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