Thank you so much, Adenike, for rescuing the chat and sharing it with us. I loved reading it over this morning, in part for the content but also for the group's enthusiasm and expertise. It's clear that we could have spent another hour on Trifles (not such a trifle, after all), and that we would have had fun looking at the short story, "A Jury of Her Peers" as well. In fact, we probably could have spent another hour on just that title!
I was very interesting to hear about hexagonal thinking and would love to be a fly on the wall in your classes during one of those discussions. Kids talk differently (better?) when they also have something to do with their hands. I was also interested in the suggestion of using "A New England Nun" by Mary Wilkins Freeman and "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin along with Trifles. Maybe my connection to "The Power of the Dog" was a little out there, but I really recommend the novel, by Thomas Savage, which moves faster than the film, and would be fascinating to study for not just character but for setting--so many interesting ways to connect setting to theme and character development.
It's obvious that Sophistication is much on our minds, but we had some helpful voices of reason last night reminding us that the Answer is what matters; it is, after all, worth 4 points. And in that Answer is line of reasoning, a skill that we teach every day, in every class discussion, implicitly or explicitly. I recommend taking a look at Lit & Comp's writing instruction on Sophistication which ends each of the three opening chapters and contains examples of good answer paragraphs that have been rewritten with a layer of sophistication. But more important is the instruction on thesis statements and evidence; that's the stuff that's teachable, imho.
Here's that activity we looked at last night. It's also in the full slide presentation and in Lit & Comp, which you should be receiving as part of your party favors.
Please stay in touch and PLEASE add comments here. I'd love to hear what you wish you had had time to say or chat during our session last night.
All the best,
Robin
