The aim of the first two lessons of the academic year was to make students aware of the intellectual challenge that they will face this year. It is ESSENTIAL that students READ ALL THE RELEVANT TEXTS. We will be revisiting OTHELLO, exploring the poetry of TONY HARRISON, exploring the novel HARD TIMES by the wonderfully wonderful Charles Dickens, creating a 1500 word POETRY coursework essay that will be 10% of your final grade, and improving the skills required to construct a relevant critical analysis of an unseen text. WE HAVE A LOT OF HARD WORK AHEAD OF US.
On Friday we had a gentle return to Richardsonworld and today's session included a broad discussion of HARRISON'S poetry after a reading of THEM and [UZ].
I began the session with a HARD TIMES related quiz and THE RESULTS HAVE SHOCKED ME. It is obvious that at least half the class have not bothered to read the novel. WHY ARE YOU STUDYING 'LITERATURE A LEVEL' IF YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO READ?? Two students stated that the novel was published in 1970 and one student believes that the novel was published in 1965!! I DO NOT HAVE THE WORDS..... One student gave an occupation to a character that is not even in the novel! I made it up!! Half the class managed to answer three questions correctly...out of fifteen!!! This is a disgrace.
HOMEWORK:
READ THE POEMS OF TONY HARRISON. We will be discussing Harrison's work before the winter break in December. He demands your intellectual attention.
Read HARD TIMES by CHARLES DICKENS. In the next session we will be discussing the FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS OF THE NOVEL. Students also need to consider the content of coursework.
Students need to consider WHY Dickens dedicated the novel to Thomas Carlyle, develop an understanding of the Victorian world of 1854, consider the significance of The Great Exhibition in 1851, and consider HOW Dickens shapes meaning. How would you describe his writing style? How would you describe Chuck's use of language? What are the key themes being explored in the opening chapters of the novel? I EXPECT AN INFORMED AND INTELLIGENT CLASS DISCUSSION.
SOME STUDENTS NEED TO SHOW ME THAT THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR EDUCATION.
SOME OF THE THE RESULTS FROM THE QUIZ TODAY ARE EMBARRASSING.
MORE EFFORT REQUIRED. SOME OF THIS CLASS NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN EDUCATION. I VALUE YOUR EDUCATION. YOU SHOULD ALSO VALUE YOUR EDUCATION. I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE ATTITUDE OF SOME STUDENTS.
As you may be aware...I'm not happy. See you on Friday. I expect some intellectual engagement.
SHOW ME THAT YOU CARE.
Be aware of the resources posted on my last blog entry before the Summer break. YOU NEED TO SYNTHESISE THESE RESOURCES. THEY WILL ALLOW YOU TO DEVELOP AN INFORMED CRITICAL OPINION THAT WILL ENCOURAGE CRITICAL AUTONOMY AND IMPROVE YOUR CHANCE OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS:
http://becuriouslit.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/resources-to-digest-before-sept-2017.html
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