Literature, Class 15: Period 3, Thursday, April 23

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Miss Bennet smiled at her class, wondering how it was that she had finished two semesters of teaching here. "Welcome," she said. "We've a few odds and ends to collect, for our last class together. Shall we start at the beginning?"

"First, I should like for you to return the papers that I asked each of you to write. Do please note that I will not be grading them so much as I will be reading them, marking them with my own thoughts, and returning them. That does not free you from the obligation of turning them in, however." There was a playful smile to accompany that. "I asked you to write the papers so that you might learn the process of doing so. Library research. Organizing your thoughts into a coherent thesis. These are not strictly literature, but they are related to the subject at hand. More importantly, I would imagine you will need those skills later in life. For those of you already familiar with that process, it would be a review, but sharpening those skills can hardly be considered a waste, I should hope."

"While we were in the library," she continued, "I asked each of you to check out one book, and to read at least some small part of it for today. There is no penalty if you found yourself short of time and unable to do so this past week, but I do hope that each of you found time to start your intended work. I should like each of you to share what it is that you picked, and why, and whether you enjoyed it or not. Please be honest; if you began the work and discovered that it was hideous, please do feel that you are encouraged to say so. Not all books meet all tastes."

She glanced around the room again, a gentle smile for each of them. "When that has finished," she said, "I will ask you to turn over the two pieces of paper which are lying on your desks. They constitute your final, such as it is. I gave you notice last week that we would not be having a conventional final exam. We are not. Literature is subjective. If you know more about literature than when you began this class, then I am satisfied. If you do not, that may easily speak to my failings as a teacher, and not your own. Further complicating the matter: each of you had different backgrounds in literature before you came here. Any quantitative test might only record what it is that some of you already knew. That seems hardly fair."

"Therefore. Your final consists of a few questions about your experiences in this class. If you can tell me one thing which you have learned in this class, then you have passed." Her eyes were dancing as she continued. "I will, for that matter, accept 'literature is boring, and I hope to never speak of it again' as an answer, though I hope none of you feel that way."

"Your papers will be available during my office hours on Tuesday, should you wish for them to be returned. If you have other concerns, please do not hesitate to speak with me, either after class finishes today or then. For now, let us begin."

Comments

Sign In [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow
that I shall say "good night" until it be morrow.

Re: Sign In [LIT-15]

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

Lee Adama

During the Lecture [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Listening, chatting with one another, passing notes, or peeking at the two papers that are face-down on your desk.

Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Please give some idea of topic, how long (or short) it is, how well you believe your character has done.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

Lee wrote his short but detailed paper on the evolution of military technology. Couldn't really fault a boy for going with what he knew. He tended to focus on the aerial technology more than anything but all technologies got touched upon. It wasn't a bad paper at all though he probably could have written more.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo's paper, such as it was, consisted of a brief but coherent overview of the life of runaway teenagers on the streets of Los Angeles. She'd put in a few footnotes for appearance's sake, but in reality she hadn't cracked a book on the subject at all; any insight on the matter was purely her own.

She'd glossed right over the detail of getting recruited into an escort agency after stealing Kevin Spacey's steak, though.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[finding-x-dream.livejournal.com]

Agnes had hit Wikipedia's "Random Article" feature until it gave something useful randomly chosen to write a paper on the history of the Olympic Games, which was actually rather fascinating.

The paper wasn't elegantly written, but it was concise, well thought-out, and easy to read, with some profound insights in unexpected places. It was, perhaps, shorter than most other people would have written, but it was EXACTLY as long as it needed to be, no more and no less.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[peace_n_war]

Warren wrote his paper on one thing he figured he knew quite well. Fortune cookies. The history of, the making of, the eating of. Really, it was rather thorough... Including the list of possible fortunes that Warren had tossed in at the end.

Confucius say: Man who lives in glass house should change clothes in basement.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[shiniernyours.livejournal.com]

Bender's essay started off more as a series of bullet points and partial sentences. Further on it shifted toward more detail, but littered with a degree of informality profanity that probably distracted from the topic he'd chosen.

Though if she made it through that, Miss Bennet now probably knew more about the mathematics of spread betting (http://www.soton.ac.uk/maths/news/2005/oct/spreadbet.shtml) than she'd ever wanted to know.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[likethegun]

Sam wrote his paper on the history of the Marines. As much as he and his dad didn't always get along, it was a topic that was close to heart because of him, and he'd put a lot of effort into making it good and concise.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hinata's paper on women in the military, and how the military dealt with the gender difference was thoroughly detailed, though perhaps a bit too wry in spots as Hinata had difficulties fathoming why it even was an issue in the first place, and her paper conceded that great steps had been made, though there were still areas of inequality that persisted.

Over all, the essay was slightly over-long, but well thought out and organized.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan's paper on the history of western medicine was not too terribly short, although it likely could have been longer. It did, however, suffice as an overview, from the earlier era of Greco-Roman 'medicine' to some of the more recent advances in medical science, touching on most of the major jumps in between.

Structurally, it was well-put-together, but some of his conclusions could stand to be thought out just a little more.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-15]

[iamnotallgirl]

Jill turned in a long, thorough, and well-written (if dry) paper on the history of fashion in the 20th century.

The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

What book did you choose? What genre does it fall into? Why did you select that particular title? How far did you read in the work? What is the basic plot? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?

Re: The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

"I chose The Outcasters (http://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-S-E-Hinton/dp/014038572X/ref=pd_sim_b_64) for my book," Lee said. "And it seems like kind of a drama to me. It has action and romance though, too. Maybe coming of age? It's hard to pinpoint."

The action was the main draw for him.

"I selected it because I wanted to read something about teenagers here, how they live and react. I thought it might be different than on Caprica. I mean, we've got gangs too and societal battles between different groups of people. And people getting caught in the middle and not knowing what to do. It was pretty good if kind of sad."

Re: The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"I read Blackberry Rainforest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubyfruit_Jungle), and I finished it," Katchoo said, and she'd picked it just because it was controversial. What had surprised her was that she'd actually read it from beginning to end, and been interested. "It was a banned book for a while there, so that was pretty much a draw. Anything that makes parents and pastors get their panties all in a twist is something that might be worth checking out. Y'know, kids who aren't what their parents want 'em to be, coming from screwed up homes and all that. None of this fairy-tale crap about discovering you're actually a princess and getting swept away from your lousy life. It was actually pretty good. I liked it."

Re: The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[finding-x-dream.livejournal.com]

"I chose the Wanderer's Guide to the Universe (http://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-25th-Anniversary/dp/1400052920/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240516848&sr=8-2)," Agnes said, with an unsure look on her face. "Well, 'chose' perhaps isn't the right word -- I picked it up because it was in the wrong place on the shelf. It... Uh. It's 'science fiction', I suppose, and quite humorous, even though it starts with the Earth being destroyed. It... I..." She frowned at the book. "I was quite thoroughly entertained, and it was fun to read, but I'm not sure if I actually LIKED it."

Re: The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[shiniernyours.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I picked this one," Bender said, casually waving the book by the spine before flipping it over. "The Missing Military (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2840573.The_Lost_Army) - a bunch of guys kill some people, walk around, kill some more, get lost, get snowed on and kill even more people. Apparently it's just ripping off and lying about something that actually happened - historical fiction. And I got halfway through - it's not bad, but there's too much walking for all the killing people."

Re: The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[likethegun]

"I read The Whale," Sam said. "Um, I don't know if 'boring and slow' is a genre, but if it is, that's where it falls. Otherwise, I guess it could be considered a drama. I picked it because it's one of those classic novels that everyone's supposed to have read in order to be considered 'well-read' and I'm not going to lie - I didn't get through the whole thing. I read the beginning and the end, but there were chapters in the middle that just didn't have to do with anything, and I couldn't make it through them."

Re: The Book You Selected [LIT-15]

[iamnotallgirl]

"I read Dusk because those books are really popular or whatever, but I didn't like it very much. It's about a girl who falls in love with a kind of lame vampire. And I thought the girl was really whiny."

And if Jill thought she was whiny...

Your Final Exam [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Please do note that only the first question counts toward your grade: be as honest as you would like.

1. Please state one thing that you have learned as a result of this class.

2. Was there anything this semester which surprised you, or which you felt was unexpected in some way? What, and why?

3. Do you have a new appreciation for (or understanding of) literature as a whole, any individual authors, using the library for research, or anything else we may have covered in this class? If so, what?

4. Why did you take this class? Do you feel you have achieved that goal? Why or why not?

Thank you for being such an informative and delightful class.

Re: Your Final Exam [LIT-15]

[stupid-toasters.livejournal.com]

1. I learned that there is more to literature than the words on the page. There's deeper meaning beneath the surface and if you look at a piece of literature from more than one angle, it'll be a more fulfill experience.

2. Well, the zombies were pretty surprising but, as far as this class goes, it's probably how easily things can be translated differently. Even the most superficial of works can be seen completely differently from person to person.

3. I appreciate the sheer depth and breadth of the word literature now. Before, I really just associated it with books but now it's really a lot more than that.

4. Being from another planet, I wanted to see if the writing here was different from the writing on Caprica. I think the goal; was pretty easy to achieve but I discovered that, really, even the writing on this planet differs so vastly that it's hard to make the comparison from one planet to another.

The Other Sheet of Paper [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

The other sheet of paper is blank except for a small paragraph:

This paper is for anything that you wish to say, signed or unsigned. I will take all comments to heart.

Anything that you'd like to add goes here: about Miss Bennet, about the class, about the lovely weather we're having in Fandom this week. Have at it.

Speak to the TA

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Thank her for her assistance, this semester.

Re: Speak to the TA

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She was here, and quietly glad that all of her exams were now done with--so much less stressful without that burden.

Speak to Miss Bennet

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

She will be staying after class, and would love to speak to anyone who wishes to speak to her.

OOC [LIT-15]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Because of RL, I have not been able to devote as much time/effort to this class as I would like to have. I hope none of you felt dismissed as a result. I thank you for your patience, and your awesomeness as well.

Re: OOC [LIT-15]

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

To the contrary, I really feel bad that various circumstances including my own failboatiness led to my not contributing in this class as much as I would have liked/should have. Because it has been fantastic and geeky and wonderful, and I've certainly enjoyed reading it and geeking out at it.