Movie Version

I watched the PBS version of The Scarlet Letter.   We checked it out from the library.  It was very well done, with much of the dialogue coming directly from the book.  It seems you can watch it for free at this site.

http://www.watch-the-movies-online.com/the-scarlet-letter

Week 10

As we approach this week set aside for giving thanks, I'd like to express my gratitude for this class.  I am truly grateful for each of you!  I enjoy our conversations each week, and look forward to hearing the insights that you all bring to the discussion.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to grow and learn from you as we journey through great books together.

Reading assignment:

• Finish reading The Scarlet Letter
• Continue to highlight as previously instructed, and write a should question for each chapter

Writing Assignment:

This week we will revert to the Introductory Persuasive Essay from lesson 2.  This is so that you can focus on writing well developed proof paragraphs.  Do your best to explain as fully as you can why you selected each sub proof to support your thesis.   Give examples and quotes from the book when possible, and explain the relevance of each point to your thesis.  Use schemes, tropes, and analogies that you have learned.  Plan to write 2 or 3 sentences per sub proof.

Also, remember that you now have a DELIBERATIVE issue. This means that you are looking forward to a decision yet  to be made (deliberating) rather than looking back to judge a decision after it has been made.  You will need to use your imagination to place yourself in the story at the point of the action, as if you do not yet know the outcome for certain.  This change of perspective will alter your language, especially the use of verbs.  You can still use information in the book that occurs after the point of decision, but avoid language that speaks as though those events have already occurred.  You can say that they might occur, will likely occur, or even that they will occur, so long as your verbs are consistent with those events occurring later in the story.  

Example:

"Hester should not vow to keep her husband's identity a secret.  He intends to seek out and destroy her child's father. He is not to be trusted, and she will be putting her minister's well being at risk."

Complete arrangement AND elocution this week.

• Use the sorting & outline worksheets given in class for the Introductory Persuasive Essay 
• Write your DELIBERATIVE essay with well developed paragraphs using the check list handout.

Week 9

Given that our reading in The Scarlet Letter has significantly outpaced our discussion, and that we won't meet again until Nov. 20, we're going to take a break before finishing the novel.  Instead, we'll  finish Cicero's De Amicitia.

Also,  a few of you still need to complete previous assignments. Please check your number to see what you lack. I'm planning to mail out work from this past week so that you can make corrections prior to our next class.

Reading Assignment

• Finish Cicero's De Amicitia

Writing Assignment

• Complete worksheet on Circumstance
• Create an ANI chart for your Scarlet Letter Issue (20A-20N-20I)
• Add a few pieces of information (at least 3) from your Circumstance worksheet to your ANI chart and mark them with a circled letter C