The Final & The Holiday Break

Seventh hour is currently in the midst of taking their final prompt and full MC test for this last class of AP Lit's first semester. Unlike the other two AP Lit hours, they have the pleasure of taking both parts together. For those remaining two classes, you have taken your poetry prompt portion and will now have the MC section for your next one. Since the MC is 60 minutes, that would mean we will have the last 15 to discuss what you will be up to during the holiday break.

*And before I forget, the Lear Psychoanalysis Essay is due by 12:30 p.m. on Friday as a a hard copy. Neglecting to turn this in this assignment will not help your overall grade, so make sure you leave me this present before heading off for any holiday plans.

The holiday break assignment is to read The Cherry Orchard and complete a book card for the second day we return from break.

Second semester will go something like this: review of the final, allusion posters, more MC, The Metamorphosis, The Canterbury Tales, Romanticism & Feminism, Wollstonecraft, Frankenstein, Romantic Poets & tones, Wuthering Heights, 2 full practice exams. (Plus shoe voting - I'll sneak that in somehow - even if I'm not here for the process!) As per usual, we will be over-analyzing all of the aforementioned texts to prep you for the exam in May. If you keep up with all of your terms and analytical skills from first semester, you should be ready for any piece of literature that comes across your path.

I hope you enjoy The Cherry Orchard, which has been classified as a drama and a comedy. I'm sure we will have an excellent debate on how this is a comedy and the Russian culture's role pervading the play.

Have an excellent break, rejuvenate yourself, be merry, and prepare yourself for 2019, the year of graduation!

Educational Review

Today's class was a review of poetry prompts - especially when you have 2 poems to analyze, MC strategies, and the literary term cards. The final, as noted many a time, will be 2 parts: a poetry prompt and a full MC test (close read, close read, close read, close read, interact with the passage, interact with the passage, interact with the passage, interact with the passage - if this hypnotizes you into marking up your passages, then I have found a new strategy of teaching).

For those of you in seventh hour, you have the pleasure of taking the final all at one time! I guess the benefit to this scheduling is that you may choose which part of the final to complete first and which to reserve for second.

For second and fourth hour, you will take the writing prompt first and then the MC on the actual final period.

And, for all of you procrastinators out there, the Lear psychoanalysis essay is due by 12:30 p.m. on Friday in hard copy only. This is the last grade for the quarter, so if you are on that bubble between 2 grades for the semester, this may determine if you end up on the plus or minus side of your wanted grade.

The Poetry Test

We wrapped up our poetry unit today with the poetry test of feet, lines, poetic devices, poetry types, and everything else that we studied for the past 2 months. For those few not here, you will need to make up this as soon as possible - ideally, during a study hall in the upcoming days.

Tuesday will be our review of poetry prompts for the final and then you shall be ready for the exam, whether it be Wednesday (7th hour), Thursday (2nd hour), or Friday (4th hour).

Diary/Journal Evaluation Day

From recipes to class schedules to eyeballs to 80s time travel to jokes (apropos or not) to letters to burn books, the evaluation day for your Lear diaries/journals has been quite an experience. At this point, you have had students evaluate your work - so that means I'm next!

Make sure to review all of your poetry terms for the poetry test on Monday. Yes, it's just like the review. Yes, it's just like the poetry packet. Yes, it adds an aubade in there to test your recognition of poetry styles. Yes, it is a tad longer as a result. Yes, this is everything we have covered for the past 2 months in one package. Yes, I am feeling the anaphora right now. 

Don't forget Cocoa & Cram on Monday if you want to hang out with me, work with a practice prompt, try out some MC questions, and play with the cards. 

The Great Poetry Review

Today's class was dedicated to finishing the Act V discussion - and look how all of you are breaking down Shakespeare and his speeches for sound elements, poetry elements, and motifs that filter from beginning to end of the text! For the rest of the time, most importantly, we looked over the poetry review, a semblance of your poetry test on Monday, for all the information you will need to know and apply. As someone mentioned, you are essentially having a seek-and-find of poetry devices!

Tomorrow will be the ever-amusing diary/journal evaluation, which will allow you to read a plethora of creative, humorous, inspiring, (sometimes) ridiculous looks at our Lear characters! If absent, you are expected to share/send/have delivered your work for the student evaluation portion.

Team Goneril vs. Team Regan

Today was a potpourri of King Lear:

1. We finished up our Act IV speech analysis with some galloping.
2. We completed team MC #2, which means absentees would need to schedule a time to make this up.
3. We had a very entertaining, in all hours, battle between Team Goneril and Team Regan for the hand of Edmund.
4. We commenced our individual topic look at Act V, which we will finish very quickly next time around.

Thursday will be the poetry review - make sure that you complete this for your participation in class. The review is modeled off of your initial poetry packet, so it should look and feel quite familiar.

Friday will be our diary/journal evaluation day - remember that is you are not in class, you will need to share/send it to me or have a hard copy delivered prior to your hour so that it may be evaluated by the class.

Act IV, the Gallop Returns

With not a lot of time left in the semester, we have a lot to do! Starting with Act IV today, you had a chance to review poetry elements and meter with 4.1 and 4.2 scenes (i.e. your homework) and then do the same with an individual speech from the remainder of Act IV. And even more importantly, you had the chance to gallop the lines to prove true iambic pentameter in the text. If absent, you will be thrown into one of the remaining groups that will be finished next time.

If you don't want to wait until next class for the Poetry Review Packet, I just finished making the copies, and these will be available after school on Monday and every day after. The review packet should not be daunting - it looks like your original poetry packet, the basis of all our poetry work. And, the poetry test will be in the same format!

Meanwhile, our schedule is fairly set for the remainder of the semester:

11/12 - Finish any Act IV gallops, Team Regan vs. Team Goneril (you'll see), Act V
13 - Poetry Review Packet - you will be expected to have answers for everything
14 - Diary/Journal Evaluation Day *Part of your grade is the peer evaluation. If you will not be in class for the evaluation, you will need to share/send it to me or bring the hard copy before your class begins. Otherwise, you won't be able to earn those points.
17 - Poetry Test
18 - Review for Final
19 - Second & Fourth Hour Part I of Final; Seventh Hour Whole Final
20/21 - Second & Fourth Hour Part II of Final (just realized that would be the part that I have to take as well - better find my lucky pencils)
21 by 12:30 p.m. - Last chance to turn in hard copy of King Lear Psychoanalysis Essay

*We will continue with Team MC and MC practices to prep for the final over the next week. These will occur when we have the time during class; hence, I did not specify the days above.

The First Team MC

We crammed a great deal into today's class! We finished Act III discussion, we completed the first team MC (F.Y.I. Absentees will need to schedule a 12 minute period to make this up), and you now have the King Lear Psychoanalysis Essay with your presents :) Since you have Act IV read, you have 2 passages to close read for poetic devices and iambic pentameter!

Act III

We are in the midst of Act III - the storm and the eye act - the motifs that have been metaphorical this whole time are not literal - with several characters living outside of reality. Thus far, we have found some impressive structural techniques - especially with the caesura (is that why I'm so dash-happy today?), enjambment, finishing of iambs, random spondees here and there, alliteration, and consonance. For Friday, read through Act IV and see what will happen to our cast of characters.

Act II

Act II is complete for all of the classes - and we sure did have thorough discussions on the inversion of Edmund's and Edgar's soliloquies, all of that caesura and enjambment and alliteration, and all of those pushy Lear daughters asserting themselves and stealing iambs from daddy. Next, we might have completed our fourth practice MC (second hour), taken home our fourth practice MC for homework (fourth hour), or taken the fourth practice MC for grading next class (seventh hour). Next class will cover the major moments of Act III and anything else regarding MC passages.

Educator/Employee of the Year

If you have taken AP Lang, you know that the first argument of the course is Educator or Employee of the Year. While AP Lit will not be making this an assignment (hello, it's not poetry, alas), if you have someone in mind, you still can nominate him or her before December 14. This is your opportunity to show appreciation for a teacher or employee that has made a difference here at school.

Structure-wise, I recommend a 3-4 paragraph essay for this task so that it does not go on forever, but you still have space to express the evidence for your argument. I would also make one of your body paragraphs about how this person helps in the big picture for everyone, and then one that clarifies specific anecdote(s) how this person has helped you personally.

If you need further information, you can find a packet in Mr. Sutton's office or you can check out one of the copies that I have. You can then send your nominating essay to Julie Leacox, who would prefer a digital copy for formatting purposes.

The Sonnet & the Second Act

This is a reminder that you now have the King Lear Diary/Journal assignment and should be working on that activity as we continue forward with our analysis. King Lear, surprisingly, reads fairly quickly - especially since you have noted so much about character speech patterns and behavior. If you were not here and not picking up makeup work, you still need to have a character selection, and you must see me to do so. You cannot just pick the one you want because it may already be taken!

2 & 4: I think the majority of us quite enjoyed our third MC passage, which was quite straightforward in structure, literary elements, and meaning. As long as you keep interacting with the poem via close reading, you should have better opportunities to score well on the questions. In King Lear Act II, you were divided up into groups per scene to super over-analyze the speeches and the text. Remember, you want to take page by page and break down the structure, the psychoanalysis, and the literary elements populating the work. Second hour made it through the first 2 scenes (which we will recap next time) and will continue with the remaining 2 scenes next time. Fourth hour made it through the first scene and will finish the remainder on Wednesday. In both classes, read Act III for next time as well - I'll be in charge of that discussion and focusing on the major speeches and conflicts.

7: We started off class looking at sample diaries/journals from previous years and then selecting your character for the diary. If absent, you will need to see me to select the character - as noted above. Then, we looked over your MC passage 3 and started our look at Act II. Read Act III for Tuesday - we have a block day and should have plenty of time to delve into that act as well.