Monday, 8/17 - Introductions

St. George - Patron Saint of Angle-land

* Welcome!
Today we begin our journey with the question, "Quo vadimus?" or "Where are we going?" We will spend the first two weeks of school beginning to answer this question. In May we will end the course asking, "Quo vadis?" or "Where am I going?" as God leads most of you separately into the four corners of the earth.  So consider this senior course a community, a fellowship to help you prepare for what is written in the chapters of your life beyond this final year at Monte Vista Christian School. 


* Opening

• Grammar (see board)

* Pray


* Quo Vadimus?

• This Week
• This Year

* Summer Rejoicings 

HW: 

1. Summer Reading Journal

 

Friday - New Student Orientation

English 400 - British Literature

Today is an orientation day for new students.
Let's talk for a few minutes.  Let me know if you have any questions.  

Enjoy,

Your Teacher 

HW

• Read C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce and see summer reading assignment

ICE - TGD Prompts

Please write a five paragraph essay addressing  of the following prompt:

1. Discuss how and why C. S. Lewis' Great Divorce transfigures (changes) traditional/popular notions of heaven and hell, and what these transfigurations tell us about human nature. 

*DO NOT write your name on the front of your paper; write it on the back of your essay
*Only write on the front of your paper
*Plan your essay for at least three minutes
*Underline your thesis statement
*Underline your topic sentences

The Great Divorce Project: Great Art Inspires (Great?) Art

• I'd like to share Caedmon's Call's song "The High Countries" inspired by Lewis' TGD. 

• The image to the right is the cover art from Gungor's Ghosts upon the Earth, their latest album partially inspired by Lewis' novella. Now it's your turn to churn out a little art, accompanied, of course, by some fine critical work. Check out the requirements below.

• TGD Presentation (use Keynote, Prezi, or a professional presentation platform of your choice)

• Slide 1: Your names, chapter number
• Slide 2: A very basic outline of chapter content (just give a quick overview of the basic plot and main characters involved)
• Slide 3: Three quotes - these should encapsulate the chapter
• Slide 4: Transfiguration - explain how Lewis inverts "normal" (traditional/conventional) conceptions of heaven or hell in your chapter. 
• You may focus on any of the Lit Terms from this unit:
• convention, setting, dream vision, imagery
• Also try to explain why Lewis does this. 
• Slide 5: Artwork - Finally, draw a scene (or images) that best represent(s) the content of your group's assigned chapter(s), and include, if you desire, additional art based on memorable imagery from your chapter. If you cannot draw, then consider another medium, like a collage.
• This artistic element you will photograph and import into your presentation so we can all admire its profundity and prettiness. 

• Groups: Choose your chapter here (one chapter only).

DUE DATE: We will begin presentations next Tuesday (8/25).   

Wednesday, 8/21 - Houston, We Have a Touchdown . . . and a Problem.

One of the first pictures returned by the Mars Polar Lander

• P&P

• Binder check
• 3 ring
• loose leaf college ruled paper
• dividers (at least four)

• TGD - Chapters 

1.  Hell - Grey Town
2. Tousle-Headed Poet (Communist), Intelligent-Looking Man (Capitalist-Materialist), Apostate Bishop (Spiritualist)
3. Landing in the Foothills, the Bright People . . .
4. The Big Man ("I want my rights, see?")
1. Sin - self-sufficiency,  
5. Lions playing. The Apostate Episcopal Bishop ("honest academic inquiry!")  
1. Sin - apostasy (elevating ideas over Reality . . . God)
6. River walking and the apple tree and the Intelligent-Looking Man, a materialist-Capitalist. Waterfall angel.
1. Sin - greed 
7. Hard-Bitten Ghost (the conspiracy theorist)
1. Sin - cynicism 
8. Whimpering Ghost - 
1. Sin - self-loathing (an inverted vanity)
9.  

    

Tuesday, 8/19 - TGD Ch 1-2

Gather 'round Uncle Jack for a fan-tasty story, children.

• P&P

• Pull up a chair and get ready to discuss chapters 1 and 2 of TGD. Please take more notes as we go. Any handwritten notes you take can be used on your ICE (In Class Essay). 

HW: Don't forget to bring a three ring binder, college ruled paper (loose leaf) and dividers to class on Wednesday. 

Monday, 8/19 - Before the Face, Pre-face

Grey Town?

• P&P

• App-endectomy
• Period 2: Pages
• 3: Keynote
• 4: iMovie
• Advisory: Digital Footprint 
• 5: Notability

• Pass back TGD (The Great Divorce) journals. I merely graded for completion. A check means full credit. A check plus means a tad extra. Numeric scores are self-explanatory.

• Let's begin discussing Lewis' work from the Preface. Let's read it together. 
• Now, in groups of three, write out the sentence(s) in Lewis' Preface you think most important for understanding the novel, and have a justification for your answer.   

HW: remember to bring three ring binder, college ruled paper, and dividers to class on Wednesday.  

Friday, 8/16 - Introductions Cont'd

Dante's Dream (Dante Gabriel Rosetti 1879)

• P&P

• Explain the blog
• Remember to get a three ring binder, college ruled paper, and dividers. 

• What is your favorite quoted passage from your journal? 

• First Lit Term - Dream or vision: A literary device wherein a dream or vision is presented for a literary purpose.  Consider Daniel and Revelation, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and Perle.  Notice how the dream or vision brings wisdom or clarity to the waking world.
  
  
  
   

Block, 8/30-31 - ICE on TGD

*P&P

*Finish reviewing TGD . . . any questions at all?

*Review Lit Analysis and essay format

*Review Reno's ICE rubric

*ICE on TGD (45 min.)

Wednesday, 8/29 - Lewis Discussions

*P&P

*Discuss Vocabulary - be sure you have words written and defined in your binder.

*To prepare for our ICE (In Class Essay) on block day, you will discuss in groups the following "Nail": "How does Lewis' Great Divorce enlighten traditional notions of heaven, hell, and human nature?" Work with the members of your group, gather details from the text, and be ready to discuss as a class.

*With the remaining time, we will take questions about the text. Thoughts? Insights? Clarifications? Genuflections in response to Lewis' profound novella?

HW: Be ready for an ICE on block day pertaining to C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce.  

Tuesday, 8/28 - The Great Divorce

*P & P

*Discuss The Great Divorce

*Collect Summer Journal - you may continue to take notes tomorrow during class discussion and we will collect them at the end of the day tomorrow.

HW: finish reading TGD if you have not yet read it. You also might want to review the book and take extra hand-written notes to prepare for your ICE (In Class Essay) on block day.

Thursday 8/23 - MLA and C. S. Lewis

*P&P

*Finish plagiarism

*Course documents (overview)

* MLA: 

• Grammar book, Researched Writing, sections 55 and following
• Check out a sample paper
• Maybe your room needs a nerdy poster to offset the serious concerns your seven Justin Bieber enlarged autographed photographs are currently generating: "chillin by da fire while we eatin' fondue, I don't know about me, but I know about you."
• Video (loaded in a smallish box, but you'll get the idea)

* Assignment: Please prepare one page of writing in perfect MLA form (this can be from an old assignment if you wish). 

* Begin Reviewing The Great Divorce

* Binder sections

1. Journals
2. Essays
3. Notes
1. Nails 
2. Literary Terms
3. Vocabulary
4. Grammar
5. Tests 

HW: MLA page due Monday; don't forget to keep up with the running vocabulary words...you should have all three defined for Monday

Syllabus (updated)

Wednesday 8/22 - Plagiarism and C. S. Lewis

* Pray, etc.

* Dream or vision: A literary device wherein a dream or vision is presented for a literary purpose.  Consider Daniel and Revelation, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and Perle.  Notice how the dream or vision brings wisdom or clarity to the waking world.

* What is plagiarism?

* Ten types of plagiarism

HW: Read the course plan, review your summer reading

Course Overview

 Quarter 1

• Reading
• Summer: C. S. Lewis' Great Divorce
• Notes
• Anglo-Saxon Times
• The Middle Age
• Beowulf, Caedmon's Hymn, "The Seafarer", "The Dream of the Rood
• Major Writing
• In-Class Essay on The Great Divorce
• Narrative (College Essay)
 

Quarter 2
 

• Reading
• Notes
• The Middle Ages (Notes)
• The Renaissance (Notes)
• Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
• The General Prologue
• The Wife of Bath's Tale
• The Pardoner's Tal
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Shakespeare: Hamlet, Selected Sonnets

• Major Writing
• Expository (Literary Analysis)
• Final Exam Essay
  

Quarter 3

• Reading
• Note
• The Restoration and the 18th Century (Notes)
• The Romantic Period
• John Milton, Samuel Johnson, Swift's Modest Proposal
• Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice
• Romantic Poets
• Blake
• Wordsworth
• Coleridge
• Shelley
• Byron
• Keats
• Major Writing
• The Annotated Bibliography (Research, Part I)

Quarter 4

• Reading
• Notes
• Victorian Era
• The Modern Era
• Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnes
• Chesterton
• Dicken
• James Joyce
• Graham Greene
• Nadine Gordimer
• C. S. Lewis
• Quo Vadis (Where are you going?)

Major Writing

• The Final Research Paper