Tuesday, April 30, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 30, 2013

Focus: Analyzing the ending of R&G Are Dead

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up:  A little visual help from Ms. Leclaire on R & G Are Dead

3. As you watch the final performance, please take note of the following:

Given the Player's description of a tragedy in Act Two, is Stoppard's play a tragedy ("The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily")? (2.316)

Does Stoppard's play pay homage to Hamlet or does it ridicule it?

Pose one important question about the play's ending.

4. Acting Company #5: Final warm-up, performance, and discussion of R & G Are Dead

HW:
1. Keeping up with your bedside stack (remember that it should be a nightly ritual--repetition is key).

2. Remember that if you plan to revise your critical review or your poetry essay, please do so by FRIDAY.  Remember to highlight all changes on your new draft, compose a brief paragraph explaining what you chose to revise and why, and staple everything to your original draft with my comments.

Monday, April 29, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 29, 2013


Focus: Performance and discussion of the fourth section of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

1. Announcements! And filling in the map...

2. Overview of the bedside stack

2. Today's R & G lesson brought to you by Acting Co #4!

a. Warm-up

b. Performance and passage marking

c. Question-developing and follow-up Socratic seminar

HW:
1. Guess who doesn't have to work on his/her culminating essay anymore?  That's right: YOU!
2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by FRIDAY.
3. Begin working on your bedside stack; form due WEDNESDAY.

Click HERE for a film version of R&G Are Dead.

Friday, April 26, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 26, 2013

Focus: Performance and discussion of the third section of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Class ends at 10:02 am today (spring assembly).

1. Announcements!

2. Today's R & G lesson brought to you by Acting Co #3!

a. Warm-up

b. Performance and passage marking

c. Question-developing and follow-up Socratic seminar

HW:
1.Finish your culminating essays (due Monday). Click HERE for the "Night-Before Checklist."

Staple your question/booklist to the front of your essay.

Include an MLA heading.
Include a header (Your last name   Page #) in the upper right corner of each page.
Cite each quotation properly.
Attach a properly formatted Works Cited page that includes all works referenced in your essay.

2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 25, 2013


Focus: Performance and discussion of the second section of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

1. Announcements!

2. Today's R & G lesson brought to you by Acting Co #2!

a. Warm-up

b. Performance and passage marking

c. Question-developing and follow-up Socratic seminar

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essays (due Monday).
2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.

Click HERE for a film version of R&G Are Dead.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 24, 2013

Focus: Performance and discussion of the first section of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

1. Announcements!

YOU MUST ATTEND AN AP EXAM PRE-REGISTRATION MEETING TODAY. Please go to the Forum during 5th, 6th, or after school.

2. Today's R & G lesson brought to you by Acting Co #1!

a. Warm-up

b. Performance and passage marking

c. Question-developing and follow-up Socratic seminar

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essays (due Monday).
2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.

Click HERE for a film version of R&G Are Dead.


Monday, April 22, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 23, 2013


Focus: Preparing scenes from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

1. Class ends at 12:49 today (23 minutes of pure brain power)

Culminating essays are now due Monday, April 29.

2. Continue preparing your scenes...

a. Perform an analytical reading of your scene.  In other words, don't worry about how to perform it quite yet; instead, think of how to analyze it, interpreting...
  • Elements of the Absurd
  • Extended metaphors and motifs
  • Characterization
  • Larger themes
b. Perform a dramatic reading of your scene, thinking about...
  • Staging (entrances, exits, movement)
  • Costumes & props
  • Making SYMBOLIC choices
  • How to pronounce words, when to take pauses, when to shout, when to whisper, etc.
c. Create one warm-up activity to prepare us for your scene and five strong discussion, Socratic-style questions to help us discuss your scene after your performance.

HW:
1. Continue working on culminating essay.

2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.


Performance Schedule:

Friday, April 19, Monday, April 22 and Tuesday, April 23: Preparation days

Wednesday, April 24: Acting Co #1

Thursday, April 25: Acting Co #2

Friday, April 26: Acting Co #3

Monday, April 29: Acting Co #4

Tuesday, April 30: Acting Co #5

Wednesday, May 1: Tuesday Writing on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 22, 2013


Focus: Preparing scenes from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

1. Announcements!

Culminating essays are now due Monday, April 29 (this will be the final extension).

2. A reminder: Make sure you have performed an analytical reading of your scene and discussed it thoroughly with your group.  This part should take at least 20 minutes.

3. Continue preparing your scenes...

a. Perform an analytical reading of your scene.  In other words, don't worry about how to perform it quite yet; instead, think of how to analyze it, interpreting...
  • Elements of the Absurd
  • Extended metaphors and motifs
  • Characterization
  • Larger themes
b. Perform a dramatic reading of your scene, thinking about...
  • Staging (entrances, exits, movement)
  • Costumes & props
  • Making SYMBOLIC choices
  • How to pronounce words, when to take pauses, when to shout, when to whisper, etc.
c. Create one warm-up activity to prepare us for your scene and five strong discussion, Socratic-style questions to help us discuss your scene after your performance.

HW:
1. Continue working on culminating essay.

2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.


Performance Schedule:

Friday, April 19, Monday, April 22 and Tuesday, April 23: Preparation days

Wednesday, April 24: Acting Co #1

Thursday, April 25: Acting Co #2

Friday, April 26: Acting Co #3

Monday, April 29: Acting Co #4

Tuesday, April 30: Acting Co #5

Wednesday, May 1: Tuesday Writing on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Friday, April 19, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 19, 2013

Focus: Getting comfortable in the Theatre of the Absurd by preparing scenes from R & G Are Dead

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: Look back over pages 11 to 17 (the part we read yesterday), and please brainstorm responses to the following questions in your composition notebook:
  • Why do you think Stoppard selected these two characters for his play? 
  • How does he re-create them?  In other words, though they are "dreadfully uniform" in Hamlet, they start to take on distinct personalities in Stoppard's play.  How are they each characterized?
  • What elements of the Theatre of the Absurd have you noticed so far?
3. Reuniting with your acting companies to prepare scenes from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Acting Co #1: Top of page 17 to "Exeunt" at bottom of page 37
Acting Co #2: "I want to go home" at bottom of page 37 to bottom of page 59
Acting Co #3: Top of page 60 to top of page 85
Acting Co #4: Top of page 85 to "Don't cry" on page 104
Acting Co #5: "Don't cry" on page 104 to end of play

a. Figure out what important events have led up to your scene (focusing especially on what happens right before your scene takes place).

Here is a good site for a detailed summary of the play: Shmoop

b. Perform an analytical reading of your scene.  In other words, don't worry about how to perform it quite yet; instead, think of how to analyze it, interpreting...
  • Elements of the Absurd
  • Extended metaphors and motifs
  • Characterization
  • Larger themes
c. Perform a dramatic reading of your scene, thinking about...
  • Staging (entrances, exits, movement)
  • Costumes & props
  • Making SYMBOLIC choices
  • How to pronounce words, when to take pauses, when to shout, when to whisper, etc.
d. Create one warm-up activity to prepare us for your scene and five strong discussion, Socratic-style questions to help us discuss your scene after your performance.

HW:
1. Continue working on culminating essay.

2. If you are revising your critical essay or poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.


Performance Schedule:

Friday, April 19, Monday, April 22 and Tuesday, April 23: Preparation days

Wednesday, April 24: Acting Co #1

Thursday, April 25: Acting Co #2

Friday, April 26: Acting Co #3

Monday, April 29: Acting Co #4

Tuesday, April 30: Acting Co #5

Wednesday, May 1: Tuesday Writing on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 18, 2013


Focus: Entering the absurd world of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: The flip of a coin

a. Take a coin and flip it in the air 20 times.  Record how many times it comes up heads, and how many times it comes up tails.  Interpret/explain the results.

b. Now, imagine that you take a quarter (a normal quarter) and flip it in the air twenty times.  If it were to come up heads each time, would you be surprised?  Why or why not?  In your opinion, is the world generally an orderly or a disorderly place?

c. Look back to the definition of existentialism I offered you yesterday and to the definition of Theatre of the Absurd I will offer you today.  How would an existentialist and/or an absurdist explain the imaginary phenomenon above?

Click HERE for a lecture on the Theatre of the Absurd.

3. Reintroducing yourselves to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern via two clips
  • How does the title alone suggest the existentialist undertones of this play?
  • Why might Tom Stoppard have picked these two characters for his play?

4. Acting out the beginning of Act One
As we read, keep a log in your composition book of this play's use of extended metaphors:
  • Where do you see elements of the Theatre of the Absurd?
  • Which objects clearly serve as metaphors?
  • What larger ideas to they stand for and how?
5. Wrap-up: Find one brief passage from our reading today, copy it into your composition notebook, and perform a close reading on it.  Feel free to include questions as well.

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay.

2. If you plan on revising either your critical essay or your poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 17, 2013

Focus: Reviewing Hamlet and warming up for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

1. Announcements!

2. Reviewing Hamlet (and warming up your acting skills): 60 second to perform each act

3. Watching the official 60-second HamletReduced Shakespeare Company

4. Floating in a cloud of existentialist thoughts and considering their connections to Hamlet

5. If time allows, reintroducing yourselves to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern via two clips

  • Why might Tom Stoppard have picked these two characters for his play?


HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay.

2. If you plan on revising either your critical essay or your poetry essay, please do so by the end of April.




This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 16, 2013

Focus: Strengthening your prose timed writing skills by assessing others' writings

1. Announcements!

2. Thanks for being nice.

3. Norming your grading of prose timed writing: Looking at the 2008 prompt and a few sample essays

Mark the strengths and weaknesses of each essay in terms of...

Content: What is the author trying to accomplish, and what techniques is he/she using to accomplish it?  Also,  does the essay answer the prompt?

Organization: Do the body paragraphs have clear, distinct, yet related points?  Are they logically organized?  Is there a commanding thesis statement, and are there topic sentences and transitions to help the reader follow the essay's argument?

Style: Does the essay employ strong diction and syntax?  Is there a sense of maturity and command?

4. Musical chairs editing of your timed writings from Friday!

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay (one week left...)
2. If you own your own copy of Hamlet, please bring it to class tomorrow.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 11, 2013

Focus: Achieving harmony between the creative and analytical parts of your poetic mind

1. Announcements!

2. A few comforting facts about multiple choice...


  • If you get 50% of the multiple choice questions right and you get two 4's and a 5 on your essays, you would earn a 3 on the test.
  • If you get 50% of the multiple choice questions right and you get two 6's and a 7 on your essays, you would earn a ____.
  • If you get 60% of the multiple choice questions right and you get a 5 and two 6's on your essays, you would earn a ____.
  • If you get 60% of the multiple choice questions right and you get all 7's on your essays, you would earn a ____.


3. Let's try out your creative side...ever written a sestina?  Try it!


  • Start with a little metacognitive writing: Think of a comforting moment in your childhood.  Write about it.
  • Pick out the six most essential words from that piece of writing.
  • Try writing two stanzas of a sestina; don't be too hard on yourself--it's tough!


4. Now let's try out somebody else's sestina.  Don't panic.

HW:
1. Post your big question blog for either Slaughterhouse-Five or Portrait of the Artist.
2. Continue working on your culminating essay; bring a laptop on Monday if possible.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 10, 2013

Focus: Building your strength and confidence with traditional poetry

1. Announcements!  And snack?

2. Muscle building: Untangling tricky, good old-fashioned syntax! Also, can I get a vocab decipherer?

Hymn: A religious song or poem, typically of praise to God or a god

Adversity: Difficulties, misfortune

3. Applying your newly worked muscles to the ultimate task: Multiple choice questions

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay.  Remember that we will be drafting on Monday, so please bring a laptop if you can.

2. If you are revising your critical review or your poetry essay, please do so by the end of the month so I have time to regrade them.  Remember to highlight your changes and type a brief explanation of what you revised and how it made your essay stronger.

Monday, April 8, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 8, 2013

Focus: Deconstructing and reconstructing the prose prompt

1. Announcements!  And one big announcement from me... :)

2. Warm-up: Take at look at some prose prompts from recent years

Don't look at the first question!  We'll come back to it in a moment.
What are the essential elements of each question?
What what would focus on if you were posing a questions for Question 1?

3. Forming your own prose questions with your book clubs

HW: 
1. Please finalize your prose prompt; make sure all of your names are at the top and that your passage is included.  SHARE THIS WITH ME TONIGHT (regardless of weather and basketball).

2. By the end of the week, post your big question blog on Slaughterhouse-5 and Portrait of the Artist.

3. Continue working on your culminating question, brainstorming, and essay.  Next Monday will be a day for drafting and editing.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 5, 2013

Focus: Discussing the climax and falling action (and possibly resolution) of S-5 and Portrait

1. Announcements!

2. Offering you a list of open questions since the dawn of the A.P. Literature test to help you decipher the open prompt (Question #3) and form your culminating questions

3. Taking ten minutes to wrap up "Dialogue Between Soul and Body" (before you forget it)

4. Book club time!

A few things to consider, perhaps:

a. What was your novel's inciting incident (the incident at the beginning that got everything going)?
b. What do the main characters think they want?
c. What do they really want?
d. How do the characters change (evolve or devolve) throughout the book?  What do the realize, and what helps them come to these realizations?
e. How do the opening pages reveal all of the book's central tensions?
f. How do the final pages "resolve" these tensions?

HW:
1. If you are finishing your book club book for Monday, please keep your syllabus relatively brief (15 minutes) so that you will have plenty of time to form your Tuesday writing question.

2. Please make sure that at least one person in your group has a laptop, but the more, the merrier.

This Seat's Taken: A.P. Lit, April 4, 2013

Focus: Turning yourself into a poetry multiple choice ninja

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: Back to that water lily...using the prompt to help you figure out the larger meaning

3. Performing a think-aloud with "A Dialogue Between Soul and Body"; responding to multiple choice questions with some of level of confidence

HW:
1. Assigned book club reading for tomorrow (this will be your last official syllabus).
2. Continue working on your culminating essay; if you conferenced with me before you composed your question and booklist, I will give you written feedback tomorrow.  Feel free to stop back for a second conference if you need one.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 3, 2013

Focus: Investigating the rising action and climax of S-5 and Portrait of the Artist...

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: A little help for my James Joyce fans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0j34fmTzbk&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

3. Book clubs!  Remember that your final meetings are today, Friday, and Monday, but Monday you will be spending most of your time creating your Tuesday writing question.

HW: 
1. Assigned book club reading
2. Continue brainstorming and drafting your culminating essay.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 2, 2013

Focus: Breaking out of "one-trick pony" mode with your poetry analysis

1. Announcements! PLEASE LISTEN CAREFULLY (too loud, too loud)

2. Don't be a one-trick pony!  Expanding your poetry analysis horizons with Emily Manning and with "To Paint a Water Lily"

a. One-on-one time with Ted Hughes
b. The exponential thinking circle
c. Reading with your ears: Sound devices
d. Playing around with enjambment, verb tense, punctuation, and syntax
e. Finally, your comfort zone: Imagery and diction


3. The 2006 Form B Prompt:
Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay discussing how the poet uses
literary techniques to reveal the speaker’s attitudes toward nature and the artist’s task.

Form a thesis and outline in response to the above prompt.  Remember that you should have 2-4 body paragraphs, each with distinct yet related ideas (you're not actually going to write the body paragraphs; you're simply planning them).

HW:
1. Assigned book club reading
2. Continue working on your culminating essay by brainstorming ideas for any texts you might use

Monday, April 1, 2013

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, April 1, 2013

Focus: Delving into the rising conflicts of Slaughterhouse-Five and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

1. Announcements!  Anybody going to college?

2. A quick overview of this week

3. Sharing two great Vonnegut videos for my S-5 book clubbers (and everybody else, too)\

How To Write a Short Story

War in Reverse: A Tribute to Kurt Vonnegut

4. Book clubs: Day 3!

HW: 
1. Assigned book club reading for Wednesday.
2. Continue working on your culminating question by brainstorming ideas for each work you plan on discussing; start to outline the topics of your body paragraphs (most culminating essays have at least five body paragraphs).
3. Remember your conferences.