The long term goals for students in this class is that they will successfully be able to read, discuss, and analyze a variety of different texts.  Through the activities of reading, writing, speaking, and listening they will be given the opportunity to begin to think critically about the works which they encounter.  By critical thinking I am referring to the ability not to simply read for correctness, but to read for a higher level of comprehension where students are able to discuss in both oral and written form the ways in which themes, metaphors, symbolism, and even grammar and word usage can affect the meaning of a text and what those differences mean in terms of our understanding of literature, our selves, and our world.  This will be accomplished through a variety of approaches which call on performance and technology components as well as multiple theoretical perspectives to enhance traditional pedagogical approaches.