Prose Passage Analysis

Monday and Tuesday we spent the bulk of our time looking at the prose passage from the final, culminating in a self-evaluation of the writing students did.

Monday & Tuesday

Over the last two days, students had their final literature circles, handed in their study guides to TurnItIn and wrote the timed essay for their books.

LC #9

After the ceremonial sharing of the essay titles (and the collecting of cover sheets), students spent the period on their second to last lit circle.

LC #8

After a quick meeting in role groups to discuss symbols, groups had their 8th literature circle.

Literature Circle #7

Today groups had their seventh literature circle.

Literature Circle #6

After a few reminders about essay cover sheets and AP deposits, students had lit circle #6 today.

Literature Circle #5

Today we began the period in role groups and then had literature circle #5.

Literature Circle #4

Literature circle groups had circle #4 today and finished response groups in some cases.

Peer Response Groups

Students had response groups for their essays in their lit circle groups today.

Literature Circle #3

Today students had their 3rd literature circle and then finished the period reading.

Monday, 1/9: The Flies Got in...

We began with a short meditation and then transitioned into a discussion of Carl Jung, the collective unconscious, and stream of consciousness. The rest of the period was spent working on an analysis of the text "Flies" by Shirley Stirnemann.

Essay Checklist

Students spent the day revising and editing their essays using the revision checklist at Google Classroom. Revisions should be posted by Sunday evening.

LC #2

We had our second literature circle today. The opening question focused on POV (point of view).
For tomorrow, make sure your draft essays get posted to TurnItIn and are available in Google Docs.

Lit Circle #1

Today we had our first lit circle. If you missed it, check out the share file and contact your group members.

Literature Circles Begin

Today, after talking a bit about essays, I introduced the literature circle project and students had some time to get to work on the first reading assignment. Details are at Google Classroom.

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.