August 16th

Just a few quick reminders about class today:

We are still getting our feet wet with discerning the complications of reading history and with some practice with reading literature. One of the projects I had you do today was to practice pulling out a detail in a story and illustrating it. I know this seems a bit odd, but trust me. Focusing on a particular detail in literature is the first step to close reading. For those of you struggling with this assignment, you have the option to write a two-page reflection on "Young Goodman Brown." You can respond in any way you like, as long as you keep the writing focused on the story. One easy way to do this is to consider, "What's most compelling about this story?" "What is most controversial?" or "What is most confusing?"

I also sent home a search on Arthur Miller for you to work on. I'd like you to gather a bit of biographical information on our first writer for the semester. Do the best you can. Most answers can be found on Wikipedia, and this assignment shouldn't conusme too much time. This practice will help with more detailed research projects later, when we are looking at literary analysis and seeing how or if biographical information on the writer is of any value to us. Some argue that it is helpful. And in some cases, I agree.

Please finish up your colonial map and place it into your binder. You will want to study this. You will also want to familiarize yourself with the notes I gave you on Puritan/Calvinism literature traits.

Finally, we had a good discussion about Roger Williams and the Separation of Church and State. Some of these lines are blurry, but absolutely necessary for consideration, especially as voting season starts to run back around. Keep an eye out for current events discussing these issues. Oh, and keep the number of Supreme Court Justices in mind. You might see that pop up on a quiz this next week. :)

Next up, we'll look again at another primary source document as we start looking at some testimonies from the Salem Witch Trials.

Your readings for history are posted on the syllabus, as are the first two acts in The Crucible. Keep reviewing the comma splice, fragments, and run-ons handout I went over in class today. I really want to make sure we get a strong foundation put down here, and most critical errors are at the sentence level. Let's make sure we nip those now.

If you find yourself overwhelmed or if you do not understand something from our readings, please reach out to me. You have all of my contact information, and I'm always happy to chat with you.

I'll find a video for this week's readings to post for my visual learners, which reminds me: Check out VARK learning styles and take the quiz. What kind of learner are you? Here's that link!