Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Jane Eyre Blogging

Here are links to last year's Jane Eyre blog comments. I think you'll find it helpful to take a look. I invite you to respond explicitly to points made by last year's class. (Make sure you give credit where credit is due.)

Jane Eyre chapters 1-16
Jane Eyre chapters 17-26
Jane Eyre chapters 27-38

& here you'll find commentary by my friend Mr. Gallagher's Malden High AP students about the end of Jane Eyre. (You'll notice we talked about many of the same issues today in class. Notice how many of them have taken ideas and have developed them.)

The student-led and teacher-led in class discussions provide opportunities for you to display your knowledge of the particulars of the text (what is written and how it is written) and to speculate about what it means and why that meaning is significant. In other words, offer assertive, insightful interpretations of what you have read and support your interpretations with evidence from the text. That's what AP lit is all about.

I then evaluate whether you've met expectations by showing a reasonable, plausible understanding of the text, have exceeded expectations by showing a convincingly thorough and thoroughly convincing understanding of the text, have fallen short of expectations by offering a limited or partial understanding of the text, or have show little to no understanding of the text.

As I've started to look over my discussion notes many of you have offered limited understanding or no understanding during class discussion. Blog!

5 comments:

Molly A said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Terri M.

The places Jane stayed at all had something to do with nature. Nature is a great mirror to the lives of humans because it does not have biased lens placed over it. Here are some analogies and connections I made between where Jane dwelled and nature.

Reeds- Jane Reads to escape reality. Reed, Read. [Reed- Plant life, tall grass like plant that grows in the marsh]

Lowood- not where she needs to be yet. Not close to the climax (Low, as in not the top, or the best) it is better than reading to escape life but far from perfect, a part of the journey. AdoLESSence. [Wood, trees, plant life]

Thornfield- midlife crisis. Thorns a painful put they can be removed if stuck in the flesh. Usually beautiful flowers have thorny stems. They are beautiful but you have to be careful not to hurt yourself on them. They are beautiful to look at, and the thorns can be removed. [Thorns, rose bushes, fields, and more plant life]

Moor House- A place of learning and discovery. There is more to come. It is not the end of the story. A moor is an open grassy field. An open field is a place where someone can examine their deepest feelings because there is nothing around to distract them. It is the person alone with nature. [Again plant life, a plain of openness. Usually covered heath and moss]

Sabrina said...

Wait...that was an awesome observation by Terri!



In class today about Rochester and Jane meeting and when she hears his voice calling "Jane! Jane! Jane!"
This is something that although it is in a novel it's almost believable that it can happen.
The book, in my opinion, shows the strongest relationship of love. By the end of the book, Rochester and Jane illustrate a love that is untouchable because they know that it is all that they want.


When Jane dreams about the red-room, I think it is a significant part of the book where Bronte is "planting a seed" as we say to Jane going back to Rochester. I think this because Jane is almost in a sense lost without him, so she is getting these nightmares. Rochester is her sense of security.

Marisa D. said...

I agree with what Sabrina said about their love being untouchable. Her love for him never swayed,even when she was almost forced into marriage she still loved Rochester. I think that it took Rochester a while to see that she loved him because of himself and not because of what he had. Thinking about it now i can see the point molly was trying to make, when rochester had jane he wanted to impress her and thought she loved him because he was wealthy, and when she came into her own fortune and he saw that she still loved him it became evident that it was meant to be.

I also agree with terri's observation about nature. I think Bronte was trying to show the reader that nature is a strong force in janes life. Everything she does has to do with nature in a way, the places she goes, the people she meets they all tie in to eachother.

Hayden said...

I completely agree with Marisa on Jane's love of Rochester. She never forgot about him, but she had her in my opinion almost severe morals she had to abide by. But I did not think Rochester believed Jane loved him because of his wealth. For instance she did not want a large wedding or the fancy clothes he wanted to buy her and she openly detested the shopping experience saying she was glad to leave the places and to just be with him.
Also Terri made a very good point. But I think the reason nature was a theme was because Jane was trying to find her nature and was going through her bildungsroman to find herself which included her nature. I think it was a more of a referance to human nature in general.