Wednesday, December 19

Students turned in HW and we discussed their views on "Because I could not stop for Death."

Copies of Huckleberry Finn were distributed, along with the schedule of readings and quizzes. Mr. Potratz read Chapter 1 and part of Chapter 2 aloud to the class.

HW due Wednesday, January 2:
Read Chapters 1-9 of Huckleberry Finn.


Tuesday, December 18
We read and discussed poems by Emily Dickinson, including "Apparently, with no surprise" and "I heard a fly buzz when I died."

Handout on poetic form in Dickinson.

HW due Wednesday:
Read the handout and page 394 in the textbook (Dickinson's letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson); read also all poems pages 373-394, and write one paragraph in answer to the first Question #3 on page 395 (on the tone of the final paragraph of "Because I could not stop for Death").

Monday, December 17

Open-book quiz over Emily Dickinson biography and poem (30 pts.).
Lecture on ballad meter/ballad stanza using "The Gypsy Laddie" (Child 200) as sung by Jean Ritchie.

Friday, December 14

Rhythm and meter in poetry. Types of metrical feet. Metrical pattern versus actual rhythm.

HW due Monday:
Read pp. 272 & 273 and pp. 276 & 177 in Elements of Lit.
Quiz over it on Monday.

Thursday, December 13

Intro to Poetry
Students worked in small groups to come up with definitions of poetry.
We then put them under the document camera and discussed them.


Wednesday, December 12
Mr. Potratz was absent.
Students completed a dictionary exercise, using the American Heritage College Dictionary and answering questions on a worksheet.

Tuesday, December 11

Levels of Diction
In-class exercise employing vocabulary words from "The Cask of Amontillado."

HW due Wednesday:
Ten sentences using vocabulary words from "The Cask of Amontillado" (see Monday's entry).

Monday, December 10
Gothicism
Clip from Metropolis.
Illustration from textbook pp. 262-63.

Handout: "The Cask of Amontillado"
Handout: Vocab words from same

HW due Wednesday:
(1) Read the story.
(2) Underline the nineteen vocabulary words in the story.
(3) Look up any words you don't know.
(4) Use ten of the words in sentences which demonstrate the words' meaning.

Friday, December 7

We went over students' answers to the questions on yesterday's Gothicism worksheet,
and illustrated the answers with projected photos of Gothic-style buildings from different periods.

No HW.

Thursday, December 6

Goth Day
We went to the computer lab and researched Gothicism, both the original Gothic period of the middle Ages and the Gothic cultural revival of the nineteenth century.

Students either turned in their completed worksheets at the end of class or took them home to finish as homework due at the beginning of class Friday.

Wednesday, December 5

Students turned in HW (metaphor paraphrases, p. 246).

Discussion of excerpts from Walden.
Exploration of the word "deliberate" (adj. & v.), as in "I wished to live deliberately . . . "

Students will be in the computer lab tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 4

We finished discussing "Civil Disobedience" and began reading excerpts from Walden.

HW due Wednesday:
Finish reading the selections from Walden in Elements of Lit (pp. 234-244), then paraphrase in writing the three metaphors given under "Reading Skills and Strategies" on page 247 (bottom right corner of the page).

Monday, December 3

"Civil Disobedience" (aka "Resistance to Civil Government"), by Henry David Thoreau.

Students handed in their HW.

Mr. Potratz announced a change in policy, effective second semester. No late HW will be accepted.

Friday, November 30

Handout: "Digital History" of opposition to the Mexican War.

HW due Monday: Read pp. 249-254 in textbook and TYPE at least one two-chunk paragraph in answer to Question 3 on page 257.