due Monday 3/1

1. Go back to your first chart for your short story. Choose the one word from your quotation that is most important to your exploration or guiding question.

a. Find the word at dictionary.com in the section that contains the American Heritage definitions. Which is the most helpful definition, given your thinking so far? Discuss why it's the most helpful in an extension of your first chart. (You're discussing denotation, the dictionary definition of the word.) Note: if you have access to the Oxford English Dictionary, use that, as it's the best dictionary, by far.

b. Now call upon your imagination. What are the connotations--the imaginative connotations--commonly held about your word? What are your own personal connotations? Discuss, as another extension of your first chart, how these connotations bear on your analysis in your chart so far.

2. Do a second chart, and include steps a and b as you do so. Don't forget that it's sometimes a good idea to change the guiding question at the top of your next chart, based on what you came up with in your previous chart.

Remember: short story test on Friday.

due Friday 2/26

1. From the following stories, choose a story to write an essay about:

"The Thing in the Forest"

"Roman Fever"

"A Rose for Emily"

"The Country Husband"

"Cathedral"

2. Ask yourself two warm-up questions: is this a happy story, an unhappy story, or something in-between, or both? Is the main character a good person, not a good person, in-between, or both? (or if you prefer, is the main character a likable person, etc.)

3. Choose a brief but meaningful phrase or sentence and quote it in the top left hand corner, and do your first chart. You may, if you like, use one of the following as a guiding question:

What does the characterization in this story (what the characters are like) tell us about the meaning of the story? or

What does the imagery in the story tell us about the meaning of the story?

due Thursday 2/25

Read "Cathedral," pp. 20-31, and blog, as before.

The short story test will be Wednesday, March 3.

due Wednesday 2/24 and Thursday 2/25

due Wednesday: analysis of photographs. Email it to me if you've had success emailing me things; otherwise bring in a hard copy. Hand in your charts as well, electronically if they're on your computer, in person if not.

due Thursday: "Cathedral," pp. 20-31. (Plan ahead!) Also, go to the class blog by clicking on "comments," below, and ask a helpful question about "Cathedral," or discuss someone else's question, as before.

due Tuesday 2/23

grammar quiz

work on analysis of Cartier-Bresson photos

due Monday 2/22

1. Read "The Country Husband," pp. 71-88. Then come to this blog and comment, doing one of two things:

A. Ask a question, the answer to which will help you and/or other students understand the story.

OR

B. Attempt to answer another student's question, even if you aren't sure of the answer (feel free to admit that you're not sure).

What if you think you understand everything about the story, and there are no questions to answer? Make up a helpful question anyway. If it's a "thought" question instead of a "fact" question--fine. Pretend you're an English teacher.

Please note that there will be a grammar quiz on Tuesday, and that the Cartier-Bresson analysis is due on Wednesday.

due Friday 2/19

Nothing is due for Friday, 2/19. Please bring with you, however, all your materials pertaining to your analysis of the Cartier-Bresson pictures, as well as your textbooks.

Note the following assignments coming up:

due Monday 2/22: all of "The Country Husband," 71-88.

due Tuesday 2/23: grammar quiz on prepositional phrases, nouns, and verbs.

due Wednesday 2/24: analysis of Cartier-Bresson photographs.

due Thursday 2/18

Read "A Rose for Emily," sections IV and V (to the end).

chart #3 for Cartier-Bresson pictures.

the analysis (claim and discussion) is due Wednesday, 2/24

due Wed. 2/17

1. Do a second chart for your analysis of the Cartier-Bresson photographs.

2. Read sections II-III, pp. 469-471, of "A Rose for Emily."

optional: if you have time and want to get ahead, do a third chart concerning the Cartier-Bresson photographs.

due Tuesday 2/16

1. Part I of "A Rose for Emily," pp. 467-469

2. one page of chart for the Cartier-Bresson pictures. Guiding quesiton: what unifies these pictures?

3. Email a discussion of "Cherrylog Road," p. 658.

due Friday 2/12

Write a sentence for each of the three Cartier-Bresson photographs in each of these categories:

composition (you've written at least one of these already)

value

scale

line

perspective

point of view

fore-, middle-, background

focus

A discussion of "Cherrylog Road,", p. 658, is due Monday.

due Wed. 2/10

Read the rest of "Roman Fever," pp. 113-119.

Due Thursday: discussion of "La Migra," p. 653.

due Tuesday 2/9

Read "Roman Fever," p. 110, part I, paragraphs 1-24.

Due Thursday: Read "La Migra," pp. 653-654. (Do notice that the poem goes on to p. 654. Use the usual format, choosing five individual words to discuss, then writing a discussion.

due Friday 2/5

Analysis of "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds."

Important: include your chart(s)!

due Thursday 2/4

1. Read paragraphs 1-39 (pp.35-top of 39) of "The Thing in the Forest."

2. Work on analysis of "The Behavior of Hawkweeds."

due Wed. 2/3

Re-read "A Conversations with My Father";

Write a discussion of "The Vacuum" and [Stop All the Clocks]

due Tuesday 2/2

1. Read "A Conversation with my Father," p. 31-34.

Come up with a claim concerning "The Behavior of the Hawkweeds."

2. Due Wednesday: write a discussion of "The Vacuum," p. 603, and [Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone], p. 609, as you did for the two previous poems, but think in terms of one discussion in which you compare the two poems, not two separate discussions.

Each of these poems is spoken by someone who is mourning the loss of someone he was close to. Take it from there. Don't forget the three words part.

3. Due Friday: a discussion of "The Behavior of Hawkweeds." Put your claim at the top; then discuss. Length: a page or two, typed, double-spaced.

criteria:

claim:

supportable

important

non-obvious

specific

discussion:

sense of a beginning, middle, and end

argues your claim, doesn't leave it behind

uses evidence and is specific

quality of evidence

patient, thoughtful

sense of discovery; you keep thinking throughout

proof-read