Baby Barf & Candide

After a brief story about my daughter's perhaps overly critical response to last night's Limited Edition performance, we zipped through a brief introduction to Candide and exchanged holiday pleasantries.

HW

• Read Candide.
• Post Twice at GC.

The End of Presentations

Today we wrapped up the Romantic poetry presentations. Tomorrow we'll spend a bit of our short class on Candide...

Let the Presentations Begin!

We spent the day presenting today with generally good effect. We'll finish tomorrow!

The Work Continues...

Today we learned to print slides!

Then we worked.

Work Time

The bulk of the period was spent working on poetry projects.

New Due Dates:

• Poetry Presentations Begin 12/19
• Finish Candide by 1/7
• Candide Discusison board at GC (2 posts) by 1/6

Poem Project Time

After some brief thoughts about the field trip tomorrow (meet by the gym before 8:30; bring something to write with and upon), we spent the rest of the period on the poetry project.

The Romantics

Today we did a brief introduction to the Romantic period and I assigned the project that will take us almost through break. Handouts are available at the handout page.

3 spots remain for Ashland!

The Sonnet Continued

We continued our look at the sonnet today, spending a bit more time with Wordsworth and reviewing last night's HW. In fourth period we had a quick look at the villanelle, another common poetic form (period six will do this for HW).

Only four spots remain for Ashland!

HW: Romantic Period Notes Assignment at Global Classroom Due 12/14 (11:55 p.m.)

The Sonnet

Today started the day with a warm-up annotation of Wordsworth's "The world is too much with us" and then took some notes on the sonnet form, particularly the difference between basic differences between Italian and English sonnets.

HW: Do exercise #1 (#3 in the 6th edition) in the sonnet subsection of the "Pattern" chapter in Sound and Sense (page 212 in the 7th edition, page 220 in the 8th edition, page 209-10, exercise #3 in the 6th edition).

Bye, bye Faulkner

Today, after I collected a bunch of stuff, students wrote their pressure comp for As I Lay Dying.

Wrapping Up Faulkner

Today we wrapped up our discussion of AILD in preparation for the PC tomorrow.

Due Friday:

• Character Sheet
• Study Guide
• Warm-Ups
• Revised Essays (after consultation only)

Field Trip Forms & Faulkner Qs

Today I handed out field trip forms and we talked a bit about the HSU field trip scheduled for Friday of next week. We discussed the Faulkner discussion questions for teh rest of teh period and will wrap them up tomorrow.

Dickinson and Faulkner Sitting in a Tree

We began today with a look at Emily Dickinson's poem "Much madness is divinest sense" then began our discussion of the Faulkner questions that were HW over the weekend.

Questions, Questions

Today I collected (most of) the HSU forms and then we spent the rest of the period working on some discussion questions (available online) for AILD (Due Monday).

Deja Vu

Oddly, today was again much like yesterday. Remember HSU forms are due tomorrow!

See Yesterday

Though we examined a different quotation, today was much like yesterday... ;-)

HSU, Ashland, & Some Faulkner

We started the day with a quotation analysis from AILD and, after a further discussion of HSU concurrent enrollment and the May field trip to Ashland, we discussed the Faulkner quotation and some other nagging questions about the novel.

New Due Dates:

• HSU Forms Due Friday, 11/30
• Ashland $ Due 12/21 (but ASAP to reserve a spot)

HSU, Essays Returned and a bit of Faulkner

We began the day by filling out HSU paperwork. Completed forms are due in class with $15 ($10 if you already have an ID) by this Friday, 11/30.

After some discussion of my grading/comment policy, I returned student esays today. On this paper only, students may revise for a better grade after meeting with me first (by appointment only). Paper revisions must be complete by 12/7.

We then took a brief quiz on As I Lay Dying.

Due Dates:

• Faulkner Character Handout 11/27 (actually was due today)
• MLA Reformatting of Essays 11/27

Papers and Poetry

Amazingly, despite our shortened periods, we managed to hand in papers and, after the customary reading of the titles, did the poetry presentations and squeezed in a bit of Faulkner discussion for good measure.

Use the discussion boards over break to help you as you finish the novel.

Poetry Continued

Today we finished preparing short poetry presentations in class. Lots going on during our short period tomorrow. Be ready!

Troubleshooting the Essay Workshop & Faulkner

Today we talked through some issues with the essay workshop at GC (make sure you post in .rtf or .doc). And then we had a short Faulkner intro, including a video in 6th period (period 4 will watch it tomorrow).

New Due dates:
AILD Sections 1-14 Due 11/16
Finish AILD Due 11/26
GC Posts Due 11/16 & 11/25
AILD Character Handout Due 11/26

End of the Week Wrap

Today we:

• wrote a bit about and discussed Pope's "Sound and Sense;"
• discussed the procedure for posting drafts to the workshop at Global Classroom (Drafts should be posted by midnight Saturday);
• introduced the poetry project and finished response groups.

Bring As I Lay Dying on Tuesday. We will continue the poetry project on Wednesday.

Response Groups

Today we worked through response groups for the first paper. Revise the drafts you worked on today and get them to me (via email, online post @ GC or by hand) by the end of the day tomorrow if you want me to read them over the weekend.

Check Global Classroom for the next phase in our drafting process: The experimental online response phase. This phase will be explained in class tomorrow.

In the Fish Bowl

Today we practiced response groups, fish bowl style. Yes, that means another day for most of you on paper drafts. Hopefully you will use it well.

Response groups tomorrow.

Return to poetry Friday.

More Metrical Madness

After a short quiz, we continued our look at meter with some kinetic practice and a look at Coleridge's "Metrical Feet" and Pope's "Sound and Sense."

Fun with Meter

Today we talked about meter, taking a few notes and doing a short out-of-seat activity (a bit of revenge on the noisy neighbors) to practice the new terms with some theatrical mnemonics. Practice at home in preparation for our short quiz tomorrow.

Paper Topics

Today we spent the period reading and responding to paper topics. Monday we'll be back to poetry with a look at meter.

Remember, paper drafts are due in class next Wednesday, 11/7.

Sound and Sense

Today we warmed up for the whole period with a "short" activity about how the sound of poetry should echo the sense, how form creates and supports meaning. We were going to do other things as well, but, well, we didn't.

More Poetry... More Flies

Today we applied some of our new poetry terms to Dickinson's poem "I heard a fly buzz when I died."

Poetry Terms... Lots of Them...

Today we continued our work with Jean Toomer's poem "Reapers," including extensive notes on poetry-related terms (primarily devices of sound).

Poetry, Handouts and Essay #1

Today we began our introduction to poetry with a warm-up which I intended to get back to, but then, well, I introduced the first paper (there were many handouts) and we sort of got stuck on that. More poetry tomorrow. Bring Sound and Sense!

Essay Due Dates:

• Topic/Thesis in class 11/2
• Completed draft in class 11/7
• Drafts to Mr. Staiano for comments (optional) 11/9 w/cover sheet
• Drafts posted to online response groups 11/10 @ midnight w/ cover sheet
• Online Comments 11/14
• Final Drafts Due w/ Cover Sheets 11/16

Beloved Pressure Comp

Today I collected study guides and movie notes, and then we spent the period on the timed writing for Beloved.

Bring Sound and Sense Monday.

Poetry Books, Ashland Voting, & Morrison

Today we got our poetry books, Perrine's Sound & Sense; bring them Monday and have them everyday until I say otherwise.

Next we voted on the second play for the Ashland trip. The Clay Cart won in a landslide.

Finally, we finished the film we started yesterday and talked about it a bit. I'll collect your film notes tomorrow before the essay.

Symbols, Motifs, and Morrison

Today we reviewed the Beloved symbol worksheet and then watched part of an interview with Toni Morrison.

Discussion Question Wrap

Today we finished the discussion question presentations and I collected the responses. We did a bit of group work on the symbol handout assigned yesterday in preparation for later discussion.

Let the Discussions Begin

Today we started the Beloved discussion presentations, getting about halfway through. We will finish these tomorrow and move on to a focused discussion of motifs based on the handout given in class today (Do 1-12 for HW tonight).

New Due Dates:

• Beloved PC & SG 10/26
• Own As I Lay Dying soon

Question Time

After a brief (relatively) warm-up, we continued work on the Beloved discussion questions. Be ready to begin discussions/presentations Monday.

Don't forget the essay critique assignment at GC. Due Monday!

Of grotesque caricatures and missing handouts...

After a long-ish warm-up, we started on a set of discussion questions in the same groups as the SOC presentations. We will continue them tomorrow in class. The handout is now on the handout page.

The Infinite Past

Today we considered Morrison's perspective on the past and finished up those stream of consciousness presentations.


HW: Beloved essay critique @ GC. Due 10/22.

Club/Agency Fair Fun!

In between wandering campus collecting free stuff and attending a riveting assembly, we managed to squeeze in a quiz and some discussion of Beloved's SOC. I am hopeful that 6th period will accomplish more...

Denver's Longing...

Today we continued with our stream of consciousness work, completing our look at Denver's SOC and beginning Beloved's.

Let the Presentations Begin

Well, I thought about giving a quiz today, but decided against it. There will be one on Tuesday though. Finish the book by then. The rest of the period was spend reading and discussing the SOC passages of Beloved. I expect these presentations/discussions will continue through Tuesday of next week.

SOC Work Day

The day was spent working on the stream of consciousness presentations, which will begin tomorrow after a five minute "get it together" period. We may also have a quiz on book two of Beloved, so be prepared.

Up the Stream of Consciousness

Today we started an in-class project/presentation focusing on the stream of consciousness portions of Beloved. The handout is online and I expect presentations to begin Friday after the quiz.

The Flies Got In...

Today we continued our work with stream of consciousness, looking at the short piece "Flies."

Finally Finished "11"

Today we wrapped our discussion of "11" and began a discussion of Stream of Consciousness.

Beloved Quiz

Today we took the quiz on book one of Beloved and discussed the text so far in a general way.

Be glad I don't grade like you do...

Today we did a little essay scoring exercise with "Eleven" essay from 1995. We got through our discussion of GGG in both classes, and in both classes folks were surprised by the essay's 4-ness (though 6th period did concede that it was at least a 3 and not the horrific two fourth period wanted it to be). We will finish our discussion of the better two essays tomorrow after our quiz.

Today I am eleven...

We continued our discussion of "Eleven" today with a focus on the actual prompt. For extra credit, spend 20 minutes and write the actual essay you planned in class.

Figurative Language and More!

Another Beloved quotation warm-up was followed by a discussion of "Eleven" and some serious delving into Cisneros' use of stylistic and figurative devices. Students created a chart listing each device (by name if possible) they could find, its line number, and the effect of the device on the story. Finished in class.

Beloved and "Eleven"

Today we did a bit of work with a quotation from Beloved, and then started our work with Cisneros' short story "Eleven." In periods 4 and 6, we wrote and then talked about being eleven and, in period 4, then read the story together. We will continue our work with this short story in both classes tomorrow.

Class? We had class?

Seriously, I'm happy to say we managed a moment or two of actual intellectual effort before we packed it in and gave way to homecoming altogether. Well done to those of you who made it! By the way, queen candidates and escorts: you all looked sharp. Good luck tomorrow night!

Figuratively speaking...

Today we filled out the rest of our figurative language wheel and played the figurative language blackout bingo... Hurray for homecoming week!

Figurative Language: In Beloved & Elsewhere

A quotation from Beloved opened today's class. Afterwards, we began our intensive review of figurative language.

Beloved Beloved

A bit of Beloved introduction was on the menu today, including a fairly intensive look at the first paragraph and some discussion of the novel's epigraphs.

Assigned:
Beloved background assignment @ Global Classroom--Due 9/26
Beloved Forum Posts @ Global Classroom--Post 1 Due 10/5 & Post 2 Due 10/16
Beloved Reading Dates: Book One 10/5, Book Two 10/12, Book Three 10/16

Happy Homecoming Pressure Comp!

Despite the myriad homecoming-related distractions (drums with your timed writing, anyone?), we actually managed to work our way through the Antigone pressure comp today.

Bring Beloved to class tomorrow.

Theme, Style & a Term Paper

Today we started with a short thesis ranking exercise using examples from your Jane Eyre pressure comps.

We then brainstormed some themes of Antigone of the board, followed by a listing of significant stylistic techniques and figurative language in the play.

HW: Choose a passage in the play that demonstrates a stylistic technique or figurative device in some significant way. Write a close reading analysis (CRA) explaining the technique and how it contributes to the effectiveness of the passage (and perhaps a theme of the play). Due Friday.

The Antigone pressure comp will be Monday.

What's the Theme?

Today we talked a bit about themes in Antigone as well as having an general and wide-ranging discussion of the play.

The Ironies of Antigone & the Tragic Hero...

Today we shared and discussed examples of irony from Antigone (very fruitful I thought). We wrapped up with some general Antigone-related questions and a review of the definition of the tragic hero.

It still appears that the study guide and PC will be Friday (yes, I know half of you will be gone).

The First Quiz and Some Irony...

Today we talked a bit about quizzes in general and took a short quiz on Antigone. After a short wiki-tour, we defined three types of irony (verbal, situational, and dramatic).

HW: Find and mark if possible an example of each type of irony in Antigone. Be prepared to discuss. Due 9/18.

It must be Friday...

Today we talked about Tool, brownies, pants-wetting as an act of protest, pigeons, and myriad other things, some of them even related to literature and Antigone. Specifically we:

• Finished our discussion of the RRL article from yesterday;
• Defined and discussed the term stichomythia; and
• Addressed general questions from Antigone (Personally, I learned what strophe and antistrophe are).

If you weren't here, get the notes, but, all-in-all, probably not the worst day to be absent.

Defining Literature

Today we took a brief quiz on the "Reading and Responding to Literature" article which was followed by a rather lively discussion. To be continued Friday.

Football players, cross country runners and other folks taking a long weekend, check this space tomorrow for a rundown of class and your homework.

By the way, plan on being at least halfway finished with Antigone by tomorrow. I know, Julie, I said you should be finished, but, well, it seems that you don't really need to be. I will be giving a quiz Monday, however.

The Greeks: an Intro

Yeah, so today, I talked--a lot--about Greek drama in general and about Antigone specifically.

Please have Antigone read--yes, the whole thing--by Friday, 9/14.

By the way, I posted the "Reading and Responding to Literature" essay in two formats. Some people reported difficulty with the first file I posted.

Jane Eyre PC

Collected PCs and gabbed about the possible Ashland field trip in May.

Examined prompt as a group.

Wrote.

Jane Eyre: The Final Day

Today, we reviewed the concepts of theme (particularly as distinct from a thesis, claim or thematic statement), motif, symbol, etc. in preparation for the pressure comp tomorrow (remember the study guide is also due).

HW: Read the essay, "Reading and Responding to Literature," posted at GC. Take notes and be prepared for a short quiz on Thursday, 9/13.

Bring Antigone to class on Wednesday, 9/12.

CRA #2

Collected warm-ups today and spent the remainder of the period sharing CRA passages.
Collected: CRAs #1 & #2

Close Reading Continued

We started the day by sharing and self-assessing drafts of CRA #1 that were started in class yesterday and finished for homework. Next we moved on to choosing passages for the second, group-selected CRA, which was started in class and should follow the same pre-writing, writing sequence as CRA #1.

CRA #2 (to be collected with #1 and both sets of pre-writing) due 9/7.
Jane Eyre Pressure Comp and Study Guide due 9/11.

Close Reading Analysis #1

Today, after the warm up and a brief tour of the course website, we did a close reading of one of the early paragraphs of Jane Eyre (it begins: "I returned to my book..."), following essentially the same three steps we did with Newton on day one.

1. Make a list of features of the paragraph that stand out.
2. Choose three that seem particularly interesting or significant.
3. Explain, briefly, why these features stand out to you.
4. Choose one feature and write a paragraph, quoting liberally from the passage, explaining how ONE of the features of the paragraph contributes to the overall message of Bronte's work, the tone of the passage, etc. In other words, Bronte chose to write this way. So what? Why does it matter.

Have draft of this paragraph in class tomorrow.

HW: Find credible definitions of the terms "literature" and "literary merit" and post them to Global Classroom. Be sure to cite your source or sources in correct MLA style. Due 9/7.

Study Guide Introduction, Cont.

Today we finished the introduction to the study guide in preparation for actually handing it in one of these days.

I also returned summer assignments and mentioned that the next two books will be Antigone and Beloved, in that order, and that you should have them soon.

Course Description Quiz & Study Guide Part 1

WU: Jane Eyre, the significance of the title.

Course description quiz and discussion with a guest appearance by Grant in period 4.

Collected Honor Statements.

HW: #s 3, 4 & 5 on the study guide for Jane Eyre. Due 9/4.

General Jane

Warm Up: Jane Eyre summary

Today we wrapped up the general Jane Eyre discussion we started yesterday.

Jane Eyre: The Discussion Begins

Today, after a bit of housecleaning (including my search for a competent TA and a Q & A about teh summer assignment), we had a lively and fruitful discussion of the novel in general.

HW: Read the course description. You may have a quiz Friday.

The First Day

I hope you all enjoyed our look at Blake's "Newton." Don't forget to bring Jane Eyre and any notes you may have tomorrow.

HW: Find, Print, Read, and Sign the AP Honor Statement available at Global Classroom. Due 8/31.

Summer Homework

By now you should be well into Jane Eyre (if you have not already finished it). Most of you have posted to the discussion at California Learn at least once (due 8/10) and many of you have posted multiple times (your colleagues and I thank you!).

Don't forget that you must have posted twice by 8/20 and summer assignments are due to me by 8/24. Watch this space for more on handing those in if you have something non-digital and non-mailable. If you have forgotten the details of the summer assignment, the handout is available at the AP Handouts page.