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
