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

Focus: Opening discussing of The Stranger

1. Announcements/snack!

2. Warm-up: When The Stranger was first published in English, the title was translated as The Outsider.

• Is there a difference between a stranger and an outsider?  Perform a brief freewrite on each title and consider why the translation was later changed to The Stranger.  
• Based on what you know of our narrator, Mersault, so far, is he more accurately described as a "stranger" or an "outsider"?

3. Socratic Seminar #1: The Stranger, Part 1: Chapters 1-3

HW: 
1. Finish Part 1 of The Stranger for TOMORROW. Annotate as usual, but no reading ticket required.
2. Read Part 2 (Chapters 1-3) for Friday's Socratic seminar.
3. Read your critical review book.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, January 15, 2013

Focus: Developing a strong background for Camus' The Stranger

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: What my 11-year-old nephew has to say about sonnets

3. Presenting a little background on Albert Camus and explaining the reading ticket for tomorrow

4. Discussing big, big questions embedded in The Stranger

HW: Finish reading Part 1 (Chapters 1-3) in The Stranger; prepare your first Socratic reading ticket.

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, January 14, 2013

Focus: Strengthening your multiple choice skills and assessing your overall performance on the AP Literature test

1. Announcements!  Hand back critical review proposals.

2. Warm-up: Give me your best and your worst multiple choice sections

3. Working through the toughest multiple choice sections

4. Return Invisible Man timed essays and the essays you gave to me on Friday; calculate your actual AP score on this test.

Applause-worthy thesis statements from Invisible Man:

His self interest and ignorance is reflected in his interaction with the few female characters throughout the book with whom he falls to carnal and savage behavior--stereotypes he has resented and fought to disprove his whole life.  (Margot)

This echoing of events show the narrator's continual cycle of allowing himself to be led yet not seeing the leadership's ultimate plan. (Nate)

In the repetition of thematic ideas in symbols such as the false coins, the defacing "letters of recommendation," and the ideals of the Brotherhood, Ellison guides the narrator into invisibility. (Kyle)

HW: 
1. Start reading your critical review book (the essay is due in less than a month).
2. Start reading The Stranger; our first Socratic seminar will take place this Wednesday, and it will cover Part 1 (Chapters 1-3).
3. Check out the big dates for AP Literature on the Google calendar.

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

Focus: Cyber safety

1. Turn in critical review proposals and either timed writing #1 or #2 from your final exam (whichever one you'd like me to grade).

2. Journey to the theater for a presentation on cyber safety!

HW: Start reading The Stranger; our first Socratic seminar will be this Wednesday, and it will cover Part 1 (Chapters 1-3).  

BREAKING NEWS: ALL TURNED-IN CRITICAL REVIEWS HAVE BEEN APPROVED. This means that you can go ahead and purchase your book and begin reading it (if you haven't already).

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

Focus: What are my strengths and weaknesses as a timed writer?

1. Announcements!

2. Warm-up: Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and other ideas for choosing recent fiction

3. Perusing two sample essays on Johnny Got His Gun

4. Workshopping Essay #1 (Dickinson and Frost):

• Performing a brief metacognitive on one of the two poems from Essay #1, then sharing ideas for specific points of comparison and contrast.
• Perusing the official rubric and a few sample essays
• Assessing each other's essays
• Assigning a grade range

5. If time allows, give me your worst and best (multiple choice sections)

HW: Finish your critical review proposal to hand in tomorrow at the beginning of class.  Also, start reading The Stranger (our first Socratic seminar will be next Wednesday and will cover Part 1).

This Seat's Taken: AP Lit, January 9, 2013

Focus: What are your strengths and weaknesses as an A.P. Lit test taker, and what strategies could help you improve?

1. Announcements!

2. Workshopping essay #2: Johnny Got His Gun

          a. Get into a circle for Socratic Seminar: Reread passage aloud and discuss as a group (please have someone take notes on who is saying what and post on the blog).  As you discuss, be sure to address the specific elements of the prompt.

          b. Review the official rubric for this essay

          c. Peer workshop each other's essays: 
                        Round 1: Using the rubric, comment on the specific strengths and weaknesses of the content      of your partner's essay.  Remember always to read through the entire essay once without writing any comments.

                        Conference briefly with your partner, THEN SWITCH PARTNERS.

                        Round 2: Comment on the specific strengths and weaknesses of your partner's essay's                  organization and style.  

                       Conference briefly with your partner, then, using the rubric, estimate a grade range for your essay: High (7-9), Middle (5-6), or Low (0-4).

HW: Critical review proposal due Friday; start reading The Stranger, Part 1. If you feel somewhat confident  that your critical review book will be approved, go ahead and start reading that, too.

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

Focus: What does this semester in AP Literature entail?

1. Announcments! Please help yourself to a copy of The Stranger.

2. Warm-up: Who am I?

3. Viewing second semester at a glance (click here).

4. Returning the AP test, establishing categories, and discussing the grading scale

HW: Start reading The Stranger; finish your critical review proposal by this Friday (link can be found at the top of the website calendar); please make sure your big question is beautifully up-to-date.