For AP Literature before Saturday, December 25, 2010

Example of Train of Thought Analysis of a Christmas Poem:

"In Memoriam A. H. H.: 78. Again at Christmas did we weave"
by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Again at Christmas did we weave
The holly round the Christmas hearth;
The silent snow possess'd the earth,
And calmly fell our Christmas-eve:

The yule-log sparkled keen with frost,
No wing of wind the region swept,
But over all things brooding slept
The quiet sense of something lost.

As in the winters left behind,
Again our ancient games had place,
The mimic picture's breathing grace,
And dance and song and hoodman-blind.

Who show'd a token of distress?
No single tear, no mark of pain:
O sorrow, then can sorrow wane?
O grief, can grief be changed to less?

O last regret, regret can die!
No--mixt with all this mystic frame,
Her deep relations are the same,
But with long use her tears are dry.


This title tells me that Tennyson is still remembering his good friend Arthur Henry Hallam who died while still young and for whom he wrote his famous In Memoriam poem. This seems to be a remembrance of him at Christmas. I wonder how long after he died Tennyson wrote it*.

The speaker is describing that "we" decorated the fire with holly, that snow is on the ground, and things are "calm."That sounds good, hope it stays that way, but could be a foreboding since it's so early in the poem.

The fire "sparkled" and there was no wind, which adds to the calm mood, but sparkle seems happy, and then there is "brooding" and sleeping and a feeling of loss. Here comes the remembrance.

Speaker remembers past winters and the "ancient games" which could be winter sports or indoor activities, who knows? Oh, the next lines sound like games although the "mimic picture" and "breathing grace" confuses me, unless it is like the tableaus presented in Jane Eyre where players present a scene and stand like statues until the other people guess what the scene represents, sort of like a cross between non-moving charades and Pictionary. Breathing grace could be being able to breathe even though you are statue-still. And the dead are statue-still but don't have the "grace" of breath! Other activities are the dance and song and blind man's bluff. The dead are also blind, but they can't dance or sing. Maybe the mix of the two represents the living and the dead.

Next stanza the speaker loses it and starts getting upset that no one was sad, and is sad himself that he still mourns his dead friend and wonders if his grief will ever diminish.

"O last regret, regret can die" seemed paradoxical on first reading, but now the speaker seems to be saying that he is sad that his grief will indeed grow less, the diminishing he seemed to be wishing for in the previous stanza. Looking back at that stanza, when he says that no one was sad, maybe he wasn't sad only because no one remembered but because our sorrow brought on by death does diminish and he doesn't want it to! So it is a paradox after all.

Then, the "No" that I didn't understand is another paradox. He is sorry that remembrance fades, but says it does and it doesn't when it is inside our hearts- "mixt with this mystic frame" that is the human body. "Her" refers to what? the human body or regret? Personification of regret would fit well here because it is human emotion he refers to. Then regret's "relations" could be her kin or fellow beings or friends, or her feelings, saying they are "the same" meaning still there, but it's been so long now that the speaker doesn't have to cry anymore.

Theme?: It is true that time lessens grief, but not completely, because we don't want to forget what we loved so much.

It just occurred to me that winter is appropriate for this remembrance because it connotes cold and death while the holly, the hearth, the sparkling log, and the games, dances,and songs bring a sense of life still existing in the "dead" of winter. This juxtaposition adds to the meaning of the poem because the speaker has a feeling for both death and life inside him, as do all humans.

* Hallam died in 1833. Tennyson wrote In Memoriam for years and finally published it in 1849. The number 78 in the title of this poem that I thought might be the year he wrote it is actually the verse number from In Memoriam. When I first saw this poem I thought it would be part of the longer poem, so I didn't consider giving it to the class to analyze. When I looked for a poem to analyze, I decided to check this one out, since Tennyson is my favorite poet, and it seemed to be complete in itself, so I used it.

Thu, Dec 16, 2010

Thu, Dec 16, 2010

English 12 Pds 1&4
• Play Uncommon Sense

AP Literature
• Get Christmas poems to analyze with train of thought a.k.a. stream of consciousness
"Christmas Trees" by Robert Frost
"A Christmas Ghost Story" by Thomas Hardy
"Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King in the Presence at White-Hall" by Robert Herrick
• Play AP version of Uncommon Sense

Drama
• SSRFF
• Watch Grinch with Jim Carrey

Wed, Dec 15, 2010

Wed, Dec 15, 2010

Drama
• SSRFF
• Take Sem 1 Exam

English 12 Pd 1
• AR rdg
• Discuss grades

AP Literature
• Hand in chart on Romantic Pd authors
• Check Sem 1 Exam and go over answers

Tue, Dec 14, 2010

Tue, Dec 14, 2010

English 12 Pd 4
• AR rdg
• Review
• Sem 1 Exam

Drama
• Take notes on work studied this semester
• Note parts to be used on Sem 1 Exam
• Review those items: Stage locations and the play A Raisin in the Sun

Mon, Dec 13, 2010

Mon, Dec 13, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Review
• Sem 1 Exam

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Sem 1 Exam review

AP Literature
• Sem 1 Exam

Fri, Dec 10, 2010

Fri, Dec 10, 2010

English 12 Periods 1&4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Review for exam

AP Literature
• Discuss questions about Keats work
• Quiz
• HW: Chart the Romantic Pd: Burns, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, due Wed, 12/15
1. Author
2. Significant fact to remember about life
3. Favorite work read
4. Favorite quote w/ line #
pp613, 620, 21; 633-40, 42, 45; 655; 680, 81, 84; 697; 710, 11, 12

Drama
SSRFF
Discuss plans for the day

Thu, Dec 9, 2010

Thu, Dec 9, 2010

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Finish questions 1-7 p162
• Discuss 3 summaries and questions 1-4

AP Literature
• Hand in work on Shelley & Apostrophe
• Quiz
• Discussion
• Sem 1 Exam: Discuss
• HW: Read about Keats pp 707-708. Write 4 important facts about his life. Read “Bright Star’ p 710, “When I Have Fears” p 711, & “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” p 712. Answer “Analyzing the poem” qstns for all three.

Drama
SSRFF
Review Sem 1 for exam questions

Wed, Dec 8, 2010

Wed, Dec 8, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Finish questions 1-7 p162


English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Read complete Prologue beginning. Students write 3 summary sentences
• Read the Knight, Squire, &Prioress (nun) and answer qstns 1-7

Drama
Play analysis
Discuss qstns 2-4

Tue, Dec 7, 2010

Tue, Dec 7, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Read Prologue, beginning three stanzas. Write 3 summary sentences.
• Read the Knight, Squire, and Prioress. Answer all questions.

AP Literature
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Check questions and discuss.
• Quiz from Don Juan and discuss.
• HW: Read Shelley pp694-96. Write 4 significant facts of his life. Read "Ode to the West Wind." Answer Identifying Facts 1-4 and "Terza Rima and the Sonnet" under Analyzing Language 1-3, p700. Read "Apostrophe." Write 1 note per ¶ for a quiz.

Mon, Dec 6, 2010

Mon, Dec 6, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Vocab Qz 17-26
• Read Prologue, Stanza 1

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Vocab Qz 17-26
• Read Prologue

AP Literature
• Hand in work on RAM
• Quiz RAM parts 5-7 & Wordsworth, Coleridge, & Byron
• Terms Prequiz 3
• HW: Study the terms you missed on Terms 2 for quiz tomorrow.
• HW: Read poems pp680-81, “She Walks…” & “…Roving,” and from Don Juan. Answer questions Id. Details and Int. Meaning for all three poems.

Fri, Dec 3, 2010

Fri, Dec 3, 2010

English 12 Periods 1&4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• p152 Rdg Lit Notes on Foreshadowing
Vocabulary
25 Dialect
26 Refrain
• Chaucer: Read pp 88-89 in Elements of Literature

AP Literature
• Hand in #15 p676
• Quiz Ancient Mariner 1-4 and Coleridge
• Discuss WW Tintern Abbey and others
• HW: Finish reading RAM and do qstns 16-18
• HW: Read Lord Byron pp 678-9 and write 4 important facts.


Drama
SSRFF
Analysis discussion on Raisin in the Sun
Charades

Thu, Dec 2, 2010

Thu, Dec 2, 2010


English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Final draft due with rough draft & all other work.
• Review Anglo Saxon and Medieval periods
• Read aloud “Lord Randal” p151
• Discuss Rdg Lit p152 #3 Refrain

AP Literature
• Hand in ¶ on Coleridge
• Quiz on Lucy poems and 2 others
• Discuss WW poems.
• Read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" pp655-665 for T/F quiz.
Answer # 15 p676.

Drama
SSRFF
Finish film
Discuss from syllabus

Wed, Dec 1, 2010

Wed, Dec 1, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Get back questions and discuss answers in a class discussion for points
• p 152 Rdg Lit # 1 foreshadowing, 2&3 Friday

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me any work.
• Type paper.
• Final draft & all work done due tomorrow, Thurs.

Tue, Nov 30, 2010

Tue, Nov 30, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Final draft due with rough draft & all other work.
• Read aloud “Lord Randal” p151
• Answer questions 1-7 and Rdg Lit #2 Dialect & #3 Refrain

AP Literature
• AR rdg
• Get back Terms I. Quiz Thur at recess or after class.
• Get essay comments
• Discuss documenting
• Hand in work on Wordsworth & discuss
• Discuss Burns & Blake
• Read 3 Lucy poems, 638-640,“I Wandered” p642, & “Solitary Reaper” p645 for quiz.
• Read about Coleridge p647 and write your impression of him in a ¶.

Mon, Nov 29, 2010

Mon, Nov 29, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me any work for points.
• Final draft & all work done due tomorrow, Tues.

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me any work and your intro, body, & conclusion ¶s.
• Final draft is due Thursday, Dec 2

AP Literature
• Hand in terms pretest #1for recording missed terms.
• Hand in Critical Response p 622. Some CR’s will go on Essay grade (36%)
• Hand in chart on authors
• Get back student essays 1&2 Open Qstn 3 & get Response to essays
• HW: Read Wm Wordsworth P 631-2. List your 4 most important facts about his life.
• Read “Lines...Tintern Abbey” pp633-37. Answer 1-9 on p 637 and 1&2 in “Verse Paragraphs” under “Analyzing Language and Style,” to be discussed.

Drama
Movie Raisin in the Sun

Wed, Nov 24, 2010

Wed, Nov 24, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me any work and your intro, body, & conclusion ¶s.
• Final draft is due Tuesday, Nov30

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me your next 100 words. (300 total so far)
• Write intro., body ¶’s, and conclusion. Final draft is due Thu, Dec 2

AP Literature
• Hand in work on Burns.
• Tally scores on sample essays1&2 for Open Qstn 3
• Get in groups for review of scores
• Read about William Blake pp617-19, “Blake’s Poems” p620, “The Tyger” p620, and “The Lamb” p622 and do the Critical Response p622.
• HW: Make a chart for
-3 Literary Periods
-Authors read in each period
-One title read for each author
-A telling quotation from that work, documented parenthetically
PP 190,195, 201,213, 232, 254, 340-6, 364-368, 385, 417, 423, 436,/ 482, 518, 527-530, 555-559, 576 / 613, 620-22

Drama
Video of play to Beneatha leaving with George

Tue, Nov 23, 2010

Tue, Nov 23, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me your next 100 words. (300 total so far)
• Write intro., body ¶’s, and conclusion.

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me your next 100 words.
• Write another 100 for tomorrow.

AP Literature
Drill to Makalapa
• Hand in Romantic Pd notes & discuss.
• Hand in Open Question essays.
• HW: Get essay #3 to evaluate.
• HW: Read Robert Burns p 611 and “To a Mouse” p 613-15. Answer questions 1-6 p 615
• HW: Justify scores for the 2 sample essays on the Open Question if you haven’t yet.

Drama
Readers Theater # 4 for pp 119 to 130.

Mon, Nov 22, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me your next 100 words.
• Write another 100 for tomorrow.

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Show me your first 100 words. Write 100 more for tomorrow.

AP Literature
• Hand in your second evaluated essay and your typed third essay.
• Quiz on Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson and the Dictionary p594.
• Discuss Renaissance authors Milton & Donne and Restoration author Pope (Augustan poetry).
• Read scoring guidelines for the Open Question essay and 2 sample student essays for you to evaluate. Justify your score.
• Read the Romantic Period, pp 600-610 and take notes on the intro ¶ and the six parts.

Drama
• Readers Theater #3 for pp107-119.

Fri, Nov 19, 2010

Fri, Nov 19, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me your work on essay
• Next 100 words due Mon

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me your work on essay
• 100 words due Mon

AP Literature
• Hand in qstns on Johnson.
• Hand in third typed essay.
• Quiz on satire, Pope, and Eng Dictionary
• HW: Give the essay you evaluated to another student to evaluate
• HW: Read from The Life of Samuel Johnson pp 576-581 and dictionaries p594 for a quiz.

Drama
• Watch DVD A Raisin in the Sun

Thu, Nov 18, 2010

Thu, Nov 18, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me your topic (5pts), outline of body¶s (10pts), and thesis (10 pts).
• Write 100 words of essay.

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me your topic (5pts), outline of body¶s (10pts), and thesis (10 pts)
• Write 100 words of essay (10pts)

AP Literature
• AR rdg
• Hand in Comparison of Pope’s work to that of Milton & Donne
• Get in groups of 4 or 5 with your essay 1 & 2 for Johnson and Dickinson. Discuss your score. Adjust if you think you should. As a class, compare answers. Get actual scores.
• HW: Read pp555-560. Quiz on p555. Answer any 2 qstns from 1-6 and all of 7-11 on p558, and on p560 #s 1-4.
• HW: Type your third exam essay

Drama
• SSRFF
• Improv with Mrs. Zimmerman

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Show me your topic (5pts), outline of body¶s (10pts), and thesis (10 pts).
• Write 100 words of essay.

English 12 Period 4
Café duty.

AP Literature
• Hand in work on "Satire" and Pope's poetry.
• Get literary terms pre-quiz back to learn terms missed for quiz
• Hand in typed essays with pen name on back.
• HW: Get guidelines on AP practice essays. Read and score from 1-9 the 2 essays. Tell why you gave the score.
• Read Pope pp525-6 for quiz. Compare to Milton’s and Donne's poetry on one trait each.

Drama
Readers’ Theater: Act2, Scene 2 pp 96-106 with group 2

Mon, Nov 15, 2010

Mon, Nov 15, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Write outline & thesis

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Write outline & thesis

AP Literature
• Show me essays, I initial & return to you to be typed with a pseudonym (pen name) written on the back. Students in class will evaluate essays.
• Discuss The Restoration &18th Century.
• HW: Write the third exam essay in the packet
• HW: Read "Satire," p 516-17 & find an example of satire in "A Modest Proposal" p 518-523. Write your quote and explain how it is satire. •Read Heroic Couplets" p527 and answer questions 1 & 2 p528. •Read Criticism p829 & answer qstns 1&2 and write Creative Resp. •Read Man p830 & answer qstns 1-5.
• HW: Type 2 essays from exam essay packet Practice 1 without your name on them. Write pen name on back.

Drama
• Get books
• On paper write what part you would like to read in a class reading.
• Readers Theater for pp89-96, end of 2.2

Fri, Nov 12, 2010

Fri, Nov 12, 2010

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Handout Easy Steps to Literary Analysis
• Show me your topic and how you plan to approach it
• Grade reports mid quarter

AP Literature
• Hand in notes on Defoe
• Quiz on Defoe and from Robinson Crusoe
• Pre-quiz on usage & literary terms
• Check usage quiz
• HW: Pick 2 of the 3 practice exam essays to write about. Give yourself 80 mins to read and write both. If one takes less than 40 mins, give yourself more than 40 mins for the second one. Hand write them and print, unless your cursive has been complimented. Other students will assess these in class.
• HW: Due Wed: The third exam essay in the packet
• HW: Due Wed: Read "Satire," p 516-17, and "A Modest Proposal" p 518-523 for quizzes, and Heroic Couplets" p527. Answer questions 1 & 2 p528.

Drama
• SSRFF
• Discuss Raisin in the Sun
• Read in groups
• Mid quarter grade reports

Wed, Nov 10, 2010

Wed, Nov 10, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Handout: Easy Steps to Literary Analysis
• Show me your literary term and chart

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Make a chart using your selected topic
• See modeling of topic in chart

Drama
• Read A Raisin in the Sun in groups.

Tue, Nov 9, 2010

Tue, Nov 9, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Make a chart using your selected topic
• See modeling of topic and chart with comparison

AP Literature
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Recitation
• Hand in notes on Milton.
• Hand in notes on Restoration & the 18th Century
• Quiz on Milton
• Check
• HW: Read Daniel Defoe p480 for quiz or notes, and Robinson Crusoe p483-495 for quiz only.

Mon, Nov 8, 2010

Mon, Nov 8, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Get Lit essay handouts & discuss, looking at my sample essay

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Literary Analysis: Get Lit essay handouts & discuss, looking at my sample essay

AP Literature
• Hand in notes on PL p420-3
• Hand in questions p434 1-14.
• Class discussion
• HW: Read Milton pp414-416 for quiz or take 2 notes per ¶. Name 4 ways his life was different from John Donne's and 4 ways similar. Tell one way their works were alike and different.
• Read The Restoration &18th Century. Take notes on pp448-450.

Drama
SSRFF
Discuss Raisin for points.

Fri, Nov 5, 2010

Fri, Nov 5, 2010

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 20 mins
• Quiz on structure
• Get literary-essay-writing handouts and discuss ideas for essay, rubric, and parts of my sample essay of lit analysis
• Discuss possible topics

AP Literature
•Hand in essays on Milton. Class discussion of poems for points.
• Any more recitations?
• HW: Read Milton's Paradise Lost pp 420-22 and take notes.
• HW: Read The Temptation of Eve pp423-433 and answer questions 1-14 for in class discussion for points.

Drama
• SSRFF
• Discuss Raisin for points.
• Quiz
• Charades

Wed, Nov 3, 2010

Wed, Nov 3, 2010

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg 20 mins
• Vocab 17-24 Review & quiz
• Writing structure 5 ¶ essay: 3 kinds of ¶s w/ 2 parts each
Intro¶: 1. Hook > 2. Complete Thesis (Main Idea +Supporting Subtopic Ideas)
Body ¶s: 1. Topic Sentence referring to the Main Idea > 2 Supporting facts
Concluding¶: 1. Thesis restated in different words > 2. So What? or Personal Comment

AP Literature
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Recitations
• Check, discuss, & hand in 3 facts from Donne’s life that correspond to the works we read.
• Check & hand in summary of Metaphysical Poetry
• Check, discuss, & hand in paraphrase of “On His Blindness” and definitions of the 6 words from the poem.
• Get handouts of Milton's 2 sonnets, TPCASTT poetry analysis, and Sample Train of Thought for discovering your thinking on poems
• HW: Write an essay on Milton’s two sonnets, comparing them in various literary aspects. Explain the theme/meaning and tell which poem you think is better and why. "On His Blindness" and "Having Arrived Age 23." Write 300 to 500 words, as in an AP Exam essay.

Drama/Acting
• Do you want to do monologue performance for classes? no
• Reading a play/ Presenting scene from a play read in English, for which we have books.
Should it be Reader’s Theater or Acting w/memorized dialogue?
• We will alternate reading a play in groups with shorter activities.

Wed, Oct 27, 2010

Wed, Oct 27, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 20 mins
• Conventions of Literary Analysis: An academic paper is formal, unlike personal essays such as our college application essay. Formal papers are only about their subject, not about the writer of the essay.
1. Do not say I or me or my or talk about your essay. Talk only about the literature or the author’s techniques using 3rd person: it, he, she, they
2. Contractions are informal. Don’t = Do not. Do not use contractions.
3. Do not use slang, use only standard English. Write man, not guy or dude. Say many, not a bunch or a lot.

AP Literature
• Quiz on Donne’s 4 works. Hand in questions 1-8, with your quiz, afterward.
• Check notes on Big 4. Get back, discuss, and hand in.
• Recitations? No. Due Mon
• Check MC Practice #1 FINISH
• HW: Recite lines Mon
• HW: Read Donne’s life pp362-3. Make a list of 3 facts from his life that correspond in some way to the 4 works we read. Tell how they correspond.
• HW: p363 Read Metaphysical Poetry and summarize the 2 ¶s.
• HW: Read p 417, “On His Blindness” by John Milton, and paraphrase it (not a summary) Look up these words that are used with a meaning different from the most common one: spent, chide, exact (vt: verb transitive), fondly, bidding, post (vt)

Tue, Oct 26, 2010

Tue, Oct 26, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg 20 mins
• Literary Analysis: Compare Grendel and The Seafarer to learn more about their meaning.
• Analyze by looking at small parts, common elements of stories such as plot, characters, setting, theme, & tone.
• Make a T chart to compare facts for the 2 works. Use literary terms to analyze a small part: plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution). Write facts for each part and for each work.
Hand in your chart and handout of the 2 works.

AP Literature
• AR rdg
• Hand in essays. As I collect them, read pp338-9 in textbook for quiz. Also read Shakespeare’s sonnets #s 29, 30, 71, 73, 116, 130 on the next pages.
• Take a quiz on sonnet form.
• Check MC Practice #1
• HW: Recitations due tomorrow or Mon
• HW: Read pp364-369: Bait, Song, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, and Meditation 17. Either answer all the Analyzing the Poem questions, or take a quiz on the 4 works tomorrow.
HW: Take notes (always Cornell) on the “Big Four” rules #s14-17 p18-?

Mon, Oct 25, 2010

Mon, Oct 25, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg in the library and check out books.
• Voc: NEW
#22 irony
#23 analysis
Coming up:
moral
omniscient
symbolism
thesis
tone

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg in the library and check out books.
• Review & take Qz on the Medieval Period

AP Literature
• AR rdg in the library and check out books.
• Peer Edit
• Essay due tomorrow

Drama
• Present monologues, due today
• Scores will be F 50% until performed

Fri, Oct 22, 2010

Fri, Oct 22, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg
• EssVoc: ballad
• Read Edward, Edward p 148 Rdg Lit, answer 1-7 p150 and hand in.

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg
• Read Edward, Edward, p 148 Rdg Lit, answer 1-7 p150 and hand in.

AP Literature
• Show me 600 words
• MB outline posted below to help in finding quotations and evidence
• Go over how to quote and document Shakespeare and poetry. See below for information.
• Check MC prose2 and poetry 2
• HW: Write final draft, due Tues. Peer editing Mon.

Drama
• SSRFF
• Monologues


OUTLINE of Macbeth

ACT I
Scene 1, p255 Witches talking, “Fair is foul.”
Scene 2, p256 Macbeth’s bravery, Cawdor’s treason
Scene 3, p257 Macbeth meets witches, who prophesy for him and Banquo.
Scene 4, p263 King Duncan congratulates Macbeth on his bravery and new title.
Scene 5, p265 Lady Macbeth gets letter, plans to murder King Duncan.
Scene 6, p267 King arrives at Macbeth’s castle.
Scene 7, p268 Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill, against his objections.

ACT II
Scene 1, p272 Macbeth sees dagger appear in the air and goes to kill the king.
Scene 2, p274 Macbeth hears voices saying Macbeth has murdered sleep.
Scene 3, p277 Ross and Macduff come to wake Duncan, find him dead, call to everyone.
Scene 4, p282 Ross and Macduff discuss the strange situation with an old man.

ACT III
Scene 1, p285 Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo.
Scene 2, p289 Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth about more killing to come.
Scene 3, p291 Banquo is murdered, but Fleance escapes.
Scene 4, p293 The murderers report; Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at the supper feast.
Scene 5, p298 Hecate plans a meeting with the witches to give Macbeth his destiny.
Scene 6, p299 Lennox and another lord discuss Macduff raising an army against Macbeth.

ACT IV
Scene 1, p301 Macbeth visits the witches and sees the apparitions
Scene 2, p306 Macbeth’s murderers slaughter Macduff’s wife and child
Scene 3, p309 Malcolm tests Macduff’s honor by appearing to have many vices

ACT V
Scene 1, p317 Lady Macbeth sleepwalks while a doctor and a gentlewoman look on.
Scene 2, p319 Scottish lords discuss Malcolm and Macduff’s plan and Macbeth’s state.
Scene 3, p320 The doctor reports Lady Macbeth's condition to Macbeth, who calls for armor
Scene 4, p322 Near Birnam, Malcolm and Macduff’s soldiers march
Scene 5, p323 Lady Macbeth dies, Birnam Wood approaches Dunsinane
Scene 6, p324 Malcolm and Macduff call for the attack on Dunsinane
Scene 7, p326 Macbeth kills Young Siward as Malcolm, Macduff, Siward enter Dunsinane.
Scene 8, p327 Macduff, not of woman born, kills Macbeth; Malcolm becomes the new king.

How to Quote from Works by Shakespeare
by Dr. Lynne Simpson, Presbyterian College English Department

Assuming that it is clear from the context of your paper which play you are quoting from, you need not identify the work by its title. At the end of the quotation from Shakespeare, place parentheses, in which you put three numbers, separated by periods. The first number is the act, the second is the scene, and the third the line numbers quoted, the first one and the last one, separated by dash. The parentheses locating the quotation come after the quotation mark and before the punctuation of your own sentence. Here are three examples:

1) "So shaken as we are, so wan with care," Henry announces to his court (1.1.1).

2) Henry appears infirm from the very beginning of the play: "So shaken as we are, so wan with care" (1.1.1).

3) Henry thinks of the terrain of England as a thirsty mother perversely feeding on the blood of her sons: "No more the thirsty entrance of this soil / Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood" (1.1.5-6).

Note the use of the slash (/)--preceded and followed by a space--to separate lines of poetry in example #3. This is standard practice when you are quoting blank verse (iambic pentameter) from Shakespeare into your own text.
Sometimes--though not often in short essays--you will want to quote a larger block of verse, four verse lines or more, which you then should discuss in close, careful detail. Usually this sort of quotation will be introduced by a full colon (:) and then indented ten spaces from your left-hand margin. You will no longer need slashes to separate lines, nor quotation marks; instead, the quotation should appear as it does on the printed page.

4) Henry's first speech is full of metaphors of physical distress: (Students, I added hyphens to simulate 10 spaces. You don't.)

----------So shaken as we are, so wan with care,

----------Find we a time for frighted peace to pant

----------And breathe short-winded accents of new broils

----------To be commenced in strands far remote. (1.1.1-4)

In this instance, the parentheses locating the quotation follow the final punctuation mark. Note that all citations in parentheses are in Arabic rather than Roman numerals.

Do note, finally, that Shakespeare also writes some scenes in prose. You need to know the difference!

Please consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research for more information and additional examples.

Tue, Oct 19, 2010

Tue, Oct 19, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg
• Read & take notes on Medieval Pd p 140-1 in Rdg Lit. up to ¶2 of Medieval Church.
• Hand in.

AP Literature
• AR rdg
• Show me:
- Prompt
- 3 Easy Steps to thesis
- Rough outline
• Check MC Practice #1, Poem
• HW: Write >or = 300 words of essay

Mon, Oct 18, 2010

Mon, Oct 18, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg
• Quiz on “The Seafarer”

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg
• Quiz on “The Seafarer”

AP Literature
• Hand in notes on “An Approach to Style” 4 + 20 and discuss.
• Macbeth essay handout; discuss requirements.
• Essay due next Tuesday
• Triangle graphic on how to write for a prompt on the AP Exam: Answering the question, identifying strategies, & finding evidence for the strategies
• How to write a thesis from an AP essay prompt using the 3 Easy Steps process:
Write a simple,obvious statement, Draw inferences & ask questions, Add new ideas and polish.
• Example of working with 3 Easy Steps to Write a Thesis- 1. Simple/obvious statement: In MB Shakespeare shows how being too ambitious causes one to “overleap and fall…” Sh. uses an object to further this idea by giving it purposes that parallel his theme.

Drama
• Any more monologues? Practice. Monologues must be memorized.

Fri, Oct 15, 2010

Fri, Oct 15, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg
• Check qstns5-8
• OralRdg

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg
• Check Seafarer questions 3-8

AP Literature
• Hand in examples of A&B terms from p1260 & 3 theses for MB
• Video MB to end
• HW: Read Els of Style Ch 5, pp 66-69, “Approaches to Style” and take 4 notes. Also read pp 70-81 and number 1-20, copy the rule, and tell what part of the author’s explanation that you think explains it best.
• Demonstrate building a thesis in 3 steps using the prompt about an object and its purposes.

Drama
• Monologues due
• Read aloud
• Get feedback

Thu, Oct 14, 2010

Thu, Oct 14, 2010

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg , log
• Get grades
• Check Seafarer qstns and discuss answers

AP Literature
• Quiz on terms A&B
• HW: Examples due Fri for terms
• Handout of Open Qstn for AP Exam to 2003 Find Macbeth on list of Works of Literary Merit to see Open topics & copy one from 2009.
• HW: Pick 3 topics from list of Open topics and from list in textbook pp333-4, and write a thesis for each to hand in Fri.

Drama
• Discuss plans for Q2
• Charades w/movies in 2 teams for points-tied
• HW: Get monologue for Friday

Wed, Oct 14, 2010

Wed, Oct 14, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg , log
• Grades: essays, exams, and AR books
• Students in groups of 4-5 work to finish #s 5-8 qstns for Seafarer individually. Then work on answering RdgLit 1-5, Voc,& OralRdg for class presentation

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg , log
• Go over answers to Qtr1 Exam
• Get essays back. Write comment to remember on sheet • AR rdg , log
• Get grades
• Check Seafarer qstns and discuss answers

Drama
• Drama activities from bk Tchg Teenagers Theater
• Charades w/ anything in 2 teams

Tue, 10/12/10

Tue, 10/12/10

AP Literature
Terms from pp1260-on for quiz Thur:
apostrophe
assonance
blank verse
caesura
canto
classicism
conceit
metaphysical conceit (no example yet)
consonance
couplet
heroic couplet

Wed, Sep 29, 2010

Wed, Sep 29, 2010

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg , log
• Finish Seafarer qstns1-8
• Grendel Art Part1Beowulf
Rubrics for Quot & Art
Add to Art: #5 Show effort with details

AP Literature
• Check 5 quotations
• Quiz on Intro to El of Style & EssnVoc1-20
• Watch bit of video
•HW: Ch1 Els of Style: Type/make neat list of 1, 2,&3. For each, write the number, the rule, an example, and one example of each exception, if any.
• p1259 Textbook: Learn the definitions of the 8 words for quiz
• Recite your passage tomorrow or after break

Drama
• Present "The Patient"
• Taylor Easy: Acting Exercises

Mon, Sep 27,2010

Mon, Sep 27,2010 Substitute: Mrs. Zimmerman

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg , log
• Qtr1 Exam
• Answer questions 1-8 on p 133 for “The Seafarer.”

AP Literature period 2
• Quiz Essential Voc 11-20 &
• Quiz on Introduction to Elements of Style postponed till Wed
• Read Macbeth Acts 4 & 5 in same groups of 3
•HW: Write 5 quotes from Acts 4 & 5
•Video Acts 4&5

English 12 Period 4
• AR rdg , log
• Qtr1 Exam Review
• Read “The Seafarer” p 129 aloud. Answer questions 1-8 p 133

Fri, 9/24/10

Fri, 9/24/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg, log
• AR quiz
• Exam review for Qtr 1 Exam Monday
• Art Grendel Pt1 for Monday after exam
Quotation Rubric
Art Rubric

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg, log
• AR quiz
• Exam review for Qtr 1
•Art BeowPt1
Quotation Rubric
Art Rubric

AP Literature
• Voc Quiz
• AR quiz
• Recite speech to partner
Rubric
1. Have speech, documented
2. Recite from memory
3. # of prompts needed
• Get book, Elements of Style
•HW: Read Introduction, Els of Style
•HW: Essential Voc 1-20 quiz Mon


Drama Wed & Thu
• SSRFF
• Present scenes all groups except The Patient

Thu, 9/23/10

Thu, 9/23/10

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg, log
• Read Beowulf Part 2 p118, Rdg Lit. • Answer questions p126 #s 1-6, blending qstn with answer & hand in

AP Literature
•Check Rdg Rec Card, 2 quotations Act 3, and hand in.
• Video Act3
• Read aloud Act 4 Scene 1 whole class
•HW: Essential Voc 1-10 quiz tomorrow
•HW: Find a speech 100-200 words from MB Acts 1-5 to recite from memory in class tomorrow to a partner

Drama Wed & Thu
• SSRFF
• Rehearse scenes

Wed,9/22/10

Wed,9/22/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg , log
• Essential Vocab quiz 9-18:
Read “The Seafarer” aloud
Connect AngloSaxon Pd to literature
Invasions >warriors fighting, sailing

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg , log
• Essential Vocab quiz 9-18:
14. heathen
15. theme
16. epic
17. imagery
18. point of view
• Grendel Test

AP Literature
• AR rdg & log
• Read Macbeth in groups
• HW Pick 2 quotes from what you read today and list as you did the first 5
• HW: Reading record card for summer novel
• Video Act 2 & 3

Drama Wed & Thu
• Sit with play group to discuss what day to present: Thur or Fri. and sign up for time.
• Rehearse with blocking and props

Tue, 9/21/10

Tue, 9/21/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg , log
• Grendel Test
• Essential Vocab quiz tomorrow
14. heathen
15. theme
16. epic
17. imagery
18. point of view


AP Literature Tue & Thu
• AR rdg & log
• Read Macbeth in groups
• HW Pick 2 quotes from Act 3 and list as you did the first 5
• HW: Reading record card for summer novel
• Video Acts 2 & 3

Mon, 9/20/10

Mon, 9/20/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg , log
• Essential Vocab:
14. heathen
15. theme
16. epic
17. imagery
18. point of view
• Reading Analysis Assessment

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg , log
• Essential Vocab:
14. heathen
15. theme
16. epic
17. imagery
18. point of view

AP Literature Tue & Thu
• Check quotations Acts 1&2
• Check more MC from Practice Test 1

Drama Wed & Thu
• Return Blocking work
• Get handouts and review
• Work on your scene and let us know when you are ready.

Fri, 9/17/10

Fri, 9/17/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg, log
• Finish reading Grendel and answer qstns 1-10 p 10.

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg
• Go over answers to p10, #s 1-10

AP Literature Tue & Thu
• Check MC Practice Test 1 and go over a few questions.
• HW: Quotations Acts 1&2 Pick 5 good quotations. Write the quote, document parenthetically (Act, scene, lines), tell who is speaking and to whom, the situation, & why you like the quote.
• Read aloud Act 3

Drama
• SSRFF
• Discuss questions from Thursday work.
• Get back Stage Direction Quiz for The Patient.
• Get handout and discuss the 15 areas of the stage and how to remember them.
• Take blocking quiz

Thu, 9/16/10

Thu, 9/16/10

AP Literature
• AR rdg,
• Hand in list of significant ideas from article p335
• Hand in Response 5
• Editing Quiz
• DVD Macbeth
• HW Complete practice MC quiz

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg, log
• Quiz Anglo-Saxon Period
• Read Beowulf aloud or silently
• Answer questions p 10 #s 1-10 and hand in at the end of class.

Drama Wed & Thu
SSRFF
• Read A Marriage Proposal p 520. Before you start, write the names and descriptions of the 3 characters on a sheet of paper. Underneath each name, draw a face for that character.
• Answer Dev.Comp.Skills 1-7 Dev. Skills in Critical Thinking p533 Dev.Wrtg Skills, #2, p533

Tue, 9/14/2010

Tue, 9/14/2010

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg, log,
• Voc Qz 4-13
• Notes on Anglo Saxon Pd
Five groups of people
• Read Beowulf aloud

AP Literature
• AR rdg, log, postponed to Thur
• Hand in Response 4 & discuss
• Hand in sheet w/name and what you want to work on in your essays
• Check MC, Effective Wrtg & hand in
• Quiz Porter, Evil, Hecate pp283 & 315
• Read aloud
• HW: Response 5
• Read The Knocking at the Gate p335. List ideas significant to you.

Mon, 9/13/ 2010

English 12-Pd 1&4
• AR rdg , log
• Essential Vocab:
10. Figurative
11. Literal
12. Inference
Review 1-9

AP Literature
• Hand in Response 3 & discuss
• Check MC & Effective Writing
• HW: MC 21-25 & Response 4
• HW: Read Macbeth’s Porter p 283, also The King’s Evil & Hecate p 315
• HW: Read comments on returned summer book essays. Know what you want to work on to get essay grade Tues.

Drama
• Patient group work on learning lines
• Jewels group, get scripts, work on learning lines

Thu, 9/9/2010

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg, log
• Any more essays?
• Editing Quiz
• Six Traits +1 notes
• Write definitions for concrete & abstract

AP Literature
• Discuss questions Act 5
• Quiz Act 5
• Hand in Acts 3 & 4 study questions
• Check 17 study questions Act 5
• Get answers to check for HW and write score
• Read aloud
• HW: Free Response 1 and MC questions 1-10.

Drama Wed & Thu
• Jewels groups answer questions pp 720 & 726 as a group for quiz tomorrow.
• Patient group get scripts, memorize, practice

Wed, 9/8/10

Wed, 9/8/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg, log
• Any more essays?
• Discuss kinds of words, aka parts of speech
• Editing Handouts
• Six Traits +1 Quiz & hand in notes

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg, log
• Hand in essays: Final draft, Rough draft w/corrections in different color, Outline w/4parts: Main Idea , Intro Idea, Body Idea, & Conclusion Idea
• Editing handouts, Lesson as “quiz”
• Get back STAR & write zpd range in planner
• Notes on 6 Traits: 1. Ideas

Drama
• Separate into The Patient group and Jewels of the Shrine group.
• Practice reading parts for The Patient.
• Read Jewels in groups of 5.

Tue, 9/7/10

Tue, 9/7/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg, log,
• College essay due 300-500 words
• Editing marks sheet
• Six Traits + 1: note #6. Sentence fluency

AP Literature
• AR rdg, log
• Discuss questions Act 4
• Quiz Act 4
• Check questions Acts 3 & 4
• Get answers Acts 3 & 4 to check for homework
• HW: Read Act 5 & answer study questions for Act 5
• Check your answers to study questions for Acts 3 & 4. Decide for yourself whether your got the same answer as the ones given & put with completion score.

Fri, 9/3/2010

Fri, 9/3/2010

English 12 Pd 1
• Get STAR reading level and ZPD range
• Revise, peer edit, type essays

English 12 Pd 4
• AR rdg
• Revise, peer edit, type essays

AP Literature
• Questions on Act 3 discussed
• Quiz Act 3 or alternate quiz Tues
• Checking qstns Act 3 postponed till Tue.
• HW: Read Act 4 & get study questions due Tues

Drama
• Continue auditions
• Read “The Jewels of the Shrine” p 710

Thu, 9/2/2010

Thu, 9/2/2010

AP Literature
• STAR test
• Get books & Class discuss qstns
• Quiz Act 2
• Hand in questions 11-18 p284
• HW: Read Act 3 and answer study questions in packet.

English 12-Pd 4
• STAR test
• Revise your essay
• Show me your conclusion and 300 total words.
• Read your AR book

Drama
• Finish reading Part2 of The Patient.
• Answer questions.
• Plan to present part of The Patient.
• Start auditions.

Tue, 8/31/10

Tue, 8/31/10

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg
• Show me 300 words total of your college/application essay.

AP Literature
• AR rdg, log
• Discuss problems reading Macbeth
• Quiz on Act 1, scenes 4-7
• Hand in questions p270-1 #6-17
• Class discussion of 6 – 9 & 11.
• Read Act 2 and answer questions 11-18. Know the answers to 1-10.

Mon, 8/23, 2010

Mon, 8/23, 2010

English 12-Pd 1
• AR rdg, log, quizzes
• College essay assignment handout 300-500 words: due Tuesday, 9/7/10
• Discuss Requirements
• Grades

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg, log, quizzes
• College essay assignment handout 300-500 words: due Wednesday, 9/8/10
• Discuss Requirements and Parts
• Grades

AP Literature
• Quiz Shakespeare & Macbeth Act 1 scenes 1-3
• Hand in notes
• Read aloud. Find peculiarities of language and conventions.
• Grades
HW: Finish Act 1 and answer 6-17 pp270-1.

Drama
Drama
• Read “The Patient” in a circle.

Fri, 8/27/2010

Fri, 8/27/2010

English 12-Pds 1&4
• AR rdg, log, and quizzes
• Discuss "Good & Bad" essays.
• Write 100 more words and hand in.

AP Literature
• Hand in carpe diem essays.
• Read Faerie Queene & paraphrases through stanza 9. Finish next week.
• HW: Read "Shakespeare," pp 247-252 & "Sources of the Play" p253. Take notes on facts you find memorable, perhaps things you haven’t heard before. Divide them into Introduction, Early Plays, “Tragic Period,” The Last Years, Shakespeare’s Genius, and Sources. Quiz Mon.
• HW: Read Macbeth Act I, scenes 1-3, pp255-262 for quiz.

Drama
• Quiz on Stage Directions p686
• Set up a stage for “The Patient”

Thu, 8/26/2010

Thu, 8/26/2010

AP Literature
• Quiz on 3 poems
• Discuss "Nature" & meter
• Hand in Faerie Queene paraphrases .
• Discuss subject, theme, tone, sounds, & figures of speech for the 3 carpe diem poems.
HW: Do critical response p437. See p1237 for help. Focus on answering the main point and use the literary elements to help you. Compare only 2 poems at a time: Coy Mistress to Passionate Shepherd, and Coy Mistress to Virgins. This will be part of your Composition grade.

English 12-Pd 4
• AR rdg
• Discuss writing college/ application essay with handout “It’s Not the Topic that Counts.” Begin with the story (hook) and end with the trait about yourself that you want to emphasize to your audience (college admissions officer, company personnel recruiter, etc.)
• Write 50 words on one of your experiences and hand in. Concentrate on getting your thoughts on paper. You can improve the writing later after you get your ideas.


Drama
• Rdg Lit p519 Notes
• Begin presenting “The Patient” p686 Rdg Lit.

Wed, 8/25/2010

Wed, 8/25/2010

English 12-Pd 1:
• AR rdg
• Deadline for book 10 pts
• Fill out book slip and get signed. Write your title on my list.
• Get back yesterday's work on essay (list & 25 words for 10 pts)
• Write 75 more and hand in.

English 12-Pd 4:

• AR rdg
• Deadline for book 10 pts.
• Fill out book slip and get signed. Write your title on my list.
• Discuss Essay handout.
HW: Make list of 5 events in your life that you remember.

Drama
Rdg Lit Purple Textbook
p518: Discuss and take notes on Drama Elements (up to Stage Directions)

Tue, 8/24/2010

Tue, 8/24/2010

AR Quiz Deadline Friday, Sept 3

English 12 Period 1
• AR rdg
• Deadline to get a book is tomorrow for 10 points.
• Discuss Essay handout and read "Good" essay
• Make list of 5 events in your life that you remember fairly well.
Pick one to write about. Write 25 words to hand in today.

AP Literature
• AR rdg: Deadline for having AR book: Thu. Get Book Notes slip.
• Hand in words on life events.
• Get handouts for good and bad essay and read. Final essay will be 300-500 words.
• Discuss Faerie Queene stanzas 1-3.
HW: Get 1, 2, or 3 stanzas to paraphrase.
HW:Read p232 Passionate Shepherd, p385 To the Virgins, p436 Coy Mistress for a reading-check quiz. Know what happens in each one. Look at the questions at the end of each to check your understanding.

Mon, 8/23/2010

Mon, 8/23/2010

English 12
• AR rdg

Pd 1 get:
-Book Notes slip and
-College/Application-Essay handout

Pd 4 Get GFgold book to read p486 from Face to Face to p490
• A sample list of events for your autobiography
1. First memory
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Schools

AP Literature
• Quiz pp200-201 & check
• Get books to check HW, discuss, hand in
• College essay handout
HW: Read “Sonnet 75” and “The Flood-Tide” and write Critical Response p213
HW: Make a list of memories, pick one and write 200 words about it or pick 2 and write 100 words each.

Drama
• Finishing your scene: How is it going? Is there a better way?
• Reading: “The Patient” p686. Reading check & read aloud.

Thu, 8/19, 2010

Thu, 8/19, 2010 Mrs. Zimmerman

English 12 Period 4
• AR reading
• Hand in writing not finished in class yesterday from 4 kinds of writing: descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive.
• Vocab quiz covering the first 7 words:
descriptive,
narrative,
expository,
persuasive
ambiguous,
connotation,
mnemonic

AP Literature
• AR reading 10mins
• Hand in notes on meter and Raleigh
• Hand in answers to questions on “Nature, That Washed Her Hands in Milk”
• Quiz on Meter, Raleigh, “Nature, That Washed Her Hands in Milk”.
• Discuss “They Flee from Me” p190 and get out the Tone assignment to discuss and hand in.
• Discuss “Nature, That Washed Her Hands in Milk” p 195
•HW Assignment on handout: Read p200 and answer the 4 questions below for The Faerie Queene for a quiz.
1. How is the Faerie Queene different from a classical epic?
2. What is below the surface of The Faerie Queene?
3. What two meanings of faerie did Spenser intend in The Faerie Queene?
4. What works are synthesized into The Faerie Queene?
•HW: Read the bold print on p 201 and draw a six-frame storyboard on binder paper to illustrate the events in the second column. Label everything in your drawings. Also write a “cast of characters” using all names mentioned for each character, such as Fair Virgin, Una, and Truth, who is the first character mentioned. Add color if you can.
•HW: Read the first three stanzas of Faerie Queene on p 201. Write one sentence for each stanza telling what you think it is saying.
Stanza 1
Stanza 2
Stanza 3

Drama
• Sit with group in close circle. Each group have someone read the group-written beginning of the script. Then each person finish the scene in his/her own way. When finished, staple a comment sheet to your script and let the other members read and comment. Hand in at the end of class.

Wed, 8/18/2010

Wed, 8/18/2010

Period 1: English 12
• AR reading
• Hand in writing not finished in class yesterday from 4 kinds of writing: descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive.
• Vocab quiz covering the first 7 words:
descriptive
narrative
expository
persuasive
ambiguous
connotation
mnemonic

Period 4: English 12
• AR reading
• Check descriptive ¶
• Write narrative, expository, and persuasive ¶s and hand in. If not finished, hand in what’s done, do the rest for homework and hand in tomorrow for 10%-off credit.

Drama
• Sit with group with desks in a close circle.
• Using script format, everyone together write the beginning of your group-scene script on each person’s own paper, giving everyone lines.

Tue, 8/17, 2010

Tue, 8/17, 2010

English 12
• AR reading
• Check descriptive paragraph
• Write narrative, expository, and persuasive paragraphs and hand in for full credit. If not finished, hand in what is done for full credit, do the rest for homework, and hand in tomorrow for 10%-off credit.

AP Literature
• AR reading postpone to Thursday with sub.
• Give me final and first drafts of essay & outline.
• Discuss & paraphrase “They Flee from Me” to discuss Thursday.
• Partner quiz presentation to class
HW: Answer tone qstns on handout for discussion of “They Flee from Me”p190.
HW: Read & take notes on Poetic Meter p193, “Sir Walter Raleigh” p194 for quiz.
HW: Read “Nature, That Washed Her Hands in Milk” p195 and answer qstns 1-6 p196.

Mon, 8/16, 2010

Mon, 8/16, 2010

English 12
• AR reading
• Notes on writing
-Narrative
-Expository
HW: Write 1 ¶ of at least 50 words in DESCRIPTIVE writing and label it Descriptive. Use at least 3 of the 5 senses.

AP Literature
•Hand in: (Each “HW” means a separate sheet)
1. Qstns & answers for Renaissance poetry,
2. Critical Response: Analyzing Diction in “They Flee from Me”
3. Notes on Petrarchan Sonnets
•Quiz on Renaissance Poetry & Petrarchan Sonnets
•Discuss “They Flee from Me” tomorrow
HW Due Tue: Final & first drafts of essay & outline
No minimum length is required, but I would like to see 600 words or more.
1. Write the prompt and its year between your title & your essay.
2. Underline the THESIS in the Introduction and Conclusion ¶s and the TOPIC SENTENCE in each Body ¶ of the final draft of your essay
•Look at & discuss “Loneliness & Love” essay to find THESIS and TOPIC SENTENCES and compare with AP essay rubric

Drama
•Group 3 & 4 perform
•Write reflections and hand in.

Fri, 8/13/10 & Renaissance Poetry Questions

Fri, 8/13/10

English 12
• AR rdg
• Pd 1 Quiz partners and present to class
• Pd 4 Quiz on Believe and Organize handout
• Vocabulary & 4 Kinds of Writing: 1. Descriptive, 2. Persuasive, •ambiguous (SAT), definitions & examples


AP Literature
• Get essays back and take notes about problems.
• AR books that get 1 quarter to read are those with pts > or = to 20, or the pts times the rdg level = to or >100
• Get partner and quiz each other on yourselves.
HW: Due Mon:
•Read pp176-9 and answer 11 qstns on Ren. Poetry from handout. See questions at bottom.
•Read “They Flee from Me” p190 & write “A Critical Response, 2. Analyzing Diction” p191 .
•Read “Petrarchan Sonnets” p191 & take notes for quiz (this article is packed with information, so take good notes & study)
HW Due Tues:
•Final and first drafts of essay and outline.
1. Write the prompt and its year between your title & your essay.
2. Underline the thesis in the Introduction and Conclusion ¶s and the topic sentence in each body ¶ of the final draft of your essay

Drama
• Sit in groups in your area and prepare to perform
• Handout: Script Format, Group 1, Early group,make your improv into a scene script
• Group 2 perform: Bronston group
• Write reflections individually ( except group that performed, write as a group)

Renaissance Poetry pp176-179 Answer the following questions and be ready for a quiz.
1. What years ( give the numbers) were considered one of the greatest ages of English poetry?
2. What was the primary tone of most poetry and other literature of the Renaissance? Why? ( briefly)
3. How were the leisured and educated people portrayed in pastorals?
4. What adjectives would describe most Renaissance poems ( other than songs, which were simple and sincere) ?
5. What term of approval and admiration for poems of the Renaissance meant "skillfully made"?
6. What four qualities did Renaissance poetry have that are unlike most of our poetry today?
7. What was a "conceit" and how do they seem to us today? Give an example.
8. Name 5 uses of Renaissance poetry for purposes that are now served by prose.
9. What was considered the highest kind of poetry during the Renaissance?
10. Who were England's two great poets of this "highest kind" of poetry?
11. What one great Renaissance idea and philosophy was found in both their poems?

Thu, 8/12/10

Thu, 8/12/10

English 12
• AR rdg
• Pd 1 Share quizzes and present partner
• Pd 4 Finish presenting partner; check materials, study handout Believe & Organize for quiz

AP Literature
• AR rdg 10 mins
• Hand in draft & outline
• Check notes on Renaissance, hand in, & quiz orally.
• Finish "Reading Analysis" questions.
HW: Due Mon: Read pp176-9 and answer qstns on Ren. Poetry from Friday handout.
HW: Read “They Flee from Me” p190 & write “A Critical Response: 2. Analyzing Diction” p191.
HW: Read “Petrarchan Sonnets” p191 and take notes for quiz.

Drama
• Separate room into 4 group sections
• Set up plan for improvisation
• Perform for class
• Write reflection

Wed, 8/11, 2010

Wed, 8/11, 2010

English 12
• AR rdg
• Pd 1: Quiz on H.O.
• Pd 4: Share quizzes and present

AP Literature
• Reading analysis questions
HW: Read “The Renaissance” pp166- 175. After reading one of the 8 sections, make a note of something you found significant in it. Do the same for the other seven. Use Cornell notes. Quiz Thur. COPYING = F
HW: AR book and First draft of essay and outline due tomorrow, Thur.

Drama
• Presentations
• Form Improvisation groups

Tue, 8/10, 2010

Tue, 8/10, 2010

English 12
• AR reading
• Handout: Believe and Get Organized

AP Literature
• Get lists of works of literary merit.
• Show me your thesis and outline or freewrite.
• Discuss Reading Analysis question #7.
HW: First draft and outline due Thursday.
HW: Bring AR book for Thurs.

Drama
• Finish presentations
• Finish discussion

Mon, 8/9, 2010

Mon, 8/9, 2010

English 12
Pd 1: ID&Planner
• Begin reading tomorrow, bring book
• Materials check (5)

AP Literature
• Get books from library.
• Literary Terms questions returned. Discuss the need to connect the literary elements of a work to its meaning as a whole and one way to do it.
• Handouts for essay:
-How to write a thesis,
-Literary analysis (2),
-Charlie essay,
-Rubric.
•Bring book to read for AR Thursday.
HW: Read handouts. Adjust thesis as needed.
Write outline with 2-4 items of evidence for each supporting idea. Or, freewrite 400 words about your thesis and supporting ideas and write outline later.

Drama
• Hand in 3 ideas for situations. Example: Breaking up with your boy/girl friend.
• Finish presentations.

Fri, 8/6, 2010

Fri, 8/6, 2010

Pds 1,4 Eng12
• Pd 1 name on planner! Checking ID & Planner Mon!
• Any more contact sheets?
• Meecher Teacher Quiz
HW: Write 5 interesting or unusual facts about yourself for 5 points. On a separate sheet, write a multiple choice quiz with 3 answers for each of your 5 questions for 15 points.
HW: Have 4 materials(on p2 of syllabus) and syllabus for points Monday.

AP Literature
• Hand in contact sheets.
• Hand in 5 facts & get back to make quiz.
• Quiz “How to Mark a Book”
• Get books and annotations back.
• Meecher Teacher Quiz
• Reading Analysis: hand in today or Mon.
HW: On a separate sheet, write a multiple choice quiz about yourself with 3 answers for each of 5-10 questions about yourself.
HW: From the handout list of Open Questions, find a topic that fits your novel. Write a thesis proposal that includes a main idea and 2-4 supporting ideas.

Drama
• Share quizzes with partner and with class.
HW: Make a list of 3 situations to do for improvisation .

Thu, 8/5, 2010

Thu, 8/5, 2010

English12
•Hand in contact sheets.
•Discuss AR books due
•Discuss syllabus
•Materials due Mon for points
• Period 4: Meecher Teacher quiz
HW: Write 5 interesting or unusual facts about your self

AP Literature
•Quiz on terms: 11 summer + 10 figures of speech.
•Get syllabus add-on & contact sheet to be signed
HW: Reading Analysis: read and answer 8 questions, 7 & 8 fully
HW: Write 5 or 10 interesting or unusual facts about self.

Drama
•Use your 5 facts to write a quiz about yourself, with 3 multiple choice answers to each question.

Wed, 8/4, 2010

Wed, 8/4, 2010

Periods 1 & 4 English 12
Get syllabus & contact form to fill out, get signed & return for 10 pts.
(Pd 1 got #1 of Meecher Teacher)
(Pd 4 discussed class information page)

Period 2 AP Lit
1. AR quiz in Mac lab.
HW: New list of terms: Figures of Speech from AP Exam. Study for quiz.
Tomorrow: Finish quiz on summer literary terms and add new terms to quiz. Also, fill-in-the-blank quiz on “How to Mark a Book” from summer assignment. See Summer Assignment below this post or you can Google it also.

Period 6 Drama
1. Hand in contact sheets
2. Meecher teacher quiz, check, and hand in.
HW: Write 5 interesting or unusual facts about your self.
3. Hand in your answers to 6 questions today or tomorrow .

Tue, Aug 3, 2010

Tue, Aug 3, 2010

Periods 1 & 4
1. Alpha seating
2. Get ID photos
3. Discuss class procedures

Period 2
1. Alpha seating & syllabus
2. Quiz on basic literary terms from summer assignment
3. Hand in annotations/book and answers to literary term questions
HW: tomorrow AR quiz and finish literary term quiz

Period 6
1. Alpha seating
2. Syllabus and student/parent/teacher contact sheet to return for 10 pts tomorrow.
HW: Answer 6 questions about theater/drama with at least 50 words each to discuss tomorrow.

2010 AP English Literature Summer Reading Assignment

Ms. Scanlon: shscanlon@aol.com
Phone: (808) 545-5023
www.scanlons.blogspot.com

CONGRATULATIONS on your acceptance into the AP English Literature and Composition class! I welcome you to a rewarding and challenging course for your senior year. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email or phone. If you have not been in a Gifted and Talented English class at Radford or the AP Language class and you want to find out how to get into the AP Literature class, come see me in room 266, call, or e-mail.

This class studies critical reading of and analytical writing about classic literature. Students learn to interpret poetry and prose from various literary periods. Perceptive reading and quality writing are the primary goals of the class.

During the school year we will read poems from several literary periods, along with a novel, Jane Eyre, and two plays, Macbeth and Pygmalion. You will need to be familiar with a variety of works to be able to write an essay about one of them that will fit the third essay question on the AP Exam in May. If you pass the exam with a score of 3 or above, some colleges will give you English credits.

This summer’s assignment is to read and understand one book from the list of 22 novels in this packet. Every book in this list is a work of art, and not the kind of book the average teenager would pick up to read for pleasure. But you are probably not the average teenager. Take the time to pick one you will enjoy reading. You can find more information on the books and even read a few pages by searching Amazon.com. Also, most of the older books have complete texts available online.

Since you will also be annotating your book, you may want to buy it instead of borrowing it. Most students will be glad they have read and own an annotated classic work when they get to college. If you have a novel you cannot write in, use a composition book or a small binder or folder with lined paper to take notes on important elements, as directed in the article below “How to Mark a Book.” Make notes by page numbers, then paragraph numbers, to note characters or anything else you like, and then be able to find it later when you need it for your essay.

• Your assignment for the summer:

(If you do not have a print copy of this assignment, copy the parts you need here, paste it into a document to print, and bring it on the first day of school. Please separate the Literary Terms Questions pages to be able to hand them in easily)

1. Select a novel from the list. See me in room 266 to borrow one of our copies or get your book from any library or bookstore.
2. Read and annotate your novel.
3. Read the Literary Terms Questions BEFORE reading your novel so you know what to look for.
4. Read “How to Mark a Book” and use it to do your annotations.
5. Answer the questions on literary terms related to your novel. Write in the space given. If you need more space, write on the back and connect with an arrow, or expand the box with your computer.

• Bring your book to school for the first few days' work and be prepared to:

1. Take an AR test by computer for your novel.
2. Take a quiz on “How to Mark a Book.”
3. Take a quiz on the literary terms below.
4. Write a literary analysis essay.
5. Make a Reading Record Card. (This will NOT be due on the first day.) If you want to see what this is, use the search function for this blog.


NOVELS:

TITLE/ AUTHOR/ COUNTRY/ PUBLISHING DATE/ BRIEF SUMMARY

Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Russian 1876
Tale of the married Anna and her love for Count Vronsky.

As I Lay Dying William Faulkner American 1930
The Bundren family must take the body of Addie, matriarch of the family, away to be buried. Along the way, we listen to each member of the macabre pilgrimage.

The Awakening Kate Chopin American 1899
The story of one woman's emotional journey from a stifled, miserable marriage to a spirited and lusty freedom.

Beloved Toni Morrison American 1987
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad.

Billy Budd Herman Melville American 1886
A handsome young sailor is unjustly accused of plotting mutiny in this timeless tale of the sea.

Catch-22 Joseph Heller American 1961
Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier, was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament.

Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko American 1981
Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. He is deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese and further wounded by the rejection he encounters from his people.

Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevski Russian 1866
An impoverished St. Petersburg ex-student formulates a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of an evil, worthless parasite.

A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen British play 1879
The story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: "To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the sake of social customs and to protect what we think is love?"

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad British 1899 Assigned by an ivory company to take command of a cargo boat stranded in the interior of Africa, Marlow makes his way, witnessing the brutalization of the natives by white traders.

Invisible Man Ralph Ellison American 1953
Invisible Man is narrated in the first person by the protagonist, an unnamed African American man who considers himself socially invisible.

Lord Jim Joseph Conrad British 1899
A young, idealistic Englishman is disgraced by cowardice while serving as an officer on a merchant-ship. His life is ruined, but then his courage is put to the test once more. This book about courage and cowardice, self-knowledge and personal growth is one of the most profound and rewarding psychological novels in English.

Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert French 1856
Emma Bovary, a bored country housewife, abandons her husband to pursue the libertine Rodolphe in a desperate love affair. Written in a modern style, this powerful novel was a scandal in its day.

The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy British 1886
Michael Henchard, having sold his wife and baby early in the novel for five guineas while in a drunken rage, gets what he deserves despite his valiant efforts at atonement years later.

Medea Euripides Greek 341 BCE
Medea tells the story of the jealousy and revenge of a woman betrayed by her husband. She leaves home and father for Jason's sake, and after she has borne him children, he forsakes her.

Middlemarch George Eliot British 1871
This "Study of Provincial Life" has a multiple plot with a large cast of characters, and it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, and education.

Moby Dick Herman Melville American 1851
This story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity.

Obasan Joy Kogawa Canadian 1981
Obasan uses a combination of personal narrative, lyrical outpourings, official letters, and dreams to protest the treatment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II. The voices clash and mesh until they reach the ending, which both stuns and reveals truth.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy British 1891
Tess of the d'Urbervilles describes the experiences of a woman who, through no fault of her own, falls outside of the moral code of the Victorian era in which she lives and suffers long-reaching consequences as a social outcast.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston American 1937
An African American woman, Janie Crawford, tells the story of her life in Florida in the early 1900s and her marriages to three very different men.

Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte British 1847
This swirling tale of largely unlikeable people caught up in obsessive love that turns to dark madness is cruel, violent, dark and brooding. And yet it possesses a grandeur of language and design, a sense of pity and great loss that sets it apart.

Literary Terms Questions

Any work taken from a study guide is PLAGIARISM and receives a FAILING GRADE. Answer questions honestly. You will not lose points for your personal view or thoughts. This is a learning experience, not a test. Answering the questions to the best of your ability will receive a 100% score. However, "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer. If you have read the book, at least guess at an answer.

Answer questions below about LITERARY ELEMENTS of your novel.
TERMS: Definitions to learn for the quiz are in BOLD print.

1. THEME: The central message or dominant meaning of a work as a whole. It is often a universal idea. In a well-written story, all other elements support the theme. What do you see as the theme of the book you read?

 
2. PLOT: The sequence of events, including
Exposition: background facts,
Conflict: problems, struggles, rising action
Climax: point of greatest tension, the turning point
Resolution: conflicts resolved. Denouement
Write a précis, a concise summary, of the plot in one sentence, around 25 words. Do not go over 30! Your challenge is to simplify something as complex as a novel.
 

3. Describe the three parts of the SETTING:
(1) Place:
(2) Historical time:
(3) Social environment:

(4)How does the setting affect the meaning of the work as a whole?


4. CHARACTERIZATION: The means by which an author describes and develops characters.
FLAT characters are types, defined primarily by a single quality.
ROUND characters are complex, like real people.
STATIC characters stay the same.
DYNAMIC characters change.
DIRECT characterization TELLS what a character is like.
INDIRECT characterization SHOWS what the character is like by other means, such as actions or words of the characters.

Describe two characters.

Character 1: __________________________________________
Circle one: Flat or Round?
Static or Dynamic?
Explain:



How does the characterization fit into the meaning of the work as a whole?




Character 2: __________________________________________ Circle one: Flat or Round?
Static or Dynamic?
Explain:



How does the characterization fit into the meaning of the work as a whole?



5. POINT OF VIEW: The vantage point from which a narrative is told.
FIRST PERSON: The story is told through a character that refers to himself or herself as “I.”
THIRD PERSON: The narrator is omniscient (all knowing) or limited primarily to one character and is not a character in the story.

What is the narrative point of view of your book?


How does the point of view fit with the meaning of the work as a whole?



6. SYMBOL: Something that stands for itself and also suggests something larger, more complex, and often abstract. An object can be a symbol if a characteristic of the object is also a characteristic of the idea it may stand for.

Choose an object from your novel that might work as a symbol:________________________
(1) List the chapter and page number where it is mentioned: Chpt ___ Page___
(2) What might the symbol represent?


(3) How is the symbol related to the meaning of the work as a whole?


7. ALLUSION: An indirect reference to something (a person, event, statement, or theme) found in literature, the other arts, history, myths, religion, or popular culture. The title of William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury is an allusion to a line from Shakespeare's play Macbeth. “Life is...a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

(1) Find an allusion_________________ and list the page and chapter where it is mentioned. Chpt ___ Page___
(2) How does the use of the allusion add to the meaning of the work as a whole?


Essay: How to Mark a Book
By Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.

You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade you to write between the lines. Unless you do, you are not likely to do the most efficient kind of reading.

I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act of mutilation but of love. You shouldn't mark up a book which isn't yours.

Librarians (or your friends) who lend you books expect you to keep them clean, and you should. If you decide that I am right about the usefulness of marking books, you will have to buy them. Most of the world's great books are available today, in reprint editions.

There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher's icebox to your own. But you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books, too, must be absorbed in your blood stream to do you any good.

Confusion about what it means to "own" a book leads people to a false reverence for paper, binding, and type -- a respect for the physical thing -- the craft of the printer rather than the genius of the author. They forget that it is possible for a man to acquire the idea, to possess the beauty, which a great book contains, without staking his claim by pasting his bookplate inside the cover. Having a fine library doesn't prove that its owner has a mind enriched by books; it proves nothing more than that he, his father, or his wife, was rich enough to buy them.

There are three kinds of book owners. The first has all the standard sets and best sellers -- unread, untouched. (This deluded individual owns woodpulp and ink, not books.) The second has a great many books -- a few of them read through, most of them dipped into, but all of them as clean and shiny as the day they were bought. (This person would probably like to make books his own, but is restrained by a false respect for their physical appearance.) The third has a few books or many -- every one of them dog-eared and dilapidated, shaken and loosened by continual use, marked and scribbled in from front to back. (This man owns books.)

Is it false respect, you may ask, to preserve intact and unblemished a beautifully printed book, an elegantly bound edition? Of course not. I'd no more scribble all over a first edition of 'Paradise Lost' than I'd give my baby a set of crayons and an original Rembrandt. I wouldn't mark up a painting or a statue. Its soul, so to speak, is inseparable from its body. And the beauty of a rare edition or of a richly manufactured volume is like that of a painting or a statue.

But the soul of a book "can" be separate from its body. A book is more like the score of a piece of music than it is like a painting. No great musician confuses a symphony with the printed sheets of music. Arturo Toscanini reveres Brahms, but Toscanini's score of the G minor Symphony is so thoroughly marked up that no one but the maestro himself can read it. The reason why a great conductor makes notations on his musical scores -- marks them up again and again each time he returns to study them--is the reason why you should mark your books. If your respect for magnificent binding or typography gets in the way, buy yourself a cheap edition and pay your respects to the author.

Why is marking up a book indispensable to reading? First, it keeps you awake. (And I don't mean merely conscious; I mean awake.) In the second place; reading, if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written. The marked book is usually the thought-through book. Finally, writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts the author expressed. Let me develop these three points.

If reading is to accomplish anything more than passing time, it must be active. You can't let your eyes glide across the lines of a book and come up with an understanding of what you have read. Now an ordinary piece of light fiction, like, say, "Gone With the Wind," doesn't require the most active kind of reading. The books you read for pleasure can be read in a state of relaxation, and nothing is lost. But a great book, rich in ideas and beauty, a book that raises and tries to answer great fundamental questions, demands the most active reading of which you are capable. You don't absorb the ideas of John Dewey the way you absorb the crooning of Mr. Vallee. You have to reach for them. That you cannot do while you're asleep.


If, when you've finished reading a book, the pages are filled with your notes, you know that you read actively. The most famous "active" reader of great books I know is President Hutchins, of the University of Chicago. He also has the hardest schedule of business activities of any man I know. He invariably reads with a pencil, and sometimes, when he picks up a book and pencil in the evening, he finds himself, instead of making intelligent notes, drawing what he calls 'caviar factories' on the margins. When that happens, he puts the book down. He knows he's too tired to read, and he's just wasting time.

But, you may ask, why is writing necessary? Well, the physical act of writing, with your own hand, brings words and sentences more sharply before your mind and preserves them better in your memory. To set down your reaction to important words and sentences you have read, and the questions they have raised in your mind, is to preserve those reactions and sharpen those questions.

Even if you wrote on a scratch pad, and threw the paper away when you had finished writing, your grasp of the book would be surer. But you don't have to throw the paper away. The margins (top as bottom, and well as side), the end-papers, the very space between the lines, are all available. They aren't sacred. And, best of all, your marks and notes become an integral part of the book and stay there forever. You can pick up the book the following week or year, and there are all your points of agreement, disagreement, doubt, and inquiry. It's like resuming an interrupted conversation with the advantage of being able to pick up where you left off.

And that is exactly what reading a book should be: a conversation between you and the author. Presumably he knows more about the subject than you do; naturally, you'll have the proper humility as you approach him. But don't let anybody tell you that a reader is supposed to be solely on the receiving end. Understanding is a two-way operation; learning doesn't consist in being an empty receptacle. The learner has to question himself and question the teacher. He even has to argue with the teacher, once he understands what the teacher is saying. And marking a book is literally an expression of differences, or agreements of opinion, with the author.

There are all kinds of devices for marking a book intelligently and fruitfully. Here's the way I do it:
-1. Underlining (or highlighting): of major points, of important or forceful statements.
-2. Vertical lines at the margin: to emphasize a statement already underlined.
-3. Star, asterisk, or other doo-dad at the margin: to be used sparingly, to emphasize the ten or twenty most important statements in the book. (You may want to fold the bottom comer of each page on which you use such marks. It won't hurt the sturdy paper on which most modern books are printed, and you will be able take the book off the shelf at any time and, by opening it at the folded-corner page, refresh your recollection of the book.)
-4. Numbers in the margin: to indicate the sequence of points the author makes in developing a single argument.
-5. Numbers of other pages in the margin: to indicate where else in the book the author made points relevant to the point marked; to tie up the ideas in a book, which, though they may be separated by many pages, belong together.
-6. Circling or highlighting of key words or phrases.
-7. Writing in the margin, or at the top or bottom of the page, for the sake of: recording questions (and perhaps answers) which a passage raised in your mind; reducing a complicated discussion to a simple statement; recording the sequence of major points right through the books. I use the end-papers at the back of the book to make a personal index of the author's points in the order of their appearance.

The front end-papers are to me the most important. Some people reserve them for a fancy bookplate. I reserve them for fancy thinking. After I have finished reading the book and making my personal index on the back end-papers, I turn to the front and try to outline the book, not page by page or point by point (I've already done that at the back), but as an integrated structure, with a basic unity and an order of parts. This outline is, to me, the measure of my understanding of the work.

If you're a die-hard anti-book-marker, you may object that the margins, the space between the lines, and the end-papers don't give you room enough. All right. How about using a scratch pad slightly smaller than the page-size of the book -- so that the edges of the sheets won't protrude? Make your index, outlines and even your notes on the pad, and then insert these sheets permanently inside the front and back covers of the book.

Or, you may say that this business of marking books is going to slow up your reading. It probably will. That's one of the reasons for doing it. Most of us have been taken in by the notion that speed of reading is a measure of our intelligence. There is no such thing as the right speed for intelligent reading. Some things should be read quickly and effortlessly and some should be read slowly and even laboriously. The sign of intelligence in reading is the ability to read different things differently according to their worth. In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through you -- how many you can make your own. A few friends are better than a thousand acquaintances. If this be your aim, as it should be, you will not be impatient if it takes more time and effort to read a great book than it does a newspaper.

You may have one final objection to marking books. You can't lend them to your friends because nobody else can read them without being distracted by your notes. Furthermore, you won't want to lend them because a marked copy is kind of an intellectual diary, and lending it is almost like giving your mind away.

If your friend wishes to read your Plutarch's Lives, Shakespeare, or The Federalist Papers, tell him gently but firmly, to buy a copy. You will lend him your car or your coat -- but your books are as much a part of you as your head or your heart.
Essay taken from The Radical Academy


 

Mon, May 1, 2010

Pds 1 & 4
1. AR rdg
2. Vocabulary 22, 24
3. Quiz 13-19, 22-24

Pd 2
1. Vote on video
2. Watch Jane Eyre and note differences with book

Pd 6
1. AR rdg.
2. Any more essays?
3. Vocabulary 22, 24
4. Quiz 13-19, 22-24

Tue, May 4, 2010

Pd 1
1. AR rdg
2. Final draft postponed until Wed to add research of one item
3. Show me any more work done.

Pd 2
1. Check HW Mult Choice 1-21 from 2009 exam
2. Check “How Should I Plan” for poem “On the Subway.”
3. Handouts to read for exam preparation:
Diction for Pygmalion and marking “On the Subway”;
Sample essays for Wolsey and Symbol

Mon, May 3, 2010

Pds 1 & 4
1. AR rdg
2. Write your second 200 words
3. Show me your first 200 if you have not yet done so.

Pd 2
1. Hand in essay Qstn 3: Symbol for a work you have read (Open Topic)
2. Discuss essay on Wolsey and how to mark the text.
3. Handouts for homework
HW: Read “How Should I Spend My Time” handout and mark the poem on the back page
HW: Read the passages from last year’s exam and answer the questions. We will go over them tomorrow.

Pd 6
1. AR rdg.
2. Write your second 200 words
3. Show me your first 200 if you have not yet done so

Reading Record Cards

Reading Record Cards

The purpose of this card is to keep information about books you read recently fresh in your mind so you can discuss them on the Open Question Essay for the AP Exam.

Use any size note card, but use the same size for all your books.
Include the type of information briefly.
For example,
Protagonist: Jane Eyre

FORMAT:

1. Title of book
2. Author, Dates of birth and death, Where lived
3. Publication year of the book originally
4. Setting: Place, Time, Current events of that time and place
5. Plot synopsis in 25 words or so
6. Characters, with brief descriptions.
7. A major symbol or allusion
symbol (something that stands for or suggests something larger and more complex)
allusion (an indirect reference to something in literature, the other arts, history, myths)
8. Distinguishing characteristics of the work (what is different about this work?)
9. Your personal response to the content and style of the work
10. A quotation that is meaningful to you or that is typical for the author. Document so it can be found if needed.
11. What do you think is the theme of this work? Look for a universal idea.

Thu, Apr 29, 2010

Pd 2
1. Get back reading record cards; discuss themes for all 3 works read this year, and Catch 22 and Beloved as summer novels.
2. Get packet about Qstn 3, the Open Topic. Read for the AP exam.
3. Get last year’s AP Exam Qstn 3 to write, due Monday. Use Macbeth or one of the other books that has a reading record card. Time yourself to see what you can do in 40 minutes.
4. Get back "Flame-Heart" essays. Talk about “working the prompt” and notating the passage.
HW: Write the Qstn 3 Essay on a symbol. Time yourself.
"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."


Pd 4
1. AR rdg
2. STAR for absent students
3. Show me 200 more words for 400 total.

Pd 6
1. AR rdg
2. Show me 200 words of your essay
HW: Write 200 more words for Monday

Wed, Apr 28, 2010

Pd 1
1. AR rdg and STAR for absentees
2. Show me 200 more words

Pd 4
1. AR rdg and STAR for absentees
2. Show me 200 words

Pd 6
1. AR rdg and STAR for absentees
2. Clarification of assignment topics and procedures
3. Show me thesis and outline
HW: Write 200 words for tomorrow

Tue, Apr 27, 2010

Pd 1
1. AR rdg
2. Write 200 words and show me for 20 points

Pd 2
1. AR rdg
2. Hand in essay J.E. & Pygmalion
3. Discuss complexity and conflict in AP exam essays
4. Essay Flame Heart
HW: Write Reading Record Card* for Pygmalion
*FOR READING RECORD CARD FORMAT, SEE Oct 24, 2007, IN ARCHIVES

Mon, Apr 26, 2010

Pds 1 & 4
1. AR rdg
2. Get progress report
3. Check thesis & outline
4. How to write Intro & Body ¶
5. 250 words to write per day for the next 2 class days. Essay due Monday.

Pd 2
1. Get Qstn 1 Wolsey & Henry VIII
Plan and write introduction containing thesis in 15 minutes.
2. Get STAR scores
HW: Due tomorrow: Jane Eyre & Pygmalion Final draft, rough draft, rough outline, & final outline.

Pd 6
1. AR rdg.
2. STAR scores and progress reports
3. Discuss essay topics
1] Journal of Plague Year: Critical Response # 3, p 504
2] “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” p642-3 and “The Solitary Reaper” p645: Critical Response: Comparing Poems, p646
3] Analyze using TP-CASTT one of the three Lucy poems, pp 638, 39, 40. Thesis is the author’s central meaning based on his title, what happens, connotations of his imagery and figurative language, author’s attitude, any shifts, and anything else the author may do to convey his meaning.
HW: Pick a work to write about, write your main idea and 3 ideas that support it. Make an outline of body ¶s with 3 details of evidence for each subtopic idea. I, A,B,C; II, A,B,C; III, A,B,C

Thu, Apr 22, 2010

Pd2
1. Hand in Qstn 1 essay Sir Walter Elliot
2. Get with editing partner to comment on essay
3. Writing conference: Sade
4. STAR test
HW: Final drafts due Tuesday

Pd4
1. STAR test
2. Show me thesis and outline of persuasive essay
3. Write body ¶s
HW: Check work done

Pd6
1. AR rdg
2. Discuss questions 1-6 p 615 on "To a Mouse"
HW: Read 4 poems by William Wordsworth, pp638, 639, 640 & 642-3
Three "Lucy poems" and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"

Wed, Apr 21, 2010

Pd 1
1. STAR test
2. Show me thesis (4pts) & outline (8pts)
3. Write body ¶s
HW: Thesis & outline due Monday

Pd 4
1. AR rdg
2. Start persuasive essay writing: Choose topic, make For and Against chart, write thesis, write outline

Pd 6
1. Socratic Seminar on "Modest Proposal"
2. STAR test
HW: Read “To a Mouse” p 613 and answer questions 1-6 on p 615

Tue, Apr 20, 2010

Pd 1
1. AR rdg
2. Start persuasive essay writing: Choose topic, make For and Against chart, write thesis, write outline

Pd 2
1. AR rdg
2. Show me your 600 words or 400+thesis & outline
3. Writing conferences: Afton, Monica, Ashley Randle
HW: Bring edited draft to share Thursday
HW: Finish Qstn 1

Mon, Apr 19,2010

Pds 1& 4
1. AR rdg
2. Review voc 11 & 13
3. Persuasive essay

Pd 2
1. Show me your 200 words
2. Page 3 Advice for AP essays
HW: JE/Pyg essay Write last 200 words or thesis and outline. You should have at least 600 words and thesis plus outline to show me tomorrow.

Pd 6
1. AR rdg.
2. Review voc 11, 13 & quiz
HW: Quiz 9-23 tomorrow

Fri, Apr 16, 2010

Pds 1,4
1. AR rdg
2. Vocabulary 11 & 13
3. Voc. Quiz 9-23

Pd 2
1. Hand in MC corrections
2. Show me thesis or 200 words of Pygmalion/J.E. essay.
3. Pg 2 of advice for AP essay
4. Discuss Qstn 1 essay: Searching, planning, outlining, order of ¶s
HW: 200 words for either the Qstn 1 essay or JE/Pyg

Pd 6
1. AR rdg
2. Finish questions in groups
3. Vocabulary 11 & 13
HW: Have questions 1-11 p 524 for "A Modest Proposal"answered by Monday

Thu, Apr 15, 2010

Pd 2
1. Check 200 word freewrite
2. Get back your MC 28-56 and answers to do corrections
3. Hand in quotation evidence for Qst 1: 3 terms. Read some aloud.
4. Get handout of advice for writing essays for AP exam. Read aloud and discuss page 1. Bring to class every day until finished rdg.
5. Together write introduction to Qstn 1, then first body ¶.
HW: MC corrections
HW: For J.E./ Pymalion essay, either write your thesis or freewrite 200 more words.

Pd 4
1. AR rdg
2. Art: Quotation from Macbeth, documented with page number
Include: Speaker, Occasion, Attitude
Use color, contrast b&w, fill page

Pd 6
1. AR rdg
2. Quiz on Modest Proposal
3. Groups to answer questions

Wed, Apr 14, 2010

Pd 1
1. AR rdg
2. Art: Quotation from Macbeth, documented with page number
Include: Speaker, Occasion, Attitude
Use color, contrast b&w, fill page

Pd 4
1. AR rdg
2. Review Macbeth questions pp90-1
3. Test

Pd6
1. AR rdg
2. Read “A Modest Proposal” aloud p518