It's Oh So Quiet

Sixth hour is in the midst of their final, and it almost feels too quiet in here: no one is bickering, galloping over one another, or dramatically recreating a Lear scene. With a 2 part final of prompt and poetry test, there was a lot to do for the final, and all of it revolved around what our second quarter was regarding: poetry. All of the poetry elements - sound, meter, and so forth - are all in your toolboxes now, so use them as you would on any future poetry assignments or prompts.

For those of you who love poetry, I have some bad news: we will be back to more prose-inspired work third quarter and characterization. For those of you who are ready for a short story, play, or novel, you are in luck with The Cherry Orchard and The Metamorphosis as are opening texts. Before we move onto those, however, you have your King Lear Diary/Journal due when we return. Have fun crafting your characters!

Happy Holidays to you all! Working with you, reading with you, analyzing minutia and creating euphemisms with you, make AP Lit an enjoyable experience. Your presence and ideas are the best gifts I could ever receive every single day. See you in 2020!

Uh, Finals

Well, Mother Nature, as called by our buddies Edmund, Lear, and a few other sighted and sightless characters from our play, has taken power over our ending Lear discussions and final reviews, pushing these quasi-necessary components to the wayside. While this may result in an expletive or two or three or four escaping from your lips, here is the revised plot and plan for the upcoming days and the transfer to second semester. Overall, I think all of you will be just fine, especially after our over-analysis of poetry elements during King Lear.

• If you sent me a proposal in the last couple of days, I will be perusing those tomorrow during our second snow day.
• Whether you sent a proposal or not, be aware that the psychoanalysis essay is still due by 11:30 a.m. on Friday. You are welcome to print out the essay Thursday or Friday after school. You are also welcome to work on your essay on Friday after school by the given deadline.
• The final will remain the same: a writing prompt of 2 poems and the poetry test. It will most likely take the full 90 minutes for the majority of you. 
• Sixth hour will be working on a review prompt and the poetry review on Wednesday. 
• Second hour, since we have lost that Tuesday class, I will be available after school on Wednesday and before school on Thursday (half hour max. on each of these), if you would like to go over the poetry packet answers prior to the exam and chat about the dual poem writing prompt. If you have a study hall, you may also come into sixth hour on Wednesday to be part of their review. 
• Second semester plans with the Lear journal will remain the same. I was planning to give you The Cherry Orchard over break as well, but that will wait until next semester. 
• If anything else comes up, I will update or send a group e-mail directly to you.

Alack, Alack

Overall, we are dreading the idea that snow could curtail our plans for finishing up Lear and reviewing for the final (poetry prompt and poetry test) next week. For now, let's operate on the idea that we will have class and all will be swell. 

Before going into today's agenda and next week's plans, I did note that I would be adding a little more info on the optional proposal on the blog for those of you who regularly check it. Overall, I think proposals, especially one of such specific nature, a great way to basically have your first draft completed. All the ideas are there, all the evidence (or at least the spots for evidence) ready to go, and all the paragraphs aligned for the final "beautifying" of your essay. Beyond just the self-satisfaction of putting effort into this assignment, if you do happen to share your proposal by the assigned date and time, you will receive anywhere from 10-20 points extra credit. Those 20 would be for a thorough proposal; the 10 would be less thorough. Anyway, maybe that will inspire some of you to look out at a snowy scene and decide to open up your computer and start typing away. 

2: We spent the hour on our Act IV analysis and galloping sessions. I am just so proud of how ALL of you participated today, reading the lines, galloping in syncopated rhythm, and working as a team to garner the sound impact of Shakespeare's language. It was impressive to watch and hear! For Monday, the plan is to finish Act V with discussion and go over the Poetry Review for the final. If for some weather-related reason we are not in school, the theory will be cancelling out the Act V discussion in class (I might set up an online thing so that you may share your ideas about the concluding act) and spending the entirety on the Poetry Review and the Poetry Practice Prompt (you have this; only prepare if we don't have class on Monday). 

6: We finished up Act III today, and you have your groups for the Act IV analysis and galloping sessions. No matter what happens, we will be completing Act IV and discussing Act V next class, so make sure that you have your Lear read and your ideas ready!

Alack, Bareheaded

Since Rylee mentioned that her favorite line of Act III was "Alack, Bareheaded," I figured that line would appeal to all of you during this cold weather and eventual prediction of snow in the upcoming week. You wouldn't want to follow William Henry Harrison at this time of the year.

In second hour, we finished our Act III discussion, and you have a passage from Act IV to close read for next class. This is a hard copy close reading, so absentees will be assimilated into a group. Reading-wise, you should be finished through Act IV.

In sixth hour, we finished going over all of the paperwork, including the psychoanalysis essay, the King Lear Diary/Journal (absentees will need to see me directly for the character - as we want a mix of characters in class, you may not have your first choice), the Poetry Test Review (for Tuesday), the MC (for next semester). Meanwhile, in Lear World, we finished Act II and are halfway through Act III. Reading-wise, you need to be through Act IV.

Act II and All the Paperwork

2: We finished up Act II, and you also have the psychoanalysis essay assignment (due next Friday), the Lear journal (due next semester), the poetry review for the final (due Monday), and MC passages (next semester). We will be working primarily with Act 3 tomorrow, so just read 4.1. and 4.2 to keep up-to-date with the text. To be honest, we might still work with the entirety of Act 4 too, but you don't need to read it to gallop it! Yep, gallop it!

6: Much the same as second hour. However, since we are a day behind their pace, we might still have some Act II work to do tomorrow. Read through Act III in additional as we will spend quality time with some of the speeches.

Learing & The Rest of Semester

Since we spent so much time on 1.1 and over-analyzing all those speeches, you have the expectations on how to analyze the remaining character development and poetic techniques. Hence, second hour is in the final stages of doing such with Act II (if absent today, you have the enviable job of over-analyzing 2.3 for the class), and fourth hour is moments away from the completion of Act I.

Here is the plot for AP Lit in the near future (sixth hour is a day-ish behind, so keep that in consideration):

Tuesday = Assign Psychoanalytic Essay & Pass out a Plethora of Paperwork, Act III
Wednesday = Act IV, including galloping and a Goneril vs. Regan battle
Friday  = Act V
December 16 = Poetry Test Review, Card Games
December 17 = Poetry Prompt Review
December 18 or 20 = Final of Poetry Test and Poetry Prompt

January 7= Review final
January 8 = King Lear Journal Class Evaluation DAy
January 9 & 10 = MC Team Practices
January 13 = Full MC Test
January 14 = Cherry Orchard

Could That Blind Man's Mark Metaphor Connect to Lear?

Even though "Thou Blind Man's Mark" poem is not the literal adventures of a blind man, the metaphor of how desire can blind one to the moral rectitude that one should possess comes through, which in my suddenly coffee-addled state has made the jump to our play, King Lear, and the ever-so-present reminders of sight, seeing, glasses, and other pertinent word forms dealing with the metaphorical idea of blindness and sight. I love when our texts work out that way!

Don't forget to turn in your hard copy of the close reads for the AP classroom assignment! I know there have been some quirky technical issues on the website, but that should not impede your from finalizing your writings.

At this point in the grand scheme of the world, or at least the AP Lit world, second hour has almost completed the first act in its full analysis (if absent today, be prepared to chat regarding pages 67 & 69), portfolioed (yep, made a verb up) "Thou Blind Man's Mark," and is prepping Act II for Monday's class. Once you have everything over-analyzing in that first scene, the rest of the play and its characters fall into place.

Sixth hour has completed the Edmund "B" speech in its entirety, the rangefinders for "Thou Blind Man's Mark," and put a dent into the remaining portions of Act I. If absent, prepare to cover the analysis of pages 55 & 57. Act II will be starting up on Monday.

For the Love of Poetic Devices

I noted today that one of my students was "Miss Enjambment," another "Mr. Caesura," another "Miss Repetition," and another "Miss Alliteration." Now, hopefully, none of you are offended by reference to a literary device, for the intention was to clarify that as each of you grasps onto poetry more and more, there are certain literary devices that will become your go-to ones, whether this be structural, syntactical, sound, figurative language, or any other literary element populating a poem (especially if there is a shift, shifts, or any fluctuation to attract those AP readers). Beyond parenthetical mention, second hour spent some time with "Thou Blind Man's Mark" and noted a pattern of shifts overlapping in its tone, alliteration, and rhyme scheme. How about that - multi-layered shifts! And speaking of more poetry analysis, you still have that AP classroom assignment due this week. I heard there were some oddities with the form to write your work, so just make sure you have the response in one of those boxes for submitting.

2: We finished 1.1 and have spent a lot of time over-analyzing the relationships, character psychoanalysis, and poetic elements that further reveal each character. And there are three of those characters that rhyme! Afterwards, as mentioned in the overall stream of consciousness above (is it weird that my stream of consciousness is more organized like dear Kent and not as wild and wacky as Lear?), an epiphany of shifts occurred in "Thou Blind Man's Mark" review close read. Of course, there was the apostrophe and paradox anchoring its entirety. To further the understanding of our new 1-6 scoring system, we are taking the old 1-9 rangefinders and breaking them down for the thesis, evidence, and sophistication. For homework, you are to take the 5, 6, and 7 (the first one in the packet) essays and rescore for 1-6. Tricky work, especially as you see that the brandishing of evidence can boost your score but may take away from some of the sophisticated value. We'll finish up those rangefinders tomorrow, spend some quality time with Edmund's favorite speech, and see what else we can do on a D day with limited time.

6: We might not have moved around much today, but we spent our entire hour over-analyzing the majority of 1.1, starting with why Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund are the starting three when none of them happen to be the title role and moving into Lear, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia's portrayal through their diction, poetic structure, enjambment/caesura or lack thereof, faltering iambic pentameter, pronoun usage, and their psychoanalytic sibling role. And we haven't even had any rhyming? Suspicious for a Shakespeare play? Oh, yeah. There must be (cough, cough) some reason that the Lear milieu does not encourage the rhyme. Although, alliteration seems to be the case for creating sound elements. Tomorrow, we will be working the rest of this scene. Reading-wise, make sure to spend some bonding time with Edmund (he needs it, you know, just don't call him by his dad's epithets for him), and his opening speech in 2.1. Off to bed - at least for a some short increments.

Poetry & Character & Psychoanalysis

2: We started off with an intensive look at the opening of King Lear and its characters' mental states, behaviors, societal beliefs, conflicts, usage of caesura and enjambment or lack thereof, forced rhyme if they rhymed at all, alliteration, finishing another character's iambic pentameter, and more. All of those poetic techniques build the characterization and the eventual understanding of the play. We will finish 1.1 tomorrow and then go into 1.2 - with the famous "b" speech from our knave Edmund.

7: We spent our truncated class on "Daddy" and the poetic techniques that help inform the psychoanalysis interpretation and help inspire us to break down the characters in King Lear, which we will begin tomorrow.

Daddy

2: If you need a poem to introduce and reaffirm psychoanalytic concepts, Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" and its "oo" rhyming, childlike conceits bespeaking her regression into the past, and dramatic references to her father's Germanic heritage will definitely do the trick. Our whole hour was dedicated to the over-analysis of this poem and the merging of literary devices with psychoanalysis. With this practice completed, you should be inspired to do the same with King Lear 1.1 - especially (I recognize that this is becoming a favorite adverb and probably need to alter my vocabulary a bit) with the sibling issues prevalent in the text.

6: Hopefully the same as above, but first, we talked anxiety, Freud, Lacan, and dream symbolism to wrap up our overview of psychoanalysis. Even if we don't make it to "Daddy" or don't finish its analysis, you still need to have your King Lear 1.1. ready to go.

P.S. Don't forget about your close reading/poetry prompts on AP classroom!

P.P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I am quite thankful for how my life has progressed in the past year with Cora joining "The Zoo," or the Gianini-Fortin family. For those of you who have decided to spend another year with me in AP Lit, I appreciate all of your support, interest, and effort - it is noted and it bespeaks of what wonderful people you are. For those of you new to my classroom, the same applies. I could not find two better hours of genuine souls to be part of our book club every day.

Dreams

With psychoanalysis, especially the lens for our reading of King Lear, you have several options to pursue the mentality of the characters: birth order, unconscious desires, past traumas, anxieties, defense mechanisms, symbolism, the Freudian id, ego, superego, the trauma of the real, the objet petit a, and more. 

For tomorrow's class, you need to have close read "Daddy" and attempt to break down the literary elements for psychoanalysis properties as well. I highly recommend taking a look at a Plath's bio - perhaps with the specific look at the men in her life - to help you with the understanding of the poem and its motifs.

As for our Lear, you have the text with you with the instructions to read and note 1.1 for Monday, December 2.

And don't forget your poetry close reading/writing assignment that is due the week after we return from Thanksgiving break!

Transitioning into Lear

While we are not directly in the milieu of King Lear and its characters, we are moving away from poetry (6th hour's poetry prompt today) and into the lens in which we will be analyzing the text, psychoanalysis (2nd hour today).

Our AP Classroom

In both classes today, you completed the district MC assessment. If absent - do not take outside of class - you will need to take this either during a study hall, after school on Friday, or, if it must be so, during class as soon as possible.

You also received your Close Reading Poetry Assignment, a 2 week task combining the close reading of 6 texts and the composition of related thesis statements, introductions, body paragraphs, and essay.

As for next class, second hour has the duty of researching dream symbolism and birth order. Sixth hour, you will save the psychoanalysis prep for Monday as we have a writing prompt to do.

Prompting - In One Way or Another

2: The official poetry prompt was today! Tomorrow is the district MC assessment, so make sure you have your Chrome book completely charged and ready to go. I just took a looksee and it is a hybrid of passages with 30 questions, so it should only take us about 40 minutes, if technology works for us.

6: Today's class was all about the team box prompt, a 35-ish minute exercise in analyzing a poem. If you happened to be absent, you will most likely be completing this assignment on your own and will need to schedule a make-up time.

Getting Serious

After a lot of poetry play through the packet, the gallops, the sonnets, it is time for the assessment portions of our class: a team box prompt (in place of a full essay), a poetry prompt (and one of my favorites, especially with the rangefinder selections), and a MC district assessment (yep, it's happening and it's going to be on AP classroom). All of that work will lead to our psychoanalysis work with King Lear! Woohoo!

And for all of you wanting to prep for psychoanalysis study in advance, you will need to research or dream symbolism and birth order.

2: Team Box Prompt complete. I think all of you were here, so no absentee work needed!

6: MC Passages 3 & 4 complete. Team Box Prompt tomorrow.

Evaluating

You are either evaluating rangefinders or your own MC or some hybrid of the two in class today. Second hour completed the last 2 practice MC passages (yep, last means that the rest in the future will have more significant meaning). Sixth hour completed the rangefinders for "The Landlady" and, hopefully, had the opportunity to take the third practice MC passage.

For Monday's class, close read Sonnet 138, the last sonnet in your Shakespeare packet.

A 6?

So, the new set of rangefinders for poetry seem a little lackluster in voice, upper level poetic terms, and overall "unicorn" originality. A result of rushing out set of rangefinders to humor teachers and students clamoring for some guidance of the new scoring system? A new reality that focuses more on the objective needs of writing than the subjective voice? In any circumstance, you are still expected to construct collegiate-level writing if you want to score in the upper echelons of AP Literature. With that little ramble, albeit a tired one, second hour spent the majority of the time with the rangefinders and filling out their poetry goal sheets after the return of the diagnostic prompt. Sixth hour finished up MC passage 2 and moved onto the rangefinders.

The Questions First

Since I'm still recovering from sixth hour's galloping of Sonnets 116 & 130, this will be a blog of brevity. Before I do recap our lovely agenda today, I want to send kudos to Lia for her Benjamin Banneker Clock, pink and of solid wood, and the only marker of Benjamin Banneker week this year.

In second hour, we worked on MC passage 2, with the strategy of reading the question prior to the close reading. For tonight's reading, you have the rangefinders for "The Landlady" prompt, which you will score for thesis, evidence, and sophistication.

In sixth hour, we finished our sonnet work, or at least our sonnet work for the next couple of days, with gallops of 116 & 130. The remainder of class was working on MC #2, which you will have for class tomorrow. 

When British Men Read Sonnets

In both classes today, we listened to the sonnets as they would meant to be heard: Tom Hiddleston's Sonnet 18 reading, Patrick Stewart's Sonnet 116 reading, and the late Alan Rickman's Sonnet 130 reading. Their verbal readings provided a better chance to hear the sound effects, the meter, and the forced rhyme (looove instead of love). At this point, second hour has finished the sonnets - and their related galloping - and sixth hour has finished the analysis of 116 and will gallop another day!

Processing MC

2: We primarily spent the hour close reading a MC passage (with an understanding that structure and lit elements are of necessary notice; however, there is also the  necessity of understanding the meaning, content, and symbolic interpretation too), previewing questions and categorizing them as factual, technical, analytical, or inferential, utilizing process of elimination to guarantee a better result, and finally voting on the best answer. Your class finished 9/10, making an error on the style of poem. To end class, you were divided into teams for Sonnets 116 &130 and started the process of analyzing the poem for its theme, literary devices, and meter. You will be back in those groups on Monday to finish up your analysis and prepare for presentation and galloping of each sonnet. If you were absent, you can have your choice between the 2 sonnets for preparatory purposes.

6: Since we notated the meter yesterday on Sonnet 18, there was only one thing left for us to do: gallop! With 420 steps through the multiple readings of the 14 lines, you have the rhythmic feel for iambic pentameter. Following our gallop, we moved into the world of MC, looking at common stems, strategies, types, and a passage. Dependent on our class time, we may have moved into sonnets 116 & 130, but we shall see when we get there.

To Gallop or Not to Gallop

Thanks to the Royal Shakespeare Company, we have this excellent teaching tool to help us understand iambic pentameter, broken iambs, and trochees: Teaching Shakespeare.

With that information, we centered our class on Sonnet 18, its rhyme scheme, its general idea, its iambic pentameter, and its galloping potential!

MC starts tomorrow!

The Bard

2: We started our Shakespeare work with easing into his inverted syntax, verb alterations, insulting compounding of words, common contracted phrasing, and a rude gesture all mixed in. At this point, we have made it through the word portion of the show. Next time will be the meter of Shakespeare, the ever-present iambic pentameter.

6: We finished out poetry term competition followed by our immersion into Shakespeare as listed above.

It's Benjamin Banneker Week!

In exciting news, it is Benjamin Banneker week, which celebrates the revered writer, scientist, and all-around savant. I must say that one of the highlights of teaching AP Lang for all of these years is my introduction to Banneker, his historical significance, his brilliance as a savant, and his letter-writing abilities to our old buddy Tommy J.

 Here is a little more information from a fun website of daily, weekly, and monthly celebrations: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/benjamin-banneker-week/. 

And, to make this a little more relevant and applicable, you will notice that there are 2 activities for celebrating Banneker's role in our lives. 

The first is to make a clock face (non-working) using mathematics to represent the numbers 1-12 (so don't literally write 1, 2, and so forth but construct formulas or mathematical expressions to represent each number). Here is a picture I found online (which may be blocked since it originally came from facebook) of such a clock, which looks to be made out of cardboard: https://www.facebook.com/events/1601106116857922. 

The second is to compose a poem that actually features mathematical puzzles for the reader to solve. Here are some examples: https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/resources/mathematical-puzzles-benjamin-banneker. As you can see the word problems are divided up into verse form, which means you can play with rhyme and diction and poetic elements to express math. 

So to make this interesting and decorate my room, you have the challenge of constructing a 3 dimensional clock (so not on typing paper but with a more solid material - creative materials add to the presentation) and/or a mathematical poem on decorated construction paper/cardboard/posterboard for extra credit. The poem can have combined mathematical puzzles to boost the level of difficulty and content. All the math must be accurate - and, yes, I am a polymath (at least that is what Joe Cassidy calls me) and have right and left brain talents. The clock will be worth a maximum of 35 points, and the mathematical poem will be worth a maximum of 20 points. Points will be awarded for originality, mathematical connection, presentation, and effort, which means those utilizing the most clever materials, math, and presentation will amass the most points. 

You can do one of each by the way. The due date for this extra credit, which must be in person, is Monday, November 11, so you have one week on this extra credit opportunity. This must be turned in via hard copy (obviously) by 2:40 p.m. on that day. If you have any questions, e-mail me for clarifications. Otherwise, I am looking forward to the final products! Especially since I had about 8 clocks two years ago and two clocks last year and no poems! Photo below - you can tell which had a little more effort than others. *FYI if you did do a clock last year, you cannot do another one.

Sonnets, Villanelles, Reviewing Poetry Terms and Malapropisms

2: We have finished the poetry packet! That means you have all those terms, techniques, and structural concerns to foster in your upcoming analyses! The majority of the hour was a review of all the terms - in team and solo fashion - with a malapropistic (a word? maybe?) edge of villanelli, cesarean section, and Caesar salad. Our Top 5 in poetic term ethos would be Anna M., Elijah, Tommy, Megan P., and Mack! If your name was not on that list (or on it for that matter), you should consider working on memorizing your poetic terms as these will not be going away!

6: Same as above - but we are still in the midst of our poetry term competition. Who will have the most ethos on poetry terms? For those of you with the inspiration, you have a couple of days to prepare for it!

Elegies & High Drama

In both hours, we worked with elegies (Adonais & O Captain, My Captain) and dramatic monologues (poor Porphyria). Second hour has advanced through all 3 sonnet types, and sixth hour will meet up with those gentlemen and their poetic structure on Monday.

Lastly, a round of applause to our Browning speakers, Elijah & Rylee, and our Porphyrias, Tommy & Amber. I think you made the poem more memorable and unforgettable!

Lyrics & Odes

Oh, dear poetry packet, how you are teaching us how to break down a poem in meter, in enjambment, in figurative language, in the multitude of interpretations for a Shelley poem (figures). The start was the lyric with our Burns' "A Red, Red Rose" followed by Arnold's "Dover Beach" and the end was the ode with Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind." We had a great deal of participation today - forced and volunteered - so as with any day of work, you would need to show the completion of your poetry packet and any close reading notes to attain the credit. Elegy and dramatic monologue (woohoo) next time!

The Ballads

Navigating further into the poetry packet, you have the nomenclature for lines, stanzas, rhymes, and ballads - such as our Bonny Barbara Allan, our Lord Randall, and our loving married couple who will not get up to bar that door! For homework, you have further sections of the poetry packet to read and answer the questions afterward: the lyric, the ode, the elegy, the dramatic monologue. All of those poems will come into play during tomorrow's class, so make sure you are prepped and ready to answer all the poetry-related questions.

Feet

Sixth hour began with their vocab quiz while second hour jumped into poetry. You have THE POETRY PACKET. I cannot laud and revere that packet more! For those of you struggling with poetry, this packet gives you so many angles that you can use for analysis. Whether it be feet and meter (not my favorite method, but many of you have a strong sense of beats and rhythm in writing) or structure or line techniques like caesura and enjambment (those would be my favorite) or comparisons or figurative language or persona, there is something for everyone to embrace!

Today was all about the feet - the iamb, the trochee, the dactyl, the anapest, the spondee. For those of us who do not really think about what syllables we stress (or in different shibboleths stress), this is a challenging exercise, but well worth the effort to start recognizing patterns of sound. Whether you become a foot expert in the long run or not, at least you have the foundations of beat that many a poet latches onto to create their expression - and why poems are often in inverted syntax to fit a supposed meter.

We will finish up your feet handout tomorrow and then look at lines, stanzas, and different poetry styles like the ballad - and not, alas, the power ballads of 80s rock bands.

Diagnostic Poetry Prompt

Today was the diagnostic poetry prompt, the only highlight of our class for Friday. If you happened to be absent, out of state, or any other circumstance that kept you from the prompt's completion, you have three options: study hall, after school on the 30th, or during class.

Don't forget to finish those box prompts for Tuesday. We will be continuing with our poetry work on Monday with a focus on meter and all the other intricacies necessary to understand poetry.

Donne - Sort Of

At this point, we have finished the Petrarch/Donne packet, which means you have 2 box prompts to complete for Tuesday's class. In our look at Songs and Sonnets, we clearly indicated the importance of structure, rhyme scheme, sound effects, figurative language, apostrophes, and, duh, conceits. Tomorrow will be the diagnostic poetry prompt, so ready your poetry analysis skills!

P.S. Second hour completed the vocab quiz for unit 4 as well.

Conceits

Safely in the Donne mode of poetry, we have a great deal of conceits appearing: death, kings, math-related objects, all major metaphors clarifying his Songs and their critical, philosophical perspective of love and life. Plus there are the sound elements and structural machinations via stanzas, rhyme scheme, and forced rhyme. Donne and his personas are definitely unpredictable, especially in comparison to our former Petrarch.

In second hour, we reviewed vocab and made it through "The Valediction" analysis of the Songs. We will resume there and follow up with The Sonnets next class.

In sixth hour, we finished our round of vocab experts, considered the "easy going" behavior and suggestions via "The Flea," and started our Song analysis, which will finish next class.

Donne (Insert Your Own Pun Here)

2 & 6: After finishing up vocab experts today, we talked persona with "The Indifferent," shared our facts regarding Donne, read "The Flea" to understand conceits (in second hour at least), and assigned a song and a sonnet to each of you for close reading and preparations tomorrow. If absent, take "The Paradox" for your song and the last sonnet for your sonnet selection.

Petrarch & Papers

2: The continuation of vocab started the class, which then was followed with the look at the 2 translations of the opening Petrarch poem and its differing tone, diction, and presentation by the amendment of certain words. Then, you received your 3 prompts back with reminders of how to score well on the evidence and sophistication portions. Last, we started our look at persona, the speaker's character, and how Petrarch and Donne poems can show a dramatic different in persona!

6: We finished up the 6 sonnet selections of Petrarch and the look at the 2 translations before starting the process of handing back the prompts. Homework will be reading pages 11-13 on Donne's bio so that you are ready for all those predictable puns next week!

The Next Round of Petrarchan Sonnets

In both classes, we continued with vocab experts and shared the analysis of literary elements, sound devices, and Petrarchan structure with the remaining sonnets. Alas, sixth hour did not finish those sonnets, so those will be continued tomorrow, but they were outside studying vocab during the fire drill, so kudos to Amber for saving the vocab words from the flames!

2: Read the 5th Petrarchan sonnet and return back to the original sonnet on the first page - note the changes in diction. Read the 3 pages on Donne in the packet, annotate, and be prepared to share info about him.

6: Read the 5th Petrarchan sonnet and return back to the original sonnet on the first page - note the changes in diction.

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As you may know, I am the coach of the Scholar Quiz team, our competitive trivia team that travels to schools across St. Charles County. We have been fortunate to win the Holt Invitational twice, GAC's, Orchard Farm Invitational, Districts three times, Sectionals, and finish 4th place at State (also included would be Caleb Fick finishing first overall as an individual at State). Since the Scholar Quiz team is an extracurricular, I do not want to hijack the class or try to “sell” it to any of you or make it seem that being part of the team will influence your AP class standing whatsoever. However, some of you may not know about our team and would like a little background information.

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On the other hand, if you have a packed schedule and do not have interest in joining our extracurricular, thank you for taking the time to read the introductory paragraphs and considering any involvement.

The Scholar Quiz team is currently looking for team members to join Varsity, JV, and Novice levels. Those who join the team can have strengths in academia (literature, science, math, history), current events, pop culture, sports, or fun facts. Even if you are not an “expert,” you can become one by working with the Scholar Quiz team. 

The time commitment is quite manageable for whatever your commitment would be to the team. So if you want to be a full time member or part time member, there are opportunities to be part of our competitive team. During a regular week, we have Trivia Lunches on B (1/2 hour) and practice on Fridays (approx. 1 hour). We also have additional chances to prep and practice for competition in what I call “Random Acts of Trivia” that occur after school in ½ hour increments from time to time. For those thoroughly committed to the team, we do have bonus practices prior to big competitions.

Competitions run from late November until April. There are 5 competitions on Tuesdays (approx. 2 hours for 2-3 matches for players of all ability) and a minimum of 5 Saturday matches (full day and for the strongest players). If you sign up, you will communicate with the team your full availability – as in all – or if you will have a partial schedule.

If you are interested, stop by any of our trivia lunches or practices to check out the Scholar Quiz team. And if you would like to be an official teammate, pick up an availability sheet (it is a grandiose RSVP form) to clarify your availability for our upcoming competitions.

If you have any questions, please do ask me, our Captain Mathew Bessette, our Captain of Representative Leadership Elsa Linson, or any team members. And, thank you for reading about our Scholar Quiz team. This is my eleventh year coaching, and it has been the most rewarding experience for me to be part of such a close team (we still have our alumni showing up during the year) and to learn so much random facts like the Defenestration of Prague, the Great Emu War, or the Great Molasses Flood - yep, all real historical events. 

The Petrarchan Purpose Continues

After a round of vocab experts and a recap of all things Petrarchan Sonnet (see, once you know the rhyme scheme and line differentiation, you will always be on the look out for sounds and shifts), we looked at poem sample #2 (a little inspiration of all things "love" and heavenly procured) poem sample #3 (a little intertwining of time, that little scamp Cupid, and poetic immortality), and the common motifs featured in many a poem. To further emphasize Petrarch's poetic structure, motifs, and literary elements, you have a poem to close read and prepare for over-analysis presentation during tomorrow's class. For those absent, you have the "Ne per sereno ciel ir vaghe stelle" as your passage. Remember, the purpose of each part of the poem including that lovely volta!

Petrarch & The Poetry

Since I'm off to finish grading all of the Cindy syntax prompts for AP Lang, I will restrain myself from babbling about Petrarch or his muse, the ever-effervescent and scintillating Laura. At this point, we looked at a poem (the first one in the packet) for its motifs, figurative language, tones, diction, imagery, allusions (hi, Cupid), and all the other literary elements existent in a poem (it's like prose but condensed, which means you have all the stuff to find in less surface area). To further our understanding, we then looked at Petrarchan/Italian sonnet structure - that octave, that volta, that sestet, that rhyme scheme! With the knowledge of structure, you have another avenue of analysis, and it seems to connect with a lot of shifts in the poem!

For reading this evening, close read the next 2 poems for literary elements and structure!

The Grendel Skits & A Workday

On the block day, we finished up our Grendel skits with quite a hybrid of Orks, guitar-laden psalms for the recently deceased shaper, and Grendel's musical Queen repertoire. I always thought "Bohemian Rhapsody" was more a song describing Edmund the Bastard in King Lear, but it fits Grendel too!

Friday is an essay work day with the New Historicist essays due by 3:30 p.m.

Poetry, and its many forms, begins next week! 

Poor Craig

In both classes, I had the chance to see your outlines for the New Historicist essay and make sure you were on the right track with your work. Second hour began their Grendel analysis/performances with a thorough look at characterization, the zodiac, heroes, the dragon influence, and all the minutia regarding Grendel's ascent into his murderous methodology. Plus, the had the guard, poor Craig, lose his head and his surprised expression in the retelling of Grendel's entree into the mead hall and how the mead drinkers reacted to his presence.

Tomorrow will be the analysis and performances of all remaining chapters. We will also talk about the Works Cited Page as this is part of your assignment.

Prepping for Grendel: The Performances

2: After we recapped the dragon and his role in Grendel, you broke into 7 groups, claimed a chapter, and prepared 10 observations and plan for the dramatic interpretation of a scene. During tomorrow's class, you will have a little group time to continue prep as I will be rolling around to check your outlines for the New Historicist essay due on Friday.

6: Same as above - except we started off with the Wife's Lament first.

New Historicism

What a rush these 40 minutes of class were today! We have a class vocab quiz, followed by the New Historicist essay assignment, and a presentation on why you should take the AP Lit exam. After teaching this course for, jeez, the past seven seasons, the work we do in each class - close reading, analysis, literary terms, writing gargantuan thesis statements with ridiculously high levels of vocabulary - all combine to aiding you score a 3 or more on the AP exam.

Finish Grendel for Monday! I think we know how it ends :(

The Dragon

Grendel has a friend. Maybe? Without a Mommy figure, humanity's social acceptance, and a repugnance of animal friendship, poor Grendel has but one figure in his life to offer advisement: the dragon. We shall see if the dragon was the best choice for his BFF.

2 & 6: After finishing our look at chapters 1-4 and how Grendel is quite the different figure in his own novel, you had a box prompt to complete during class. This will need to be made up a.s.a.p. and during a study hall/class time to keep it even with the other classmates.

The Grendel

Second hour started off strong with their Grendel analysis and how the syntax, yellow symbolism, and (ahem) word choice reflected our baby Grendel struggling with his understanding of self, animals, and humans. As this is a short novel (with big print too), we will be moving forward through Grendel's mentality and interactions with the outside world at a rapid pace, which is probably how the book should be read with its stream of consciousness flow. For both classes, you will be reading chapters 5-7 for the block day, and I would pay special attention to chapter 5.

2: Vocab review, followed by our analysis of The Wife's Lament, followed by 3/7 of our Grendel Chs. 1-4 discussion.

6: Vocab review, followed by our finish of Gilgamesh, our look at The Iliad, and the start of Grendel. You also have The Wife's Lament for reading this evening.

The Translations

After finishing our look at The Iliad (well, at least in second hour), it becomes more clear that the voice of the translator (or the modern day scop) influences how we the audience judge the characters and their trials and tribulations. Take, our lovely Hector, the fawn, the one who should be a blip on the radar of Homer's works. In our translator's hands, we see him as just, humble, the man who should be victor on a morally basis alone. I find translations quite fascinating as how they impact our interpretations. Ergo (I almost put "hence," but I know Abby would be disappointed in me), we will have other opportunities to look at multiple translations throughout the course.

2: We actually finished everything on the agenda today! And, you now know why I am quite bothered by people who categorize Shakespeare as Old English! Today was the completion of vocab experts, which means review and quiz are forthcoming this week. We then finished our Gilgamesh groups, looking at epic similes and motifs floating through the forests of Humbaba's guard. Last, we delved into The Iliad, prompting my babbling at the beginning of this post. For homework, you have "The Wife's Lament" to close read (there are versions of this online, but we will be focusing on the translation that I gave you in class) and Chapters 1-4 of Grendel. You will definitely see a vacillation in voice with his telling of the tale.

6: We finished our vocab experts for unit 3 and our Beowulf discussion before jumping into Gilgamesh analysis, which we almost completed. For tomorrow, you will need to prep The Iliad excerpt in your textbook and chapters 1-4 of Grendel.

Heroes and Monsters Part II

2: After vocab experts, we finished up our Beowulf interaction with the post-battle Beowulf hubris and the harrowing journey to Mama Grendel for another fight that will be hyperbolized into a tall tale like his antics in the sea. Next, we turned to Gilgamesh, starting our discussion by analyzing the protagonist, his buddy, and his unfortunate victim, the tree-loving, "just doing his job" Humbaba. We will finish up our discussion of Gilgamesh and move into The Iliad selection from your textbook during next class. If you missed out on the Gilgamesh discussion from today, then be prepared to bring up something on Monday.

6: Since our class was in multiple locations today, we had a moratorium on epic literature. We will resume on Monday - and will be doing a lot of reading and analysis next week to catch up a bit.

Who is the Monster?

Even though we should be qualifying Grendel as the most monstrous figure in Beowulf, the descendant of Cain has a more sympathetic portrayal in our translation. Who becomes the monster? Perhaps many of you would place Beowulf in that category with his penchant of bragging, tall tales, gratuitous violence, and obsession with blood, gore, and glory.

Next time around we will finish up the remaining portions of Bewoulf, look at Life in 999, and analyze Gilgamesh.

Don't forget your essay is due by 2:30 p.m. on Friday - whether you are in class or not.

Peer Evaluating with the 6

The entire hour was dedicated to peer evaluating your free response essays under the new 1-6 scoring system. Now that you have feedback, you have the option of composing a second draft or maintaining its current structure. In either case, a draft of your free response essay is due by 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

Hello, 6

After vocab experts, we moved to a new realm of grading, where the 9 no longer exists, where the 6 is a combination of 3 components: the thesis (technical), the evidence/explanation (technical/artistic), the sophistication (artistic). We will put this into practice tomorrow with your free response first draft essay!

For the block day, you have a textbook now! And with that big green book, you will read all about our new buddies, the Anglo Saxons, on pages 4-17 and jot down notes regarding culture and history. Then, you will read all about your new hero, Beowulf, on pages 18-38 and take notes regarding what you notice for analysis.

A Real 9

For our last foray into 9 grading, we read the rangefinders for the free response prompt and found out how important the setting and its historical, cultural, and social meanings are to an upper-level response (and don't forget to name-drop those lit elements).

With such impressive examples, that means only one thing on the horizon: writing your own free response prompt! Yes!

Here are the rules & regulations:

• Write an essay responding to the exact same prompt from the rangefinders. (That prompt is gold and can fit just about any text.)
• This shall be handwritten and considered a take-home "sort of timed" prompt.
• Do not have the book/play/text with you as you write (you can't cite anyway). You are welcome to review your text prior to writing, though.
• While you don't have to exactly time this essay, go for one hour or less in the writing process.
• Bring in essay for Tuesday's class for our peer evaluation -- with the new 1-6 system.

Meanwhile, second hour copied down vocab unit 3 to begin on Monday, and second hour started vocab experts for vocab unit 3.

And since we were talking about the environment, climate change, the lack of bird population, here are links to an NBC News story on how scientists in Iceland are attempting to circumvent carbon from complete contamination of the atmosphere Iceland Scientists and the concern of the Nightingale population moving towards endangerment, which would devastate my Keatsy The Nightingale. 

Speaking of my beloved Keatsy, yesterday was the 200th anniversary of his "Ode to Autumn," which Cora and I celebrated by reading outside. The majority of his works were composed and he met Fanny in 1819, so this 200 anniversary year is quite a magical one. 

The Free Response

We are wrapping up our 1-9 evaluation system and moving into the 1-6 scoring range for future essays, or unknown territory! At least we are all in this together!

2: We finished - yes, finished - the Chopin presentations! We shared our first book card! We overviewed the free response essay by looking at a prompt and having a set of rangefinders to evaluate for Friday's class.

6: Same as above, but we also copied down Vocab Unit 3, so we can start that on Friday as well.

Need a New Subject Line

In both classes, we have had the shocking tale of Desiree's Baby amongst our plethora of presentations, which are still in progress - but not for long! Presentations will end tomorrow, so if you happen to be one of the 10 people remaining, don't skip out and prolong our adjustment into the next phase of AP Lit.

Book cards are due tomorrow, so be ready to show and tell something of import from your work. These are your study guides for future essays and preparations for the AP Lit exam, so be thorough!

Still with Chopin

Kudos to the majority of you who are going in-depth with your analysis of the Chopin short stories, connections to her other works, and aligning Chopinesque qualities in other literary figures. Some of these short stories, ones that are fairly limited on the surface for literary elements, are now exploding with minute details building character, milieu, and theme. I am looking forward to the rest of the presentations - especially since all of you will have a lot of evidence with citations and fulfill the assignment's 7 requirements (hint).

Since we should - will? - finish these on the block day, have your book card prepared for that day. Following our Chopin work (yes, you will have to say goodbye to your book), we will be in teh world of free response essays and then the Anglo-Saxon realm of epic heroes.

At Least We Started Presentations

In both hours, we are in the midst of presentations with the objective of completing at least 5 on each A day and the remainder on the block day. These will not go on forever - even though with so many interruptions, who knows? Kudos to Megan M. for starting off our Chopin short story analysis today - even with a tornado drill in the midst of her thought process - should that have happened with Brendon's "Storm" analysis instead? - and still bringing insightful, thorough, and engaging observations on a short story normally brushed aside. I'm looking forward to all of your perspectives in the upcoming days!

The Count 2019

Congratulations to Rhyen for coming closest to the shoe count this year! While some of you definitely overshot the estimate (I probably should have mentioned that I have been cleaning out my shoe walls this summer), the number at this time (barring the pair that may have been lost in a fire at the shoe repair man) totals to 412.

Look Another 2 Days to Prepare!

Well, we didn't make it nearly as far as I imagined in my fantasy-world of fast-paced vocab quizzes, prompt meetings, book card assignments (second hour), and presentations. What does that mean? Friday will be full of whatever was mentioned and not attained in our given time limit, and that your presentations over Chopin's short stories should have more panache, specificity, evidence, and whatnot to score a higher evaluation.

The Eternal Swim

Some of you were quite flustered by The Awakening, so I can just imagine what the presentation of the short stories will be! Class revolved around individual topics regarding the end of the novella and its connection to the entire text. Ocean! Bird! Clothing (or lack thereof)!

We have lots to do tomorrow - vocab quiz, paper meetings, presentations! Oh my!

The Continuation of Edna and the Birthmark, Respectively

2: After reviewing our vocab for the upcoming quiz, we spent some quality time with Edna in the pigeon house and reviewing what an AP-level prompt would need to include to score in the upper echelon. Bring back your portfolio - decorated or not - for tomorrow's class, which will be one busy hodgepodge of finishing The Awakening with your solo points regarding the text's conclusion, the vocab quiz, the return of your prompts, and paper meetings (as needed).

6: After finishing our vocab experts (a day behind second hour), we then merged with second hour's agenda.

A Rob-in or A Robin

Oh, Edna, substituting your feelings of "love," or hair affection, with a lesser man that does not mean much to anyone, other than his obligatory "scamp" status deemed by our beloved doctor and his clear view of human nature. Today's class, after vocab work, was about chapters 23-31, or when Edna kind of confuses her need for the "light" with Robert and starts lollygagging about with Alcee Arobin. Now, you can pronounce that the French way, but I always like to break it down a little differently. It could be a rob-in, as in taking what is not yours, i.e. a brigand. Or, could it be a robin, another bird trapped in a some sort of gender role cage? In either circumstance, names are fun.

In class, specifically, we had groups take charge of chapters for analysis. If you were absent, prep for chapter 31, which you will be in charge of next class.

Completion of the Awakening is expected for Tuesday.

The Awakening of the Presentations Less Than a Week Away

In both classes, we continued forward with our individual close reads, which are either quite close to completion or finished, depending on your class size. In either circumstance, we will finish chapters 12-22 tomorrow to set up the new reading for Friday, which happens to be chapters 23-31. Monday will be any leftover analysis from the aforementioned chapters, the return of your prompts with reminders and brief meetings, and some time to formulate more of your presentations, not that you don't have all of your readings, materials, and notes ready to go. Tuesday will be the last day of the Awakening, so the novella needs to be read and noted by that time.

In regards to the presentation, those 7 bullet points are the required areas of analysis. You may choose to do those 7 areas in the order given or mix and match into an order that better fits your story and presentation style.

With all of the analysis, evidence identification, and overall characterization of Edna and her fellow cast throughout our class discussion, group discussion, individual close reads, you should very comfortable with your abilities to formulate a literary analysis. You are surrounded by a like-minded, encouraging classmates that are (I would hope) looking forward to hearing more about Chopin and her other tales and less about Edna at this point!

The Close Reads Continue

So far, we have seen a move in our close reads to a new milieu (hello, New Orleans), a lack of familiar characters (bye bye Robert), a continual back and forth of frustration (yep, Edna and her awakening, or semi-awakening, or troubled sleeping patterns)., and wait, wait, wait - zeugma in the form of bit/biting!

We will attempt to finish the close reads tomorrow with anything remaining on Friday's class. Since you have not had any reading assignments lately, I hope you have taken the chance to work on your short story and presentation, which is right around the corner, once we have finished The Awakening. The chapters are short, so you know it's not too far away.

And while I was hearing another brilliant guitar solo by John Mayer last night, I started connecting the lyrics of "Gravity" to our dear Edna, especially with the emphasis of "light" that seems to have left Edna now in her time of loneliness and Robertlessness (new word). I don't know what it is about Edna, but her story, Chopin's overwhelming motif usage, and the constant play of the word "awakening" sure bespeaks to a great deal of other artistic forms: Gravity by John Mayer.

Individual Close Reads

At this point, we are all in process of vocab unit 2 and the individual close reads for chapters 12-22, which will continue for the next couple days (according to class size, length of close reads, and further volunteer participation following each one - keep at it!). Since that will be filling our school hours, it only makes sense to be working on your short story and your eventual presentation regarding Chopin and her writing at home.

The Perpetual Awakening of Edna Pontellier

 At this point, I hope you've noted all of the sleep, awakening, and other variations of these words filtering through the novella and how our submissive Edna has become a different woman over the course of her experiences at the beach. No matter if you are in second hour and in the midst of our individual close reads or in sixth hour and just wrapping up the group discussions, you should be read up through chapter 22 for Tuesday.

Seriously

Robert sure has an obsession with the word "seriously" and how people view him "seriously," which makes sense since his mother ignores him, Adele brushes him off, and Edna is in a discombobulated struggle to figure out herself, or i.e. all his "mother figures" see him as a dreaming teenager. Poor Robert. As readers, we abandon him too at a certain point - the novella's not titled "Robert's Serious Adventure" or anything. Back to Edna - and her affection for the sea - she is struggling with her role as mother, wife to a reputation-minded spouse, friend to the epitome of womanhood, sandwiched between those repeating figures of the woman in black and the two lovers. Our class, as will the ones revolving around her "awakening" will chart not just the fact that she is known as Edna by the narrator, but how she adjusts to her decisions to challenge the status quo of feminine identity. (Would that make Mademoiselle Reisz a warning or an inducement to go for the independent route?)

With all that mind, we finished up our individual points regarding chapters 2-5 before launching into the Kate Chopin assessment, the presentation of short story, Chopin, and the literary world. You have your story in some form or another, so make sure not to wait to start reading, observing, and preparing for your eventual presentation.

To end the hour, we began our group analysis of chapters 6-11, which we will, probably, hopefully, dependent on your hour and what the school has planned for us, finish next class.

Reading-wise, move forward through Chapter 17. Seriously.

The Pontelliers

After our vocab quiz, we spent quality time with The Pontelliers' introduction, the characterization apparent from each one's entrance - whether it be with a newspaper or an umbrella, a myopic man or a piece of sunburned property, respectively. As you may have realized, the minutia, the over-analysis of every paragraph adds to the interpretation of the text. Your observations and note should delve into every aspect and seek out the shifts throughout the novella, all in preparation for your classroom participation, something mandatory for full understanding and improvement in literary analysis.

We started our Chs. 2-5 discussion today, without much time, alas, so that shall finish tomorrow. For further class preparation, read through Chapter 11 and be ready to see what happens with our Edna.

Our Kate

After a scintillating review of vocab for the quiz tomorrow - don't worry, it is a short one since we have only 15 words total in the class - so far, we shared our thesis statements for that pair of Lucetta and Elizabeth, gave our fun facts on Kate Chopin, and received The Awakening with instructions to read chapters 1-5 and jot down all the "stuff" (i.e.characterization, motifs, lit elements, uh, anything really) and don't forget textual evidence and citations to prove your knowledge! Don't skimp out on your observations - you are part of this book club!

Our Young Elizabeth

After vocab experts concluded for Unit 1, which means review is next time, and the quiz is the next next time, we spent the hour with Lucetta and Elizabeth Jane, our two characters highlighted in our passage from The Mayor of Casterbridge. As noted in class, our sweet, naive Elizabeth actually has the wherewithal and intelligence to see through the third person hypothetical scenarios presented by her friend. For homework, you are constructing a thesis statement to the attached prompt, which will be evaluated on Monday by your peers.

The Characterization Begins

Characterization is a key element in the analysis of fiction, so key, in fact, that the majority of prose passages on the AP exam deal with characterization and its tells - dialogue, body language, exposition, setting, and all the intricate details that help us understand whether our protagonist/antagonist/foil happens to be dynamic/static/round/flat and how to identify the specific adjectives that detail his/her existence. For Tom, in our Gatsby passage, we spent a great deal of time on his characterization and how to respond to the corresponding prompt. You worked in groups to clarify character adjectives and select the 2 that best clarify his personality (remember, you are going for 2 adjectives that are no synonyms and show a shift or development in character), clarify the relationship with other characters, and determine the literary strategies that would give us this multi-faceted Tom. All of the aforementioned steps create that thesis statement, ones of glory from second and sixth hour, detailing the adjectives and playing with verb choice to create a mature, amazing theses!

Well, that was enough of a tangent. Here's the recap of what we did: Vocab Experts to continue our especially incredible vernaculars, played cards, worked with Tom's characterization, signed up for AP classroom.

Homework is to study up on Kate Chopin's biography so you have ethos and observations to share!

The First Prompt!

It's starting to feel like an AP Lit class! We're analyzing mythological figures in contrasting poems, we're close reading to characterize a figure in prose, we're writing a literary analysis prompt. Wait - a prompt! It's strange that I have not had the pleasure of evaluating a prompt in over 3 months since my school life is centered around your ideas, words, syntax, and essays. Anywho, today was the diagnostic prompt for AP Lit, which I'm sure will have some fascinating commentary regarding "The Birthmark." How could it not? Hawthorne is a blast, a treat, a lover of the symbol!

The plan for our block day is to finish our characterization of Tom (make sure you close read/highlight the remaining text), try our hand at dual characterization in a passage (ooh), and, maybe, maybe, maybe, prep for our first novella, the ever-fascinating tale of Edna Pontellier, better known as The Awakening. I guess that means I need to wear my AP Lit 2018 shoes soon - you should be able to figure out why.

Thanks for being a part of our AP Lit book club!

Poetry to Prose

Before I am sidetracked by today's agenda, don't forget about our diagnostic prompt on "The Birthmark" tomorrow! Bring your close read, paper, and pen/pencil. Prompt will be waiting for you with a bell to bell time limit.

Meanwhile in reminding you how to write an essay (look, a pretty thesis; look, a smattering of literary elements; look, evidence from the text), we finished up our "Helens," or as Amber puts it, the love triangle among Poe, Dolittle, and Helen of Troy, with sharing thesis statements (ah, the verb and adjective use was on point) and evidence regarding speaker, diction, imagery, form, and tone.

With poetry in the rear view, prose takes center stage, especially the characterization element of fiction. Everything is fair game for garnering characterization - exposition, relationships with other characters, dialogue, body language, diction, and so forth. From the first moments of our Gatsby passage, you already see Tom's character forming. When analyzing a prose passage, you want your pen ready to mark all of those hints and conjoin them into a final, adjective-laced description.

Finish up close reading Tom's characterization passage for the block day.

Oh, Helen

Trying to blog during Scholar Quiz practice is a challenge! I wonder what Poe and Ms. Hilda would make of this scavenger hunt!

Today's class began with our first 4 vocab words of the season, the diagnostic prompt passage of "The Birthmark" for Tuesday, and our first class analysis of poetry, with a focus on Helen of Troy and her beauty, passion, and lauded spirit or her lifeless, annoying, destructive role in the Trojan War. On Monday, we will finish up this practice prompt - second hour reading their work and sixth hour commencing theirs.

The Colorful Cards

I probably need to start writing our agenda before AP Lang so as not to be so rushed with the phrasing! Today's class was the true start of AP Lit with our commencement of vocab experts with Unit 1, which will begin sharing tomorrow. A vocab expert teaches the class the definition, a minimum of 2 synonyms, and a memory trick. Make sure to have your expertise ready to share!

You also have a plethora of supplemental handouts in your possession to help you with tone shifts, color symbolism, archetypes, and other literary meanings to assist your future readings and analysis. While we will not be studying or testing over this material, I highly suggest you utilize these resources in your literary analysis - especially at the beginning of the year as you work your way into our book club. 

And, even if it was a frustrating exercise, you had a class card game. For the most part, your prose terms and rhetorical terms are at high proficiency. Poetry - not so much - but that is completely understandable since we will be studying poetry (and the miracle packet - yes, I love that packet, and I recognize that you will probably not have as much affection for it) in October-ish. 

Tomorrow we start our first analysis as a class with a couple poems regarding that mythical beauty Helen of Troy. If you are not familiar with her mythology, you may want to do brief research to have ethos on the topic. 

P.S. The internet went down at school while I was typing this at the end of the school day. Sorry for the delay in post! You know how the wifi works around here :)

AP Lit Version 7.0

Welcome to AP Lit - not that we had the chance to start our book club selections - yet. Don't worry - we will be reading tomorrow, in theory, accordingly if we don't have many distractions peppering our plate.

A non-traditional first day in AP Lit with the assignment of chargers and laptops to all of you. I think we made it work so that we could have our opening day participation and look at the syllabus. Tomorrow will be centered more on our actual class goings-on, including vocabulary, card games, and close reading poetry - yes, poetry.

It's Done (not Donne)

The test is over, but that doesn't mean we are done with AP Lit class! As seventh hour found out today, we still have our lit card competition, our class allusion quest, our final mysterious project, and our film version of Wuthering Heights! That shall keep us quite busy up until your last day of high school English class.

Meanwhile, the shoe vote has concluded and here are the top 5:

1: Balmain Joris
2: Charlotte Olympia Gingham Dolly
3: Prada Black/Orange Bootie
4: Sophia Webster Ivory Royalty
5: Tamara Mellon Largo

Due to the fact that only 2 of the top 5 shoes are actually available in my size and due to the fact that only one of them I will actually wear, the order will be for the Tamara Mellon Largo.

Titles

I'm a third of the way through the poetry prompts and I just have one question to bring up to you. When will all of you properly punctuate poem titles with quotation marks? Starting off with a distraction - that can be easily fixed - does not help your cause.

Practice Test 2 Complete

As Thursday comes to a close, all AP Lit classes will have completed the 4 parts of the second practice exam. If you have missed one or multiple parts of the exam, you will need to makes those up this week if you want to be part of the review class on Monday/Tuesday (depending on your hour).

Our next class will center around reviewing the prompts and the MC as final reminders and tips convey how to boost your score on the exam, which is Wednesday, May 8. We have spent all year working with poetry - moving beyond surface meaning and simple literary elements to underlying meanings, speaker's persona, and poetry-specific devices. We have delved into prose works varying from Creole sensibilities to Victorian ideologies to focus characterization, motifs, and milieu. We have read a plethora of novels and plays with a lens to historicism, psychoanalysis, gender, and class to bolster the free response portion. We have completed MC passages with an eye on close reading to improve the overall comprehension and score. With all the "we" anaphora, you should note that you have been preparing for this test all year long!

For those of you in need of those last reminders and practices, review sessions after school on Monday (short) and Tuesday (long), which will involve MC, all prompts, and the cards, if time permits.

And since we only have 6 days left until the exam, you should definitely vote on the AP Lit shoes for this year. Voting ends the morning of the test day. This meant to be something fun and frivolous, so do take part, even if you are a conduit for a former student :)

I am in the midst of evaluating the poetry prompts and I just wanted to remind you to make sure you know how to spell all the literary elements correctly and to use apostrophes correctly for possessives. There is a substantial difference between the speaker's and the speakers in meaning.

Testing, Testing, Testing

I came back from my maternity leave to evaluate AP exam essays? Poor planning on my part! Nah - I secretly enjoy reading essays, especially at this point in the year when you know exactly what will score well for poetry, prose, and free response.

At this point, all classes have completed the three essays for the second practice exam, a.k.a. your final. If you have missed any portion, you need to make this up immediately!

Next class will be the MC portion. I sent all of you a very lengthy e-mail regarding plans for the rest of the semester, so make sure that you have given that a read and signed up for your final project's text(s).

And, don't forget to vote for my next pair of AP Lit shoes! You have 2 votes per day, and you can stop by on non-class days to continue voting. This is something fun for me, but it only becomes worthwhile if a lot of you vote!

Many of you missed class today due to field trips, so the rest of us discussed the end of Wuthering Heights and how those characters might behave in different settings. We also looked at some children's books of Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein.

Some of you missed the poetry prompt on Thursday, and I forgot to ask you to arrange makeups today, so please remember to do that on Monday when Ms. Gianini returns.

Speaking of her return, today is my last day with you. You've impressed me so much with your ability to dig deep into literature and identify advanced literature devices. You're amazing, and I can't wait to see how well you do on the AP test. I have loved sharing part of your senior year with you, especially reconnecting with those of you who were in my class during your freshman year. What a treat to see how you've matured. I'll probably see you around in May as I sub in other classes, but if not, know that my best wishes go with you as you graduate and move into your futures. You will do amazing things, and I'll boast that I used to know you.

Mrs. Bubenik

Cathy and Her Cousins

Today we discussed Linton, Hareton, and Cathy (the daughter) in chapters 22-25. A lot of the discussion revolved around the topic of manipulation and nature vs. nurture. Tonight you're reading chapters 26 - 28 in preparation for our last class discussion of the novel. Also, you'll be starting your second full AP practice exam on Thursday with the poetry prompt.

WH continues

Today we discussed Wuthering Heights chapters 7 - 11. Tonight please read chapters 12 - 14 in preparation for a close read activity tomorrow.

WH continues

Today we completed a close read of two pages of Wuthering Heights from chapters 2 - 6 and discussed them. Some classes didn't quite finish, so we'll do that on Monday, and you'll turn in your close reading and the chart. Your homework is to read chapters 7 - 11. Next week there will be a lot more reading and discussing of the (oh, which adjective to choose: dark, trapped, desperate . . .) characters.

Transitioning from Poets to Wuthering Heights

We have concluded our discussion of the romantic poets, and your tone sheets are due on Thursday. We also reviewed the Marxist lens. Before beginning Wuthering Heights, we briefly examined the Bronte sisters, especially Emily, the author. We'll start reading the novel tomorrow.

Just Two More Poets

It was Lord Byron's turn today: his bio on pg 793, a poem on pg 795, and a small packet of his poetry. We'll discuss the packet to start our block day this week before tackling Shelley and Keats. (Your tone sheets for each poet will be due on Thursday.) Then we'll review/expand on the idea of applying the Marxist lens to literature. We may have time to begin discussing the Bronte sisters and possibly start reading chapter 1 of Wuthering Heights. Or not. It's a D Day this week.

Those Romantic Poets

Today we discussed William Blake's poetry and completed a tone sheet for him. Next up: Byron.

Wordsworth

Today we discussed the Wordsworth poetry packet. If you were absent (gotta love field trip season), you must show me your close read of the packet in order to receive the grade for today. I also handed out the tone packet for the romantic poets. Please complete the first page with three tone words and evidence for Wordsworth. On Wednesday we'll conclude our discussion of Wordsworth and begin looking at Blake's paintings.

Kennedy, Rachel H. and Kyle need to make up a portion of the first full AP exam. Please do this ASAP so I can pass the results back to everyone.

AP Exam Results

Today we completed the return analysis of the prose prompt from your first full AP exam. Some of you had passionate things to say about Rosamund and Lydgate and carefully examined the text to support your opinion.

Next week we'll be doing a similar return analysis on the poetry and free response passages when everyone finally finishes making up their missed exams (PLEASE). We'll also get back to Wordsworth on Monday with a discussion of his poetry packet and an examination of his tone. When we've said all we have to say about Wordsworth, we'll move on to Blake who has paintings as well as poetry to examine.

BTW, I have entered your scores on each part of the AP exam.

Analyzing AP Results and Beginning Romantics

Today we analyzed the multiple choice portion of your first full AP test. Ms. Gianini has finished grading the prose prompt portion of the test, and those grades have been entered. We'll do a return analysis of the prose portion on Friday. She will probably finish the poetry portion this week, which is also my goal on the free response prompt, so we'll be doing a return analysis of those portions next week.

We also reviewed what you already know about the Romantic period and poets, so there was a lot of discussion of nature, imagination, passion, change, and individuality. We read the biographical info on William Wordsworth (pg 734 in the textbook) and completed a close read and discussion of his poem London 1802 on page 710. Tomorrow we'll talk about tone, read Tintern Abbey, and your homework will be a close read of a small packet of Wordsworth's poems.

Today was the prose part of the first full AP test. Just one part left, the free response prompt on Monday. Hang in there, Guys.

Halfway Through

ATTENTION: Tomorrow, March 22, is the LAST DAY to register to take the AP test in May. See Ms. McGill if you still need to register.

Today you completed the poetry response in your first full practice AP test. Whew!! Up tomorrow, prose.

We completed the multiple choice portion of your first full AP test. Up tomorrow, poetry, followed by prose and a free response essay.

Also, I want to retract the long-range nature of the open-ended prompt homework. If you'll turn in a total of TWO open-ended prompts this week, I'll be happy, and we'll find some spare class time to complete a few in weeks to come.

Today we shared and discussed your book cards for The Importance of Being Earnest, which led to discussion of the preferred qualities of gentlemen and ladies in the Victorian era. We also discussed the importance of being able to respond to an open-ended prompt without sweat. To achieve that goal, the homework every day for the rest of my time with you is to complete ONE free response practice. This is just the basic outline of the essay you would write if you had to. So I'm looking for your thesis statement and the examples that you would use in the body of an essay.

Tomorrow we'll begin taking your first full AP test. We'll start with the multiple choice part.

One More Day

Today we completed the writing prompt for Frankenstein. Tomorrow we'll discuss the end of Frankenstein and watch a few movie clips. Which scenes would you most like to see?

With spring break nearly here, don't forget the assignment: Read a digital copy of The Importance of Being Earnest and create a book card for it. We'll share those book cards and discuss the play when we return from break.

Reminder: If you plan to take the AP exam, please complete the registration as soon as possible.

It's almost spring break

Hi, this is Mrs. Bubenik, and I'm writing my first ever blog entry.

We've been celebrating the arrival of Cora and sending Ms. Gianini our best wishes for a speedy recovery and many enchanting moments with her new daughter.

While she enjoys some well-deserved time off, we've been discussing Frankenstein, a lot. There have been some deep insights into the symbolism in the novel as well as the juxtaposition of Victor's mental and physical decline with the creature's increasing humanity. I also heard a great discussion today of the role of women in the novel. (There have been so many other topics discussed, but I failed to take notes, so, lesson learned going forward.)

Today we also shared our free response practices in groups and turned them in. We reviewed the district multiple choice assessment and kept it to review as needed.

For tomorrow, please finish reading Frankenstein and do a close read of the passage that will be used for the timed prompt on Thursday.

For spring break, please find a digital copy of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. This is a short play, so read it and create a book card during your break. When you return, we'll be sharing your observations of the play and discussing gender roles in the Victorian Era.

Wretches

Continuing forward through Frankenstein, we have the diction of wretches for the Creature, Victor, and Justine, which makes sense because they are all not living their ideal lives right now. Our class was individual discussion today, which provided great commentary on the characters, conflicts, and nature. For Monday, you will continue forward through chapters 9-14 and will find out what the creature has been up to all of this time.

The Supporting Cast

This is a reminder that if you are one of the select few that have not taken the District MC Post-Test, you need to do so a.s.a.p. so all of that data can be accrued, and we won't have to worry about that next week. This takes 35-ish minutes to complete.

In the Geneva and Ingolstadt world, all classes worked with the supporting players of Victor Frankenstein's life: Caroline, the epitome of motherly caregiving, tragically lost to the fever, the reason Victor vows to supplant God as creator; Daddy F, the apotheosis of the male provider, the supporter of Victor's education, the older, wiser figure keeping the Frankenstein family aloft; Henry Clerval, the buddy with the soul of a poet, the travelling spirit, the one left behind as Victor moves into his scientific adventures; Elizabeth Lavenza, the foundling, the angelic sprite, the substitute caregiver taking over for the loss of the family matriarch, the "gift" of Victor's life. While Victor completely forgets about all of those people in his role as "pioneer" of humanity, these four have a significant role in his past and future - as you shall see in the upcoming chapters, which include 5-8 for tomorrow.

To conclude chapters 1-4, we did look at Victor's "project" and his "materials" amassed for his eight foot baby. As foreshadowed by lightning-effaced trees, the assumption remains that this is not going to end up well for anyone in the story. 

Possibly away from the realm of Frankenstein (you could choose this text for later purposes), we looked at free response prompts - the one where you select the text for analysis and you don't need any direct evidence. I would highly recommend having one novel/play that you know backwards and forwards with author, era, plot, characters, setting, motifs, significant lit elements, cultural criticisms. This one text will probably fit about 95% of the prompts, and you can practice analyzing this book in our class before the actual exam. I would also recommend having two more texts that you know about 75% - just in case you end up with that one prompt that does not work with your favorite. (One text should be a novel and one should be a play to cover all bases.)

You now have all of the free response prompts from 1970-2013, which you will use to complete 2 free response practices. Choose 2 prompts from across that spectrum, and compete the boxes for each one. While you are welcome to use the same text for both of these handouts, you may want to do one with a novel and one with a play to make sure you have the background for both texts. The free response work will be due on your next block day, but you don't have to wait until next week to complete them. 

And speaking of next week, we will be finishing Frankenstein, and we will have an in-class writing prompt at some point next week. I've decided to give you the prompt the class before the writing hour. You will be able to close read the given passage, but you won't be able to write the essay in advance. Happy March!

Still Testing, Testing, Testing

2 & 4: We had the opportunity to learn more about the AP Lit exam, which, of course, we have worked all year on to improve your prose, poetry, free response, and close reading skills. I'm not biased or anything, but it seems to make sense to take the exam after all of your hard work and preparation.

Afterwards, second hour embraced our team Walton and team Victor situation and how those two fellas seem to have a similar hubristic trajectory, which Victor seems to understand and Walton seems oblivious to pursue. Then, you had the pleasure of the second district MC exam - those 2 passages to see how you do with another poetry and prose work. We will deal with the data part tomorrow. Meanwhile, you have reading to do: chapters 1-4. Plus, you have a character chart to make for your selected character.

In fourth hour, we moved from the AP test to the district AP MC test, which is one more indicator of all of your knowledge regarding literature! Then, we did a very quick Team Walton and Team Victor back-and-forth discussion, which clearly indicated that these 2 characters have quite the parallel lives. For homework tomorrow, you have chapters 1-4 and a character chart for one of the supporting characters. Grant, you have Henry Clerval as your assigned character.

Testing, Testing

The start of seventh hour revolved around the plethora of reasons, or the compendium, for taking the AP Lit exam this May. With all the commitment to breaking down close readings, learning all those funky poetic terms, reading a wide variety of literature from Grendel's provocative diction to Frankenstein's attempts to become God, and completing so many multiple choice passages, you have definitely prepared for the exam. As always, if you choose not to take the exam, you will still have an alternative assessment at the end of the year.

Next up on the docket happens to be another MC test, this one courtesy of the AP Lit program via the district. If you miss this event, you will need to make it up very soon since data needs to be collected. This should not involve missing class, if at all possible, so make sure to schedule study hall time or possibly after school (probably not many days left to do so).

We will have time for more of Walton and Victor character analysis on Thursday, but in the meanwhile, you need to read Chapters 1-4. Each of you will follow one character from these chapters and make a character chart. Henry, you will analyze Henry Clerval (yes, we chose that for you on purpose); Faith, you will analyze Elizabeth; Jazz, you will analyze Caroline.

That Walton - Whatever Purpose Does He Serve?

While not all classes had the opportunity to chat about Walton, those that did seem to find it quite a coincidence that this non-protagonist happens to have hubris, a self-taught education, and a wanting of becoming almost a "god" capable of acts no other man has ever done! Hmm...sounds familiar?

F.Y.I. If you happened to have not presented your Wollstonecraft chapter, this needs to be competed by the end of the week after school. Make sure to schedule your 4 minutes - otherwise, you lose out on the points.

2: We wrapped up the Wollstonecraft presentations, which means tomorrow will be the opportunity to talk about Walton - and not just letter one! Make sure to read letters 2-4, adding Walton quotes and characterization AND setting up a chart for the newly arrived Victor Frankenstein.

4 & 7: After our presentations, we had a fascinating discussion regarding Walton - and with non-repeating quotes - and his characterization (hence, the above comments regarding hubris, education, and dreams of grandeur to create a mythological figure and reputation). For next time, add to your Walton charts in letters 2-4 AND create a chart for Victor Frankenstein to amp up his characterization.

The Wollstonecraft Repetition

In all classes, we had the pleasure of hearing many chapters and sections of Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which definitely repeats motifs, literary elements, allusions, Rousseau trashing, morality's importance, and education to improve the future generations. I always enjoy the audience reaction to each 4 minute synopsis, and how you are hearing the consistency of argument throughout the chapters. Second hour has 9 presentations left, fourth hour with 4, and seventh hour with ? (typing this during sixth hour, but odds are somewhere in the vicinity of 5-7).

Meanwhile, you already have what you need for classwork tomorrow: Frankenstein, reading the introductory material for info, reading analytically Letter 1, filling out the character chart for Robert Walton. All of that will be needed for after the presentations on Monday, so make sure you are ready to talk about Walton - and why he might be the starting figure in a novel that is not about him.

And don't forget that you have the Proxy Penguin, the Gianini Giraffe, the Omniscient Owl, and the Zenith Zebra to keep you company!

Prepping Day

Today was a prep day for the Wollstonecraft presentations, which will be timed for a four minute maximum. Make sure to include responses to the 4 questions and include evidence with citations (of course). Since we will probably not finish all the presentations in one day (fourth hour has the best chance), any remaining Wollstonecraft chats will resume Monday. And, don't forget that you will be turning in your close reading and written portions afterwards. 

Since I will be out and about on Friday, you also have that day's classroom assignment in your possession. Read the background material, introduction, and preface to set you up for Frankenstein. Then, read - with an analytical eye - letter one, filling out the characterization chart for Walton with quotes from the text and analysis. More is better. 

The World of Wollstonecraft

In every hour, we had a lengthy discussion on Mary Wollstonecraft's life and the start of Vindication via the opening letter and introduction sections. You also have the Vindication assignment and chapter (or section of chapter for bigger classes) to complete the close read, written paragraphs, and preparation for presentations. If you were absent, don't worry! I sent you the overall assignment, your individual assignment, and the chapters so that you are ready for next class!

Romanticism, Feminism, & Wollstonecraft

In our shortened class today, we continued with vocab (I'm probably going to combine vocab units 7 & 8 for the next quiz because we have a great deal to do in the next weeks. I feel like a clock is just ticking as loud as possible behind me trying to accomplish everything by March 8.) Then, we looked at the characteristics and buzz words of Romanticism, which you can use in our work with Wollstonecraft and Shelley. Since we are talking of Wollstonecraft, we then reviewed the patriarchy and gender roles. For homework, you need to read up on Mary Wollstonecraft and read the dedicatory letter and introduction to A Vindication for the Rights of Woman, which can be found online in many places if you search.

The Prose Characterization

After vocab today, we spent the rest of the time looking at the prose rangefinders, and I found out some of you have very specific pet peeves with capitalization, punctuation, and certain diction. Since rangefinder analysis took the majority of the hour, we will be moving into feminist criticism and Romanticism (they work together in my eyes) next class.

Our Pilgrimages

In all of our hours, we read our prologues, heard 5 of the tales, and realized that there are very clever ways to rhyme multi-syllable words. The tales had humor, melancholy, redemption, and a whole list of abstract feelings from beginning to end. I hope you enjoyed this creative interlude as it is time to go back to our characterization analysis.

For those of you who have taken the prose diagnostic prompt, you have the rangefinders to read and score for next class. I guess that means if you have not taken the prompt, you will be while we analyze those rangefinders.

Yep, All That Characterization Must Mean a Prompt

In all classes, you had the prose prompt diagnostic essay to complete. Hopefully, you remembered to bring in all those characterization qualities and tips that have filtered through The Cherry Orchard, The Metamorphosis, The Canterbury Tales, and those MC passages.

Our next class will feature our prologues, our tales, and our bon voyage parties to Alcatraz, Far, Far Away, and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. I just finished my first draft of the Alcatraz prologue, and I somehow managed to rhyme debaucherous with innocuous :) If you are struggling with the prologue, here is what  do for each of them: I just write down all my ideas that I would like to have and then go back and add in the rhyme and iambic pentameter parts (I know iambic pentameter is optional for your assignment, but I hope some of you at least attempt to put in some).

Characters & MC

We spent the beginning of class with character meetings and then whatever was leftover went to the analysis of the MC passages from the district diagnostic. Whatever we did not analyze in class, you should go through on your own and see why you missed any answers.

Characters

From those I met with today, you have brought forth a great burst of creativity for your characters' pilgrimages to various locales. I'm glad you are appreciating this last burst of fictional writing from your parts as the world will soon revolve around analytical prompts again (yep, there are 2 written ones and 2 verbal ones forthcoming in the next 5 weeks).

2: We completed the last round of allusion posters, which allowed my helpers and I to put up the Bible and some of the mythology ones this afternoon. I know it is only a partial selection of all the allusion posters, but I can't keep looking at the wall while I type this! I missed my wallpaper! The plan is to have all up by next Friday (fingers crossed). We started your character meetings, which will resume tomorrow. Afterwards, we will (in theory - where does time go?) review Federigo's Falcon and the diagnostic MC from last week. Don't forget to work on your prologue and tale for next week's block days. If I'm putting this much energy into the assignment, I hope you do too!

4: We spent the hour in character meetings - and still didn't finish in time! We are almost there, however, so that will be completed during the first phrase of AP Lit next time. While you are working on that dynamic prologue and entertaining tale for our bon voyage party next week, class will look at Federigo and his poor pet ownership skills and the AP Lit diagnostic MC from last week. I can't believe we are almost finished with frame stories and will be in with the Romantics/Feminists/Wollstonecraft/Shelley coterie next week!

7: As with the other hours, the character meetings were not completed, but Friday seems like an appropriate occasion to hear about the remaining cast of our pilgrimage. After those last meetings (we're almost there), we will have a chance to analyze Federigo, his great beloved (should be the loyal falcon if you ask me), and his great sacrifice. Don't forget to work on your prologue and tale - I know I'm going to spend some quality time readying for Alcatraz.

To Alcatraz, Far, Far Away, and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory We Go!

Hopefully from the response in class today, you are as excited to take a pilgrimage and construct a character as I am! Seventh hour will journey to Alcatraz as visitors, second our will travel to Far, Far Away to find their fairy godmother, and fourth hour will (finally!) win the golden ticket to see Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in person! While I will be working on the overall prologue (need to brush up on my iambic pentameter and rhyming skills), you will be constructing a prologue for your individual character and a tale with a moral and entertainment value. In order to prep for both of these components, I will be meeting with you tomorrow to discuss your character (I need the dirt to write that prologue). If you were absent and don't have a character yet, no worries! You will have the chance to sign-up during next class and work on the character background while I meet with the others.

To add to future plans beyond creative works, we will go over the district assessment MC (average 14/22), bring in a few more rounds of vocab, return to prompt writing (I've really been plugging characterization lately, haven't I?), bring in more MC practices, move into our next critical lens = feminist, look into the Romantic period, find out how Mary Wollstonecraft changed the tone of society towards women's education (or at least as much as she could in the late eighteenth century), and look at the (ill-advised) parenting style of Victor Frankenstein. That's pretty much third quarter in a nutshell. Fourth quarter will be your first full practice test, the Romantic poets and tone work, Wuthering Heights, and the second full practice test.

Otherwise, we are all about in the same place...

2: We have made our way through The Canterbury Tales, and we will talk about The Decameron's Federigo's Falcon after our character meetings in class. We will also share our allusion posters since time was not our friend today.

4: We are still in the midst of our frame stories, and you have The Pardoner's Tale and Federigo's Falcon to read for next class.

7: We have Boccaccio's Federigo's Falcon for next class - for those of you have already read the tale, some sad irony awaits that falcon.

Wives & Pardoners

We completed the vocab quiz for unit 6 today, so the usual make-up rules do still apply. We also spent some time with those pilgrims from The Canterbury Tale, getting to know their quirks, sins, and characterizations. 

2: For next class, read The Pardoner's Tale and The Wife of Bath's Tale.

4: For next class, read The Wife of Bath's Tale.

7: For next class, have The Wife of Bath's Tale completed and read The Pardoner's Tale as well. 

Post Post Cold Snow Days

FYI Due to all the delays of having class this week, the vocab quiz -for all hours - will be Monday.

2 & 4: We started off class by completing the district assessment, which took about half of our time. (F.Y.I. If you missed the pleasure of taking this assessment, you will need to schedule a time to do so - preferably on Monday or Tuesday so that I may share all of the data at our district meeting.) Then, we shared our third round of allusion posters, which means we are almost through the four weeks of Biblical, mythological, literary, pop cultural, and historical references. Lastly, we returned to the man we "know nothing" about: Chaucer. After reading the general prologue to The Canterbury Tales, we moved into the individual characters. You have been assigned 1-2 of these characters to read and note themes, characterization, occupation/class, and physical description. Some characters have more information for those classifications than others. Don't worry if you were absent, you can still be part of the process! Kyle, you have the Reeve. Cole, you have the Summoner. Hope you enjoy all of these fascinating characters! Here is a version of The Canterbury Tales prologue (may not be the exact same translation as our textbook, but at least you will have the idea): https://tigerweb.towson.edu/duncan/chaucer/duallang1.htm. Although the Middle English version is quite fun for me to read, you may want to stick to the Modern English translation for surety of your interpretation.

7: Surprise, we have class again today, which means you will definitely be ahead of the other AP Lit classes. The plan shall be vocab review, our introduction to Chaucer & his Canterbury Tales, the prologue and its characters (including themes, characterization, occupation/class, physical description), and the start of the Wife of Bath's Tale - ah, is she ever a fun one. I have a feeling whatever we do not finish will be homework reading.