1. Vocabulary / Prayer
This committee is in charge of supplementing the 30-question vocabulary tests by selecting words from our reading. Each member of this committee is responsible for selecting two words from the short stories, poetry or novels that we read. Each committee member should submit these words in the following manner First, retype the sentence in which the word appears. Secondly, type the dictionary definition of the word below the word. Thirdly, type a new sentence using the word correctly and in a manner which makes clear the meaning of the word. Your goal here is not to find obscure words that people rarely use, but to find words that you've seen on occasion and always wondered what they meant. Thus, a word such as “rara avis” (a rare person or thing) wouldn't be a good choice, while “ubiquitous” (being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time) would be a good choice.
Seven days before the vocabulary test, the committee will submit its definitions and sentences to me, and I will duplicate and distribute them to the class. Three days before the scheduled test, the committee will write a quiz testing for those 14 words. This test will supplement the standard 30-question test from our vocabulary text.
Secondly, this group is responsible for leading prayer at the start of class. Prayers should involve a short reading (a poem or traditional prayer is fine); the prayer should be respectful of the various religious traditions of those in the classroom and give us an opportunity to reflect on the presence of the divine in our lives.
I will grade members of this group on the regularity and quality of prayer and the quality of the vocabulary words they select (neither too obscure nor too obvious), the quality of the new sentences they write to help us understand these words, and the quality of the tests. (Tests shouldn't be too easy or too hard. In the past, groups have been downgraded when students argue that more than one answer is correct for a test question.)
2. Field Trip Committee
This committee will plan one field trip either off campus or on campus (to see a the SF Shakespeare Company in Bannan Theatre during the school day, for instance, or attending a lecture given by a visiting scholar).
Your field trip should have a purpose, a place, a schedule of departure and return, an agenda for when we are on site, and some sort of follow-up activity. You need to pick up, duplicate and distribute release forms from the Academic Office (see Vicki Crafton); you need to schedule a bus (see Mr. Calvello); you need to coordinate with the appropriate individual at the field trip site; you need to distribute appropriate materials to the students; and, depending on the number of people going, you need to arrange for additional adult supervision.
Here are some suggestions Going to Sloat Garden Center (near the Zoo) or the Stybring Arboretum to learn plant names, observe their shapes, colors, etc., and write poetry using this information; Going to the deYoung Museum, the Legion of Honor, the Modern Art Museum or some other art museum to observe works of art and write poetry based on that art; to attend a poetry or prose reading (this could be an evening event -- bring berets, bongos and café lattés); see a movie based on a novel or short story; and going to a place of natural beauty with a biologist or ranger, listening to a description of the eco-system, and writing a story or a poem based on that setting. Past committees have led field trips to the SF Main Library, to a native plant recovery site at the Presidio where they learned about bio-diversity and wrote poetry, to Stow Lake where we paddled around the lake and wrote like Huck Finn, and to the campus ministry multipurpose room where we watched videos of the texts we were reading at the time. (Extra credit for buttered popcorn.)
Before your group decides which field trip to do, I'd spend some time investigating your options; then come back to your committee with a concrete suggestion (place/time/event/follow-up activity) for your group to seriously consider.
Your entire group will receive the same grade based on the success of the event (how much did we learn, how well did you plan this event). While this is primarily your event, don't hesitate to ask for my help.
3. The Next Step / Celebration Committee
This committee has two jobs – to celebrate and to help us think of a way we all can make this class more than an academic experience. Jesuits strive to be “contemplatives in action” and to have “a preferential option for the poor.” Your job is to determine how best we can act and serve the poor given the context of the literature for the quarter. For instance, The Scarlet Letter deals with the damage done by a stigma. What individuals or groups at SI do we shun? How can we, as a class, do something tangible to change this? (If not at SI, then at home, in or neighborhood, in our city.) The Crucible emphasizes the importance of speaking the truth, even when it is inconvenient to do so. What true words do we need to speak? What activity can you plan to help us do this? Have your activities be something that we either do as a class (helping with the food, clothing or book drives, for instance) or as individuals.
This committee will also be responsible for helping us celebrate American writers and each other. To that end, it is the committee's job to commemorate important birthdays and other important dates (such as dates of publication) of the significant American writers who are in our class and whom we will study. I will evaluate the committee by the quality and quantity of the celebrations. Feel free to get creative. You may choose to celebrate an author's birthday or to celebrate an author on the day we are reading that author's work. Feel free to ask the class to come dressed as beatniks on the day we read Howl, or to dress in Roaring '20s garb for our Great Gatsby celebration. Food is always nice. Feel free to do an Academy Awards presentation after the Glass Menagerie productions.
I will determine your grade based on the appropriateness and success of the Next Step activity and how creative your celebrations are.
4. Publication Committee
Your job is to publish the essays, stories and poems created by you and your classmates. You may choose any form you wish for this publication literary magazine, web site, posters around campus, poetry reading, video, etc. You have to goals in this committee to publish as much as you can as broadly as you can and to celebrate the fine work of this class. I will determine your committee's grade by how successfully you meet both these goals.