Thursday, I took my composition students to the library for a refresher on using Aladin for research, and I was left with some confusions about their comprehension, level of comfort, and intuitive/creative/logical ability to use the catalog to browse effectively. At the end of the class, instead of looking at the books we'd pulled and …
Renaissance/Restoration Theater History
Last Wednesday, we had one of the best classes this term, I think--it was sad to see that some students were missing! We spent the first bit of class going over the midterm exam, especially the matching section, which many students found more difficult than I'd expected--this gave us the opportunity to talk about test-taking …
…and Midterms and Essays, O My!
Finally having gotten miterm grades in, I took a bit of a breather, relaxed, and contemplated the last month and a half of classes. It seems to have gone so much more quickly than I thought at all possible, but there you have it! I'm immensely enjoying my world lit survey course, and the class …
Dog in the Manger Discussion, Presentations, and Incest Plays!
Last Wednesday we were finally able to get back together as a class and contemplate our response to the Shakespeare Theatre's production of Dog in the Manger, and I was very gratified to see how eager everyone was to discuss! Many students had questions that, significantly, we couldn't really find good answers to--like the significance …
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World Literature Survey, Individual Conferences
So, this week was crazy with conferences.... I am utterly exhausted. Today, in lieu of class, I conferenced with my survey students for 15 minutes a piece, mostly about their first essay assignment. I asked everyone to bring in drafts, emphasizing that I could best help if I had something to go on, but only …
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Workshopping Essay 2
We workshopped essay 2 today in composition, and I was a bit less than enthused about the level of participation. I think I spent a bit too much time on the first portion of the workshop, in which I asked students to read their drafts to their peer reviewer, who was to mark out with …
Fuente Ovejuna, Midterms, Essays and World Literature
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 …
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Conferencing!
Almost all day today I spent with students in 15-minute individual conferences about essay 2--what a long, exhausting day! But I know the conferences were necessary, and I definitely hope they were helpful. We'll see, won't we?
World Literature, Castiglione
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 …
Two Comp Classes
My comp students have been a little lackluster in discussion this past week, despite having seen the magnificent Chaplin's Gold Rush (1925). Last Monday, we went over Project 2, which is a film analysis essay; in discussion, I sought to tie a few prefatory clips from the film to our background reading in order to …
Tonya Howe 