Review: December 15, 2017

Focus: How do we prepare for the A.P. Lit test?

1. Warming up with a round of Dear Ms. Leclaire...

2. Click here to troubleshoot your A.P. Lit issues with some A.P. Lit exam readers

3. Walking through a sample full-length A.P. Lit test together

• Finding patterns and secret information
• Weeding out terms you don't know / understand
• Talking strategy

HW:
Remember that your final is on Wednesday, December 20 from 11:30 am to about 3:00 pm. You will need a pencil, a blue or black pen, and notebook paper.

Ideas for preparation:

• Look carefully through all the timed writings you've done this semester.
• Use Quizlet to review terms.
• Revisit your Socratic tickets on Beloved, as well as your blogs, your classmates' blogs, and the Socratic scribing.
• Look back through the sample multiple choice we've done.
• Skim through your composition notebook.
• Get a good night's sleep and eat breakfast in the morning.

Resolution: December 14, 2017

Focus: What lingering questions and loose ends need to be resolved?

1. Warming up with Dear Ms. Leclaire...

• What are you wondering about the A.P. Literature test?

2. Enjoying the last round of poetry projects

3. Finish composing your Beloved blogs; look over these Question 3 Prompts from the last 35 years and consider which ones might apply to Beloved

• We will open class tomorrow by commenting on each other's Beloved blogs, so please make sure yours is published before class.

HW:

1. For tomorrow: Beloved blog due, along with all make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks. I cannot accept work after this date because I won't have time to grade it. 

2. Remember that your final is on Wednesday, December 20 from 11:30 am to about 3:00 pm. You will need a pencil, a blue or black pen, and notebook paper.

Experiencing Poetry, Part 2: December 13, 2017

Focus: How does experiencing poetry help you understand it on a different level?

1. Warming up with advice from side of the room to the other; turning in papers

2. Enjoying poetry projects with follow-up questions and index card feedback

HW:

1. For next Friday, December 15: Beloved blog due, along with all make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks. I cannot accept work after this date because I won't have time to grade it.

2. Remember that your final is on Wednesday, December 20 from 11:30 am to about 3:00 pm. You will need a pencil, a blue or black pen, and notebook paper.

Experiencing Poetry: December 12, 2017

Focus: What can we learn about poetry from each other's creative projects?

1. Warming up by enjoying three poetry projects with follow-up questions and index card feedback

2. Watching a brief interview with Toni Morrison and collecting soundbites

3. Synthesizing ideas about Beloved by composing your big questions blogs

HW for the rest of the semester:

1. For today and Wednesday: Finish your paper/project. Since it's the end of the semester, remember that there will not be an opportunity for extensions or revisions. 

• Project People: Review the presentation guidelines and BRING A PRINTED COPY OF YOUR SELF-DESIGNED RUBRIC.

• Paper People: Use the Monday Night Checklist; make sure it's stapled to the front of your essay.

2. For Wednesday and/or Thursday: Bring your laptops and Beloved books to class so that you can compose your final Big Question Blog of the semester. 

3. For next Friday, December 15: Beloved blog due, along with all make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks. I cannot accept work after this date because I won't have time to grade it.

4. Remember that your final is on Wednesday, December 20 from 11:30 am to about 3:00 pm. You will need a pencil, a blue or black pen, and notebook paper.

This Is Not a Story To Pass On: December 11, 2017

Focus: How do the final pages of Beloved start to heal its wounds?

1. Warming up with happy Monday thoughts

2. Rereading the last few pages of Beloved together

• Find phrases and lines that bring closure or resolution to a "wound" in Beloved that has affected one or more of the characters.

• What closure or resolution does it bring? How?

• What is still left open?

3. Socratic seminar: The ending of Beloved

4. Wrapping up with kudos, questions, and epiphanies

HW for the rest of the semester:

1. For Tuesday and Wednesday: Finish your paper/project. Since it's the end of the semester, remember that there will not be an opportunity for extensions or revisions. 

• Project People: Review the presentation guidelines.
• Paper People: Use the Monday Night Checklist; make sure it's stapled to the front of your essay.

2. For next Friday, December 15: Beloved blog due, along with all make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks. I cannot accept work after this date because I won't have time to grade it.

3. Remember that your final is on Wednesday, December 20 from 11:30 am to about 3:00 pm. You will need a pencil, a blue or black pen, and notebook paper.

But Not Today: December 8, 2017

Focus: What is starting to shift inside and outside of 124, and why?

PROJECT PEOPLE: Please bring me a printed copy of your poem today or Monday at the latest. It needs to have your name, the poet's name, and the poem's title on it.

1. Enjoying a few rounds of Socratic ticket musical chairs

2. Indulging in a quick close reading about numbers:

"So thirty women made up that company and walked slowly, slowly toward 124.
It was three in the afternoon on a Friday..."

3. Enjoying our penultimate fishbowl on Beloved: End of Part 2, beginning of Part 3

4. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos


HW for the rest of the semester:

1. Ongoing: Continue working on your paper/project. Since it's the end of the semester, remember that there will not be an opportunity for extensions or revisions.

2. For Friday: Finish Part 2 and read Chapter 1 in Part 3; complete and print a reading ticket (I challenge you to try something new since there are only two reading assignments left). We will start Friday with Socratic musical chairs. 

3. For Monday: FINISH BELOVED and complete your final reading ticket for your final Socratic of the semester; our goal is 100%participation.

4. December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due. Please not that you will NOT be able to revise these because you won't get them back until your final.

5. For next Friday, December 15: Beloved blog due, along with all make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks. I cannot accept work after this date because I won't have time to grade it.

Stronger Together: December 7, 2017

Focus: How can we collaborate to become stronger answer choosers?

1. Warming up with "Score My A.P. Test" to get a realistic sense of your multiple choice goals

2. Reading a sample prose section (with a focus on which two inches)

3. Defending each answer with your body: MC stations

HW for the rest of the semester:

1. Ongoing: Continue working on your paper/project. Since it's the end of the semester, remember that there will not be an opportunity for extensions or revisions.

2. For Friday: Finish Part 2 and read Chapter 1 in Part 3; complete and print a reading ticket (I challenge you to try something new since there are only two reading assignments left). We will start Friday with Socratic musical chairs. 

3. For Monday: FINISH BELOVED and complete your final reading ticket for your final Socratic of the semester; our goal is 100%participation.

4. December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due. Please not that you will NOT be able to revise these because you won't get them back until your final.

5. For next Friday, December 15: Beloved blog due, along with all make-up work / revisions from the past 6 weeks. I cannot accept work after this date because I won't have time to grade it.

Make It Work: December 6, 2017

Focus: How can we turn ideas and outlines into drafts and projects?

PLC/Tribe: Shortened Class

1. Warming up with one quick note to the project people about designing their own rubrics and reviewing the presentation guidelines

2. Working, working, working (and conferencing)

3. Wrapping up by working some more

HW:
1. Ongoing: Continue working on your paper/project. Since it's the end of the semester, remember that there will not be an opportunity for extensions or revisions.

2. For Friday: Finish Part 2 and read Chapter 1 in Part 3; complete and print a reading ticket (I challenge you to try something new since there are only two reading assignments left). We will start Friday with Socratic musical chairs. OUR GOAL IS 100% PARTICIPATION ON FRI AND MON.

Heads-up! December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due. Please not that you will NOT be able to revise these because you won't get them back until your final.

I Hope You Like Enjambing, Too: December 5, 2017

Focus: How do we apply our poetry reading skills to multiple choice questions?

1. Warming up with a mini lesson on enjambment with our good friends Langston Hughes and e.e.cummings

2. Trying out a little end-stopped poetry MC

• Mentally prepping: What kinds of questions are you going to see? 

• What kinds of strategies are you going to use?

• We are going to grade and record this set, so please make sure you answer every question.

3. Speed dating with your MC answers

HW:
1. For today: E-mail me your thesis if you're a paper person; submit your proposal if you're a project person. You may also conference with me in lieu of either of these.

2. Wednesday will be a paper/project work day. 

3. For Friday: Finish Part 2 and read Chapter 1 in Part 3; complete and print a reading ticket (I challenge you to try something new since there are only two reading assignments left). We will start Friday with Socratic musical chairs.

Heads-up! December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due. Please not that you will NOT be able to revise these because you won't get them back until your final.

Narrative Voices: December 4, 2017

Focus: For what purpose does Morrison shift her narrative voice?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Watching "Uprooted" (in response to your questions about Stamp Paid and the red ribbon)

• What does this video make you wonder?

• What does it help you understand about the Reconstruction Era that you didn't understand before?

• What does it help you understand about Beloved and/or Morrison's purpose in writing it? 

3. Trying out a "Almost Silent" Socratic by listening to Toni Morrison read the three, first-person narratives in Part 2, Chapters 2-5 (Audiobook: Section 13; 8:45:14)

• How does Morrison use voices (her physical voice and her narrative voices) to portray something central to each female character?

• Every now and then, pause and just listen. Listen until you hear something you haven't really heard before...then type.

4. Wrapping up with epiphanies, questions, and kudos

HW:
1. For Tuesday: E-mail me your thesis if you're a paper person; submit your proposal if you're a project person. You may also conference with me in lieu of either of these.

2. Wednesday will be a paper/project work day. 

3. For Friday: Finish Part 2 and read Chapter 1 in Part 3; complete and print a reading ticket (I challenge you to try something new since there are only two reading assignments left). We will start Friday with Socratic musical chairs.

Heads-up! December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due. Please not that you will NOT be able to revise these because you won't get them back until your final.

Remembering, Disremembering, and Unaccounting For: December 1, 2017

Focus: How is Morrison experimenting with diction and structure, and why?

1. Warming up with wordplay, Toni Morrison style:

Memory

Rememory

Disremember

Unaccounted

re-

a prefix...used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate 
repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or  backward motion

dis-

a Latin prefix meaning “apart,” “asunder,” “away,” “utterly,” or having a     negative, or  reversing force 

un-

a prefix meaning “not,” freely used as an English formative, giving negative or opposite force 

(thank you, dictionary.com, for the above definitions)

What do these words have in common?

What is the difference between these words?

How do they fit Sethe's journey? Paul D's? Denver's? Beloved's?

2. Nailing down Beloved's elusive events into a nicely concrete timeline

Step 1: Take 5 notecards, rip them neatly in half so they're smaller, and write a specific event from Parts 1 and 2 on each. If you're good at math, you'll notice that you need ten events total.

Step 2: Manipulate them into you think you have them roughly in chronological order (in other words, the order in which they actually happened).

Step 3: Create a timeline with as many specific dates as possible. 

Step 4: It would have been significantly easier for Morrison to write the book in chronological order or to simply include a few flashbacks. How would you describe the order/structure of this book?  What might Morrison be up to here? How does the structure of the book relate to the prefix lesson we enjoyed at the beginning of class?

3. Indulging in Socratic on Beloved, Part 2: Chapter 1

HW:
1. For Monday: Read the most challenging chapters in the entire novel, which are Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 in Part 2. An idea for your reading ticket (though not a requirement): Try conducting an interview with Sethe, Denver, or Beloved.

2. For Tuesday: E-mail me your thesis if you're a paper person; submit your proposal if you're a project person. You may also conference with me in lieu of either of these.

Heads-up! December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due. Please not that you will NOT be able to revise these because you won't get them back until your final.