Overview from 9/29 and Assignment due 10/6

Today we discussed "The Story of an Hour" and reviewed the text dependent questions that followed. Students who missed should plan to turn that in at our next meeting (if they didn't already get it to me somehow).

We started to compare the two texts we have read before in terms of what they are trying to say about women (is the function of these texts to celebrate women or paint them negatively?). I told the students to always consider the gender of the author when making claims about the gender of characters..sometimes that is very eye opening or can add a different perspective.

FOR NEXT WEEK:
Students are to read "Trifles," a one act play. Here is the link for students who were not present:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r5OFoIPKul5nTXZ20tM7-CjLvmJl7sgD/view?usp=sharing

The students were to read this play this week and focus/annotate what the text is saying about women AND men. The text is painting both to be a certain way. Of course, additional annotations (reactions, questions, etc.) are encouraged. Also: remember that when you underline anything in the text, you should have an explanation in the margin.

I understand that students who were not present do not have a paper copy of the text. Please print it if you are able so you can annotate more easily...however, if you are unable to print, you are welcome to write down your annotations and bring them to class.....however you must find a way to document where in the text you are responding...i.e. paragraph number, page number, writing the line and the reaction, etc.

Please message me with questions. 

Overview from 9/22 and Assignment due 9/29

Today I check student annotations and questions for "Lamb to the Slaughter" before discussing the story and those questions.

HOMEWORK:
Read and annotate "The Story of an Hour" and answer the questions that follow. Students should also come to class with at LEAST ONE discussion question for the story. I told them their discussion question can revolve around literary elements/devices at play or be about character motives, how the work can mirror an aspect of society, etc. Their question should be something that can be debated with evidence by the whole class and not just a right vs. wrong or yes vs. no type of response.

Overview from 9/15 and Assignment due 9/22

Today as a class we looked at the first part of "Lamb to the Slaughter". I had students stop at different parts of the text to think about characterization, predictions, etc., and we had a spirited discussion with excellent inferences students were making. I was trying to explain to them that a lot of what there were saying in discussions would make wonderful/well developed journal entries (whereas some of them have written brief journals in the past). There is no journal due for this story, but in the future we will dive back into that.

For next week, students are to finish reading AND ANNOTATING "Lamb to the Slaughter" and answer all of the questions that follow the story. They are welcome to do this on another piece of paper if needed.

In short: at the start of next week I will be checking annotations and questions. Not having either will be unacceptable and result in a zero for that assignment.

Fall 2018 Overview

This Fall we will focus on controversial women in literature through the following:

1) Short stories
2) Dramas/Plays (one being a Shakespeare play)
3) Scenes from adapted film versions of the works (where appropriate)

Using these texts/clips, students will complete the following:

1) Annotations/interactions with the texts
2) Class discussions
3) Analytical Writing
4) Text-Dependent questions
5) Understanding of how Literary elements construct each work
6) Compare/contrast different adaptations of the same work and discuss the effectiveness of each format.

Feel free to reach out to me with questions at:
fameacademy.literacy@famefund.org