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 :)