Read from the Cannon

Here are a couple of lists-- just in case you have bee away for a long time-- of books to choose from to read for this last unit.  Also linked is the assignment/scrapbook you will create to capture your reading experience-- lots of demos in class of alternative ways to journal, too!
Mrs.E
American Cannon
English Cannon
Literary Scrapbook

Revise the Hamlet Essay and Read from the Cannon

We had a lot of discussion in class about what the requirements for the "Critical Lens" essay on Hamlet should look like.  The goal is a typical, college freshan-style essay (and genius):
3 page minimum
12 point font: TNR or default Apple font
1" margins
Textual evidence for every point you make--and LOTS of discussion about EXACTLY how this quotation/paraphrase means what you say it means.
Citations in this style: (2.4.122-24) (act.verse.line-s)

Academic tone: don't ask questions of your reader (Why does Hamlet delay?), just tell them, "Hamlet delays because he is a man of thought and debate, discussion and depression, and not the man of of action the ghost wants him to be." Don't talk to your reader (most people don't think this way, but I think") or refer to yourself with the personal pronoun "I", as a general rule. Be confident with your ideas and fluent in your use of words and sentence structures.

CONCLUSIONS: The hardest part of any essay-- they should explain why everything you just said is important-- they should wrap up your thoughts in such a way that your reader is still thinking about what you said for a while-- the amazing conclusion you write at the end of your first draft is sometimes a better thesis statement than the one you wrote in your first draft-- now that you REALLY understand what you mean-- because you just wrote out what you mean and proved it from the text--consider using your concluding idea AS your thesis as you revise before a second draft.

Critical School Essay on Hamlet

Essays were due today-- Monday is last call.
We are really enjoying R and G are dead in the film version-- we will discuss absurdity later--yes!

The last unit for this class will be a self-chosen text from the cannon-- and you will create your own "scrapbook" in reaction-- as well as a college-level paper on it--getting close to the end!  I will bring in some texts next week.
Mrs. E

AP Testing almost here

If you have had to do other things-- make sure you see me next week to finish the Hamlet final.
Check in with me to get a glossary help page, another practice test ( if you want it), and as much helpful advice as you can stand!
Test: Thursday
Party with Poetry and Fairy tales--FRIDAY

Practice, Practice!

If you have missed class-- here is a link to a site where you can acces practice tests:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/2002.html
Please take at least one complete timed multiple choice test and write at least two of the timed essays: one poetry and one prose-- we will write on the open topic later this week after we finish with Hamlet.

Monday: We took a full MC practice test--
HW: finish Act IV of Hamlet
Tuesday: We discussed poetry and free response essay prompts from 2012 test:
reviewed parts and functions of the sonnet--please review this if you were absent-- also talked about "speech acts" in poetry.
Wednesday: We will focus on Hamlet:
Assignment for Act IV (we will do in class)
Thursday: Read Act V
Essay/Final Test on Hamlet: Monday, May 6th
May 7 and 8: Review Major Works Data Sheets and Literary Terms
May 9th: AP TEST!
May 10th: Poetry Party to Celebrate! Cinderella is invited!

Preparation for the test to come--Get ready!

Here is what we were up to this week:
Monday: we dissected a prompt form the 2009 version of the AP test, read the poem, and found the things that the prompt might have suggested were there (allusion/figures of speech/tone) and then wrote our own first paragraph and THEN read A LOT of student samples. Then we graded those prompts and decided which was the best--by our own criteria.

Tuesday: We re-read our favorite student essays: W and WW, and decided if the opening paragraphs did three things:
1- Named the nature of the COMPLEX reaction of the speaker
2- Mentioned the author and speaker and led into the techniques we would highlight in our essay.
3- Was well written
the we read more essays--along with their actual grade and comments from the grading staff

Then we dissected the prompt for the second (prose) essay and read it--notating at will! Then we made note of the techniques mentioned in the prompt that we had noticed on our first reading: Fig. of speech/personification/details of description/imagery.  We the wrote a first paragraph of our essay about this piece.

Wednesday: This period is devoted to writing the essay in answer to the second prompt (prose) from the 2009 exam.

Thursday: We will research/look-up/ make study guides for the Literary Terms vocabulary that we need to master for the test.  Helps are available in class-- and we also have the power of the internet! Make a study guide/flash cards/notecards/poems/essays ANYTHING that will help you remember the meaning of the terms that you did not include in your first semester glossary. Online Glossary

Friday: We will read "problem" essays from the second prompt in 2009: essays that are the borderline, according to the judges.  We want to locate the key differences that might make our own essays unquestionable when we take the test.

HOMEWORK: Read the fourth act of Hamlet by Monday. We will probably get some time in class to help with this, but don't count on it. Reading helps: eat Ham-let sandwiches--wonder at Claudius formations in the blue sky, Grit you teeth and think of Gertrude, and BE.  It is always better than the alternative.  By the way: my favorite speech in a play full of amazing speeches comes in Act V. Still-- find your favorite speech from Act IV and be prepared to talk about it on Monday.

Missing Essay Prompt

Official Prompt for Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness Essay:

Choose one theme topic* that you see as common to both works and write an essay that discusses how each work explores that theme and what you believe the author/director was trying to say about that theme.
* theme topics are things like love/greed/war/imperialism/power/the nature of man, etc.

Out of the Darkness and Back to Denmark!

Is there an anagram in there somewhere?
Anyway--
1- The last post has the essay topic for the film--please bring a Full Draft (FIRST OR SECOND--JUST MAKE SURE IT IS NOT SO RE-WORKED THAT YOU CAN'T BEAR TO REVISE--FOR REVISION IS OUR LIFE!)-- ready for revision--on Monday--PLEASE DOUBLE SPACE!

2- Here is an update on the dates we are working with so far.  We MUST finish Hamlet by the end of the month and we MUST learn/review literary terms.
VITAL LINK: Here are the other things we are up to:

How to Have a Great Weekend:
Read some Hamlet as you munch a ham sandwich?
Look up to the clouds and think: "Cloudius-----Claudius!"
Grind some coffee and grit your teeth over Gertrude's bad judgement?
Be true to thine ownself--
Be neither a borrower nor a lender--
Pretend to be mad and betray a couple former frien----NO! That's going too far!

Remember that it is always better to be than not to be--there is no question. Enjoy and I will see you on Monday.

Here is the essay topic for the movie

Please write the essay and bring a complete draft to class on Monday, April 22nd.:
Double spaced, TNR, 1-inch margins--thanks!

Moving ON!

We have a full schedule this week-- here is a link to the timetable we discussed on Monday:
April 8-12

Hamlet, Hamlet, He's Our Man! If He Can't Do it....?

Home stretch towards the AP exam and the end of your high school careers--amazing days!
Here's what we are up to this week:
Document of Agendas/video links

We also discussed viewing the film, Apocalyspe Now and relating it to our study of Heart of Darkness--the book from which the film was adapted.  Here is a link to a permission slip for you (over 18) or your parents (under 18) to sign.

Almost Break Time!

We are done with Heart of Darkness, at least for now.  If we have a chance, we will view Apocalypse Now in class.  The final write for Heart of Darkness is a paper providing a critical analysis of the text from YOUR CHOICE among the critical schools. Please be sure your paper addresses the questions that your particular school would ask of the text-- a paragraph or two for each question is a guide-- but don't forget that your thesis can "overlap" several schools of thought.

Our latest dance card is all filled by the Bard-- an epic rhumba with the bestest rhymer of all timer-- a samba with the sonnet master--  a trip the light fantastic night in ghostly, rotten Denmark--Hamlet!
Here are some documents of introduction and assignment:
Chain of Being
C of B artistic interpretation
Elizabethan Universe
Cartoonish Seven Deadly Sins (also known as "mortal" sins--the kind that endanger your immortal soul)
Word Study
Reading Log
Chapter One Quiz-- USE THIS AS A STUDY GUIDE--WRITE ON IT.

READING SCHEDULE:
March 19-20, Act I, scene 1
March 20-21, Act I, scenes 2-3
March 21-22, Act I, scene 4-5
Over Spring Break: Write one Reading Log Entry (three types) for the whole of ACT I

Notice three significant points

As you read and analyze Mr. Achebe's speech, please write down three significant points that he makes and come to class prepared to discuss them in relationship to our other studies of Conrad's work: Heart of Darkness.

King Leopold's Soliloquy

Please read this little pamphlet by Mark Twain: Satire is the name of the game, and how else could we listen to such a man rant on about why he does what he does?  The drawings and photos are amazing to look at, too. You can download it for free or read it on your computer via Google Books. We will discuss in class, of course!
Link to Google Books version
If the link doesn't work, you can download the pamphlet itself on Google Books-- the original text was donated by the library at Harvard University-- for use on your device or computer.

The Horror! The Horror!

Man, it was almost like we were reading Frankenstein again! The monster is not just traipsing about in the Alps this time, but it is in me, and you , and Europe, and all who journey back into pre-civilizational [sic] primordial muck and ooze will find a "self" of violence and greed and ego unmitigated!
Meanwhile, back in Europe, in that "Whited Sepulchre* of a city, the intended must be protected from the truth. Hmmmmmm.. Why must we let her continue to worship a false idol?  Even Kurtz is horrified when he faces the truth about who he really is, and yet the intended imagines he is wonderful and that, "I knew him best!" (91) when she does not know anything but the best press. Why protect the people in Europe from the degradation of imperialism--it is degrading to all parties, the subjugation of others

*biblical reference to hypocrisy (Matthew 23:27): the Pharisees were said to be clean and proper on the outside, but with hearts/souls full of death and decay and useless relics--like a white-washed tomb.

ASSIGNMENT: Here is a link to an article written by an African man who was a scholar/professor here in the U.S.  He gives us a differing view of Conrad's work.  Please read this and come to class Tuesday, March 12th prepared to discuss it.
An Image of Africa, by Chinua Achebe


REMINDER: Friday, March 8th we took a reading test over the whole of Heart of Darkness.  Please be sure to make this up on Monday if you were absent
Essays on The Accountant: Due Wednesday, March 13th.

Thinking about "non-bricks," portraits of symbolic ladies and getting to Kurtz

Continue to read and take notes according to the tasks on the bookmark.  Everyone, at least from the conversations I overhear, seems to understand the work quite well, so far.
Today: we filled out a graphic organizer and had a group discussion about the "Brick Maker" character.  We will finish it tomorrow.
Keep reading and rolling UP the river:
M/C and Matching type Test on entire book: Friday, March 8th

The Week in Review

This week we went over the first part (Part One) of Heart of Darkness--making sure wee filled out the journey tracking journal (see previous posts for BOOKMARK and Beginning assignment).
We also:
Studied "The White Man's Burden" by Kipling and a parody of it POETRY ASSIGNMENT W-TH
Wrote a fine draft of an essay in class: ACCOUNTANT ESSAY PROMPT: T-TH
Reviewed and edited each other's essays: Friday, March 1st

Here we go!

Please make sure and hand in your mapping of the "Good and Evil" article as well as your comments on "The Hollow Men."
As we read-- we will take notes in the following ways:
Review what impressionist writers are up to
Follow the hints and tasks on the bookmark as you keep a READER'S JOURNAL
Keep a detailed Journal of the beginning of the Journey!

Neitzsche and Nihilism-- Yikes!

Well, we mapped out that old argument about good and evil and discussed it-- it is digested, at least through the first of how ever many stomachs scholars have-- I believe cows have only four chambers of digestion--
Here is the essay to read and the map to create: Good and Evil Revisited, by Frederich Nietzsche
We are working up to reading Heart of Darkness by getting our first impressoin about impressionists.  Here is a link to some excellent information: Impressionist Writers
Here is a link to a really wonderful presentation on the impressionists in general-- the artists and how/why it all got to be about "impressions" rather than "objective reality."
For the break, we will be reading "Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot and digesting a few quotes of his own.: Hollow Men and commentary chart
 Be sure to smell some flowers and eat something sweet as we proceed into these dark waters--its not a pretty picture, I'm afraid.
Happy Weekend!

New Schools of Criticism: Shut the Doll House!

We went over two more critical lenses: Marxist and Freudian (psychoanalytical).  We will talk about structural criticism in general, as well as Archetypal criticism, before we hit the deconstructionists-- who are hard to understand and that's okay--it's their point really, that we can't possibly understand--- exactly.
Today we took the final on A Doll's House-- come see me if you were absent

Next Up: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Please buy a copy and have it for Tuesday, Feb. 19th
OR:
This text is $0.99 to download on Amazon-- try one of our Kindle readers (see Ms. Beazizo) or download the FREE Kindle reader app on your ipod or ipad or mac or pc or blackberry or droid-- great time to experiment with the technology for only a buck.

Thursday Notes

If you were absent today (Thursday) please remember to bring in your poem inside your head and heart tomorrow-- we will recite!

Everyone: you need to finish the play--read Act III tonight, and don't forget to look at it from your particular perspective--through your particular critical lens!

If you were absent today: please make a bullet list of the five or six things you noticed while reading through Act II and as you looked at the text through the eyes of your chosen school of criticism.  Briefly explain why you noticed what you did.  Please hand this in tomorrow to substitute for taking part on your group's presentation.

Trivia: the 250 pounds that Nora borrowed at that time and that place is roughly equivalent to $6800 USD today---yikes!

Second Semester!

Oh, yeah! The home stretch of senior year--excellent, my dear students, excellent!
Here is a brief run-down of where we are as of today:

Monday: We went over the multiple choice part of the final exam and then checked out our next play: A Doll's House by Ibsen.
We have been talking/lecturing a lot about the critical schools, most especially Feminist Criticism and New Historicist Criticism.  We took notes in class-- I am attempting to link the power point presentations to this blog post-- hopefully they are there.
READING: We will finish Act II by Thursday at the start of class-- you are to bring notes to class from your reading based on the kinds of literary things that either 1- New Historicist or 2- Feminist Critics would notice and remark upon.
POEMS: Please come to class prepared to recite, with feeling, the poem you are preparing for Poetry Out Loud.
Bye, Guys and Dolls!

Poems and Critics

Please finish your paraphrase of your memorized poem this weekend, and read the next section on Critical Schools: Biographical. Continue to practice your poems-- we will do a second round after Finals.
DUE MONDAY: Literary Terms Glossaries
 Also Monday--We will continue to discuss the rotting gopher carcass thing--- poem to analyze
FINAL EXAM: Thursday, January 31st

Next Phase:

For tonight:
1- Finish memorizing your poem if you have not already.
2- Write a ONE SENTENCE synopsis of your poem's plot/speech act
3- Write a paraphrase of your poem-- be sure to have a thorough understanding of each word your poet uses--  but DO NOT do a word-for-word translation--put the meaning of the poet's lines in your own words and style.
Read the short article on pages 2076-2079 of Literature:... about "Formalist Perspectives"
Happy Thursday!

Practice your Poems!

We will continue to practice our recitations tomorrow, and we will finish our practice multiple choice test--AND we will practice plying critical perspectives--practice criticizing, in the best sense, the works we read.
ASSIGNMENTS:
1- Finish you Literary Terms Glossary by Monday, January 28th (part of your final grade)
2- Be Ready to perform your poem from the POL site: Monday, January 28th (part of your final grade)
3- Read pages 2068 - 2076 in Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama by Robert DiYanni (read for discussion/quiz in class)

Final exam will be in the form of some multiple choice questions over a piece you will read and an in-class essay on a topic related to one of the major works you have studied this semester.-- sort of a "mini" AP test.  You will be great!

Terminology and Attitude

How we talk about texts and, even more importantly, how we approach them--from what angle we view them, how we ""inform" our reading--this is our next unit of study.
Assignments in a nutshell:
1- Examine the poem, " My Grandmother's Love Letters" for what you think it is about--literally, figuratively, and every other way.  Write LOTS of notes all over the text as you think it through.
2- Be sure you REALLY understand three terms on the Literary Terms Glossary List: metaphysical conceit, meiosis, and apostrophe.
3- Memorize your poem for POL this weekend!

Mrs. E

My Grandmother's Love Letters

There are no stars tonightBut those of memory.Yet how much room for memory there isIn the loose girdle of soft rain. There is even room enoughFor the letters of my mother’s mother,Elizabeth,That have been pressed so longInto a corner of the roofThat they are brown and soft,And liable to melt as snow. Over the greatness of such spaceSteps must be gentle.It is all hung by an invisible white hair.It trembles as birch limbs webbing the air. And I ask myself: “Are your fingers long enough to playOld keys that are but echoes:Is the silence strong enoughTo carry back the music to its sourceAnd back to you againAs though to her?” Yet I would lead my grandmother by the handThrough much of what she would not understand;And so I stumble. And the rain continues on the roofWith such a sound of gently pitying laughter. 

 

Monday Mentionings

Three Big Things:

1- We are presenting Modern Poetry group projects tomorrow--Tuesday-- whether you have been here or not-- you need to be ready, please!
2- You need to begin memorizing your poem for Poetry Out Loud-- we will work next week on recitation techniques, etc., but we will also be working on a unit on Literary Critical Theory--oh yeah!
3- Literary Terms Glossary-- here is a list of the words-- get to work if you haven't already-- these are part of the final exam--thanks!
Mrs. Eddy

Candide--We Will Miss You!

We are finishing up writing/discussion about Candide-- Friday (tomorrow ) is the last day to turn in some writing about Voltaire's satirical attack on philosophical excess-- we finish in class.
Meanwhile-- we formed groups today and started on an exploration of Modern Poetry---
Here is a link to the assignment.

Welcome Back!

So good to be back here with you!  Here is the assignment from today:
Candide Unleashed:
See you tomorrow--hopefully with a couple of glossary entries: 12 days of school before finals! Yikes!
Mrs. E