johoca

For Thursday you need to read Where are you going, where have you been. Oates dedicated the story to Bob Dylan. It is believed by many critics that she dedicated it to particular songs, one of which is ‘Baby Blue’. Here is a link to the video http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ec2q_bob-dylan-its-all-over-now-baby-blu_music and the lyrics can be found with this link http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/its-all-over-now-baby-blue. You might also think about the title of the story and what it might mean. Remember after reading the story you should write a 100 word entry into your blog (anything but a summary), before we discuss the story in class and look at the students’ blogs who did the mini presentation in the class for the questions that we will discuss on Thursday. A film version of the story is available in the IC, if you are interested. Happy reading.

While you are reading the story consider the following questions and be ready to discuss them on Thursday.

• What type of narrator is telling the story? When is the story based?

• What type of story is it?

• What sort of a portrait does the narrator create of his father?

• Why do you think the writer chose father’s day for the narrator’s father to be buried?

• Find the references where the narrator blame himself for his father’s death. Why does he blame himself?

• What does the key represent?

• Write one thing that the reader can learn from this story.

• Do you think that it is possible for a child to really to know one’s parents? Explain. (you can write the answer to this question on your blog)

image retrieved October15, 2008 from http://www.antique-hardware.com/key.jpg

http://www.sabanciuniv.edu/do/eng/?FreshmanEnglish/FreshmanEnglish.html

While you listen take notes on the meaning of the following terms to discuss in class on Thursday- setting, narrator (1st/3rd) and point of view, characters (flat/round/protagonist/antagonist) and theme. Also choose a quote from the end of the podcast but have a reason for choosing this quote and be prepared to explain your choice in the class.

Welcome to the new year of learning. I am looking forward to meeting you all. Good luck in your journey and if there is anyway I can help you in that journey please let me know, I would love to be of assistance!

Cartoon by Bill Browning, from his webpage: http://www.mnispi.org/cartoon/2001/index.htm.

In case you weren’t in class or if you want to see the questions we did in class again. The link to the radio play is http://www.scribblingwomen.org/znhsweatfeature.htm

There is also a nice little summary about Hurston on the follwing site http://www.barnard.edu/archives/persons.htm

Sweat- part 1 to 5 mins

Aint-isn’t

Ah-I

Mah-my

Skeer-scare

Yo-your

Dat-that

1. What did Sykes do to Delia and why?
2. How does Sykes feel about Delia’s job? Why?
3. What happens to Delia when he threatens her to throw out the whites’ clothes? Why does she react like this?
4. Is Sykes a good husband? Explain.
5. How does he feel about the ‘new Delia’?

Sweat part II to 11:14mins

Mah’ied-married

Huh-her

Wuth-worth

Wuz-was

Lak-like

Sho-sure

Kin-can

1. What is the comparison being made as Delia is passing the men on Joe Clarke’s porch?
2. How do the men feel towards Delia?
3. How has Sykes changed as a husband?
4. What is the analogy made on p. 382?
5. Even though everyone knows what Sykes does to Delia, why does no one do anything to stop him?
6. Why does Sykes treat Bertha so differently to Delia?
7. Why do you think that Delia, despite the way she is treated by Sykes, tries to repair their relationship?

Part III to 16 mins

1. What might the foreshadowing be at the end of p.383?
2. Why does Delia get angry even though she is scared of the snake?
3. What is Sykes’ plan with the snake?
4. What does Delia tell Sykes (bottom p.384) and how does Sykes react to this? Why does he react like this?
5. What does Delia threaten Sykes with (top p.385) and how does Sykes react to this threat?

Part IV to 20:55

1. What is the role of religion in Delia’s life?
2. Why does Delia refer to the snake as ‘ol’ satan’?
3. What does Delia do to escape from the snake?
4. What is being said in the paragraph starting ‘finally she grew…’
5. What do you think is going to happen now?

Part V to end

1. How does Delia act during Sykes’ death?
2. Is that how a good religious person should act? Why does she do this?
3. How is Sykes represented at the end of the story? How is that different from the beginning of the story?

Discussion

1. What do you think the significance of the title is?
2. What do you think the themes of the story might be?
3. What are the symbols used in the story?
4. Do you think that Hurston’s story is typical of stories written at the time?
5. Why might Hurston have been criticised for her writing by other blacks?

While you are reading the story The Yellow wallpaper try to keep in mind the following questions:

What is the relationship between the narrator and her husband?

How does her husband treat her?

What is the narrator suffering from and how is it treated? Does she seem to be getting better? Why or why not?

Why is the narrator so obsessed with the wallpaper and what do you think it symbolises for her?

Can the story be defined as a feminist text? Why or why not?

How reliable is the narrator?

While you are reading this story, keep in mind the following questions for our class discussion. You may also find other issues in the story to discuss during class- women’s role, the working class…what you liked or didn’t like about the story. You can also use these questions to write in your blog, or write something else in your blog (interpretation of the story, critique etc.). You can also comment on someone else’s blog rather than writing in your own if you like.

Analyse the characters.

• Considering the conventional symbolism of Chrysanthemums in the world, what do you think they symbolise in their many appearances in the story- look at each reference carefully.

• Look at the use of light and dark in the story.

• When reading the kitchen scene look at the significance of the meaning of the fire.

• Look at each part of the story and the emotions that accompany that part.

• What is the relationship between the Walter’s mother and Elizabeth?

• What is the epiphany (realisation) that Elizabeth has at the end of the story?

• What type of narrator is telling the story? Whose perspective is privileged and why is that important?

• What sort of weapons are used in the marriage by both the husband and wife against each other and why?

So you are about to write you first blog- but you haven’t even understood what a blog is let alone what it is that you are supposed to write in it. Here is a really good, clear and short video that might help you with the first problem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI think of blogging as a conversation between you and others, including your classmates but maybe even others outside who may happen upon your blog! As for the second problem you can go to SUcourse-resources-blogs and look at the whole document on blogging including the marking scheme.

Basically read the story. Think about the story- what did you like about it or not like about it. What did you find interesting or unbelievable about it- do you want to critique it? Are there points that you didn’t understand, write them down, maybe someone else from the class can answer you question, or at least read the question and then in the next class you can all discuss this. You may write about the characters, the themes, the symbols. If you want you can even rewrite the ending of the story. The purpose of the blog is to get you to interact with each other about the stories and for you to practise your writing (it doesn’t have to be academic writing all the time) in order to help you improve the way you express your ideas.

Here are a couple of examples from last semester’s students although the blogs aren’t necessarily about stories http://yucelsblog.blogspot.com/ http://obilgin.blogspot.com/ http://dmryurek.blogspot.com/ http://erdincsahin.blogspot.com/ you can see some of the entries are long, some not so long. As always it is quality rather than quantity that matters (within reasonable limits of course).

Remember that you can use this blog as an alternative to participating in class if you feel too shy. If you want to do this then open up another category ‘class discussion’ and then I can use this to mark you for the 10% participation mark.

Welcome to 101+102. During the semester I will be writing in this blog, hopefully on a weekly basis if not more. In addition to reading my blog, feel free to comment on what I have written. Think of blogging as a conversation, a continuous dialogue not just something to read. Also take time to look at your fellow student’s blogs by reading them, commenting on them and if appropriate critiquing the content or if you know something more than or different to your fellow students feel free to give them a link to what you have read. They may also want to benefit from this information. My intention in blogging is to set up a learning community outside of the class and to give you a space to develop your ideas by interacting with others, classmates, or others outside the university. It will also give you a chance to develop your writing skills outside of the strict rules of academic writing. Although, make sure you acknowledge your sources if you use another source- this space is not free from the rules of academic honesty!

I hope you enjoy the semester.

I have just watched a presentation by Konrad Glogowsky http://www.slideshare.net/teachandlearn/assessment-and-evaluation-in-the-age-of-networked-learning as a part of the blogging4educators blogging course. I found it very inspiring. The presentation is about the use of blogs in teaching, and the predominant theme of the presentation was, at least for me, blogging as a conversation and a way to empower the students in terms of allowing them to read and write about what they want and in doing so allowing them to have ownership of the course and their writing. I am in the final stages of planning my freshman course for the coming semester and like the last two semesters I will use blogs in the class. However, it may have two strands. What I had planned was that the blog would be a way for the students to interact with the short stories, create a learning community outside the classroom by encouraging the students to comment on each others blogs and as a possible alternative to participating in the classroom. After having watched this presentation though what I think I might do is have two strands for the blog- one for the literature and one for the research paper. So then the blog would be like a writing down of the research process for the paper. The students can write summaries of the articles, sites, videos etc. they find related to the topic they choose for their research paper and critically engage with that material in their blog. I think that in this way I can give the students more guidance in the process of the research and other students can also get ideas for their own research or just use it to see what others are doing, they can ask questions, maybe encouraging their peers to be more critical or helping them to look at different sides of the issue. I am also hoping that this might encourage the students not to leave their research to the last minute. Another thing that it will enable the student to do is to create a body of work that they have complete ownership of and as Glogowsky outlines in his presentation this can enable the students to be reflective learners/researchers and they can also partake in the assessment process by evaluating the blog ‘as a body of work’ at the end of the semester.