British Literature Class Notes -- Week 14 (May 3)

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.

Finally, I have one writing assignment for this class.  I've so enjoyed our discussions and love the dynamic of thinking as a group about a piece of literature and haven't assigned any writing connected to our reading.  However, I do want them to take some time and reflect back on the semester and write a short Reflection Paper.  This doesn't need to be long, or perfectly written, but I want them to take some time and think about what and how they have learned this year.  (I wrote a blog post a few years ago, "The Value of Reflection Papers" that might be helpful to read.)  For these papers, students should include the following

Paragraph #1 -- Answer the question, "What have you learned this year?"  (They can do this with a mix of sentences and lists.)

Paragraph #2 -- Answer the question, "What have you learned about yourself as a student/writer this year?"

Paragraph #3 -- Answer the question, "What did you like or not like in the class?  What worked well for you and what didn't?"

Extra Credit -- Draw a picture of anything that will remind me of the class or of you!

Assignments for this week:

-- Finish The 39 Steps
-- Reflection Paper

Links for this week:

Class Notes
Background to 39 Steps 

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

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 26)

Greetings!

We enjoyed another good discussion about our literature this week.  We've reached the end of a classic from the turn of the century, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.  As we read  quality works, we not only discuss themes, character development, and plots as they appear in the literature, but we also talk about the same ideas and how we see them reflected in our own lives.

I appreciate the discussion questions that they bring to class.  Every week, each one of them has a good set of insightful questions that promotes our lively discussions and helps us unpack our reading selection.

We are beginning our final book for this class:  The Thirty-Nine Steps.  This adventure novel written by Scottish author, John Buchan, is one of the first espionage thrillers.  His main character, Richard Hannay, has been described as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.  It first appeared in 1915 as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine.  According to one commentary, this book would not have been a success "without Buchan's brisk characterization, loving evocation of Scottish landscape and his switchblade prose."    

I forgot to mention in class that for the last week I will be assigning the students a reflection paper.  This is their only writing assignment for the semester.  Also, we will have a final test on the last day.  But no worries, it will be in the form of a game!

Assignment for Next Week:

-- Read p. 1 - 42

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Pygmalion -- 1938 film

My Fair Lady (with Rex Harrison & Audrey Hepburn)

The Thirty-Nine Steps (Alfred Hitchock, 1935)

The Thirty-:Nine Steps (Full Audio Book)

The 39 Steps (BBC, 2008)

The Thirty-Nine Steps Teacher's Guide

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 12 (April 19)

Greetings!

We are once again in the realm of drama, reading George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.  The title of the play is taken from the Greek myth about the Pygmalion, a man who hated women.  However, he found himself lonely, so he carved a statue of a woman.  Then, he fell in love with the statue and whined to Venus to give the statue life.  Venus did, and Pygmalion and his lady statue lived happily ever after.

For this week we read the first three acts of the drama.  Unlike Shakespeare, Shaw includes lots of stage directions and editorial commentary.  Our discussion questions had us talking about what changes might happen to Eliza and what Higgins was like.  We read aloud a number of passages.  For next week, we'll read the the rest of the play.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Acts IV and V

-- Read the ending, p. 72 - 82.

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for This Week:

Class Notes

My Fair Lady Pronunciation

Why Can't the English Learn to Speak

Horse Race Scene (dialogue from Mrs. Higgins's visiting day)

"Wouldn't it Be Lovely?"

Pygmalion (1938)

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 12)

Greetings!

This week in British Literature is one of my favorites for a number of reasons:  I love talking about poetry, we talk about one of my favorite poems, "The Lady of Shalott," and students spend part of the class time illustrating the poem, coming up with their own unique renditions.

Tennyson's poem, "The Lady of Shalott" is about a woman confined to a tower on a small island in a river that runs towards Camelot.  She can't directly look out of the window, but she watches the world go by via a mirror.  She weaves what she sees into a tapestry.  Finally, she "tires of shadows" and looks out the window.  (You'll have the read the poem or ask your student to find out what happens.)

For our class period, each student took a  portion of the poem to illustrate.  

     

   

This marks the end of our poetry section, and we are on to our next book, George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.  If you are familiar with the musical My Fair Lady, then you will know this story.  They are to read the first half of the play for next week.

Assignments for next week:

-- Read Acts I, II, and III

-- Bring 3 discussion questions to class

Links for this week:

-- Class Notes

-- "The Lady of Shalott"

-- Pygmalion Commentary

-- Pygmalion Introduction

-- Pygmalion on Librivox

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 10 (April 5)

Greetings!

We had a good class discussion this week.  Every week, the ability to analyze the literature (prose and poetry) and the comfort level in the class increases, resulting in great insights and discussions.

This week students read poetry from the Romantic period, and in class we focused on four poems:  "The Chimney-Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence and "The Chimney-Sweeper" from Songs of Experience (both by William Blake); "She Walks in Beauty" (Lord Byron); and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (John Keats). 

I love talking about the Keats poem because it has some good visual images but it also challenges the readers to contemplate

art within art

real time vs. slow'frozen time

the consequences of an action the never stops or never happens

What is art?  the urn, the poem, or our imagination?

Next week, we will be discussing Victorian poetry.  As with last week, studnets should read all of the poems but concentrate on the following ones:  

The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson)

My Last Duchess (Browning)

God's Grandeur (Hopkins)

Links this Week

Class Notes

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 9 (March 22)

Greetings!

Well, we've done it.  We've finished Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  Everyone should always pat themselves on the back when they finish a Dickens book.  These books are long and complicated, and readers need to be committed and work hard to get to the end.  We started our conversation with a discussion of the themes.  I've included a picture of the board with our list and comments.  (Note:  Every week we fill the white board with our discussion questions and make notes of our answers and comments.)

Now that we've finished this thick piece of fiction, we're on to writing that intentionally uses fewer words to express ideas -- poetry.  Our first poetry readings are from the Romantic period.  No, this does not mean that all of the poems are love poems.  The Romantic period literature was more idealistic and took a more sensory view of life. 

I don't have a book for this section but have instead put together a collection of poems that I feel are representative.  Attached is the handout, in addition to some information about reading poetry and about Romantic poetry. 

Students can read all of the poetry, but the ones I've selected to discuss are as follows:

Blake's 2 Chimney Sweeper poems

Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

Byron's "She Walks in Beauty"

Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

A note about discussion questions:  Because this is a discussion-based class, not a lecture-based class, these questions serve as the basis of our class time.  They help us think about and analyze the literature.  Make sure you come to class with questions prepared.

Assignments for April 5

-- Read the poems listed above

-- Read the information about poetry and the Romantic Period

-- Write 1 discussion question per poem

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Romantic Period Poems (the same info as the handout)

Samples of Discussion Questions

Romantic Period Characteristics

Interpreting Poetry

Have a WONDERFUL Spring Break!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 7 (March 8)

Greetings!

Hopefully by this time in the week students have been plugging away with their reading.  Because Great Expectations is such a long book and the pages are fairly dense reading, it's best to do a little every day.  Sitting down and reading almost a hundred pages in a day would be very overwhelming

Last week our reading took us from Pip as a young boy to a Pip as a young man who has suddenly come into some money, his "great expectations."  We figuratively traveled with him from the forge to the city of London.  While our discussion last week centered a lot on the unusual family of the Pockets, we also noted Pip's attitude towards Joe and Biddy and met some new characters:  Mr. Jaggers, Mr. Wemmick, Bentley Drummle, and Herbert Pocket.  This week's reading will continue to add more information about these characters.  (Mr. Wemmick is one of my favorites!)

For those who have been including some audio versions of the book into their reading, continue to do so. 

Our discussion leader for next week is Caleb.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read pages 191 to 286

-- Write 3 discussion questions

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 15)

Greetings!

We had a great discussion this week as we finished up Much Ado About Nothing.  Many of the topics covered the previous week re-emerged as the plot unfolded.  We watched some scenes from the 1993 film version with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, and Denzel Washington.  (This is my favorite version of the play!)  We discussed honor & virtue, double standards between men and women, deceit, love, and communication.  It should be noted that most contemporary romantic comedies follow the pattern set down by Shakespeare:  boy meets girl; boy and girl can't stand each other; boy and girl eventually fall in love.

This week we also had our first student discussion leader, Daniel.  He did a great job, and I am looking forward to future classes in which students take a more active role in our discussions.

Our next piece of literature is going to be our hardest, primarily because it's the longest.  We will take the next four weeks to read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  Students will need to read at least 90 pages a week.  To do this, I recommend they read a little bit each day.  They won't want to leave it until the day before class.  If it helps, they can listen to audio versions of the book.

I handed out to the students some background information about our book and about Charles Dickens.  I also gave them some explanations about the Victorian era of literature.

We don't have class next week.  Our next class is on March 2.

Assignments for March 3:

-- Read p. 1 - 96 of Great Expectations

-- 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:

Class Notes
Great Expectations -- Plot, Theme, and Style
Great Expectations at a Glance
Charles Dickens -- Biography
Much Ado About Nothing (full version on Youtube)

Audio Versions of Great Expectations

Have a great weekend and a good break!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 4 (February 8)

Greetings!

We had a good discussion in class.  We've progressed almost 600 years from the writing of Beowulf to Shakespeare's late 1500s.  Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.  Although he's known for his rhyming, the play that I've chosen for us to read, Much Ado About Nothing, is not written in verse. 

  While this is not one of Shakespeare's more complex plays, I feel that as a group we are able to dig a little deeper into the motivations and themes.  This week we discussed Benedick's and Beatrice's relationship, the idea of lies, spying, and overheard conversations, the theme of masks and mistaken identity, and character development.

For those who are interested, Librivox has an audiobook for the whole play.  Feel free to listen to this recording with the book in hand.

Next week will finish Much Ado and introduce Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of the semester, students will be taking turns leading the discussions.  I've modeled how to discuss the book and tie in the various questions that students bring to class.  Below is the discussion leader schedule:
Week 4 (2/8) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 5 (2/15) -- Daniel
Week 6 (3/1) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 7 (3/8) -- Daniel
Week 8 (3/15) -- Caleb
Week 9 (3/22) -- Sam
Week 10 (4/5) -- Mrs. Prichard & Daniel
Week 11 (4/12) -- Mrs. Prichard & Caleb
Week 12 (4/19) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 13 (4/26) -- Sam
Week 14 (5/3) -- Mrs. Prichard
Week 15 (5/10) -- Caleb & Sam

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Acts III, IV, & V of Much Ado  (Make sure you get your reading done!)

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this Week:

Class Notes

Much Ado About Nothing (audio)

Much Ado -- Free Kindle Book

Utah University Much Ado performance (Latin American setting)

Bexhill Theater Performance  (1945 setting)

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 3 (February 1)

Greetings!

We had a great time in class with all 3 of our students!  At first I wondered if we would be able to fill the whole class time with only 3 students, but they have done a wonderful time filling up the class time with insightful comments and questions.

We finished Beowulf this week and discussed the final three quests of the book:  Grendel's mother and the dragon guarding a treasure.  This book in the form of prose is not the most stylistic piece of literature, but the themes and story are an important parts if the literary history of Britain.

Our next week we will start Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.  This is one of the most enjoyable of the Shakespeare plays; rather than verse, it's written in prose.  The plot line has been copied by numerous stories and movies.  They should read Acts I, II, and III.

I also gave the students the book that follows the Shakespeare play, Dickens's Great Expectations, so that the students have it and can start in early with their reading.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read Acts I, II, and III

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Characters in Much Ado

Context in Much Ado About Nothing

Themes in Much Ado About Nothing

If you're watching the Super Bowl, enjoy.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 1 (January 18)

Greetings!

Welcome to British Literature.  We've had a great start to this class.  This is one of my favorite classes to teach; I love British literature, and I love discussing it with students  This is a small class this semester, only 3 students, but I have high hopes for the quality discussions that we will have!

We began our class with a Quick Write, in which I wanted the students to respond to the question, "What is your favorite book and why?"  We then discussed the elements of quality literature and determined that books that stand the test of time do so because of the story they tell and the style that they tell it in.  

Our first book is a prose version of the ancient story, Beowulf.  Written as heroic poetry, I have the students read a prose version because for the sake of this class, I choose to focus on the story rather than the poetic style that it was originally written.  Written some time between the 8th and 11th centuries, this work had been somewhat forgotten until J.R.R. Tolkein revitalized the study of it, not only because of its literary qualities, but also because of its linguistic and historic aspects.  One of the key parts of this class is our group discussions about the literature that we're reading.  My favorite aspect of these discussions is that students will bring discussion questions to class.  Rather than answer questions from a study guide that I provide, they are to read the material and come up with their own questions that they feel would be good to "mull over" in a discussion.  While we will talk about the specific details of the plot and characters, these questions should aimed at more critical thinking and analysis topics.  In other words, "how" and "why" questions.  As the students read the first portion of the book, they are also to pay attention the themes (see this page from Sparks Notes)  

For those new to my classes, I send out weekly Class Notes to let parents know what we did in class and to remind students about the assignments, along with any attachments for that week.  I also put the Class Notes and the content for any handouts on a blog for this class.  Finally, I have a Google Drive  folder that also has copies of the handouts.

I forgot to mention to the class that I have PDFs of coloring pages for the story of Beowulf on the shared Google Drive.  I will bring some copies to class next week, but students can follow this link to view the pages and print any that they want.

This week's links:

Class Notes

British Literature Spring Syllabus

BEOWULF RESPONDS TO UNFERTH
Beowulf Intro 

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read p. 1 - 30 of Beowulf

-- 3 Discussion Questions:  Either answer questions from the Beowulf worksheet or write your own questions.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

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

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 13 (April 27)

Greetings!

We enjoyed another good discussion about our literature this week.  We've reached the end of a classic from the turn of the century, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.  As we read  quality works, we not only discuss themes, character development, and plots as they appear in the literature, but we also talk about the same ideas and how we see them reflected in our own lives.

I appreciate the discussion questions that they bring to class.  Every week, each one of them has a good set of insightful questions that promotes our lively discussions and helps us unpack our reading selection.

We are beginning our final book for this class:  The Thirty-Nine Steps.  This adventure novel written by Scottish author, John Buchan, is one of the first espionage thrillers.  His main character, Richard Hannay, has been described as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.  It first appeared in 1915 as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine.  According to one commentary, this book would not have been a success "without Buchan's brisk characterization, loving evocation of Scottish landscape and his switchblade prose."    

I forgot to mention in class that for the last week I will be assigning the students a reflection paper.  This is their only writing assignment for the semester.  Also, we will have a final test on the last day.  But no worries, it will be in the form of a game!

Assignment for Next Week:

-- Read p. 1 - 42

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Pygmalion -- 1938 film

My Fair Lady (with Rex Harrison & Audrey Hepburn)

The Thirty-Nine Steps (Alfred Hitchock, 1935)

The Thirty-:Nine Steps (Full Audio Book)

The 39 Steps (BBC, 2008)

The Thirty-Nine Steps Teacher's Guide

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 11 (April 13)

Greetings!

STUDENTS AT WORK

We had a great week in class; in fact, this might have been one of my favorite classes of all time.  We were reading Victorian poetry this week, focusing on three poems:  "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Tennyson, "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, and "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manly Hopkins.

Before discussing "The Lady of Shalott,"  I paired the students and asked them to illustrate their assigned section on the board.  They did a marvelous job!  When poetry is also a story, it helps to draw what we're reading.  After we have a good understanding of the story, we can read for more of the aesthetic qualities of the poetry.

Our next reading selection is a delightful play by George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion.  As a kid, one of my favorite musicals was My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.  As a play, the students should visualize this as a performance while they are reading.

Assignments for Next Week

-- Read introductory material for Pygmalion

-- Read Acts I, II, and III of Pygmalion

Links for this week

-- Class Notes

-- "The Lady of Shalott"

-- Pygmalion Commentary

-- Pygmalion Introduction

-- Pygmalion on Librivox

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

Mrs. Prichard

PART I

PART II

PART III

PART IV

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 10 (March 30)

Greetings!

We had a good class discussion this week.  Every week, the ability to analyze the literature (prose and poetry) and the comfort level in the class increases, resulting in great insights and discussions.

This week students read poetry from the Romantic period, and in class we focused on four poems:  "The Chimney-Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence and "The Chimney-Sweeper" from Songs of Experience (both by William Blake); "She Walks in Beauty" (Lord Byron); and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (John Keats). 

I love talking about the Keats poem because it has some good visual images but it also challenges the readers to contemplate

art within art

real time vs. slow'frozen time

the consequences of an action the never stops or never happens

What is art?  the urn, the poem, or our imagination?

Next week, we will be discussing Victorian poetry.  As with last week, studnets should read all of the poems but concentrate on the following ones:  

The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson)

My Last Duchess (Browning)

God's Grandeur (Hopkins)

Links this Week

Class Notes

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 8 (March 16)

Greetings!

Just a quick note!

We are 3/4 of the way through Great Expectations.  They have done a great job keeping up with this lengthy book as evidenced by their insightful and thorough comments.  We based our discussions on the questions that they brought to class.  I've taught this book for years, and the discussions each year have different focuses.

Our next unit is Romantic Poetry.

Assignment for Next Week:

-- FINISH THE BOOK!

-- 3 discussion questions

Links for this week

Class Notes

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 6 (March 2)

Greetings!

A week off from class was a nice break, but it is also good to be back to our CHAT classes.  

We've started on our longest book of the semester, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  This is not only a long book, it is a rich book of colorful characters and a unique plot that twists and turns.  We took time today to read aloud some portions and to discuss Pip's character, his relationship to Joe and Mrs. Joe, and his situation with Miss Havisham and Estella.  

In class I mentioned some media sources, which I will include here, but I would like to caution students to NOT watch any videos as a substitute for reading the text.  A number of the current films do not remain true to the original novel.

Another helpful option is a free recording of Great Expectations on iTunes.  Even though I've read the book several times, listening to it caused various sections to "pop out."  It seemed as if my brain responded differently when listening than it did while reading.  You can go to the Librivox website to find the same version that I've been listening to.

Assignments for Next Week:

Read Great Expectations, p. 96 - 191

Bring 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:

Class Notes

Great Expectations Video & Audio

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 5 (February 16)

Greetings!

We had a great discussion this week as we finished up Much Ado About Nothing.  Many of the topics covered the previous week re-emerged as the plot unfolded.  We watched some scenes from the 1993 film version with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, and Denzel Washington.  (This is may favorite version of the play!)  We discussed honor & virtue, double standards between men and women, deceit, love, and communication.  It should be noted that most contemporary romantic comedies follow the pattern set down by Shakespeare:  boy meets girl; boy and girl can't stand each other; boy and girl eventually fall in love.

Our next piece of literature is going to be our hardest, primarily because it's the longest.  We will take the next four weeks to read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.  Students will need to read at least 90 pages a week.  To do this, I recommend they read a little bit each day.  They won't want to leave it until the day before class.  If it helps, they can listen to audio versions of the book.

I handed out to the students some background information about our book and about Charles Dickens.  I also gave them some explanations about the Victorian era of literature.

We don't have class next week.  Our next class is on March 2.

Assignments for March 3:

-- Read p. 1 - 96 of Great Expectations

-- 3 Discussion Questions

Links for this week:

Class Notes
Much Ado About Nothing (full version on Youtube)

Audio Versions of Great Expectations

Have a great weekend and a good break!

Mrs. Prichard

British Literature Class Notes -- Week 3 (February 2)

Greetings!

We are starting to get the hang of the keeping a class discussion going.  I told the class that I felt that I talked more than I would really like.  Next week, I hope to hear their voices more than mine!

We finished with Beowulf this week; it didn't take very long for us to work through this book, Their discussion questions were insightful -- they included thoughts about symbolism, various themes, and character development.  Having reached the end of the book, we were able to not only analyze the section read for this week but the book as a whole.

Now that we're finished with some of the earliest written work of the tome of British literature, we now move forward a few centuries to the end of the 16th century when Shakespeare wrote Much Ado About Nothing.  The class seemed to be familiar with this play, so we will be able to go a little deeper in our discussions.  This is a fairly light-hearted play and not written in verse as many of Shakespeare's other plays were.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read Acts I, II, and III

-- Write 3 Discussion Questions

Links for This Week

Class Notes

Characters in Much Ado

Context in Much Ado About Nothing

Themes in Much Ado About Nothing

Characters, Context, and Themes all in one

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Prichard