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Elements of Fiction
Age: 12+
Instructor: Francesca Morrissey
Duration: 33 weeks (Aug. 27- May 31) meeting for 90 mins., 1x/week

Day/Time: Wednesdays, 1:15-2:45 PM

Credits: .5
Cost: $600/student

Course Description: Students will learn about various elements of fiction and literary devices – point of view, plot, character, setting, symbol, motif, irony, theme, etc. We’ll be reading many short stories – "The Monkey's Paw," "The Necklace," "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," "The Gift of the Magi," etc. – by well-known authors – Maupassant, Hemingway, Welty, Hawthorne, Chopin, Baldwin, etc. After introducing all the elements of fiction through short stories, we'll move to novellas and short novels by Steinbeck, O'Henry, Hemingway, Orwell, etc. Poetry will also be explored and students introduced to figurative language and literary devices such alliteration, metaphor, simile, paradox, juxtaposition, etc. Texts used for this class are The Seagull Reader: Stories (3rd edition) edited by Joseph Kelly (ISBN-13: 978-0393938210) and Little Worlds: A Collection of Short Stories for the Middle School edited by Peter Guthrie and Mary Page (ISBN-13: 978-1877653520). Texts will be provided by the teacher upon the first day of class and are included in the cost of the class.

Preparation time for the students each week will include some studying of notes in for quizzes/tests and a midterm and final exam; weekly assigned readings and annotation of texts. Students will be required to write a number of analytical thesis essays and will be assigned several creative writing pieces.

Additional information/comments: This is a great way to introduce kids to the depths of literature and how to analyze fiction and poetry especially for those who haven’t worked much with literature and/or who don’t like to read. For those interested in a full credit English course, this pairs well with English Fundamentals.

To secure enrollment in this course, a non-refundable deposit of $300 is required at time of registration. This deposit can be made by mailing a check payable to:
Access Success LLC
6 East St., Unit B
New Milford, CT 06776
or by making a PayPal payment

A second installment of $150 is due on or before Sept. 1, 2018 and a final installment of $150 is due on or before Jan. 1, 2019.