First things:
There are a couple of things that we need to know in order to get started with this class. First and most obvious is that this is an online course. Since you are taking a distance education course it will also be assumed that you know how to use a web browser, how to use your e-mail client, how to attach a document to an e-mail, how to cut and paste. If you do not know these basics please go to the computer skills tutorial.
How the course will work:
The second thing you need to know is the structure of the course. Each week you will be expected to log into the course, access the "Course Materials" page and read the assignment for the appropriate week. You will go to the discussion and do the assignment there and answer the discussion questions for the week's readings.
You will then send your group and me any writing (your fiction) or any responses that are due. If you receive any work from your group, you will read their work, answer questions about the work and send the response to the author and to me.
Small Groups
You will be assigned to a group (2-3) alphabetically. It is very important that you discuss your schedules, any projects your are working on (writing), your expectations and the criteria with your group as soon as possible. Communication will be the key to making your group work. Each group will use e-mail to facilitate communication but will also have a Discussion Board available.Reading
This week we are reading James Joyce's "Araby." We will read this story and analyze it together in the discussion board. We will use the class critiquing document and the questions below to discuss the story.Read the first two paragraphs carefully and see what kind of environment the boy is in. (Pay attention to thehouse which is in a "blind," or dead end street; the musty room, the dead priest; the rusty bicycle pump; the apple tree and the garbage odors. )
In the next three paragraphs, we get to see that the boy secretly loves an older girl who is Mangan's sister. How does he describe his feelings for her? What kind of "character" do you think Mangan's sister is? A round character? A flat character? A substitute for something else? A character serving as a symbol? Pay close attention to how Mangan's sister is presented in the third and the tenth paragraphs.
Describe the narrator or point of view in this story. Is this narrator a young teenage boy or is he an older man remembering an important incident when he was younger?
Assignments:
- Introduce yourself in the discussion by answering the questions under my first post.
- Read the "Syllabus" and "Criteria" page (located under "Course Documents") and be prepared to discuss them.
- Discuss "A Little Cloud" in the discussion area using the criteria.
- Begin your first piece of fiction.
- E-mail the members of your group to let them know about yourself and what you are writing.
- Make at least two entries in your journal.