A.P. Lit Is Uncertain? April 30, 2014

PLC: Shortened Class Today

Focus: How does R&G's waiting different from V&E's waiting?

Please turn in your Bedside Stack forms if you have not yet done so.

1. Celebrating Kendall!

From Ms. McGeorge: Hi. I love having Kendall in AP Biology. She always works extremely hard and is always smiley. When I found out that a member our girls lacrosse team was going to my college (Kenyon College), Kendall dragged her friend down to meet me so we could have "Kenyon" time. That was an extremely nice thing for her to do!

From Mrs. Bradley: Kendall is kind and works hard in class. 

From Mrs. Comp: Kendall is all heart--with a quiet humility she is a person of character, goodness and she has only scratched the surface of what she can and will achieve-how lucky people are for her!  

From Mr. Siekmeier: Kendall seems to fly under the radar, but she's got great perception.  She really knows what's going on, always a steady presence in a classroom who does consistently good work.

From Mrs. Smith: Kendall is one of those students who becomes part of a teacher's life, changing it for the better. She entered as part of my school family, but her family became my family taking care of us in some really challenging times. She always shows me to appreciate life with a smile, kindness, and gratitude.  Oh, how I will miss that girl.

From her family: First and foremost, Kendall is confident and balanced in her perspective about life and her future. She is not afraid to blaze her own trail rather than following others. She is a kind and loyal girl who truly values those that are close to her. She is highly competitive and willing to put in hard work to accomplish her goals. Most importantly, she is a tremendous blessing to our family!! We love her dearly and will miss her love andcontagious laughter in our home next year!!

Sweet Pea, we love you to the moon and back!!

Dad, Mom, Riley and Scott

2. Warming up: Reading the dialogue between Guildenstern and the Player on pages 66-67

• What connections do you see between this conversation and the conversations in Godot?

• How do the ideas in this dialogue differ from those in Godot?

• How are we all like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

3. Viewing the rest of Act II in R&G Are Dead

HW:
Culminating essay due this Friday.
Start working on your bedside stack (follow the directions on the handout).

A.P. Lit Is Offstage: April 29, 2014

Focus: What does it mean to be offstage?

1. Warming up: Close reading a passage from yesterday

PLAYER: We keep to our usual stuff, more or less, only inside out.  We do on stage the things that are supposed to happen off.  Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else.  (28)

• In your lives, how would you define living "offstage" to living "onstage"?  In other words, when are you are offstage, and when are you onstage? For example, is your school life offstage or onstage, and why? Is there such a thing as "offstage"?

• What is the player revealing about his acting troop's intentions?  Why is there integrity in this?

• What does he mean when he says that every exit is entrance somewhere else?

• How is this an example of metafiction?  In other words, how is this a comment on what this play is about?

2. Enjoying Act II of R & G, the film version (start at 29ish minutes)

3. Wrapping up with your four focus questions

HW:
Culminating essay due this Friday.

Submit your Bedside Stack request by tomorrow.

A.P. Absurdism: April 28, 2014

Focus: How does Stoppard appropriate Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

1. Warming up with the bedside stack

2. Looking back over what we read and Friday and brainstorming responses to the following questions in your composition notebook:

• Why do you think Stoppard selected these two characters for his play?

• How does he re-create them? In other words, though they are "dreadfully uniform" in Hamlet, they start to take on distinct personalities in Stoppard's play. How are they each characterized?

• What elements of the Theatre of the Absurd have you noticed so far?

3. Acting out the rest of Act 1 in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

HW:

Start working on your bedside stack (it goes hand in hand with the culminating essay).

Culminating essay due this Friday, kids.

A.P. Lit Is Flipping a Coin: April 25, 2014

Focus: Who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and why are they interesting to Tom Stoppard?

Celebrating Kate!

From Mrs. Lee: Kate has a permanent grin and its genuine.  I enjoy her positive attitude and kindness.

From Mr. Escue: I always thought Kate to be the quiet type of student, then I watched her work in her group this semester and she was bringing great humor and energy to the group. She has been wonderful in class this semester.

From Mrs. Crosby: Kate is one of the most consistently dedicated students I've taught in years, and her continual willingness to express insightful comments and ask deep questions is impressive.

From Mrs. Ferrill: Kate Englert was another exceptional student in my AP Lang class last year, and she also scored a "5" on AP test.  However, I'll never forget her demonstration of how to BAAA like a lamb.  Kate was part of a group assigned to perform a choral reading of William Blake's "The Lamb," and as Kate crawled into the room, she began bleating like a lamb--and she sounded like a real woolly creature!  We could not stop laughing.  Ask her for a demonstration!

On a more serious note, Kate wrote a poignant and eloquent narrative for The Muse called, "Two Days After" about the events of 12-13.  It made me cry, and I hope you have a chance to read it too.

From her mom and dad: Kate is an amazing young woman.  She has an incredibly positive attitude toward life and believes that positive thoughts and beliefs can change an outcome of a certain event for the better.  Her great compassion displays itself in her love and concern for her friends and acquaintances.  For a friend in distress, Kate will drop everything to be at that friend’s side, to offer love and support.  She has a great spiritual perspective on life and believes that too much time and energy are wasted on trivial and material matters.  We admire her and love her so much!

1. Warming up with the flip of a coin

a. Take a coin and flip it in the air 20 times. Record how many times it comes up heads, and how many times it comes up tails. Interpret/explain the results.

b. Now, imagine that you take a quarter (a normal quarter) and flip it in the air twenty times. If it were to come up heads each time, would you be surprised? Why or why not? In your opinion, is the world generally an orderly or a disorderly place?

c. How would Samuel Beckett explain the imaginary phenomenon above?

2. Speeding up: Here's what you need to know about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet...

• In Hamlet, they are minor characters and spend the vast majority of the play offstage.

• They're supposed to be Hamlet's friends, but they're really being used to spy on him.

• Near the end of the play, they ride on a boat from Denmark to England with Hamlet; they have sealed orders from King Claudius to the King of England, requesting that the King of England kill Hamlet.

• Hamlet, however, changes the note so that the orders are to kill Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which the King of England carries out when they arrive in England.

• The action in the two bullet points above all takes place offstage and is merely reported by Fortinbras at the end of the play.

3. Acting out the beginning of Act One
As we read, keep a log in your composition book of this play's use of extended metaphors:

• Where do you see elements of Absurdism?
• Which objects seem to serve as metaphors? What larger ideas do they stand for and how?
• What connections to Waiting for Godot are you noticing?

4. Wrapping up: Find one brief passage from our reading today, copy it into your composition notebook, and perform a close reading on it. Feel free to include questions as well.

HW:

1. Please complete your Bedside Stack request form by Monday.

2. Culminating essay is due in exactly one week.

A.P. Lit Is Echoing...echoing....echoing: April 24, 2014

Focus: What can a poetic echo reveal?

Help yourself to some definitions for R & G words!

1. Warming up with a little Greek mythology: The Myth of Echo (read from Book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses)

2. Discussing "An Echo Sonnet: To an Empty Page" as a class

3. Exploring the rubric and a few sample essays

4. Peer editing your timed writings

HW:
Culminating essay (please check out my feedback on your outlines if you have not yet done so).

A.P. Lit Is 23 Minutes Long Today: April 23, 2014

Focus: What do we need to know about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

1. Warming up: Celebrating the life and times of Mara!

From Mr. Siekmeier: Mara was in Contemporary Lit. last semester.  Her work on our study of An American Childhood was so comprehensive and well done that I have kept it as an exemplar for future students and as an example of how insightful some students can be.

From Mrs. Cladny: I remember Mara as the beautiful, quiet, sweet, gracious, intelligent young lady in the back row.

From Mrs. Ferrill: What I remember most about Mara in my AP Lang class last year is that she epitomizes the saying, "Still waters run deep."  She was very quiet during class discussions, but when she put her ideas down on paper, she was amazingly eloquent and insightful. She had something to say, and obviously College Board evaluators agreed with me as she scored a "5" on her AP Lang test!

From Mr. Escue: Mara always conducts herself in such a dignified and graceful manner. She has been a great young lady to have in class this year.

From her twin sister: I can always count on Mara to go on an adventure with me, whether it's exploring a hole-in-the-wall restaurant on the side of the road or hiking a beautiful mountain trail. Mara is a great person to have by my side through our many journeys!

From her mom: As a child, Mara liked to be hugged.  She now snuggles with the warmth of words -- in books and poems and songs -- where she finds comfort, inspiration, and peace. 

2. Watching two Rosencrantz and Guildenstern scenes in Hamlet
Act 2, scene 2 (58:10)
Act 3, scene 2 (2:00:30)

3. Cooling down: What do we know about these two characters, and why might Tom Stoppard have chosen them for his play?

HW:
Just that little culminating essay...no big deal.

A.P. Lit Is Writing: April 22, 2014

Focus: How can we improve our poetry timed writings?

1. Warming up with your final jeopardy question...

2. Returning your prose timed writings and setting goals

Also, thanks for this:

3. Writing about a poem that you might actually like: Tuesday writing

4. Wrapping up

HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay; final drafts are due Friday, May 2nd (which is less than two weeks away).

Remember to attend your conference if you signed up for one.

A.P. Lit's Not Ditching: April 21, 2014

Focus: What do we remember from AP Literature and English classes of years past?

1. Creating the world's toughest trivia questions

• Wuthering Heights
• Henry IV
• Invisible Man
• Beloved
• Novels and plays of years past, such as The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, Fahrenheit 451, etc...
• Prose terms
• Poetry terms

2. Battling each other, A.P. style: BOARD WARS...YEAH!!!

3. Wrapping up: What would you like to practice in your final three weeks of A.P. Lit?

HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay and show up for your conference if you signed up for one.

If you have your copy of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, start bringing it to class this Wednesday.

The Play Is the Thing: April 18, 2014

Focus: How can we warm up for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead?

1. Enjoying a puppet show performance of "The Eolian Harp," courtesy of Ms. Leclaire and finishing up yesterday's invigorating multiple choice discussion

Please turn in your little slips if you did not do so yesterday.

2. Reviewing Hamlet (and warming up your acting skills): 60 second to perform each act

3. Watching the official 60-second Hamlet: Reduced Shakespeare Company

4. If time allows, reintroducing yourselves to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern via two clips

• Why might Tom Stoppard have picked these two characters for his play?

HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay.

A.P Lit Is Strumming the Eolian Harp: April 17, 2014

Focus: How can we approach older poems with confidence?

1. Warming up: Trying out the "Eolian Harp" and its accompanying questions on your own

2. Discussing the poem in a large circle

Here are a few tricks I use when approaching poetry from an older era:

Gather as much information as you can from the first stanza...unpack like it's a suitcase and you're on a tropical vacation and your swimsuit's at the bottom somewhere.

This brings me to my next point, which is to understand the extended metaphor(s) inside and out.

Flip the inverted lines back into normal, everyday English (because you just know that the multiple choice questions are going to pick on the lines with the most confusing syntax).

Find the shift (circle your buts).  It's often in the final stanza or couplet, and it's often preceded by a red flag word like "but," "however," "yet," or any other words that indicates a change in attitude.

3. Working through the multiple choice questions

HW:
Continue working on your prompt, brainstorming, and outline; print what you have to turn in tomorrow for feedback.

A.P. Lit Is Synthesizing: April 16, 2014

Focus: How does the prompt grow into a culminating essay?

1. Warming up: Unraveling the mind-boggling process of how a prompt becomes an outline

2. Developing sub-questions for your prompt

3. Brainstorming the body of your culminating essay

Please note that the numbers 2 and 3 may be switched depending on how your mind works; some people like to outline first, some like to freewrite and brainstorm first.  Just do your thing.

HW: 
Finish your outline and print it by Friday (it can have as much or as little detail as you wish, but the more detail you offer, the more productive feedback I can give).

Writing for Godot: April 15, 2014

Focus: What larger conclusions can we draw about Waiting for Godot?

1. Warming up with a Beckett-like thought:

Human life is based on chance; to provide ourselves with a sense of meaning, we seek outside forces and patterns that may or may not exist.

Revisiting the ending of Waiting for Godot: To what extent does Vladimir (Didi) realize the meaninglessness and repetition of his life at the end of play? Does it change his action (or lack thereof)?

2. Working through prompts that included Waiting for Godot in their book lists (10 minutes per prompt: Thesis and outlines only)

3. Wrapping up with Waiting for...Elmo

HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay; make sure you show up for your conference (if you signed up for one). 

Bring an updated version of your prompt and book list to class tomorrow as well as any books you own that are on your book list.  If you have a laptop, tomorrow is a good day to bring it to class, too.

If you'd like to revise your poetry essay (or your critical review), now is a good time to do so.

A.P. Lit Is in Limbo: Is It Monday?

Focus: Really--what are they waiting for?

Help yourself to your final poetry packet!  Feel free also to turn in a response.

1. Warming up: Stealing ideas from a few articles about Waiting for Godot in performance

2. Finishing the play and drawing some larger conclusions

3. Discussing the play via Socratic seminar

4. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Complete your big question blog post if you have not yet done so.

2. Bring your most updated culminating prompt and book list to class tomorrow for a little organizational and planning help; by this Friday, turn in an outline with your subquestions and texts (this will make more sense tomorrow, but I just wanted to give you a heads-up).

Advanced Placement Waiting: Is It Friday?

Focus: What are they waiting for?

1. Warming up: Considering the role of Lucky's speech

• How is Lucky "lucky"?  In other words, how is his suffering less than that of Didi and Gogo?
• To what extent is his name ironic? Or, how is he suffering more than Didi and Gogo are?
• What might the rope around his neck symbolize?

From shmoop: "At least Lucky can see the rope around his neck. Vladimir and Estragon can’t."

2. Reading Act II of Waiting for Godot (starting at the top of page 70)

3. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay; by next Friday, I will ask you to submit an outline in which you identify the sub-questions you will you use to organize your essay.  We will go over this on Monday.

2. Please complete your big question post on Godot by Monday or Tuesday.

3. Prepare for a Socratic seminar on Monday on Godot (it will be our one and only) by developing a reading ticket that has two parts:

(a) Dedicate the first half to composing good discussion questions about the play.
(b) Dedicate the second half to a single page in the play that you'd like to discuss; this can be a free flowing metacognitive or a more structured response.  OR, dedicate the second half of your reading ticket to your observations and analysis of patterns in Godot.

Even if you don't quite finish the play on Friday, we will still have Socratic on Monday; we will just finish the play first in class.

A.P. Lit Is Testing: April 10, 2014

Focus: How can we improve our multiple choice performances?

1. Warming up: Sharing with you how little Sam is doing

2. Trying out an "I am..." poem to help get you in the right mindset for your culminating essay

3. Discussing "Dialogue Between Soul and Body" in small groups:

Imagery

• How would you characterize the imagery of the first stanza?
• How would you characterize the imagery of the second stanza?
• What does the imagery in each stanza suggest about the speaker's relationship with the subject?
• In other words, in the first stanza, what does the imagery suggest about the soul's attitude towards the body? In the second stanza, what does the imagery suggest about the body's attitude toward the soul?

Metaphors Made Tricky by Inversion

• Paraphrase carefully lines 27 through 30 (be sure to identify the subject...what is "constrained"?).
• Unravel the metaphor...what does the port symbolize?  What is the Cure? How can one be "Shipwrackt into Health"?

• Paraphrase lines 41-44.
• Unravel the metaphor...who are the Architects?  What are they squaring and hewing (and what is squaring and hewing)?  What are the Green Trees and the Forest?

Tone and Purpose

• How would you characterize the overall tone of this poem?  Feel free to refer to your fancy tone sheet.
• In a sentence, what is this poem about? What's its purpose?

4. Working through the multiple choice questions as a class

5. If time allows, "speed dating" your way through a prose passage; if not, I will at least share some answers with you.

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay; by next Friday, I will ask you to submit an outline in which you identify the sub-questions you will you use to organize your essay.  We will go over this on Monday.

2. If you finish reading Waiting for Godot on Friday, please complete your big question post by Monday or Tuesday.

3. Prepare for a Socratic seminar on Monday on Godot (it will be our one and only) by developing a reading ticket that has two parts:

(a) Dedicate the first half to composing good discussion questions about the play.
(b) Dedicate the second half to a single page in the play that you'd like to discuss; this can be a free flowing metacognitive or a more structured response.

Even if you don't quite finish the play on Friday, we will still have Socratic on Monday; we will just finish the play first in class.

A.P. Lit Is Testing: April 9, 2014

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.