Course Description:
Objectives:
* In this class, students will read and write about works written by
writers who were either born, or lived in New York or have written about
New York including known and not well-known writers from the past and present.
We will appreciate, critique, review and discover the American (or more
specifically New York )Literature that high school students love to read;
and we will invite writers into our classroom by joining our discussion
forum. There will be an authentic dialogue between writers and high school
students- the writers and the readers. We will make connections with magazines
such as Times and New Yorker, through which we can establish a learning
a bridge between writers and public high school classroom. We will also
invite Barns &Noble as the liaison (since they host live lectures by
different writers) to help us build a writers' network. Each student will
be connected with one writer receiving and sharing ideas about writing.
* Writers will be informed to join our classroom discussion on their
books and provide instant feedback. We will also invite unknown writers
to publish excerpts of their work on our NY Writers' web site and let students
read their work and respond to them.
Materials:
American Literature, the Internet Materials, other NY writers'
works
Requirements for students who participate in this program: (one year?)
Students need to have passed the English Regents exam for the graduation.
This course will offer one regular English credit each term but will provide
no specific Regents preparations. Students need to be articulate (to interview
writers), love to read, and are not necessarily strong writers but are
interested in writing or willing to be engaged in writing.
Skills students will learn:
* Responding to and writing about literature
* Interview skills
* Creative writing skills
* Desktop publishing
* College application skills
* Team work skills
* Social skills (decorum)
Products:
* Discussion Forum
* Individual web sites
* Class web site called NY Writers
* A network of NY writers
* A periodical on Responding to Literature will be published if financially
possible.