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Dear Louisa,

What a great idea!!!! Thank you.
Denee
----------
>From: "Louisa Newlin" <louisa@newlin.org>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <Teacher-TalkNovel@learner.org>
>Subject: Re: Frankenstein--for what ability?
>Date: Fri, Mar 24, 2000, 10:08 AM
>

>Just a quick thought: although Frankenstein, the novel, is hard reading
>because of the
>19th c. prose style & hefty vocab., Frankenstein, the important cultural
>myth is one kids enjoy
>knowing about (and knowing that Frankenstein is the scientist, not the
>monster, etc.) I taught
>it for several years to very bright, very motivated 10th grade boys in a
>private school, and they
>had trouble with the prose, although they got through it. They very much
>enjoyed the couple of
>days I spent on Frankenstein movies -- the story has taken on a life of
>its own, one Mary Shelly
>could not have predicted, somewhat in way the Creature takes on a life of
>its own, unforeseen
>by Frankenstein. We also looked at journals and letters of Mary Shelley's
>in which she speaks of
>the experience of birth, and in particular about her feelings about the
>child that died, which
>enriched the boys' appreciation of the psychological dimensions of the novel.
>This is a long-winded way of saying that for lower-ability students, I
>would think that a few
>sample chapters (the creation itself, for example, and the flight across
>the ice at the end,
>and the confrontation of the creature with his creators high in the
>mountains)), a description of the story as a whole, some stuff about Mary
>Shelley, and a Movie Clip Day, accompanied by some good in-class journal
>writing, would make
>a respectable 5-6 day unit. I don't think this is copping out. Other novels
>they can read all of.
>Louisa Newlin
>----------
>>
>>
>> --------------B23B547BFE6A566A4FD0BF6C
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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>> Hi Dennee,
>>
>> I have taught the novel recently to a small group of readers in a college
>> developmental reading course. The language in the novel is very difficult. I
>> found that I had to discuss each chapter of the book, and read aloud whole
>> passages to help students decipher meaning. For each section I developed
>> study guide questions.
>>
>> Students did "I-Search" type research papers related to an aspect of the book
>> that interested each of them. I started this process by sharing with them
>> Internet sites about Frankenstein, and we had a book in our library about
>> genetic engineering. The students were fascinated by Mary Shelley's life,
>> too, and several of them began to think that the monster was symbolic of her
>> existence.
>>
>> We viewed three versions of the film after we completed discussing each
>> chapter of the novel.
>>
>> If you add this novel, the students will experience a degree of frustration
>> with language, but it then becomes an occasion for discussing how language
>> changes with the time, how literature reflects the author's identity, how
>> literature reflects philosophy, religion, history, and science.
>>
>> I have not yet viewed the videoconference about this novel,but I look forward
>> to receiving a copy soon.
>>
>> Truly,
>>
>> Gail Corso
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>> Dr. Gail S. Corso
>> Associate Professor of Comunication Arts
>> Neumann College
>> Aston, PA 19014-1298
>> gcorso@neumann.edu
>>
>> Denee Stevenson wrote:
>>
>> > Although I have not read the novel Frankenstein, I've been impressed with
>> > the depth of issues the 11th grade teacher has his students explore in the
>> > video
>> > we see for the course. I have juniors in class who, I feel, would relish
>> > discussing
>> > these issues of science, creation, creator, etc. My concern is that they
>> > have low
>> > reading levels and low interest in reading.
>> >
>> > How difficult is the text of the book? Has anyone used this novel with
>> > students
>> > who have below-grade level reading abilities and interests?
>> >
>> > Denee Stevenson
>> >
>> > stevenson@basd.k12.pa.us
>>
>> --------------B23B547BFE6A566A4FD0BF6C
>> Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>>
>> <!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
>> <html>
>> Hi Dennee,
>> <p>I have taught the novel recently to a small group of readers in a college
>> developmental reading course.&nbsp; The language in the novel is very
>> difficult.&nbsp;
>> I found that I had to discuss each chapter of the book, and read aloud
>> whole passages to help students decipher meaning.&nbsp; For each section
>> I developed study guide questions.
>> <p>Students did "I-Search" type research papers related to an aspect of
>> the book that interested each of them.&nbsp; I started this process by
>> sharing with them Internet sites about <i>Frankenstein</i>, and we had
>
>> a book in our library about genetic engineering.&nbsp; The students were
>> fascinated by Mary Shelley's life, too, and several of them began to think
>> that the monster was symbolic of her existence.
>> <p>We viewed three versions of the film after we completed discussing each
>> chapter of the novel.
>> <p>If you add this novel, the students will experience a degree of frustration
>> with language, but it then becomes an occasion for discussing how language
>> changes with the time, how literature reflects the author's identity, how
>> literature reflects philosophy, religion, history, and science.
>> <p>I have not yet viewed the videoconference about this novel,but I look
>> forward to receiving a copy soon.
>> <p>Truly,
>> <p>Gail Corso
>> <p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> <p>Dr. Gail S. Corso
>> <br>Associate Professor of Comunication Arts
>> <br>Neumann College
>> <br>Aston, PA 19014-1298
>> <br>gcorso@neumann.edu
>> <p>Denee Stevenson wrote:
>> <blockquote TYPE=CITE>Although I have not read the novel Frankenstein,
>> I've been impressed with
>> <br>the depth of issues the 11th grade teacher has his students explore
>> in the
>> <br>video
>> <br>we see for the course.&nbsp; I have juniors in class who, I feel, would
>> relish
>> <br>discussing
>> <br>these issues of science, creation, creator, etc.&nbsp; My concern is
>> that they
>> <br>have low
>> <br>reading levels and low interest in reading.
>> <p>How difficult is the text of the book?&nbsp;&nbsp; Has anyone used this
>> novel with
>> <br>students
>> <br>who have below-grade level reading abilities and interests?
>> <p>Denee Stevenson
>> <p>stevenson@basd.k12.pa.us</blockquote>
>> </html>
>>
>> --------------B23B547BFE6A566A4FD0BF6C--
>>
>
>

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