Class? We had class?

Seriously, I'm happy to say we managed a moment or two of actual intellectual effort before we packed it in and gave way to homecoming altogether. Well done to those of you who made it! By the way, queen candidates and escorts: you all looked sharp. Good luck tomorrow night!

Figuratively speaking...

Today we filled out the rest of our figurative language wheel and played the figurative language blackout bingo... Hurray for homecoming week!

Figurative Language: In Beloved & Elsewhere

A quotation from Beloved opened today's class. Afterwards, we began our intensive review of figurative language.

Beloved Beloved

A bit of Beloved introduction was on the menu today, including a fairly intensive look at the first paragraph and some discussion of the novel's epigraphs.

Assigned:
Beloved background assignment @ Global Classroom--Due 9/26
Beloved Forum Posts @ Global Classroom--Post 1 Due 10/5 & Post 2 Due 10/16
Beloved Reading Dates: Book One 10/5, Book Two 10/12, Book Three 10/16

Happy Homecoming Pressure Comp!

Despite the myriad homecoming-related distractions (drums with your timed writing, anyone?), we actually managed to work our way through the Antigone pressure comp today.

Bring Beloved to class tomorrow.

Theme, Style & a Term Paper

Today we started with a short thesis ranking exercise using examples from your Jane Eyre pressure comps.

We then brainstormed some themes of Antigone of the board, followed by a listing of significant stylistic techniques and figurative language in the play.

HW: Choose a passage in the play that demonstrates a stylistic technique or figurative device in some significant way. Write a close reading analysis (CRA) explaining the technique and how it contributes to the effectiveness of the passage (and perhaps a theme of the play). Due Friday.

The Antigone pressure comp will be Monday.

What's the Theme?

Today we talked a bit about themes in Antigone as well as having an general and wide-ranging discussion of the play.

The Ironies of Antigone & the Tragic Hero...

Today we shared and discussed examples of irony from Antigone (very fruitful I thought). We wrapped up with some general Antigone-related questions and a review of the definition of the tragic hero.

It still appears that the study guide and PC will be Friday (yes, I know half of you will be gone).

The First Quiz and Some Irony...

Today we talked a bit about quizzes in general and took a short quiz on Antigone. After a short wiki-tour, we defined three types of irony (verbal, situational, and dramatic).

HW: Find and mark if possible an example of each type of irony in Antigone. Be prepared to discuss. Due 9/18.

It must be Friday...

Today we talked about Tool, brownies, pants-wetting as an act of protest, pigeons, and myriad other things, some of them even related to literature and Antigone. Specifically we:

• Finished our discussion of the RRL article from yesterday;
• Defined and discussed the term stichomythia; and
• Addressed general questions from Antigone (Personally, I learned what strophe and antistrophe are).

If you weren't here, get the notes, but, all-in-all, probably not the worst day to be absent.

Defining Literature

Today we took a brief quiz on the "Reading and Responding to Literature" article which was followed by a rather lively discussion. To be continued Friday.

Football players, cross country runners and other folks taking a long weekend, check this space tomorrow for a rundown of class and your homework.

By the way, plan on being at least halfway finished with Antigone by tomorrow. I know, Julie, I said you should be finished, but, well, it seems that you don't really need to be. I will be giving a quiz Monday, however.

The Greeks: an Intro

Yeah, so today, I talked--a lot--about Greek drama in general and about Antigone specifically.

Please have Antigone read--yes, the whole thing--by Friday, 9/14.

By the way, I posted the "Reading and Responding to Literature" essay in two formats. Some people reported difficulty with the first file I posted.

Jane Eyre PC

Collected PCs and gabbed about the possible Ashland field trip in May.

Examined prompt as a group.

Wrote.

Jane Eyre: The Final Day

Today, we reviewed the concepts of theme (particularly as distinct from a thesis, claim or thematic statement), motif, symbol, etc. in preparation for the pressure comp tomorrow (remember the study guide is also due).

HW: Read the essay, "Reading and Responding to Literature," posted at GC. Take notes and be prepared for a short quiz on Thursday, 9/13.

Bring Antigone to class on Wednesday, 9/12.

CRA #2

Collected warm-ups today and spent the remainder of the period sharing CRA passages.
Collected: CRAs #1 & #2

Close Reading Continued

We started the day by sharing and self-assessing drafts of CRA #1 that were started in class yesterday and finished for homework. Next we moved on to choosing passages for the second, group-selected CRA, which was started in class and should follow the same pre-writing, writing sequence as CRA #1.

CRA #2 (to be collected with #1 and both sets of pre-writing) due 9/7.
Jane Eyre Pressure Comp and Study Guide due 9/11.

Close Reading Analysis #1

Today, after the warm up and a brief tour of the course website, we did a close reading of one of the early paragraphs of Jane Eyre (it begins: "I returned to my book..."), following essentially the same three steps we did with Newton on day one.

1. Make a list of features of the paragraph that stand out.
2. Choose three that seem particularly interesting or significant.
3. Explain, briefly, why these features stand out to you.
4. Choose one feature and write a paragraph, quoting liberally from the passage, explaining how ONE of the features of the paragraph contributes to the overall message of Bronte's work, the tone of the passage, etc. In other words, Bronte chose to write this way. So what? Why does it matter.

Have draft of this paragraph in class tomorrow.

HW: Find credible definitions of the terms "literature" and "literary merit" and post them to Global Classroom. Be sure to cite your source or sources in correct MLA style. Due 9/7.

Study Guide Introduction, Cont.

Today we finished the introduction to the study guide in preparation for actually handing it in one of these days.

I also returned summer assignments and mentioned that the next two books will be Antigone and Beloved, in that order, and that you should have them soon.