Today in class: Dracula In-class essay (50-minutes) + Diagnostic European geography

For Wed-B3/Thu-A2
Review Volume One (Chapters 1-19) of Great Expectations. We'll be discussing it and having a brief quiz.

My reading quizzes typically include ten multiple choice questions or fill in the blank short responses + 3 extended response prompts. We'll use these brief quizzes as a springboard for discussion; so, please bring your copy of Great Expectations.

Reminder: You are required to bring your LRJ + your 3-ring binder with you to class heretofore.

After an A2 discussion about allusions and James Joyce and the inscrutability of some novels, I've decided to start a book club to read, study, analyze, interpret, and discuss Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce. I'm putting out a call to anyone and everyone who is open to this literary escapade.

The FW Book Club is open to anyone in the Moeller community -- students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, et al. We will do this online in order to accommodate anyone and everyone who is interested.

If you are interested, please let me know by September 15! Drop me an email, and I'll let you know how to join up with us.

Not sure if you should be interested or not? Read this article on Finnegan's Wake:

Today in class (Thu/Fri)
Great Expectations in-class essay first 50 minutes of class followed by review of literary terms you REALLY need to know.

For next class (Mon/Tues)
First off, you should prepare for the Dracula in-class essay on Mon-B3/Tues-A2. Be sure to bring your annotated copy of Dracula.

Also, please read: "Victorian Literature -- An Overview" (DOCX). We'll discuss this after the Dracula essay. (No, you won't have a quiz on it.)

Moeller Brit Lit Tour -- June 2016 (Open to Juniors)
London - Cambridge - Stratford-upon-Avon - Oxford - Greenwich

Discover the many different qualities of England. Oxford and Cambridge evoke a scholarly atmosphere. Literary tradition lives in Stratford, birthplace of Shakespeare, and lurks on just about every street we'll walk on through London. Visit Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. See a West End play. Eat at bustling Borough Market in Southwark and J.R.R Tolkien's favorite pub in Oxford. Ride the tube and a double-decker bus. Take a flight on the London Eye and a river cruise on the Thames. Visit the British National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Explore famous bookshops along The Strand and Cecil Court. Walk in the footsteps of Dickens, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Orwell, Huxley, Tolkien, Bram Stoker and Mary Shelly, Oscar Wilde and G.K. Chesterton!

     MORE INFO: Click Here!

I have a few suggestions for you as you begin to prepare to sit your two in-class essays on Thu/Fri (G.E.) and Mon/Tues (Dracula) this coming week.

1. Have a look at the analytical essay prompts for Great Expectations  and Dracula. Decide which prompt you would like to respond to -- and then prepare by annotating the pertinent
sections in your book. You will be expected to provide quotations and cite example throughout your analytical essay.

2. Peruse (peruse here means "to look through carefully") my seminal instructional handout for this class: How to Write a Literary Essay. We will be referring to this handout throughout the year. 

Here is the PowerPoint on the Five Paragraph Essay -- a review that should prove helpful.

3. Don't forget to bring your annotated books with you. Again, you may use post-it notes if you wish -- these are silly and clumsy compared to making notes in your own book -- but you may not use any notecards, notes, or your laptop on the in-class essays.

4. Don't forget to bring a pen and loose-leaf notebook paper.

Here's the grading rubric I use for essays: Essay Rubric (PDF)

Brit Lit Trip to England -- June 2016
Interested in going to England next summer? The Moeller Brit Lit Trip for June 2016 is now open for enrollment. Space is limited.

    FULL DETAILS: Moeller Trip to England (webpage) 

Performance by most students on the literary terms part of the first quiz was less than stellar. (I'm using the literary technique of "understatement" here.). The understanding of literary terms and their proper applications is integral to this course. You should review the following PowerPoint because:

    1. I reserve the right to quiz you on this material at any time
    2. Many of the essay prompts for your upcoming in-class essays refer to these terms.
    3. It's difficult to talk about literature without knowing the basic vocabulary of literature. 

    DOWNLOAD: Review of Basic Literary Terms (PowerPoint)

If you're not a fan of PowerPoints and just want a simple study sheet to print out, you should download the following study sheet;

    DOWNLOAD: Overview of  Basic Literary Terms (DOC)

If you learn best by the use of mnemonic devices and video/audio gimmicks, check out these two rap videos on Literary devices:

Today in class: Summer Reading quiz

Before we get into discussing our summer reading, we're going to begin this year by asking some fundamental questions about reading: 

    1. Why do we read?
    2. Why do we read old books?
    3. Why study literature?
    4. How should we read literature?
    5. Why don't we just watch movies instead?

In order to get you thinking about some intelligent answers to those questions, watch the seven minute video above, "How and Why We Read: Crash Course in English Literature" when you are not within Moeller's Youtube.com ban zone. And then -- your first assignment -- read the two articles below:

    "Why Read Old Books?" by Mitchell Kalpakgian (PDF)
    "Why Study Literature? The Top 25 Reasons" (PDF)

In order to get into the habit of annotation, be sure to read these article in PDF Annotator -- or, better yet, print them off and annotate them with real pen on paper. You will be responsible for this material on Friday, August 22 (A) / Monday, August 25 (B).

For next class - Aug. 25 (B3) /26 (A2)
     - Quiz on Intro to Reading articles (see above)
     - Sign syllabus and turn in to me at beginning of next class

You've discovered the class blog. Well done!

This space will be used for a variety of purposes, including class announcements, assignment reminders and clarifications, topics related to what we're reading, and step-by-step instructions when necessary.

Have a good look through this website. It will function -- more or less as your textbook, along with the books we'll be reading in the course.

First Assessment -- Summer Reading: Next Class
You will have an extended response quiz on the summer reading. See previous blog entry for links.

Also, you will most definitely find this handout helpful:
     Rubric for grading extended response questions - with sample responses (PDF)