
Week 4: April 3-7
MONDAY (3)
- Things Fall Apart - meet in small groups for papers for feedback and discussion
- Class Argumentation Practice: Team Aristotle, Sophocles, or Euripides? Why?
- Aristotle's Poetics: Jigsaw Reading - be prepared to report out Tuesday on your section
- Timed Writing on Aristotle's Poetics' reading assignment (do not turn in yet...)
- Discussion by group
- Timed Writing Follow-up - learning from other groups and connections you can make from this piece to other pieces you have read
- Background information on Oedipus the King in preparation for reading Antigone tomorrow
- Set up notes for reading (note character traits of Antigone; plot traits of the play; themes and motifs you see)
- Begin reading Antigone
- Timed Writing (you may use your notes and the text)
- Finish Antigone
- Set up notes for Medea
- Read Medea
- Timed Writing
- Tomorrow: Work Day for Multigenre project
- Multigenre project work time (reading/note taking)
Week 3: March 27-31
MONDAY (27)
- Discussion of Part III of Things Fall Apart
- Share Multi-genre class project pieces (note footnotes)
- Omo Child video clip
- A. Share ideas of themes students bring to class and list on the board.
B. Of the collective ideas, choose three ideas to focus your thinking for possibilities in writing about this novel.
C. Meet and discuss with a partner...which of the three ideas do YOU think you are most interested in or intrigued by?
D. Choose ONE idea and for tomorrow, brainstorm and record as many ideas as possible that you can remember from the book that fit with this particular theme.
E. Try to find some text references to use in support of your idea
F. In the "About" tab of Google Classroom, you will find a section on "Writing about Literature". READ the FIRST link through to determine what you need to consider in writing your first paper about literature. Scan through the second link's article to make sure you understand the difference in academic circles between formal and informal writing. Scan through the third and fourth links for ideas on what other colleges suggest for writing about literature.
G. My in-class writing example is attached to this (Google Classroom) folder for you to see as an example. :)
- Share ideas and go over
- Partner discussion - how can I expand on these ideas?
- Go over "Writing about Literature" information
- Paper due on Monday on your main ideas for Things Fall Apart
- Vocabulary for Greek and Roman Literature discussion
- Background information
- Discussion throughout: Is Okonkwo a "tragic hero"? Is the novel a tragedy?
- Background research: Team Aristotle, Team Euripides, or Team Sophocles? Why?
- Senior Day at Leadership Center
Week 2: March 20-24
MONDAY (20)
- Discussion of Part I of Things Fall Apart
- Partner discussion of quotes/choose one to share whole class
- Class discussion of quotes
- Class discussion of culture observances
- For Wednesday, read Part II of Things Fall Apart
- Multigenre Research Project
- Requirements: hard copy and electronic copy on Google Classroom
- Rubric: hard copy and electronic copy on Google Classroom
- View/Read/Discuss student project: Notice, observe, question
- For FRIDAY, decide an author to focus your efforts on for this project
- Reading Time
- Discussion of Part II for Things Fall Apart (quotes, responses, cultural observances)
- Reading Day
- Research possible authors or do preliminary research on an author of your choice
- Humor Friday
- Choose an author
- Practice Group Activity for multigenre practice
Week 1: March 13-17
MONDAY (13)
- Welcome and Introduction to Course
- Syllabus and Calendar
- Research: Why should we study literature? Find two or more articles to write a brief review on (use a hyperlink in the title) followed by your responses to: What is your worst literary experience? What is your best literary experience?
- Discuss opening assignment (five times before the end of the year)
- Partner discussion: Findings from research
- Class discussion of articles
- Timed Writing - Why Literature?
- Watch "The Danger of a Single Story" and keep notes
- Timed Writing and discussion of talk
- Assignment: Background information about Chinua Achebe and Nigeria
- Share out information about the author
- Discussion: How does an author's life affect his or her writing?
- What are the marks of culture?
- Discuss the marks of culture and how they apply to our lives (examples)
- Read Section One of the Novel Things Fall Apart by Monday
- Humor Friday
- Discuss notes taken so far on novel (two quotes and responses; culture comparison grid)
- Initial discussion of Multigenre research project
- Reading time