Seventh Hour Takes the Lead

With the resulting cold day tomorrow, that means that seventh hour has the pleasure of being the first class to complete (and complete it well) the district assessment. Since that took the majority of our block schedule today, we did not make it back to the Canterbury Tales. However, we did work on vocab and share our allusion posters, which is always a fun time - well, at least for me. See you all on Thursday.

That Chaucer Fellow

2 & 4: We reviewed vocabulary for the quiz next time, we looked over the other 2 MC passages for analysis -with the intent to prep for the upcoming MC assessment, and we met Thomas a Becket, our reason for pilgrimage, and we now have some idea of Chaucer (whether you see him as an imitator or a brigand) and his variegated career paths. Hopefully, we will have quality time with The Canterbury Tales and its prologue awash with characterization.

7: With the exception that our hour is still in the midst of unit 6 vocab, all the above occurred in seventh hour as well.

The Samsa Family Poetry Hour

We're all in the same place =

1. We had vocab expert time (second and fourth hour have all 15 words complete; seventh hour is through 8 a this point).

2. We finished the analysis of yesterday's MC passages. As per AP Literature MC exams, three of the options are clearly incorrect, and two, frustratingly at times, quite similar.

3. We shared our Metamorphosis poems.

4. You returned as many texts as possible - The Metamorphosis, The Cherry Orchard, King Lear, Grendel.

5. You picked up 2 more MC passages to complete for this weekend to prep for our future (i.e. next week) district assessment for AP Lit.

6. We're starting The Canterbury Tales on Monday, so make sure you have your big green lit book with you.

Those Tricky MC Passages

I've taken 4 MC passages today, and each one had its own level of trickiness - especially those dealing with tone! I survived and most of you did - whether it was Option A passages or Option B passages (and don't worry, you'll see the other option soon).

All classes are on the same plot for today - vocab experts and 2 MC passages. If we didn't finish the analysis portion of the passages, we will wrap those up tomorrow. And, don't forget that the Metamorphosis poem will be presented tomorrow too.

The Final Stages of Metamorphosis

In all classes, we started off with our individual comments regarding the remainder of The Metamorphosis. To continue with our characterization focus of these opening weeks, we divided into groups and identified 5 adjectives for each of the Samsa family members: Gregor, Grete, Mom, and Dad. Overall, the adjectives were specific, supported by the text, and exhibited mature diction to show off your college-level analysis. The assessment for The Metamorphosis involves taking prose quotes from the text and then creating a poem from Kafka's words. I have a formal handout, but here is a preview of the assignment that is due Friday: Select 10 significant quotes from the text (these may be full sentences and/or an independent/dependent clauses extracted from a complex sentence). Take the prose sentences and turn them into poetry form - breaking up lines to emphasize words, create repetition, or do whatever else may come to mind to write a poem from Kafka's words that represents The Metamorphosis. Type up, decorate at will, bring in Friday. We will be playing with MC passages tomorrow.

Allusions & Metamorphosis

2 & 4: We made it through our latest round of allusion posters, followed by the start of vocab unit 6, and ended with the beginning of our discussion of Metamorphosis Part III, which will continue tomorrow.

7: We copied down unit 6 vocab to start tomorrow, shared our allusion posters, and hopefully made some headway with Parts II and III of The Metamorphosis.

Allusion Posters Phase 2

With 98 students and 571 allusion poster possibilities, the math shows a plethora of allusion posters that were not assigned to AP Lang and AP Lit. As we would like the future allusion wall to be full of all these examples, you have the opportunity to create 1 or 2 additional allusion posters for 15 points each extra credit.

How will this work? Below, you will find the numerical listing of remaining allusion topics (mostly historical). You will e-mail me with a request for one or two allusion posters (please specify if you want to do one or two). You may also send a short list in case your favorite option has already been claimed by another student. If no one has claimed the topic(s), I will e-mail you back with the go-ahead to create this allusion poster (s). The "claiming" of the allusion will be first-come, first-serve. You will then create this extra allusion poster AFTER you have completed your previous assigned allusion posters. Yes, you have to do the assigned ones first. You will then bring in this extra allusion poster(s) with your fourth allusion poster during our last week of show and tell in order to share with the class. 

Available extra allusions: 142, 146, 153, 156, 158, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 172, 173, 184, 205, 212, 239, 246, 262, 263, 266, 267, 271, 274, 276, 280. 283, 284, 287, 288, 292, 294, 301, 342, 284, 390, 393, 397, 398, 401, 405, 406, 409, 410, 413, 414, 417, 418, 421, 422, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 434, 439, 441, 442, 443, 445, 446, 447, 449, 450, 451, 453, 454, 455, 457, 458, 459, 461, 462, 463, 465, 466, 467, 469, 470, 471, 473, 475, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 572. 

By the way, AP Lang has the same extra credit opportunity, so if you are interested in claiming one or two of these topics, you may want to do so sooner rather than later :)

Milk & Apples

Well, if windows and doors were not enough symbols, we now have milk (mom) and apples (dad) infiltrating the world of Gregor's metamorphosis. Second and fourth hours, we had a participation day regarding section 2; seventh hour, we had the vocab quiz and a group discussion regarding section 1. For Tuesday, all classes need to have finished the novella and be ready to discuss the end of Gregor's metamorphosis. Or, is the title referring to another character?

The Metaphor

2 & 4: Today was your vocab quiz for unit 5 - I'm looking forward to some of your responses to the q & a portion! Afterwards, you discussed Part I of The Metamorphosis with a special focus on whether Gregor is a bug or if this is a metaphorical, surrealistic experience representing something? Hmm...I wonder which one it could be! For next time, read Part II and be ready to talk more about the family dynamics.

7: After our review of vocab, we looked at 2 different translations of the opening of The Metamorphosis, noting how the alteration of adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and other descriptors create the characterization of Gregor. For homework, you have Part I to read and prep for discussion tomorrow.

Alienation & Despair

7: We finished up vocab, shared our allusion posters, discussed the characterization of The Cherry Orchard cast, and introduced the bio of Kafka.

2 & 4: We reviewed vocab, shared our allusion posters, introduced Kafka, contrasted 2 translations of The Metamorphosis, and assigned Section 1 of the text for tomorrow's class.

Chop, Chop

2 & 4: We finished up The Cherry Orchard by discussing your character charts, your adjectives, and your evidence for each of the characters.

7: Check out Friday's blog regarding directions for The Cherry Orchard Assessment. Kyle, you have Gaev; Celeste, you have Ranevskaya; O'Leary, you have Anya. Make sure to have your character chart ready for Tuesday's class.

The Cherry Orchard Assessment

We finished our discussion of The Cherry Orchard today, which means the last phase is focusing on characterization.

Your assignment:

1. You have one character from the play (absentee assignments below).
2. On a piece of construction paper (ideally) or typing paper, create a characterization web by completing the following steps:

• Draw a circle in the middle of the page and write your assigned character's name in it.
• Web 5 circles around the character name. In each of these circles, write an adjective describing this character (for Edmund in King Lear, we decided scornful, manipulative, bitter, confident, and ambitious - note that there is a mix of characterizations there).
• For each adjective, list at least 2 examples of evidence from the text supporting this characterization. This may be directly quoted or paraphrased. In either circumstance, cite the information.

This the assessment for the text, so make sure you do your best and are ready to share on Monday.

Absentee Character Assignments: 

Vlada = Trofimov

Mia = Pishchik

Sigmund = Charlotta

Pohlman = Dunyasha

The Past, The Present, The Future

Throughout our discussion of The Cherry Orchard today, we continued to circle around the characters representing the changing class structure and attitudes from the past aristocracy, the current Capitalist push, and the future Communist philosophy. Tomorrow, we will wrap up our discussion of the play by looking at speeches from 3 characters, each representing one of those ideologies, and focusing on characterization of the main players.

Moving into 2019

On our block days, we analyzed the MC test - paying particular attention to process of elimination to determine the correct answers and looking at how mistakes were made. Then, we were off to our new unit of vocab and the allusion posters assignment, which you all have. (Some hours still need to look at samples.) We will work on The Cherry Orchard on Thursday - so make sure you have your book card and some discussion point to keep us chatting.

The Transition to 2019

Before we can jump into 2019 and its vocab, The Cherry Orchard, and other character-driven texts, we look back at 2018 and all of those skills that you attained during first semester. First, you have your psychoanalysis essays back and 48 hours to rewrite if you choose to do so. If you are content with your grade, just bring back the essay for portfolio keeping. Next, we spent quality time with MC with the reminders that you need to CLOSE READ the passage to understand its subtle meanings and utilize PROCESS OF ELIMINATION to select the appropriate answer AND have a trail of your process for future analysis. As noted during our review of the characterization prose passage, both of those strategies equates with a greater chance of success. We will finish analyzing the MC test next class - along with anything else that is leftover from last year.

Then, we can safely enter the 2019 sphere with Unit 5 vocab experts, allusion posters, and The Cherry Orchard! Remember, that book card - which have all those components of the text for future reminders - is due next class.

The Infant

After looking over the writing portion of the final, this prompt challenged the analyst and writer to look beyond the quick idea of motherhood and infancy (as in the two poems are polar opposites, which they don't happen to be) and move into the analysis of point of view and persona and its underlying suppositions regarding one speaker's realism and ambivalence and the other speaker's cynicism and eventual resignation. 

If you stuck with the surface read and kept to imagery (which really limited you at a certain point), you probably were in the lower or middling scoring. If you could see these subtle attitudes and incorporated more than just imagery (structure, similes, metaphors, enjambment, caesura, sound elements), you probably ended up with a high score on this prompt. (And kudos to seventh hour, who had the greatest challenge with both parts of the final in one time period and had the most 7-9 scores of the bunch. For all the whining, maybe time pressure really does work!) 

I'm off to spend some quality time with the AP Lang side of my life, so we shall meet again on Monday for some quality MC analysis, prompt work, and a return to vocabulary for a few weeks. Don't forget that The Cherry Orchard reading and its book card is due the second class period back, so try not to procrastinate too much longer!

The MC

The MC portion of the final, which happens to be a full AP Lit exam, tested you on four elements: the ability to read a prose passage and connect its analogous setting with the main plot, a poetry passage and its overwhelming amount of analogies, a prose passage and its characterization of its main cast, and a poetry passage and its many meanings and organization.

With this mixture of content, you had to close read the passages with thoroughness (that means making actual marks on your papers and reading into the text with accuracy) and participate in process of elimination to guarantee more successful answers (that means crossing off the ones that are incorrect - it also means that when we go over the whole exam on Monday, you have a trail as to why you selected your answer).

Every MC choice exam offers its difficulties and distractions. Whether you were successful on this round or will be on the next one, you have the opportunity to think like a test-maker and analyze your answers and the passages for understanding. In addition, I highly recommend leaving the timid, "I can't do MC" attitude in 2018. Attacking a passage, a prompt, or MC questions is the way to go in 2019.

As with every MC exam, we have 4 goals to reach. The first goal is 50%, which if all fairs well with at least a 5 average on your writing prompts, you have a 3 for the exam in its entirety. The second goal is 60%, which aids your chances to maintain a 3 or, if your writing portions go very well, have a 4. The third goal is 70%, which means you now have a chance to go for that 4/5 with your writing work. The fourth goal is to score enough on the MC to have a 2 on the exam prior to even writing one of the prompts. If that math is confusing for you, we'll spend more time playing calculator later in the quarter.

Here are the overall numbers for this first MC test, which are fairly strong in my opinion - not that I have one or anything:

Goal 1 = 50%, 26 questions = 40 students reached this goal or higher
Goal 2 = 60%, 31 questions = 32 students reached this goal or higher
Goal 3 = 70%, 36 questions = 15 students reached this goal or higher
Goal 4 = 2 on exam, 41 questions = 7 students reached this goal

The 3 highest scores were LAG, LM, and DB, who all missed single digits on the exam!

Off to the poetry prompt. I can't wait to see if any of you went after the gender roles of Victorian women. No one really ever does, but I still hope for it nonetheless.