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).