2023 MS106-2 Summer Saturday Class

Course Overview: 

This course emphasizes the theme of exploring contemporary issues through fiction; this theme is similar to MS103, MS104, and MS105, but takes a more advanced approach in that students will both connect literary themes to specific contemporary issues and be encouraged to consistently formulate, articulate and defend their own stances on said issues. They will practice respectfully articulating their opinions and sharing perspectives in a constructive way. This theme takes inspiration from the “zoom in” and “zoom-out” principles often taught in upper-level writing (wherein “zoom in” is a careful analysis of literature and assigned texts and then a “zoom out,” is an analysis of how the text comments on broader societal trends). The course will cover academic, expository, and persuasive writing. In addition to in-class lessons students also have access to a library of video lectures intended to supplement students’ learning. Further, office hours as well as by appointment. In preparation for this course, there is a pre-class assignment!

1.     Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes (L. 910)

2.     Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne  (L. 960)

3.     The Twenty-One Balloons, by Willam Pene de Bois (L. 1070)

4.     Farewell to Manzanar , by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (L. 1040)

5.     Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

 Summer Extra Reading
1.    The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill
2.    I Am Rosa Parks by R and Haskins Parks