Discussion of grades:
You should all have your feedback sheets + your essay with comments. If you have questions, be in touch.
I started class with an overview of what I saw as 'needing work' in writing from the class as a whole. What follows is a list of what I saw as most important for us to work on as we wrap up the semeter.
1. Be aware that as we move through the semester, the participation credit/homework counts for less, and the quality of the writing counts for more.
2. Most frequent areas for work noted in the essays:
revise for specific language
make sure the focus passes the "so what" test
use the sandwich method to present examples from the text
make specific connections between discussion of the text and what those discussions show with respect to the overall focus of the essay
3. More time spent in brainstorming (analyzing the text you will write about, identifying a thesis, selecting sections of text that illustrate particular points relevant to the thesis) will help with focus + development
4, More time spent in revising can help with organization and language choices
Othello + Dramatic structure
During the rest of class we talked through the points raised in the textbook's chapter on dramatic structure. We reviewed the terms set up in your book in terms of Othello:
point of attack:
exposition:
rising action
climax
falling action:
denoument
We also spent some time analyzing the central conflict in terms of the way it connected to related conflicts, order of presentation, and the relative "power" of the characters involved in the conflich. This exploration suggested a number of questions that might work for a thesis.
Finding a focus/thesis.
During the last 15 minutes of class you spent some time writing questions that might lead to a thesis for a paper on Othello in terms of the 3 caategories at the end of the chapter. The three categories + some of my notes on your ideas are below. It sounded to me like most of you were well on track for thinking about how to write about Othello in terms of these 3 perspectives.
Response writing: a thesis/focus which allows you to use a discussion of some aspect of the play as a basis for discussing that aspect within another context. For example, how does the relationship between O + D values in terms of heroes + villians
If you were in Othello's position, what would you do?
what's the difference between the trust of a friend of a partner (someone you work with)
Critical analysis: questions which identify features of the play and ask questions about relationships among those features
Why didn't Othello suspect Iago? (You might identify the different "lies" Iago told, and assess or other wise evaluate the different ways Shakespeare represents Othello as responding to them; you might also look at the exposition/backstory on Othello's character - how Shakespeare sets him up in ways that make his responses believable (or not); or you might characterize how Elizabethan v contemporary audiences might respond differently in terms of "believing" Othello's responses to Iago's lies (this is kind of a combination critical analysis /research essay and response!)
Research directed
Why was it a handkerchief?
How were "moors" thought of and treated in Elizabethan England? did the audience really believe they could do magic?
What was the role of women/Elizabethan women? how did these beliefs about women's place & character work to "move the plot"?
Good job on this!
For next class:
Read: Chapter 18- character
Write: Post your questions for the different kinds of writing, do some thinking about what kind of paper you would write on Othello
During next class, we will talk over writing about character, and work together as a class to devise the assignment sheet for this unit (so that you have some idea how to frame a "do-able" paper when the teacher just says "write a paper about. . . (name of whatever the class has been talking about).
See you on Thursday!
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