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.

Round 2

Today we completed Round 1 and went on to Round 2. We will wrap up tomorrow and then move onto the Julius Caesar timed essay review.

Round 1

We started, and mostly finished, the first round of poem presentations today. They were great!

Some Final Practice

Today, after a bit of business, students had a bit of final in class rehearsal for their poetry recitations which begin tomorrow. In preparation for the recitation, here are some links about recitation and scoring:

• Evaluation Criteria & Tips
• The Scoring Rubric
• The Evaluation Sheet
• The Accuracy Scoresheet

Goodbye Caesar

After our final Caesar video, students wrote their Julius Caesar timed essay and then briefly met in groups to see about revising their films for the sophomore honors class.
Over break, students should be working on their Poetry Out Loud recitations. For tips, check out the POL webpage.

Poem Practice & the End of Caesar (almost)

We again split the day between poem practice and Caesar presentations.

Tone Maps and Vids

Today we split time between Caesar videos and working on and sharing tone maps.

Caesar Videos and Tone Mapping

Today we watched some of the Caesar videos and did a bit of tone mapping.

Maybe Caesar and Poem Sharing

In 2nd period, we shared POL poems and started tone-maps, practicing on a video of Maya Daniels doing "Apollo."
In 6th, we shared poems and watch the first two Caesar videos.

Poetry Out Loud

Today we began our first big poetry unit, Poetry Out Loud. Handouts and links are at Google Classroom.

Final Caesar Work Day

In our revised schedule, videos should be posted to Google Classroom by Sunday evening, 11/13.