1. other than for the sheer fun of it 
Why Study Literature?
other than for the sheer fun of it 

2. The first five minutes of this video show Robinson’s argument that our current model of education is still based on Enlightenment ideals and the separation of academic and economic knowledge (smart people and not smart people, the educated and the workers) and how this model is what is causing what he calls “the false epidemic” of ADHD.

3. Skills Needed to Read Literature:
Literacy in the Language (English in our case)
Emotional Curiosity (both about your own emotions and the emotions of others)
Patience
Skills Reading Literature Will Teach You:
Emotional Curiosity
Empathy
Divergent Thinking

4. How to approach Literature the first time
First the Facts: What happens? Where? Who does it or who does it happen to?
Characters
Plot line
Setting
Genre
Next the Feelings:
Did you like it? Why?
How did it make you feel as you read? What made you feel that way?
Then the analysis:
Is the text making larger cultural points? What? Why? How?
Does the text relate to other texts we have read? What? How?
How does the genre of the text affect any and all of the above?

5. Genre: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content: can be a broad term (fiction/non-fiction) or much more specific (mystery novel)
Each genre is characterized by specific characteristics which we expect going in and which color the way we read and interpret literature.
Ex: Can you give me one characteristic of a novel? What about a diary? How does the difference in genre shape your expectations of these two types of literature?

6. Literary Devices:
Allusion
Analogy
Anecdote
Anthropomorphism
Archetype
Authorial Intrusion
Bildungsroman
Connotation /Denotation
Diction
Ekphrastic
Epithet
Euphemism
Faulty Parallelism
Flashback
Foil
Foreshadowing
Hyperbole
Imagery
Irony
Juxtaposition
Litotes
Metaphor
Mood
Motif
Personification
Plot
Point of View
Rhythm/ Rhyme
Satire
Simile
Symbol
Synesthesia
Theme
Tone
Verisimilitude
Each of you will take one of these devices: 5 min to find a definition and an example.