This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 17, 2012

"...I have been hurt to the point of abysmal pain, hurt to the point of invisibility. And I defend because in spite of all I find that I love. In order to get some of it down I have to love.  I sell you no phony forgiveness, I'm a desperate man--but too much of your life will be lost, its meaning lost, unless you approach it as much through love as though hate...So I denounce and I defend and I hate and I love." (Elllison 580)

Focus: Wrapping up the semester

1. Announcements and a little freewriting

2. Finish poetry project presentations

3. Return timed writings and applaud glorious thesis statements:

By depicting Eveline as unable to decide her fate, Joyce reveals her in a state of fear of the unknown as well as in a trance of longing for her home and family.  (Tanner)

...James Joyce conveys that Eveline's inability to leave ultimately stems from her watchful nature and need for security.  (Emily K)

Joyce foreshadows her eventual refusal by his inclusion of childhood memories, her placement next to a window, and the use of questions throughout the story. (Margot)

Shakespeare, in his play Henry IV, Part 1, uses the relationship between the King of England and his son, Hal, to reflect on the true meaning of pride and honor, in which lies power.  (Margot)

In the play Henry IV, Part 1, Shakespeare suggests that comparison, impatience and lack of authenticity are the heart of conflict...by depicting a crumbling kingdom caused by a young prince's unstable relationship with his father... (Anna)

4. Vacationing briefly at "Dover Beach"

• Reread with four readers, focusing on the slightly different purpose of each stanza (question #22).

• If you were a body of water, what kind of body of water would you be right now?  (3 min)

• Flushing out the extended metaphor/analogy/conceit (questions 20, 23, and 26)

OR

4. Treating ourselves to a little prose M.C. practice (p.269, questions 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14 and 15)

HW: Prepare for your final by perusing the different parts of your review book that you find most helpful (in particular, try out some prose and poetry multiple choice), looking back over your Tuesday writings and your class notes, and reading others' blogs on Invisible Man.  Our final is Wednesday from 8:56-Noon.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 14, 2012

MEET IN THE LIBRARY COMPUTER LAB TODAY.

Focus: Synthesizing themes in Invisible Man

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: Five-minute brainstorms for any two of the sample essay topics below:


1971. The significance of a title such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is so easy to discover. However, in other works (for example, Measure for Measure) the full significance of the title becomes apparent to the reader only gradually. Choose one work and show how the significance of its title is developed through the author's use of devices such as contrast, repetition, allusion, and point of view.

1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions or moral values.

2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

2011, Form B. In The Writing of Fiction (1925), novelist Edith Wharton states the following:
At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.
Choose a novel or play that you have studied and write a well-organized essay in which you describe an “illuminating” episode or moment and explain how it functions as a “casement,” a window that opens onto the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

3. Time to compose your Invisible Man big question blog entry. Remember to include specific passages in your response.

HW: Finish your blog response if you did not finish in class. Also, please remember that the final exam will take BOTH finals periods (Wednesday, December 19: 8:56-Noon).

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 13, 2012

Focus: Analyzing the boomerang effect of Invisible Man

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: Rereading the Prologue

• What new understanding do you have of the Prologue now that you've read the book in its entirety?

3. Socratic Seminar: The ending of Invisible Man

HW: Meet in the library computer lab tomorrow, and bring Invisible Man.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, 12/12/12

Focus: Approaching poetry through creative projects

1.  Announcements!

2. Turn in poetry papers

3. Present poetry projects

4. Paper/project reflections, if time allows (which is unlikely)

HW:

Finish Invisible Man for tomorrow's Socratic seminar.  Compose a reading ticket that will help you effectively contribute to our discussion because we are aiming for 100% participation!

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 11, 2012

Focus: Approaching poetry through creative projects

1.  Announcements!

2. GIVE OUT SCHEDULES (very sorry) and return essay revisions

3. Poetry project presentations

HW:

1. Finish poetry papers (due tomorrow).  Please remember to use MLA format, including headers.

2. Finish Invisible Man for Thursday's Socratic seminar.  Compose a reading ticket that will help you effectively contribute to our discussion because we are aiming for 100% participation!

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 10, 2012

Focus: Taking a creative approach to poetry interpretation

1. Announcements! Any weekend news?

2. Presenting our first five poetry projects

3. Return all essay revisions

4. If time allows, return to "Dover Beach."

HW: 
1. Poetry papers are due this Wednesday (at the latest).
2. Finish reading Invisible Man for this Thursday's last Socratic Seminar; our goal is 100% participation, so do what you need to do for your reading ticket (10 one-liners, a passage comparison, or something creative).
3. Dress nicely tonight if you are being inducted to National Honor Society.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 7, 2012

Focus: Student-led discussion of Invisible Man

1. Announcements and project sign-up!

2. Warm-up: A little sketching while we listen to Chapter 21

3. Socratic seminar: Chapters 21-23 in Invisible Man

HW: 
1. Poetry projects and essays.
2. Finish Invisible Man by Thursday for our final Socratic seminar.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 6, 2012

Focus: Decreasing your stress load by catching up with AP Lit

1. Announcements

2. How to calculate your "real" grade in AP Lit. (5 min)

3.  Work time!  Suggestions: Invisible Man reading, poetry papers, literary essay revisions, review book for the midterm

HW: 
1. Please complete the Invisible Man reading assignment for tomorrow with 10 one-liners.
2. Literary essay revisions (please see policies posted last week)
3. Early poetry essays

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 5, 2012

PLC: Shortened Class (Meet in the computer lab)

Focus: Establishing and working towards goals/expectations for your poetry projects and papers

1. Announcements!

2. For project people, overview of the rubric and strategies for developing one.

3. For paper people, review of the paper's format and time for Q & A

HW:
1. Work on poetry projects and papers
2. Invisible Man reading for Friday + 10 one-liners
3. Literary essay revisions

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 4, 2012

Focus: Whipping your mind into shape for the AP Lit exam

1. Announcements!  Please take an AP Lit book and write your name inside.

2. Describe the AP test to me.  Then read pages 3-5 and start yourself a "Review Sheet" in your composition notebook, jotting down anything that may be of use to you.

3. Previewing the poetry multiple choice:

• Look briefly at the questions BUT NOT THE ANSWERS.  What types of questions are there?

• We will read "Dover Beach" in think-aloud form.  

• On your own, complete the sample multiple choice questions on "Dover Beach" (273-275).  You may write lightly in pencil, but please erase your markings when you're finished.

• After you have finished, please write on your review sheet any terms or vocabulary words that you don't know. 

4. Discuss answers and strategies as a large group. Jot down useful strategies on your review sheet.

HW: 
1. Work on your Invisible Man reading assignment for Friday.  Simple reading ticket: 10 one-liners.  Remember that this Thursday will be a work day.

2. Meet in the library computer lab tomorrow to work on project rubrics and poetry essay drafts.

3. Essay revisions due this Friday, December 7.  Please refer to revision policies (posted on the blog from a few days ago).

4. Poetry papers due this Friday if you want to be able to revise; otherwise, they're due Dec. 12.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, December 3, 2012

Focus: Examining dichotomous objects in Invisible Man

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: How can we make sense of the objects in Invisible Man?

Reread the paragraph that starts on page 438 with "I wandered down the subway stairs..."

Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper; label one side, "Inside of history," and the other, "outside of history."  Then, organize the objects below from Invisible Man into one of those two categories.  Be prepared to defend your responses.

The briefcase               Dr. Bledsoe's leg shackle       Optic white paint         Sambo doll        
Douglass' portrait        Brother Tarp's leg shackle            The evicted couple's belongings          gold coins                     naked white women              the Founder's statue            Trueblood's cabin        the Golden Day           the white lines on the highway         the sealed envelopes        yams       snow      Mary's coin bank        the picture of the blind boxer (Ch. 16)

Quickwrite: What does it mean to be "inside history" or "outside history"?  Where does the narrator see himself and why?  What other categories could you come up with for these objects?

3. Socratic seminar: Chapters 19 and 20

HW: 
1. Start on your Invisible Man reading assignment for Friday.  Simple reading ticket: 10 one-liners.  Remember that this Thursday will be a work day.

2. Meet in the library computer lab on Wednesday to work on project rubrics and poetry essay drafts.

3. Essay revisions due this Friday, December 7.  Please refer to revision policies (posted on the blog from a few days ago).

4. Poetry papers due this Friday if you want to be able to revise; otherwise, they're due Dec. 12.