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It's been a while since I've posted, so these next few will be a bit spare, sadly. The midterm crunch is getting to me just as much as to my students, I think! The past week, in 203, we spent most of our time on Lope de Vega's Fuente Ovejuna, which students really seemed to …
Continue reading "Fuente Ovejuna, Midterms, Essays and World Literature"
Don't forget the midterm exam is scheduled for today! The exam will include identifications--identify the quotes by author, title, and date/language--and essay questions. Study guides are available on Blackboard.
Last week in EN203, we discussed Baldesar Castiglione's Book of the Courtier, thinking especially about the deliberate cultivation of public identity as a Renaissance trait. Students seemed a bit less enthused about this text, and they have been getting more difficult in the past weeks. Discussion has been going well, and while it's rare that …
Today, we engaged in a rather Montaignian (Montaignesque?) discussion in 203, which I found exceptionally enjoyable. Almost everyone participated, thought I've still got a few hold-outs! We did some small group work first, where I asked students to draw on the introductory/contextual reading guide questions, finding one or two that struck them as most interesting …
Today in 203 we'll get to go over Petrarch's sonnets, which I'm really excited about. We'll consider how to "get into" them--most importantly, by identifying 1.) key images or motifs visible in the text, 2.) how the historical context can focus our attention, and 3.) how to paraphrase dense language and convoluted syntax. This last …
As I was watching the inauguration, today, I was especially pleased to see Elizabeth Alexander reprise the occasional poem. A few lines in particular are relevant to our studies this term, especially EN203: World Literature, which is themed around the idea of the encounter: We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered …
Most of the students really took the spirit of the game to heart, it seemed--especially the jury, who did a good job policing the answers. But, I think the rules of the game need to be a little more defined; it turned into more of a discussion (which is great!) than a game in which …
Today in 203, I'm planning a competitive quiz game of sorts based on the introductory readings in the Norton anthology--I've never done this before, but I've been trying to break out of my lecture mode. So, we'll see what happens! I'd like to divide the class into two (or three) groups, which can gain points …
The first day of my early modern world literature class went pretty well, I think; it was great to see both the familiar faces and the unfamiliar faces. One student in class is distantly related to Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, one seems really interested in reading The Rape of the Lock, and almost …
Tomorrow is the first day of a new term, and I'm equal parts excited and nervous, as usual. I'm teaching three classes at Marymount University, including Composition II, Early Modern World Literature, and Theater History. I'm trying something new with my composition course this term; instead of just working from a rather arbitrary topic of …
Tonya Howe 