O Captain, My Captain!

Daily Update Today was movie day in class. We watched clips from two films: Freedom Writers and Dead Poet's Society, both of which show groups of high school students from very different backgrounds and how they use poetry and writing to negotiate their feelings of hopelessness in life. While the students from Freedom Writers are certainly from a far more dangerous, at-risk situation, both films show the potentially transforming power of literature, writing, and thinking. My point in showing these film clips was to encourage you to think about your own relationship with the written world. Literature can be affirming and enriching, but if you feel no connection to it, then studying literature is little more than drudgery. Look for a way in to the poetry you're studying write now. Find a way to be inspired or moved by these poems. Work to find personal meaning in the poetry, to revel in the language. The more these poems mean to you, the easier it'll be to write about them--and the stronger your writing will be. Homework Update Your first draft of Essay 3 is due on Friday. Remember to bring THREE copies of your essay! I'll send you away to make copies if you only bring one. Also, for the love of all that is good, STAPLE your drafts!

Poems, more poems, and thesis statements

Daily Update We continued our discussion of poetry today by reading two similarly themed poems about teachers and students. You looked at each poem carefully, looking for literary elements, then after a class discussion about each poem, I set you all to work writing thesis statements. I'm going to look over these thesis statements tonight, then we'll look at them on Wednesday and discuss strengths and weaknesses of each thesis. It's important to get a strong thesis statement from the outset, especially to help you feel more comfortable writing a solid essay. I know a lot of you are nervous about poetry, so hopefully the work we're putting into preparing will pay off as you write your essays. Homework Reminder Your only homework is to work on Essay 3. Please, please make use of this opportunity!

Essay 3: Poetry Analysis

Daily Update
We were pretty low in numbers today, so I hope those of you who weren't in class remember to check here so you won't be too far behind on Monday!

Today's class was devoted entirely to introducing Essay 3, which can be found on Angel if you weren't in class. The basic idea of the essay is not dissimilar from Essay 2, though the focus will be on poetry and you'll have to do more to analyze the figurative meaning of the poem. You have a selection of poetry to choose from, as listed on the prompt, so look through the poems and find one that you respond well to. The more you just like a poem, the easier it is to go from "liking" to analysis.

We'll continue our discussion of Essay 3 on Monday, focusing particularly on writing thesis statements that will enable you to develop a strong essay.

Homework Reminder
Response paper 9 is due on Monday. For this response paper (which is posted on Angel), you'll read just the first half of Chapter 17 (about Emily Dickinson).

Also, be sure to read through the Essay 3 prompt and start thinking about which of the poems listed on the assignment sheet you'd like to focus on for your essay.

Poetry in Motion

Daily Update
We stepped deep into the world of poetry this morning, looking at several poems and working to decode their meaning through careful reading of the text.

Many students look at poetry as being "difficult"--something too hard for them to decipher and comprehend. I hope we can move past that road block over the next few weeks as we learn to carefully read and respond to poetry.

Homework Reminder
For Friday, you need to read the rest of chapter 16 (starting at page 512). The first several pages of the section are fairly technical descriptions of poetry terms. You need to read them! We may have a quiz on Friday morning.

Following your reading of the rest of chapter 16, complete Response Paper 8. The assignment, as usual, is posted on Angel.

And we're back!

Daily Update
Today was kind of a catch-up work day. I handed out a copy of the daily schedule for the rest of the semester (seven more weeks, friends!) then returned your graded essays. We spent the rest of the class period discussing primarily how to make meaningful links in your writing, how to argue for specific meaning, and how to effectively and accurately use quotations in your writing.

Homework Reminder
For Wednesday, you need to ready LC chapter 16 through page 512 and write Response Paper 7. The response paper assignment is posted on Angel.

Enjoy your break!

Remember: if you did not submit your essay in class this morning, it is now LATE. Email me so we can work out a plan for you to turn in your essay.

You have no homework over the break, but I do need you to email me your score from Response Paper 1 (the one about Michelle Serros' "Senior Picture Day").

Otherwise, enjoy your time off, and rest up for an energized conclusion to the semester!

Short stories, essays--and an extra credit opportunity!

Daily Update
Today was another mashed-up catch-up day--or at least it felt that way to me! It's always tricky to return from a snow day and to squeeze everything into a single 50 minute period. Alas...

After a freewrite, I introduced you to NPR's Three-Minute Fiction series, which challenges amateur writers to write extremely short stories that conform to certain constraints. In this most recent round, for example, the challenge for writers was to write a story that can be read in less than three minutes where one character cries and one character tells a joke. We listened to two brief excerpts of these stories, then I gave you a challenge:

Write some Three-Minute Fiction of your own!

That's right: for extra credit, you can write your own very short story where someone cries and someone tells a joke. Look at the website for examples and inspiration, then let your relaxing spring break inspire you. Stories are due the first day back from spring break: Monday, March 21.

I also handed back your essay drafts, then we spent several minutes talking again about MLA. Remember to visit the Norton/Write website to access the MLA Handbook if you need more help.

Homework Reminder
Remember: the final draft of essay 2 (your literary analysis) is due this Friday, March 11.

Spatial Analysis

Daily Update
Today we discussed how to "read" a space or place. We started with the classroom, looking at how the space of the classroom is arranged, and how the space contributes to the values of higher education, for example. We looked at how you can tell you're in a college classroom instead of an elementary school classroom, what the space says about "democratic" learning (or lack thereof), and how the authority of the teacher is reinforced by the setup of the classroom. I enjoyed your observations and insights!

Following our discussion of the classroom, I sent you in groups to do your own observations. One group went to the writing lab, one group went to the library, and one group went to the "fishbowl" lounge downstairs. When you returned, you discussed your interpretation of the space and how the form of the space reinforces the purpose(s) of the space--even if the purposes are subtle or perhaps subversive.

We then went on to discuss the application of this "spatial analysis" to textual analysis--how to approach a reading like a space, and how to read the text on the literal, interpretive, and applicative levels. Hopefully your experience analyzing Kahlo on Wednesday and various spaces today helps you to see how "close reading" of the text can reveal rich layers of meaning and purpose.

Homework Reminder
Your last response paper before spring break is due on Monday. Get the assignment from Angel.

Critical Thinking

Daily Update
Today's focus was critical thinking, which we initially explored by looking at Frida Kahlo's painting Two Fridas, which you see above. We explored how to "read" texts--including art--on three interdependent levels: literal, figurative, and applicative.

The literal level includes what actually happened in a text--things that people would find very little if anything to disagree about. When you think about writing, a summary is an example of writing on the literal level: you're simply reporting what happened in a given text.

The second level is the interpretive level. When you read interpretively (which we could also call analytically, although there's some difference between the two) you're looking beyond what a text literally says and starting to figure out what it means. You ask questions, you look for connections between parts of a text, you try to figure out what an author is trying to commmunicate as well as how you as a reader interpret the text's meaning.

The third level is the applicative level, where you look at how you can apply the text's meaning to other ideas, situations, texts, etc. Sometimes this level is also called the synthetic level, since synthesis is the act of making connections between different or seemingly unconnected ideas.

Each of these levels matters when you're working to read and write critically. Chapter 10 of Literature for Composition, which you should have read for today's class, gives a concise but thorough overview of critical thinking, reading, and writing.


Homework Reminder
Your homework for Friday is to submit a revised copy of Essay 2 for me to review. Be sure to STAPLE the peer reviewed drafts to the revision you submit to me.