New Assignment and Holiday Preparations

As some are in the midst of celebrating Hanukkah and others are preparing for Christmas, I know what all of my students are primarily concerned with: "What do I have to blog about in Kain's class?".  Fear not young scholars, this is a light week of blogging, and I am not requiring any blog activities over break.  I firmly believe that your break should be spent enjoying your family and your youth.  Give Aunt Bertha a hug, you know, the one who always gives you scratchy wool socks, be kind to your annoying little brother, eat, and go out of the way to enjoy something new.  While on break, don't worry about any assignments for this course, only worry about seizing the moment and enjoying your time off.  But, break hasn't begun yet, and we will return; so outlined below is the structure of our current unit and the blogging expectations I have for it.

Independent Reading Unit:
        Step 1: Select a book of your choice to read.  The book must be over 200 pages and must be of a reading level commensurate to your own.  That is to say, I don't want to see you trying to read any "Hardy Boys" novels.  The book can be either fiction or non-fiction and must not be a graphic novel.

       Step 2: Email me (ikain@oswego.org) a 2-3 paragraph synopses of the book that you are going to read.

      Step 3: Read.  You will have two weeks to work independently, in class, on your reading and blogging.  You must be finished with your selected work by Monday, January 9th, 2012. 

      Step 4: Blog about it.  I am expecting you to write four blogs in total, two for each week given you to complete the assignment.  I will check your blogs every Friday. The blogs should be concerned with your visceral reactions to the work you are reading, any connections that you can make between your selected work and any other works we have discussed or topics we have discussed in class, or any other analytical topics that the reading of your selected work inspires you to discuss.

       Step 5: Present your work:  Each of you will have to give an oral presentation on the work that you have selected.  You will have two options to present the book: 1. Create a video presentation; 2. Do a book talk where you act as a character in the work who discusses the finer points of the work he or she is in.
The presentations will begin on January 11th, 2012.  I will give you a more detailed written assignment for the presentations.

     Folks, this is an opportunity for you to shine.  You have selected the work to read and discuss, and you are going to discuss it on your blogs and in your presentation.  It is here where I become the student and you all become teachers.  So, teach me, inspire me, show me what effective readers and thinkers you are.  I look forward to following your posts and listening to what you have to say.