Monday, May 4, 2015

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 14 (April 30)

Greetings!

Once again, the weather was beautiful, and my garden was calling my name.  As we're winding down our school year here at CHAT, students and teachers are getting ready to change gears.

We are on our final book, the 1915 espionage/thriller The 39 Steps by John Buchan.  The class seems to like the book.  Not only is it shorter, it has an engaging plot and feels more contemporary in its style.  In class we not only discussed the the questions that each student brought to class, but we watched excerpts from a 2008 BBC version of the book and a scene from a stage play.  The movies made from this book follow the serious, dangerous tone found in the book while the plays are more farcical.   We will finish the book for the last week in class.

This week, our final week together, we will finish our discussion of The 39 Steps and will also have a final exam.  I haven't decided if this exam will look more like a Bingo game or a game of Jeopardy.  At any rate, no studying will be required; on the other hand, students have mentioned that treat would be nice, so they may bring something to share with the class.

This Thursday is also the National Day of Prayer, and my community hosts a city-wide Prayer Breakfast; I will be playing on the worship team for this event.  Because of this, there is an outside chance that I may be a few minutes late.  I usually leave Northfield quite early to avoid heavy traffic, so I'm not sure what I will encounter leaving a bit later.  Students have been forewarned.

Finally, I've given the students one writing assignment for this semester:  a Reflection Paper.  I would like them to take time to think about what they've learned in this class.  They can include thoughts about styles of writing, themes, periods of literature, their personal opinions about various pieces, assignment lengths, and class discussions.  I'd prefer these reflections go deep rather than broad.  In other words, instead of a bullet-pointed list of all the particulars of the class, they could choose one aspect of the class and "unpack" it a little deeper.

Assignments for this week:
-- Finish The 39 Steps
-- Reflection Paper

Links for this week:
Class Notes


Looking forward to our class,
Mrs. Prichard

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