Week 8 Syllabus: October 7
CLOSE READING requires that you very carefully, and slowly, examine what the author describes in detail. We will practice doing this with “Chelkash.” Gorky is a great writer, in part, because he’s thought a lot about imagery and symbolism. For example, in his introduction, the Odesa dock workers are menial, suffering workers who are crushed beneath the shipping company’s inhumane treatment. We see them “toiling” for a few, meager crusts of bread, oppressed by fellow humans and nature itself. All is ruined by the greed of consumption! Likewise, Chelkash is described as a fox, a predator who takes advantage of the weak and innocent, stealing from them to feed his insatiable hunger for gold, more valuables, more food.
MONDAY, October 7
Posting your paragraph on Forster’s “The Machine Stops” into our classroom blog.
More closely examining the imagery in the introduction to Gorky’s “Chelkash.”
Then reading part one, wherein we see Chelkash described in great detail. He will meet a country bumkin (or rube)—a young, innocent farmer who travels to Odesa to make money, so he can purchase his own farm and marry the wealthy girl he loves.
HW: Read through the paragraphs on our blog. We will revise these in class, Wednesday night. Our focus will be VERBS. Which writers are better at using verbs? Which overly rely upon the “to be” forms: is, am, are, was, were, have, has, had, could, would, should, be, being, been, do, doing, does?
Also finish reading part one of Chelkash.
WEDNESDAY, October 9
Revisiting verbs as a part of speech (and the predicate, the part of sentence that describes the action/being the noun is/does).
Revising your paragraphs, changing THREE simple predicates to action-verbs.
HW: In class tomorrow, we will dive deeper into subject/predicate, improving your ability to identify that part of the sentence(s). We will then also work on revision.
Make sure you’ve finished part one of “Chelkash” for class. We will create a characterization focusing upon VERBS.
THURSDAY, October 10
Shortened day due to late start.
Short, concise review of subject/predicate rules via this video. We will start at minute 3:10.
Revision expectations for the machine paragraphs, due Monday.
Returning to part two of Chelkash. Here’s audio for our story!
HW: Finish reading part two. Where are the symbols that Gorky uses in this part of the story, their journey into the bay, and the successful theft of goods?
Also revise THREE “to be” helping/linking verb out of your paragraph, and repost the new version as a comment to your original post.