RESEARCH LINKS
AUTHORS
IN DEPTH
GLOSSARY |
English 250
Fall 1998
Michael Meyer
The Class Presentation:
Preliminaries
| 1. |
Please be
certain that you are prepared to discuss the work you have chosen on the day it is due.
The reading schedule will not permit us to make changes readily, so if you miss your turn
as discussion leader there may not be another opportunity for you to complete that
requirement for the course. |
| 2. |
As
discussion leader, your role is to present the work to the class in an interesting manner.
You may use notes or outlines to present the work but do not read to the class from
a prepared text. No matter how well written, that sort of thing gets boring. Make a
genuine effort to be interesting. Know what you are talking about, and be prepared to
field questions during and after your presentation. |
| 3. |
You may
find useful the following suggested procedure. |
|
a. |
If possible, learn
something about the author so that you have some context for your initial approach to the
work. Note when the work was written. Provide useful background information. |
|
b. |
Read the work
carefully, writing comments in the margin and noting passages that seem especially
important. Take notes. |
|
c. |
Try to answer fully
the questions (when available) at the end of the work in the anthology. (Do not, however,
treat "Connections" questions that raise issues about other works we haven't
read.) |
|
d. |
Answer the relevant
general "Questions for Responsive Reading" (for fiction pp. 41-43, for poetry
pp. 711-12; for drama pp. 1211-12). If you choose a poem, be prepared to read it aloud. |
|
e. |
If you still need
help (but only after you have wrestled with the work), you may use secondary sources such
as critical articles and sections in books. For help with finding sources see the
"Annotated List of References" (pp. 2100-02). The reference librarians can also
help you to locate material if you are unsuccessful on your own. Sometimes disagreements
among professional critics can reveal what is central in a work. |
| 4. |
Your
presentation should not simply be a response to the two lists of questions mentioned
above. Instead approach the work as you think it is best explained. The emphasis could be
on point of view, character, setting, diction, tone, symbolism, irony, or whatever best
serves as a way of making sense of the work's meanings and how those meanings are
created. You are not restricted to the questions raised in the text. Discuss whatever you
judge to be interesting and relevant to your particular work. Make specific, detailed
references to the text to illustrate your points. For a variety of approaches review
"Critical Strategies for Reading" (pp. 2021-2047). Be sure you are clear about
what approach you are taking ( a combination of approaches is, of course, possible). |
| 5. |
Keep in
mind that the purpose of the presentation is to help your classmates understand the work.
If something puzzles you, say so and we'll see what the rest of the class can contribute. |
| 6. |
Your
presentation should be about twenty minutes long. If you work up answers to the questions,
there should be plenty for you to talk about, and that will allow you to ask questions of
your classmates as well. The job of your classmates is to respond to your comments and to
ask questions. Also, remember that as others present their works they would probably
appreciate questions if they stumble or the pace slackens. Neither I nor the class must
agree with your approach to the work, but we must agree that you've had a thesis
and something useful to say about the work. |
| 7. |
If you
have any questions about what you are to do, don't hesitate to discuss them with me. |
| 8. |
Let me
know your choice as soon as possible - first come, first served -- but no later than
October 19. If I don’t hear from you by then, I’ll assign a topic. |
S C H E D U L E |
DATE |
WORK |
NAME |
| October 21 |
King, "Suffer The Little
Children" (535-43) |
|
| October 26 |
Williams, "Excuse Me"
(708-09) |
|
| October 28 |
Wilbur, "A Late
Aubade" (732-33) |
|
| October 30 |
Atwood, "Bored"
(737-38) |
|
| November 4 |
Baca, "Green Chile"
(758-59) |
|
| November 9 |
Perry, "Blue Spruce"
(793-94) |
|
| November 16 |
Alvarez, "Queens,
1963" (1060-72) |
|
| November 18 |
Jones, "The Foot" |
|
| November 20 |
Meinke, "The ABC of
Aerobics" (922) |
|
| December 7 |
Ibsen, A Doll House, Act
I |
|
| December 9 |
Ibsen, A Doll House, Act
II |
|
| December 11 |
Ibsen, A Doll House, Act
III |
|
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