Tuesday - The Scarlet Letter

So today we are going to look at the revised reading schedule for the Scarlett Letter; reading chapter 10; and discuss the vocabulary quiz on Friday.

Revised Reading Schedule

10/23 - Chap. 10
10/24 - Chap. 11
10/25 - Chap. 12
10/26 - Chap. 13
10/29 - Chap. 14
10/30 - Chap. 15
10/31 - Chap. 16 and wear your letter to class.
11/2 - TEST over chapters 1-16
11/5 - Chap. 17
11/6 - Chap. 18
11/7 - Chap. 19
11/8 - Chap. 20
11/9 - Chap. 21
11/12 - Finish Novel
11/13 - Review.  Dialectical Journals Due
11/14 - TEST
11/15 - Work on Essay
11/16 - Work on Essay
Essay Due when we return from Thanksgiving Break

Friday

10/12 chapters 3-4
10/15 chapter 5
10/16 chapter 6
10/17 chapters 7-8
10/18 chapters 9-10
10/19 chapter 11
10/22 chapter 12
10/23 chapter 13
10/24 chapter 14
10/25 chapter 15
10/26 chapter 16-17
10/29 chapter 18-19
10/30 chapter 20
10/31 chapter 21-22
11/1 chapter 23-24
11/2 Finish Dialectical Journals
11/5 Review for Test
11/6 Test
11/7 - 11/9 Work on Scarlet Letter Essay
11/12 Essay Due

Thursday

Class Work:

1) Outlining the plot up to chapter 8.
2) List all the characters in the book so far with a brief description/summary of each.
3) List at least five symbols with a discussion of why they are important.
4) List and explain how one theme works in the novel so far.
5) If create a movie version of this book who would you cast in the roles?
6) Create a poster for your movie.  
 (Poster will be due on Tuesday)

Remember that next Wednesday there will also be a vocabulary quiz.

Wednesday

Today we need to put words of the day on the board.

We also need to discuss chapter 6, dialectical journals, grades, and then read chapter 7-8.

Monday

Today you are going to turn in your personal narratives, and we will read chapter 5. 

Remember that your projects are due tomorrow!  Hopefully you filmed them. 

Also remember to work on your dialectical journals. 

Friday

Today we are going to put words of the day on the board and look at chapters 3-4.  I will also give you some time to work on dialectical journals. 

Here is a reading schedule for you to follow:

10/12 chapters 3-4
10/15 chapter 5
10/16 chapter 6
10/17 chapters 7-8
10/18 chapters 9-10
10/19 chapter 11
10/22 chapter 12
10/23 chapter 13
10/24 chapter 14
10/25 chapter 15
10/26 chapter 16-17
10/29 chapter 18-19
10/30 chapter 20
10/31 chapter 21-22
11/1 chapter 23-24
11/2 Finish Dialectical Journals
11/5 Review for Test
11/6 Test
11/7 - 11/9 Work on Scarlet Letter Essay
11/12 Essay Due

THEMES:
Nature vs. Human Law
Nature of Evil
Sin vs. Forgiveness or Punishment vs. Forgiveness
Individual vs. Society
Exile
Public Guilt vs. Private Guilt
Civilization vs. Wilderness or Town vs. Woods
Good vs. Evil

EXAMPLE OF A DIALECTICAL JOURNAL:

from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God

(Zoe Wassman):  
 

Journal #1:

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.

Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” (Pg. 1)

 
The first two paragraphs are defining the gender roles used throughout Hurston’s novel. Just like in a lot of literature, the women are the weaker gender, and men the stronger, more efficient gender. These two paragraphs are saying that men are more empirical than women, especially in their dreams. When men think something is unattainable, like a ship that rarely docks on land, they let it go and move on. When women think something is unattainable, they can’t discriminate the difference between they want and what it true, meaning that women live a more romanticized life. This creates the dynamic for the unsuccessful relationships and unrealistic expectations throughout the novel as a whole.  

Dialectical Journals

LEARNING GOAL: RL9 - read and discuss classical literature of the 19th century.  Determine a theme of a text by referring to specifics from a text. 
 
Objective: Start keeping a dialectical journal.  Try to chose things that reflect a major theme and connect to each other.   

Effective students have a habit of taking notes as they read. This note-taking can several forms: annotation, post it notes, character lists, idea clusters, and many others. One of the most effective strategies is called a dialectical journal. The word “dialectical” has numerous meanings, but the one most pertinent is the “art of critical examination into the truth of an opinion” or reworded “The art or practice of arriving at the truth by using conversation involving question and answer.” As you read, you are forming an opinion about what you are reading (or at least you are SUPPOSED to be forming an opinion). That opinion, however, needs to be based on the text – not just a feeling. Therefore, all of your opinions need to be based on the text.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Purchase a dedicated spiral notebook and draw a line down the center of each page of the notebook. NOTE: I expect you to publish these journal entries on your blogs nightly and number them as you go.

2. As you read, pay close attention to the text.

3. Whenever you encounter something of interest (this could be anything from an interesting turn of phrase to a character note), write down the word/phrase in the LEFT HAND COLUMN making sure that you NOTE THE PAGE NUMBER. If the phrase is especially long just write the first few words, use an ellipsis, then write the last few words.

4. In the RIGHT HAND COLUMN, WRITE YOUR OBSEVRATIONS ABOUT THE TEXT you noted in the left-hand column. This is where you need to interact in detail with the text. Make sure that your observations are THOROUGH, INSIGHTFUL, and FOCUSED CLEARLY ON THE TEXT.

Requirements:

1) For each novel we read you will need to complete a MINIMUM of 55 entries if you wish to be eligible for an “A”. 35 is the minimum for a passing grade. Make sure you number your entries.
2) A completed dialectical journal should be brought to class each day a reading assignment is due.
3) On some short fiction and poetry reading assignments I may ask you to keep a dialectic journal on the reading (usually I’ll ask for 5-10 entries for shorter works).
4) Dialectic journals will be used as part of class discussion and will be randomly collected and graded for homework.

When should you write things down?
• When certain details seem important to you
• When you have an epiphany
• When you learn something significant about a character
• When you recognize a pattern (overlapping images, repetitions of idea, details, etc.)
• When you agree or disagree with something a character says
• When you find an interesting or potentially significant quote.
• When you notice something important or relevant about the writer’s style.
• When you notice effective uses of literary devices.
• When you notice something that makes you think of a question

That is all there is to it. This way, once you have read your text you will already have a great set of notes on which to draw when you write your paper. You also should have gained a great deal of insight about your particular text.

Note: Should you rather type this, just use the COLUMN function in your tool bar and complete steps two-four electronically.

Grading (based on 55 entries, if you have 45 entries an A= B, B= C, 35 entries A=C)

A—Detailed, meaningful passages, plot and quote selections; thoughtful interpretation and commentary about the text; includes comments about literary elements (like theme, diction, imagery, syntax, symbolism, etc.) and how these elements contribute to the meaning of the text; asks thought-provoking, insightful questions; coverage of text is complete and thorough; journal is neat, organized, numbered and readable.
B—Less detailed, but good selections; some intelligent commentary about the text; includes some comments about literary elements (like theme, diction, imagery, syntax, symbolism, etc.) but less than how these elements contribute to the meaning of the text; asks some thought-provoking, insightful questions; coverage of the text is complete and thorough; journal is neat, organized, numbered and readable.
C—A few good details about the text; most of the commentary is vague, unsupported or plot summary/paraphrase; some listing of literary elements, but perhaps inadequate discussion, but not very thoroughly; journal is relatively neat.
D—Hardly any good or meaningful details from the story; notes are plot summary or paraphrase; few literary elements, virtually no discussion on meaning; no good questions; limited coverage of text, and/or too short


New Vocabulary Words:

Anathema

Emolument

Mountebank

Deleterious

Misanthropy

Indefatigable

Constrained

Amenable

Averred

Heterodox