Okay, so here's your mission, should you choose to accept it.
You will first choose a partner, preferably one working on the same story as yourself. Secondly, you will prepare a semi-formal presentation that will last 10 minutes, no more no less, by chosing from the following options.
You may Either:
1. Use a secondary source, a context, to demonstrate how it helps you to understand your primary text in a new or different way. This will require a close-reading of your secondary source, as well as an identification of patterns that connect directly with your primary source.
2. Use a particular passage from your primary source to do some close reading -- ultimately, of course, to demonstrate how it helps you to understand your primary text in a new or different way. You will then hint at possible contexts that you might use in your essay with this close-reading in mind.
The purpose of this exercise is to teach the class something new about your primary text. In essence, you will be preparing a 10 minute mini-lesson, pretending that you are in my shoes, for the class that will be guided by your own thesis/Claim about the text. These presentations should demonstrate significant progress in critical thinking about the text beyond what we have already explored as a class. Either option will require that you demonstrate to the class literally how you read your text of choice by way of detail from the text itself.
To fulfill this assignment, feel free to get creative. Make handouts, overheads, computer graphics, etc. to help with your explanation. You may also write on the board, creating ,maps and clusters, etc.
With either option, it might be useful to bring in your working thesis in order to give the class a clearer idea of your particular critical vision.
Good luck! And I look forward to hearing your arguments!
