The Myth of Sisyphus: April 11, 2018

Focus: How is life sisyphean?

Shortened Class

1. Warming up: Are you an existentialist?

• High velocity writing on a few existentialist quotations: background on existentialism

2. Reading Albert Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus"

As we read, mark up your text in search of the following:

• What is the existentialist hero?
• What is the nature of his struggle?
• What makes him tragic?
• What makes him happy?
• What is the nature of his freedom?

Post-reading discussion questions:

• How are Vladimir and Estragon like Sisyphus? 
• How are they different? How does the absurd hero differ from the existentialist hero?

3. Considering yourself an existential hero (or not)

• What does your mountain consist of? What about your boulder?  Your endless sky?

• What makes you pause at the top, and what do you think of?

• What makes you pause at the bottom, and what do you think of?

• What compels you to push the boulder up the hill once again?

OR

• Go back to Monday's blog and add to the discussion by incorporating some of the background we considered today.

HW:
Continue drafting your culminating essay. Next Wednesday will be a workshop day, and you want to have at least three pages of draft complete by then. If you e-mailed me/Google shared with me your outline, you should have feedback waiting for you on the document.

Final draft due Thursday, April 24 by 3:00 pm.

Still Waiting: April 9, 2018

Focus: What are they waiting for?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Watching brief film clip echoing Friday's performance

• Find one passage (dialogue or stage directions) from what we've read that connects to one of the focus questions.

• Pose a Socratic-style question on that passage on our class blog.

3. Acting out more of Act 1 in Waiting for Godot 

4. Wrapping up with a reply to someone else's blog post

HW:
If you have not yet e-mailed me your culminating essay outline, please do so today.

If you have completed your outline, start composing your essay (final draft due April 24).

We're Waiting: April 6, 2018

Focus: What does it mean to wait?

1. Warming up with "I Am Waiting"

• MMM approach: What strikes you about this poem?

• What does it mean to wait? Does it make you powerful? Vulnerable? Hopeless? Hopeful?

• What are you waiting for?

2. Building a little background knowledge on the Theatre of the Absurd by scanning the play:

• What do you notice about the setting?
• What do you notice about the characters?
• What do you notice about the dialogue?
• Offering you a little more background on the Theatre of the Absurd and Absurdist protagonists

3. Starting to act out Waiting for Godot with focus questions

4. Wrapping up with your first Godot post

HW:
1. Continue working on your outline with the goal of completing it and either e-mailing it to me by the end of the week or coming in for a conference. Click here for the culminating essay timeline.

2. Brief vocabulary assessment on Sets 6, 7, and 8 next Wednesday.

3. The end of 12 weeks is TODAY. All make-up work / revised work from the last 6 weeks is due by then. If you wish to revise your critical review or poetry essay, you must conference with me this week.

Thursday Workshop: April 5, 2018

Focus: How can writing workshop help us improve our timed writing skills?

1. Warming up with a sample Q3 essay

• What do you think the prompt was?
• If you were this person's teacher, what feedback would you give to help him/her?
• What score do you think person received?

2. Identifying your personal goals on the Q3 rubric: Underline the two or three specific sentences on the rubric where you feel you need the most help/feedback.

3. Workshopping your essays in groups of two or three

Round 1: Read through with no comments

Round 2: Intensive focus on self-identified areas of need

* * * Taking a quick break to empower your verbs. * * *

* * * Switch partners: Find someone who has NOT read your book. * * *

Round 3: Editing for style and mechanics

4. Wrapping up with a quick exit ticket on timed writings

HW:
1. Continue working on your outline with the goal of completing it and either e-mailing it to me by the end of the week or coming in for a conference. Click here for the culminating essay timeline.

2. Start hunting for other artifacts you might want to use in your essay...childhood artwork? Diary entries? Letters to Santa? Photos?

3. The end of 12 weeks is Friday, April 6 (the Friday after spring break). All make-up work / revised work from the last 6 weeks is due by then. If you wish to revise your critical review or poetry essay, you must conference with me this week.

Finding the Underlying Structure: April 4, 2018

Focus: How do we structure a lengthy, complex essay?

Shortened class due to lengthened Tribe

1. Warming up with each other's blogging brilliance

• Which book(s) from A.P. Literature will likely make an appearance in your culminating essay?

• Scroll through each other's Big Question Blogs and read others' posts on your book(s). Leave comments on any blogs that are helpful. You can also steal a line or two, but you will need to cite that person as a source.

2. Scrolling through your own brainstorming and color coding any possible patterns.

• Click HERE for Chase's sample brainstorming and color coding.

If you're not finding any patterns, or if you're only finding one or two, you need to keep brainstorming.

3. Using your patterns to form your outline

• Click HERE for Kyle's sample outline.

HW:
1. Continue working on your outline with the goal of completing it and either e-mailing it to me by the end of the week or coming in for a conference. Click here for the culminating essay timeline.

2. Start hunting for other artifacts you might want to use in your essay...childhood artwork? Diary entries? Letters to Santa? Photos?

3. The end of 12 weeks is Friday, April 6 (the Friday after spring break). All make-up work / revised work from the last 6 weeks is due by then. If you wish to revise your critical review or poetry essay, you must conference with me this week.

Writing About Your British Book Club Novels: April 3, 2018

Focus: What can we understand better or differently through the process of writing?

1. Warming up with a recap on Q3 timed writings and an enforced brainstorming on your novel

2. Bustin' a move: Composing a timed writing on your British Book Club novel

HW:
1. If you have not yet finished your Big Question Blog (say, because you were watching basketball or something), take care of that tonight. 

2. Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and book list. FINISH YOUR BRAINSTORMING BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY. We will form outlines in class on Wed.

3. The end of 12 weeks is Friday, April 6 (the Friday after spring break). All make-up work / revised work from the last 6 weeks is due by then. If you wish to revise your critical review or poetry essay, you must conference with me this week.

Big and Small: April 2, 2018

Focus: What are the most significant details from our British novels, and what larger picture do they create?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Reviewing your novels in groups with prep sheets (we did this for East of Eden back in the day and will do these for Beloved and Invisible Man right before the test)

3. Reflecting on your British novels individually with your Big Question Blogs

HW:
1. Finish your Big Question Blog before tomorrow.

2. Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and book list. FINISH YOUR BRAINSTORMING BEFORE CLASS ON WEDNESDAY. We will form outlines in class on Wed.

3. The end of 12 weeks is Friday, April 6 (the Friday after spring break). All make-up work / revised work from the last 6 weeks is due by then. If you wish to revise your critical review or poetry essay, you must conference with me this week.