1 Character, 2 Characters

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

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

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

Hawthorne Prompt

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

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

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

Prose Characterization

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

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

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

The Other Side of Helen

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

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

Euphonic Alliteration

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

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

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

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

Welcome to AP Lit Land

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

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

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

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

AP Lit for Beginners

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

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

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

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

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

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