[Mafia] My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

[g_bassi13]

I'm probably going to be teaching High School English in a couple of years. I should probably come up with a good list of things to put on a syllabus, because if I go purely by what I read on my own, I would probably end up with 90% Murder Mystery novels.

[thejazz97]

1 minute ago, g_bassi13 said:

I'm probably going to be teaching High School English in a couple of years. I should probably come up with a good list of things to put on a syllabus, because if I go purely by what I read on my own, I would probably end up with 90% Murder Mystery novels.

I recommend Hamlet if you're doing Shakespeare. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is prime literature.

[Aladeen]

15 minutes ago, thejazz97 said:

Ever read the Prince, Hamlet, or the Count of Monte Cristo?

The count of monte cristo is indescribably great! It is beyond description how good of a book it is, there is no way to describe how much I enjoyed reading that book and learning new ways to not describe things. 

[Master 112]

20 minutes ago, thejazz97 said:

Ever read the Prince, Hamlet, or the Count of Monte Cristo?

I haven't read the Prince.

I know the story of Hamlet well and have skimmed through it myself, but I've never given it a good reading.

And no to the last one.

 

@g_bassi13 Don't listen to Jazz. If you're doing Shakespeare, King Lear is essential. Supplement with Tolstoy's essay on it and Orwell's response to Tolstoy.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lear,_Tolstoy_and_the_Fool

 

Harper Lee is good social criticism but garbage in any literary sense imo.

[Zfetch]

Give the kids playboy magazines.

 

If anyone questions your choice, say it was to teach a lesson on "teen body-image" or something. 

 

The kids will love you.

[Kazmanian Devil]

[thejazz97]

6 minutes ago, One one two said:

I haven't read the Prince.

I know the story of Hamlet well and have skimmed through it myself, but I've never given it a good reading.

And no to the last one.

 

@g_bassi13 Don't listen to Jazz. If you're doing Shakespeare, King Lear is essential. Supplement with Tolstoy's essay on it and Orwell's response to Tolstoy.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lear,_Tolstoy_and_the_Fool

 

Harper Lee is good social criticism but garbage in any literary sense imo.

The Prince is by Machiavelli, it's on leadership but written for 600 years ago. Some of the messages still ring true.

Hamlet's good. Favourite classic novel.

The Count of Monte Cristo I highly recommend. It's one of those ones where you have to read it for yourself.

 

Also, bassi said that he(she?) would be teaching high school English. What you're suggesting is amazing (and I would have loved it in HS) but is college 100 level at least IMO

 

EDIT: Also, I can somewhat agree with your view on Harper Lee

[Master 112]

ALSO make them read this: http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/

[Master 112]

1 minute ago, thejazz97 said:

The Prince is by Machiavelli, it's on leadership but written for 600 years ago. Some of the messages still ring true.

Hamlet's good. Favourite classic novel.

The Count of Monte Cristo I highly recommend. It's one of those ones where you have to read it for yourself.

 

Also, bassi said that he(she?) would be teaching high school English. What you're suggesting is amazing (and I would have loved it in HS) but is college 100 level at least IMO

 

EDIT: Also, I can somewhat agree with your view on Harper Lee

These kids need to be torn apart and rebuilt. It's for their own good. Don't hold back, Mr. Bassi.

[falcon45ca]

14 minutes ago, Aladeen said:

The count of monte cristo is indescribably great! It is beyond description how good of a book it is, there is no way to describe how much I enjoyed reading that book and learning new ways to not describe things. 

Greatest revenge story of all time!

[otherwise]

26 minutes ago, thejazz97 said:

I recommend Hamlet if you're doing Shakespeare. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is prime literature.

I don't remember much plot-wise from TKAM but just a thought that this book is total $&!#e. There has got to be more relevant books about social commentary on race.

I liked the Catcher in the Rye.

Othello and Julius Caesar were good.

Canterbury tales I liked reading the original text it was pretty cool.

 

[Master 112]

And if you really want to do them a favour, start here:

http://gen.lib.rus.ec/search.php?req=finnegans+wake&lg_topic=libgen&open=0&view=simple&res=25&phrase=1&column=def

[g_bassi13]

1 minute ago, thejazz97 said:

I recommend Hamlet if you're doing Shakespeare. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is prime literature.

I think the BC syllabus has one mandatory Shakespeare novel per year (or at least my high school did/still does), and I don't think it's individual teachers that get to dictate what it is. Which sucks, because I love Shakespeare, and I'd love for his work to be taught in a non-mandatory fashion.

 

Hamlet is awesome, but it's one of the few works of his that I've read on my own time. We were supposed to read it in Grade 12, as everyone did, but they changed it to Othello especially for us for some untold reason. That really sucked, because I don't even like that play.

 

3 minutes ago, One one two said:

I haven't read the Prince.

I know the story of Hamlet well and have skimmed through it myself, but I've never given it a good reading.

And no to the last one.

 

@g_bassi13 Don't listen to Jazz. If you're doing Shakespeare, King Lear is essential. Supplement with Tolstoy's essay on it and Orwell's response to Tolstoy.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lear,_Tolstoy_and_the_Fool

 

Harper Lee is good social commentary but garbage in any literary sense imo.

I've read through a lot of The Prince, but in the context of the history of the Italian Renaissance and humanism. I'd personally only recommend it within that.

 

King Lear is another great one, but I don't know that it's entirely essential. Not in that it's inferior or anything, just that high school literature already seems to focus so heavily on his big tragedies, that some of his comedies (or even his tragecomedy/late plays).

 

And you're right about the quality of Harper Lee's writing (given that she's not exactly experienced, or even a full professional, that makes sense), but when dissecting these kinds of works the themes and the messages from within that novel do a lot more at a high school level. in my opinion. It's something I'd consider teaching myself, but it also ends up as a basic cirriculum item in high school that I don't need to worry about teaching it myself.

[g_bassi13]

17 minutes ago, Zfetch said:

Give the kids playboy magazines.

 

If anyone questions your choice, say it was to teach a lesson on "teen body-image" or something. 

 

The kids will love you.

This is fair.

 

12 minutes ago, One one two said:

ALSO make them read this: http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/

Also fair, but I'd say in Harry Potter's favour, it's one of the things that got me back into reading in grade 5 (around the time it came out here.) It's not high reading, nor should it be what anyone limits themselves to, but literature that captures the imagination and encourages reading shouldn't be understated.

 

I grew up more so reading "classics" in an abridged form, like Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Moby Dick, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc., and I'm grateful that I got to do so considering what they were for when I was reading them. I learned a lot about the crux of narrative structure, themes, and implied morality without realizing that I was really learning anything at all. 

 

I think when it comes to teaching it's all about finding as much value you can for something that comes at a certain reading level. You don't want to teach down to anyone, but you don't want to go above their heads either.

 

I love William Blake, and I'm sure I can fit higher levels of literature and poetry into what I teach, but scaring and making students lose interest in English altogether isn't a route I want to take either.

[falcon45ca]

Hamlet is boring as s@&$, all the guy does is talk.

 

Now MacBeth, THAT was a man of action!

[Dral]

I've read just about everything Shakespeare has done, and King Lear is definitely tops for me...

The Prince is pretty bad ass, and to say it's only good in context of the time is pretty scummy...

Gotta throw in some Animal Farm as well...

 

but seriously, if you really want your students to love you, make them read Enders Game

[Dral]

Also- because of the way this thread is going, and because I'm too "tricky" and miles better then you all... I volunteer to be the first one voted out...

 

PS - you're all potatoes.

[falcon45ca]

40 minutes ago, Dral said:

 

 

but seriously, if you really want your students to love you

Make them read A Confederacy of Dunces

[Corey Perry]

Too late to join?

[thejazz97]

3 hours ago, Dral said:

I've read just about everything Shakespeare has done, and King Lear is definitely tops for me...

The Prince is pretty bad ass, and to say it's only good in context of the time is pretty scummy...

Gotta throw in some Animal Farm as well...

 

but seriously, if you really want your students to love you, make them read Enders Game

My gosh I hated Animal Farm. I mean, it's short and it's brilliantly written, but it's so annoying to get through...

 

The Giver is also pretty interesting.