Week 3 Syllabus: September 3
WE’RE COVERING THE BASICS OF ENGLISH. So far, we have reviewed the course expectations, read poetry aloud, annotated poetry, discussed and took notes using the Great Books method, written a paragraph, read-and-voted-upon the best three paragraphs, discussed how to improve our writing, and submitted a revision. This week, we will discuss independent reading, study a film as a text, and have individual conferences with Mr. E and Ms. C during class (to set writing goals for Q1). We will also begin re-reading the first 75 pages of Curious Incident.
WEDNESDAY: September 4
Lecture: Using New Trier Library’s catalog to find an independent reading book.
catalog searches
shelf-reading by theme
using other library search features
novelist plus
Starting a film, Life, Animated, a Disney documentary about a young man with autism. We will use this film to complete a “close-reading” study guide, thinking about film as text.
During the film, Mr. Easton and Ms. Craig will begin meeting with students to review your paragraphs, providing revision notes to help you improve them.
2nd half of class, in LIBRARY getting your hands on an independent reading text. The rules:
It must be a printed book;
You many not have read it before;
It should contain one, consistent story/topic (in other words, long-ish, NOT episdoic)
HW: Begin re-reading the first 75 pages of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and working on the handouts.
FRIDAY, September 6
Starting with silent, sustained reading of independent books.
Watching the film, Life, Animated.
HW: Read the next 15 pages (15-30) of the summer reading, and completing the corresponding study guide questions. Also, if you haven’t finished reading “Voices in Autism,” handout, do so. While reading, you should annotate by: a) circling vocabulary questions, b) writing out questions that you have (as a reader), and c) keeping notes on what you learn about autism.