You Gotta Work, Work, Work, Work: November 30, 2017

Focus: How do we begin our poetry papers and projects?

1. Warming up with a little poetry project inspiration from Andy Goldsworthy

(Click HERE for the sample film we watched before break.)


2. Touching base briefly with poetry paper people:

• Enjoy two new freedoms: Background and structure

• Use the thesis workshop; e-mail me your thesis (any outlining/drafting) by Tuesday.

• Check out the sample essay.

3. Conferencing with poetry project people

• Using the proposal as your starting place; submit this or conference with me by Tuesday.

• Considering the role the presentation will play in your project (check out "Your God" as an example).

4. Getting to work, work, work, work

HW:
1. For tomorrow (Dec 1): Finish Chapter 1 in Part 2 and complete a reading ticket for Socratic. Your ticket can encompass the entire chapter or focus on the second half--whatever works for you. Here's a challenge if you need one: Try focusing on a minor character.

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.

Quilting Spaces Together: November 29, 2017

Focus: How does Morrison use physical spaces to quilt together larger meanings?

1. Warming up: Trying out a few alternative interpretations of Beloved

a. Beloved is the ghost of Sethe's murdered child.

b. Beloved is an actual girl, not a ghost; until her escape, she was long abused by white men.  Sethe welcomes her as own her child to ease her own guilt and to fill the hole left behind by the true Beloved.

c. Beloved is a symbol of any and every escaped slave.

d. Beloved is a vampire.

(If you recall, Foster states that vampires are about "selfishness, exploitation, a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people...the figure of the cannibal, the vampire, the succubus, the spook announces itself again and again where someone grows in strength by weakening someone else" [16, 21]).

2. Delineating Morrison's spaces

The shed

The stairs

The Ohio River

124

The keeping room

The kitchen

First, draw your space. Based on Morrison's descriptions, what shape does this space take in your mind?

Next, label your space. Using Morrison's language, identify key aspects of your space (objects, colors, movements, people, body parts, sounds, smells, etc).

Lastly, analyze your space. Who's empowered in this space? Who's disempowered? What has shifted in this space, and what has stayed the same. So far, what is the significance of your space to the novel as a whole?

3. Quilting together your spaces to find the "cross stitches"


HW:
1. Thursday will be a poetry paper/project work day. Bring in any materials you may need.

2. For Friday (Dec 1): Finish Chapter 1 in Part 2 and complete a reading ticket for Socratic. Your ticket can encompass the entire chapter or focus on the second half--whatever works for you. Here's a challenge if you need one: Try focusing on a minor character.

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.

The Metacognitive: November 28

Focus: How can you use metacognition to find your way into a poem?

1. Warming up with your ears and a mini lesson on exact rhyme vs. slant rhyme

• Other sound devices to consider today: Euphony, cacophony, meter, double meanings (puns), alliteration, assonance

2. Performing a metacognitive on your poems

Reminders:

• Please place this in your shared folder and label it "__________ (your last name) November Metacognition)"

• Include a copy of the poem at the TOP of your document; remember to include the author. If you're handwriting, please print a copy and staple it to the front of your metacognitive.

• Include an MLA heading.

HW:
1. For tomorrow (Nov 29): [ADJUSTMENT] Please read the first half of Chapter 1 in Part 2 of Beloved. No reading ticket necessary.

2. Thursday will be a poetry paper/project work day. Bring in any materials you may need.

3. For Friday (Dec 1): Finish Chapter 1 in Part 2 and complete a reading ticket for Socratic. Your ticket can encompass the entire chapter or focus on the second half--whatever works for you. Here's a challenge if you need one: Try focusing on a minor character.

New date! December 12-13: Poetry papers and project are due.

Sixty Million and More: November 27, 2017

Focus: What does Beloved's violence represent on a metaphorical level?

1. Warming up with three good things and our old friend, Foster:

"If we only understand Beloved on the surface level, Sethe's act of killing her daughter becomes so repugnant that sympathy for her is nearly impossible. If we lived next to her, for instance, one of us would have to move. But her action carries symbolic significance; we understand it not only as the literal action of a single, momentarily deranged woman but as an action that speaks for the experience of a face at a certain horrific moment in history, as a gesture explained by whip scars on her back that take the form of a tree, as the product of the sort of terrible choice that only characters in our great mythic stories--a Jocasta, a Dido, a Medea--are driven to make. Sethe isn't a mere woman next door but a mythic creature, one of the great tragic heroines."  (Foster 91)

Take a look at the shifts in point of view in Chapters 16, 17 and 18.

• How would you describe the point of view(s) in each chapter?

• Why do you think Morrison structures it this way?  What's the purpose of each chapter?

• Other ways of thinking about the above question: Why not just tell the story from Sethe's point of view? How is the story being filtered?

• How does the point of view affect the way you perceive Sethe? Does your perception shift throughout these chapters? Do you agree with Foster that Sethe comes across as a great tragic heroine?

2. Engaging in a Socratic seminar on Beloved, Chapters 16-18

3. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies and kudos

HW:
1. For tomorrow (Nov 28): Bring in a hard (or electronic) copy of the poem you've chosen for your paper/project. You will write your metacognitive in class this day.

2. For Wednesday (Nov 29): [ADJUSTMENT] Please read the first half of Chapter 1 in Part 2 of Beloved. No reading ticket necessary.

3. For Friday (Dec 1): Finish Chapter 1 in Part 2 and complete a reading ticket for Socratic. Your ticket can encompass the entire chapter or focus on the second half--whatever works for you. Here's a challenge if you need one: Try focusing on a minor character.

Heads-up! December 6-7: Poetry papers and project are due.

These Hands Belong to Me: November 17, 2017

Focus: How do Baby Suggs and Beloved serve as foils, and for what purpose(s)?

1. Warming up on the whiteboards: Baby Suggs and Beloved as foils

2. Enjoying an abbreviated Socratic on Beloved, Chapters 13-15

3. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos

4. Performing a close reading on the initial epigraph, the first inch, and the last inch of the roughest chapter in the book: Chapter 16 and predicting what this chapter is about

Note: The incident in this chapter (as well as much of this novel) is based on the true and tragic story of Margaret Garner. Click HERE to read about her.

HW:
1. For next Monday (Nov 27): [ADJUSTMENT] Please read through the end of Part I (Chapters 16, 17, and 18) and complete your Socratic ticket. Chapter 16 is ROUGH. See Foster's chapter on violence if you need help.

2. For next Tuesday (Nov 28): Bring in a hard (or electronic) copy of the poem you've chosen for your paper/project. You will write your metacognitive in class this day.

3. For next Wednesday (Nov 29): [ADJUSTMENT] Please read the first half of Chapter 1 in Part 2 of Beloved. No reading ticket necessary.

Heads-up! December 6-7: Poetry papers and project are due.

Thursday Prose Workshop: November 16, 2017

Focus: What are we doing well in our timed writings, and what do we need to work on?

1. Warming up with a slowed-down, circle-the-wagon metacognition of The Street

2. Introducing you to my new favorite thing: The Single Point Rubric; using the rubric to address a few sample essays

3. Peer editing your introductions, structure, and evidence using the rubric for guidance

4. Sending me a "Dear Ms. Leclaire" e-mail with your timed writing dilemmas

HW:
1. For tomorrow: Please read Chapters 13, 14 and 15 in Beloved and complete your reading ticket for Socratic

2. For next Monday (Nov 27): [ADJUSTMENT] Please read through the end of Part I (Chapters 16, 17, and 18) and complete your Socratic ticket. 

3. For next Tuesday (Nov 28): Bring in a hard copy of the poem you've chosen for your paper/project. You will write your metacognitive in class this day.

4. For next Wednesday (Nov 29): [ADJUSTMENT] Please read the first half of Chapter 1 in Part 2 of Beloved. No reading ticket necessary.

Heads-up! December 6-7: Poetry papers and project are due.

The Choice Is Yours: November 15, 2017

Focus: What choices do we need to make to begin our poetry papers and projects?

1. Warming up with Choice #1: Project vs. paper

Poetry PAPER:

• Overview
• Sample

Poetry PROJECT:

• Overview 
• Presentation guidelines
• Proposal and student-generated rubric
• Sample

2. Slowing down with Choice #2: Old vs. new (1900 is our pivot point)

3. Enjoying old-school and new-school approaches to discovering poetry and TAKING A FIELD TRIP!

Old School:
Books and anthologies

New School:
Contemporary literary journals
Poetry In Voice (it's like Spotify, but for poems)

HW:
1. For tomorrow: Please read Chapters 13, 14 and 15 and complete your reading ticket.

2. For next Tuesday (Nov 28) : Finalize your poem choice for the poetry paper/project; you will perform a metacognitive on your poem that day. If you're borrowing one of my literary journals, please make a copy of your poem and return the journal to me.

3. NOTE: I left the three most important chapters off our Beloved bookmark for reasons unknown. Here is the slightly adjusted schedule for the week after Thanksgiving:

• Please read through the end of Part 1 for Monday, Nov. 27; complete your reading ticket.
• Read through the 1st half of Part 2, Chapter 1 for Wednesday, Nov. 28 (no reading ticket).
• Read through the rest of Part 2, Chapter 1 for Friday, Nov. 30; complete your reading ticket.

4. If you were absent yesterday, please find 40 minutes to complete the timed writing by Thursday so that you can participate in workshop.

Tuesday Writing: November 14, 2017

Focus: How can we use timed writing to unpack prose?

1. Warming up with an introduction to introductions

• Exploring the strengths and weakness of a few sample introductions

• Getting advice from an A.P. Lit exam reader

2. Writing your first prose-based timed essay

• Remember to slow down as you read the first inch and the last inch.

HW:
1. Please read Chapters 13, 14 and 15 and complete your reading ticket for Socratic on Friday.

2. If you are absent today, please find 40 minutes to complete the timed writing by Thursday so that you can participate in workshop.

3. If you are absent on Friday, please bring your reading ticket with you on Thursday or Monday after break; be sure to check the scribing on the blog to see what you missed.

The Clearing: November 13, 2017

Focus: For what purposes might Toni Morrison use magical realism?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Offering you the film version of the Clearing scene with Baby Suggs

a. Close reading: What specific elements in this scene interest you?

b. Zooming out a little: What are the qualities and purposes of this space? Why does Morrison name it "the Clearing"? Who used to govern this space? Who governs it now? What does this shift mean?

c. Considering broader themes: In the larger sense of the novel so far, what purposes might this scene serve? What do you think Morrison wants us to understand better or differently (about slavery? memory? pain? freedom? ownership?)?

3. Discussing Chapters 9-12 in Beloved in a silent Socratic



4. Wrapping up with each group's best questions, epiphanies, and kudos

HW:
1. Please read Chapters 13, 14 and 15 and complete your reading ticket for Socratic on Friday.

2. If you are absent on Tuesday, please find 40 minutes to complete the timed writing by Thursday so that you can participate in workshop.

3. If you are absent on Friday, please bring your reading ticket with you on Thursday or Monday after break; be sure to check the scribing on the blog to see what you missed.

Life Marks All Who Pass Through It: November 10, 2017

Focus: Who/what is Beloved?

1. Warming up with two quick rounds of Socratic ticket musical chairs

2. Considering the following: How is Beloved marked?

• What does our friend, Thomas Foster (from How To Read Literature...) have to say about marks?

• "...character markings stand as indicators of the damage life inflicts...[characters] bear signs illustrating the way life marks all who pass through it." (195)

• Find two or three good passages illustrating how Beloved is marked.  What might these marks signify? 

3. Discussing Chapters 5 through 8 of Beloved, Socratic style

4. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos

HW:
Read Chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12 for Monday. If you decide to try a redacted poem, a found poem, or a drawing, please include a reflection with your art exploring what new understanding of the reading you gained from it.

Redacting: November 9, 2017

Focus: How can we use the process of redacting to better understand a text?

1. Warming up with the myth of the happy slave

• What stands out to you in each image?

• What specific myth of slavery does each image propagate, and for what purpose?

• For each slide, find one line from Beloved that undoes the myth.

2. Discovering the method and purpose of the redaction poem (and looking at two of your examples)

https://tychogirl.wordpress.com/tag/poetry/page/24/

• Using the redaction poem to understand a slave narrative

• Trying out a redaction poem on a page from Chapters 1-4 of Beloved

3. Sharing and discussing your redaction poems in a gallery walk

• What do the redaction poems help you understand better or differently?

HW:
For tomorrow:

• Please read Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Beloved. Complete your next reading ticket following the new Socratic ticket guidelines. If you'd like more of a focus, trying focusing your ticket on one word you've taken notice of the in the novel so far (perhaps because it's repeated, or because Morrison's using it in a new way).

• All revisions, make-up work, etc. from the past 6 weeks is due by Friday, Nov 10.

Old and New: November 8, 2017

Focus: How do we approach prose passages in the MC section of the AP Lit test?

Please turn in printed copies of your sonnet essays with the checklist initialed and stapled to the top by 3:00 pm today.

1. Warming up with your 12-week literary term review on www.quizlet.com:

• 1st 6 weeks
• 2nd 6 weeks

2. Revisiting yesterday's prose passage by coding the types of questions and teaching each other how to figure out the tough ones

3. Trying out an older prose passage with a focus on the first inch and the last inch

HW:
1. For today: Finish and PRINT your sonnet essay (hard copy due by 3:00 pm Wednesday). Stop by for a conference if you'd like some help. Initial the checklist and staple it to the top.

2. For Friday:

• Please read Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Beloved. Complete your next reading ticket following the new Socratic ticket guidelines. If you'd like more of a focus, trying focusing your ticket on one word you've taken notice of the in the novel so far (perhaps because it's repeated, or because Morrison's using it in a new way).

• All revisions, make-up work, etc. from the past 6 weeks is due by Friday, Nov 10.

So, There's Prose on the Test, Too: November 7, 2017

Focus: How do we read prose for the actual A.P. Literature test?

1. Warming up with the Night-Before Checklist

2. Trying out just the first inch and the last inch with chapters from Beloved

3. Reading "Janie starched her face..." with some MC questions

4. Speed dating with your MC responses

HW:
1. For yesterday: Make sure your Henry IV blog is posted. Bring your book to turn in.

2. For tomorrow: Finish and PRINT your sonnet essay (hard copy due by 3:00 pm Wednesday). Stop by for a conference if you'd like some help. Initial the checklist and staple it to the top.

2. For Friday:

• Please read Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Beloved. Complete your next reading ticket following the new Socratic ticket guidelines. If you'd like more of a focus, trying focusing your ticket on one word you've taken notice of the in the novel so far (perhaps because it's repeated, or because Morrison's using it in a new way).

• All revisions, make-up work, etc. from the past 6 weeks is due by Friday, Nov 10.

Getting into Character: November 6, 2017

Focus: How can we better understand the characters in Beloved?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Getting to know a character better by responding to some creative writing prompts

3. Unpacking Chapters 2, 3, and 4 in our first Beloved Socratic seminar (Ms. Leclaire speaks by invite only)

4. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos

HW:
1. For today: Make sure your Henry IV blog is posted. Bring your book to turn in.

2. For Wednesday: Finish and PRINT your sonnet essay (hard copy due by 3:00 pm Wednesday). Stop by for a conference if you'd like some help. Initial each item on the Night-Before Checklist and staple it to the top.

2. For Friday:

• Please read Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Beloved. Complete your next reading ticket following the new Socratic ticket guidelines. If you'd like more of a focus, trying focusing your ticket on one word you've taken notice of the in the novel so far (perhaps because it's repeated, or because Morrison's using it in a new way).

• All revisions, make-up work, etc. from the past 6 weeks is due by Friday, Nov 10.

Who/What is Beloved? November 3, 2017

Focus: How do we interpret the baby ghost in Beloved?

1. Warming up by generating questions about characters, plot, setting, and structure

2. Discussing your questions in a clockwork discussions

3. Offering you an overview of  Socratic tickets; if you're not quite sure where to start, try focusing your first ticket on the character who intrigues you the most

4. Wrapping up by reading Chapter 2

HW:
1. For Monday:

• Read Chapters 3, 4, and 5 in Beloved; create a Socratic reading ticket following our new guidelines.

• Finish your Henry IV big question blog; bring your book to turn in.

2. For Wednesday: Continue working on your sonnet essay; final draft is due by 3:00 pm on November 8. It must be PRINTED.

3. For Friday: All revisions, make-up work, etc. from the past 6 weeks is due by Friday, Nov 10.

Haunted: November 2, 2017

Focus: How do we enter the disturbingly haunted world of Beloved?

1. Warming up with high velocity freewriting on where we're journeying to in Beloved

(Click here for the music.)

2. Facing some difficult images and reading some important lines to prepare for Beloved

3. Entering 124 together

HW:
1. Please finish Chapters 1 and 2 for class tomorrow; click HERE for the reading schedule and HERE for the overview of Socratic tickets (they're also linked to the website). You only need to read tonight; you will compose your first ticket in class on Friday.

2. Finish your Henry IV Big Question Blog post by Monday, November 6 at the latest. Turn in your book when you're done with it.

3. All make-up work, revisions, etc. from the past 6 weeks due next Friday, November 10.

Getting Closer to Shakespeare: November 1, 2017

Focus: How do we glean complexity from close readings?

1. Warming up with a circle-the-wagon close reading of King Richard's speech

2. Offering you a sample close reading from one of your sonnet drafts

3. Composing a partial timed writing:

• Brainstorming
• Introduction: Try using it to briefly summarize the speech's key points.
• Outlining
• Thesis
• Topic sentences 
• 2-4 quotations you'd use in EACH body paragraph
• Close reading of one passage (part of a line; no longer than two lines)

HW:
1. Finish composing your Henry IV blog by Friday, November 3.

2. Continue working on editing your sonnet draft (PRINTED FINAL DRAFT due Wednesday, November 8).

3. All make-up work, revisions, etc from the past 6 weeks is due Friday, November 10.

4. If you own your own copy of Beloved, please start bringing it to class tomorrow.