Announcements

Welcome to Week 16 of our online class. This is the last full week of our online course, but the semester extends through Monday and Tuesday of next week. Please be sure to submit all late work by midnight Sunday (May 14). See syllabus for information about lateness penalties. No work will be accepted after this time. For this week, please read the short novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and take part in the discussion board. Next week, there will be a final discussion board. The final quiz for this class will be available from 9:00 Wednesday, May 17th through 5:00 p.m. Sunday, May 21st.  

Welcome to Week 15 of our course. This week we will be reading several works centered on the Snow White Story. These include the fairytale “Little Snow White” by the Brothers Grimm and the poem “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by Anne Sexton. An excerpt from the book The Uses of Enchantment by famed psychologist Bruno Bettleheim will add much to think about with respect to themes and symbolism. These works should be especially interesting as they follow last week’s reading of what some have called Joyce Carol Oates’ “inverted fairytale,” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”    

Welcome to Week 14 of our course. This week we will be returning to the short story form for a reading of Joyce Carole Oates’s chilling work “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Warning: It may give you nightmares. There is no quiz this week.  

Welcome to Week 13 of our online course. This week we will be completing our segment on poetry. Readings will include examples of lyric, dramatic, and narrative poems. Essay Final Draft is due Sunday, April 23rd. There is no quiz this week. Reminder: Research Summary Forms were due on April 4th.

Welcome to Week 12 of our course. This is a short week, which runs from Friday, April 14th through Sunday, April 16th. This week we will be continuing our segment on sonnets, looking at Shakespearean and Italian forms. There is no quiz this week.

Welcome to Week 11 of our course. There are two days of class in this week, Monday and Tuesday. Spring Break begins on April 5th and runs through Thursday, April 13th. Please be sure to check back on OpenLab on Friday, April 14th. This week we are starting a segment on poetry. This week you will be introduced to the iconic form of the sonnet. Please be sure to participate in the discussion board. by midnight Tuesday, April 4th. You do not have to respond to another student due to the shortness of the week. The Research Summary form is due Tuesday, April 4th. There is no quiz this week.

Welcome to Week 10 of our online course. And congratulations on making it through the first half of the semester! This week we will pause in our readings to focus on the research component of the essay you have been developing. The activities for the week are designed to help you locate a relevant secondary source in the BMCC library for your in-progress essay project. If your goal is to earn a high grade on this final project, I urge you to complete all activities. Thank you for the thought-provoking and interesting comments in the Week 9 discussion. Your comments were great! Be sure to take Quiz 7 by 5:00 Sunday, April 2. This quiz checks your knowledge of the research summary assignment.  

Welcome to Week 9 of our online course. We are now halfway through the semester. This week we will be reading a selection of short works from the 19th Century, which feature women protagonists: “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant, along with the Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife.” I look forward to reading your responses to these quite stunning works, which express the unspoken longings of married women from this bygone century. First draft Essay is due Sunday, March 26th. Midterm Quiz: There is a 25-question multiple-choice midterm quiz this week, which covers material from weeks 1-9.. This quiz carries the same weight in terms of grading as all other quizzes. Note Re Discussion Board: Please do not rely on online searches for discussion board responses. It is clear from the similarity of many posts during Week 8, that some of you do not trust your own ability to offer an interpretation. If there is one thing I hope you will get from this class, it is the confidence to trust in your own intelligence and the validity of your own ideas.

Welcome to Week 8 of our online course. We are now at the halfway mark of the semester. This week we will be reading “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, a story that combines tragedy with elements of dark, laugh-out-loud humor. The first draft of the essay is assigned this week. As always, please read the directions carefully. In the discussion board, please make sure you read and address the prompt specifically.  Most of you are doing this, but I’m finding that a number of posts are not responding directly to what is being asked. Note: There is no quiz this week.

Welcome to Week 7 of our online course. This week we will finish reading the reading of Oedipus the King and enlarge our discussion of the play I will be grading your essay introduction over the next week or so. Please be sure to review my comments/corrections on the essay itself and listen to my voice response. If you don’t know how to do this, please visit COURSE INFORMATION and scroll down to “How to Review Instructor’s Comments on Written Work.” It is critical that you review these comments. Be sure to complete Quiz 5 by midnight, Sunday, 12th March.  

Welcome to Week 6 of our online course. This week will be exploring one of the great tragedies of Western literature, Oedipus the King. I look forward to reading your comments in the discussion board as we examine the complex character of the doomed king and ponder timeless questions about the human condition. There is no quiz this week. Essay Introduction is due Sunday, March 5. See Activity 4 on the Week 5 page for directions. Please be sure to directly address the prompt in the discussion boards. Many of you are doing exactly this, but I’ve noticed a number of discussion posts that do not respond to the prompt. In ENG 201, we are developing analytical skills. Recapping of the plot is unnecessary and doesn’t generate interesting conversation.    

Welcome to Week 5 of our OpenLab course. BMCC is officially closed on Monday, February 20th for Presidents Day. However, you must still complete the week’s activities. This week will be reading “Araby” by the renowned Irish writer James Joyce. I look forward to hearing your responses to this dark and soulful story. “Araby” will be accessed through the Commonlit website, which we will be using frequently during the term. If you have not yet created an account with Commonlit, please review the easy directions in COURSE INFORMATION. Note: You do not have to write the answers to the short questions on the CommonLit website; however, I do suggest that you review them to enhance your understanding of the story and in preparation for future quizzes. Note: There are two quizzes this week, Quiz 4 and a special Essay Introduction quiz. Students must complete the Essay Introduction quiz before submitting the written Essay Introduction.. In order to have your Essay Introduction read and graded, you must first take the Essay Introduction Quiz. The Essay Introduction is only a one-paragraph introduction. Please follow directions with utmost care.  

Welcome to Week 4 of our OpenLab course. The college is officially closed on Sunday and Monday (February 13 and 14); however, students should still complete all Week 4 aqctivities. This week will be reading “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, a story that is both funny and deeply serious. The story is written in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) rather than standard English. This will probably present no problems for most students; however, those for whom English is a second language may find the grammar and language a bit strange. I think you’ll all agree that the use of AAVE adds realism, authenticity, and humor to the narration. Please be sure to complete Quiz 3 by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 19th. Note: Please be careful when posting on the discussion board. Do not change anything in the “Category Sticky” box on the right side of the screen. Leave that to read “Select Category.”  If you check that box, my instructions do not appear first. Under that box is the one where you will add a check next to the current week.  Also, please title your post: First Name Last Name Week 4 Discussion.  Thank you!    

Welcome to Week 3 of our online course. The week’s reading is the very short story “Salvation,” which is an excerpt from Langston Hughes’s memoir The Big Sea. We will also be looking at concepts of irony, which are at play in this story. Don’t forget to take Quiz 2 by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, February 12.  Enjoy!

Welcome to Week 2 of our Open Lab class. This week we will be reading the beautiful and mysterious story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’m sure you will be entranced by the story and will enjoy the week’s tasks and activities. I look forward to hearing from everyone this week in the discussion board. Be sure to complete Quiz 1 by midnight, Sunday, February 5..  

Welcome to Week 1 of ENG 201 Introduction to Literature on the BMCC OpenLab platform. I look forward to an interesting semester of reading, thinking, talking, and writing. Before exploring this website, please be sure to complete the E-Learning Orientation on your Blackboard home page. Next, please browse through the main menu above, which includes: Home, Announcements, Course Information, Help and Resources, Professor Conway, Questions, Shared Student Essays, and Discussions. Please pay special attention to Course Information.   Now navigate to the Weekly Folders on the side menu. Click on Week 1 and complete the activities on the page.