PowerPoint Links--Updated and Important!!

Updated Thursday afternoon in three important ways:

1) EVERYONE needs to make sure that you have carefully read the essay instructions on the two-page stapled hand-out.  If you have lost it, go back to the Post-Prom Edition  post and follow the link.  I did not give a precise word length on those instructions, but I've done so verbally.  This essay should be about 800 words . .  . max out at 1000!  5th period essays MUST be on turnitin.com by class time tomorrow.
The key thing to note is that this is NOT a "timed-write" in the 40-minute closed-book sense.  It is a "real" out-of-class essay that merely begins with an AP prompt.  

2) I added one more Song of Solomon power-point from first period that had inadvertently been left out of the Dropbox folder.   5th period people, you should definitely read that one as well.  It's the one now marked "1st."

3)  Moving forward:  No written proof, but I promise reading the powerpoints for your work(s)  will be the best preparation you can do for the test.  Collectively, they cover much more than any one group was able to do.

• Tomorrow in 1st each group will present (in abbreviated form) the powerpoints from your own class. Before your test, you need to have read them all carefully.  
• 5th--as indicated in class today, we will give Group 4 the floor at the first of the hour for their highlights.  (You should have read through it in advance, though.)

TODAY IN CLASS
The 5th period people finished the powerpoints; there's one that still needs the actual attachment to go with the "Here it is!" email.  (Is there anyone who hasn't forgotten to attach the attachment at some point in your computer life?)

And I'll be creating new links tomorrow when the 1st period powerpoints are officially due.  That's by class time tomorrow, so they will be available by

FOR THE NOVEL:  Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon

Powerpoints as of 3:30 on Wednesday  The first period SofS did not get uploaded yesterday--there was a naming glitch and I missed it.  Sorry (it was definitely in on time). 

FOR THE PLAYS:  Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie and August Wilson's Fences

Play powerpoints as of 3:30 on Wednesday  Actually, this is updated as of 11:30 on Thursday. Powerpoints I've added since then are included in the same folder. I just don't want to create a new link.

What everyone needs to do next:

READ the powerpoints for either the plays or the novel, depending on what you've been doing. Read all of them, please. There will be some brief written response (form for that tomorrow), mostly to verify that you've read them as part of your study prep for the exam on these works.

5th period:  I am going to ask people tomorrow to share "highlights" of your slide show.  I don't want you to go through the whole thing and just read it; you'll be asked to discuss and defend the aspect of the presentation that you think is the most significant in terms of the work as a whole, or perhaps the thing you are most proud of (in terms of insight/understanding, etc.)  Be thinking about that.

1st:  We might utilize part of tomorrow, and for sure some time on Friday to do what I just described for 5th.

BOTH: I'll give you the quick review form tomorrow.

Post-Prom Edition

TODAY IN CLASS
Six in 1st, seven in 5th.  Delightful.  5th period was especially productive for AP Lit-related activities, but 1st period was engaged in other worthy activities that will hopefully leave more time to work on powerpoints/essays later on!

TOMORROW and BEYOND
I put together a calendar for both courses and all class periods, in part to keep ME straight.  Be sure to follow the day and time requirements specified for your own section.

Final English Class Calendar

As you can see, today was the last full class day before 5th/6th period exams. 
And don't forget that tomorrow is late arrival for most seniors (10:05 class start time).

Everyone received the group power-point assignment hand-out (the one pager) last Wednesday, and on Thursday I distributed  the stapled paper with all the information you need plus the prompts for the final essay.  I hope you got that because you were in class either Thursday or Friday (or both!).
If not, or if you've misplaced your copy and want to work tonight, here ya' go:
The End of the Line in AP English

TUESDAY --
Admin visit to discuss graduation logistics.
Group-based discussion of some key ideas generated by the TITLES of all three of these works.  They have been on the board for two days . . . not copying them over here now.

WEDNESDAY--
Song of Solomon people--time to work on the timeline for the novel.  **Please look back at the ground-rules given for timelines in the May 23rd post. What applied to the Fences timeline also applies to Song of Solomon.  These are due on Friday (start of Friday--no worktime then.)

The plays people--You received the power-point group component, and after a bit of spirited decision-making, each group was matched up with a set of questions.  I am linking just that list here, but I can't tell you which group is doing what from memory. (I need to get that written down tomorrow!)
Power-point topics for the plays
Tomorrow, Friday, and Monday will be full-period work time on these.  After that, however, the time is very fractured.

TOMORROW
Everyone receives the final packet, all things pulled together.  Four parts:
I--Timeline (done or will be soon).
II--Group Powerpoint--plays already assigned; S of S will get their passage choices tomorrow.
III--Essay topics (individual component)
IV--Final Exam:  ONLY the novel or the two plays.  Scantron.  Over and done.

1st Period--Don't be later than . . .

the assistant principal, who will be here at the start of class.  An administrator will be in all classes today, in fact, to discuss graduation logistics;  it is several of you in first period, however, who will be making quite the grand entrance if you're late. 

TODAY IN CLASS

Continued reading time for Song of Solomon people. 

More time than needed, really, for the play people to finish planning the timeline for Fences.

FOR TUESDAY

Song of Solomon: The novel really needs to be finished; I don't want to hit you up with plot-spoilers until you've experienced how Morrison reveals the final pieces of the puzzle. Moreover, you can't really do the complete timeline until you know the full range of what Milkman learns on his journey. And you need time to accomplish the other group piece. 

Fences timeline folks--a few reminders:

1) Get events of PAST and key events from the present in correct order; include exact years/dates where possible, and "guestimate" year ranges for others

2) Make it horizontal, like a number line.

3) Make sure that the work's actual "starting point" (opening scene) is clearly marked in the timeline.

4) Do not overstress presentation format, but it should be legible, readable from a couple feet away (will be taped to the boards), and reasonably attractive. 

There will be NO additional class time on this; turn them in either no later than Wednesday.

FOR EVERYONE TO THINK ABOUT

Some essential questions for both plays and Song of Solomon

• What do parents want/expect/hope from or for their children?
• How important is the family in shaping not only the present lives but the future lives of children?
• What holds people back?  (especially from achieving their dreams?)
• “Crippled”  à who?  How?  Really???
• Ways in which people “fly the coop”?
• MUSIC à all three works (define, characterize, connect)

 Backdrop:  In some ways, the overall purpose here is to explore human existence; we are all creatures bound by our families and circumstances—except when we are not.  These works, in one way or another, all address the notion of “family” in ways that show the intersection between the present circumstances and the past (as it happened, as it is told, as it is remembered, as it is imagined . . .). 

• Parents and children, particularly, are caught in age-old tensions that are both universal in one sense and excruciatingly personal and private in others. 
• The works also reveal, for both protagonists and other key characters, ways of perceiving themselves that may or may not be in synch with what others see.  
• And in one of these works, a character questions out loud if “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children”; this becomes an implicit concern in the other works as well.  
• Furthermore, they show how people cope—or choose NOT to cope—with the “ties that bind”; sometimes this results in the decision to “fly the coop” in a variety of literal or metaphorical ways. Finally, each of these works is set in a particular place and time whose context helps to circumscribe the scope, the playing field, in which these people live through their particular family drama.

So I totally forgot to post to the blog. Not much to say, though.

TODAY IN CLASS
Fences discussion with the play people.
Reading time for Song of Solomon people.

FOR TOMORROW
Play people--think through and jot down several similarities/overlap between The Glass Menagerie and Fences. Explain them briefly (not with fully argued developement/quotes, etc.--just a sentence or two of clarification).

Song of Solomon people--Read.  Many of you seem to be in the 9-10 area.  I mentioned 11 for Thursday as being a great thing.  Obviously the world does not fall apart if you are not there tomorrow. However, I am hoping that you'll be able to read quite a bit over the 3-day week-end so that you can have the book finished by Tuesday.  This is especially important for 5th period.

Part II goes by really fast.  What do you remember of the hero's journey (Joseph Campbell, but the name might not have been used as it's been piece-mealed out to you).

EVERYBODY--start considering titles as fully as possible.
The Glass Menagerie is both obvious and problematic:  clear as it may be for Laura, to what extent does the title involve Tom and Amanda?  Does that matter?

Fences: Much use and much discussion within the play itself.  Start with what August Wilson invites us (demands us) to consider.  Then move on with other possible ramifications.

Song of Solomon:  Finish the book first . . . but if you were aware the Old Testament book called Song of Solomon, you already know that that's not the basis for this book.  But don't think for a moment that Toni Morrison was not fully aware of the borrowing.  So at some point it's important to consider what resonated for her--and should for us in considering the novel's larger themes.

TODAY IN CLASS
For both Fences and Song of Solomon people, please refer to this site for some background information on major court cases, legislation, and events that shaped the era covered by Fences and by Milkman's adolescence and young adulthood:
http://crdl.usg.edu/events/?Welcome

For sure, check out Brown v Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1957, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Browse as you wish; know what's there in case you find a need for it later on.
Fences--pay special attention to the sports figures mentioned (esp. for baseball). LOOK UP names you do not know about.
For both works--pay special attention to the military--reference to former pilots, soldiers, people who join the military in the course of the work, etc.

Song of Solomon people received a hand-out containing detailed Ch. 1 questions to use as a "then and now" comparison/contrast.  Use this series of close questions/observations re: Chapter 1 as a springboard for figuring out what we can now understand about the people, the motivations, and the prior actions that seemed so puzzling or even "random" in this first chapter, especially at the start of the chapter.

FOR TOMORROW
S of S:  Discussion tomorrow.  Individual accountability expected.

• It's not all clear yet, but review Ch. 2-7 to make sure you realize how things match up.  
• Utilize the back of the sheet to make sure you're not missing specific areas to be noting/tracking/and pondering.  
• Add to the list of suggest symbols/motifs (earlier hand-out; sliding board today) if you can.  There are some things omitted so far!
• Continue with Ch. 8 if you feel secure up to this point
• Be prepared for some free-ranging questions and discussion on Tuesday!!

Fences: Significant whole-group discussion on WEDNESDAY.

• Be finished with the play by class-time tomorrow.
• During the first part of class tomorrow, you'll be working together to fine-tune your responses to questions #3 and #4 on p. 1623. 
• That should go quickly, because you've had time to prepare your own contribution.
• There will be a new "joint" step tomorrow.

TODAY IN CLASS
Counselor visit--senior graduation focus.
Reading time.

BY TOMORROW and BEYOND
Fences

• finish Act I for Friday 
• finish the play by TUESDAY (May 20)

Song of Solomon--

• be finished with Ch. 5 for Friday. Lots to digest from 1-5.
• By MONDAY (May 19), be finished with Ch. 7.  (So Ch. 6 for tomorrow or for Monday--whatever works for you.)

TODAY IN CLASS
Song of Solomon people just reading--the goal during class was Ch. 3, but you might well have gotten farther.  Continue adding to patterns, notice elements that may not repeat but seem really significant, and most definitely be ready to discuss troubling elements ("troubling" can have many shades of meaning).

The Glass Menagerie--I was really impressed with the knowledge and insight that came out in the pull-out discussion groups today.  Apologies to the second group from 1st period--you did fine, but you definitely got short shrift.  Do think about a couple of other things we didn't get to at all--the elements/motifs of interest besides the "glass menagerie" itself  (we'll take just a moment for this tomorrow) and note that there really is a set composition that the text refers to when it's speaking of music. And even though I was determined to split the time evenly in 5th, the first group was exceptionally willing to carry on discussion on their own, and I just can't stop that sort of thing!  Keep up the good reading.

FOR WEDNESDAY
S of S--read Chapter 5 for sure.
The Glass Menagerie--you should easily be able to finish the play for tomorrow.

TODAY IN CLASS
Students began reading their choice of final works:

• Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (only for people who actually DO have the book in hand already
• Two plays from the Perrine text:
• The Glass Menagerie,  by Tennessee Williams (starts on p. 1156)
• Fences,  by August Wilson (starts on p. 1565)

First-round heads-up for Song of Solomon:

Keep track of the FLIGHT motif, pay attention to COLORS; know that every single person introduced in Chapter 1 (whether by name or description) will recur throughout the novel.

Your job as you're reading Ch. 1-2--what other obvious categories come to mind just based on these opening chapters?  

FOR TOMORROW

Song of Solomon:  read to the end of Chapter 2 (p. 55)

The Glass Menagerie:  read to the end of Scene 6 (p. 1191)

I'll be chatting with the Perrine people about The Glass Menagerie, probably in at least two groups. I'll be trying to find out what's going well, and what isn't--so you can get squared away.

Good Luck Tomorrow!

Just a very brief post today. If you didn't read yesterday's, particularly the "Final Advice"--please DO SO!

AP Test Takers--
Report to the Aux Gym by 7:15, well-rested and breakfasted,  with a pencil and two dark blue or black pens in hand.

5th period--yes, you need to come to class later, but don't worry.  It's a kick back and relax day for you.

Non-AP Test Takers--
Report to the classroom as usual.  First period students will do their final poetry timed write in 2303; 5th period people, I'll be moving you elsewhere, but come to class first.

VIP (Very Important Post)

Final Advice for AP Exam

Two additional things not on this list.

• Be sure you have 2 or even 3 of your favorite pens.  Dark blue or black ink.  No exceptions. 
• Re: Part II, Question 3:  if you know and can write on a work listed, that is the safest bet because sometimes students substitute something that does not actually fit the parameters of the question.  But of course you can use something else studied at school that seems to work.

TODAY IN CLASS
Full period:  Multiple Choice practice exam

• Will count (slightly adjusted) as assignment grade; thus must be made up if you missed it (regardless of whether you are taking the actual AP exam or not)
• If you miss class tomorrow, you can come by tomorrow to see where the missed items clustered (if there was a pattern
• You can check particular questions if you wish, but I'm not actually giving these back

FOR TOMORROW

Be studying.  

If you'll miss class tomorrow, utilize the hand out you received today to think through how  Crime and Punishment could be used in an exam setting for Question 3.  Some would also apply to Tess. Students will participate in a short "speed-dating" exercise using this hand-out during class tomorrow.

Choices from this year:

Franz Kafka--Metamorphosis (best to use only if it's on the list)

Joseph Conrad--Heart of Darkness

Henrik Ibsen--A Doll House

George Bernard Shaw--Pygmalion

Mary Shelley--Frankenstein

Fyodor Dostoevsky--Crime and Punishment

Thomas Hardy--Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Choices from last year (only if you pick one tonight and review!!)
Nathaniel Hawthorne--The Scarlet Letter
Mark Twain--The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
F. Scott Fitzgerald--The Great Gatsby
Harper Lee--To Kill a Mockingbird (in years past I'd have called this too "young" a book for AP Lit, but it was actually on the list for last year's question)

Do not write about Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or Game of Thrones, volume anything.

Tonight's essay instructions in case you've lost the sheet . . .

TODAY IN CLASS

• Returned the Keats/Longfellow timed write; went over the Chief Reader's account
• Briefly returned the Cardinal Wolsey speech for students to self-score, using the real AP rubric for that prompt.  Scored and returned in class.  

Students quickly assessed and annotated the "Century Quilt" prompt--general surprise that the particular essay read aloud had not received an upper-half score.  Students wrote a thesis (individually) and compared them in groups.

I handed out a prose passage from George Eliot's Middlemarch ("Question 2"); it's the longest I ever recall seeing, but recent enough that it could easily happen again.  Try to find just a few minutes before class tomorrow to READ and lightly mark; how long did it take?  How long (out of 40 minutes) would be worthwhile spending on this prompt?  Can you get a handle on how to respond to the prompt?

FOR TOMORROW (tonight, really)

The Crime and Punishment Epilogue assignment.  Be sure to utilize all the guidelines in the hand-out. 

You should have it, but it's also available here  .

If you've done that . . . be reviewing Tess, especially by thinking how the book is like/unlike C and P. Someone said the other day that she wished the endings for these protagonists could have been swapped. 

Do you agree?

I am too hungry to proceed right now, but I may link a couple of things to this post later on. (Will be of value tonight only to those who have finished the short C and P essay!)   

TODAY IN CLASS
Some time to recognize college choices. Congratulations to all!

Crime and Punishment:
Yesterday's homework discussed in table groups and collected.
Hand-out provided for "Epilogue" assignment due on Monday night

Finished "When I do count the clock . . ." in 5th; finished form to content match/but with a wrinkle in 1st.  Need to add  just a bit on sound features in 1st.

Two poems "at home" timed write:  Covered both poems pretty thoroughly in first--didn't really finish the 2nd in 5th. If you have not done this prompt yet, you can no longer do this one for credit.  For excused absences, there is a substitute prompt. Be sure to ask for one tomorrow!

So for "Mezzo Cammin"--

• note that the Italian sonnet structure corresponds to the content of ONE essential "issue" (I haven't accomplished the writing I had hoped for--"Some tower of song with lofty parapet"--because of unnamed grief and cares. It is that "sorrow" rather than other possibilities (laziness, time spent on pleasure, or by scattering attention on various pursuits).  All of this is in the octave.
• the sestet switches to his sense of his current status--at the midpoint of his life(halfway up the hill [of life], though there could be a literal hill as well)  he sees "the Past" [note the cap] as a city laid out beneath him .  
• but still in the sestet, as he reflects on the past, he feels the chill of autumn and hears a waterfall that he equates with death above him

Thus the water imagery that seemed positive in the Keats poem as his own problems seem to sink in the presence and realization of the vastness and beauty of the world becomes a more negative force for Longfellow.  He sees nothing but death looming in the future, and apparently has limited expectations for the second half of his life.

(And for both--if you didn't hear this in class--use the dates at the bottom of each poem to understand the actual situation of both writers as they were composing these poems)

Re: the rubric--these are never very exact, even when the rubric relates to a specific prompt as this one does.

But there is some language that has been repeated for most rubrics over the past several years:

9-8 essays offer a persuasive response

7-6 essays offer a reasonable response

5 essays offer a plausible reading

4-3 essays fail to offer an adequate analysis

2-1 essays compound the weaknesses of the 4-3's

Note particularly this phrase within the 4-3 description:  

evidence may be slight or misconstrued

Not clear in this rubric as usual is the following:

leaving out any part of what is designated in the prompt results in a score no higher than a 4

(here, it's "covered" by the phrase "the analysis may be partial" . . . )

In first, I returned the "Judging Distances" papers but we did not have a chance to do much with them.  We'll do so briefly tomorrow in both sections.

FOR TOMORROW

Assign the score and justify it.  Turn the rubric back in with your essay.

Be working on C and P assignment.

If you are taking the AP exam, choose one major work from last year (Gatsby/Huck/Scarlet Letter) and start reviewing it as a backup option.

Find Tess.

TODAY IN CLASS
Short classes.  Even shorter in 5th, which unaccountably left at 2:05.  Today's schedule had said 2:10.

So the most important thing to go over is the overnight homework for Crime and Punishment, for which 5th period was only told, "Check the blog!"

First, then, you know that you should be finished with the book, including the Epilogues.  Tomorrow you will receive a written assignment on the epilogues that will be due on Monday night via turnitin.com.  So if you are behind on your reading, obviously catch up ASAP.

FOR TOMORROW
1) Start studying both sides of the Crime and Punishment hand-out you received in class. It is preparation for both the in-class timed write which will form your final assessment for C & P as well as for making use of this text on the free response Question 3.  (See below for links)

2) Specifically in writing for tomorrow--
Develop more detailed notes (brief comments plus relevant page numbers for your edition) for SUFFERING as well as for two other elements listed on the "Patterns" side of the hand-out. 1st period students, note that I am clarifying one important aspect of the "page number" part of the written work:  you need to have at least two quotations for each category.  Not two for each bulleted point or person, but a mere two per "pattern."  Those quotations need the correct page number for your edition.

• For the required-of-everyone "suffering," the tips you are given mention characters beyond the more obvious choices.  You need to start with the obvious choices!   List WHO, briefly account in bulleted form for the nature of their suffering.  For the ones listed on the hand-out, you need to supplement the evidence with the particulars.  [Go for reasonable thoroughness here; please, those several of you likely to try to be exhaustive, do not try to provide Every. Single. One.]
• Now pick TWO others (any two).  There are head-starts provided for most of these as well; clarify them, and add anyone / anything else that seems especially relevant.  

You may type this assignment of course, or you may write by hand.

What students received in class was a two-sided hand-out; each side is linked separately here:
Patterns in Crime and Punishment
C & P--Basic Themes and Problems

Bring Perrine and Crime and Punishment

1) Poem hand-out from yesterday/at-home timed write collected today; Late papers accepted tomorrow.  But you will get something that will make further late papers impossible to accept.  Alternate assignment provided for people with extenuating absence situations only.

2) Studied "Meeting at Night" (713) for its sensory imagery; also looked at companion "Parting at Morning" (714) and associated questions.

3) 1st period needs to evaluate the "Storm Warnings" essays based on the rubric AND the overhead.  5th period will see the overhead tomorrow.

4) IF you are taking the AP test, be sure to read and thoughtfully consider the questions pertaining to two more poems that focus on imagery:
Frost's "After Apple-Picking" (720-721)
Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" (721-722) 

FOR TOMORROW
Bring. Both. Books.

You should have finished reading Crime and Punishment.  No written homework for Wednesday, but clear knowledge of Parts VII and VII is expected.

Yes, you should also have finished the Epilogues.  But truth be told, nothing tomorrow will involve the epilogues. 

BRING PERRINE!

TODAY IN CLASS

• Elizabeth Bishop "One Art" exercise.  Not collected, but I'll be cruising the room tomorrow, and we'll have a bit of final wrap-up in 1st and somewhat more completion in 5th (still brief). See p. 709 and study this poem if you were absent.
• Connected with the idea of a villanelle, read about the form and study the Dylan Thomas poem (pp. 905-907)

FOR TOMORROW

Yes, you should have been reading VI-VII of C and P.  You still should. The Epilogues are still due on Wednesday.  But they are short, and if necessary, you can double-up FOR Wednesday.

For tomorrow, your first priority is the hand-out you received at the end of class today. For the side with two poems and the AP prompt, spend 40 minutes writing a legit AP poetry essay.  Hand-written.  Ink. Staple together in the usual way.  Due promptly at the start of class.

Do this in good faith.  Set your phone or the oven timer, don't multi-task, and do your best.

• No looking anything up (actually, don't even use a dictionary, because you won't be able to use one on the AP exam)
• Adhere to the 40 minutes, +/- five minutes.  (You will have 120 minutes to write three essays, and you are advised to spend minutes each.  It is okay to shift 5 minutes:  one 40 minute essay, a 45, and a 35, for example.  No one keeps track of this.  It's unwise to deviate more than this, however, because no matter how smart/good you are, one essay will be getting short shrift.)

IN CLASS ON FRIDAY
There were two fairly fast-paced pieces of written work, one on poetry, the other on Crime and Punishment.  

*To absent people:

• The poetry portion needs to be done at school, and will take 28 minutes to complete.  If you can do this after school on Monday, you'll do the same thing as the rest of the class.  After Monday, you'll do a substitute poem.
• For Crime and Punishment, I will give you a hand-out tomorrow and complete instructions for my out-of-class expectations; it will be due on Tuesday.  

FOR EVERYONE, LOOKING TO MONDAY

Bring Perrine.  It will be a poetry day, completely.  

In preparation, look over the front sections of several chapters:

• Chapter 10 on Tone:  Remember that tone is essentially a product/result of language use and specific literary devices, not a "device" in and of itself.
• Also review the devices treated in the three chapters on Figurative Language:
• Ch. 5--Simile, Metaphor, Personification, Apostrophe, Metonymy
• Ch. 6--Symbol (don't worry about Allegory)
• Ch. 7--Paradox, Overstatement, Understatement, Irony

You're not expected to explore the many poems that follow the intro matter, but DO trace through the authors' discussion of the poems treated in the front sections of these chapters.  I am not requiring writing on this reading, but you owe it to yourself to study this material thoughfully and carefully.

Re: Crime and Punishment--

I'm sliding the originally assigned dates by one day each:

By Tuesday--Be finished reading Parts VI and VII

By Wednesday--Be finished with the Epilogues

There will be a written assignment related to the epilogues assigned on Tuesday that will be due on Thursday. So don't expect further "catch-up time" on Dostoesvsky.  Finish this out promptly.

TODAY IN CLASS
Mostly we discussed the first chapter of Part IV--Svidrigailov's conversation with Raskolnikov.  Please look over the rest of the questions on the document linked to yesterday's blog, and be able to pitch in quickly tomorrow on the first three chapters.

So yes, FOR TOMORROW--besides making sure you're up to speed on IV 1-3, 5th period people need to augment your understanding of IV-4 by reviewing the questions from yesterday that your class did closed-book yesterday.

Be reading V--you can take until Friday, assuming you follow the schedule (April 1 blog) for next week.

Tuesday Classwork

For now, during class time, please print only one set of questions per table.  Please DO print one of your own at home; the idea is not to record detailed responses, but find, mark, and take notes on the gist of these questions.  Be able to find the passages in your own book quickly and easily.

For today, I'm just linking questions to the first three chapters as sort of "backfill" for the Ch. 4 material you just finished. Reading Guide: Part IV, Chapters 1-3

Be sure to bring C & P on Tuesday. Essential.

AP Paperwork Sessions--You should have received an email reminder this week.  The lists are alphabetical by session--really tedious to search.  If you did not receive your own email, find your name here:   Pre-Exam Sessions

TODAY IN CLASS
Crime and Punishment Part III "open book" quiz stamped; some responses discussed at the table; turned in by table groups.

Look up "Columbo" by Thursday.

Some final discussion of "Naming of Parts"--special focus on theme.

FOR TOMORROW
As always, keep reading C & P. 
But for TOMORROW, there is a poetry assignment using TPCASTT. 

• Read the hand-out poem "Judging Distances"
• Mark it up pretty thoroughly--the "usual suspects"
• ON SEPARATE PAPER--organize written responses (complete "data"/support, but you can use short-hand writing style, bullets, organized lists, etc.) under the proper headings for the hand-out.  Consider both versions (front/back) on the first piece of paper.  Do what works best. 
• For the "Paraphrase" section.  You don't need to do that verbatim.  Operate in the general field of "summa-phrase."

Quickly noted:

1) Forgot to collect last night's homework today.  Will do so first thing on Friday.
2) Bring Crime and Punishment to class for sure on Friday.

TODAY IN CLASS

Review your Poetry Terms hand-out for following terms and

compare them to what’s in Perrine:

HAND-OUT                                     PERRINE page

Rhyme                                               856

End-stopped                                     857

Enjambment                                     “run-on” p. 857

Free verse                                          857

Meter                                                 858

Poetic foot                                        859, defn.; chart, 860

Scansion                                            See terms for number of feet,

                                                               p. 860; also defn. p. 861

Blank verse                                       870

At some point, you should also double-check the definitions

as written in the glossary at the end of the Perrine text.

Using these basic terms from the review sheet and the chapter, table groups categorized the poems listed in #1 on p. 870 as blank verse, free verse, or "other."  Results varied widely . . . TBC.

FOR TOMORROW

Continue reading Crime and Punishment.  Get as close as you can to being done with Part III as scheduled.

However, I do want you to reinforce today's work with some short homework on p. 880.  

Do #1 as stated:  choose ONE poem of the ones listed.  You will need to copy it out, find an online copy and print it out, or use a scanner to scan the poem from the book.  Then do what the directions say for that one poem.

For #2, you only need to work with TWO poems instead of all five. You shouldn't have to copy out the poems to accomplish what the directions ask you to do.  Again, you will only need to respond to two of them.

Bring Perrine on Wednesday

TODAY IN CLASS
Quick-note on a character's introductory passage (other than Raskolnikov).
Discussion of dream of the mare/murder details
Discussion of conflicting character traits for Raskolnikov--try to summarize these into a coherent idea that you could share with those who were absent.

FOR TOMORROW
1) Utilize the Part II questions to review, synthesize, and internalize more about this section.  You do not need to prepare written responses, but work through the questions, making notes to your self, putting post-its in your book, or annotating (and making some way to find such annotations quickly) that will facilitate your understanding and potential to contribute to class discussions.

2) Continue to advance your reading:  Part III is due by Thursday.

3) As noted above (and in the all-call e-mail)--bring Perrine to class tomorrow.  Substitutes (the books in the cupboard) will not be of any use.

TODAY IN CLASS
Reading check quiz over Parts I-II of Crime and Punishment.
Group charts: Coincidental Events/Actions and Consequences.
Some roaming time to mark other charts for items you had as well; questionable items; good examples you might have missed. 

FOR TOMORROW
1) Other than the initial description/introduction to Raskolnikov himself, find the introductory section on any other character from Parts I or II.  Consider physical description, attire, mannerisms, dialogue, opening actions, etc. Read and reflect; you don't need to prepare anything in writing.
2) Be reading Part III for Thursday (and for some of you that needs to be preceded by I and/or II).

TODAY IN CLASS
Completed "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought" and then did "That time of year. . . " In 5th we got a start on "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," but did not do that in 1st.

FOR TOMORROW
Be reading Crime and Punishment--see schedule in yesterday's post.  Part I completed by Friday for sure.  Pace yourself.  Note that the "completed by" dates give you some night-to-night latitude.

In class on Thursday--we will start with the 2 page excerpt whose annotated self should still be floating around your backpack. 

TODAY IN CLASS
Worked together with Donne's "Batter My Heart . . " and Shakespeare's "When to the Sessions. . ."
If you have not read (thoroughly; reflected on) all of the poems in the packet, absolutely do so.
And if you were absent for all or part of the period today (Blood Drive or other reasons), make sure to seek around for guidance!   And yes, bring Perrine.

FOR TOMORROW

• Bring the Crime and Punishment sheet that was to be annotated for today. You don't need the actual book in class on Wednesday
• READ: Chapters 1-3

If you don't have a book yet, use the following e-text version to get started:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2554/2554-h/2554-h.htm

(I promise you you do NOT want to read the entire book online, though. A couple of people downloaded it to a Kindle last year, but they really did run into some problems in finding what they needed for various purposes.)

SCHEDULE for Crime and Punishment
There will be multi-tasking through much of this time, though, so reading ahead (esp. over break if you're not totally tied up in world travel!) is encouraged.

Part                      Completed By Date
I                            Friday, April 4
II                           Monday, April 14
III                         Thursday, April 17
IV                         Monday, April 21
V                          Thursday, April 24  
VI-VII                  Monday, April 28
Epilogues              Tuesday, April 29                    

Bring Perrine on Tuesday

FRIDAY IN CLASS
Group prep time for poetry teach-in.

TODAY IN CLASS
20 minutes to wrap that up and solidify plans for presenting to each new table
Three rounds of presentations
Will do one more similar round tomorrow, then use a different tactic to wrap up

FOR TOMORROW

• Read whichever poems in the packet have not yet been presented at your table.
• For those you heard about today, make reflective notes (on the poem page or in your notes) for further questions/concerns 
• As headlined above, bring Perrine to class tomorrow
• There was a new hand-out, the opening paragraphs of Crime and Punishment.  Annotate it (lightly, not within an inch of its life) for tomorrow. 

Read to the end . . .

WEDNESDAY IN CLASS
First draft essays due in class and on turnitin.com; peer response done during class.  Anyone who missed that step must both DO a peer response and have your own paper read and responded to by someone in my class. (If your own section does not work out, I will allow a 1st/5th period swap.)

TODAY IN CLASS
Step One (whole class poem) of group work and jigsaw rotation teaching for 16th /17th century poetry.  We will be doing this for 18th/19th century poetry and for modern/contemporary selections as well.  Today's work was on John Donne's "The Flea"; we will take a short time (7-10 min. max) tomorrow to wrap this up.
Then onward to the packet and your group's poem.

FOR TOMORROW
The revised essay ("final draft") is due.  It really is.  And you will have a better week-end if you just get that done.
But I have become increasingly aware of more people (besides Dance) who will be gone tomorrow and will thus get an automatic extension. And the fashion show has required some extra time from some of you.  And for many of us, public responsibilities always seem to take priority over private ones, however important those other obligations may be.  Also, though there will be a 4th quarter out of class essay after the AP test, this is is a very significant 3rd quarter grade, and it's the 3rd quarter grade that will determine valedictorians (earliest ever cut-off). Regardless of potential valedictorian status, though, I want all of you to do your best.
So--if your essay is on turnitin.com by Sunday night (11:59) AND the hard copy with you in class on Monday, no late penalty points will be applied.

SOME TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Re: MLA--make sure you have the running header, heading, title, spacing, and margins properly done.  The advantage of a process paper is that another pair of eyes will check you on these basic formatting issue.

2.  Since you are using two sources, you need a Works Cited for this paper.  Do your best research in Perrine and the Purdue OWL for documentation guides; this is part of senior work responsibility vs. being told specifically how to do it.  One tricky component is the Project Gutenberg EText for Pygmalion.  Use the page numbers in the text I gave you--otherwise you would have to cross-check with the original (I'd left out some non-Pygmalion publication explanations).

3. On to content--be sure to respect the difference between a THEME and a THESIS.  The "theme" is a universal insight that could apply to multiple works of literature and specifically does NOT state details of plot, character, or other literary details.  But your "thesis" needs to be as rich, exact, and insightful as it can be in setting up the exact nature of the comparison/contrast you will be making.

4.  In that respect, you will find that the words similar and different (in any of their possible forms) lead to vague (or at least not precise) thesis claims.  Thus, your task is to write a thesis that does NOT use these words.

5.  Do not let quotations run away with your paper.  With drama, especially, it's tempting to quote too much.  Summarize/paraphrase non-essential elements of dialogue to shorten them, and keep the essential parts in quotation marks.

TODAY IN CLASS
1.  Overview of Book IX, quick-style; make sure you've read Milton's Argument as better back-up.

2.  In 1st, some consideration of the question that arises from "Hymn to Light":  how arrogant is Milton?

3. Close consideration of Adam's "complaint" to God in Book X.  The back of the "Epic Simile" hand-out had listed all the references; be absolutely certain to notice that lines 743-745 of Book X were on the title page of the original edition of Frankenstein Or, the Modern Prometheus as the epigraph. (I used the old-style underlining to show that the italicized part was in fact also in italics on the title page of the edition I'm using.

4. 1st period began work on revisiting the Donne sonnet from awhile back; we'll move forward in both classes with that tomorrow.

5.  In 5th period, the Paradise Lost written assignment was collected.

FOR TOMORROW
Serious work on the essay.  Go back to last Wednesday, March 19--the original assignment was on that post.  There will be a draft due IN CLASS and online on Wednesday, March 26.  So though you've had plenty of lead time, that means that most of you have two nights (and a Wednesday morning) to work on this essay.  Being out of school on Tuesday for band or orchestra does not change the draft due date.

Follow all the instructions on the assignment post, plus these additional guidelines:

1.  The first draft must be submitted to turnitin.com by the time school starts on Wednesday morning, and you must also have the paper copy with you in class to exchange.  I will be checking for completed drafts before your class gets to the room, and people without essays will not be allowed to proceed.  Giving and receiving feedback is an essential part of this process, and timeliness is the only way to make good use of our class time.

2. The final draft is due on Friday, March 28, also both on turnitin.com and in class as a hard copy.
In this case, the turnitin.com window is "all day"--due by 11:59 p.m. Friday night.  I don't see why anyone would want to wait until Friday night to submit it, though.

FRIDAY
Detailed work on the Rich poem in 1st; a few more comments on that in 5th.
Discussion of "Hymn to Light" in 5th.

Collected the Paradise Lost assignment from last Tuesday  in 1st; that same assignment is not due until tomorrow in 5th. (The difference is due to last week's HSPE schedule).

FOR MONDAY
Both classes make sure that you have thoroughly noted the points in Adam's complaint to God (Book X excerpt).  You don't need to do this on separate paper; just make sure it's carefully marked on the packet text.

Be working on the essay assignment (see last Wednesday's post).

"Review and Solidify" Essay Assignment

What: 
An out-of-class essay that allows you to reflect on broad thematic connections, narrower specific concerns, and close analysis of language in several works.  Though it is out of class, thus with differing expectations than for on-demand timed writing (affecting both the composition process and the polished nature of the final product), you will still be focussed on close analysis of particular conversations, thereby incorporating some of the features of the AP passage analysis question.

Literature to Examine:
You will be working with any TWO of the following:
Ibsen's A Doll House
Shaw's Pygmalion
Shelley's Frankenstein

Honing in on the Task:

• Though obviously your knowledge and understanding of these works as a whole will be important to your success, the assigned task is more limited and specific.
• You will focus on the scenes in each work that contain the most extended conversation between "creator" and "created"/"possessor and possession"/whatever term best applies in the works you select. 
• You will be comparing/contrasting these passages on two overall grounds: the nature of the exact relationship between the two speakers, as developed within the conversation, and the connection between the key passage and larger thematic ideas in the play.
• In order to do this, expect to examine the dialogue extremely closely, for essential content, language, and style (all the ways you can bring to bear.
• But don't forget that the essay as a whole has to make some rich and insightful CLAIM concerning how the works and the key conversation relate to one another.

So again, this assignment thus stresses the language and style analysis in a way that is useful continued preparation for the AP exam, but it also provides the flexibility and student choice/initiative that is typical of college English courses. 

Details:

1) Full-bore MLA:  follow all the rules.  See Perrine, see the Purdue OWL, see me if you are stuck.

Note that your book provides very specific guidelines on handling the special concerns of drama.

2) Length:  about 4 properly spaced and margined pages.

3) First draft due on Wednesday, March 26, two ways:  

Hard copy to be exchanged for peer response--must have with you in class, obviously!

On turnitin.com for me to confirm typed and formatted completion--anytime prior to class time.

NO printing/submitting allowed during class because time is short.  If necessary, you may come to my room well before 1st period.

4) Final draft due on Friday, March 28.  Hard copy in class, on turnitin.com by 11:59 p.m. that night.

Read Carefully -- Contains Specific Assignment Instructions

TODAY IN CLASS

1. An Adrienne Rich poem.

2. Time to read the following article about connections between Paradise Lost and Frankenstein:
By a recognized Milton scholar and expert on Paradise Lost (be sure to read the brief blurb below his picture):
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/outsiders/creation-remix/essay/essaymoeck

3. Linked to a professor's site; the course syllabus contains a particularly good list of literary terms (weighted toward the 19th C. British focus of this course, but still useful to us):
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/eng241/FrankPL.html

We looked at this site for two reasons:

• study the chart carefully as possible further connections between the two works
• click back to the course syllabus for this professor and find the list of literary terms.  Save that site and study it as a further resource (particular for examples in context) of literary terms for the AP test.

4.  We went over the "Hymn to Light" and looked at two good examples of the expected work.

HOMEWORK
This assignment will be collected from 1st period on Friday and from 5th on Monday.  You'll be receiving a significant assignment tomorrow that will make it probably that people in 1st might want knock this out sooner.  This assignment has an initial reading component:

Make sure you can trace Adam's "complaint"  in your PL packet from Book X).  No specific writing required beyond whatever annotating helped you read/understand.

Read all three of the following:
From a college student at Mt. Holyoke, apparently as an assignment:
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist257s02/students/Becky/paradise.html

A second example of student work:
http://mattbucci.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/frankenstein-and-paradise-lost/

From someone's personal blog (obviously geared to intellectual reflections, not a diary):
http://sroibal.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/intertextual-wreading-parallels-of-paradise-lost-and-frankenstein/

WRITING (typed, please)--30 assessment points
1) Write one short paragraph that identifies the section of Moeck's article that you found the most compelling.  If at all possible, extend the idea to anything further you see in Frankenstein or about Mary Shelley that makes the idea interesting/compelling to you.

2) Write a more substantial paragraph  response that defends ONE of the three sources immediately above (NOT Moeck's) as the strongest collection of insights.  Provide ample support for your choice.  If you find something to quibble with or qualify in an otherwise strong piece, state your reservations and why.

3)  Assume, given all the material referenced in this blog post and elsewhere,  that Mary Shelley might have had a complex and overlapping set of reasons for incorporating elements of Paradise Lost into her novel Frankenstein.  But pin down your thoughts on one aspect:  do you think the parallels (or "foil"-like differences) are more important for our understanding of Victor Frankenstein himself, or more important for understanding the Creature?  Pick one or the other here; you can't argue for both.  This should be a multi-paragraph response (2 = "multi"; 3 = the max).

Quick Assessment
Also on Friday (BOTH sections)--there will be a new epic simile for you to lay out carefully, completely, and correctly.  Worth 10 assessment points.

TODAY IN CLASS
Hand-out--the Epic
Epic simile: quick lay-out on "in bulk as huge as . . . " returned; a second one practiced.
Discussion of further "language" ways that Satan's power/individuality/"presence" is reinforced

"Hymn to Light" Summa-phrase turned in (the first 55 lines of Book III)
Read full instructions on Friday's post if you were absent or simply did not do it but would prefer late credit to a 0.

FOR TOMORROW

• 1st--Study the rest of the Paradise Lost hand-out; study/find the Frankenstein passages referred to on the back of the epic hand-out and  bring Frankenstein to class tomorrow.
• 5th--I won't see you tomorrow, but on Wednesday both classes will be receiving a significant assignment.  You should have this done for sure for Wednesday.

TODAY IN CLASS
AP Timed Write (Poetry):  50 assignment points (vs. assessment)--30 minutes.
Make up ASAP and, by the way, Wednesday this coming week is NOT an option because of the HSPE schedule.  Monday/Tuesday after school.

Some notes on the "epic simile" work--
Epic simile assignment--some did not turn in.  Late credit allowed through Monday. You were to focus on the "epic simile" portion of the section from 192-220.  Find the start and end by looking for the usual markers of a simile. Then, as noted on the blog originally,
Do whatever you need to do to show, in accessible graphic form, how the "terms" of the simile progress; what is being compared to what, and to what, and to what . . . .Spell out details as needed.   You will be handing this in; that's why it needs to be done on the separate sheet of paper instead of in the packet.
Even though it won't change a score, check your own understanding by making sure you can find some clear visual way to show what was asked for in the original assignment. 

FOR MONDAY
Though we will look at the rest of the Book I excerpt on your hand-out, the homework concerns Book III.  Note that as will all twelve books, the material begins with an "Argument, " which is in effect a summary of the book in its entirety, not just the excerpt I printed for you.  You are NOT to summarize the summary.  You will not get assignment credit if that's what you do.

What you ARE supposed to do--Write a "summa-phrase" of the excerpt itself.  Follow the process described below:
1) Read the 55 line excerpt with care.
2) Physically mark up the hand-out, "drawing boxes" that will mark the ideas conveyed as you go along.  I suggested reading it all (the 55 lines) first, then go for the ideas and turns of thought.
3) Then write the "summa-phrase" with the following things in mind:

• You are not writing a true paraphrase--that would probably take more than 55 lines to write out, and that's not what I expect.
• You ARE going to keep the point of view of the original text.  If the text says I, you keep the first-person POV.
• In one more sense it will be like a paraphrase; you are changing difficult syntax and poetic diction into clearer more accessible terms.
• But shorten the overall written product somewhat by using the ideas you've blocked off to convey Milton's meaning.  You are not responsible for every single phrase that augments style, but you will still wind up with a fairly substantial piece of writing.  Do not over-simplify and miss important steps in the Milton's thinking.
• I suggest that you type the final product, but you are not required to do so. 

TODAY IN CLASS
Poetry 

• Titles are important (unless they are a first line).  Consider them well.  Yesterday and today there were titles containing an allusion to a longer quotation or saying.  Readers are generally expected to "know" what the rest of it is.  (Hard to teach per se, but be aware and if you THINK there's more to it, you're probably right!)691)
• Speaker/audience situation: sizing up the speaker/spoken to using all the available language clues, punctuation marks, and contextual material. 
• It's a process:  make guesses, check against the "data"/evidence in the poem, recalibrate, and sometimes suggest something else
• Point of view/perspective:  be prepared for shifts.  Again, use diction, grammatical forms, punctuation marks, other clues to help understand where (and why) something significant changes.
• Make sure theme statements apply to all of what a poem contains, not merely one section.

Poems we focussed on:
"When in Rome" (691)
"There's been a Death, in the Opposite House" (691)

Collected:  "the epic simile untangled" assignment (PL I.192-220) but written directly on that separate sheet (not the stapled packet)

FOR TOMORROW
Read, nay, study, the rest of the Paradise Lost packet. You do not (shocker) need to bring Perrine with you to class tomorrow.

There WILL be a short timed write (circa 30 minutes), but you don't need to do anything special to prepare for that assuming you've read the two poetry chapters.

TODAY IN CLASS
Survey. 
Many gone beyond those excused.

FOR TOMORROW
Make sure you are brilliant on previously assigned PL and poetry work:  see Monday's post.

HAVE PERRINE IN CLASS: Every single person, please.

TODAY IN CLASS
PL:
1) Effects of foregrounded HIM and the long series of modifying phrases in lines44-49
2) The effect of the transitive verb construction "round he throws his baleful eyes" (56)
3)  The mix of Latinate and Anglo-Saxon diction " obdurate pride and steadfast hate"
4) A "summa-phrase" (keep same POV, as in a paraphrase, cover every idea/point, but don't attenpt a phrase by phrase close translation as a paraphrase would do) for Satan's initial speech to Beelzebut (84-124)

Poetry:
5) Clarification of my misleading reference on Friday to the Dickinson poem in Ch. 2, not the one in Ch. 1.  (Both concern someone's death at home; I swapped them in my mind.  Sorry!)
6) "The Ballad of Birmingham"--how the childlike or light-hearted ballad stanza can be used in serious poems.


FOR TOMORROW
1) Re: Paradise Lost

• On the packet itself, in the open space to the right of the text, continue the "summa-phrase" style for Beelzebub's response to Satan (lines 128-155) and Satan's reply (157-191)
• Mark particular lines you might recognize as "famous" (as in possibly you've heard them before . . . )
• On the separate sheet of paper, track the "epic simile" that sprawls essentially from line 192-220).  Do whatever you need to do to show, in accessible graphic form, how the "terms" of the simile progress; what is being compared to what, and to what, and to what . . . .Spell out details as needed.   You will be handing this in; that's why it needs to be done on the separate sheet of paper instead of in the packet.

2) Re: the poetry book
Yes, you should have read pp. 679-688 for today. You should be well up to speed on all of the poetry discussed in that section.  Apart from the PL work above, the only new obligation for Perrine is this:
Read the Dickinson poem (A Death in the Opposite House) (689-690?  need to double check text).  Study and be responsible for informed and ready responses to the questions that follow the poem.

And bring Perrine . . .

TODAY IN CLASS
PL syntax focus; then group discussion of the one poem you had worked with from 669-678.  Exchange of ideas based on textbook questions; then work through applicable steps from "How to Read a Poem."
(Always start with the expectation of considering every single point.  Make sure you're not missing something before concluding that the poem at hand lacks a particular feature.)

FOR MONDAY
Just read the teaching material/sample poems discussion in Chapter 2, pp. 679-688.  Carefully think through the review questions in the box on p. 688.

You are not responsible for any of the larger group (bottom of 688 to the end of the chapter) for Monday.

Bring Perrine on Thursday

. . . as well as the Paradise Lost hand-out.  We will work with both.

TODAY IN CLASS

•  A short homework check
• "The Red Wheelbarrow" (William Carlos Williams)

Yes, there had been a typo on yesterday's blog; the three poems were to have been a genuine choice, drawn from pp. 666-677.  But fortunately there WERE three to do . . . That's okay.

And today we worked with  "The Red Wheelbarrow" in class, so that's off limits.

FOR TOMORROW

Look at the poems on pp. 669-677 (yes, double-checked for accuracy; those are the pages)

Choose ONE of those poems, study it carefully, and write responses to the questions which follow in you notebook.  

Assuming you've already read lines 1-270 of PL that were assigned on Monday, no new work there.

Special note to the couple of people in 1st period who were absent both days, March 4th/5th:  Look at yesterday's post and do the instructions right in the first place; I have corrected the page numbers.  And then you only have to write responses in your notes to a total of 3 poems.

TODAY IN CLASS
1.  Quiz on the second half of the poetry terms.  Make this up ASAP if you missed it; tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. sharp is strongly encouraged.
2.  An untanglement of the syntax for the first sentence of Book I of Paradise Lost (16 lines): write out a clear paraphrase that shows a much more clear and direct word order, together with an understanding of how the grammatical elements of this sentence fit together.  If you were absent, write this out on your own paper and bring it to class tomorrow.
3.  Some pairs/group evaluation of these rewritten sentences.

FOR TOMORROW

• Read Chapter 1 in the poetry section of Perrine. :  657-678
• As you read, continue to "read through" the poems in this chapter as well.  For the poems on pp. 666-677* (only those, NOT any of the earlier ones), select THREE and write answers to the questions about that poem in your notes.  Answers may be informal/not in complete sentences, etc., but you should be able to be held quickly accountable for your knowledge and understanding of the three poems you choose.

*Corrected page range

Obviously have PL with you tomorrow in class, but no homework on that tonight.

Really brief today:

1) Theme statements on Frankenstein turned in (one for all, two for 4, three for 1 category/ies)

2) There was a timed write on Frankenstein; make up ASAP. Tuesday afternoon (2:25) or Wednesday morning (9:00 a.m.) expected UNLESS you make special arrangements with me for compelling reasons.

3) Tuesday in class:  Quiz over the second half of the poetry terms (37-70)

4) Hand-out today:  a packet of excerpts from Milton's Paradise Lost. 

Studying for the quiz is the top priority, but read through the excerpt from Book I so you'll have an overall feel for Milton's epic poem. This is not meant to be a careful "unpacking" and close reading tonight. That comes later . . .

TODAY IN CLASS
Reason/path/effects of nature on VF as he undertakes the journey that will take him to the Orkneys and the creation/destruction of the Creature's prospective mate.  We did not trace through the details of the rest in class; it has been assumed all along that you've read, you've used the guiding questions as support, and you gave serious attention to the closing letters.

We turned to some in-class time to start on the homework, which is outlined below if you were absent.

Utilize the review you should be doing to come up with rich, insightful theme statements to review the kinds of detail the book contains that should be held in mind as much as possible in preparation for the in-class timed write on Monday.

Beyond that, as you prepare for the timed write on Monday, be sure to consider both VF and the Creature as potential "monsters"--who most deserves that term?  and of course why?? Conversely, consider each one as "victims"; again, for what reasons, and who most richly deserves that term?

FOR MONDAY
Continue work on the theme statements.  You will turn them in on Monday.
Basics:

• a complete sentence that makes a claim 
• "universal" (no explicit reference to a given work, characters, or plot)
• sufficiently insightful to capture a significant idea that IS in fact relevant to the work at hand (though again, not illustrated by explicit reference to a particular text).

Thin, superficial statements will not be valued highly, and though you won't be providing the development or "proof," someone who has read the work thoughtfully should be able to grasp what would have prompted your claim.  Certainly the theme statements you propose must reflect meanings and ideas found within the work, not something contradicted by the text itself.  (I saw/heard a couple of theme statements today that simply could not be supported by what Shelley wrote.)

If you were absent, you need to do the following on your own paper.  The categories are as follows: 

Nature, Knowledge, Education, Destiny, Justice, Friendship/Companionship (or its absence), Parents/Children (or surrogates), Science/Technology, plus an optional category labeled "Other."

Number/Distribution of Theme Statements

You must write at  least one well-developed and thoughtful thesis statement for every category; 2 theme statements for 4 categories; and 3 theme statements for one category.

You choose which categories get multiple theme statements. 

TODAY IN CLASS
Ballad structure; what was "throwback" about Coleridge's "new" style in Lyrical Ballads? We looked at "Sir Patrick Spens," examined some ballad features, and looked at just a few sample stanzas of Rime.

But I pointed out that formative feedback had revealed some significant gaps/vague understanding/a few downright wrong ideas in the understanding of the later part of Frankenstein. Please understand that this comment does not apply to everyone--yet there seems to be a tipping point that needs to be addressed.

The blog post for Feb. 12, the Wednesday before break, had urged students to look at the guiding questions for the last part of Frankenstein. Here is the link again:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxigzimXmDnvZDl0Z2NNZ0IxTUk/edit

SO FOR TOMORROW
Please print these out, or if you'd really rather to keep the link open, that's okay.  Pick up with Chapter 17=---after the Creature stops talking. If you read through these and feel--as some of you might--that you're absolutely on top of this and know the material well, that's wonderful.  You're golden.  But if you don't, well, this is part of studying novels for AP.  You need to know the details.  So use the guide as what it is:  find and jot down what is being asked along the way.  I never intended for AP students to write out study question answers for Frankenstein, but that's because it's essentially easy enough that I didn't think it was necessary. I am still not going to require written answers, but I DO expect you to have fairly certain knowledge about the way this ends tomorrow.

A few people thought the next poetry terms quiz was tomorrow; it isn't.  I had originally said "Monday or Tuesday," and yesterday (at least in one class) I said I'd decided on Tuesday.

There will be an in-class timed write on Frankenstein on Monday, however.

TWO REMINDERS
1. Quiz over the first half of the AP Poetry Terms on Wednesday (through the M's, #36)

2.  AP exam registration ends on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 3:00 p.m. Consider whenever you leave the house Wednesday morning as your actual deadline.  If you haven't registered already, start the process here:
https://user.totalregistration.net/AP/480500

TODAY IN CLASS
Class agendas for 1st and 5th were switched between Friday before break and today.

• On Feb. 14, 1st period worked with the British Lit textbook to get a handle on romanticism as a literary historical period, and with a few examples; 5th period did much less of that and spent time getting a start on reading Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
• Today 1st period got started on Coleridge, and 5th did the overview material.  
• (note mostly to me--1st needs to explicitly compare Blake's "Chimney Sweep" poems, both sections need to do a Burns poem or two, and 5th needs to look at a couple of Wordsworth poems and the journal excerpt from Dorothy Wordsworth)

FOR TOMORROW

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"-- First poem in Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (1798)

Required:  Finish reading the poem for tomorrow. The first version below is probably best, but you might want to take a look at the other version as well.  Consider the responsibility of editors, editions, and "versions" in shaping our impression of a text.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173253

This one lacks the "Argument," but is in an older font with a different lay-out: Penn State version


Goals as you read/reflect on the poem:

• Know essentially what happens in the poem--it is a narrative, after all, so know the plot.
• Consider Coleridge's main themes for the poem
• How does Mary Shelley incorporate the poem into Frankenstein?
• What explicit reference(s) does she make to this work?
• Do you see any more implicit use of the poem?

Two further items for class work:

• We will look briefly at the poetic form and some key features (have your poetry terms handy)
• Assess the degree to which it represents key features of romanticism (list provided tomorrow)

Also, take a look at the history and range of illustrations Gustave Dore provided for this text:

Some background on the Dore illustrations and the general popularity of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner":
http://www.baumanrarebooks.com/blog/gustave-dore-the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner/

Gustave Dore prints:
http://www.artsycraftsy.com/dore_mariner.html

This is one good way to review both what happens and what an important 19th century artist/engraver/illustrator deemed significant.

TODAY IN CLASS
1.  5th period received AP Poetry Terms; 1st did not.  (If for any reason you miss 1st period tomorrow but are here later, come by and get one, please.)
2.  Short quick assessment re: last part of Frankenstein (17-end, including the final letters)
3.  Discussion of Frankenstein's initial reaction to the Creature's coming to life (Ch. 5) and picking up with the Creature's story (Ch. 11)

FOR TOMORROW
Of course the book should have been finished for today.  But be sure to review/solidify using the study guide on yesterday's blog. And look over the additional links on that post and (if you still haven't) the earlier links.

TODAY IN CLASS
Beethoven, Overture to Creatures of Prometheus (ballet), 1801

NATURE as it affects Frankenstein; role of nature as a major aspect of English Romanticism vs. Enlightenment/Age of Reason

Lyrical Ballads (1798) --poetry by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Launched the Romantic period of English literature

There had been some late 18th-century "pre-Romantics":  William Blake, Robert Burns, Thomas Gray

But Wordsworth and Coleridge led the way into full-fledged Romanticism.
Other prominent names:  Percy Bysshe Shelley; George Gordon, Lord Byron; John Keats

BY TOMORROW

• You should have finished the book.  
• Check out the links below (Monday's as well) --but for the study questions, don't go beyond the indicated heading until you finish.  There are plot-spoilers.

Some study questions/close review; originally devised for British and Western, but still worthy of your attention:
Frankenstein (last half) Study Suggestions

Also, check this out for two ideas of  the Prometheus connection; you'll see that one seems more likely than the other . . .
Prometheus/Frankenstein

and just skim the Wikipedia article, paying special attention to the Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley connections:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus#Percy_Bysshe_Shelley_and_Prometheus_Unbound

And though we will look specifically at some relevant passages from Milton's Paradise Lost, this is the simplest best way to get a handle on Sorrows of Werter:
Sorrows of Werter

Quickly posted before the faculty meeting:

FOR TOMORROW
You should have read 11-16 for today.  You were not required to keep exhaustive separate lists of thematic ideas, but rather to keep in mind--and note briefly major ways in which these ideas permeate the Creature's story.

You should also get a start on 17 to the end, because you need to be finished with the whole book by Thursday.

TODAY IN CLASS
Credited those with thematic springboard statements.  Keep hanging on to those.  We discussed some of the topics (not all) for Chapters 1-4; we'll continue that with part of tomorrow.  Some of the work for Monday was really outstanding. I had asked for these to be as thorough as possible and some of you more than met that expectation.  Some wrote quite a bit, but spent too much time copying out a few quotations completely rather than coming up with more complete lists of topic references.  And others just wrote a few page numbers and brief faces and called it good.  Not what was meant--part of the goal was to realize how absolutely thoroughly Mary Shelley built these ideas into her novel.  (And, ultimately, WHY.)

FOR TOMORROW
As stated earlier, read Chapters 11-16 (the Creature's story).

I am not asking for absolutely thorough lists, as I'd expected earlier. The reason is simply that I want everyone to consider the entire set of seven thematic springboards, and it would be too tedious to track them all.  However, as the Creature tells his story, you should fairly easily see how his "upbringing" differs from Frankenstein's, and start seeing his own view of family, parent/child ("parent"/"child") interaction from his perspective, and find ready examples of other categories.  Be reasonable in finding solid evidence, but not so exhaustive as some of you were today.

Random things to look up:

British exam system (A-levels, O-levels)

University of Ingolstadt:  http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/V1notes/univers.html

Natural Philosophy
Origin:  http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4202
Overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
18th Century:  http://etherwave.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/the-bounds-of-natural-philosophy-temporal-and-practical-frontiers-pt-2/

TODAY IN CLASS
1. Finished the Frankenstein letters.
2. Examined and evaluated the metaphorical levels/theme statements for "The Sick Rose"
3. "Stopping by Woods"--light coverage (rhyme/"boxes").  Made the point in 5th that possibly not in 1st that the last stanza probably demands interpretive levels.  Think that through.  What meaning could there be beyond the need to get home for, say, supper and the evening chores?

Because of the way the week went (depleted ranks on Monday and wipe-out on Wednesday), we are behind my plan.  Wednesday was to have been for the Blake and Frost work, and today's poetry component was meant to be the Donne poem.  That's why I asked 1st period to get started on that poem. In 5th, I didn't even have a chance to hand it out; we will have to catch up.  But 1st--read it, do your best to mark of units of thought via "boxes", and look up such allusions as you notice.  (JUST the allusions, not "the poem").

FOR MONDAY
You were told yesterday to read Chapters 1-10 for Monday.

Keep a list of half of the thematic springboard topics.  Make four columns to match the categories assigned to your half of the alphabet.  Then record the  page number and a brief excerpt for each reference.  Don't waste time copying out lengthy quotes; well-chosen snippets (whatever makes them easier for you to locate almost instantly) will suffice.

What to Track 

1st period Anderson-Kan and 5th period Ball-Jung:  
Nature, Education, Destiny, Friendship/Companionship (1-5 only for this last category)

1st period Kane-Zhou and 5th period Kim-Wu:
Knowledge, Parents/Children, Justice, Friendship/Companionship (6-10 only for this last category_

TODAY IN CLASS
1. "The Sick Rose" metaphorical levels and theme statement

2. Significant close attention to the letters that set up the frame story for Frankenstein.  We got partway through Letter 4 in 1st; barely there in 5th.  Review Letter 4 as needed, especially with an eye to the thematic springboard list.  Be especially aware of the rescued stranger's reaction to Walton's beliefs and goals.  

FOR TOMORROW
There will be a quick wrap-up of Letter 4, then poetry focus.  New hand-out.  Still not Perrine, at least not in class.

Frankenstein Reading Schedule
For Monday--Chapters 1-10
For Tuesday--Chapters 11-16
For Thursday--Chapters 17 to the end (slight change from what 1st period was told)

The bottom line:  there were too few people to do anything.  I know, you called it.  But I just wasn't sure . . .

So FOR TOMORROW--
As it was:

•  Make sure you have read the Letters portion of Frankenstein.  Find/take note of ways in which they reveal the thematic springboards I gave you yesterday.  (1st--sorry about the duplicate list; I'd intended to cut the paper again into "bookmark"-sized pieces).  The list:  Nature, Education, Parents/Children, Destiny, Justice, Knowledge, Friendship/Companionship (or its absence)
• 
  
• "The Sick Rose" --Reread and ponder.  Find an appropriate set of metaphorical meanings beyond the apparent literal meaning of the text.  Make sure that your ideas are "cohesive"--that is, the parts fit together into some coherent metaphorical level of interpretation. If you were absent on Tuesday, there are six words or phrases that require some meaning beyond the literal:  Rose =, worm = , howling storm =, bed =, secret love =, thy life = 

Finally, if your Pygmalion work isn't on turnitin.com, it's quite overdue.  The folder is still open.

GOING STRAIGHT TO WHAT IS DUE TONIGHT/TOMORROW

You received a hand-out in class on Friday. If you were absent that day, you can access it here:

Pygmalion Study Questions

The Act I-III questions were to be done via discussion and note-taking during class on Friday.  

It is the second page of this link (the back of the actual hand-out) that is your written homework for tomorrow.  Complete the fairly direct Act IV-V questions as well as the more substantial "play as a whole" questions and  follow the specific directions at the top of the page re: procedure.

The folder is open.