Assignments:
I. Read “In the Cart” with George Saunders’s commentary about the text and methodology about teaching the text. Read “Afterthought #1,” as well. Once you have done so, read “The Singers.” As you read, annotate the story, focusing on how Turgenev creates meaning, guides the reader’s
thoughts. With the second story, enact what Saunders models with the first story. Read Saunders’s thoughts on this story as well, “The Heart of the Story” and “Afterthought #2.” Read the remaining stories in the collection annotating them and enacting what Saunders models. I will check your
annotations.
II. All written work for 1-3 must be handwritten.
1. Create a title page which includes the title of work/ author/ publisher/ dates read.
2. Compose a list of at least three numbered questions which come to mind as you read each story. Each question must be an inferential, upper level, critical thinking question. You should write these questions as you read the story and/or after but before you read the essays following the
first two stories.
3. Write a list of four significant literary terms/devices from each story. Record the page number from the text, and two sentences explaining how each relates to/ supports the story’s them. Group and label questions and devices by story. A device should not repeat within the list for a
single story, and a device should not appear more than twice among all the stories.
4. Make a creative piece based one of the stories in A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Your project
should illustrate a total understanding of the story and a type of unique creative thinking. For example, a poem based on the conflict in the story, a short story relating the theme of the story, a song capturing the tone/mood of the story, may be adequate, but the most creative pieces, earning full credit, are not only written, but constructed. Don’t just create a haiku or a drawing. I want to know that you have taken time to create something unique that can be
presented to the class.
