British Literature Class Notes -- Week 15 (May 11)

Greetings!

We had a wonderful final class for our British Literature class.  We finished our last reading selection, The 39 Steps by John Buchan.  While the book is full of implausibilities, the action of the plot made it a fun read.  The discussion questions that the students brought not only had us talking about the book but about all of our literature selections this semester.  We rated their our reading selections.  All of the students agreed that Beowulf was the least favorite book and Great Expectations and Pygmalion were the more favored books.

We only took about a third of our class time to discuss the book because I had planned a final exam.  It was a Jeopardy game and the class divided themselves into two teams..  (You can go here and play it for yourselves.)  The students did well!  

My goal is to have grades out by the end of the weekend..  I have to say that this is one of my favorite classes to teach. 

Assignments for Next Week:

-- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Jeopardy Game

Have a wonderful summer!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 4)

Greetings!

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 discussed the the questions that each student brought to class.

If students are interested, they might want to watch excerpts from a 2008 BBC version of the book or 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. This exam will look more like a game of Jeopardy.  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.

Assignments for this week:

-- Finish The 39 Steps

Links for this week:

Class Notes

The 39 Steps (BBC version)

Drury Lane stage version of The 39 Steps

The Value of Reflection Papers

Looking forward to our class,

Mrs. Prichard