Week 15: Introduction to the Victorians

This week, you’re getting geared up for the Victorian era by watching Jane Eyre. (You guys, picking an adaptation of Jane Eyre is hard! There is not a perfect version, and if you want to fight me on this and watch your own adaptation of choice, I do not have a good argument to put up to convince you otherwise. I picked this version because 1.) it does a good job visually capturing the Victorian-ness of the text, 2.) it doesn’t completely give short shrift to Jane’s time with the Rivers family (which so many versions seem to do), and 3.) it is as reasonably faithful to the story as a 2-hour adaptation of a 400+-page book can be.)

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Getting Started It’s time to write your new contract, which you will remember from last semester is a several-hours-long process. It’s okay if you have all new goals, if you have all the same goals, or if you have some combination of both. Remember: This what you want to focus on this semester, so the only “bad” goals are ones you haven’t thought about or don’t really care about.

Critical Thinking We get to do thought experiments this week, and I bet you are going to love them! (Either that, or you are going to hate them with a fiery passion, but either way, it should be a lot of fun.)

Biology We’re kicking off the semester with Charles Darwin — who isn’t just a big deal in biology but also in the whole Victorian intellectual, religious, and philosophical world.

History I promise this is a quick and painless: Here’s a little talk to get you up to speed on all the reasons I think we’re going to have a great time focusing on the Victorians this semester.

Literature This is where that Jane Eyre adaptation comes in. (Is it weird to watch a movie for your first official lit class of the semester?)

Latin Don’t worry if you feel like you’ve forgotten the second declension and all your vocabulary over the break! We’re going to review all of it this week, and I bet it will come back to you faster than you might have thought.

Composition Don’t panic, but you’re going to write a history research paper this term. It’s going to be fine! Today we’re just talking about it, but there’s a whole plan to get you through it.

Week 16

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking This week, we’re talking about inductive and deductive reasoning, which sound all fancy and complicated, but which are actually really simple to get the hang of.

Biology Continuing with Charles Darwin, this week we’ll be focusing on the specifics of his theory of evolution.

History She’s the one who gives the Victorian era its name, and Queen Victoria is a surprisingly interesting, complicated monarch.

Literature We’re starting our Victorian poetry unit with a close reading of Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach.”

Latin We’re starting Chapter 5 this week. (If you want to take another week to review, that’s totally fine — just pick back up with this week when you’re ready to start tackling the new stuff.)

Composition How to choose a topic for your big research paper.

Week 17

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking This week, we’re talking about rhetorical appeals, or how to convince people that you’re right.

Biology We’re exploring evolution in action with the Peppered Moth Lab Simulation.

History Explore imperialism with the British Empire.

Literature Dive into Victorian poetry with Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who set the poetic standard for the Victorian age.

This is the actual ballad version of “The Lady of Shalott” I was telling you about:

Latin We’ll be working through the chapter 5 translation this week.

Composition This is the week to nail down a subject for your history research paper.

Peppered moth photo: Creative Commons / Chiswick Chap

Week 18

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking You may find it helpful to review last week’s lecture and work as you’re analyzing rhetorical appeals this week.

Biology We’re diving into the characteristics of animals.

History How did contemporary Victorians view the British Empire?

Literature Let’s explore the work of Tennyson’s poetic foil, Robert Browning.

Latin We’re continuing to work on the grammar and vocabulary for Chapter 5.

Composition This week, it’s all about finding the right starter sources for your history research paper.

Week 19

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking Let’s read some philosophy! John Stuart Mill is (1) a feminist and (2) one of the most significant ethical philosophers of the pre-20th century.

Biology Who knew flatworms and roundworms were so interesting?

History Darwin’s ideas about evolution forced thinking people to reconsider some previously unquestioned religious beliefs, but the Victorian age also saw a surge in missionaries and evangelism as the British empire expanded.

Literature Inventing the vampire, Victorian-style.

Latin We’re continuing to work on the grammar and vocabulary for Chapter 5.

Composition This week, you’re creating a working thesis for your history research paper.

Week 20

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking Can you believe it’s your critical thinking midterm already?

Biology It’s time to review for your biology midterm next week.

History Let’s explore the origins, evolution, and implications of the second Industrial Revolution.

Literature Dracula is the classic vampire.

Latin It’s your Latin midterm this week.

Composition You’ll be conducting research for your history research paper.

Week 21

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking This week, you’ll be putting your understanding of John Stuart Mill to work writing your first philosophy essay of the semester.

Biology Your biology midterm exam is this week.

History Your history midterm exam is this week.

Literature Carmilla is a subversive Victorian vampire novella.

Latin We begin Chapter 6 this week.

Composition You’ll continue researching your history research paper.

Week 22

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking Let’s flashback to the beginning of the year and do a little critical reading checkup.

Biology It’s earthworm dissection week. (Feel free to do this virtually.)

History Consider the first tech boom: The Victorian era was a little like Silicon Valley, with its massive, life-changing technological innovations.

Literature We begin our study of detective fiction with a little Poe.

Latin We’re working on the chapter 6 translation this week.

Composition You’ll begin organizing the research for your history research paper.

Week 23

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking It’s all about propaganda. (PROPAGANDA IS GREAT.)

Biology We’ll be exploring the wonderful world of mollusks.

History The Victorian middle class defined much of what we think of as “Victorian values.”

Literature Sherlock Holmes is the quintessential Victorian detective.

Latin We’re continuing to work on the chapter 6 grammar and vocabulary this week.

Composition You’ll continue organizing the research for your history research paper.

Week 24

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking It’s all about propaganda fallacies. (PROPAGANDA FALLACIES ARE BAD.)

Biology We’ll be exploring chordate evolution and diversity — and learning what chordate means, too, obviously.

History What was life like for the Victorian era’s working poor?

Literature Let’s consider a feminist take on the detective story.

Latin We’re continuing to work on the chapter 6 grammar and vocabulary this week.

Composition What makes a good body paragraph?

Week 25

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking You’ll be working on your propaganda project this week.

Biology It’s all about arthropods.

History The Victorian era could be called the Age of Reform.

Literature We’re starting The Importance of Being Earnest!

Latin This is an open week, so you can use it to review grammar and vocabulary and to work on your Latin projects.

Composition You’ll be working on your research paper this week.

Week 26

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking This week, we’ll be digging into the philosophy of Karl Marx.

Biology It’s your crayfish dissection week. (Remember — virtual dissection is totally fine.)

History We’ll be digging into some of the complicated ideas about gender and sexuality in the Victorian world. And to get started (this will make sense when you listen to this week’s lecture), here are some Very Manly Victorian Beards for you to admire.

Literature We’re reading Act II The Importance of Being Earnest.

Latin Take a deep breath and get your pencil ready because we’re going to be reviewing ALL the Latin you learned this year, which is A LOT.

Composition It’s time to start thinking about how to start and wrap up your big research paper, so we’ll be talking about introductions and conclusions.

Week 27

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking It’s review time, so we’ll be reviewing all the stuff we have covered in critical thinking this year.

Biology Let’s talk about primate evolution.

History You’ll be writing a history review guide but also taking advantage of this week’s lack of required reading to finish writing your history research paper.

Literature We’re reading Act III The Importance of Being Earnest.

Latin This is a study week for Latin.

Composition You should finish your paper this week, which means it’s time to properly format your bibliography and citations.

Week 28

WHAT’S ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THIS WEEK:

Critical Thinking Your final exam is this week.

Biology Your final exam is this week.

History Your final exam is this week.

Literature Instead of a final exam, you’ll be rewatching Jane Eyre (remember? the movie we watched at the beginning of the semester?) to see how your studies of the Victorian world have changed your understanding of the text. Your Great Expectations novel assignment is also due this week.

Latin Your final exam is this week.

Composition Turn in your final draft of your history research paper.

Congratulations!