Final Project!

Final Project

Due mid-August

            Because this is not a traditional English class, we are not going to take a traditional final.  Instead of coming in for a long test for which you have (hopefully!) studied ahead of time, you are going to plan for, complete, and blog about a project of your choice.  This project should be based around an interest that arose during your reading for the summer.  Everything that you do in relation to this project (research, planning, execution, and reflection) must be posted in your final blog of the summer, somewhere between the last day of class and 11:30 am on Tuesday, August 15^th. Please take this blog post extra seriously, as it is the representation of a project that counts for 20% of your summer grade.  This means that you should write an outline and an initial draft, then self-edit and additionally have someone else look it over before you post a final version for me (and any other viewers) to read. 

             

Guidelines:

There are three stages to the project:  research/planning, action, and reflection.

Between these three elements, your project will take approximately 20 hours.

Requirements:

1.      The project must justifiably relate to your summer topic. 

2.      Evidence of research, planning.

3.      At least ten hours where you take action and do something.  Action must be recorded in written testimonials from other people, photographs, or videos.

4.      Reflection/Blog Post (1,000 words):  This reflection should first lay out what you set out to do and why.  Feel free to post excerpts from your planning and link in articles that relate to your topic or goals.  Next, explain not just your project but the results, the way that it affected you (or didn’t), and its connection to your reading.  You may also discuss any challenges that you faced in completing your project.

Because this assignment takes the place of a final, it is worth 20% of your grade for the summer.  That means that if you get a zero on it, your grade will go down 20 points.  You have weeks to complete it, so please make sure that you complete it to the best of your ability.

            I hope that it will be a great experience for all of us.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what you come up with and especially for witnessing how choosing your own topics to study has affected you both personally and intellectually.  As usual, please contact me with any questions. 

Good luck! J

Schedule and Blogging - Let the Fun Begin!

Welcome, once again, to what I hope will be a great new opportunity to explore literature in a way that you’ve never quite before.  I am so excited to get started!  As you know, beside that it is in the summer, this class is not going to function in the same way that your previous three years of high school English have.  First of all, each of you will be designing your own curriculum and pursuing it independently (with my support, of course).  

We've gone over the basic idea  you will choose a particular area of literary interest to study.  You will come up with a plan:  essential questions, books, and a schedule.  Once this plan has been submitted and approved, you will pursue this area of interest until the end of the quarter, reading daily and posting to your blog three times a week.  At the end of the summer you will do a hands on project in relation to your topic.  These will be awesome!

We will communicate via the class blog that I keep and Remind messages.  

Requirements:

1.      Read and write about your area of study five days a week.  This should total at least 100 pages of reading and three pages of writing per week, being that we are doing the course in an abbreviated amount of time.

2.      Keep a composition book and write in it daily.  In it, log the pages of your reading, take notes (this should be done in your  own way, perhaps with thinking routines or quotations but should not only be facts, though I imagine that there will be some), and record and define at least twenty new vocabulary words each week.

3.      Keep a blog for class and post to it three times a week.  You will have three different types of posts due. 

a.       Monday blog – This is the simplest entry, the most factual.  Please tell me the name of the book and author you have been reading this week since the previous Monday; our reading schedule will run from Monday to Monday (example Heading Home with Your Newborn – Laura Jana and Jennifer Shu), what pages you read (example: 1-113), and list and define twenty new vocabulary words from your reading and what pages you found them on (example: colic – persistent crying in an otherwise healthy baby – p. 113).  

b.      Wednesday blog – Relatively informal entry.  500 word minimum. This entry needs to be based around a quotation that you read over the course of the week that inspired you to think and reflect, ideally on something personal.  There should be three parts to your entry.  The first should provide some context of where you are in your book, the second have the quotation and an analysis of the quotation, and the third should be a personal connection or reflection to your life, your school, society in general, etc. 

c.       Friday blog – More formal, though you can still use “I.”  500 word minimum.  This entry should be more intellectual, analyzing a particular element of your reading for the week. You might choose a symbol, motif, theme, something about the style of writing, etc., but this one will be more typical of what you would write about in an English class. 

When we meet in the library on Tuesdays, we will be spending the three hours on various activities related to your blog and reading.  Please be prepared to conference with me on your blog and revise your posts based on my feedback during this time.

I’m hoping that your blog is something that you will be really proud of, so make it interesting!  Add pictures, links, music, etc. (and make sure to cite them!).  It should not just be type with no “extras.”  In that case, you would be doing the work in a notebook.  So instead, make it informative, but most importantly make it your own. J

4.      Be passionate and independent. 

Final Thoughts:

If this seems like a lot, remember two things:  the topic is one that you have chosen yourself, so reading and writing about it should not feel like traditional work.  You might have noticed that my examples above were about having a child, which I do, so that’s a topic that I have been reading a lot about in the past year and a half.  Because I have a personal connection to the topic, I’m motivated to read about childhood and parenting, even when I’m tired or busy.  I want you to choose a topic that you will be similarly excited about and that will make you feel like English is not work so much as something that is enriching your life.

            I had been dreaming about teaching a class like this for ages, and we’re now on our fourth year of offering it and now in a new format!  Of course there have been some bumps in the road, like in any new experience, but I know that my previous students read and learned a lot more (and about topics that really interested them) than they ever had before.  I hope that you will, too, and that you are genuinely excited to get started.  Please keep an open dialogue with me. I genuinely look forward to reading about your projects (and learning from you!). J

Summer Course Introduction and Guidelines

Topics in Literature

Ms. Fichera

Summer 2017

Overview:

Welcome to what I hope will be a great new opportunity to explore literature in a way that you’ve never quite before.  I am so excited to get started!  As you know, this class is not going to function in the same way that your previous three years of high school English have.  Not only is it taking place over the summer, it’s also on any topic that you want.  How cool is that?  Very, I know.  Each of you will be working relatively independently (with my support, of course) and online over the first six weeks of the summer.  The idea is this:  you will choose a particular area of literary interest to study.  Once you have developed a plan, you will pursue this area of interest until the end of the summer, reading daily and posting to a blog.  You will complete an awesome, and completely individual, final project at the end of the course.

Requirements:

1.      Read and write about your area of study approximately five days a week.  This should total approximately 80-100 pages of reading and three pages of writing per week.

2.      Keep a composition book.  In it, log the pages of your reading, take notes (this should be done in your  own way, perhaps with thinking routines or quotations but should not only be facts, though I imagine that there will be some), and, once a week, record and define at least ten new vocabulary words. 

3.      Keep a blog for class and post to it.  One entry each week will be short and factual, with only page numbers and a list of new vocabulary and definitions.  The other two entries each week should be approximately 500 words each.  One should be more personal, somewhat like a Quote Book entry (I will explain this if you have not been in my class before.), and one should be more intellectual, choosing a symbol, motif, essential question, etc. and analyzing what you have read each week. We will do a lot of the blogging when we meet together each Tuesday, but you will need to work on some of it on your own.  I’m hoping, however, that your blog is something that you will be really proud of, so make it interesting!  Add pictures, links, music, etc.  Make it informative, but most importantly make it your own. J

4.      Be passionate and independent. 

Final Thoughts:

If this seems like a lot, remember two things:  the topic is one that you have chosen yourself, so reading and writing about it should not feel like work, and you will also be expected to use “class” time (three hours per week) in addition doing “homework” (about thirty minutes per day).  That’s a lot of minutes learning about something that you care about, and I’m sure the time will fly by.   Also, you are getting an entire semester’s English credit for six weeks of work in the summer, so…it’s kind of a no brainer why this is a good deal.

            I have had a great time every time I’ve taught this class.  My students are always passionate and involved, they/ve came up with super interesting topics, they really evolved in their skills with the blogs, and they read a ton!  Obviously, this is the first year of teaching it in the summer, so there will be some adjustments, but I’ve described my vision for its success above.  Please remember that I am always available over e-mail and that we will meet as a group and then one on one over the course of the three hours each Tuesday.  I am genuinely excited about this opportunity, and I hope that you are already thinking of topics and are ready to get started.  I look forward to reading about your projects and helping you become literary connoisseurs! J

"One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested."

— E. M. Forster