The Laters, the Nows, the Maggie, the Graveyard

For the entirety of the class, we focused on close reading the first 3 passages of the MC exam and correcting answers from those sections. You left with your exam in hand, which means you will finish correcting the rest of the MC passages and analyze why you missed any of the questions.

As you have been aware for a few weeks now, the Marys Compare & Contrast Essay is due today - and it is the last take-home essay of AP Lit!

Still a 52

For the second straight year, I scored 52 out of 55 on the AP Lit MC Exam - and missed the exact same questions too. I guess I have plateaued! I still have the highest score, which I will continue to hold onto until we have our next practice exam and IB, CB, and MS try to surpass me.

During class today, you had time to work on your Marys Compare & Contrast Essay, which is due by the end of the school day tomorrow.

Test I Complete

Test number one is complete, or at least it should be at this point. There were several absences during the testing, which is unfortunate as absentees will need to make up all of the test segments prior to Easter Break.

Test Part III

We are one more prompt out of the way! That means tomorrow is the last day of the full test. If for some reason you have missed out on any part of the exam, the multiple choice and/or prompts need to be made up immediately.

Test Part II

Today was part two of the full test. If you missed this prompt, you will need to make that up as soon as possible.

Earnestly

You were in control of our Earnest chat today, looking at class, gender, random satirical witticisms, and the like. This was part of your book card discussion, so this was for participation points. To end the class, we looked at how gentlemen were defined circa 1852 and how Jack & Algernon portray that title in Wilde's world. We also looked at the categories of women in Victorian art and how this connects to our play's perception of women, their education, their usefulness, and their ability to still have a catfight over some guy named Earnest. 

We will start our full practice test tomorrow with the MC exam and will venture into the other writing parts in the upcoming days. While some of you have some valid reasons to be out of class due to school-related activities, this would not be the week to miss any class that is unavoidable. 

The Great Allusion Scavenger Hunt

We are in the midst of the great allusion quest scavenger hunt, and first hour is currently in the lead. That means an AP Lang class will score higher than my 2 AP Lit classes! And, AP Lit, I am shocked that second hour missed Cordelia and fifth hour missed Prometheus after our class readings!

I have sent a shared Google doc with absentees that each of you will need to complete for scheduling a make-up date for this assignment.

Tomorrow is all about Earnest!

Naming Our Boy

We finished up Frankenstein by naming our really big baby boy (Akuji Michael & Buster Griff) and watching clips of movie previews featuring the various visions of Victor, Creature, Elizabeth, and the like.

Over spring break, you have the joy of reading Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and creating a book card for the play by March 20. Here are 2 links to the play:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/844/844-h/844-h.htm
https://www.rtmsd.org/cms/lib9/PA01000204/Centricity/Domain/258/the_importance_of_being_earnest.pdf

And, your last take-home essay will be the Marys Compare & Contrast Essay, which will be due on March 29. I am linking to the full text of Wollstonecraft's Vindication for you here: http://www.bartleby.com/144/.

The Melting Sea

Walton survives! The sea of ice melts! The creature springs from a window! Walton's sister will receive a really long letter!

Today's class wrapped up the novel, which included a finale discussion for participation. For next class, you will determine your name for the creature. Look through baby books and online name meanings to find the first and middle name best suiting our reanimated friend.

We began today's class with a 55 minute surprise that all absentees need to make up prior to break. This can occur during Friday's class, study hall, or after school.

Elegy for Clerval

The loss of Clerval, the man Victor could have been, haunts Frankenstein and by proxy, the readers, who hoped that he would journey to India, find his Romantic ideal, and bond with nature away from his dear friend's latest science experiment. Through today's discussion, our conversation filtered through Clerval's loss, Victor's sanity and effusive reactions, the juxtaposition of Elizabeth to the unfinished "bride," the creature's rationale for his revenge, and all the motifs (water, light, dark, eyes) that continue to be at the forefront of the novel. Finish Frankenstein for tomorrow as we find out what happens to the rest of Victor's family.

The Chapters Continue Forward

At this point, the last vocab quiz has been completed and the analysis of Frankenstein has reached chapter 18. We have had remarkable participation on this novel as you delve into the Romantic environment, the motifs of fire, birds, light, dark, the character parallels between our narrators and the purposes of their tales (could it be "Adam" is bringing up a story of a bonded family, a mated pair, to set up his ultimate request for the same), and all the minutia that Shelley layers throughout her novel. For tomorrow, we will be in the realm of chapters 19-22. It has been quite calm of late, so you must assume that more mayhem will ensue shortly.

Our "Adam"

Since fifth hour completed their last vocab quiz today, they are a little behind on sharing chapter exegesis points. However, we will all catch up with goings-on of our creature, referenced as "Adam" in his description and eventual education away from his creator. At this point, we have finished up chapters 5-8 and started group analysis of chapters 9-14. To keep up with reading, have chapters 15-18 finished for Monday.