Friday, February 27

Students were reminded of the reading assignment for Monday, advised that they would do well to read farther than the assignment stipulates, and informed that we will begin class Monday (and quite a few other days) with their writing at least 50 words of CD's (concrete details from the assignment) of a sort they would not know without reading the assignment.

HW due Monday:
Read Chapters 1-7 of Huckleberry Finn. (See Schedule of Readings and Quizzes on Documents page.)

Thursday, February 26

All classes which did not check out copies of Huckleberry Finn yesterday received their copies today, as well as copies of the schedule of readings and quizzes.

We continued our reading of the book and discussed the characterization of Tom, Huck, and Jim.

Wednesday, February 25

We began our reading of Huckleberry Finn. (See Documents page for schedule of readings and quizzes.)

First we looked briefly at the famous and beloved book to which Huck Finn is a sequel: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, at the famous scene in which Tom whitewashes a fence and at the description of Huck upon his first appearance.

We then read the prefatory notes and the first page or two of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. When we got to the allusion to "Moses and the Bulrushers" Mr. Potratz thrilled one and all with his rendition of the negro spiritual "Go Down, Moses."

Tuesday, February 24

We finished watching the Emily Dickinson film, then discussed it, with both Mr. Potratz and the students sharing what they thought were the mostt interesting and significant points the film made.

Monday, February 23

Students turned in their HW. Due to the dismally low number of assignments submitted, Mr. Potratz kindly consented to give papers turned in today a small amount of extra credit and to accept papers tomorrow at full credit. This one-time dispensation does not imply a change in policy. Late work will still not be accepted without prior arrangement.

Students took notes on the most important points made in a Voices and Visions documentary about the life and work of Emily Dickinson and turned in those notes at the end of the period.

Friday, February 13

We completed our in-class reading of Emily Dickinson, focusing in part on her letters to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, in which she said "I sing . . . because I am afraid."

HW due Monday, February 23:
See Thursday's entry. Don't wait till the eleventh hour!!

Thursday, February 12

We read and analyzed more poems by Emily Dickinson: "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "I heard a Fly buzz when I died."

HW for Monday, February 23:
Read pages 450-62 in the textbook. Write an essay which resembles the last page- and-a-half of the selection from Life on the Mississippi (pp. 461-2), in which Mark Twain describes the gains and losses of learning the science of piloting a riverboat. What similar experience have you had?

Thursday, February 12

We read and analyzed more poems by Emily Dickinson: "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

Wednesday, February 12

Students took a five-question quizlet over Emily Dickinson's bio, and we graded it.

We continued our examination of "Apparently with no surprise," considering it as an example of the poet's evocation of weighty universals from seemingly minute particulars, and showing how it both follows and frustrates the expectations of ballad meter (or hymn meter, or common meter).

We then proceeded to a close reading of "If you were coming in the Fall," and looked at the changes the poem's editor made in the poem.

Tuesday, February 10

We finished our reading of "Song of Myself" and moved on to Emily Dickinson, reading "Apparently with no surprise," and discussing it via the examination of several students' paragraphs from yesterday.

HW due Wednesday:
Read pages 372-3 in the textbook (bio of Dickinson) and prepare for another quizlet.

Monday, February 9

Students turned in the HW.

We continued reading "Song of Myself." Was Whitman a religious or an anti-religious poet?

Friday, February 6

We continued reading Whitman's "Song of Myself," that astonishing, disgraceful, profane, and mystical poem.

HW due Monday:
See Thursday. Remember to start with questions 2 - 5, then answer question 1.

Thursday, February 5

We completed our examination of "O Captain!" and proceeded to an introductory comparison of Whitman and Emily Dickinson, after which we began reading Whitman's "Song of Myself," in its earliest edition.

HW due Monday"
Read "Apparently with no surprise" on page 385 of our textbook, type answers to question 1 (one solid two-chunk paragraph) and questions 2-5 (a sentence or two at most) on page 390, upper left.

Wednesday, February 4

We began with another mini-quiz over the reading assignment, the biography of Walt Whitman in our textbook, then returned to our analysis of Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain."

Tuesday, February 3

Except for 5th period, when we discussed "Young Goodman Brown," we read Walt Whitman's famous elegy on Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain! My Captain!, and began to analyze its poetic form.

HW due Wednesday:
Read the Walt Whitman bio (pages 348-9) in Elements of Lit and prepare for a quizlet on it.

Monday, February 2

Periods 1&2 took a quizlet over pages 296-7 in the textbook (bio of Nathaniel Hawthorne). Periods 5 & 6 discussed the same material.

In all classes we finished "Young Goodman Brown" and discussed the questions raised by this mysterious and troubling story.