Edna & Diana

First off, don't forget to read through chapter 17 this evening, so that we can continue our time Awakening the literary elements of Kate Chopin. Yes, that was corny.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the tragic, sudden, and lugubrious death of Princess Diana, a woman of humanitarian causes, complicated relationships, and celebrity notice. While reading The Awakening this time around, I am starting to see a parallel between our Edna, married, unhappy, alone, mother of 2, stuck in a culture that does not fulfill her or completely accept her, and Diana through her tenure as a princess and a philanthropist. Diana, one of my personal heroes, did not have the opportunity to continue her own awakening, which (staying out of the romantic arena) was to end landmines, comfort the ill and homeless, and let each person receive a hug to salve their wrenching wounds. This past summer, as part of our trek to London, we spent every day in Hyde Park, the location of Kensington Palace and the White Garden, the princes' tribute to their mother. Below, you will see what it looked like in June, just blooming with the flowers that represent the beauty of Diana - inside and out. Standing there, watching the ever-present wind filter through the leaves and feeling the raw heat of the sun, I could only feel the reverence and the tranquility of this small garden, a small part of the ground that encompasses the memories of a woman taken too soon at age 36. 

Chopin had her birds as motifs throughout her texts. And, my favorite dress from the Diana wardrobe exhibit is this one, a stunning piece of birds fluttering upwards. While she was a style icon and trendsetter and wore the wedding dress of a fairy tale princess, I feel this dress best reflects the image of Diana and what she represents in my mind. 

Let the Fight for Chapters Begin

Other than fascinating discussions about our favorite lady in black and two lovers hanging out at the beach, the sea and its sensual imagery, and the development of Adele and Robert as more than archetypes of the she-mother and the playboy, the most entertaining part of today's show was watching 6 students race to the board to claim a chapter for their group analysis. Thus far, we are halfway through our groups and will resume with Ch. 9 on Friday. However, second hour has completed all the chapters as our dear Edna completes her metamorphosis of identity be telling her husband "NO" in complete confidence.

You also copied down the next round of vocab words, which means we will start Unit 2 on Friday. Our last class prior to Labor Day will be a bit of a hodgepodge, but I don't think we would want it any other way.

Hello, Edna

We have entered the Creole realm of parrots, mockingbirds, the intoxicating sea, strong hands, and mother foils! Tomorrow, we will finish our discussion of the first 5 chapters. So if you did not have a chance to participate, you will have one more opportunity. Afterwards, we will have mini group discussions revolving around chapters 6-11, so make sure your observations ready to go! (The chapters are quite short in length, so it just sounds like a longer reading assignment.)

In addition, the classes have the Chopin verbal presentation assignment with your individual short story to analyze. If you were absent today and wonder what exactly that means, you will be picking a short story from the list and fashioning a presentation that analyzes it, Chopin's works, and commonalities with other literature. The presentations will begin the day we finish The Awakening, so keep that in mind for any procrastinating tendencies.

Vocab quiz was today - which means you have 48 hours to make up or schedule a make up quiz if you missed class today!

Birthmarks & Chopin

Since my brain is still reacting to Twin Peaks last night and all the motifs, character conflicts, and welcome moments of closure, it was a pleasure to have you take over class today and note the same above literary techniques in "The Birthmark." At the forefront of our analysis was the symbolism - a hand, a crimson hand, characterization, gender roles, projection, motifs, and foils! I will hopefully have your prompts for you on the block day, and we will talk about prose prompt goals for the semester.

Next up, you now have The Awakening in your possession, which you will use to read the first five chapters for tomorrow and have notes ready to share for our discussion. And don't worry, absent people: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/160/160-h/160-h.htm. I also gave you the overall verbal presentation assignment, which we will discuss tomorrow.

Then, we shared all our knowledge of Kate Chopin and how her background may have influenced several of her novellas and short stories.

See all of you tomorrow for another scintillating discussion of literature and your first vocab quiz. "One hundred percent. Finally."

P.S. I'm wearing my AP Lang Class of 2015 shoes today!

The Card Battle Continues

Impressively, both AP Lit classes finished 5 out 5 rounds today with the cards! Fifth hour, wanting a chance to break the tie with an additional round, slightly faltered but still ended the day with 5 out of 6 correct for an 83% average. With only a week and a few days mixed in, both percentages should fill you with pride.

In class, we finished up vocab experts, which means review is Monday and the quiz is Tuesday, we shared thesis statements for those two foils, Elizabeth and Lucetta, and then ended with cards.

For Monday, you will need to research Kate Chopin and jot down notes of important biographical information. And, you will need to reread "The Birthmark," as we will have a chance to discuss this text in class.

Enjoy your weekend. I have a very long date with 127 prompts :)

Ditto

Second hour, we did the same activities as fifth hour from yesterday, so please check out that blog for all the specific details.

However, there was one important event that occurred that is worth noting: second hour finished with 80% for cards today, which means they exceeded the 75% of fifth hour. Looks like we have two competitive literary classes this year!

1 Character, 2 Characters

This will probably be a brief blog as I became quite chatty on AP Lang's summation today. I guess I could discuss my shoes or my favorite new shoe connection Mario, but I already did that during class.

So, what was the hodgepodge of Lit activities? First, we resumed our vocab work - we are currently at 12 words and making steady progress through the first unit. Then, six of you shared your Tom thesis statements and provided evidence. As we discussed, ways to improve your literary thesis statements and interpretation involve specific adjectives to describe the characters and incorporating literary devices to further analysis. In any circumstance, just make sure it answers the prompt! For the next third of class, we played card games (75% accuracy today) and you had a chance to work on your toolbox and your portfolio (have for Friday). In the post-lunch time frame, we started our next passage/prompt to the tune of 2 characters and their relationships with each other. As noted, we witness a differentiation and specificity of Lucetta and Elizabeth within the first page. For homework, finish your highlighting of the 2 characters, construct the thesis statement answering the prompt, and bullet point evidence to support your thesis.

P.S. I think I figured out the theme for our AP Lit party. Maybe. It's quite different from last year's celebration of Roald Dahl and all things candy.

Hawthorne Prompt

I'm looking at the growing pile of prompts - from Lang & Lit - and while it does seem daunting to think about evaluating 129 essay in the next, uh goal, 5 days, is it just a little bit strange that I am looking forward to it? O.k. so there will be some rough essays, some transitional issues, and distractions in the form of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. However, there will also be these flashes of brilliance, the work of growing literary analysts, and avenues to further explore and improve upon. 

After my observations of prompt writing, this is just a reminder that today's class was all about your literary diagnostic prompt on "The Birthmark," which you had 4 days to annotate. Since so many of you just jumped into the writing process, it looks like you are all determined to write your best work today, and I will be providing you with the requisite feedback to help improve for each prompt, discussion, and analysis. 

For the block day, we will resuming vocab experts, finishing up Tom's characterization from Gatsby, bonding with your toolbox, and possibly looking at one more passage. Can't wait to delve further into literature with all of you!

Prose Characterization

After round 2 of vocab experts, we spent the majority of the hour over-analyzing a passage from The Great Gatsby featuring everyone's vain buffoon Tom. As over-analyzed in class, we focused on dialogue, descriptive adjectives and adverbs, physicality, and other character interactions to piece together the characterization of Tom.

Tomorrow is the literary analysis diagnostic prompt, which you will use your close reading of "The Birthmark" to write an incredible essay. With this short story, there are so many avenues of analysis, you have too many options, so make make sure that you are focus your analysis on 2-3 items and not try to bring in every characterization or literary device you find.

*For the prompt tomorrow, you are allowed to use your close read of the passage (highlighting and notes) as assigned. You will not be allowed to use prewritten paragraphs or a full essay. Happy writings tomorrow!

The Other Side of Helen

After starting up vocab, we finished our look at the two Helens - the beloved version and the angered version. As a class, you worked on creating thesis statements answering the prompt regarding the speaker, imagery, diction, tone, and form and incorporating textual support from both poems. As a reward for your strong work, you received two tone handouts to help you with your tone shift identification and a glossary of literary terms to help you with your toolbox.

While your homework assignment is to bring in your toolbox or be ready for a new Steno notebook, the big assignment will be on Tuesday: the literary analysis of "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This will be your literary analysis diagnostic essay for the school year.

Euphonic Alliteration

You know it's going to be a strong year of analysis when both AP Lit classes jump on shifts in alliteration from the soft, euphonic "w" and "h" to the almost cacophonic "g" in stanza 2!

Today was card competition day, and 5th hour had the highest overall score with 80% accuracy. We will be working more with the cards - all year - so don't worry if you are not an expert on literary terms yet. These are the terms for the whole year, so it will take some time. I'm using "so" a great deal, which shows my summer brain diction is still in control.

To end class, we read "To Helen" by Mr. Poe, a lovely little multi-stanza journey into worshiping the best trophy in town! We still need to finish identifying literary elements in there (hint on stanzas, rhyme scheme, and apostrophe). We will also analyze the other version of Helen, which may not be as lovey dovey as the previous version. Make sure you read Dolittle's version for tomorrow's class.

P.S. Don't forget Vocab Experts starting tomorrow! Can't wait to hear this year's memory tricks!

Welcome to AP Lit Land

Hello, returning and new students to the world of AP Lit, a book club with a plethora of terms attached to it!

Today's class started off with your first participation grade, so if you are an absentee, you will need to see me before or after school to make up these points.

Then, you received your butterfly-laden syllabus with all the incredible, moving, intriguing texts that will compose this course. And with the syllabus in hand, the next stage was the toolbox term list. Toolboxes are highly recommended to help you learn and utilize literature devices and terms during quizzes, readings, and in-class discussion. Incorporating literary terms - especially when we are in the poetry world - add to your level of discussion and interpretation. The toolbox may be an index card holder or a Steno notebook (provided). Have your toolbox or pick up your Steno notebook during Monday's class.

Tomorrow's class will feature some card games to help you with your literary terminology, and we will be close reading side-by-side poems regarding that lovely Helen of lore.

AP Lit for Beginners

Welcome to the AP Lit Land, where we like to talk books, gallop, and have celebratory parties for authors and texts! Essentially, AP Lit is akin to a book club - we read, we analyze, we discuss, we connect. However, AP Lit moves beyond into literary devices, motifs, authorial backgrounds, critical lens, and writing about writing.

AP Lit exists as a haven for me, so I hope you will feel the same walking in the room, paging through novels, plays, poems, and shorts stories, and sharing your ideas.

As with any literature class, you will be expected to have a grasp on the plethora of literary terms. Yes, that means a term handout, which you will receive on Day 1 to give you a sense of the many ways to interpret a text. Some of these terms should be quite familiar to you, and others may seem like made-up words. When I taught English II, I expected my sophomores to memorize 35 literary terms while we were studying Lord of the Flies, Taming of the Shrew (now Macbeth, which was purloined from our AP Lit class), short stories, and poetry. Before I start giving you dactyls and conceits, here are those 35 terms, which you should have down prior to class or within the first few days.

• onomatopoeia
• assonance
• simile
• allusion
• repetition
• symbol
• hyperbole
• tone
• mood
• imagery
• metaphor
• alliteration
• diction
• personification
• voice
• speaker
• sonnet
• stanza
• rhyme
• free verse
• dialogue
• protagonist
• antagonist
• static character
• dynamic character
• round character
• flat character
• third person limited
• third person omniscient
• satire
• theme
• setting
• situational irony
• verbal irony
• dramatic irony

Another literary element that will show up in almost all of your readings is the motif, a repeated literary device (often a symbol) that helps to construct a theme. For instance, in The Great Gatsby, there is a green light; in Macbeth, there is blood and lots of it - real and imaginary; in Lord of the Flies, there are Piggy's glasses and that conch shell.

See you soon. Our first week will have a bit of Poe and a bit of Fitzgerald, so I hope you like your Dark Romantic and Modern American authors.