Today in class
After the Great Expectations quiz on Volume III, we'll discuss satire. Here are two questions for you to consider:

1, What aspects of Victorian life does Charles Dickens satirize in Great Expectations? How? Through what means? Through which characters? Situations?

2. Which characters change throughout the course of teh novel 

You can expect to receive your GE and Dracula in-class essays on Wed./Thu. and we will discuss ways to improve your analytical writing.

I will be handing you a print-out of the following packet. Please treat this as the most important handout of the year.

     DOWNLOAD: How to Write a Literary Essay (PDF)

Today is a big day in your high school English career. Today is the day I am going to begin pushing you to move beyond the formulaic 5-paragraph essay. Understanding this formulaic writing -- intro w thesis + 3 bodies paragraphs, each with a topic sentence  + a conclusion -- is important to being able to move ahead and develop your own style and tone.

College-level writing is not formulaic. You are expected to bump up to college-level writing as of today. Today, I will be returning your Dracula essays to be revised. You will treat your in-class essay as a "rough draft". Your revision, since you will be taking it home to work on over the course of a week, is expected to be a development of the ideas you put down on paper in 50-minutes. Your revision should reflect your understanding of the PowerPoint above and the "How to Write a Literary Essay" handout (see below).

First, a couple of quick tips:

1. Thesis + Evidence: Every analytical essay you write on the subject of literature will need a controlling thesis. And that thesis will still need to be clear, strongly worded, debatable (not fact), and supportable by evidence (examples, details, etc.) from the text. So, in order to prepare for the next in-class essay, you should review my handout on "How to Write a Literary Essay." Everything in that handout still applies.

2. Avoid All Redundancies / Repetitions: Part of the problem with formulaic 5-paragraph essay writing is that it 1) often sounds like a lab report, and 2) often includes a number of redundancies and/or repetitions. The rule of thumb now should be: avoid all redundancies and repetition. In order to do that, first make sure that you are varying your word phrasing. Second, you probably don't need a blueprint statement that tells the reader the subject of each of your three supporting paragraphs. Third, in the more sophisticated writing that you will be doing, you can almost always dispense with that formulaic topic sentence at the beginning of each support paragraph. Instead you should work on using appropriate transitional phrasing that leads from topic to topic. Fourth, your conclusion absolutely must not repeat your thesis. Instead, your conclusion should focus on providing some insight, tying together your various supports, and driving home your thesis  by explaining its importance.

For next class - Fri-B3/Mon-A2
    - Review Chapters 1-9 of Dracula and be prepared for a quiz and class discussion
    - Complete LRJ#3 for Dracula: "A Definitive Primer..."

Today in class
During our discussion of Volume II, we'll again be looking at the "big ideas" as well as characterization and satire. We'll also discuss the utility of keeping notes on a data sheet, which will be required for every novel and play we study this year.

If you have not done so already, please download the sample completed data sheet:

     DOWNLOAD: Sample completed Data Sheet (Jane Eyre)

We'll also be discussing your first LRJ assignment on the term "Dickensian" and its application to contemporary fiction, film, and television.

For next class: Wed-B3/Thu-A2
1. Volume III - Be prepared for a quiz and discussion over Volume III of Great Expectations
2. LRJ #2 - "Your Great expectations"

Today after our quiz/discussion of Volume One of Great Expectations, you will begin work on your first LRJ writing assignment. Although I will give you a hardcopy printout of the LRJ prompts  you can also download them here:

    DOWNLOAD: GE+Dracula LRJ prompts -- for your Literary Response Journals

Every LRJ entry must meet the following requirements in order to receive full credit:

1. Each entry must begin on a new page.
2. You must respond thoughtfully in 2-3 pages (or more), single-spaced. (No huge margins!)
3. You must write on one side of the page only – the right-hand side of the notebook.
4. Your handwriting must be neat and legible. (If I can’t read it you’ll get a ZERO.)
5. Your entry must include a heading and the date at the top of the page. The “heading”
is the name of the LRJ prompt heading. 
6. Any kind of plagiarism, for example copying from Wikipedia, will result in a ZERO and referral to the Academic Dean. Obviously, always do your own work.

Complete LRJ prompt #1: "Dickensian." Read the prompt on the LRJ assignment download and then complete the assignment according to the guidelines above. This should be completed by next class. I will be checking it for completion at that time, and grading it when you turn your LRJ in to me during the first unit exam.

For Fri-B3/next Tues-A2
Review Volume 2 of Great Expectations and be prepared to take a quiz and discuss this part of Pip's "great expectations."

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) 

Summer Reading
Before you come to the first class you should have completed the summer reading for this course. Two novels and two short articles:

     1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
     2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
     3. "How and Why to Read Dickens" by Norrie Epstein
     4. "How to Mark a Book" by Mortimer

Refer to the [ Summer Reading Packet ] (PDF) for full details.

Note: Each of the books we study in this course has its own webpage chock-o-block full of resources. Here are the two for the summer reading:

     - Great Expectations page (link)
     - Dracula (link)

First off...
Please note well that you will have your first unit exam of the year on Friday/Monday. In order to be very clear about the material that will be covered, please download and review carefully my download Victorian Unit Exam Study Sheet.

    Note: Victorian project PowerPoints are available on the Great Expectations page

     DOWNLOAD: Tips on How to Answer Short Essay Questions on Exams (F451)

Extra Credit Books: Please bring both your books to the unit exam. You will be permitted to use those on the extended response part of the exam. If you have your own annotated copies, you also have the opportunity to donate those to the school for 10 XC points per book.

Also, an LRJ reminder: I will be collecting and grading your LRJ's before the exam on Monday. You should have completed all three Great Expectations prompts and all three Dracula prompts by that time. Remember, each entry should be 2-3 pages of single-spaced thoughtful writing. 

In-class assignment
After the Victorian presentations, you will be preparing a study sheet for the unit exam -- you'll need the following two downloads for reference:

    1 -- Introduction to Gothic Literature & Bram Stoker's Dracula
    2 -- Victorian Literature -- An Overview (PDF)

and the following eWorksheet on Victorian literature:

    3 -- eWorksheet on Victorian literature (PDF)

Drop-box when finished.

Victorian Presentation Submission Guidelines
All parts of your group presentation are due today. Here are the requirements for submission:

    1. Written Paper + Works Cited: Print this out and turn this in to me.
    2. PowerPoint: You must deposit this in a specific file on the X drive as follows:
        A3: X:/Teacher Folders/Rose/Vic Presentations A3
        B1: X:/Teacher Folders/Rose/Vic Presentations B1
    3. Oral Presentations: Should be between 10 and 15 minutes!

IMPORTANT: Please deposit your PowerPoint by 7:50 a.m. (Monday for A3 and Tuesday for B1). I need only one per group!

Frankenstein
The next novel we'll be reading is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. If you want to buy your own copy, now would be a good time to do so. I have 10 used copies in very good condition for $5 each. The money goes toward the English department book budget.

Unit Exam -- Friday (A)/Monday(B)
Please note well that you will have your first unit exam of the year on Monday. We will review next class.

Also, an LRJ reminder: I will be collecting and grading your LRJ's before the exam on Friday/Monday. You should have completed Dracula prompt #3 (in addition to previous ones) by that time. Remember, each entry should be 2-3 pages of single-spaced thoughtful writing.

You should come to class today with your revised and developed Dracula essay printed out and stapled to the back of your in-class draft and self-evaluation sheet.

We'll be finishing up our discussion of Dracula today with Chapters 19-27. After that we'll be working with your essays.

Victorian Presentation Submission Guidelines
All parts of your group presentation are due next class: on Monday(A)/Tuesday(B). Here are the requirements for submission:

    1. Written Paper + Works Cited: Print this out and turn this in to me.
    2. PowerPoint: You must deposit this in a specific file on the X drive as follows:
        A2: X:/Teacher Folders/Rose/Vic Presentations/A3
        A4: X:/Teacher Folders/Rose/Vic Presentations/B1
    3. Oral Presentations: Should be between 10 and 15 minutes!

IMPORTANT: Please deposit your PowerPoint by 8:00 a.m. on the morning it's due. I need only one per group!

Frankenstein
The next novel we'll be reading is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. If you want to buy your own copy, now would be a good time to do so. I have 10 used copies in very good condition for $5 each. The money goes toward the English department book budget.