For Wednesday, May 7

Using either the poetry prompt (Johnson/Housman) or the prose prompt (Cyril Dabydeen) we looked at on Monday, write a 40 minute essay.

If you choose to write about the poems, notice that the speaker in Housman's poem is the twenty-two year old recognizing that the wise man's words were indeed wise.  Housman's speaker comes from the point of experience.

Thank you for your hard work Saturday night and again this morning.  You guys are so respectful and diligent.  If it were up to me, most every one of you would receive college credit for this course.  You have worked hard this year.  I have watched your writing grow by leaps and bounds.

Remember, the AP exam is one test, given one day, for a three hour period, and you are expected to produce work that reflects your work ethic, your growth in deep reading, and your exceptional test taking skills.  It's a tall order.

Know that I am proud of you no matter what!  You are a joy to teach.

Blessings,
Mrs. Fox

For Thursday, May 1

For the following prompt.  Set your timer; read and annotate; prepare; and write the essay.

2011 Poem: “A Story” (Li-Young Lee)
Prompt: The following poem is by the contemporary poet Li-Young Lee. Read the poem
carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how the poet conveys the complex relationship of the father and the son through the use of literary devices such as point of view and structure.

A Story

Sad is the man who is asked for a story
and can't come up with one.

His five-year-old son waits in his lap.
Not the same story, Baba. A new one.
The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear.

In a room full of books in a world
of stories, he can recall
not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy
will give up on his father.

Already the man lives far ahead, he sees
the day this boy will go. Don't go!
Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!
You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.
Let me tell it!

But the boy is packing his shirts,
he is looking for his keys. Are you a god,
the man screams, that I sit mute before you?
Am I a god that I should never disappoint?

But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story?
It is an emotional rather than logical equation,
an earthly rather than heavenly one,
which posits that a boy's supplications
and a father's love add up to silence.

Li-Young Lee

 For the following prompt:  read; annotate; write an interpretive thesis.

 

2011B Poem: “An Echo Sonnet” (Robert Pack)
Prompt: Read carefully the following poem by Robert Pack, paying close attention to the
relationship between form and meaning. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how the literary techniques used in this poem contribute to its meaning.

 

 AN ECHO SONNET

To an Empty Page

Voice: Echo:

How from emptiness can I make a start?                  Start

And starting, must I master joy or grief?                   Grief

But is there consolation in the heart?                        Art

Oh cold reprieve, where’s natural relief?                  Leaf

5 Leaf blooms, burns red before delighted eyes.      Dies

Here beauty makes of dying, ecstasy.                      See

Yet what’s the end of our life’s long disease?           Ease

If death is not, who is my enemy?                             Me

Then are you glad that I must end in sleep?             Leap

10 I’d leap into the dark if dark were true.                 True

And in that night would you rejoice or weep?            Weep

What contradiction makes you take this view?         You

I feel your calling leads me where I go.                    Go

But whether happiness is there, you know.              No

 

For Tuesday, April 29

Write a 40 minute essay over "On the Subway", by Sharon Olds.
Include an introduction and interpretive thesis sentence.  Keep in mind the exam strategies we talked about today.

Do the multiple choice selections in your packet from numbers 11 - 35.  You will answer questions from the Heart of Darkness excerpt and the poem "That time of year..."  When answering questions over the poem, think back to How to Read Literature Like a Professor.  Time of year = time of life.   The weather always means something, etc.  For number 29, guess.  We can talk about it Tuesday.  I do not spend too much time on these definitions because these types of questions are few and far between.

You might ask your parents how they would feel about an Exam Cram Party at my place.  This is what I am thinking:

Meet at my place at 5:00 p.m. or thereabouts on Saturday, May 3.  We meet, play, eat.  From 7 to 9, we have an intense "Exam Cram" for Question 3 of the Essay section of the test.  This will involve reviewing a minimum of 5 works and mentally preparing for each.  We will break into 5 teams, review the works, present our findings. 

We will stop, play games, go for a walk, OR WHATEVER; then, we will meet back for an Exam Taking Strategy Session concerning the essay portion of the test, especially question 3.  This will happen from 10:00 - 11:00.

At 11:30 p.m., you could choose to go home and rest up for church or stay the night.  We would work out appropriate sleeping arrangements, etc.  Students will need to head home or be picked up by 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning so I can fulfill my church responsibilities.

For Friday, april 25

Print out the two William Wordsworth's poems: 
"The World is Too Much With Us" and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"


Annotate both poems as if you are going to write an AP EXAM quality essay for each.  When you mark a literary device~write in the margin your interpretation of the ld's purpose and meaning within the text.  Remember our pneumonic device for analyzing poetry.
TP-CASTT
Title
Paraphrase
Connotations
Attitude-Tone
Shift
Title-revisit in light of study
Theme

Now, for each poem construct a quality thesis sentence that will propel a well-written essay over the text.

For Wednesday, April 23

Answer the following questions on your own paper.  Other than ACT III, you may paraphrase most of your examples from the film.

 1.  In Oscar Wilde's time, "earnestness"--sober behavior, a serious turn of mind--was valued as an important character trait.  How does Wilde undermine this value?  Consider when the characters are earnest and when they are not.  How is the pun on earnest and Ernest seen throughout the play, as well as, how Gwendolen's and Cecily's fascination with the name Ernest, further this satirization?
2.  At the very beginning of the ACT I, Algernon states, "I don't play accurately -- anyone can play accurately--but I play with wonderful expression".  How does this comment establish a theme for the play?  In what other ways through the play is Algernon not accurate but expressive?  Are other characters also not accurate but expressive?  Who and How?
3.  How do the scenes of Algernon and Jack jostling over cucumber sandwiches (ACT I) and muffins (ACT II) suggest about their characters and their priorities?  Explain how Wilde uses these props to produce a comic effect.
4.  How does Wilde make The Importance of Being Earnest funny?  Identify what you consider (so far) to be the most humorous part of the play, and explain your choice.  (For this, think about language not the film's additions to Cecily's fantasy diary, etc.)  Now think about the purpose of humor in this play.  Find instances where Wilde uses humor to satirize some of the more ridiculous aspects of society.
important character trait.  how does Wilde undermine this value?  Consider when the characters are earnest and when they are not.  How does the pun on earnest and Ernest seen throughout the play, as well as Gwendolen's and Cecily's fascination with the name Ernest, further this satirization?

Reread the final act of The Importance of Being Earnest.  Then, focusing particularly on the play's conclusion, design a chart in which you label 2 to 3 examples of hyperbole, 2 to 3 examples of understatement, and 2 to 3 examples of irony.  You can substitute a different literary device for any of the three if you would like.

Think about for Wednesday:   

You will rewrite (with a partner) a contemporary version of Act II's scene between Cecily and Gwendolen in which they first meet ((467 - 598).  Consider your setting for this meeting.  Carefully rename your characters.  What might they chat about?  Pay particular attention to your characters' speech patterns.  What do these suggest about your characters' beliefs and values, as well as those of the society they represent?

For Thursday, April 17

You will select an excerpt or a couple of excerpts from Heart of Darkness.  Now you will design a prompt that mimics the AP EXAM using the exerpt as the reading selection given.  Finally, you will write a 40 minute essay.

Ideas:

• cannibals and whites
• dying natives in trees and white chief manager (the white man who wears white and has white hands in Chapter 1)
• "The Hollow Men" and Kurtz/Marlow/ OR Existentialism (you will not have room for all three)
• Kurtz's two women (the Intended and the Savage Woman)
• the wilderness/jungle as a character that brings about change in Kurts or Marlow or both
• man's depravity without cultural and spiritual boundaries
• Kurtz's epiphany vs. Marlow's inaction

After finding your selection/selections, I would print them out so that you are not having to flip pages, etc.

Next, you will write a prompt that will be appropriate to that excerpt.  Here is a template for you to use as a guide.

Carefully read the following excerpt from the novel Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena María Viramontes. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze the development of Estrella’s character. In your analysis, you may wish to consider such literary elements as selection of detail, figurative language, and tone.

Collect your thoughts~mark your quotes, etc.

Finally, set your timer for 40 minutes.  Begin writing your essay.  

For Tuesday, April 15

Finish reading The Heart of Darkness.  Mark every reference to Kurtz as a hollow man, a shade, a shadow.  Mark places where the setting (the jungle) takes over Kurtz and or Marlow.

Things to Think About:
Kurtz has an epiphany; what is it?  Does Marlow have an epiphany?  Where do we leave Marlow at the end of the story?

Writing Assignment:  Look at the artwork below.  Select your favorite.  In a brief paragraph, tell me how the artwork relates to "The Hollow Men" and/or Heart of Darkness.