Let's start blogging!

Welcome to our AP Lit & Comp reading blog for Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.  This blog serves as a discussion space for all students reading Their Eyes Were Watching God across all three class sections.  The end goal is for us to build a reading community both online and within the classroom.  In addition, many college courses will require online work and postings for all of your peers to view and comment on a weekly basis.

Zora Neale Hurston

What do we blog about?

Well, we're all reading the same novel, so we don't want to summarize (as always).  Instead, you can provide brief context for what part of the novel you're discussing & use examples from the novel, but your main purpose is to have an analytical focus for each post.  Here are some things you could discuss & analyze in your blog posts:

• Literary elements you see in the novel (think metaphors, symbols, archetypes)
• Conflicts (how they arise, how they define characters, etc.)
• Characterization:  
• actions, dialogue, or lines that define a character
• character's motivations
• Author's style, structure, & diction
• Close reading of diction where you're looking for clarification
• Events in the plot that serve as a major turning point
• How a tradition, value, or practice functions within the culture of your novel
• Themes shown in the novel
• How literary elements serve a theme (like race/culture relations, romantic entanglements, gender expectations)...if you can accomplish this, you've made it to the big leagues.

Things to keep in mind for this type of assignment:

• You're writing online, but this isn't social media, which means no text-speak or slang.  Write in an academic language.
• Use this space as practice for properly writing literary analysis (writing in present tense, avoiding 1st/2nd person pronouns, using active voice, being succinct)
• Don't let your work disappear forever somewhere in the land of lost internet posts.  Be smart & save your work.  Some people like to work in Google Docs, MS Word, or Apple Pages first.  Then, just copy & paste all you've typed into Blogger & add some bells & whistles (i.e. pictures, links, videos)

Timeline for posting & commenting:

• 11/13:  1st blog post due
• 11/16:  comment on 2 posts
• 11/20:  2nd blog post due
• 11/23:  comment on 2 posts
• 11/27:  3rd blog post due
• 11/30:  comment on 2 posts
• 12/4:  4th blog post due
• 12/7:  comment on 2 posts
• TOTALS:  4 blog posts & 8 comments
• NOTE:  posts are due on Fridays by 11:59 p.m. & comments on Mondays 11:59 p.m.

Other requirements:

• 250-300 word count
• Add links, pictures, & videos
• Comments should be at least 3 sentences that add or extend the post
• Quote evidence from the novel & use proper MLA format for embedded citations