due Friday 12/18 and over vacation

Please finish reading Siddhartha.

due Thursday 12/17

Siddhartha 57-76, multiple choice question

due Wed. 12/16

Siddhartha 43-56; one multiple choice question, HARD COPY (to be handed in)

due Tuesday December 15

Siddhartha, 25-39; write a multiple choice question and have it in a form that can be physically handed in.

due Monday 12/14

Please read the first two chapters of Siddhartha and make up a multiple choice question about the reading. Continue to bring Macbeth to class.

due Friday 12/11

Bring in your own version of your team's discussion. BRING a physical copy into class. Have ready to heand in all pre-writing and your list of pieces of evidence.

due Thursday 12/10

1. Your non-evil spell.

2. Macbeth 5.1 including reading journal.

due Tuesday 12/8

1. Change of plan: you don't yet have to read Macbeth 5.1, reading journal.

2. Continue to work on list of ten physical nouns of one syllaboe, five ___ of ___'s, and five apostrophe's ("baboon's blood") for your non-evil spell.

due Wednesday: write a spell of at least two stanzas using some of the words you came up with. Lines should be four beats (seven or eight syllables). There should be a two-line refrain, four beats (7-9 syllables) that rhymes.

3. Take one of your image categories, and write a complete sentence in which you describe what's happening in the pattern. Try to include three or four nouns. For example,

"In Macbeth, most, but not all, of the references to children, something is going wrong, suggesting that something is going deeply wrong in the world." (nouns: Macbeth, children, going wrong, world).

Do this for three other image categories.

due Friday 12/4

1. Read Macbeth 4.1, reading journal.

2. Write down your gravitas claim (your x), your religio claim (your y), and then attempt to combine them into one combined claim (your z). Email this information to me. (If there's a computer problem, print or write it out). If you have already emailed me your evidence and your discussion as to why one piece of evidence was the strongest, etc., you don't need to copy your evidence.

HOWEVER, if there is better evidence in Lavinia for your combined claim than what you have already, find it and include it with your claim.

due Thursday 12/3

1. Read Macbeth 3.6 (all) and do a four-part reading journal.

2. (a) After you finish your discussion of why your evidence should be in which order, and have emailed it to me, go back to that discussion.

(b) Underline important nouns. Remember the example of love, connection, confusion in Maddie's. With your partner, figure out a claim based on those nouns for gravitas. Do the same for religio.

(c) Have one person on your time write out the claim and quote the three pieces of evidence for gravitas and email it to me; the other person on the team should doe the same for gravitas. If something goes wrong with the email, print it out or write it out and hand it in in class.

due Tuesday 12/ and Wed. 12/2

due Tues. 12/1:

1. Read Macbeth, 3.4 (the whole scene) and do a four-part reading journal.

2. Write out your supporting evidence concerning Lavinia's (the character Lavinia's) gravitas and religio. Jot down notes as to why you think one piece of evidence is the strongest, second strongest, and third strongest in the case of both gravitas and religio. (Erin and Nahshon: try to get someone in the class to explain this assignment to you, if you can. Otherwise you can catch up later.)

Due Wed. 12/2:

Email your thoughts on which piece of evidence is the strongest (see #2, above) to your partner; continue to email back and forth, discussing the matter, until you have come to a consensus about how to rank your pieces of evidence. Forward your email discussions to me via email.

due Friday 11/20

1. Read Lavinia 212-226.

2. Final version of Lavinia character analysis, including chart! summary! claim! two different versions of your discussion, longer and more concise!

homework over vacation: finish reading Lavinia.

due Thursday 11/19

1. Read Lavinia 196-212 and do a four-part reading journal about these pages.

2. Rewrite if necessary, and then type and print out your discussion of your character from Lavinia. Include your summary and claim, and bring your chart along.

due Wednesday 11/18

1. Write your discussion about your claim about a character from Lavinia.

2. Catch up on your reading from Lavinia if you need to.

due Tuesday 11/17

1. Read Lavinia 181-195.

2. Bring a claim as well as your summary (concerning your Lavinia character) to class.

due Monday 11/16

1. Read Lavinia 162-181

2. Do a chart for your Lavinia character. Do one "row" per page as I explained in class.

due Thursday 11/12

1. Macbeth 1.4 (all, and journal)

2. Lavinia 139-152

3. keep building your list of passages (quotations) that pertain to your chosen character. Keep those quotations brief--find the heart of the quotation.

due Wednesday 11/11

Please note: I forgot to assign today's secretary: Dustin. Dustin, if you can, please recall what happened and write up notes for the class. No one was absent.

1. Macbeth, 1.3.82-175, and four-part journal as before.

2. Read Lavinia 125-139. Quiz Friday; no special preparation required. Just keep up with the reading.

due Tuesday 11/10

1. Read Lavinia 114-125

2. Do a reading journal for Macbeth 1.3.1-38:

(1) Three sentence summary of the reading.

(2) A question or two that the reading gave rise to.

(3) a word from the reading you found striking, with a sentence of explanation as to why.

(4) quote an image you found striking, and explain why in a couple of sentences.

due Monday 11/9

1. Read Lavinia 90-114.

2. Pick up Macbeth from the bookstore and bring it on Monday.

3. Hand in your six stories (three about right v. wrong, three about striving for excellence). Also hand in one typed page, double-spaced, normal-sized font, explaining whether her you think you are more engaged by/interested in questions of right and wrong or questions about how to strive for excellence. Use your stories as evidence.

The criteria this time will be different:

a. Try to remain organized for the entire page. Don't repeat yourself; don't change the subject abruptly; have a good beginning and a good ending. Letting your thoughts flow naturally might be the best strategy.

b. Make every phrase of every sentence count.

If you have less than one page's worth of thoughts, try looking back at your stories and then start again. If you don't write a whole page's worth, it's not a big problem, but you won't get an A.

due Friday 11/6

Lavinia 75-90

Two more paragraphs, one on right v. wrong, one on excellence, as before.

Due Thursday 11/5

1. Two more paragraphs, one on a right v. wrong incident, one on a incident concerning excellence.

2. Read Lavinia 60-75.

1. Lavinia 47-60.

2. Write two paragraphs:

one paragraph about a time during the day (the day you're writing) when the issue of right v. wrong came up in some way.

one paragraph about a time during the day (the day you're writing) when the issue of trying to be more excellent at something came up.

Keep it relaxed, and try to include some of your thinking about the incident.

Bring your paragraphs to class. You will have to hand in a typed version as part of Monday's writing assignment.

3. Keep bringing your material about Julius Caesar to class as well as Lavinia.

due Tuesday 11/3

Read Lavinia pp. 30-47.

due Monday 11/2

1. Read Lavinia 23-30.

2. Be prepared to physically hand in your analysis, including your chart, your summary, your claim, and your discussion. Don't forget to proof-read.

due Friday 10/30

Read Lavinia 5-23: change of plan; no blog comment necessary.

Bring to class your notes on the qualities of Julius Caesar based on the anecdote we read.

Due Monday: analysis, including chart (to be graded) concerning Aeneas Flees Burning Troy.

due Thursday 10/29

1. Write a summary and claim of Aeneas Fleeing Burning Troy.

Read Lavinia, pp. (TBA in class)

due Tuesday 10/27

1. Read Lavinia, pp. 1-5.

2. Finish your chart about the painting Aeneas Flees Burning Troy. Remember to analyze at least four pieces of evidence; remember that the guiding question is "Is Aeneas presented positively in the picture?" but that it's okay if your thought process leads you to a different question; remember that this chart will be graded so do a good job.

due Friday 9/18

1. Read Oedipus lines 1603-1814 (to the end)

2. Memorize your lines. (Note to Alana and Chelsea: you're partners. Decide which lines you're doing as best you can in person or by email over the weekend.)

3. Bring your Aeneas painting chart with you to class if you didn't hand it in already.

due Thursday 10/22

1. Copy and paste the scene from Oedipus the King that you will work on with a partner (including memorizing it). Choose an amount of lines you can commit to.

2. Read Oedipus the King, lines 1423-1602.

3. Do one row of your chart about the Aeneas painting.

due Wednesday 10/21

Read Oedipus the King lines 1289-1422. Then write a comment on this blog in response to one of the following prompts. Don't repeat something that someone has already said. Thank you.

1. Find a passage that you don't understand and quote it, asking a classmate for help with it. If a classmate tries to answer it, that counts as their contribution to this assignment.

2. Find a brief passage that bears on the idea of "character is fate," and explain.

3. In lines 1379-1387, Oedipus has one or more of his people use force against the old shepherd to get him to talk. Comment.

4. "Then let it break, whatever it is." (1292-3) Can you find the dramatic irony (that is, the way in which Oedipus says something he'll want to take back later)?

5. I see myself as a child of fortune—

and she is generous, that mother of mine 1300
from whom I spring, (1299-1301)

Can you find the dramatic irony (that is, the way in which Oedipus says something he'll want to take back later)?

due Tuesday 10/20

1. 230-240 in Mythology

2. Look over the dialogue parts of Oedipus the King so far (1252) and find a dramatic moment (involving two people) and choose a number of lines from a speech (or speeches) connected to that dramatic moment that you can commit to memorizing. Tomorrow you'll get your partner.

due Monday 10/19

1. Your myth short story. Criteria:

a. Does your story reflect the myth in a satisfying way, so that we feel the metaphorical power of the myth at work? In other words, does the myth seem plausible in the modern setting, and at the same time are crucial parts of the myth not left out?

b. Is there a satisfying sense of a beginning, middle, and end?

c. Are your sentences well-formed? Does the story show some artistic energy and still remain disciplined and clear?

2. Memorize the new plot points about the fall of Troy, and review the old ones.

Due Friday 10/16

1. read Mythology, pp. 201-210.

2. memorize the "plot points" of the Iliad that we came up with in class.

due Thursday 10/15

1. Read in Oedipus the King lines 1032-1291.

2. Acquire the book Lavinia if you haven't already.

3. Work on your myth adaptation.

due Wednesday 10/14

1. Mythology 185-200

2. idea for adaptation of a Greek myth to the present day

a. setting (where and when)

b. main character's problem

c. what's happening when the story begins

due Tuesday October 13

1. Be ready to hand in your Bible-image analysis (images list, chart, summary, claim, discussion). In your discussion, discuss specific pieces of evidence.

2. Read 179-184 in Mythology.

3. If you had to say which of these figures from Greek mythology you identify with, who would you choose, and why? In a relaxed way, write a few sentences of explanation. It need not be typed. See our Mythology book for more information if you need to.

Artemis

Atalanta

Apollo

Dionysus

Echo (from the Narcissus story)

Eurydice (from the Orpheus story)

Hercules

Icarus

Jason

Medea

Narcissus

Orpheus

Persephone

Perseus

Phaethon

Psyche

Theseus

Due Friday 10/9

1. Construct your claim for your Bible-images analysis.

2. Write a comment on this post about lines 770-1031. Some possible prompts:

A. What kind of person does Jocasta, Oedipus's wife, seem to be? Can you comme up with three adjectives to describe her? Explain.

B. Can you notice a connection between this story and the story of Perseus, a connection regarding prophecy? (Once someone gets this one, don't use this prompt.)

C. In the encounter with the stranger whom Oedipus kills (962-976), what evidence is therethat Oedipus' character determines his fate?

D. (by the time you get to line 1031) Why does Jocasta think that Oedipus can't be the killer of Laius? what piece of evidence gives hope that he was not the killer of Laius?

Due Thursday 10/8

1. read pp. 155-165 in Mythology.

2. Write a summary for your Biblical images.

3. Write a comment on this post in which you answer one of the following (about lines 562-769 of Oedipus the King):

A. At ll. 670 and following, Oedipus asks, "How long is it since Laius . . . [pauses]." Then he goes on to ask, if Tiresias is a good prophet, and thinks I did the murder, why didn't Tiresias speak up then? (Creon answers, in effect, "I don't know.") What does this question say about Oedipus's state of mind during this speech?

B. Creon makes an argument in lines 701-724 that goes something like this: why should I want to get rid of you, Oedipus? I have all the privileges of royalty right now (being your brother-in-law) without any of the burdens of kingship." What do you think of this argument, especially at this place and time (in the play)? He then says something like, "Go and ask the oracle if I'm guilty." Which argument seems to you better? Why?

C. In lines 748-750, Oedipus says, "If some conspirator moves against me, in secret and with speed, I must be quick to make my counter-plans." What does this speech say about his mental state at this point?

D. At 764-765, Oedipus says, "Oh Thebes, my city!" Why might he say this at this point?

E. The Greeks believed that "character is fate"--we don't get to choose our character, and our character causes certain things to happen to us. How might this apply to Oedipus?

due Tuesday October 6

1. Please read in Mythology pp. 136-138, 144-145, and 146-154.

2. Do at least one row of an analysis-chart of your Biblical images. Your guiding question: what was on the mind of the culture that came up with these images?

due Monday 10/5

1. Please read pp. 107-134.

2. Write your "psalm" (see previous post, and the email about the assignment).

Have a good weekend!

due Friday 10/2

1. Read lines 249-561 in Oedipus the King. Preferably you will read this aloud with a friend or a family member.

2. Comment on this blog about Job (see below).

3. Don't forget your "psalm," due Monday. See your email for a re-statement of that assignment.

4. Keep bringing your list of images from the Bible.

Prompts for comment on this blog:

A. What might God be saying indirectly about himself in chapters 40 and 41? Note that a "behemoth" (40.15) probably refers to an elephant, and "Leviathan" probably refers to a whale.

B. A rhetorical question is a question the asker doesn't really want an answer to--he asks the question just to make a point or have an effect. Comment on God's use of rhetorical questions. What point might be be trying to make, or what effect might he be trying to make?

C. In your own words, how does Job respond to God's speech?

D. Why do you suppose God rewards Job at the end? DO you think it is possible that Job originally ended at 42.6, and that 42.7-17 were added on by someone who wanted a happy ending?

E. Any other thought you have about the Book of Job is welcome.

due Thursday 10/1

1. Read Job 1-4 and 40.6-42

2. Find three of your favorite images from Micah, Jonah, and Job and add them to your list of images from the sections of the Bible we've read.

due Wednesday 9/30

1. Find three of your favorite images from the story of Abraham, Genesis 11-22. Include them on the list of images you have from Genesis 1, Genesis 2-4, and Genesis 6-9. I also assume you have images from the Book of Jonah. If you don't you should catch up tonight.

2. Read lines 1-181 at the beginning of Oedipus Rex, findable on-line at Wikipedia, under External Links, translation by Ian Johnston.

due Tuesday 9/29

1. Prepare for Greek mythology matching quiz.

2. Imagery hunt: find your three favorite images from . . .

due Monday 9/28

1. Complete your work on your analysis of The Creation of the world and the Expulsion from Eden painting. Be ready to hand in your observations, drawings, chart, summary, claim, and discussion.

2. Read the Book of Jonah from the Bible and answer one of these prompts, or come up with a topic of your own. Remember that specific evidence is great!

a) What kind of person is Jonah, and how do you know?

b) Is God more stern or more kind in the Book of Jonah? How do you know?

c) What does Jonah actually ask God for as he prays to God from the belly of the whale?

d) Part of the story is that Jonah is sleeping through the storm and has to be awakened. Any thoughts as to what this detail adds to the story?

e) Find an image that is worth commenting on and comment on it.

Have a good weekend.

due Friday 9/25

1. Read Micah chapters 1,2,4, and 6. Comment on this post. Possible prompts:

a) find an example of imagery and comment.

b) Find a part in which Micah sounds relatively angry (or as if God is angry) and a part where Micah is relatively sweet and conciliatory (or God is). How do the two modes work together?

c) What is your favorite verse? Why?

d) Make an observation and do some column two thinking about it.

2. Read in Mythology pp. 105-121.

due Thursday 9/24

1. Please read Exodus chapters 21 and 22 from the Bible. It is a series of laws. Would Hammurabi find any of these laws too harsh? Too soft? Do you find them too hard, too soft? Comment on this post.

2. Finish you chart, summary and claim for the painting The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise.

due Wednesday 9/23

1. Please read pp. 89-95 in your mythology book.

2. Please list in one column the places in Genesis 1-22 (all we've read) that God interacts directly with humans. In the second column, write what kind of "person" (or god/God) God seems to be in each instance.

Due Tuesday 9/22

1. Genesis chapters 19-22

2. Mythology pp. 96-104

3. Write a comment on this post in which you think about the two readings, one from Genesis, one about Cupid and Psyche. The cultures that created each were obviously very different. In what ways? Or you may make an observation about either reading and do some "column two" thinking about that observation.

due Monday 9/21

1. Read Genesis chapters 15-18 and comment on this post.

2. Hand in your chart-summary-claim-discussion concerning chapter seven of Things Fall Apart.

3. Do another drawing of a portion of The Creation of the World and Expulsion from Paradise at www.metmuseum.org. Choose a portion that will be pertinent to the question of whether God is more loving and kind or more stern according to the artist who painted the picture. Note that the figure of God in the painting is just one piece of evidence (though an important one). Everything in the picture is potentially evidence.

due Friday 9/18

1. Please read chaps. 10-15 of Genesis, and blog about it here. Please try to notice places where the words reveal or imply something about the culture or values of the people who produced the book of Genesis, and speculate about what environment could give rise to such culture or values.

2. Keep working on your TFA observations-chart-summary-claim-discussion. If you've added a specific quotation from the text to your discussion in a graceful way, now choose a juicy word from that quotation, discuss that word in relation to your claim, and integrate this addition into your discussion in a graceful way.

due Thursday 9/17

1. Genesis 4-9, blog.

2. Find specific evidence, including a specific phrase from the two pages from chapter seven of Things Fall Apart, and gracefully interject it into your discussion.

due Wednesday 9/16

1. Please read Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3. Then comment, on this blog. Either compare the creation story in these chapters to the Ancient Greek creation story described in pages 65-77 of Mythology, or make some other comment about the Biblical creation story.

2. Either rewrite your summary and claim concerning chapter seven of Things Fall Apart, or go ahead and write your discussion based on the claim you already have.

Homework due Tuesday 9/15/09

1. Please read pp. 65-77 in Mythology.

2. Write your summary OR claim OR discussion, depending on how far we get in class.

homework due Monday 9/14

Read in Mythology pp. 57-, and comment on this blog please.

Write your claim and your discussion about your collections. Hand in your observations as well.

homework for Thursday September 10 2009

1. For those who didn't do summer reading or all of summer reading, email me a proposed schedule for getting the reading done. For example: "Two chapters per weekend."

2. Read in Mythology 48-55 and write a comment (by clicking on this post).

3. Optional: work on your summary for your collection. If you bring it to class Friday, I will give you feedback on it.

4. Start to locate either a copy of the Bible or print out a copy of the Book of Genesis (the first "book" of the Bible, chapters 1-21. If you have a choice, use the New Revised Standard Version (it's the most authoritative from the scholarly point of view). You can find it on line; just google it. You should have this by Monday.

homework for Wednesday night, September 9

1. Please re-read (or read) chapter of Things Fall Apart.

2. Write a blog comment (on this blog) in which you briefly list the three observations you made about your collection that you think are the most interesting observations for whatever reasons and say something about why.

Course Description

Please click on this link for a course description.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddk27gtf_46cp6rs3pb

Mythology pp. 24-36

Hercules

A. After doing the reading, please

1. Make a specific observation about the reading.

2. Use that observation as starting point and think, in writing, about what you have read. Present that thinking in a comment on this blog. You may also comment respectfully on what others have written before you about the same reading assignment.

NOTE: if someone else has "taken" the observation you were going to make, make sure you have some of your own thinking to say about the observation. Otherwise, record a different observation, and go from there.

3. A half hour or more after posting your comment, return to the blog and read what your fellow students have written. Feel free to comment again; otherwise, just write, "I have read."

B. Other homework:

Make 25 observations about a collection of yours. (An observation is something that no sane person would disagree with.) Try to come up with observations that have potential interest to you. The observations may be about the collection as a whole, different subsets of the collection, or a particular item in the collection. It's your collection; you probably know a lot about it. Bring your observations to class with you.