Revisiting the Final for the Final Time: January 18, 2018

Focus: In terms of preparing for the test, what do I need to focus on this semester?

1. Warming up by meeting Academic Vocabulary, Unit 2!

2. Revisiting the final section of the Multiple Choice part of the midterm

• Untangling complex sentences
• Paraphrasing quatrain by quatrain
• BONUS: Scan the heck out of this thing. Two lines have an extra syllable. Look at the line that follow these. What might the purpose of the extra syllable be?
• Seeking the shift and the tone
• Working your way towards the best answer (via speed dating)

3. Returning your Beloved essays with the official rubric (and sample essays for you to peruse if needed)

4. Calculating your actual score using this website: http://appass.com/calculators/englishliterature

PLEASE WRITE YOUR ESTIMATED OVERALL SCORE AT THE TOP OF YOUR SCANTRON AND RETURN IT TO ME.

HW:
1. For Friday: Read Chapters 5 and 6 of Invisible Man for Socratic on Friday; prepare your reading ticket.

2. Ongoing: Keeping scrolling through this week's new Academic Vocabulary and last week's.

Variations on the Battle Royal: January 17, 2018

Focus: How are these early chapters variations on Chapter 1's Battle Royal?

1. Warming up with your first Academic Vocabulary quiz

2. Enjoying our second Socratic on Invisible Man: Chapters 2-4

3. Wrapping up with epiphanies, questions, and kudos

HW:
1. For tomorrow: Bring back all of your midterm materials (scantron, MC, essay prompts).

2. For Friday: Read Chapters 5 and 6 of Invisible Man for Socratic on Friday; prepare your reading ticket.

Camping with Dad: January 16, 2018

Focus: What are we doing well in our prose timed writings, and how can we improve?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Recapping the technique of the close reading

3. In Question #2: Johnny Got His Gun, considering the first inch, the last inch, and the concrete details and devices in between; which places are richest for close readings?

4. Perusing two sample essays on Q2, then using the reflective rubric to peer edit each other's timed writings

HW:
1. For tomorrow: Remember that tomorrow is your first, tiny assessment on Academic Vocabulary, Set 1. Use Quizlet to review (right before you go to bed if possible).

2. For tomorrow: Read Chapters 2, 3, and 4 in Invisible Man and prepare your Socratic ticket for tomorrow's discussion. Because class is short tomorrow, we will dive right into it with minimal warming up.

3. For Thursday: Bring back all of your midterm materials (scantron, MC, essay prompts).

False Gold: January 12, 2018

Focus: What is the function of the battle royal in Invisible Man?

1. Warming up with Academic Character reminders and goals

2. Collecting objects from the Prologue and Chapter 1

• Skim through the Prologue and Chapter 1 and make a quick list of important objects.

• Jot down (or highlight) an intriguing quotation to describe each one.

• With a partner, try to find connections between the objects...what do they have in common? Can you find any connections between these objects and the stereotypes from Ethnic Notions?

3. Enjoying our first Socratic seminar of 2018: The Prologue and Chapter 1 of Invisible Man

4. Wrapping up with kudos, epiphanies, and lingering questions

HW:
1. For Wednesday, please read Chapters 2, 3, and 4 in Invisible Man and create a reading ticket. Even though it's Wednesday, we will be having a Socratic since we don't have school on Monday. It's 70 pages; I recommend spending three nights on it (one chapter a night).

2. For Friday, please read Chapters 5 and 6 and create a reading ticket for Socratic.

3. Peruse Academic Vocabulary, Unit 1; we will have our first assessment next Wednesday.

Dangerous Stereotypes: January 11, 2018

Focus: What stereotypes dictate the narrator's world in Invisible Man?

1. Warming up with Academic Vocabulary, Unit 1 (5-10 minutes)

2. Viewing part of Ethnic Notions to gain an understanding of the danger and depth of black stereotypes

• Please use the handout given out in class (and also linked HERE) to help you sort through, understand, and apply the stereotypes presented in Ethnic Notions

3. Discussing these stereotypes in small groups and connecting them back to Tuesday's freewriting:

In the first half of the 20th century, how do racial stereotypes factor in to the following questions?

• What does it mean to be invisible? 
• In our society, who's invisible? Who's visible?
• In what ways is invisibility be empowering?
• In what ways is invisibility disempowering?
• Why is important to still be talking about (in)visibility right now, in 2018?

4. Briefly addressing your new reading ticket possibilities

HW:
1. Spend a few minutes perusing Academic Vocabulary, Unit 1.

2. Read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Invisible Man by Friday; prepare your first reading ticket for Friday's Socratic.

• Overview of Socratic expectations and grading method
• Reading ticket possibilities

Finding the Right Match: January 10, 2018

Focus: What can we expect of the poetry multiple choice section on the AP Literature exam?

1. Warming up with the course syllabus and copies of Invisible Man

2. Transferring your MC responses and scoring each section

• Circling the answers you initially chose and giving me back your scantrons
• Offering you a few thoughts about your MC scores

3. Revisiting "The Albuquerque Graveyard" with a little speed dating (Find the right match for you...wait, no.  Find the right match for each M.C. question)

• Gathering quick background info from the title and the blurb at the end

• Rereading the poem with a focus on the space and the speaker: What kind of journey is the speaker on here?

• Decoding the questions: What types of questions can you expect here?

• Taking on the vocabulary in question #25

• Working around the vocabulary in question #26

• Comparing answers for questions #27-34

4. Meeting your first unit of Academic Vocabulary!

• How it works: Academic Vocabulary overview
• Experimenting with your first set of words

5. Offering you a few new reading ticket possibilities for Invisible Man

HW:
1. Return your signed class syllabus by Thursday, January 11.

2. Strongly consider purchasing your own copy of Ellison's Invisible Man. (Also, if you still have a copy of Beloved, please turn it in this week.)

3. Read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Invisible Man by Friday; prepare your first reading ticket for Friday's Socratic.

• Overview of Socratic expectations and grading method
• Reading ticket possibilities

2017 Is ECHOING...Echoing...echoing: January 9, 2018

Focus: How does poetic form contribute meaning?  In other words, how is order brought to chaos?

1. Warming up with three good things and a little Greek mythology: The Myth of Echo (read from Book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses)

• What did you learn about the nature of an echo?

2. Discussing "An Echo Sonnet: To an Empty Page" as a class

a. What important information can you garner from the poem's title?

b. Read through the poem with the echo and without the echo (as though it were a traditional sonnet). How would you characterize the Voice? How would you characterize the Echo?

c. Where did you section the poem? How did you figure it out? What's each section about?

d. Think of the poetic devices we've studied so far (imagery, diction, extended metaphor, alliteration, assonance, euphony, cacophony, rhyme, shift words, punctuation, syntax, point of view, enjambment...); which ones play an important role in this poem?  What did they unlock for you?

3. Exploring the rubric and two sample essays to reflect on your own writing

4. Perusing this semester's course syllabus and upcoming items; distributing Invisible Man

5. Enjoying a little freewriting on the book's title:

• What does it mean to be invisible?
• In our society, who's invisible? Who's visible?
• In what ways is invisibility be empowering?
• In what ways is invisibility disempowering?
• How visible are you?
• Why is important to be talking about (in)visibility right now, in 2018?

HW:
1. Return your signed class syllabus by Thursday, January 11.

2. Strongly consider purchasing your own copy of Ellison's Invisible Man.

3. Read the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Invisible Man by Friday; prepare your first reading ticket for Friday's Socratic.

• Overview of Socratic expectations and grading method
• Reading ticket possibilities