Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric Syllabus
August--October
Assignments are due on the dates listed.
8/25--8/27
Writing practice #1: Practicing the ideas presented in class, write a description of a friend. Carefully read again pages 1--3 of Treasure Island and then rewrite your description in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson.
Re-read Chapter XXI, “The Attack.” Now think of an action film or a war movie you’ve seen. How does Stevenson’s description differ from that action film? Which seems more realistic? Write two or three paragraphs contrasting the film and Stevenson’s description.
Journal 3x.
9/1--9/3
NO MONDAY CLASSES. We will make up this class during Thanksgiving Week. Monday students should still complete the work for this week.
Memorize “Pirate” poem.
Read Mark 1--8. Remember to use a standard Bible: King James, RSV, etc. Read aloud Chapter 7 to a family member several times. Practice reading the passage aloud with other people or in the silence of you own room.
Journal 3x.
9/8--9/10
Read Mark 9--16. Read aloud Chapter 12 to a family member. Practice reading aloud the passage.
Pirate poem due for recitation.
Writing practice #2: Write a three hundred word description of a room in your house. Follow the guidelines addressed in class. Use few descriptive adjectives (Your model should be the Book of Mark). Make your nouns and verbs do the work in your writing.
Journal 3x.
9/15--9/17
Memorize Dickinson’s “I Never Saw a Moor”
In Mark 4 Jesus uses simile and metaphor to describe the kingdom of God. Reread this chapter, looking for these comparisons. Pick something important in your own life, and using either metaphor or simile, make a comparison of that thing to another.
Using information from class, select two aspects from the Book of Mark that lend this narrative historical truth. Write an essay of three hundred words on these points.
Journal 3x.
9/22--9/24
Read The Man Who Would Be King
Begin memorizing Kipling poem “When Earth‘s Last Picture is Painted.”.
Journal 3x.
9/29--10/1
Read The Man Who Would Be King,
Writing practice: Recall a trip--long or short--that you made this summer. Write out a description of that trip. Now read again pages from The Man Who Would Be King and rewrite the description of that trip using The Man Who Would Be King as your model.
Journal 3x.
10/1--10/3
Read The Man Who Would Be King,
Poem due for recitation.
Compare the portion of the film of The Man Who Would Be King which we watched in class to the book. Which appeals to you more? Using the notes taken in class, explain in a letter to a friend why you liked one as opposed to the other.
Journal 3x.
10/8--10/10
Memorize Kipling’s “Mother O’ Mine.”
Close-read The Man Who Would Be King, p. Test.
Journal 3x.
10/15--10/17
Read The Long Winter,
Memorize the first paragraph of Little House on the Prairie.
Journal 3x
10/22--10/24
Read The Long Winter,
Journal 3x.
10/29--10/31
Recalling The Long Winter, write a narrative essay on an experience that tested you in some way.
Journal 3x.