31/07/07

There is a template that all of you can use for Wilfred Owen revision in KM under the IP3/JC1 assignments. The template breaks the poems down under various devices/categories which will help you organize your thoughts on individual poems.

For those of you who haven't received a PC this week, please drop a note/inform me.

I've also included next week's schedule in my letter tray -- only 2 days to the working week, so please see me if you can see me and drop things in my letter tray if you can't.

Quotation for the universal quality of Murder In the Cathedral

"Eliot's plays are about situations, not stories, like Everyman before them, and Waiting for Godot after. Murder in the Cathedral is about a situation and a quality of life; the situation is perpetual and the quality is rare." (from the Introduction, p 10)

Assignment this week

Look at your common test paper.

Look at Sect B and C. Pick one section (you can choose to do both).

Pick the essay question that you did not attempt for common test.

Write me an essay outline, which includes:

a) dissection of question (i.e. keywords)
b) thesis
c) topic sentences
d) quotations/evidence
e) PC comments on quotations linking back to topic sentences/ answering question

This week (23/7/07)

Please don't come see me during these times:

TUES: 2- 2 50pm (with Joseph)
WED: 330 (with James) (I will be at Temasek Seminar till 2 pm.)
THURS: 2 15pm , 4 (PW) - 4 30, 4 30 pm - 5pm , 5 30 pm (IP2 PTM)
FRI: 8 - 8 50 (IP4 make up class), 3 30 pm (with Michael), 5 30 pm (IP3 PTM)

Other than that, check with my regular schedule and come back to me.

My schedule (semester 2 2007)

Please note that I have classes during these times:

MON: 8 - 8 50 am, 10 50 - 11 40 (IP 4 lit A), 250 - 430 (SPIRE)
TUES: 8 - 8 50 am, 2 50 - 340pm (SPIRE)
WED: 8- 820 am, 9 40 - 1130 (Lit lecture/ IP4 Lit B), 1 30 - 3 10 (CAAL)
THURS: 8 30 - 9 20, 11 40 - 12 30, 110 - 2 pm (IP3 Lit)
FRI: 8 - 8.20, 10 - 10 50 (GC), 11 40 - 12 30 (IP 3 Lit lecture), 1 20 - 2 (IP 3 lit class)

Please book in advance with me for consultation slots.

Common Test post-mortem

I'm sure some of you must be quite unsettled after common test. It's right to feel unsettled -- obviously, there's some work to be done -- but let's not forget that we have an exam to attempt at the end of the year, and there's still some time. As long as you keep pushing on, you will make it. It just depends whether you want to.

I will be organizing all of you into different groups, according to strengths and weaknesses. There is no personal agenda behind this; I only mean for all of us to do better, so please lay aside any feelings of hurt pride or frustration, or even despair. Please remember that any sense of failure is not something to get too emotional about. We need to assess our mistakes, improve on our weaknesses and improve on our strengths.

So here is the game plan:

We need to work on your PC. I will be providing PC passages (different passages for different groups) in my letter tray every week, alternating between prose and drama, from next week onwards. What you need to do is:

1) pick up the passage
2) annotate the passage as much as possible
3) arrange to meet me to discuss the passage (you need to annotate it to the point where you have your thesis and main points ready, with evidence from the text) for
30 - 45 minutes
4) if possible, WRITE the passage out in essay form (for some of you, this is mandatory)

Please avoid putting in 20th century context for now.

I will email more specific instructions to the lit reps.

Please read this blog for more updates.