Monday, September 11

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Summer reading essay due September 18th--bring a printed copy to class.

How to Write a Creative Title for an Essay

Your Essay needs: 1. a creative title, 2. an opening sentence that compels us to continue reading, and 3. the first three sentences must have no punctuation errors. 

Your Summer Reading Essay needs to focus on your specific and original idea concerning the novel. Systematically develop your ideas throughout the essay, using textual support and analysis. By the end of the essay, readers should say to themselves, "Hmmm. Nice. I'm glad I read that."

"Just don't let your poem be ordinary" (Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society)

And with regard to your summer reading essay (and everything you ever write throughout your life, including love letters ;^)

"Just don't let your paper be ordinary."

C=Common work

B=Beyond common

A=Above beyond

How to Read Literature like a Professor and your annotated novel (10 points)

Divide into groups according to novel read

Glance through How to Read Literature like a Professor, finding ideas from that book that shed light on your novel (help you understand it). Discuss your novel as a group and write down spots in the novel where you can see ideas from the book How to Read Literature like a Professor. I'm not saying this will be easy, but do your best! Each person needs to take notes.

Class syllabus
TODAY:

Literary terms--Quizlet  Memorize for quiz Friday the 15th

First three lines of Song of the Open Road memorized by Friday.

What can I say, I love teaching Honors American Lit where the discussions are lively, the insights keen, and the writing enjoyable to read (please keep it that way   :^]

Rather than create a website, I've set up this blog for our class and you will be required to view it from time to time.  I prefer blogs to websites because they can be updated so easily and they also give you the opportunity to comment on the things that are said here and to give me input concerning neat and useful links to add to the "Resources" tab and the "Cool Stuff "tab."

My goal is to make this class as stimulating as it is challenging. The works that I've chosen for us to study, as well as the assignments, should give you opportunities to think through challenging issues and to solidify your new ideas as you write your papers and produce creative projects.
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Class today (actually today and tomorrow):

1. The American Dream

• National Public Radio (NPR) video on the singer Bruce Springsteen and the American   Dream. Springsteen's American Dream--Beautiful and Bleak  
• Born to Run with lyrics (Bruce Springsteen)  Discuss meaning of the song. And a link to the lyrics: Born to Run
• Compare and contrast the poems Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman, and 
• I am Waiting, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Both deal with the American dream. Which is more similar to Springsteen's Born to Run? Why do you think these poets and singers see the American dream differently?
• As a group, decide what the song Born to Run is saying.  Take notes.
• Homework: Write three paragraphs telling me what you think Springsteen is saying. Remember, good writing makes a specific point, supports that point with specific examples, and discusses those examples.
• Another Whitman poem: I Hear America Singing
• Literary terms--Quizlet

My hope is that you'll find the class both challenging and fun.