Topics
in Literature
Ms. Fichera
Fall 2018
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 I think you
know, this class is not going to function in the same way that your previous
three years of high school English have.
Instead, each of you will be designing your own curriculum for the
semester and pursuing it independently (with my support, of course). The idea is this: each quarter 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 a blog four
times a week, then you will do the same for the second quarter of the
semester. We will meet daily in my
classroom, but you will also interact with each other via the class blog.
Requirements:
1. Read
and write about your area of study 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 for each quarter. 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 ten new vocabulary words each week.
3. Keep
a blog for class and post to it four times a week. You will have three different types of posts
due.
a. Friday
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 Friday; our reading
schedule will run from Friday to Friday (example Heading Home with Your
Newborn – Laura Jana and Jennifer Shu), what pages you read (example:
1-113), and list and define ten 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. Tuesday
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. Wednesday
blog – A “quick burst.” Something small that you make a connection to your
topic, an inspiring video, etc. This
requires only a few sentences of text.
Wednesdays
will also be “collaboration days” where you will read and comment on each
other’s latest posts. Both of these
assignments will fall into a “participation” category.
d. Thursday
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.
Your blogs are due by the time class starts on
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Fridays.
However, I would not necessarily recommend that you work on these
entries during school on the day that they are due as they make up 100% of your
grade for the semester.
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! Ask me or
see Ms. Costello if you need help with this).
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, and you will be using our class
time (fifty minutes per day) 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. You might have noticed that my
examples above were about having a baby because I put the examples in when I
was home on maternity leave with Violet and reading about newborns. As of today, Violet’s a pre-schooler! And I still read a lot about childhood and
parenting. Because I have a personal
connection to the topic, I’m motivated to read those things, even when I’m
tired or busy. We make time for the
things that matter to us. I want you to
choose two topics that you will be similarly excited about and which 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 several years into offering it. Of course there have been some bumps in the
road, like in any 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 about
topics/books you are considering, any trouble you are having with the blog
posts, or anything else that needs clarifying.
We will also use Ms. Costello and the library as a regular resource. I
genuinely look forward to reading about your projects (and learning from you!)
every day. J
"One
person with passion is better than forty people merely interested."
—
E. M. Forster
