Focus: How can we conform our brilliant minds to multiple choice format?
PLC: Shortened Class
1. Warming up: Sharing your best multiple choice strategies with the class
2. Taking the 1982 multiple choice test (finish as much as you can; you would normally have a full 55 minutes to complete this, so don't worry if you don't even get to the last passage or two)
Please hold onto your multiple choice tests and bring them to class tomorrow.
HW:
1. Continue refining your prompts and book lists.
2. Bring your M.C. back to class tomorrow.
3. Feel free to follow our family blog if you're interested in what's happening with Sam.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
A.P. Lit Is Waiting: April 8, 2014
Focus: What are they waiting for?
1. Warming up with an important announcement from Mrs. Talen and an announcement from me
2. Sharing our thoughts and questions from the first half of Waiting for Godot, Act 1
3. Reading the rest of Act 1 and (hopefully) the beginning of Act 2
4. Wrapping up by brainstorming responses to the questions and grasping onto a passage or two
HW:
Continue refining your prompt and book list (you will want a final-sh draft by the end of this week). Come see me or e-mail me if you have questions.
Check our family blog for updates (also linked to class website) if you'd like to know what's going on with our little Sam.
1. Warming up with an important announcement from Mrs. Talen and an announcement from me
2. Sharing our thoughts and questions from the first half of Waiting for Godot, Act 1
3. Reading the rest of Act 1 and (hopefully) the beginning of Act 2
4. Wrapping up by brainstorming responses to the questions and grasping onto a passage or two
HW:
Continue refining your prompt and book list (you will want a final-sh draft by the end of this week). Come see me or e-mail me if you have questions.
Check our family blog for updates (also linked to class website) if you'd like to know what's going on with our little Sam.
Monday, April 7, 2014
A.P. Lit Feels Anaphoric Today: April 7, 2014
Focus: What are they waiting for?
1. Waiting for your 12 week grades to be updated
2. Waiting for your prompts and book lists to be returned
3. Waiting for a brief film clip to echo Nick and Paul's performance and Friday and talking through the absurdist elements you're noticing so far in Godot
4. Waiting for a new twosome to play Didi (Vladimir) and Gogo (Estragon) and yet another to play Pozzo and Lucky
5. Waiting for one part of the play you can grasp and make yours
HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and book list. The new due date for this essay will be Friday, May 2nd. However, if you turn yours in early, I will grade it first.
1. Waiting for your 12 week grades to be updated
2. Waiting for your prompts and book lists to be returned
3. Waiting for a brief film clip to echo Nick and Paul's performance and Friday and talking through the absurdist elements you're noticing so far in Godot
4. Waiting for a new twosome to play Didi (Vladimir) and Gogo (Estragon) and yet another to play Pozzo and Lucky
5. Waiting for one part of the play you can grasp and make yours
HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and book list. The new due date for this essay will be Friday, May 2nd. However, if you turn yours in early, I will grade it first.
Friday, April 4, 2014
A.P. Literature Is Waiting: April 4, 2014
Focus: What does it mean to wait?
1. Warming up with "I Am Waiting"
2. Building a little background knowledge on the Theatre of the Absurd
3. Starting to act out Waiting for Godot with a few focus questions
4. Turning in your prompts and book lists
HW:
Continue to build ideas for your culminating essay; start gathering old books, looking through your childhood stuff, reworking your prompt, etc. Bring anything you have to class on Tuesday for brainstorming.
1. Warming up with "I Am Waiting"
2. Building a little background knowledge on the Theatre of the Absurd
3. Starting to act out Waiting for Godot with a few focus questions
4. Turning in your prompts and book lists
HW:
Continue to build ideas for your culminating essay; start gathering old books, looking through your childhood stuff, reworking your prompt, etc. Bring anything you have to class on Tuesday for brainstorming.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
A.P. Lit Nerds: April 3, 2014
Focus: How can we improve our timed writings?
1. Warming up: Sharing your best and your worst from Tuesday's writings; writing a quick comment to your editors
2. Gathering with your book clubs one last time to assess your Tuesday writings:
a. Discuss how you answered the prompt. How did you interpret the prompt? What examples did you use? What was the larger importance of the book to which you connected those examples?
b. Read through the rubric together, highlighting important words that distinguish one grading category from another.
c. Pass clockwise and read quietly once without making a mark.
d. Comment on its content and organization (thesis, topic sentences, examples, close readings, etc.); then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.
e. Pass again clockwise and read quietly without making a mark.
f. Comment on its style (diction, sentence variety, lead-ins, transitions, etc.); then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.
g. Pass one last time (clockwise) and read quietly without making a mark.
h. Comment on what the writer asked you to comment on; then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.
3. Conferencing with your fellow group members on the feedback you gave
HW:
Finish the rough draft of your culminating essay prompt and book list; please print and hand in tomorrow for feedback.
1. Warming up: Sharing your best and your worst from Tuesday's writings; writing a quick comment to your editors
2. Gathering with your book clubs one last time to assess your Tuesday writings:
a. Discuss how you answered the prompt. How did you interpret the prompt? What examples did you use? What was the larger importance of the book to which you connected those examples?
b. Read through the rubric together, highlighting important words that distinguish one grading category from another.
c. Pass clockwise and read quietly once without making a mark.
d. Comment on its content and organization (thesis, topic sentences, examples, close readings, etc.); then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.
e. Pass again clockwise and read quietly without making a mark.
f. Comment on its style (diction, sentence variety, lead-ins, transitions, etc.); then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.
g. Pass one last time (clockwise) and read quietly without making a mark.
h. Comment on what the writer asked you to comment on; then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.
3. Conferencing with your fellow group members on the feedback you gave
HW:
Finish the rough draft of your culminating essay prompt and book list; please print and hand in tomorrow for feedback.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
A.P. Lit Nerds: April 2, 2014
Focus: What is the culminating essay, and how do we begin?
1. Warming up: Sharing a special announcement from the guidance office...
2. Celebrating the wonder of Nia!
From Mrs. Yang: Nia = Smart + hard worker + responsible
From Mrs. Bradley: Nia was attentive in class. I could tell she really liked our health class units. :) She worked hard and was fun to have in class.
From Mrs. Firchau: Nia is one of the most amazing people that I know! She is very bright, but more importantly kind, thoughtful and wise beyond her years. I have had the opportunity of seeing Nia grow into a beautiful young adult over the years. She has so much love and compassion to give to others. Nia is always smiling and is able to look at the bright side of any situation.
From Mrs. Crookham: Nia is a pleasure to have in class. She works hard and doesn't give up when the problems get difficult. I can see Nia grimace when I say, "These are really fun!", or "These are just little puzzles!", but she quietly gets to work and gets it done anyway. I wish had many more students like Nia.
From Mrs. Buchwald: Nia was so quiet in class, but her writing was so loud. What a gift with a pen she has!
From Mrs. Cladny: Although very reserved, Nia was always attentive, hard-working, and respectful in my Honors American Literature class.
From Nia's metacognitive on "Hope is the thing with feathers": I find it interesting that “Hope” although tiny and powerful still needed to ask for something from the speaker. Maybe Dickinson was trying to say that even though we depend on hope often, sometimes hope needs something to depend on as well and that it can only be given it by the person it’s trying to help sustain.
From her mom: Nia has a way of bouncing right back from rough situations. When we adopted her from China at 9 months old, after all of the babies had been handed off to their new families, we boarded a bus to return to our hotel. All of the babies started crying, including Nia. After a moment of crying, Nia looked around and stopped crying. Later that night, after her 1:00 am feeding, she treated us to a little song while she lay in her crib.
3. Perusing four sample essays from students of years past and discussing the components of the culminating essay
4. Forming rough drafts of your culminating essay prompts
HW:
1. Please print a copy of your prompt by this Friday and submit it to me for feedback.
2. If you have your own copy of Waiting for Godot, bring it to class this Friday.
1. Warming up: Sharing a special announcement from the guidance office...
The Arapahoe Guidance Department will be hosting a speaker who will address recovering from trauma at Arapahoe tomorrow (Thursday April 3rd), 4th hour during both lunches in the theater. Crystal Miller was a junior at Columbine during the shooting fifteen years ago and will be coming to share her experience with Arapahoe students. Crystal offers a great opportunity to hear from someone who has worked through being in a school shooting and come out as person of great strength. Her message of hope and strength covers her personal journey through her recovery process, all the way thru to where she is today as a person. We will be offering her presentation two times; once during first lunch and once during second lunch with the opportunity to ask questions after each presentation.
If you are interested in attending during your lunch hour, please bring your lunch to the theater. We hope to see you there!
Mr. Bast, Mrs. Gillespie, Dr. Song and Ms. Conkey
2. Celebrating the wonder of Nia!
From Mrs. Yang: Nia = Smart + hard worker + responsible
From Mrs. Bradley: Nia was attentive in class. I could tell she really liked our health class units. :) She worked hard and was fun to have in class.
From Mrs. Firchau: Nia is one of the most amazing people that I know! She is very bright, but more importantly kind, thoughtful and wise beyond her years. I have had the opportunity of seeing Nia grow into a beautiful young adult over the years. She has so much love and compassion to give to others. Nia is always smiling and is able to look at the bright side of any situation.
From Mrs. Crookham: Nia is a pleasure to have in class. She works hard and doesn't give up when the problems get difficult. I can see Nia grimace when I say, "These are really fun!", or "These are just little puzzles!", but she quietly gets to work and gets it done anyway. I wish had many more students like Nia.
From Mrs. Buchwald: Nia was so quiet in class, but her writing was so loud. What a gift with a pen she has!
From Mrs. Cladny: Although very reserved, Nia was always attentive, hard-working, and respectful in my Honors American Literature class.
From Nia's metacognitive on "Hope is the thing with feathers": I find it interesting that “Hope” although tiny and powerful still needed to ask for something from the speaker. Maybe Dickinson was trying to say that even though we depend on hope often, sometimes hope needs something to depend on as well and that it can only be given it by the person it’s trying to help sustain.
From her mom: Nia has a way of bouncing right back from rough situations. When we adopted her from China at 9 months old, after all of the babies had been handed off to their new families, we boarded a bus to return to our hotel. All of the babies started crying, including Nia. After a moment of crying, Nia looked around and stopped crying. Later that night, after her 1:00 am feeding, she treated us to a little song while she lay in her crib.
3. Perusing four sample essays from students of years past and discussing the components of the culminating essay
4. Forming rough drafts of your culminating essay prompts
HW:
1. Please print a copy of your prompt by this Friday and submit it to me for feedback.
2. If you have your own copy of Waiting for Godot, bring it to class this Friday.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
A.P. Lit Nerds: April 1, 2014
Focus: What are our culminating thoughts on our book club novels?
1. Warming up with your previous timed writings on Question 3
2. Wrestling with your book club timed writings
3. Wrapping up
HW:
1. If you did not finish your blog post yet on your book club novel, please do so.
2. Start bringing Waiting for Godot to class this week.
3. Just a heads-up: We will be talking about the culminating essay tomorrow and starting to form your prompts.
1. Warming up with your previous timed writings on Question 3
2. Wrestling with your book club timed writings
3. Wrapping up
HW:
1. If you did not finish your blog post yet on your book club novel, please do so.
2. Start bringing Waiting for Godot to class this week.
3. Just a heads-up: We will be talking about the culminating essay tomorrow and starting to form your prompts.
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