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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Plans, etc.

So I met yesterday with my new DC at Foothill to go over some general school/course information, and I got a better idea of what I'll be doing next year:

English I Honors (9th grade):
  1. Great Expectations
  2. Romeo and Juliet
  3. The Importance of Being Earnest
  4. Of Mice and Men
  5. The Odyssey
  6. Tom Sawyer
assorted grammar/vocab/writing stuff

American Lit (11th grade):

Chronological everything, from early Native American oral tradition to contemporary poetry. I flipped through the textbook, and I'm not liking some of the stuff they picked from authors I usually like. There's no "Rip Van Winkle" or "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" for Irving, a single essay from Melville (hello?! Where's "Bartelby"? Or "Benito Cereno"?), nothing good from Hawthorne (I'll just have to find "Young Goodman Brown" or "Rappacini's Daughter".)--basically, it reads like an anthology of B-sides from famous American authors. They should call the textbook What They Also Wrote because very little of it is the best, famousest stuff. And really, this is high school. They can just read the famous stuff for a while longer.

On the upside, lots of my paperwork, such as drafting semester exams and course syllabi, is pretty much done. Woot.

Now I can start getting some really good thinking done.

4 comments:

k said...

While I lean more toward the Brit Lit side of the spectrum, the fact that "The Scarlet Letter" has been omitted from the reading list is nothing less than a travisty. Hester Prynne is my favorite female character. I can't believe they left out both "Rip Van Winkle" AND "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?" Hello?! is right. I am guessing Thoreau and Emerson are amoung the marginalized authors as well since you didn't mention them? I am not really certain how you have American Lit without Thoreau and Emerson. Will you be able to add to the reading list?

Personally, I don't like "Great Expectations." I love Dickens. I understand it's appeal and respect the work, but I usually want to break something after I read it; much is the same of my experience with "Wuthering Heights." I want to like it... I have tried to like it, but I just end up wanting to smash something. But then, "Great Expectations" is infinitely better than "A Separate Peace." I loathe that one. I guess I should say I dislike "A Separate Peace" and save the loathing for anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Who am I kidding... I even love the literature I hate. I could go on and on about any of it.

k said...

Congrats again, by the way, on your new job. Think of me in the trenches trying to teach basic reading and readling aloud so my students can at least have contact with literature while you are teaching sharp minded brains of the college bound. How would you feel about a guest teacher in your room?

k said...

I do know the difference between its and it's, though you would never guess it in my last post.

Michael said...

This has nothing to do with your post, but, yes it is completely insane that I've somehow created a child. It was a large surprise. Hope you guys are doing well and please let me know if you're ever headed through Austin.