Ceremony

After looking at the poem "Evolution" by Sherman Alexie, we discussed Ceremony, the next text we will be studying.

New Due Dates:

• Post twice to the Ceremony discussion board at GC (once by 10/5 and again by 10/12).
• Read roughly the first half of Ceremony (100+ pages) by 10/5
• Finish Ceremony by 10/12.
  

Monday and Tuesday

Monday: Surprise, No Pressure Comp

Today, we explored the pressure comps on A Doll's House in hopes of being better prepared for tomorrow's Oedipus Tyrannus PC.

Tuesday: The PC

Today we used the entire short period on the Oedipus Tyrannus PC.

Friday: Wrapping Up Oedipus

Today we began with this warm-up: Paying special attention to his use of apostrophe, examine Oedipus' long speech near the end of the play where he explores the crimes against him. What are the effects of the apostrophe on the meaning of Oedipus' speech and perhaps on the meaning of the work as a whole?

After spending some time discussing the study guide and filling in gaps, we did the short writing assignment below, which was collected.

Choose either your stichomythia/antilabe example or the example of apostrophe in today's warm-up and write a formal CRA paragraph. Your paragraph should address the theme and/or tone of the passage, should begin with a clear topic sentence and include direct references to the passage and quotations where appropriate.

Sticho-what?

Today we continued our examination of stichomythia and antilabe. We also added "apostrophe" to the notes and breifly considered its role in the play. More tomorrow.
PC and SG Due Monday

Irony and Some Odd Greek Vocab

Today we began the day with a discussion of irony in Robinson's "Richard Cory." We then had a lively, yet moderated discussion of theme and introduced the terms "stichomythia" and "antilabe."

HW: Be prepared with your favorite example of stichomythic dialogue (or antilabe) from Oedipus Tyrannus.

Irony of Ironies

Today, after a short warm-up, we spent the day examining the irony examples from last night's HW.

Oedipal Quiz

We began the day with a quiz (which was not a pop quiz, because you should expect a quiz whenever a reading is due, but I digress). After rehashing the quiz a bit and talking about the play in general, we spent the rest of the period on three types of irony: situational, dramatic, and verbal.

HW: Find, in Oedipus Tyrannus, an example of each type of irony. Quote and cite them on a separate sheet. Due 9/22.

@ GC: Find an example of any of the three types of irony in modern pop culture and post it to the appropriate discussion thread with a correct MLA works cited entry. Due Friday.

The Greeks

Today we spent the day in a rather lively discussion of those crazy Greeks and the origins of drama (notes available at GC).

HW Finish Oedipus Tyrannus due 9/21

The First Pressure Comp

Today we eased into the first timed writing of the year with some general discussion of my expectations and a group dissection of the prompt. Study guides were collected.

The End of The Doll's House

Today we wrapped up our discussion of the study guide in preparation for our first pressure comp tomorrow.

The Study Guide Continues

Today we started by practicing the art of the short summary. The rest of the period was spent working through numbers 3-6 on the study guide, including notes on character (flat/round, static/dynamic) and symbol versus motif.

Starting the Study Guide

Today's warm-up was the first questions on the study guide. We discussed the warm-up at some length and then finished up the RRL presentations.


New Due Dates:

• A Doll's House Study Guide and Pressure Comp 9/17
• Own Oedipus Tyrannus 9/18
• Read Oedipus Tyrannus 9/21
  

Quiz #1: Entering A Doll's House

We began the day with our first "old school," ten-question quiz. Following that, we split the remainder of the period between a general discussion of A Doll's House and another RRL presentation.

HW Continue today's A Doll's House discussion on the discussion board at Global Classroom. Post twice by Sunday at 10 p.m.

Presentations and Pictures

We continued the RRL presentations/notes today and also squeezed in a trip to Marshal for some school pictures.

A Doll's House quiz tomorrow.

RRL Jigsaw Continues

Groups began the day by collaborating and preparing to present. We spent the rest of the period presenting, taking notes, and discussing the first part of the article.

A Doll's House Intro & Essay Jigsaw

Today we began with a brief introduction to A Doll's House, and spent the rest of the period reading parts of an article called "Reading and Responding to Literature" (available at GC), which we will continue to work with tomorrow ibn groups.


HW

• Finish notes on RRL passage if necessary. Due 9/9
• Finish A Doll's House by 9/11.
  

The End of the Week...

Today we talked a bit about "Literature" and "Literary Merit," followed by some comment on the course description and the demise of concurrent enrollment. We wrapped up the day looking a few of the CRA examples (which I collected in period 6).

Enjoy the three-day weekend!

Focusing Foster

Today we continued looking at short stories, examining a passage from Sarah Orne Jewett's A White Heron. We began with the same notice focus activity we used on the Blake painting the first day. Students were then asked to focus their thoughts and write up one observation in a succinct close reading analysis paragraph. These paragraphs should be in class Friday.

It's All About Theme

Today we began the day with a short warm up defining theme and extracting themes from the three stories you read over the summer, with special focus on Neruda's "The Three Lilies."

I also assigned homework, announced the first three books (A Doll's House, Oedipus Tyrannus, and Ceremony), and showed students in 6th period this blog).

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 9/4

The First Two Days

And so we have begun... The building looks great, the classes are full, and life is good.

Monday: In today's short period, we started by having a look at the Blake's Newton and doing a bit of writing and discussion. At the end of the period, I handed out the course description and addressed the homework.
HW: Read the course description, and then Find (at GlobalClassroom), Print, Sign, and Return the AP Honor Statement. Due 9/4.

Tuesday: Today we started the day by creating name tags, handing out school picture forms, and discussing a few course policies. We spent the rest of the period wrapping up the Newton discussion and talking generally about Foster. Tomorrow we will address Neruda's "The Three Lilies," so bring a copy if you have one.