Thank you for all of your hard work

I really appreciated reading all of your essays, poems and notes this week.  What an amazing group we have here in our little class!  I look forward to more days of study and discovery.  Attached is the little treatise I delivered today about how "scientific" the study of literature is.  I am sure there are authors rolling in their graves over this analogy, but I also think it is helpful to think about how we study the humanities in a serious way. Literary Analysis Analogy
Please enjoy the foibles of Candide and the wicked wit of one of the best satirists in history, Voltaire.
Mrs. E

It's Going to get Silly in here!

Hey, I was so happy to have the discussion today about literary terms and how to pronounce them-- you blew some of the dust and the rust off of my vocabulary brain cells-- most excellent!
Here are the tasks at hand:
1- Please write the essay comparing Medea and Oedipus unless you read and presented for Medea.
2- Try to get me any Glossary entries-- you can email them-- that you feel are missing from your return pile, and I will look at them right away.
3- Get ready for lots of satire, Voltaire's Candide, and a new way to read him--coming Monday!
4- I will get your previous essays back to you by Monday--thanks for understanding!
Have a great weekend,
Mrs. E

Great Lady, Scary Attitude!

Thank you so much, Medea researchers, for your presentation on this frightening and feminist Greek gal. No Oedipus Essay for you!
EVERYONE: Finish the Second Episode of Oedipus Rex (Oedipus, The King) by the time class starts on Friday.
Thanks!
Mrs. E

Catching Up!

Thanks for your patience while I catch up on blogging.
Hey, this week we investigated creative re-tellings of the Icarus Myth and, coincidentally, worked on examining/analyzing graphic images: we discussed point of view, narrative perspective and voice regards images and poems-- whew!
HOMEWORK: Due Wednseday
1- Turn in the text from a William Carlos Williams poem (NOT The Red Wheelbarrow or This is Just to Say), and also to
2- Write a poem about the Icarus story in the imagist style of Williams.
PLEASE remember that imagery appeals to any or all the senses, not just sight.

Great Preriphrasis site

One of you went into new territory in a glossary entry on "periphrasis," nice work!  Most of us real mortals have always called excess verbage "circumlocution."  However, My mother, a lover of metaphor, used to say, "Sit down and quit dancing around" or "Just spit it out!" when an explanation or excuse was getting too long for her attention span. You may have had similar thoughts while reading The Scarlet Letter. Here is a great site that talks about this technique and gives terrific examples: Periphrasis site.
Happy hunting grounds for wordiness: "The Victorians and Romantics are our friends as we embark on the worthy endeavor of capturing the essence of how word-loving authors lovingly work out torturous phrases in order to convey, with flourish and great attention to beauty, some very plain ideas." Translation: Check out Bronte, Hawthorne, Keats, and Shelly for examples of periphrasis)

Great Precis discussion and Essay Start

It was so good to be back with you this week, and I applaud your thinking and passion about the BIG IDEAS that Shelly's work brings to us.  I am out today (Wed. 11/16) but will return tomorrow.  Please use the class time today to:

Majority of Class: Get and receive feedback on your essay outlines from as many colleagues as you can manage. Try to be helpful to each other regards possible "holes" in logic or times when textual evidence is not truly supportive of thesis.  Remember that we are answering specific prompt questions with specific ideas and information as we analyze the text.  What the author "may have done differently" or how your own view differs from hers is not the point of this kind of essay.  The prompts and process of this assignment are included in this document: Frank Writes, Quizzes and Essay.

Medea Group: Please use your time today to plan your presentation and discuss our "Mad (?) Medea" in the context of  the Greek Tragedy.  Here is another link to that process/assignment: Medea Presentation. Themes regarding the proper roles of parents from Frankie cross over nicely to this piece.

I look forward to your drafts/presentation, and am working on getting all of your glossary entries and other assignments back to you by tomorrow and/or Friday.  Scholar On!

How do you like the end?

Mrs. Eddy here-- sorry I have had to be out, but I trust all is well under Mr. Kay's command.  Things don't look good for V. Frankenstein but, the monster . . .?  Will they ever learn?  That's a good question for you to think about--remember that our quester/hero is in search of self-knowledge-- the other kind of smarts haven't done them much good, after all.  Enjoy the symbolic/tragic/thematic conclusion.
Mrs. E
Quick note for the curious-- after the final essay (process paper) on Frankie, we will hear from the students who studied Medea, and then read Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) next.  There are copies in the library for all, or you can find it just about anywhere online or in print.

While I am Gone (Tuesday 11/1-Thursday, Nov.10): Spoiler alert!

I have linked a complete copy of the Frankenstein questions for writing, quizzes, discussion and the essay to this post. Please don't "Peek" ahead of the reading schedule--thanks! The substitute teacher will guide you through the daily assignments, but please make sure to keep asking questions you think I would ask as you read, and always take notes during your discussions-- all of this will help you better understand the text and triumph on the essay assignment.

One of the assignments you will get for homework AFTER you finish the text will involve you finding an article on medical ethics and writing a "precis" (pray-see) of that article in order to share its contents with the class and practice the form.  There are two very good links on the right side of this blogsite to help you with this task.  Make sure you read the article several times first, taking notes and highlighting as you go.  I can't think of a better way than this to make Frankenstein pertinent to our own times.
Enjoy the rest of the text, and I will see you soon.
Mrs.E
Frank Questions

Medea Ladies

Here is a copy of the requirements for your presentation-- please get as creative as you please about how to present-- I will give you time on Monday, October 31st to work together and plan. You will get out of an essay on Frankie for this, and enrich us all with your insights into a tragic lady!

Sorry for the Lapse in Coverage

Here is a fast update:
Glossaries: Please get some entries in this next week-- I will take up to FOUR from each of you, plus any number of re-writes,. when I get back on the 9th of November.
Read, notate and explore the meaning of these poems, two romantic and one contemporary-- BE sure to underline a lot and explore the Mullin poem fully for irony/layered meanings.
Jane Eyre Final Write is way over due--- last chance on Monday, Oct. 31
Frankenstein Reading Schedule For each section of text, write two questions that you think I will ask the class.
Frankenstein Reading Quizzes--- Turn one in on Monday, Oct. 31st.

Essays, Glossaries and Victorian Novels, Oh, My!

Jane Eyre Reading Schedule: Complete
Friday we took a look at sample questions and essays for the "poetry" prompt on the AP exam.  Our own examination of poetry dovetails into the study of how to properly write about it.  Please bring your revised essays on "It's A Woman's World" to class on Monday.
    Jane Eyre continues on in her quest for self-discovery-- but other mysteries abound.  What, in heaven's name or any other, is going on upstairs and Thornfield Hall? Jane insists to Rochester that, "I like to serve you, sir, and to obey you in all that is right" (Chapter 20).  But--will he point her in the right direction, or will she have to discover it on her own, or will  "Grace Poole" break loose again?  Stay tuned, dear reader.
    If you are looking for glossary entries in Jane Eyre, Bronte is fond of poetic understatement.  She employs "litotes" (Lie-toe-tees) with frequency and with "no small effect."

Poetry and Jane Eyre-- What Could be Finer!

We are still taking, "It's a Woman's World" by Eavan Boland (1983) apart in class.  Be ready by Wednesday/Oct. 5 to share your ideas with other groups.  We will write an in-class essay on Friday.
 Jane Eyre Schedule for this Week:
BY THIS DATE:         FINISH:
Tuesday 10/4            Chapter 4
Wed. 10/5                 Chapter 8
Thursday 10/6           Chapter 12
Friday 10/7               Chapter 15
Monday 10/10          Chapter 20

Remember for the first eight chapters to keep a running vocabulary list and write down your observations about how the class system and the clergy are portrayed in the text. 

Deep Thoughts, with Mrs. Eddy

Thank you class, for diving in! I am talking to each student about the depth of their analysis on the writing we have been doing in class.  There is still some time to re-write and improve your score for the gradebook after I speak with you.
Crossing the Border Write: Due Thursday
Hand in the outline for your essay (Thesis statement, focus idea for each paragraph and notes on the evidence you will use, Conclusion: Why does this matter to the text as a whole?)

Make a Connection

Today you were to read another student's writing on the connection they saw betwen the text and the analysis methods in "How to Read..." Please write one insightful comment about what your student wrote-- respond thoughtfully to your feloow scholar's ideas. We will trade papers back tomorrow. Today we also took a quick look at oxymoron-- more on that tomorrow (HA!).
Mrs. E

Go Deep!

As I read the in-class paragraphs this afternoon, the number one thing that struck me was the need for students to delve deeper, rather than wider, in their search for meaning within texts.  I would like to offer an extended metaphor (glossary word!) to illustrate my point.

This superb individual is a symbolic of the "King of the Shallow" kind of guy-- the student who writes well but displaces rather than penetrates the waters of literary analysis.
See video
Now, here is a guy who really intends to go head first into the deep end, but is tied up in timidity:
See video
By comparison (metaphorically, of course) take a look at the wonders that await you if you really take the reader of your analysis paragraphs and essays on a dive into the deep, blue ocean of literary discovery. This video is a little fuzzier, but there you have it-- possibilities rather than pat answers.  Please enjoy!
See video
Let's get deep!  Mrs. E

Monday and Tuesday were busy!

Monday we added some "tone words" to our working list, and we read a short story called "First Day." I also handed out the Literary Term Glossary assignment that goes all year, we will get more detail on Wednesday about grading and due dates.  We wrapped up our thinking about "The School Children" by writing a practice thesis statement.
Tuesday: We read Marginalia by Billy Collins, practiced close reading and notes with the first paragraph of All the Pretty Horses, took part of that work home, and took a short quiz/writing prompt relating one of the chapters from "How to Read . . ." to specific aspects of the first 59 pages of APH.
Wednesday: Be ready for more narrative POV talk, a close examination of the glossary assignment and another chance to write about APH.  YES!!!
Mrs. E

Syllabus, Syllabus, Syllabus, Mine!

Finally-- I can post a competent version for you!  Please read and direct any questions to me via email or when we discuss this briefly in class.  Thanks for waiting so patiently!
Syllabus: AP Literature

Pretty Horses News

Three exciting items (sorry for the delay in posting--unavoidable tech mess).
1- I got the last order, finally, of used books.  They finally came through, and there are ten of them. If you still need a used copy of All the Pretty Horses, see me on Monday.
2- The reading schedule for All the Pretty Horses is posted here.
3- The journal assignment for All the Pretty Horses is posted here.
Since I am a bit late getting this up, I will give one extra day to get the first journal done.  That means that by Tuesday, September 13th, everyone will have the first TWO journal entries finished (through page 59).
I hope you are enjoying the text and, as always, feel free to read as far ahead as you wish.
See you tomorrow,
Mrs. E

I will Post Journal Writes for All the Pretty Horses....

I will get the journal assignment and the class syllabus linked up from home tonight.  this school computer will not do it for me---pulling my hair out!  Thanks for checking in, and I will get it handled ASAP.  Enjoy the text!
Mrs. Eddy

Please Register

If you have not done so, please register on goodreads.com as per instructions on the summer letter.  If you are a new student to this class, please follow this link to the revised summer letter just for you!

How to Follow: Reminder

 I have added a "follow by email" gadget at the top of the page.  This should resolve most following issues, I hope!  Thanks for working with me through this technology glitch.
Mrs. E

Turnitin.com registration Info.

I know I have not been so consistent with the use of this great program, but I am working on it.  I promise to ask you to run all typed essays and major assignments through this program before you submit a hard copy to me.  So, to get a jump on things, you could follow the instructions below and get registered in my class for AP.  Don't worry about that first assignment listed on turnitin, I will assign it after the year starts. Just register on the site, please. Thanks!
Mrs. E

Instructions:

TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON TURNITIN.COM:

NOTE: You must have an email address to use Turnitin.  If you do not have one, create a new account on a free site like gmail or yahoo, and use that email address to create your user account and turn papers in on Turnitin.

1.  Go to http://www.turnitin.com/

2.  Click on “New User” at the top of the site.

3. Follow the instructions for a “new student user”.

Here is the information you will need to log in:

For AP:
Class # 4218777
Password: goforafive

Regards Following

There is a place to join the blog (follow) underneath the Shakespeare stuff on the right, but I have also added a "follow by email" gadget at the top of the page.  This should resolve most following issues, I hope!  Thanks for working with me through this technology glitch.
Mrs. E

Link for Summer Assignment

Here is a link to the Appendix for How to Read Literature Like a Professor.  Happy reading!

Yes, it is still Summer!

Mrs. Eddy Reporting for Duty--

Well,  I am your AP Lit. teacher for next year, and you will soon be receiving a letter telling you to purchase a book, read the first half or so, and bring your written responses to it with you to the first day of class next September.  Yes, you will have to buy some of the books*** for this class, but the first is the most expensive $8-$12, depending where you buy it and your shipping options--the others will be cheap editions ($1-$4 each) of novels/plays we study so that you can get used to writing in them.  We are working on a plan to have those available for you at the West Student Store on campus. Please notify me right away if purchasing a few books is a hardship for you/your family, and I will do my best to work with you towards a solution. If I do not hear from you, I will assume that you have gone to a bookstore, contacted Amazon.com or made use of some other vendor, ordered your first book, and are happily reading away.
***NEWS: the words, USED BOOK, are magic for students-- please buy one of these whenever you have the chance--there are many, many sources on the www.

I will also give instructions, in the aforementioned letter,  on how to access this blog.  Please subscribe as a follower and stay updated on what happens in class this year, especially if you happen to find yourself sick or disabled at any point during a given semester. How cool is this technology thing!

Just a Side Note:  Please think about punctuation this summer, if not fondly, then at least with an eye that notices it around you, okay?  All I ask is that you notice how punctuation eases you through your fun summer reading and how different authors make different choices about how much and what kinds to use.  You may have already noticed that Mrs. E is crazy about em dashes-- Oh yeah-- she is-- for sure!
Punctuation is how we navigate meaning in the written word, I swear.  I am totally serious!  See you in September!