TODAY IN CLASS
1.  Final "Metamorphosis" hand-out--note especially the questions that underscore the disjunct between the mundane family life and the grotesque impossibility of their situation.  KEEP--use as guidance in review later on.

2. A "cats and dogs" discussion meant to a) get you talking! :) and b) utilize simple "data" on which nearly everyone has an opinion to elicit some general criteria to set up as comparison contrast categories.  In this case, the only object was to estblish criteria by which the relative merits of dogs and cats as house pets could be measured by setting up a thesis which would produce three categories under which BOTH choices would be evaluated. (Ex: Although cats are easier to maintain, dogs provide both greater loyalty and more versatile forms of companionship.)

3.  Essay assignment--first essay due on Thursday.  (You'll get the second one tomorrow--due Monday.) Short Story Essay Assignment (I)

Since I used the analogy with Czerny piano exercises, here is just a "by the way" link to why the comparison seemed apt.  Note here http://pianoexercises.org/exercises/czerny/
that many of these are musical etudes; a word which comes from the French verb "study," and the descriptions repeatedly emphasize the word "technique" with varying practice objectives.

Your essay should be offer meaningful and insightful observations, but the particular comparative/contrast process here is meant to emphasize one specific technique.  There are others, of course--they are just not the ones we're focussing on here.

4. In 1st, about 20 minutes on the first few paragraphs of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, using a hand-out only.  We didn't get there in 5th. We will work with the just hand-out only for awhile tomorrow as well, so if you don't have a book with you yet, it won't be a problem. (This is a "level the playing field" proposition; I want you to think about the text without relying on extra notes.  And some people have simple straightforward texts without any notes--which is perfectly fine!)
By Wednesday, you really do need to have your book with you.

FOR TOMORROW
Decide on the character pair.  Start "data-mining" under each of the criteria. Jot down notes/even some quotes.  Include (Author + Page)as you go for easy reference later.  You won't have a solid thesis until you explore, sift, and compare closely.