Class Notes March 29: Orders of Business
I apologize again for not posting more of our work on Vonnegut; it's been busy the past two weeks for me, too; I realize lots of you had mid-terms last week and this one. We're going to spend at least Monday of next week discussing the novel, and probably some of Wednesday, too. Be sure to finish the novel for Monday. By then, we'll be able to discuss our interpretations and blend them into some coherent observations about the overall narrative.
In class today we spent the first 30 or so minutes peer reviewing each other's essays. We focused on introductions and summarizing passages and paragraphs. Afterwards, we worked a little more on the three-passage writing piece we began Monday. In that piece, I asked you to focus on one passage in Slaughter-House Five and summarize, explain, and anaylze it. It may have been one of the four or five passages we discussed as a class, or that your group noted during your group discussions last Wednesday. I then asked you to select another passage from later in our reading (about page 140 or afterwards) and offer the same scholastic criticism of that passage. Then, I asked you to compare some aspect of those two passages in another paragraph--a third paragraph or passage. It's important that you're able to discuss two different sections of the same long text in one passage: you'll need to do this for the third essay.
The final paragraph-passage that compares those two different passages from the novel is due Monday, typed and double spaced. Be sure to bring it to class, too, because we may use it.
Your second essay is also due Monday (the one we work-shoped today). I will read drafts until 6 Pm Saturday. After that, I won't.
I found today's attendance curious, since we had only 11 of the 19 students we normally have. I'm aware that two of you had medical emergencies, but that still leaves 6 people, almost a third of the class, absent for the peer review. I plan to address this briefly Monday.
In class today we spent the first 30 or so minutes peer reviewing each other's essays. We focused on introductions and summarizing passages and paragraphs. Afterwards, we worked a little more on the three-passage writing piece we began Monday. In that piece, I asked you to focus on one passage in Slaughter-House Five and summarize, explain, and anaylze it. It may have been one of the four or five passages we discussed as a class, or that your group noted during your group discussions last Wednesday. I then asked you to select another passage from later in our reading (about page 140 or afterwards) and offer the same scholastic criticism of that passage. Then, I asked you to compare some aspect of those two passages in another paragraph--a third paragraph or passage. It's important that you're able to discuss two different sections of the same long text in one passage: you'll need to do this for the third essay.
The final paragraph-passage that compares those two different passages from the novel is due Monday, typed and double spaced. Be sure to bring it to class, too, because we may use it.
Your second essay is also due Monday (the one we work-shoped today). I will read drafts until 6 Pm Saturday. After that, I won't.
I found today's attendance curious, since we had only 11 of the 19 students we normally have. I'm aware that two of you had medical emergencies, but that still leaves 6 people, almost a third of the class, absent for the peer review. I plan to address this briefly Monday.
posted by Jrc at 4:03 PM
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