Tuesday, January 23, 2018

English IV: Literature & Composition AP



I am looking back at some of my favorite courses I had designed and taught throughout the years. Perhaps they will be helpful templates for a few current teachers. Here is the third one:
       
        English IV: Literature & Composition AP (2002-2009)
        Instructor/ Course Designer: Glen Brown 

 Course Description:

The Honors English program culminates in Literature and Composition AP.  Designed for students who are highly motivated and have achieved a high level of language arts skill, the course prepares students for the English Literature and Composition AP Exam, according to the curricular requirements described in the AP English Course Description, as well as for college courses in literature and writing.  The course includes an intensive study of selected works from various genres from Sophocles to contemporary literature.  Emphasis is on close reading of novels, plays, essays, and poetry, followed by discussion and written analysis of those texts.  All student compositions require a critical understanding of the textual details and themes found in the literature studied.  Students will have opportunities to write and revise formal, extended analyses and timed in-class responses.  Moreover, students will be provided with instruction and feedback on their writing assignments throughout the process of their analyses.  Students will also do research that culminates in essays and oral presentations.  Summer reading (four texts) is required, along with a journal based on responses to those texts.    

 English IV (AP) Standards:

Standard I: Reading

Students will read challenging texts, both poetry and prose.  They will understand both the essential meaning of the text and its deeper, more symbolic meaning.

1.1   Understand plot in novels and plays and situation in poems
1.2   Analyze characters in novels and plays, speaker and other characters in poems
1.3   Understand the impact of milieu on a novel or a play’s action and characters
1.4   Understand the social and historical values embodied in a work of literature
1.5   Recognize irony in novels, plays, and poetry
1.6   Synthesize plot, character, setting, and irony to interpret theme
1.7   Understand the relationship between other literary elements (tone, diction, imagery, symbolism, figurative language, etc.) and a work’s content and theme
1.8   Understand essays and assess their relevance and rhetorical style in making an argument 

Standard II: Writing

Students will write focused, insightful analyses of novels, plays, and poetry.  They will be able to synthesize research in a coherent, well-supported, argumentative essay.  Their writing will be complex and grammatically sound and subject to revision.

2.1 Analyze in depth stylistic elements in prose and poetry
2.2 Analyze in depth themes and the relationship of stylistic elements to theme
2.3 Develop a complex thesis with thoughtfulness and clarity
2.4 Connect ideas logically and clearly through a variety of sentence structures
         2.5 Synthesize ideas skillfully through effective organization and emphasis of ideas
         2.6 Argue effectively through use of deductive and inductive reasoning
2.7 Demonstrate increasing grammatical, syntactical, and stylistic mastery
2.8 Develop and utilize an effective vocabulary in writing and discussion
2.9 Demonstrate the use of appropriate diction to establish and maintain tone and voice
2.10 Analyze historical and social values to develop a global view of literature and its context

Standard III: Presenting, Listening and Developing Media Literacy                                                                                                                                  
Students will listen to and respond respectfully to viewpoints other than their own.  They will participate effectively in whole class discussion and make organized, well-delivered presentations to the entire class.        

3.1 Students will be active in small group tasks, thereby listening and interacting effectively to promote the learning of the group
3.2 Students will express themselves in whole class discussion, supporting and defending their position when challenged
3.3 Students will present forcefully and clearly when making a formal presentation

Standard IV: Researching

Students will gather, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of sources in support of a given purpose:  informative, argumentative, etc.

4.1 Gather information from a variety of reliable sources
4.2 Refine their search as they progress
4.3 Develop sophisticated search methods
4.4 Develop increasing awareness of the varying degrees of quality and authenticity in sources
4.5 Analyze and synthesize research
4.6 Integrate and document research using MLA format.

Standard V: Aesthetics

Students will explore the interrelationship of literature to other art forms and the potential of writing for self-expression.

5.1 Research and present connections between a writer’s work and her/his artistic milieu
5.2 Write personal essays that present their own experience coherently and insightfully

Core Instructional Resources:

The Trial, Kafka; Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky; Wuthering Heights, Bronte; The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer; Oedipus the King & Antigone, Sophocles; The Prince, Machiavelli; Hamlet, Shakespeare; Notes from Underground, Dostoevsky; Demian, Hesse; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce; Sound and Sense, Laurence Perrine, ed.; No Exit, Sartre; Grendel, Gardner; Heart of Darkness, Conrad; Macbeth, Shakespeare; The Stranger, Camus; AP Test Prose and Poetry Packets; Kaplan AP English Literature & Composition Workbook; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare

Note:  Various American authors are taught in the English III AP course.  Some of the core books studied include The Scarlet Letter, Walden, Ethan Frome, The Awakening, The Grapes of Wrath, Beloved, As I Lay Dying, The Great Gatsby, The Things They Carried, The Poisonwood Bible.

Supplementary Media Resources: Les Miserables, Faces of the Enemy, The Red Violin, Zorba the Greek, Apocalypse Now, Hamlet, Macbeth, Midsummer Night’s Dream, or The Seventh Seal

Major Assignments/Projects: Summer reading-response journals; several critical writing assignments/reports per quarter that examine theme and author’s technique; analytical prose and poetry essays that reveal a close-textual analysis of structure, style, and theme; college application essay; original poem; Canterbury Tale emulation; an argumentative research-based paper, philosophically based, on a concept of justice; a research project and presentation on a selected author; quarterly reader-response journals and web reductions. 

All extended analyses are expected to go through the process of writing (pre-writing, drafting, sharing, revising and proofing).  Students are also expected to arrange a conference with me before the final submission of the essay.

Homework Policy:  Nightly!  No late work is accepted for assignments unless there are extenuating circumstances.  E-mail the assignment to avoid a grade reduction.  Note: a composition is considered late if you come to class without it even if you turn it in later that day. 

Absences:  It is your responsibility to follow the class calendar and to inquire about any class that you miss.  If you have an excused absence from class, you must make up the test the day of your return before school.  If you have a field trip, you must take your test the day it is scheduled.  Failure to follow these directions will result in a zero.

Plagiarism:  Borrowing facts, ideas, or language from others without crediting the source is plagiarism.  It is your responsibility to read, understand, and adhere to the Plagiarism and Cheating Policy.  Some of our writing assignments will be submitted to turnitin.com.

Teacher Availability:  You are responsible for your own education and intellectual development.  If you do not understand what is being discussed in class, set up a conference with me before school. 

AP - 1st Quarter:                                                                                               

(Dear AP students, for Canterbury Tales, type one reader-response journal entry (1 ½ -3 pages) for three of the tales assigned (your choice); for Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Antigone, type one reader-response journal entry for each play.  Discuss either setting, point of view, character, symbolism, tone, irony, satire, diction, figurative language, allusions, aha’s of discovery, or philosophical ideas and questions in your journal entries… just like summer.  Your journal entry is due.* A one-page Web Reduction is due**)

8-25       Welcome: turn in those summer journals to me and turnitin.com!
8-26       Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte (short report due)
8-27       Wuthering Heights
8-28       Wuthering Heights**
8-29       (Senior counseling groups)?
9-2          The Trial – Franz Kafka (short report due)
9-3          The Trial
9-4          The Trial College Essay Due
9-5          The Trial**
9-8          Crime & Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky (short report due)
9-9          Crime & Punishment
9-10       Crime & Punishment
9-11       Crime & Punishment**
9-12       Poetry reading
9-15       Poetry reading
9-16       Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer/Group Power-point Presentation
9-17       Prologue/Group Writing Assignment
9-18       Prologue
9-19       Group work on writing tales/ Justice Research Instructions/Essay due Dec. 1st.
9-22       Knight’s Tale (Canterbury Tales: short report & allusions due)
9-23       Knight’s Tale*
9-24       Miller’s Tale
9-25       Nun’s Priest Tale*
9-26       Pardoner’s Tale/ Research topic & tentative thesis due
9-29       Wife of Bath’s Tale*
9-30       Chaucer Objective Test
10-1       Group work on writing tales/ Research topic & tentative thesis due
10-2       Group presentation/Canterbury emulation due
10-3       Group presentation/Canterbury emulation due
10-6       Group presentation/Canterbury emulation due
10-7       Group presentation/Canterbury emulation due
10-8       Oedipus Rex – Sophocles/Group Power-point Presentation
10-9       Oedipus Rex (short report due)
10-10     Oedipus Rex*
10-15     Oedipus Rex**
10-16     Antigone – Sophocles (Discussion questions handout)
10-17     Antigone/ Research tentative outline/revised thesis due
10-20     Antigone* (Machiavelli excerpts handout)
10-21     Antigone** Sophocles Essay Test
10-22     The Prince (excerpts)
10-23     The Prince/ Claim development Worksheet for Justice essay due
10-24     Hamlet – Shakespeare/Group Power-point Presentation

AP – 2nd Quarter:                                                                                                              

 (For Hamlet, type one reader-response journal entry; for Notes from Underground, type one combined reader-response journal entry for Part I and one for Part II; for Demian, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Dostoevsky’s “Rebellion” and “Grand Inquisitor,” type one reader-response journal entry for each. Discuss either setting, point of view, character, symbolism, tone, irony, satire, diction, figurative language, allusions, aha’s of discovery, or philosophical ideas and questions in your journal. Your journal entry is due.* A one-page Web Reduction is due**)

10-27     Hamlet (short report due)
10-28     Hamlet
10-29     Hamlet
10-30     Hamlet
10-31     Hamlet
11-3       Hamlet*
11-4       Hamlet Objective Test**
11-5       Notes from Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky/Group Power-point Presentation
11-6       Notes… (short report due) 
11-7       Notes…
11-10     Notes… Research tentative outline/revised thesis due
11-11     Notes…
11-12     Notes…*
11-13     Notes from Underground Essay Test**
11-17     Demian – Hermann Hesse/Group Power-point Presentation
11-18     Demian (short report due)
11-19     Demian
11-20     Demian
11-21     Demian
11-24     Demian*
11-25     Demian Essay Test**
12-1       A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce/Justice Research Essay Due
12-2       Portrait… chap. 1
12-3       Portrait… chap. 2
12-4       Portrait… chap. 3
12-5       Portrait… chap. 4 (short report due)
12-8       Portrait… chap. 5
12-9       Portrait… James Joyce/Group Power-point Presentation*
12-10     A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Essay Test**

(Choose any poem from a previous or current chapter (not discussed) in Sound & Sense or from any of the handouts and type a 2-3 page analysis w/o resources.  Give yourself exactly 40 minutes to do this assignment.   It is due the day the chapter is assigned.  We will discuss the following chapters each day).

12-11     chap. 11
12-12     chap. 11*
12-15     chap. 1
12-16     chap. 2*
12-17     chap. 3 (The Brothers Karamazov excerpts handout due Jan. 10th)
12-18     chap. 9 a typed original or emulated poem due
12-19     10th Annual Brownstock & quite unbelievable!
1-5          chap. 13
1-6          chap. 14*
1-7          Poetry
1-8          “Rebellion”* & Problem of Evil—from Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov
1-9          “Grand Inquisitor”
1-12       “Grand Inquisitor”*
1-13       “Rebellion/Grand Inquisitor” Objective Test
1-14…  Semester Exams

AP – 3rd Quarter:                                                                                                            

(For No Exit, type one 1 ½ -3 page reader-response journal entry; for the documentary by Sam Keen and the essays by Morrow, Shattuck, Broyles, and Kushner type one reader-response journal entry for each; for Grendel, Heart of Darkness, and Macbeth, type one reader-response journal entry; for The Stranger, type one for part I and one for part II.  Discuss either setting, point of view, character, symbolism, tone, irony, satire, diction, figurative language, allusions, aha’s of discovery or philosophical ideas and questions in your journal entries.  Your journal entry is due.* A one-page Web Reduction is due**)

Jan. 21  No Exit – Jean-Paul Sartre
Jan. 22  No Exit
Jan. 23  Faces of the Enemy – Sam Keen/No Exit journal due*
Jan. 26  Faces of the Enemy
Jan. 27  Discussion of Evil – Lance Morrow/Keen journal due* (Group Discussion)
Jan. 28  Discussion of Evil – Roger Shattuck/Morrow journal due*(Group Discussion)
Jan. 29  Discussion of Evil -- William Broyles/Shattuck journal due*(Group Discussion)
Jan. 30  Beowulf/Grendel – Gardner Group Power-point Presentation/Broyles journal due*
Feb. 2    Grendel/Problem of Evil (short report due)
Feb. 3    Grendel
Feb. 4    Grendel
Feb. 5    Grendel
Feb. 6    Grendel*
Feb. 9   Grendel Essay Test**
Feb. 10 Heart of Darkness – Conrad Group Power-point Presentation
Feb. 11 Heart of Darkness (assigned question for discussion)
Feb. 12 Heart of Darkness (assigned question for discussion)
Feb. 13 Heart of Darkness (assigned question for discussion)
Feb. 17 Heart of Darkness (assigned question for discussion)
Feb. 18 Heart of Darkness (assigned question for discussion)*
Feb. 19 Heart of Darkness Essay Test**
Feb. 20 Macbeth – Shakespeare (short report due)
Feb. 23 Macbeth
Feb. 24 Macbeth
Feb. 25 Macbeth
Feb. 26 Macbeth
Feb. 27 Macbeth*
Mar. 2   Macbeth Objective Test**The Stranger – Albert Camus
Mar. 3   The Stranger – Camus Group Power-point Presentation
Mar. 4   The Stranger (short report due)
Mar. 5   The Stranger
Mar. 6  The Stranger
Mar. 9  The Stranger*
Mar. 10 The Stranger Essay Test**

(Eight day prose preparation entails writing three essays and completing several exercises)

Mar. 11-13 Prose AP Preparation
Mar. 16-20 Prose AP Preparation

AP – 4th Quarter:                                                                                                             

(Dear AP students, you are to choose a poem (not discussed) from each previously or currently assigned chapter in Sound & Sense or from the handouts and type a 2-3-page analysis w/o resources.  Give yourself exactly 40 minutes to do this assignment as in AP testing conditions.  We will discuss the following chapters each day.  The AP practice this quarter entails test information, AP vocabulary, practice tests, and exercises).

Mar 30                  AP discussion: practice tests
Mar 31                  AP discussion: practice tests
April 1                   AP discussion: practice tests
April 2                   Sound & Sense chap. 4
April 3                   chap. 5
April 6                   chap. 6*
April 7                   chap. 7
April 8                   chap. 8*
April 9                   chap. 10
April 13                 chap. 12*
April 14                 AP practice
April 15                 AP practice
April 16                 AP practice
April 17                 AP practice/analytical poem essay due
April 20                 AP practice
April 21                 AP practice
April 22                 ACT
April 23                 PSAE
April 27                 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
April 28                 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
April 29                 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
April 30                 A Midsummer Night’s Dream*
May 1                    A Midsummer Night’s Dream**
May 4                    Relax: Any Questions?
May 5                    Relax: Any Questions?
May 6                    Relax: “Who Cares.  We’re all going to…”
May 7                    AP Exam: Literature & Composition
May 8                    TBA
May 11-15           AP Visual Word                                
May 18 -21          AP Visual Word                
May 22                 Ferris Buehler’s Day Off
May 26-28           AP Visual Word
May 29                 Senior Assembly
June 1                   Yearbook
June 2-4               Final Exams



English AP Overview:
Quarter 1:

Summer Reading Follow-Up
8 summer journal entries -- Crime & Punishment, The Trial, Wuthering Heights,            Collins/Dunn/Mueller/Pastan

Unit Content: Aristotelian & Hegelian analysis, Allegory & Tragedy, Hard & Soft Determinism, Justice, Power & Politics (Plato, Calvin, James I, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Carlyle, Hitler, Mussolini, Marx, Jefferson)  

Core Materials: Crime and Punishment; The Trial; Wuthering Heights; poetry selections from Billy Collins, Stephen Dunn, Lisel Mueller, Linda Pastan; The Canterbury Tales: “Knight’s Tale,” “Miller’s Tale,” “Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” “Pardoner’s Tale,” & “Wife of Bath’s Tale”; Oedipus the King, Antigone (using an Aristotelian & Hegelian analysis); The Prince (selections: 14, 16, 17, 18, 21)

Concepts/Skills -- All English IV (AP) Standards with an emphasis on reading: understanding literary elements (setting, point of view, character, symbolism, tone, irony, satire, diction, figurative language, allusions, etc.); finding commonalities in different works; reading with focus on concept and philosophical themes and questions that emerge from literature; developing an understanding of the social and historical perspective of a piece of literature; developing AP vocabulary.

Writing: college application letter; analyzing literature: formulating thesis, effective introduction, clear development of thesis, detailed support, effective introduction and use of quotations, logical connection of ideas, and argumentative skills.

Research: researching primary and secondary sources to support a philosophical argument: e.g. a current justice issue.

Aesthetics:  examine and judge an author’s place in historical and cultural context.

Presenting/Listening/Media Literacy:  determine best visuals, method of engaging audience; deliver forcefully and with clear focus.

5 thematic research reports, written and reported to class (Crime & Punishment, Dostoevsky; The Trial, Kafka; Wuthering Heights, Bronte; “Knight’s Tale,” “Miller’s Tale,” “Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” “Pardoner’s Tale,” & “Wife of Bath’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer; Oedipus the King & Antigone, Sophocles)
1 college application essay*
1 timed, in-class essay test (Oedipus/Antigone)*
1 in-class objective test (Chaucer)
1 Canterbury Tale emulation plus prologue
5 journal entries – three from Canterbury Tales, one for Oedipus Rex & Antigone
5 Web Reductions -- Crime &Punishment, The Trial, Wuthering Heights, Oedipus, Antigone
1 Group Power-point Presentation (3/8 of class) Author Presentations: the author’s life,
works (style and themes), and cultural milieu (literary movements, art, music, architecture, philosophy, theology, political & historical events.)

Assessment: Summer reading/response journals: approx. 15% of semester grade
Remainder of percentage divided among quizzes/ objective and essay tests, research reports, journals, explanatory/analytical compositions, Canterbury emulation and presentation and author presentations

Quarter 2:

Unit: Meaning & Identity/ Individuation & Jungian Psychology, The Problem of Evil, various Poetical Elements

Core Materials: Hamlet;  Notes from Underground; Demian; A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man; chapters 1, 2, 3, 9, 11, 13, 14 from Sound and Sense; “Rebellion” & “Grand Inquisitor” from Brothers Karamozov

Concepts/Skills – All English IV (AP) Standards with an emphasis on Writing: continuing development of all writing skills from previous unit; writing in-class AP essays.  Analyzing and explicating unit’s themes/poetry and developing AP vocabulary

Reading a poem for musical devices, pattern, denotation and connotation, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, metonymy, symbol, allegory, sound, meaning and idea; recognizing speaker, occasion, and purpose. Continue reading skills from first quarter. 

Presenting/Listening/Media Literacy:  determine best visuals, method of engaging audience; deliver forcefully and with clear focus.

Aesthetics:  examine and judge an author’s place in historical and cultural context throughout units.

4 thematic research reports, written & reported to class (Hamlet, Shakespeare; Demian, Hesse; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce; Notes from Underground , Dostoevsky)
1 analytical & argumentative research essay (10-12 pgs on the concept of justice)*
1 original poem*
3 timed, in-class essay tests (Demian, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Notes from Underground)
2 in-class objective tests (Hamlet, “Rebellion” & “Grand Inquisitor” from Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky)
3 poem analyses*
6 journal entries – Hamlet, Demian, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Notes from Underground, “Rebellion & Grand Inquisitor” from Brothers Karamazov
4 Web Reductions -- Hamlet, Demian, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Notes from Underground
1 Group Power-point Presentation (1/4 of class) Author Presentations: the author’s life,
works (style and themes), and cultural milieu (literary movements, art, music, architecture, philosophy, theology, political & historical events.)

Assessment: Quizzes/ objective & essay tests, research reports, journals, explanatory/analytical compositions.  Author Presentations.

 Quarter 3:

Unit: Manicheanism, Good vs. Evil/ Morality & Revenge

Core Materials: “Faces of the Enemy,” No Exit, Grendel, Heart of Darkness, Macbeth, The Stranger, AP Test Prose Packets & various Essays: “Evil” by Lance Morrow, “Why Evil Is Cool” by Roger Shattuck, “Why Men Love War” by William Broyles, “Nihilism,”  “Myth of Sisyphus,”  “Primer of Existentialism.”

Concepts/Skills -- All English IV (AP) Standards with an emphasis on reading: analyzing and explicating unit’s themes, understanding difficult prose passages, understanding and marking an AP prose and poetry passage, comparing & contrasting poems, following images/motifs through a novel or play, recognizing symbolism & point of view, examining structure and style and developing AP vocabulary.

Writing:  analyzing motifs; analyzing AP passages (prose and poetry): in-class, timed analyses; examining sentence structure (subordination & coordination), diction, tone, voice, and style.

Presenting/Listening/Media Literacy: effective class and small group discussion skills.

4 thematic research reports, written & reported to class (Grendel, Gardner; Heart of Darkness, Conrad; Macbeth, Shakespeare; The Stranger, Camus)
1 analytical prose essay (Grendel, Heart of Darkness, or Macbeth)*
3 timed, in-class essay tests (Grendel, Heart of Darkness, The Stranger)
1 in-class objective test (Macbeth)
AP prose preparation packet (3 AP essays/various exercises)
9 journal entries -- No Exit; film: “Faces of the Enemy”; essays: “Evil” by Lance Morrow, “Why Evil Is Cool,” by Roger Shattuck, “Why Men Love War” by William Broyles, “Nihilism,” “Myth of Sisyphus,” “Primer of Existentialism”; Grendel; Heart of Darkness; Macbeth; The Stranger
4 Web Reductions – Grendel, Heart of Darkness, Macbeth, The Stranger
1 Group Power-point Presentation (3/8 of class)

 Quarter 4:

Unit: Relationships, various Poetry Elements & AP Final Preparation

Core Materials: Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 from Sound and Sense; AP practice; A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Concepts/Skills -- All English IV (AP) Standards with an emphasis on reading: recognizing figurative language, paradox, imagery, irony, allusion, overstatement, understatement, meaning and idea, sound and meaning, pattern, tone, rhythm and meter, and other musical devices in poetry and developing AP vocabulary

Writing:  review all analytical writing skills for AP exam; write practice exams.

1 analytical poem essay*
AP practice tests (9 essays (5 prose & 4 poetry) plus various exercises from Kaplan AP English  Literature & Composition
3 Practice Multiple-Choice Tests (one hour apiece)
1 journal entry – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
1 Web Reduction – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
AP Exam: Literature & Composition (60 minutes for Objective Test and 120 minutes for 3 Essays)

Assessment: Quizzes/ objective & essay tests, research reports, journals, explanatory/analytical compositions
               
*These essays will be revised and subject to peer reviews and/or a conference

Sample Assignments:

Summer Reading—
1. Read the following works.  No Spark or Cliff's Notes, etc. or movie substitutions.
                Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
                The Trial – Franz Kafka
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

                Choose one of the following works:
Billy Collins - Sailing Alone Around the Room
Stephen Dunn - New & Selected Poems
Lisel Mueller - Alive Together
Linda Pastan - Carnival Evening

2. Keep a reader-response journal: typed, double-spaced, twelve-point font.
Please follow these directions for the novels:

A.     Type the author's last name and the first word of the title on the left-hand side of each entry at the top of each page.
B.     Type the date of the journal entry at the top right hand side of the page, along with the page numbers covered by the entry.
C.     Begin each entry on a new page in your journal.
D.    Write two journal entries each for Crime and Punishment, Wuthering Heights, and The Trial, one for the first half and one for the end of each book.
E.     Each entry should be approximately 300 words long.
F.     One entry per novel may be "free response."  Respond to whatever struck you, emotionally or intellectually, in the reading.
G.     For the remainder of the entries, choose elements from the following list as the focus of your response.  Vary your choices over the course of your reading.  In the left margin, give the element or elements, which you've chosen for that response.
a. setting/atmosphere            e. tone                           i. things that remind you of
b. symbolism                         f.  irony and satire            other books that you've read
c. use of figurative language   g. “aha's” of discovery    j. interesting ideas or philosophical
d. character development       h. author's word choice    questions/themes
                                                                  (diction)                    k. allusions (mythological/Biblical)
                                                                                                         l.  point of view

3. There are two poetry entries for your journal as well:

a)      After reading your poetry book, choose your favorite poem and tell me what you liked about it and why you liked it in a well-developed paragraph.  Also, in a second well-developed paragraph, reflect upon the poet’s overall style and voice.  What makes this particular book of poems unique and interesting? 
b)      Write your own poem.  Choose one poem in the collection and emulate the poet’s style and voice.  Keep close to its rhythm, tone, and pattern.  Incorporate your own imagery, figurative language, and surprise (juxtapositions of unlike ideas, images, and realities).  Be sure to also type up the poem you are emulating.

(Alternative: After reading your poetry book, write your own poem emulating the overall style and voice of the poet).

4. Your journal entries are due on the first day of class.  Place them in a pocket folder.  They will be evaluated for their clarity, variety, depth, insight, and quality of expression.

IMPORTANT:
·         Assume that your reader has read the work; do NOT summarize the plot.
·         These responses are not essays; you should not write overly generalized introductions and conclusions.  However, all responses, even the free responses, should have a specific focus and a good development of that focus.  I am looking for focused thinking, responding, and writing based upon a technique or element found in literature.  Each journal entry should take about 40 minutes to complete.
·         Do NOT use secondary sources.  You will be given a “0” if you use a source like “Cliff’s Notes” or if you go to the Web for even part of your entries.  I am interested in your reading, thinking, and writing, not someone else’s.  Do not share your entries with another student.  Copying or adapting another student’s work, or allowing him (or her) to do so, also constitutes cheating on this assignment. Please refer to the attached Language Arts Cheating and Plagiarism Policy for further clarification.  Sign and return this sheet with your journal.

Thematic Short Report--
To be the accuser and the accused is to give man his greatest intensity of self-consciousness. – Richmond Y. Hathorn (a paraphrase)

Each student is responsible for examination of one of the following themes and/or devices in Oedipus the King.  If you clearly have a stated theme, part of your research should also include how a formal technique or stylistic device (diction, syntax, tone, inference, etc.) reveals that theme.
               
Please turn in a typed response to me as well. It should be 2-3 pages.                                                                     

1.  Dramatic irony & paradox to reveal theme                    
2.  The metaphor of vision and blindness to reveal theme
3.  The role of the chorus to reveal theme                                           
4.  The nature of guilt and justice                                                                           
5.  Individual will vs. determinism/fate                                  
6.  Oedipus & Existentialism/Nilhilism:
     The lonely path of self-discovery and the exploration of darkness lurking within…

Use MLA documentation style and include a works cited.

Canterbury Tales: Understanding the Historical & Social Perspective

Each student is responsible for information of one of the following:
Please turn in a typed response to me as well. It should be 2-3 pages.
These reports will be presented in class.

Chaucer’s Life:
                                                                               
The 14th Century:                                                            
The Church/Clergy in Chaucer’s Time:                                   
Astrology/Influence of the Planets:        
(The Knight’s Tale)
Astrology/Influence of the Planets:        
(The Wife of Bath’s Tale)
Humours/Complexions
                              
Medicine & Alchemy in Chaucer’s Time:               
Finally for all students to consider—
Essay question:  Many of the tales develop, either by direct example or by contrast, the medieval ideals of chivalry, courtly love, and gentilesse.  Select one of these terms as your focus, define it, and discuss how Chaucer uses it as a theme.

Analysis Essay--

A motif is a recurring image, symbol, or minor theme.  Find any motif in Grendel and write an essay of 3-5 pages, analyzing its use in the novel.  Your analysis should give insight into the relationship of the motif to the novel’s major elements such as theme, characterization, conflict, point of view, etc. Support your generalizations with properly cited passages.  Use MLA documentation for all sources.

Your essay will be evaluated accordingly: 1) content or ideas: their significance, soundness, clarity, development, and relevance to topic and purpose; 2) organization: the essay’s structure or rhetorical methods; 3) personal style: the essay’s voice and tone, originality and interest; 4) vocabulary and diction: the choice and arrangement of words; 5) mechanics: usage, syntax, punctuation, and spelling; and 6) documentation.


AP Research Paper Instructions:                                                                                                                                                                                              
Purpose:

This is a 10 to 12 page commentary on the concept of justice and an issue relating to that concept.  The purpose of your commentary is both to define justice and to apply your concept of justice to situations in real life.  In the first part of the paper, your focus is conceptual, as you weave together ideas and perspectives on justice found from your reading and research with your own thinking and perspective.  In the second part, after having researched a modern justice issue, you are to analyze that issue in terms of the definition of justice that you established in the first half of the paper.

Research Paper Format:

After you complete your discussion of the theories of justice and establish a working definition of the word, you will then apply that definition to the specific issue that you researched.

Your paper must be an analysis or an argument.  You cannot merely do a report or just give information.

Here are some acceptable options:

1) An argumentative paper with an interesting introduction, background of the issue, thesis (your position on the issue), evidence to prove your position, arguments against your position, your refutation (contradiction) of those arguments, and most poignant conclusion.

2) A problem-solving paper with an interesting introduction; background of the problem; thesis (your view of the best possible solution to the problem); analysis of the problem, its causes and possible solutions; your explanation of the best solution, with evidence and logical reasoning why it is the best solution; and most poignant conclusion.

You should read through at least 12-15 sources, citing most of them throughout your essay.  Use MLA style of documentation.  Include a bibliography and works cited page and an outline with thesis statement.

One way to begin:

Decide what contemporary issue can be discussed and argued regarding the concept of justice. 

Research philosophers who are noted for their theories of justice:  Mortimer Adler, Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Thomas Jefferson, Immanuel Kant, Martin Luther King, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, John Rawls, or Jean Rousseau, etc.  Find the theory that will be most applicable to that contemporary issue you have chosen.

Read through the philosopher’s theory of justice and summarize, paraphrase, and quote what will be relevant to your purpose, i.e., your thesis -- the issue you will be arguing.  Be sure to cite all sources correctly. 

Grading Criteria:

The best papers are that which are purposeful.  The writer is able to communicate clearly and coherently.  She (or he) understands that the theoretical section must be unified, not just a random explanation of different philosophers’ view on justice.  She then makes her definition of justice really work in the specific issue part of the paper.

Just slightly less important but still very important:  quality and depth of research.

Always important:  quality of writing.  Tone should be assertive but not overly emotional.

Proper documentation.  Remember that paraphrased ideas or highly specific statistics must be documented, in addition to all quotes!  If you had to look back into your Xerox copies or notes for a fact or example, it probably needs to be documented.  Put yourself in the reader’s shoes:  if he would say, “Where did this information come from?” then you need to document it.  When in doubt, document.


AP Vocabulary Schemata Building

BE PREPARED TO KNOW, DISCUSS AND/OR APPLY
THESE IDEAS/TECHNIQUES/ACTIONS/AUTHORS/BOOKS
INSIGHTFULLY, PROFOUNDLY, PHILOSOPHICALLY:

                Absurd Theory
                Age of Enlightenment
Aesthetic Theory
Alienation/Isolation/Exile
Allegory
Alliteration
Allusion
                Ambition
Anapestic
Anaphora
Anecdote
Antagonist
Antithesis
                A posteriori reasoning
Apostrophe
Approximate Rime
                Appearance vs. Reality
                A priori reasoning
Archetype
Aristotle
Assonance
Asyndeton
Attitude
                Awakenings/Epiphanies
Ballad
                Bible
Blank verse
                Bronte: Wuthering Heights
Caesura
                Camus: The Stranger
                Cause & Effect
Caricature
                Chaucer: Canterbury Tales
Chiasmus
Chorus
Cinquain
Colloquial
                Comedy
                Comparison & Contrast
                Complexions/Humours
Conceit
                Confidant
Conflict (man vs. nature, society, self, god, time)
                Conformity
Connotation
                Conrad: Heart of Darkness
Consonance
Continuous Form
                Contradiction
Couplet
                Culture
Dactylic
                Darkness & Light
                Death & Dying
                Delusion
Democracy
Denotation
                Desire
Determinism (Hard/Soft) & Free Will
Dialect
Didactic Poetry
Diction
Dimeter
                Dostoevsky: Crime & Punishment, Notes from Underground, Rebellion/Grand Inquisitor
                Doubt
Dramatic monologue
                Eccentricity
Elegy
                Empathy
End Rime
End-Stopped Line
Enjambment
                Envy
Epic
                Equivocation
                Erickson’s Stages of Development
                Ethics (Teleology & Deontology)
Evil (Morrow, Shattuck)
Existentialism
Exposition
Extended metaphor
Fall & Redemption
Falling action
Fabliaux
Farce
                Fate
                Father& Son/Daughter
Feminine Rime
                Feminism
Fixed Form
Foreshadowing
Formal Diction
Flashback
Free verse
Freudian Psychology
Gardner: Grendel
Genre
Guilt & Conscience
Haiku
Hegelian Dialectic
Heroism
Hesse: Demian
Hobbes
Hubris (pride)
Hyperbole
Iambic
Imagery
                Imperialism
Individuation
Initiation
Immorality
Informal diction
In medias res
                Innocence & Experience
Internal Rime
Irony (situational, verbal, dramatic)
Jungian Psychology (collective unconscious, etc.)
Jargon
                Jealousy
                Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
                Judgment
                Jungian psychology
Justice/Injustice
Juxtaposition
                Kafka: The Trial
                King: Letter from Birmingham Jail
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
Limerick
Limited point of view
Litotes
Locke
Loose sentence
Lyric
Machiavelli: The Prince
Madness
Masculine Rime
Madness
Manicheanism
Marxism
Maslow’s self-actualization
Message
Metaphor
Meter
Metonymy
Mood
                Morality
                Moral Ambiguity
                Mother& Daughter/Son
Motif
                Mythology
                Naïve Realism
Narrative structure
Narrator
                Nietzsche
Nihilism
Occasional poem
Octave
Ode
Omniscient point of view
Onomatopoeia
Overstatement
Oxymoron
Parable
Paradox
Parody
Parallel structure
Pastoral
                Patriotism
Pentameter
Periodic sentence
Persona
Personification
Petrarchan sonnet (Italian sonnet)
Phonetic Intensives
Plato
Plot
Point of View
                Political Traditions
                Problem of Evil
Protagonist
Pride
Quatrain
                Rawls’ theory of justice
Realism (Naïve, Representative, Metaphysical Idealism, Phenomenalism)
                Reconciliation
Refrain
                Regret
Relationships
Revenge
Rhetorical Poetry
Rising action
Rhyme
Rhythm               
Rousseau
Run-on Line
Sacrifice
Sarcasm
                Sartre: No Exit
Satire
Scansion
Sestet
Sestina
Setting
                Shakespeare: Macbeth, Hamlet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, etc.
Shakespearean sonnet
Shaped verse
Simile
                Sisyphus
                Sleep
                Social Contract (Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes)
                Socialism
Soliloquy
                Sophocles: Oedipus, Antigone
Speaker
Spondaic
Stanza
Stanzaic Poem
Stereotype
Stock character
Structure
Style
Suffering
Symbolism
Synecdoche
Syntax
Tercet
Tetrameter
Terza rima
Theme
Tone
Tragedy
Trimeter
Trochee
Turning point
Understatement
Utilitarianism
Values
Villain
Virtue
Villanelle
                Violence/Tyranny/Terrorism
Voice
                Youth & Old Age
War (Broyles)


1 comment:

  1. It is a good thing I retired nine years ago. The following is from a colleague still teaching in the high school trenches of absurd school reform:

    “Dude. Your course posts in your blog are wonderful. But...

    “Unless you have accompanying type two and type three data assessments for these courses and updated unit and curriculum maps, each specifically tied not only to a common core standard, but also to an EU and an EO, as well as being able to structure the course to allow for formative assessments and homework that counts as 0% of their overall grade, while summative assessments are 100% with the possibility for revision, then I can’t use it.

    “And now that I’m on the topic of grading practices, please be aware that missing grades are not zeros at the end of the semester, but half credit. So missing 30 point assignment cannot be missing as a zero, but instead, a 15 point score. I like to call these breathing and shitting points. Because I assume they are breathing and shitting consistently and without cheating, I allow breathing and shitting points regardless of whether or not they submitted the work. I brought this up in a meeting. They just don’t seem to find me funny anymore.

    “The rationale behind banning zeroes is that ‘research suggests’ the zeros are more harmful to their grade than any of the excellent work they do and submit on time. This is all statistics, apparently. I remember raising my hand AGAIN during THAT MEETING and saying, I think we know that the zeros are excessively harmful to their grade. We used to call them called deterrents. We like deterrents. Again, I seemed to have lost my funny. So I just mumble, Milton like, about setting the place on fire.

    “Also, we can barely penalize for late work. Turning in work late is a behavior and we are here to assess their skills and improve their skills. Small assignments should not be penalized as late, while larger assignments should only be penalized as late after two weeks, and even then, no lower than a 10% grade reduction. And you have to feel bad about it, go to confession, and recite 300 Hail Mary’s while self-flagellating in a Starbucks bathroom.

    “Also, be aware, that by 2019, all summative assessments must be IDENTICAL per teaching team and scanned through mastery manager to track student growth. This is in addition to the pre, mid, and post assessments for both your Type 2 and Type 3 PERA assessments, per the law. So that’s 6 half periods lost to data collection right there.

    “Also, please read your daily morning devotional from our Bible by priestess Dweck…”

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