Details about daily assignments will be posted here and announced at class sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Check this website as you prepare for each upcoming class period. See the schedule posted in the syllabus for the tentative course outline.

CORE 180 home

Assigned April 28
For Thurday, April 30: Read Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”; write a short response and analysis (not summary) of about 150 words. Bring a pencil to class for course evaluations.

Assigned April 23
For Tuesday, April 28:

1. Search for definitions of “satire” and “parody”—be sure to use Google’s “define:” tool to help you.
2. Read the following examples of satire and parody. As you read, make notes to answer this question: What are the authors satirizing and/or parodying, and what techniques are they using to do so? WHY do they use satire or parody?
   • Watch the first 9 minutes of The Colbert Reportfrom April 22. Look carefully for literary, dramatic, and cinematic techniques that Colbert uses to create satire and parody.
   • Explore this week’s issue of The Onion. Choose one article that you’d like to discuss; print, read, annotate, and bring the copy to class.
   • Read LeBlanc, “Laughing with Evangelicals” and then explore the current version of The Lark.

Assigned April 21
For Thursday, April 23:

1. Finish your interpretation project. Post an electronic copy to our Courses@Dordt page, and bring a printed copy to class.
2. Bring your anthology to class—we’ll be studying poetry.

Assigned April 16
For Tuesday, April 21:

1. Choose one “chapter” from Pieces of April and make notes as you re-view it with three sets of eyes: literary, dramatic, and cinematic. Then write notes about how these elements work together. Lastly, watch the chapter again with the director’s commentary. Be prepared to lead the class through discussion about your more nuanced understanding of the chapter.

Assigned April 14
For Thursday, April 16: View Pieces of April and complete the viewing guide. Choose a focus (text and topic) for your interpretation project; a two-page draft will be due on Tuesday, April 21.

Assigned April 9
For Tuesday, April 14: Read, annotate, and prepare to discuss Tan, “In the Canon, for All the Wrong Reasons” as well as the following poems: “Learning English” and “Elena” (Mora), “Latin Women Pray” (Cofer), and “I, Too” (Hughes).

Assigned April 2
Tuesday, April 7 is Dordt College Assessment Day, so our class will not meet. For Thursday, April 9: Complete the reading and commentary assignments for Levy’s Small Island as directed on the instructions handout. Also bring to class Mora’s My Own True Name.

Assigned March 31
For Thursday, April 2: Complete the reading and commentary assignments for Levy’s Small Island as directed on the instructions handout. Also bring to class Kipling’s “If.”

Assigned March 26
For Tuesday, March 31: Complete the reading and commentary assignments for Levy's Small Island as directed on the handout. Also bring to class Mora's My Own True Name.

Assigned March 24
For Thursday, March 26: Complete the reading and commentary assignments for Levy's Small Island as directed on the instructions handout. Also read the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes.

Assigned March 10
Thursday, March 12 is a reading day (no class), as I will be presenting at CCCC in San Francisco. For Tuesday, March 24: Complete the reading and commentary assignments for Levy’s Small Island as directed on the instructions handout.

Assigned March 5
For Tuesday, March 10: Read the short story “The Gilded Six Bits” (Hurston) and the essay “Yom Kippur: The Day Without Forgiveness” (Wiesel). As you read, annotate, and make notes how the themes and critical lenses we have studied so far are relevant for these two pieces.

Assigned March 3
For Thursday, March 5: Read the poems "Fences" (Mora) and “Ethics” (Pastan); also read the short story“The Runt” (Skipper). As you read, annotate, and make notes, pay careful attention to representations of race. Also watch carefully for differences in the viewpoints of authors and the narrators that they create.

Assigned February 26
For Tuesday, March 3: O'Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." Watch for similarities to her other stories--especially in her themes and use of symbolization--and make notes about them in the margins. (Use Post-It notes if you still have a phobia about writing in your book!) Also read Mora's poem "Peruvian Child."

Assigned February 24
For Thursday, February 26: Study for the test.

Assigned February 19
For Tuesday, February 24: Read Foster, “Is that a Symbol?” Then read O’Connor’s “Greenleaf.” Make notes about the symbols you notice in the story: what are they, and what might they symbolize? How does O’Connor use symbols to influence readers’ reaction to the story as a whole?

Remember that the mid-term exam will be given on Thursday, February 26.

Assigned February 17
For Thursday, February 19: Read and annotate Gallagher & Lundin, “Was This Author a Christian?” as well as Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” and O’Connor, “Parker’s Back.” Be ready to discuss and write about ideas from the essay in connection with the two short stories.

Assigned February 10
For Thursday, February 12: Read Atwood’s “Happy Endings” and Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” as well as Mora’s “Same Song.” Type a commentary (250 words) that compares and contrasts the authorial visions of the two short stories. Explain how you agree and/or disagree with these authorial visions.

Assigned February 5
For Tuesday, February 10:

• Read Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers.” Mark and annotate the places where the narrator gives us additional insights into the characters’ thoughts—beyond what is revealed in the play. Also make notes comparing/contrasting the visible setting of the play with the setting of the short story that is visible to us through the narrator’s eyes
• A similar case occurred in near here (by Hull) in the late 1800s. Ask locals what (if anything) they know about the Blood murder.

Assigned February 3
For Thursday, February 5: Read, annotate, and respond in your notes to Glaspell’s play “Trifles” and Mora’s poems “Desert Women.” The play is a murder mystery, so be ready to make a claim about “whodunit,” how, and how you know. Some inference making will be necessary.

Assigned January 29
For Tuesday, February 3: Read, annotate, and respond in your notes to the poem “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins, the short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” by Alice Munro, and Mora’s poems “Tigau Elders” and “Los ancianos.” In the short story, there are several places where Munro excepts us to fill in gaps. She skips ahead in time or refers to events that she doesn’t directly describe. Mark those places, and in the margins, write what you think happened and how you know.

Assigned January 27
For Thursday, January 29: Read Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter” (p. 377) and Updike’s “Outage” (cp). Also read Mora’s poems “Maybe” and “Mush.” Annotate as you read, and write about your response—including questions for discussion—in your notes.

Assigned January 22
For Tuesday, January 27: Read Mora’s “Mothers and Daughter” (p. 26), “Abuelita’s Ache” (p. 38), “To My Son” (p. 48), and “En la sangre” / “In the Blood.” Also read these poems from the “Family” section of the anthology:

• Giovanni, “Nikki-Rosa” (p. 164)
• Salinas, “My Father is a Simple Man” (p. 162)
• Whitelock, “Future Connected By” (p. 171)
• Weaver, “Improvisation for Piano” (p. 168)
• Ostriker, “First Love” (p. 161)
• Hughes, “Mother to Son” (p. 154)
• Brooks, “The Mother” (p. 157)

Choose one poem for more careful study. Type a copy of the poem (use a large font and generous margins), and repeat the exercise in reading a poem from our first day of class. (Read, annotate, and write what you notice or have questions about; repeat for a total of 3 cycles.) Be ready to discuss this poem in detail; for the others, prepare to discuss the authors’ main ideas.

Assigned January 20
For Tuesday, January 20:

1. Read Alexie’s short story “Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock” (p. 144) and the poems “How to Create an Agnostic” and “Mystery Train.”
2. Post to Courses@Dordt your 150-word response to Alexie’s work, pointing out and commenting on specific passages (related to your response) that you think are especially worthy of discussion. To do this, remind us of what Alexie said/did, give a page/line number, and share your thoughts about the passage. Unless you are the first to post, you should also take into consideration and respond to what a classmate has posted. Print a copy of your post and bring it to class.

Assigned January 15
For Tuesday, January 20: Read Moskowitz’s essay “Jewish Christmas” (pp. 67 ff.) and Mora’s poem “Sugar” (p. 44). Choose a passage from each that you’d like us to discuss (summarize or quote it, and give us the page/line number), and write out your related question or comment.

Create a practice preview for “Jewish Christmas.” Follow steps 2-3 from the instructions handout, and make notes about your answers to the bulleted questions for step 4. Post your practice preview to the Courses@Dordt forum, and bring a printed copy to class.

Assigned January 13
For Thursday, January 15: Note that our class meeting time on Thursday is adjusted because of Dordt's convocation. Our class is scheduled for 12:10-1:25.

We’ll start with some texts that continue with the family theme.

• Read Gierach’s “The Fishing Car” (p. 284 ff.), Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” (p. 126 ff.), and Mora’s poems “Teenagers” (p. 24) and “Village Therapy” (p. 60).
• Make notes (preferably in the margins) about what you notice.
• Consider: which of these authors presents the most truthful depiction of family? Post your 125-word response to the Courses@Dordt forum, pointing out and commenting on specific passages in each text that help you to shape your answer. Remind us of what the author said/did, give a page or line number, and tell us why this evidence is important to your answer. Unless you are the first to post, make sure that you are also taking into consideration and responding to what a classmate has posted. Print a copy of your answer and bring it to class.

If you missed class today, please e-mail me or stop by ASAP for further instructions about how to get caught up for Thursday.