Mr. Cahill's CIS Literature
Links
All students in Mr. Cahill's sections will need to have a copy of Solar Storms, by Linda Hogan. Please secure your copy as soon as possible. New and used copies are available for purchase from Amazon.
To register for this class at the University of Minnesota, make sure you have the handout you received in class, and then follow this link to the Registration Form
Turnitin.com
Parent Portal
Schedule
For each text there are two dates. The first date is the day we will begin the text in class: you should be prepared for discussion. Your reading notebooks for that text will be due at 8:15am on the second date.
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9/21-10/2 A Place Where the Sea Remembers
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10/1– 10/19 The Bluest Eye
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10/19 – 11/2 As I Lay Dying
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11/2 – 11/16 Things Fall Apart
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11/16-11/30 Solar Storms
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11/30 – 12/14 The Things They Carried
The week of 12/14 to 12/18 will be a mix of poetry and work time on your choice novel. You will want to have read your choice novel by 12/16 at the latest to be able to use the time set aside to meet and work with your group. The poetry will be read in class.
These are your due dates for the choice novel group work and your finished paper.
12/21 Choice Novel Presentation
12/23 – Finished Paper
Notebook Topics
Other Important Documents
From the Syllabus:
Goals/objectives
By the completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Analyze literary texts to recognize subtext and layers of meaning
• Apply critical theory to textual readings
• Interrogate the relationship between literary texts and other representations of the world around us
• Articulate clearly the meaning they draw from literary texts in essay form
• Engage peers in productive and collaborative discussion of literature
To achieve these goals, students will:
• Read 7-8 novels, plays or books of poetry
• Respond to these texts in a reading journal (see handouts)
• Engage their classmates in discussion
• Produce a number of final, polished pieces of writing
• Reflect on their subconscious assumptions about literature, race, gender, and the nature of meaning
Your grade will be based on:
Reading Notebook (40%)
Your Reading Notebook will be the cornerstone of all the work you do in this class. While we discuss the texts in class, you will be extending and enriching your understanding by completing a Reading Notebook. Traditionally this was written by hand in an actual notebook, but for you these assignments will be word processed. You will complete an entry about every other day in a variety of formats, and will complete each text by producing a longer piece of literary analysis. You will hand the resulting entries in at Turnitin.com. Aside from reading the texts, this is where you will be doing most of your outside work, and your other grades will stem from it. For more information, see the Reading Notebook Guidelines.
Class Participation (30%)
One of the ways in which this class may differ from your prior experiences with literature is that we will approach reading and meaning-making as a collaborative, social activity. Whenever we read, we are not simply receiving information from an author, but collaborating with the author to make meaning. In addition, we draw on our experience as a member of a community (or communities) to make conclusions. In class, we will make obvious the social nature of reading by sharing our ideas together. Students who earn the most participation points will not simply be the ones who talk a lot, but whose comments are thoughtful, designed to encourage their classmates’ participation, and demonstrate that the sharing of ideas should be cooperative rather than competitive. Your Reading Notebooks will be invaluable resources during class time, so keep them handy. Furthermore, when we begin to discuss a book, your ability to participate will be influenced by your completion of the reading, and so we will begin each unit with a short quiz to check your reading.
Formal Writing/Group Project (30%)
During the semester you will take two of your notebook entries and turn them in to literary analysis essays; one of these will be handed in approximately halfway through, and should cover works from the first half of the class, while the other will be due at the end, and should cover the second half of the works. These essays will be approximately 750-1000 words. In addition, you will complete a small group project on a choice novel to conclude the class. More detailed information on these assignments will be forthcoming.
