- We started the short story “Midnights” (Rowell). We will finish this at the end of the term.
- We discussed the course theme “power of love” and how this theme will connect to these texts:
- “Romeo and Juliet” (Shakespeare)
- “The Great Gatsby” (Fitzgerald)
- “Measure for Measure” (Shakespeare)
- “I Have a Dream” (King)
- “Animal Farm” (Orwell)
- We discussed “Lover” (Swift) and how the concept of love, romance, friendship, power, joy, grief, freedom connected to the song and to this course.
- We read the short story “My Temporary Santa” (Levithan). We discussed:
- Whether the 12 year character’s use of foul language was realistic.
- Whether the mom and dad were divorced or if the dad had died.
- How Levithan slowly let more and more of the story out. Why did he do this?
- Why the main character (Connor’s boyfriend) as so naive.
- We started the novel “The Great Gatsby” (Fitzgerald). We will listen/read this novel for the first month and will watch parts of the 1974 film and 2013 film versions of the novel. We discussed:
- How the story was written over a 100 years ago and how this fits into the overall timeline of the texts for this course.
- The theme of love, greed, freedom, power, and control.
- Whether the narrator (Nick) is in love with Jay or not, how this is put “in between the lines,” and why the author would write it that way.
- The first essay will compare “The Great Gatsby” (Fitzgerald) to “Romeo and Juliet” (Shakespeare).
- We went over the rules. The main ones are:
- Fake it until you make it
- Ask for help
- You belong here – attend and you learn and you will get support (attendance is important because almost all of the work is done during class time, there is almost no homework)
- Respect others
- Use the hall pass
- No devices, no AI, all work is done in-class, all work is done using paper/pencil (not computer or phone)
