Beginning of the Year
"The beginning is the most important part of the work." Plato
This is the opening lesson for the year, for the course. It sets the tone - and it (and the ideas contained within) gets visited again and again.
The first reading - after the ooomph of the opening lesson is designed to set the tone: open minds, expectations, doing the reading, expect the impossible.
Getting students to continue their deep dive into text - and having them look at a story most of them read two years earlier. No River is ever the same - because the water is different; we are different.
A complex allegory that the students will solve for themselves - with the teacher acting as a "ringmaster" if you will, giving them the components they need - and the confidence.
The students first Group Work after reading a fairly complex but stimulating excerpt from Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". The work (and/or discussion) is designed to help see themselves in the text and engage them.
The students watch a film and answer questions that will help them look at the texts we've read and the discussions we've had - in a new light.