Have a Great Break!

Today we spent our short period working on essay planning and thinking about essay "shapes" with this handout, and I collected writer's notebooks. Lit circle groups are below. Students should get their book over break if they can.

Period 6

Period 2

Gardens, a Timed Essay, & Lit Circle Novels

We began the period with a discussion of the end of Candide and ended by selecting novels for literature circles (if you weren't here text or email your choices ASAP). In between, we squeezed in a timed essay.

Lit Circles and CRAs

After talking about the potential literature circle texts for after winter break—Ceremony, Beloved, and As I Lay Dying—we spent the rest of the time writing CRAs and sharing passages.

The Essay & Candide

We shared essay topics today, reviewed some hopefully helpful essay handouts, and spent some more time analyzing sections of Candide in groups.

AP Ashland & the Candide CRA

After a quick Candide quiz, we talked about the Ashland field-trip (I'll start taking deposits and letters of intent tomorrow) and then started the Candide CRA project.

Thinking About Our First Essay

After finishing the presentations on critical lenses, we scratched the service of the first essay.

Critical Lenses

Today we started with a brief bit of satire analysis, and then shifted our focus to a crash course in critical theory.

Satirical Targets in Candide

We spent the last two days focusing on the satirical focus of Candide, beginning with a short quiz yesterday and moving on to an analysis of student-chosen satirical passages at the end of Monday and today.

Caesar, Satire, & Voltaire

We spent the first half of the period reviewing the Julius Caesar timed essays. Students have the opportunity to revise these if they like (and should revise if they received less than a 5).

We wrapped up the period talking about satire and Candide. Students should read the first ten chapters of the novel and take some notes (or annotate their text), focusing specifically on the targets of Voltaire's satire.

Round 2

Today we wrapped up POL Round 2 and, in 2nd period, started a review of the Caesar timed essays. More of that, and Candide, tomorrow.