Discussing Godot

Today we took a quick quiz on the play and then had a far-ranging, open discussion. More focused work tomorrow.

Stuff & Nonsense

Today we rehashed Senior Class Night a bit, talked about the essay revision assignment, and then spent the rest of the period acting out and discussing Act 1 of Waiting for Godot. Thank you to all the volunteer actors!

WFG Intro

Today we looked at the painting of Renee Magritte and talked a bit about Existentialism and Jean-Paul Sartre, wrapping up with some discussion of Waiting for Godot. The notes are at Moodle. I also returned essays today, and some students received a revision assignment. This assignment, for those who would like to do it, is also available at Moodle.

Timed Essay Time

Today, after a final monologue, I collected study guides and we had the King Lear timed writing.

Exuent Lear

And so we finally wrapped up King Lear today, and students handed in all their presentation work.

• PC & SG tomorrow.
• Waiting for Godot on Thursday.

A Small Delay

Today we continued the presentations but didn't finish. This means that Act 5 will go tomorrow (annotations, CRAs and character analyses are also due), and the pressure comp and study guide will be Wednesday.

Lear Presentations, Cont.

In period 3, we finished Act 3 and Act 4 (I think), and in period 4, we finished Act 4 and most of Act 3.

More Presentations

In period 3, we finished Act 2 and started Act 3. In period 4, we finished Act 2 and, due to technical difficulties, skipped Act 3 and started Act 4.

Presentations Begin!

Today we got through all of Act 1 and started Act 2.

Final Work Day

Presentations begin tomorrow.

Work Time

Presentations begin Wednesday.

• Wednesday: Acts 1 & 2
• Thursday: Acts 2 & 3
• Friday: Acts 4 & 5
• Monday: Act 5 and Wrap Up
• Tuesday: PC and SG

More Time

Today students had the whole period to work and I made my way around the room consulting with nearly everyone about his/her monologue. I will finish this up on Monday.

Group Work Time

Today students had the entire period to work with their groups. By tomorrow's class, monologues should be fully annotated and analyzed.

To the Project!

Today, after a bit more pressure comp review, we finished dividing up acts and students got to work choosing their monologues. Students should begin their monologue annotations and analysis for homework if possible.

The Lear Project

After a brief review of the Frankenstein PC prompt, we spent the rest of the period going over the expectations for the Shakespeare project. We divided into groups at the end of the period but didn't get far in sorting out who was doing which act. We'll do that tomorrow.

Oh, and I collected papers.

"To Be..."

Today we got back into the Shakespeare swing of things by having a look at Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy. After annotating it and paraphrasing it in class, students had a chance to practice interpreting a few lines in different ways. We then took a look at a couple of pros doing the monologue--Kenneth Branagh and Mel Gibson--and wrapped up the day with a look at the website "Shakespeare: Subject to Change" and the short video "We Are Hamlet."

Acts 3 & 4

Today we had a short quiz on Act 3 and read some of Act 4, which students should finish for HW. Tomorrow: Act 5.

Acts 2 and 3

Today, after a quick quiz, we talked through Act 2 and then read through the first few scenes of Act 3. Finish Act 3 for HW.

Essay #2 Response

Today students spent the entire period commenting on each other's essay drafts. Absent students should get me drafts ASAP and  (along with those students who did not have drafts today) should arrange their own response groups.

Act 1

Today we spent the period discussing the happenings of Act 1 of King Lear. After talking a bit about essay rough drafts (which are due in class tomorrow), we read a bit of Act 2 (due Wednesday).
Essay Due Dates:

• Rough Draft w/ cover sheet 2/12
• Option Draft Drop Box Opens 2/13
• Final Drafts, typed w/ cover sheet, Due 2/26 (2/20 for extra credit)

King Lear

Today we talked a bit about Shakespeare and King Lear and then started Act 1 aloud in class. You should finish Act I over the weekend.

Story Time & Timed Writings

After finishing "Cap O Rushes" (and handing in the study guides for Frankenstein and the critique assignment), students spent the rest of the period on the Frankenstein timed writing.
Bring King Lear tomorrow!

The Last of Frankenstein

Today we finished the essay critique presentations from yesterday, spent some time on a final discussion of theme in Frankenstein, and wrapped up the day with a bit of prereading for King Lear.

Critiques: Day 2

Today students met by essay group and shared their impressions and notes, preparing to present to their peers. We began presentations in both classes.

Essay Critiques

After revisiting the style conversation from Friday, students spent the period reading essays on Frankenstein. The essays and the assignment are available at Moodle.

Multiple Choice Madness

Today we spent the entire period in a last look at the multiple choice questions from the final.

Multiple Choice and More Frankness

Today we started our look at the multiple choice section of the final with some group work. We will share that work in class tomorrow. We also talked a bit more about symbol, motif, and style in Frankenstein.

PC Review & More Frank-ness

Today we wrapped up our examination of the final exam timed writing by turning our focus on the students' own essays. For the rest of the period we discussed Frankenstein (see the slide below).

Monday and Tuesday

Aside from a warm-up on and discussion of how Frankenstein fits in the Romantic Period, these two days have been spent looking at the essay prompt from the final exam.
Essay #2 Due Dates:

• Topics Posted to Moodle (with topic poll) 2/1
• Topic Responses at Moodle 2/4
• Complete Roughs in class with a cover sheet 2/12

Period 4: Remaining Poems

Thursday

• "Addressed to a Young Man..." Coleridge (You'll have to scroll down a bit.)
• "Bright Star" Keats

Friday

• "Bright Be the Place of Thy Soul" Byron (It's quite far down the page.)
• "To the Moon" Smith

Monday

• "A Red, Red Rose" Burns
• "A Child Screening a Dove from a Hawk" Landon

Period 3: Remaining Poems

Thursday

• "Winter" Southey
• "The Sick Rose" Blake

Friday

• "She Walks in Beauty" Byron
• "The Bitter Cup" White

Tuesday

• "Addressed to a Young Man of Fortune Who Abandoned Himself to an Indolent and Causeless Melanchol" Coleridge (You'll have to scroll down a bit.)
• "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" Wordsworth

Wednesday's Poems

Today's mid-class warm-up:

Tomorrow's Poems:
Period 3

• "Bright Star" Keats
• "Hope" Smith

Period 4

• "The Chimney Sweeper" Blake
• "Sonnet 3" Baillie

Presentations Tomorrow

The poems and poetry HW are listed below. All of the poems should be easy to find. Just Google them. Here are the first two:

Period 3

• "The Moon" Shelley
• "A Child Screening a Dove from a Hawk" Landon

Period 4

• "A Sketch" by Wordsworth
• "To Wordsworth" by Shelley

  I'll post the rest if I have time.

New Moodle Link

Here is the new Moodle link, as promised. 

http://moodle.hcoe.net/

Those of you who are still having trouble, let me know and we can have them reset it manually.

See you tomorrow.

Mr. Staiano

Thursday & Friday

Work Time for the Poetry Project

Work Time

Today students had essentially the entire period to find poems and begin their individual poetry analyses.

Papers and Poetry

Today we discussed essays, which were returned, and students did the reflective activity below. We also started the next poetry project.

An Introduction to the Romantic Movement

Today we spent the period talking about the Romantic Movement (notes are at Moodle and due dates are below.)

Have a Great Break!

Today we had the Candide timed writing. There is no homework over vacation!

The Last Day for Candide

Today we split the day between the warm-up question and the passages students chose for their CRAs.

Paragraphs are due tomorrow before the timed writing.

Tuesday & Wednesday

We spent much of tuesday on Wednesday working on the CRA assignment below. There will be a bit more time tomorrow, and paragraphs will be due before the pressure comp on Friday.

Candide Quiz

We spent most of the period on the Candide quiz today, using the final few moments to finish the sonnet paragraphs from last week.

Friday

Students spent the period finishing up their CRA "posters." There will be a few final minutes for this project on Monday.

More Sonnets

Today we continued our review of the sonnet with Yeat's "Leda and the Swan" and a project which we will continue tomorrow. If you weren't here (e.g. Riann), you should write a CRA paragraph on either sonnet we've studied over the last two days.

Sonnets!

Today we reviewed the sonnet form. If you were absent, read through the section on sonnets in Sound and Sense (use the table of contents).

Candide and Satire

Today we talked a bit about satire, looking at an example from The Onion, among other things. We wrapped up the period with a brief introduction to Voltaire and Candide.
Due Dates:

• Finish Candide and post twice by 12/17
• Candide PC and SG 12/20

Ceremony PC

Today was the Ceremony PC. Study guides were collected. Candide tomorrow.

The Close of the Ceremony

We began the day with the ceremonial reading of the essay titles and then spent the day finishing our discussion of Ceremony.

Ashland Update: Two Spots Remain!

Question Time

Students had the first part of the period to finish questions from yesterday; then we began presentations.

Essays and Ashland $ Due Tomorrow.

Ceremony Questions

Today the class divided into groups and spent the period working on the questions below. Most groups got through number 4. There will be some work time tomorrow, and then we will begin presentations which will carry over to Friday.

Ashland Update: We have our chaperone. There are 12 spots available. I will begin taking money ($75; checks made out to "EHS") on Friday morning.

Ceremonial Discussion

Today we spent the period talking generally about Ceremony.

Random Monday

After a short discussion of a quotation from Ceremony, we ran through a whole list of things, including;

• Ceremony PC & SG (maybe Friday, but probably Monday);
• Candide (the next book);
• Progress Reports (12/12/12);
• Essay Final Drafts (due 12/7); &
• The AP Ashland Fieldtrip (in May).

We wrapped up the day with some general Ceremony questions.

Response Groups Redux

Today, after a quick Ceremony warm-up, we finished up response groups from yesterday.

Response Groups

Today students spent the whole period sharing and responding to each others' essays.

The Fish Bowl

Today we practiced the response groups that we will do for real tomorrow in class. Bring good drafts of your papers!

Essay Revision: Day 1

Today we spent the period looking at a sample essay as compared to student drafts, focusing especially on overall structure and topic sentences. Tomorrow, after some revision tonight hopefully, we will have response groups.

Post-Thanksgiving Ceremony

We returned from Thanksgiving vacation by spending the entire period on Ceremony, starting with a quotation analysis warm-up  and filling the remaining time with general discussion of the novel, esepcially its timeline.
Reminders:

• Ceremony Dialectical Journals should be in class everyday (I checked them today).
• Essay Drafts are due, in class, with cover sheets, tomorrow.
• Don't forget the Moodle discussion boards.

Moodle & the Essay

My Dear AP Students,

I just wanted to take a moment to remind you that you should be reading Ceremony and posting to Moodle (which is working just fine). Also, don't forget the paper topic poll; so far the response has been minimal. I will be grading this assignment.

I do hope you are enjoying your week off.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Staiano

Presentations & Papers

Today we had the first few presentations, and I assigned the first paper. Handouts are at Moodle.
Due dates:

• Topics 11/15
• Rough Draft with cover sheet 11/27
• Final draft with cover sheet 12/7

Period 4 Poems

Tuesday

• "The Poison Tree" ~Blake
• "Ozymandias" ~Shelley
• "Anthem for Doomed Youth" ~Owen

Wednesday

• "Sonnet 14" ~Browning
• "There is a Garden in her Face" ~Campion

Thursday

• "The Snow Man" ~Stevens
• "Blackberry Eating" ~Kinnell

Friday

• "What is Our Life" ~Raleigh
• "That Night When Joy Began" ~Auden

Period 3 Poems

Tuesday

• "Cross" ~Hughes
• "Meeting at Night" ~Browning
• "Crossing the Bar" ~Tennyson

Wednesday

• "Death of a Soldier" ~Stevens
• "Love" ~anonymous
• "Sonnet 138" ~Shakespeare

Thursday

• "The Road Not Taken" ~Frost
• "The Dark Hills" ~Robinson

Friday

• "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" ~Dickinson
• "Garden of Love" ~Blake

Poetry HW

Today I collected study guides and quick-writes to begin the period. After discussing the poem homework (below), we spent the rest of the period on the As I Lay Dying timed writing.
Poetry Project Audience Homework
Each night you should study the poem(s) that will be presented the following day in class by answering the questions below. Poems should be in Sound and Sense or will be given out in class, but are usually available online at the HW blog as well. Do all the assignments on the same paper, heading each assignment with the date and the poem’s title.

• Summarize the plot of this poem. Briefly, what is it about?
• Note a few literary techniques which stand out in this poem and their effects.

Moodle is Back

So I managed to get the Moodle site back up. We lost some things and it looks a bit different, but it should be fine. You will, however, need to create a new account. 

Signing up for Moodle

1. Go to: http://hrop.org/moodle/
2. Click on "Login."
3. Follow the directions under "Is this your first time here?"  Please use your real name. I suggest using your school username & password as well.
4. Click the course title "AP English Literature."

Mostly Poetry

Today we worked on the final two AILD quick-writes and then spent the rest of the period on poetry projects.

We also chose presentation order.

Just Like Tuesday...

Just Like Yesterday...

After dealing with two more Faulkner questions, students spent the rest of the period in poetry groups.

Split Time

Today we spent half the period on two Faulkner questions.

1. Anse Bundren may be one of the most feckless characters in literature. Why do you think his neighbors repeatedly come to his aid? Is it out of pity, respect, guilt, charity, community, or is Anse just that good at manipulation?
2. Faulkner allows Darl and Vardaman to express themselves in language that would be impossible given their lack of education and experience in the world. Why does Faulkner break with the realistic representation of character in this way?

Groups then had the rest of the period to work on their individual poetry analysis which should be complete by tomorrow.

Circle Time!

Today we spent the day talking about the second half of As I Lay Dying.

Poetry Project

Today students got started on the poetry project. After I assigned groups, students chose poems and began their individual poetry annotations.
Faulkner tomorrow!

Poetry Analysis Continued

Today we finished our look at Robinson's "Richard Cory." Students should have steps one through five of the analysis complete.

Faulkner & Richard Cory

After spending the first part of the period with As I Lay Dying, we started practicing the steps of poetry analysis with Robinson's "Richard Cory." More poetry tomorrow.

More Meter

After our brief meter quiz, we spent some time applying the concept of sound echoing sense in poetry. Faulkner tomorrow. More poetry Monday.

Fun with Meter

Today we took some notes about poetic meter, practiced some mnemonic devices, and shouted a bit.

No, not THAT kind of reaper...

We spent today reviewing poetry terms, focusing the whole period on Jean Toomer's "Reapers."

Poetry Intro... Tomorrow

We spent the short period today clarifying Faulkner. Poetry tomorrow. Bring Sound and Sense.

Moodle is Down

As some of you have already figured out, the AP Moodle site is down. The county office of education (where we are hosted) is transitioning to a new server, so we are in limbo for the moment. All should be cleared up early next week. For now, concentrate on your dialectical journals.

Those of you who were absent Friday should check out the blog (http://staianoap.blogspot.com/) where you will find the details of the journal assignment. You should be 40 to 60 pages or so in to As I lay Dying by Monday.

Embrace the confusion!

Mr. Staiano

Faulkner Friday

We spent much of the day on the As I Lay Dying introduction (notes will be posted at Moodle if it comes back up this weekend). I also introduced the dialectical journal assignment (below) and we read and discussed the beginning of the novel.
New Due Dates:

• Read through section 31 (w/ Moodle posts and DJ entries) by 10/26.
• Read through the end  (w/ Moodle posts and DJ entries) by 11/2.
• Bring Sound and Sense next week.

PC Preparation

We opened the day with some final thoughts about Antigone and the study guide, and then spent the rest of the period talking about pressure comp grading and looking carefully at The Awakening essays.

Antigone Quick-Writes

Today we spent the period writing and talking about Antigone, writing about the first three bullets in period 3 and adding the 2nd through 4th bullets in period 4.
Due date change: PC and SG due on Thursday

Antigone

Today we started with a quotation analysis warm-up, finished sharing the term posters from last week, and, in 4th period, started our Antigone quick-writes.
New Due Date: Antigone PC and SG due Wednesday, 10/17

Homecoming

Today we had something like class. It was brief and poorly attended, but class none-the-less.

Terms Hunt: Part 2

Today we finished the first part of the terms hunt--everyone should have this complete, even the queen candidates and their escorts--and moved on to part two. We will finish this, those of us who manage to attend class that is, tomorrow.

Wednesday

Today we began with a short look at a quotation from Antigone, introduced the terms "allusion" and "stichomythia," and then began the term hunt assignment below.

Quizzing Old School

Today, after a quick irony WU, we had our Antigone quiz and discussed it.

Irony?

Today we had a bit of fun at Alanis Morissette's expense, deconstructing her song "Ironic" in search of actual irony. There is a new assignment, the Irony Forum, at Moodle, due 10/12.

Hey, I didn't make this stuff up...

Today we spent most of the period on the Greeks. The notes are at Moodle. At the end of the period we went over the prompt for tomorrow's timed writing.
HW: Have Antigone (yes, the whole play) read by 10/9.

Norming

Today we wrapped up the 'Eleven" essay norming activity we began yesterday. Tomorrow, the Greeks!

Tangents

Today we talked a bit about the study guide, wrapped up our discussion of The Awakening, and talked far too much about Voodoo Donuts. We wrapped up the period by reading and highlighting the "Eleven" scoring guide. We will use this in class tomorrow.

Friday and Monday

I will be absent Friday and Monday, but here are the plans.

• Friday: Students will have the entire period to work on a text annotation assignment from The Awakening. This will be posted at Moodle for absent students.
• Monday: Student will have the whole period to complete their first study guide. Sample frames handouts and study guide handouts are available under "Course Documents" at Moodle.

Thursday

Today we finished and presented "Eleven" Plan Posters.
There are also a few new due dates.

• "Eleven" PC for extra credit by 10/2
• Bring Antigone on 10/4
• The Awakening PC & SG on 10/5

Poster Time

We started the period summarizing The Awakening and then talked a bit about the wedding ring as a symbol. Groups spent the remainder of the period working of plan posters for the "Eleven" prompt. More on that tomorrow.

Two Texts

We spent the first part of the period talking and writing about The Awakening, specifically the inevitability of the ending and the nature of the male characters. We wrapped up the period looking again at the "Eleven" prompt from 1995, writing an essay plan that we will use tomorrow in class.

We're Back

FYI: Moodle is back up. All appears to be well. Post away!

Enjoy your weekend.

Mr. Staiano

"Eleven"

Today we looked at the prose question prompt from 1995 about Cisneros' short story "Eleven." After reading it aloud, students annotated the passage, paying special attention to figurative language and stylistic techniques employed by Cisneros.

Moodle is Down

My Dear AP Students,

It appears that Moodle is down--I do not know for how long--so posting to The Awakening forum is suspended until further notice.

See you tomorrow.

Mr. Staiano

Slightly Different Days

In third period, we wrapped up the Adler discussion, had a fire drill, and talked about being eleven.
In fourth period, we talked about being eleven, awarded prizes in the figurative language game, and discussed whether or not Chopin was a feminist.

"How to Mark a Book"

Today we considered the art of text annotation in some detail, reading Adler's "How to Mark a Book" and responding as noted below. We also played the figurative language game in period 3.

Quiz #1

Today we had our first quiz and talked about it, and the novel, for the whole period.

More Figurative Language

We began the day with a short Chopin quotation and spent the rest of the day working on the second half of the figurative language sheet.

Figurative Language Review

We began the day by reviewing the difference between "literal" and "figurative" language. Students spent the rest of the day filling in the first half of the terms handout (below).