Course Recap for March 11

Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are
Today at the beginning of class, you took a short reading quiz and then you gave some of your initial impressions about Sendak's picture book. I then gave a presentation on Maurice Sendak. You can access that presentation HERE. After the presentation I asked you to break into small groups to work on a conflict chart. You can access that document HERE. We then made a list on the board of various conflicts present in the text. We also talked a bit about the film adaption of the text and Maurice Sendak's thoughts on it. You can access an article about that HERE.

Midterm Exam Back
At the end of class, I handed back your graded midterm exams. You all did an excellent job on these exams!  I went over the midterm exam answer commentary with you, and you can access that document HERE. In the upper right hand corner of your exam grading rubric there is a box containing (first) your midterm grade and (second) your current course grade. Additionally, below this box I have noted your current number of absences in the class. Your current course grade consists of the following: mini-exam (100 pts), midterm exam (200 pts), paper 1 (100 pts), 13 quizzes (65-15=50 pts), attendance (52 pts), and blog posts (30-120 pts). As you see, I have dropped/included as extra credit three of your quiz scores. Depending upon how many blog posts you have completed, as of the midterm exam, your total points possible will be between 532 and 622 points. If you have questions about how this grade is calculated, feel free to see me during office hours.

Next Class: Discussion
Next class period, we are going to shake things up a bit for our large group discussion. Before class, please prepare to talk about some element of each of the following topics:

• Navy: history, material considerations, or context
• Yellow: narration or characterization
• Orange: story, plot, or conflict
• Pink: setting, theme, or tone
• Purple: response to blog discussion question
• Light Blue: response to critical article for this week

During class on Thursday, I will randomly hand out different colored cards to each person. We will then work our way around the group and each person will comment on whatever their card designates. You will then pass your card to the right and we will work our way around the circle again. I suggest you revisit the "Strategies for a Meaningful Study Experience" Handout to see questions related to these topics. You can access that document HERE. Be prepared to talk about any of the above topics on Thursday.

Homework

• Read K. A. Nuzum's "The Monster's Sacrifice--Historic Time: The uses of Mythic and Liminal Time in Monster Literature" (pages 207-213 only)