[Post a response to one of the winter/holiday poems in the comment box below. You'll find more information about this at #3 below.]
I hope not to spoil your holiday feasts be they in celebration of the winter solstice (21 Dec this year), Christmas, St. Stephen's Day (26 Dec), Boxing Day (also 26 Dec), Kwanzaa, New Year's Eve and Day, or a retrospective celebration of recent holidays like Eid Al-Adha (27 Nov this year), Hanukkah (1 Dec - 8 Dec this year), or for the Swedes among us St. Lucia's Day.
Amidst all the merriment find time to do the following...
1. Respond to a second story from Dubliner by pumpkin time Friday, December 18.
2. Turn in your part-to-whole A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man essay Friday, December 18. Or turn in a letter requesting a week's extension and turn in your essay by Friday, December 25.
3. Write an informal, exploratory analysis of one of the winter poems (300+ words or so). See if you can explain the relationship between how it's written and what it might mean. (TPCAST+Theme, SOAPSTone+Theme, Say-Play-Imply might help to get you started.) Post in the comment box below.
You have paper copies of "Christ Climbed Down" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (a "Beat" or San Francisco Renaissance poet), an excerpt from Midwinter Day (a book length poem written on a solstice day) by Bernadette Mayer (a postmodern poet), two Fanny Howe poems (she's sometimes referred to as a "Language" poet), "Burning the Christmas Greens" by William Carlos Williams (a Modernist poet), and "The world is too much with us" a sonnet by William Wordsworth (a Romantic poet). (The Wordsworth poem doesn't mention Christmas or winter but it was alluded to in a Gloucester Daily Times my view critiquing our "getting and spending" during the holiday season.) You could also write about "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats (Irish modern, post-romantic poet) or "Journey of the Magi" by T.S. Eliot (American-British modernist poet, spent childhood summers on Eastern Point). Do this by Monday, January 4 (the tenth day of the nativity for Christians) at pumpkin time.
4. Read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. It's 215 pages long and written in short sections. The diction is modern American with some substandard usage and slang. However, the simplicity of the diction and syntax is a bit deceptive because the book is surprisingly ornate in its design. The tone is a bit slippery too. Track motifs. What repeats? Take notes. Also think about the narration. What is the relationship between the author, the narrator, and Billy Pilgrim's perceptions of things. Finally I hope you lol at least once but avoid rofl-ing if there are presents, ornaments, or electronic devices nearby. If you find it helpful write comments and questions below as you read. (It's okay if SH5 comments are mixed with poem commentaries.)
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Dubliners (a second story)
Choose a second story from Dubliners. Write a response below. Your response should attempt to link the story with some of the things we've talked about: Paralysis, simony, gnomon, for example, or any of the following quotations from Joyce's letters:
“I believe that composing my chapter of moral history in exactly the way I have composed it I have taken the first step toward the spiritual liberation of my country.”
“My intention was to write of the moral history of my country and I choseDublin
“I believe that composing my chapter of moral history in exactly the way I have composed it I have taken the first step toward the spiritual liberation of my country.”
“My intention was to write of the moral history of my country and I chose
“I call the series Dubliners to betray the soul of that hemiplegia or paralysis which many consider a city.”
“…there is a certain resemblance between the mystery of the [Catholic] mass and what I am trying to do…to give people a kind of intellectual pleasure or spiritual enjoyment by converting the bread of everyday life into something that has a permanent artistic life of its own… for their mental, moral, and spiritual uplift.”
“Do you [Joyce is writing to his brother Stanislaus] see that man who has just skipped out of the way of the tram? Consider, if he had been run over, how significant every act of his would at once become. I don't mean for the police inspector. I mean for anybody who knew him. And his thoughts, for anybody that could know them. It is my idea of the significance of trivial things that I want to give the two or three unfortunate wretches who may eventually read me.”
“I have written it for the most part in a style of scrupulous meanness.”
You might also consider connections to Stephen Hero (Joyce's first version of the story that letter became A Portrait): " By an epiphany [Stephen Dedalus] meant ‘a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself… He told Cranly that the clock of the Ballast Office was capable of an epiphany…Yes, said Stephen. I will pass it time after time, allude to it, refer to it, catch a glimpse of it. It is only an item in the catalogue of
Or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man -- an artist is “a priest of eternal imagination, transmuting the daily bread of experience into the radiant body of everliving life…The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, paring his fingernails.”
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A Portrait of the Artist as a Bildungsroman
Write about the relationship between A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Hader/Hirsh's explanation of the bildungsroman genre. Use the prompt found here but everywhere the prompt says Jane Eyre think A Portrait and everywhere it says Charlotte Bronte think James Joyce.
(You might also consider A Portait's relationship to the kunstlerroman genre.
(You might also consider A Portait's relationship to the kunstlerroman genre.
Friday, November 20, 2009
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (chapter 5)
Write a substantial post (300+ words) explaining how a passage in chapter 5 is significant to the work as a whole. (Use close reading techniques. In other words explain the significance of techniques like motif, imagery, allusion, style, tone, etc. in the passage.)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A Portrait of the Artist (Chapter 3)
Explain how some of what you've written about already extends into chapter 3. Think about the motifs and themes. Think about Stephen's development (as person and artist). Think about St. Stephen and Daedalus/Icarus. Think about the style. How do these develop in chapter 3.
A Portrait of the Artist (Chapter 2)
Explain how particular passages in chapter 2 make use of the motifs and develop the themes first introduced in chapter 1. (Don't just identify the motifs and themes in the passages but discuss how they are significant.)
How does all of it relate to Stephen's development as an individual (bildungsroman) and artist (kunstlerroman) within a particular environment?
&, if you dare, explain how all of this is related to Stephen Dedalus' name; Stephen, the Christian martyr, and Dedalus, the artificer and father of Icarus.
Finally, go back and look at a particular passage. Analyze how the style is similar to or different from the style used elsewhere. How is the style significant?
How does all of it relate to Stephen's development as an individual (bildungsroman) and artist (kunstlerroman) within a particular environment?
&, if you dare, explain how all of this is related to Stephen Dedalus' name; Stephen, the Christian martyr, and Dedalus, the artificer and father of Icarus.
Finally, go back and look at a particular passage. Analyze how the style is similar to or different from the style used elsewhere. How is the style significant?
A Portrait of the Artist (Chapter 1)
Discuss how the themes and motifs we discovered in the first page and a half of the text are significant elsewhere in chapter one. (We discovered other, related motifs and themes, repeated elsewhere in the first chapter; you might right about this too -- or instead.) Analyze the significance of the motifs and themes in specific passages.
Discuss how the way the book is written -- the narrative perspective, point of view, and voice; the impressionistic, episodic narrative style -- is significant. Analyze the style and voice in specific passages.
(If you'd like something a little more specific you could explain how the first page and half teach the reader how to read the book by introducing the narrative style, motifs, and themes that pervade the rest of the novel.)
Discuss how the way the book is written -- the narrative perspective, point of view, and voice; the impressionistic, episodic narrative style -- is significant. Analyze the style and voice in specific passages.
(If you'd like something a little more specific you could explain how the first page and half teach the reader how to read the book by introducing the narrative style, motifs, and themes that pervade the rest of the novel.)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Creative Nonfiction and the Not-for-College Essay
On Tuesday and Wednesday we read, took notes on, and discussed excerpts from Phillip Lopate's essay "Are We Living Through a Resurgence of the Essay?" We were especially keen to find answers to his question: "How can you tell a first-rate essay?"
To answer the question we looked at Lopate's own words but now we'll cast our net farther into the sea of personal essay writing. So let's go over to Brevity: a Journal of Concise Creative Nonfiction. By class time on Monday (1:16 pm) read and respond to one piece that you find there. (I've read and enjoyed most of the essays in the Fall 2009 issue.)
Your response should focus on interpreting how the author's use of literary techniques (language choices) contributes to meaning and effect.
How does the way it is written affect what it means? How does the way it is written affect the reader? How is the author using language in a way that will provoke you to think and feel certain things?
After analyzing how the piece works you might also evaluate if it has done what it sets out to do well and if what it sets out to do is worth doing.
To answer the question we looked at Lopate's own words but now we'll cast our net farther into the sea of personal essay writing. So let's go over to Brevity: a Journal of Concise Creative Nonfiction. By class time on Monday (1:16 pm) read and respond to one piece that you find there. (I've read and enjoyed most of the essays in the Fall 2009 issue.)
Your response should focus on interpreting how the author's use of literary techniques (language choices) contributes to meaning and effect.
How does the way it is written affect what it means? How does the way it is written affect the reader? How is the author using language in a way that will provoke you to think and feel certain things?
After analyzing how the piece works you might also evaluate if it has done what it sets out to do well and if what it sets out to do is worth doing.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Jane Eyre and Literary Criticism
Visit Jane Eyre on the Victorian Web.
Choose a work of literary criticism to read. I recommend the following pieces:
"Jane Eyre's Three Paintings"
"She bit me...like a tigress"
"Dreams in Jane Eyre"
"Angry Angels"
"...Female Protagonists in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea"
Reason and Passion
Law, Insanity, and Self-Respect
Jane Eyre as Double Bildungsroman
Many of the lit. crits. in the imagery section
This and the other commentaries by R.B. Martin (found at the end of this short crit.)
Write a summary of the literary criticism. (What from the criticism might be useful and thought provoking for other students of the novel?)
Write a thoughtful response to the literary criticsm. (How has the criticism affected your understanding of the novel?)
300+ words. Due by pumpkin time Friday, October 16.
Choose a work of literary criticism to read. I recommend the following pieces:
"Jane Eyre's Three Paintings"
"She bit me...like a tigress"
"Dreams in Jane Eyre"
"Angry Angels"
"...Female Protagonists in Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea"
Reason and Passion
Law, Insanity, and Self-Respect
Jane Eyre as Double Bildungsroman
Many of the lit. crits. in the imagery section
This and the other commentaries by R.B. Martin (found at the end of this short crit.)
Write a summary of the literary criticism. (What from the criticism might be useful and thought provoking for other students of the novel?)
Write a thoughtful response to the literary criticsm. (How has the criticism affected your understanding of the novel?)
300+ words. Due by pumpkin time Friday, October 16.
Jane Eyre as a Bildungsroman
In the comment box discuss the following prompt:
Jane Eyre is often described as a bildungsroman or "novel of formation." However, although Charlotte Bronte portrays a protagonist who "comes of age" over the course of the novel, her novel does not adhere to all of the conventions of the nineteenth century bildungsroman.
How does Bronte's novel adhere to and deviate from the bildungsroman conventions (as listed below)? How is the novel's adherence to and deviation from the conventions significant to the novel's overall effect and meaning?
Suzanne Hader developed the following list after reading Marianne Hirsch’s The Novel of Formation as Genre.
1. A Bildungsroman is, most generally, the story of a single individual's growth and development within the context of a defined social order. The growth process, at its roots a quest story, has been described as both "an apprenticeship to life" and a "search for meaningful existence within society."
2. To spur the hero or heroine on to their journey, some form of loss or discontent must jar them at an early stage away from the home or family setting.
3. The process of maturity is long, arduous, and gradual, consisting of repeated clashes between the protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order.
4. Eventually, the spirit and values of the social order become manifest in the protagonist, who is then accommodated into society. The novel ends with an assessment by the protagonist of himself and his new place in that society.
Due by Pumpkin Time Friday, October 16.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Jane Eyre Blogging
Here are links to last year's Jane Eyre blog comments. I think you'll find it helpful to take a look. I invite you to respond explicitly to points made by last year's class. (Make sure you give credit where credit is due.)
Jane Eyre chapters 1-16
Jane Eyre chapters 17-26
Jane Eyre chapters 27-38
& here you'll find commentary by my friend Mr. Gallagher's Malden High AP students about the end of Jane Eyre. (You'll notice we talked about many of the same issues today in class. Notice how many of them have taken ideas and have developed them.)
The student-led and teacher-led in class discussions provide opportunities for you to display your knowledge of the particulars of the text (what is written and how it is written) and to speculate about what it means and why that meaning is significant. In other words, offer assertive, insightful interpretations of what you have read and support your interpretations with evidence from the text. That's what AP lit is all about.
I then evaluate whether you've met expectations by showing a reasonable, plausible understanding of the text, have exceeded expectations by showing a convincingly thorough and thoroughly convincing understanding of the text, have fallen short of expectations by offering a limited or partial understanding of the text, or have show little to no understanding of the text.
As I've started to look over my discussion notes many of you have offered limited understanding or no understanding during class discussion. Blog!
Jane Eyre chapters 1-16
Jane Eyre chapters 17-26
Jane Eyre chapters 27-38
& here you'll find commentary by my friend Mr. Gallagher's Malden High AP students about the end of Jane Eyre. (You'll notice we talked about many of the same issues today in class. Notice how many of them have taken ideas and have developed them.)
The student-led and teacher-led in class discussions provide opportunities for you to display your knowledge of the particulars of the text (what is written and how it is written) and to speculate about what it means and why that meaning is significant. In other words, offer assertive, insightful interpretations of what you have read and support your interpretations with evidence from the text. That's what AP lit is all about.
I then evaluate whether you've met expectations by showing a reasonable, plausible understanding of the text, have exceeded expectations by showing a convincingly thorough and thoroughly convincing understanding of the text, have fallen short of expectations by offering a limited or partial understanding of the text, or have show little to no understanding of the text.
As I've started to look over my discussion notes many of you have offered limited understanding or no understanding during class discussion. Blog!
Jane Eyre 36-38 (conclusion)
What do you make of the end? Much has been written. Much has been said in response to the novel's tidy but unsettling conclusion. Let's look closely. Like chapter 26 the final several chapters reshape how we make sense of what we have already read. Earlier there is a turning away; here there is a turning toward. What do we make of it in terms of what the end says about passion, morality, the social order (& the natural order for that matter), fulfillment of the self, etc.?
Jane Eyre 27-36
We must discuss the relationship of these Moor House chapters with the preceding chapters. How do these chapters comment indirectly on previous characters and events? We should pay particular attention to what these chapters suggest about passion, morality, social context, and the self. More broadly let's see if we can puzzle out how these chapters are necessary for the novel as a whole.
Jane Eyre 26
We discussed chapter 26 as a turning point in the novel. We looked back upon the earlier Thornfield chapters through 26 and investigated how the events of 26 change (and in many cases confirm) what we thought about characters, events, and themes. We also thought about what might happen next, keeping in mind that Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman: where might Jane's identity development and relationship with the social order be headed in the subsequent chapters?
Jane Eyre 17-25
We've discussed characterization, narration, plot structure, and imagery in these chapters.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Jane Eyre 11-16
How is the way Charlotte Bronte introduces Rochester significant?
How is the way Charlotte Bronte introduces Grace Poole significant?
Respond to one prompt in class (timed AP-style passage analysis essay) on Friday, September 11, 2009. Due 9/11/09 2:07.
Respond to the other prompt at home. Post below 9/14/09 11:59.
Focus on how the choices Bronte makes and the techniques Bronte uses, while introducing these characters, are significant. This is a low-stakes assignment we are practicing this sort of AP-style writing while also learning about literary techniques and author's purpose.
How is the way Charlotte Bronte introduces Grace Poole significant?
Respond to one prompt in class (timed AP-style passage analysis essay) on Friday, September 11, 2009. Due 9/11/09 2:07.
Respond to the other prompt at home. Post below 9/14/09 11:59.
Focus on how the choices Bronte makes and the techniques Bronte uses, while introducing these characters, are significant. This is a low-stakes assignment we are practicing this sort of AP-style writing while also learning about literary techniques and author's purpose.
Jane Eyre 1-10
Gateshead and Lowood.
Focus on narration, characterization, plot logic and patterns, and suggestive & symbolic imagery.
Student-led discussion Tuesday 9/8.
Follow-up discussion Wednesday 9/9.
Focus on narration, characterization, plot logic and patterns, and suggestive & symbolic imagery.
Student-led discussion Tuesday 9/8.
Follow-up discussion Wednesday 9/9.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Summary of the Fourth Session, Post-Session #4 Assignment, Preparing for the Beginning of the School Year
1. Summary
On Monday, August 17 we discussed Wide Sargasso Sea (also known by former student Felicia Lowe as Why'd Sargasso Sea?).
My plan was to tackle it section by section so as to keep narrative perspective & other differences between the sections fresh in mind (& I think we did!). For each section I solicited passages from you -- the passages you marked as you read -- & to conceptualize the conflict in the novel I made two columns. One column linked that which made Antoinette feel "safe" and another column linked that which made Antoinette feel "bold" "free" and "happy" but not safe. We tried to use the break between safety and happiness to help explain the difficulties Antoinette had trying to construct a healthy identity that worked within the environment she was given. (We also talked about her exclusion from various communities and her attempts to connect. & we situated her struggle to form a viable identity within the larger social context of the social, cultural, and economic issues in the Caribbean and England.) At the end of class we tried to make bold, insightful assertions (thesis statements) about the work as a whole that could be supported by the passages we examined closely.
2. Post-Session Work
I decided to cut back on the writing a bit. So at the end of class I had you write some bold, insightful assertions about Wide Sargasso Sea. These assertions -- perhaps a single sentence, perhaps several -- are, as Nick, I think, noted, also known as thesis statements.
You will hone one of these assertions and post the bold, insightful assertion in the comment box below. (The best assertions will be clear, will be bold*, will take on some element of the novel that you found significant (even essential), and will go beyond what we discussed in class. One way to think about generating a thesis is to isolate some aspect of the novel's style or technique -- shifting points of view, contrasting settings, symbolic imagery, significant motifs, etc. -- and to explain how Jean Rhys' use of that technique is meaningful in the novel as a whole.)
Instead of writing a full essay to support the assertion write down five or more passages from the novel that you would use to develop the thesis if I did ask you to write an essay. Make sure that you cite at least one passage from each of the novel's three sections. Write the "first few words...last few words" of each of the five or more passages along with (the page number). If you feel its not immediately apparent how the passage relates to the assertion it would be wise to explain the connection.
Turn this work in by Monday, August 24, pumpkin time (11:59 pm).
3. Preparing for the Beginning of School
I'm going to add to this when I return from a quick camping trip in New Hampshire this weekend but in the meantime don't forget to read the summer reading book you signed up for last spring. (Have fun with it.)
I'm reading As you Like It by Shakespeare and Kafka on the Beach a bildungsroman (novel of identity formation) by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. If you're interested write down what you're reading (or anything else you've read this summer) at the end of your post-session work in the comment box.
More soon.
best wishes,
Mr. James Cook
On Monday, August 17 we discussed Wide Sargasso Sea (also known by former student Felicia Lowe as Why'd Sargasso Sea?).
My plan was to tackle it section by section so as to keep narrative perspective & other differences between the sections fresh in mind (& I think we did!). For each section I solicited passages from you -- the passages you marked as you read -- & to conceptualize the conflict in the novel I made two columns. One column linked that which made Antoinette feel "safe" and another column linked that which made Antoinette feel "bold" "free" and "happy" but not safe. We tried to use the break between safety and happiness to help explain the difficulties Antoinette had trying to construct a healthy identity that worked within the environment she was given. (We also talked about her exclusion from various communities and her attempts to connect. & we situated her struggle to form a viable identity within the larger social context of the social, cultural, and economic issues in the Caribbean and England.) At the end of class we tried to make bold, insightful assertions (thesis statements) about the work as a whole that could be supported by the passages we examined closely.
2. Post-Session Work
I decided to cut back on the writing a bit. So at the end of class I had you write some bold, insightful assertions about Wide Sargasso Sea. These assertions -- perhaps a single sentence, perhaps several -- are, as Nick, I think, noted, also known as thesis statements.
You will hone one of these assertions and post the bold, insightful assertion in the comment box below. (The best assertions will be clear, will be bold*, will take on some element of the novel that you found significant (even essential), and will go beyond what we discussed in class. One way to think about generating a thesis is to isolate some aspect of the novel's style or technique -- shifting points of view, contrasting settings, symbolic imagery, significant motifs, etc. -- and to explain how Jean Rhys' use of that technique is meaningful in the novel as a whole.)
Instead of writing a full essay to support the assertion write down five or more passages from the novel that you would use to develop the thesis if I did ask you to write an essay. Make sure that you cite at least one passage from each of the novel's three sections. Write the "first few words...last few words" of each of the five or more passages along with (the page number). If you feel its not immediately apparent how the passage relates to the assertion it would be wise to explain the connection.
Turn this work in by Monday, August 24, pumpkin time (11:59 pm).
3. Preparing for the Beginning of School
I'm going to add to this when I return from a quick camping trip in New Hampshire this weekend but in the meantime don't forget to read the summer reading book you signed up for last spring. (Have fun with it.)
I'm reading As you Like It by Shakespeare and Kafka on the Beach a bildungsroman (novel of identity formation) by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. If you're interested write down what you're reading (or anything else you've read this summer) at the end of your post-session work in the comment box.
More soon.
best wishes,
Mr. James Cook
Monday, August 3, 2009
Summary of the Third Session, Post-Session #3 Assignments, Pre-Session #4 Assignments
1. Summary of the Third Session
I'll expand the summary later but here's the short version:
* during the first part of day's class we discussed Translations, exploring the relationship between one's surrounding culture and one's identity. We were especially keen to think about the ways (and reasons) that individuals either embrace cultural change or resist it. We talked about this in relation to Gloucester too. We also explored the techniques that Brian Friel used in the play to develop ideas about threats to and preservation of cultural identity; we focused especially upon language (and issues of language such as translation and naming) as an aspect of individual identity and cultural identity.
* Then we talked about writing passage analysis.
* Finally we talked about Waiting for Godot. We focused on how Beckett's choices (his techniques) as a playwright helped create a sense of the absurdity of existence. We talked about how the play makes the reader/audience uneasy and that this unease is both funny and disturbing. The play, after all, is a tragicomedy, we observed. Finally, we discussed how unease, absurdity, alienation relate to issues of identity and the individual's relationship with others in all the work we've discussed so far this summer. Oh, and I also mentioned this passage from Six Degrees of Separation, a play-made-into-a-film, which deals with the imagination as a possible way out of alienation. (Will Smith!?!?) Notice the mention of the end of Godot.
2. In the comment box post your post-session #3 work by Monday, August 10 (before pumpkin time).
What do you do?
* Write your first name and last initial.
* Choose a rich, interesting, beguiling passage from Translations. On the blog type up the passage, include the page number. Write a summary of the passage. What happens? Who is involved? Where are they? When? Etc. Then write an analytical commentary. How Brian Friel is using literary techniques (is making particular choices with language) in the passage. How does the passage relate to other passages and to the themes in the play as a whole? Peel back the layers. What do you find? Remember that I encourage to speculate and take interpretive risks. (X appears to mean Y. X suggests or might mean Y.) 300+ words
* Do the same for Waiting for Godot. Choose a passage. Type it out with the page number. Write a summary. Write an analytical commentary. 300+ words.
* Finally, if you didn't turn in your pre-session work post it.
3. Wide Sargasso Sea pre-session work still to come. (If you want to start reading now. Look for motifs and look for the ways Jean Rhys shows the difficulty Antoinette has forming a viable, healthy identity in her environment. Mark the passages as you read.)
Finally, as previously sent in an email, your last pre-session work for the summer of '09:
What should you bring to class on Monday? Bring Wide Sargasso Sea. Bring paper and something to write with. Write down the page number, first few words and last few words of one passage that you would like to discuss on Monday from each of the novel's three sections. (So you'll choose three passages total; one from each of the three sections.) Then write a brief (four sentence or so) summary of each passage and three open-ended discussion questions for each passage. The passages, brief summary, and questions will be your entry ticket. (This will be a common procedure in preparation for student-led discussions.)
When choosing passages you might think about:
happiness (the desireability of, the elusiveness of, the sources of); identity (racial identity, social class identity, national identity, family and self, name and self); safety and threat (the effect of living with threats);
I'll expand the summary later but here's the short version:
* during the first part of day's class we discussed Translations, exploring the relationship between one's surrounding culture and one's identity. We were especially keen to think about the ways (and reasons) that individuals either embrace cultural change or resist it. We talked about this in relation to Gloucester too. We also explored the techniques that Brian Friel used in the play to develop ideas about threats to and preservation of cultural identity; we focused especially upon language (and issues of language such as translation and naming) as an aspect of individual identity and cultural identity.
* Then we talked about writing passage analysis.
* Finally we talked about Waiting for Godot. We focused on how Beckett's choices (his techniques) as a playwright helped create a sense of the absurdity of existence. We talked about how the play makes the reader/audience uneasy and that this unease is both funny and disturbing. The play, after all, is a tragicomedy, we observed. Finally, we discussed how unease, absurdity, alienation relate to issues of identity and the individual's relationship with others in all the work we've discussed so far this summer. Oh, and I also mentioned this passage from Six Degrees of Separation, a play-made-into-a-film, which deals with the imagination as a possible way out of alienation. (Will Smith!?!?) Notice the mention of the end of Godot.
2. In the comment box post your post-session #3 work by Monday, August 10 (before pumpkin time).
What do you do?
* Write your first name and last initial.
* Choose a rich, interesting, beguiling passage from Translations. On the blog type up the passage, include the page number. Write a summary of the passage. What happens? Who is involved? Where are they? When? Etc. Then write an analytical commentary. How Brian Friel is using literary techniques (is making particular choices with language) in the passage. How does the passage relate to other passages and to the themes in the play as a whole? Peel back the layers. What do you find? Remember that I encourage to speculate and take interpretive risks. (X appears to mean Y. X suggests or might mean Y.) 300+ words
* Do the same for Waiting for Godot. Choose a passage. Type it out with the page number. Write a summary. Write an analytical commentary. 300+ words.
* Finally, if you didn't turn in your pre-session work post it.
3. Wide Sargasso Sea pre-session work still to come. (If you want to start reading now. Look for motifs and look for the ways Jean Rhys shows the difficulty Antoinette has forming a viable, healthy identity in her environment. Mark the passages as you read.)
Finally, as previously sent in an email, your last pre-session work for the summer of '09:
What should you bring to class on Monday? Bring Wide Sargasso Sea. Bring paper and something to write with. Write down the page number, first few words and last few words of one passage that you would like to discuss on Monday from each of the novel's three sections. (So you'll choose three passages total; one from each of the three sections.) Then write a brief (four sentence or so) summary of each passage and three open-ended discussion questions for each passage. The passages, brief summary, and questions will be your entry ticket. (This will be a common procedure in preparation for student-led discussions.)
When choosing passages you might think about:
happiness (the desireability of, the elusiveness of, the sources of); identity (racial identity, social class identity, national identity, family and self, name and self); safety and threat (the effect of living with threats);
Monday, July 20, 2009
Summary of the Second Session, Post-Session #2 Assignments, Pre-Session #3 Assignments
1. A Summary of the Second Session
For today's session I decided to jump right into the task of figuring out how every chapter and every aspect of every chapter contributes to Invisible Man as a bildungsroman, a novel of identity formation. I thought it was most important to figure out what the novel as a whole suggests about identity and how the smaller pieces -- the plot (or logic of sequential events), the scenes (a scene consists of one time and place), the characters (even the less overtly significant ones), the symbolic objects, the repeated images and other motifs, etc. -- contribute to what the books as a whole suggests about identity.
So we worked our way through chapter 14 meticulously (the re-birth and Mary Rambo section, the Yam episode and eviction, the meeting with Brother Jack and introduction to the Brotherhood, The Chthonian, Emma, etc.) then (mindful of time) jumped to some important characters (Brother Hambro, Brother Tarp, Tod Clifton, the Rich woman, Rinehart, Sybil, and Ras) and scenes (Clifton's show in the park, Clifton's funeral, the protagonist's decision to undermine the Brotherhood, the riot, the choice to go underground). We gave special attention to the relationship between identity formation and objects (the "feed me" bank, the Tarp's shackles, the briefcase, etc.) food, sexuality, speech-making, subordinating one's identity to larger causes (whether the race or the Brotherhood), shifting identity (Rinehart) versus singular identity, action versus contemplation, etc.. I also gave you some information about Marxism and Communism to make a bit more sense of the Brotherhood. Then in the last half hour we developed a question to answer with an essay. Does that cover it? Did I leave anything out?
2. Post-Session #2 Work
Here's the question you developed:
Use your "personal key" (the events, objects, motifs you have tracked through the novel) to illustrate the purpose of the novel as you understand it. (Instead of "purpose" you might deal with the "meaning and effect" of the novel as a whole.)
Write an essay (oh, five hundred to a thousand words or so) responding to the prompt. I'll be looking for an idea (not a single sentence) about the significance of the novel as a whole that boldly and insightfully encapsulates Ralph Ellison's exploration of the identity development of an African-American man in hostile environments. Then, I'll be looking for close, careful analysis of specific passages in the text that support and develop your bold, insightful central idea. Finally, I'll look for the final conclusions your careful analysis has driven you toward.
"A+/A" essays will thoroughly and convincingly develop a bold, insightful idea about the novel's apparent meaning and effect with commanding, precise, and well-chosen details from the novel. "A-/B" essays will develop a plausible response to the prompt with enough relevant supporting evidence to come across as reliable. "B-" essays will often develop a plausible but superficial response to the prompt with some errors and omissions in interpretation of details. "C/C-" essays will often include significant errors and omissions in the central idea and in the supporting details, though these essays will show an understanding of some aspects of the text. Essays with lower scores will not meet requirements or will show little to no understanding of the prompt and/or the text.
This is your first attempt at an AP essay. No worries. It's a low stakes endeavor. (It won't count as a test grade on its own but it will count toward your summer session grade, which will be the equivalent of a term one test grade.) Do your best but consider it a learning experience.
Post the essays in the comment box (break them into sections if necessary) by Monday, July 27 11:59. I look forward to reading what you have to say. (I have enjoyed our time together, especially your ideas and close readings of the text.)
3. Pre-Session #3 Work
Read Translations by Brian Friel and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Becket.
For Translations note passages (at least ten) that deal with the relationship between culture (especially language, learning, and history) and identity. For Waiting for Godot note passages (at least ten) that deal with the absurdity of existence. (Culture-and-identity, on the one hand, and the absurdity of existence, on the other hand, are important aspects of Invisible Man. With these plays we'll focus a bit more closely on these two themes. (If we had gotten to the Harlem riots we'd have talked a bit more about absurdity today.)
I look forward to talking with you about these plays on August 3.
For today's session I decided to jump right into the task of figuring out how every chapter and every aspect of every chapter contributes to Invisible Man as a bildungsroman, a novel of identity formation. I thought it was most important to figure out what the novel as a whole suggests about identity and how the smaller pieces -- the plot (or logic of sequential events), the scenes (a scene consists of one time and place), the characters (even the less overtly significant ones), the symbolic objects, the repeated images and other motifs, etc. -- contribute to what the books as a whole suggests about identity.
So we worked our way through chapter 14 meticulously (the re-birth and Mary Rambo section, the Yam episode and eviction, the meeting with Brother Jack and introduction to the Brotherhood, The Chthonian, Emma, etc.) then (mindful of time) jumped to some important characters (Brother Hambro, Brother Tarp, Tod Clifton, the Rich woman, Rinehart, Sybil, and Ras) and scenes (Clifton's show in the park, Clifton's funeral, the protagonist's decision to undermine the Brotherhood, the riot, the choice to go underground). We gave special attention to the relationship between identity formation and objects (the "feed me" bank, the Tarp's shackles, the briefcase, etc.) food, sexuality, speech-making, subordinating one's identity to larger causes (whether the race or the Brotherhood), shifting identity (Rinehart) versus singular identity, action versus contemplation, etc.. I also gave you some information about Marxism and Communism to make a bit more sense of the Brotherhood. Then in the last half hour we developed a question to answer with an essay. Does that cover it? Did I leave anything out?
2. Post-Session #2 Work
Here's the question you developed:
Use your "personal key" (the events, objects, motifs you have tracked through the novel) to illustrate the purpose of the novel as you understand it. (Instead of "purpose" you might deal with the "meaning and effect" of the novel as a whole.)
Write an essay (oh, five hundred to a thousand words or so) responding to the prompt. I'll be looking for an idea (not a single sentence) about the significance of the novel as a whole that boldly and insightfully encapsulates Ralph Ellison's exploration of the identity development of an African-American man in hostile environments. Then, I'll be looking for close, careful analysis of specific passages in the text that support and develop your bold, insightful central idea. Finally, I'll look for the final conclusions your careful analysis has driven you toward.
"A+/A" essays will thoroughly and convincingly develop a bold, insightful idea about the novel's apparent meaning and effect with commanding, precise, and well-chosen details from the novel. "A-/B" essays will develop a plausible response to the prompt with enough relevant supporting evidence to come across as reliable. "B-" essays will often develop a plausible but superficial response to the prompt with some errors and omissions in interpretation of details. "C/C-" essays will often include significant errors and omissions in the central idea and in the supporting details, though these essays will show an understanding of some aspects of the text. Essays with lower scores will not meet requirements or will show little to no understanding of the prompt and/or the text.
This is your first attempt at an AP essay. No worries. It's a low stakes endeavor. (It won't count as a test grade on its own but it will count toward your summer session grade, which will be the equivalent of a term one test grade.) Do your best but consider it a learning experience.
Post the essays in the comment box (break them into sections if necessary) by Monday, July 27 11:59. I look forward to reading what you have to say. (I have enjoyed our time together, especially your ideas and close readings of the text.)
3. Pre-Session #3 Work
Read Translations by Brian Friel and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Becket.
For Translations note passages (at least ten) that deal with the relationship between culture (especially language, learning, and history) and identity. For Waiting for Godot note passages (at least ten) that deal with the absurdity of existence. (Culture-and-identity, on the one hand, and the absurdity of existence, on the other hand, are important aspects of Invisible Man. With these plays we'll focus a bit more closely on these two themes. (If we had gotten to the Harlem riots we'd have talked a bit more about absurdity today.)
I look forward to talking with you about these plays on August 3.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Summary of the First Session, Post-Session #1 Assignments, & Pre-Session #2 Assignments
I. A Summary of the First Session
For the first five minutes you shared with the people sitting near you observations of "what stood out" to you while reading the first eleven chapters of Invisible Man. Then, one by one you each introduced one of the peers you spoke with and explained what you talked about with that peer.
I had planned this as a warm-up exercise -- lasting maybe twenty minutes -- but so much of what I'd hoped to deal with in the first hour came up in your discussions that I decided to roll with it. We talked about how the motifs -- the repeated ideas, images, etc. -- help the reader figure out what to pay attention to. We talked about how the first step is to notice choices the writer makes and the second step is to come up with ideas about the significance of those choices: how do those choices affect meaning? & that's the gist of AP writing: how does the way something is written influence the effect the writing has on the reader and the meaning the reader makes of the writing?
But what should we notice? Things that reoccur (words, images, ideas, etc.) Things that reoccur but with a difference. Things that seem symbolic or allegorical: what's the symbolic significance of Reverend Barbee's blindness or of the Golden Day (Supercargo as superego) or of the black mixed into Optic White or of the paint factory explosion, for example? Moments that make reference to culture, folklore, history outside the novel. (These are allusions.) For example what is the significance of the references to Louis Armstrong? Booker T. Washington? We should also pay attention to things that seem strange, that deviate from norms. Why is the protagonist unnamed, for example? (Lazy readers often say that strange things are "random"; strong readers are able to make meaning from author's choices, especially the ones that are most challenging.) Then we ask how are these things significant to the work as a whole?
We talked about a lot more in the first hour. As I review my notes, I may add more.
After a break we set up a chart for the motifs. I listed the motifs along an x-axis and listed the chapters along a y-axis then you offered specific examples. We found so much that we were able to spend nearly an hour on the first three chapters! (The next step is to make meaning using some of this data we've compiled.) [Note: for a more complete chart you can finish our class chart on your own and/or go to this webpage, scroll down to "motif chart" and click on the link.]
After the final break we tried out a learning strategy: student-led discussions. Sarah A. quoted Bledsoe talking about "these people" while referring to other African-Americans and collectively you didn't stop talking for more than twenty-minutes while I took notes. I then read over my notes of the discussion adding a point or two here and there while also asking follow up questions. (That's part of the strategy too.)
I wrapped up the exhilarating first session with the post-session assignments...
II. Post-Session Assignments
Click on the comment box below and paste in the following work...
1. After writing your name (first name, last initial) write down a motif you tracked along with five places you found the motif (a brief mention of how the motif appeared & the page number will suffice). You don't need to analyze or explain the motif at this point.
2. Now, explain how one of the motifs reveals something significant about the relationship between the protagonist's environment and his developing identity. This explanation should be 300+ words and include specific references to the text, including direct quotations. Interpretation and insight with developed support is what I'm looking for here. (This is a quintessential AP assignment.)
3. Because we didn't get to a discussion of the images you chose, post the page number and the quotation using only the first few words and last few words of the quotation, like this "'Our white is so white ... white clear through.'". (If you'd like to go above and beyond I'd love to hear why you think the image "most vividly conveys the protagonist's struggle between self and environment".)
4. Personal reflection: choose some idea in the book to apply to yourself and/or your surroundings. Write a paragraph (7+ sentences). Here are a few ideas:
*Invisibility. Are you invisible? How? Is someone else -- or some other group -- invisible at GHS or in Gloucester? Explain.
* Loss of innocence. Write about someone or something that you thought you knew and understood (like the occasion of the graduation speech (which entailed a battle royal first), like Bledsoe and the college, like the letters, etc.) but turned out to be quite different, quite disillusioning.
* Playing the game. Write about learning to play the game, to work with the system. What's gained? What's lost?
* Other ideas!?!?
Make sure you label each answer (1, 2, 3, 4) and include your first name and last initial at the beginning of the response.
Responses are due by Pumpkin Time Monday, July 13. (If you have trouble posting your work. Send it to apenglishghs@gmail.com.)
III. Pre-Session #2
You will show me this work as a "ticket" before the session. It's the hottest ticket in town.
* Continue to follow a motif you have chosen. Write down a motif you tracked along with at least five places you found the motif. (Some motifs will appear in every chapter.) A brief mention of how the motif appeared & the page number will suffice). You don't need to analyze or explain the motif at this point.
* Follow the key moments in the protagonist's identity development in relation to his environment. Where does the environment change? Where does his understanding of his environment change? Where does he change in response to his environment, especially in terms of ideology (what he believes and thinks is important), vocation (what he does), and sexuality? I'm especially interested in the choices the protagonist makes in response to his environment. Mark down the most important moments in the novel that deal with the protagonist's identity development (at least five). A brief comment about the moment & the page number will suffice.
*
For the first five minutes you shared with the people sitting near you observations of "what stood out" to you while reading the first eleven chapters of Invisible Man. Then, one by one you each introduced one of the peers you spoke with and explained what you talked about with that peer.
I had planned this as a warm-up exercise -- lasting maybe twenty minutes -- but so much of what I'd hoped to deal with in the first hour came up in your discussions that I decided to roll with it. We talked about how the motifs -- the repeated ideas, images, etc. -- help the reader figure out what to pay attention to. We talked about how the first step is to notice choices the writer makes and the second step is to come up with ideas about the significance of those choices: how do those choices affect meaning? & that's the gist of AP writing: how does the way something is written influence the effect the writing has on the reader and the meaning the reader makes of the writing?
But what should we notice? Things that reoccur (words, images, ideas, etc.) Things that reoccur but with a difference. Things that seem symbolic or allegorical: what's the symbolic significance of Reverend Barbee's blindness or of the Golden Day (Supercargo as superego) or of the black mixed into Optic White or of the paint factory explosion, for example? Moments that make reference to culture, folklore, history outside the novel. (These are allusions.) For example what is the significance of the references to Louis Armstrong? Booker T. Washington? We should also pay attention to things that seem strange, that deviate from norms. Why is the protagonist unnamed, for example? (Lazy readers often say that strange things are "random"; strong readers are able to make meaning from author's choices, especially the ones that are most challenging.) Then we ask how are these things significant to the work as a whole?
We talked about a lot more in the first hour. As I review my notes, I may add more.
After a break we set up a chart for the motifs. I listed the motifs along an x-axis and listed the chapters along a y-axis then you offered specific examples. We found so much that we were able to spend nearly an hour on the first three chapters! (The next step is to make meaning using some of this data we've compiled.) [Note: for a more complete chart you can finish our class chart on your own and/or go to this webpage, scroll down to "motif chart" and click on the link.]
After the final break we tried out a learning strategy: student-led discussions. Sarah A. quoted Bledsoe talking about "these people" while referring to other African-Americans and collectively you didn't stop talking for more than twenty-minutes while I took notes. I then read over my notes of the discussion adding a point or two here and there while also asking follow up questions. (That's part of the strategy too.)
I wrapped up the exhilarating first session with the post-session assignments...
II. Post-Session Assignments
Click on the comment box below and paste in the following work...
1. After writing your name (first name, last initial) write down a motif you tracked along with five places you found the motif (a brief mention of how the motif appeared & the page number will suffice). You don't need to analyze or explain the motif at this point.
2. Now, explain how one of the motifs reveals something significant about the relationship between the protagonist's environment and his developing identity. This explanation should be 300+ words and include specific references to the text, including direct quotations. Interpretation and insight with developed support is what I'm looking for here. (This is a quintessential AP assignment.)
3. Because we didn't get to a discussion of the images you chose, post the page number and the quotation using only the first few words and last few words of the quotation, like this "'Our white is so white ... white clear through.'". (If you'd like to go above and beyond I'd love to hear why you think the image "most vividly conveys the protagonist's struggle between self and environment".)
4. Personal reflection: choose some idea in the book to apply to yourself and/or your surroundings. Write a paragraph (7+ sentences). Here are a few ideas:
*Invisibility. Are you invisible? How? Is someone else -- or some other group -- invisible at GHS or in Gloucester? Explain.
* Loss of innocence. Write about someone or something that you thought you knew and understood (like the occasion of the graduation speech (which entailed a battle royal first), like Bledsoe and the college, like the letters, etc.) but turned out to be quite different, quite disillusioning.
* Playing the game. Write about learning to play the game, to work with the system. What's gained? What's lost?
* Other ideas!?!?
Make sure you label each answer (1, 2, 3, 4) and include your first name and last initial at the beginning of the response.
Responses are due by Pumpkin Time Monday, July 13. (If you have trouble posting your work. Send it to apenglishghs@gmail.com.)
III. Pre-Session #2
You will show me this work as a "ticket" before the session. It's the hottest ticket in town.
* Continue to follow a motif you have chosen. Write down a motif you tracked along with at least five places you found the motif. (Some motifs will appear in every chapter.) A brief mention of how the motif appeared & the page number will suffice). You don't need to analyze or explain the motif at this point.
* Follow the key moments in the protagonist's identity development in relation to his environment. Where does the environment change? Where does his understanding of his environment change? Where does he change in response to his environment, especially in terms of ideology (what he believes and thinks is important), vocation (what he does), and sexuality? I'm especially interested in the choices the protagonist makes in response to his environment. Mark down the most important moments in the novel that deal with the protagonist's identity development (at least five). A brief comment about the moment & the page number will suffice.
*
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Invisible Man (through chapter 11) Pre-Session Work
On Monday, July 6 we will meet to deepen our understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the first eleven chapters of Ralph Waldo Ellison's novel Invisible Man.
To be prepared for the first summer session do the following...
1. Actively read the Prologue through chapter 11 of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. (Reading the introduction is optional.)
What does it mean to read actively?
To read actively, we must think about the significance of what we are reading. To guide this we should all reflect upon the struggle to create an identity and develop a self that will survive within precarious and often hostile environments. This struggle -- common among thoughtful high school students -- is also the struggle experienced by the protagonist of Invisible Man.
To read actively, we will not only think about the novel's central theme; we will also jot down or mark whatever seems significant. So keep track of significant characters, events, and motifs. In Invisible Man aspects of vision (eyes, sight, blindness, and, of course, invisibility) are among the motifs. Other motifs include light and dark, colors (especially white, black, and red), the underground, dreams, sex, violence, food, speech-making, music, and blood. You should jot these down or mark them as you find them so we can go back to them to puzzle out how they are significant in the novel.
2. What else should we do before July 6?
In addition to your other active reader notes and markings, choose a motif and write down five specific places where it appears. Write down each of the five quotations and page numbers. Bring these notes to class on July 6.
Also write down the page numbers of three passages that illustrate some aspect of the protagonist's struggle to figure out how to live within hostile and confusing environments. This struggle is often called identity formation. Pick one passage from the Prologue or chapter one; pick another passage from chapter two through chapter six and another passage from chapter seven through chapter eleven. Write an open-ended discussion question for each of the three passages.
Choose one image (a sensory experience created with words) from the first eleven chapters that for you most vividly conveys the protagonist's struggle between self and environment. Write down (or type out) the exact words Ellison uses to present the image.
Email me at jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us or apenglishghs@gmail.com with any questions.
To be prepared for the first summer session do the following...
1. Actively read the Prologue through chapter 11 of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. (Reading the introduction is optional.)
What does it mean to read actively?
To read actively, we must think about the significance of what we are reading. To guide this we should all reflect upon the struggle to create an identity and develop a self that will survive within precarious and often hostile environments. This struggle -- common among thoughtful high school students -- is also the struggle experienced by the protagonist of Invisible Man.
To read actively, we will not only think about the novel's central theme; we will also jot down or mark whatever seems significant. So keep track of significant characters, events, and motifs. In Invisible Man aspects of vision (eyes, sight, blindness, and, of course, invisibility) are among the motifs. Other motifs include light and dark, colors (especially white, black, and red), the underground, dreams, sex, violence, food, speech-making, music, and blood. You should jot these down or mark them as you find them so we can go back to them to puzzle out how they are significant in the novel.
2. What else should we do before July 6?
In addition to your other active reader notes and markings, choose a motif and write down five specific places where it appears. Write down each of the five quotations and page numbers. Bring these notes to class on July 6.
Also write down the page numbers of three passages that illustrate some aspect of the protagonist's struggle to figure out how to live within hostile and confusing environments. This struggle is often called identity formation. Pick one passage from the Prologue or chapter one; pick another passage from chapter two through chapter six and another passage from chapter seven through chapter eleven. Write an open-ended discussion question for each of the three passages.
Choose one image (a sensory experience created with words) from the first eleven chapters that for you most vividly conveys the protagonist's struggle between self and environment. Write down (or type out) the exact words Ellison uses to present the image.
Email me at jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us or apenglishghs@gmail.com with any questions.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Summer Session Dates, etc.
Based on the blog poll and an informal polling of students who saw me after the polling closed, Mondays seem to work best for most of you.
I expect you to attend the four sessions, to do the reading, to complete the pre-session work and the post-session work. You're in college now, at least as far as AP English is concerned. So...
Get the time off from work. Get the books. Figure out when you will read and how much at each sitting. Check the blog and your email for updates. (I have no email addresses for Hidenori Ono, Megan Keegan, and Brianna Aloisio.)
If you plan time to get the reading done I think you'll find you will be able to do the work and do all the other summer things you look forward to.
Email me at my new AP English email address with any questions
apenglishghs@gmail.com (the beginning is the same as the blog)
[Oops I wrote the gmail address in the message I sent to you on Wednesday.]
Here is the schedule:
Monday July 6 from 8:00 am until we're done (we'll be done by noon).
Read Invisible Man through chapter 11 (page 250 in most editions)
Monday July 20 from 8:00 am until we're done
Read Invisible Man through the end.
Monday August 3 from 8:00 am until we're done.
Read Translations & Waiting for Godot.
Monday August 17 from 8:00 am until we're done.
Read Wide Sargasso Sea.
Don't forget to write a comment on the previous blog post. (If you can't do it you must let me know.)
I think that's enough for now.
Good luck with the rest of your exams.
I expect you to attend the four sessions, to do the reading, to complete the pre-session work and the post-session work. You're in college now, at least as far as AP English is concerned. So...
Get the time off from work. Get the books. Figure out when you will read and how much at each sitting. Check the blog and your email for updates. (I have no email addresses for Hidenori Ono, Megan Keegan, and Brianna Aloisio.)
If you plan time to get the reading done I think you'll find you will be able to do the work and do all the other summer things you look forward to.
Email me at my new AP English email address with any questions
apenglishghs@gmail.com (the beginning is the same as the blog)
[Oops I wrote the gmail address in the message I sent to you on Wednesday.]
Here is the schedule:
Monday July 6 from 8:00 am until we're done (we'll be done by noon).
Read Invisible Man through chapter 11 (page 250 in most editions)
Monday July 20 from 8:00 am until we're done
Read Invisible Man through the end.
Monday August 3 from 8:00 am until we're done.
Read Translations & Waiting for Godot.
Monday August 17 from 8:00 am until we're done.
Read Wide Sargasso Sea.
Don't forget to write a comment on the previous blog post. (If you can't do it you must let me know.)
I think that's enough for now.
Good luck with the rest of your exams.
James W. Cook
Gloucester High School
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Post a comment
O.K. Here we go...
1. Click on the comments link at the bottom of this post. You'll get a comment window.
2. At the bottom of the window click on "Sign up here." Fill out all the necessary information. (Write your password somewhere where you will not lose it. Maybe create an "AP English" folder on your computer and put it there and print it out and put it in your purse or wallet. Lots of students lose passwords and have to create new accounts.) Also your name should be your first name and last initial. Mine would be "James C". I'm trying to keep your exposure on the internet to a minimum.
3. After creating an account blogger will return you to the comment window. In the window you'll type your comment: tell us all about your wonderful experience of learning how to post a comment, send a greeting to your peers, tell a (clean) joke, comment on the summer session dates, etc. When you post assignments you'll want to write in a word processing document then paste that into the comment box, so if blog doesn't except the comment for some reason you'll still have it. Don't forget the Word Verification.
4. Then click on the "publish your comment" button. (If you want to make sure its there click on the "comment" link at the bottom of the post again and you should see your comment. (Nancy F has already commented on the previous post!)
***
I very much enjoyed meeting many of you today. If you did not attend the meeting you must see me or risk losing your spot in the class. (Two of you who missed the meeting already spoke to me. I look forward to meeting with you.)
***
Overview of summer reading (with lots more information to come)
1. Read and complete session work on Invisible Man (through chapter 11, page 250) by the week of July 5-11.
2. Read and complete summer session work on Invisible Man (through epilogue, page 580) by the week of July 19-25.
3. Read and complete summer session work on Translations and Waiting for Godot by the week of August 2-8
4. Read and complete summer session work on Wide Sargasso Sea by the week of August 16-22.
Exact dates will be announced on the blog and through email next week.
1. Click on the comments link at the bottom of this post. You'll get a comment window.
2. At the bottom of the window click on "Sign up here." Fill out all the necessary information. (Write your password somewhere where you will not lose it. Maybe create an "AP English" folder on your computer and put it there and print it out and put it in your purse or wallet. Lots of students lose passwords and have to create new accounts.) Also your name should be your first name and last initial. Mine would be "James C". I'm trying to keep your exposure on the internet to a minimum.
3. After creating an account blogger will return you to the comment window. In the window you'll type your comment: tell us all about your wonderful experience of learning how to post a comment, send a greeting to your peers, tell a (clean) joke, comment on the summer session dates, etc. When you post assignments you'll want to write in a word processing document then paste that into the comment box, so if blog doesn't except the comment for some reason you'll still have it. Don't forget the Word Verification.
4. Then click on the "publish your comment" button. (If you want to make sure its there click on the "comment" link at the bottom of the post again and you should see your comment. (Nancy F has already commented on the previous post!)
***
I very much enjoyed meeting many of you today. If you did not attend the meeting you must see me or risk losing your spot in the class. (Two of you who missed the meeting already spoke to me. I look forward to meeting with you.)
***
Overview of summer reading (with lots more information to come)
1. Read and complete session work on Invisible Man (through chapter 11, page 250) by the week of July 5-11.
2. Read and complete summer session work on Invisible Man (through epilogue, page 580) by the week of July 19-25.
3. Read and complete summer session work on Translations and Waiting for Godot by the week of August 2-8
4. Read and complete summer session work on Wide Sargasso Sea by the week of August 16-22.
Exact dates will be announced on the blog and through email next week.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
AP English Literature and Composition Commitment Letter
My name is Mr. James Cook. I will be teaching the AP English Literature and Composition course during the upcoming school year. Unfortunately, Gloucester High School can offer only one section of AP English Literature and Composition during the 2009-2010 school year, which means that some of twenty-seven students who have signed up for the course will not be able to take it. Before the English Department selects students for the course I want to make sure you are still committed to doing all that taking AP English Literature and Composition entails.
During the summer you are expected to read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (581 pages), Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (171 pages), Translations by Brian Friel (86 pages), Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (109 pages), and a book of your choice from the
During the school year you will read approximately 500 pages and write approximately twenty pages per term. You are expected to be self-motivated and genuinely engaged; and, since the goal of the class is for every student to do well on the AP exam, it is important that you are willing to work with classmates in small groups to analyze text and evaluate peer work. The class atmosphere must be collegial rather than competitive, and you must do your share of the work.
Please consider this information and make a decision about whether or not you are committed to fulfilling the requirements of AP English Literature and Composition. Please complete the form on the back and attend a brief but mandatory meeting in room 2207 on Wednesday, May 20 immediately after school. If you have questions about any of the expectations please stop by 2207. I am looking forward to seeing you.
Sincerely,
James W. Cook
English Teacher
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Welcome Class of 2010
If you are thinking about taking Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition during the 2009-2010 school year here are some resources to help you make up your mind:
1. Talk to current students who are taking the course. Here are the names and first initials of those students. If you are not already acquainted with any of these members of the varsity English team then I can arrange for you to talk to someone. Email me at jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us.
D-block: Hannah B, Meghan C, Alyssa D, Liz F, Lucy F, Michael H, Lucy M, Ryan O, Ali O, Rose P, Alison P, Jacqueline S
F-block: Britta A, Jaclyn A, Emily C, Brian H, Caitlin H, Sarah J, Courtland K, Kat L, Megan L, Abby L, Allie L, Michael M, Kaylie M, Naomi N, Isabel P, Alex R, Chloe R, Kyle S, Alex T, Alyssa Z
2. Visit the class blog for this year's AP English students. Click here. On the blog for you'll find assignments and commentaries, and by clicking on the "comments" you'll also find student work. Most of the comments are thoughtful but informal responses to the literature we study. If you like what you see the course is for you.
3. Send me an email (jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us) with questions, concerns, worries, etc. I'll respond quickly.
4. Visit me in room 2207. I'm available before school, after school, and during second lunch. Stop by with any questions.
Later in the spring of 2009 we'll meet to talk about the summer work, which will also be posted on this blog (your blog), and to meet each other.
1. Talk to current students who are taking the course. Here are the names and first initials of those students. If you are not already acquainted with any of these members of the varsity English team then I can arrange for you to talk to someone. Email me at jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us.
D-block: Hannah B, Meghan C, Alyssa D, Liz F, Lucy F, Michael H, Lucy M, Ryan O, Ali O, Rose P, Alison P, Jacqueline S
F-block: Britta A, Jaclyn A, Emily C, Brian H, Caitlin H, Sarah J, Courtland K, Kat L, Megan L, Abby L, Allie L, Michael M, Kaylie M, Naomi N, Isabel P, Alex R, Chloe R, Kyle S, Alex T, Alyssa Z
2. Visit the class blog for this year's AP English students. Click here. On the blog for you'll find assignments and commentaries, and by clicking on the "comments" you'll also find student work. Most of the comments are thoughtful but informal responses to the literature we study. If you like what you see the course is for you.
3. Send me an email (jcook@gloucester.k12.ma.us) with questions, concerns, worries, etc. I'll respond quickly.
4. Visit me in room 2207. I'm available before school, after school, and during second lunch. Stop by with any questions.
Later in the spring of 2009 we'll meet to talk about the summer work, which will also be posted on this blog (your blog), and to meet each other.
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