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The Hero's Journey

My freshmen started reading The Hobbit on Monday. We got into the "hero's journey" today and for the first time I think the short lecture went well. At least they copied the notes down from the overhead and asked questions that were related to the topic while I was talking. (of course, I had one student ask rather rudely why I hadn't just copied the notes for them - so he could read another book while I was talking. I wonder why I hadn't thought of that?!?! Possibly because the point was to listen?)

Afterwards, they all made a "travel journal" to summarize as they read. I made the mistake of saying they could "teabag" the books to make them look more authentic - who can remember all the vulgar slang language? After the laughing subsided and one student told me what it meant, I changed to "antique." Of course, that meant a full explanation... not "antique" with flour, "antique" with a teabag. Damn slang!

The Sophomores are reading Fahrenheit 451. I think I'm moving a bit too fast for them. I told them to finish the first chapter by tomorrow - giving them two days (although several idiots didn't even bother to start). I may have to backtrack tomorrow and give them till friday to finish. The question is what to do in the meantime?

Timing is so hard to figure out - how fast can they read?, how many times to go over the same concept?, etc.
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