First period completed the Giver projects. They’re not actually due until next Friday, so students can come in early to do additional work on them, but we won’t be spending any more class time on them.

Second period began Great Expectations.

My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

I give Pirrip as my father’s family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister – Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones.  […]

Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.

“Hold your noise!” cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!”

We began with a few tips on how to read Dickens:

1. Dickens tends to write dialogue with a touch of colloquialism. “Varmint” might be “warmit”, as someone living in rural England might have pronounced it in Dickens’ day.
2. Dickens’ writing tends to have a conversational feel to it. As such, he uses a lot of compound-complex sentences with diversion piled on top of diversion. At first it’s difficult; after a while, it’s much easier.
3. Dickens is, in some ways, the king of sarcasm. He likes to describe things (particularly social injustices) with a tone of false high moral rectitude. The obvious hypocrisy is intended as sarcasm.
4. Dickens demands to be read out loud. Students who can get access to an audio book are encouraged to do just that and follow along.

We also divided up some initial themes to be aware of (and search for) while reading the initial chapters:

Pip and the Convict

• economics
• family units
• education
• housing
• penal system
• law enforcement
• social classes
• gender roles

Fourth and sixth periods spent another day working on their Charlie reports. Students are learning how to use Microsoft Publisher like pros, including how to use styles to modify all content at once and how to improve and modify text and graphic layout.

Homework

• First, fourth, and sixth periods: none.
• Second period:
  • read chapters 1-5;
  • continue working on Antigone/Lord of the Flies presentation.