APEnglish 12: March 14-18, 2011

Greetings APEs!
I am astounded by the calendar! This year is veritably zooming by. We have much left to do before the "big day." AP exams are nigh upon us. One thing to help us prepare is Saturday Session. We have two of those remaining. Be here this Saturday at 10:00 and we'll order pizza for lunch and make it a casual workday. For this session I have planned to practice some multiple choice questions and look at some range finders for several essays. For you to know what graders expect, you'll need to see what scores well and what doesn't. I will remind you that every prompt has two main questions:
What does the passage signify? (This is the BIG question, so don't get so caught up in the other that you forget to address it. I would suggest you answer it up front very precisely and expound upon it in the greater essay. Remember, this must be an arguable point)
How does is signify? (This is the little question. This is what most of you seem to focus on, and you should, but not at the expense of the BIG question. First and foremost tell WHAT the passage means, then show me how that meaning is created by pinpointing literary devices that contribute to the meaning.)

• This week in class we will finish reading The Glass Menagerie. I have multiple choice questions for this play, so we will play our group MC game for points and practice. We will likely write a timed essay on the play as well.
• And don't forget your Langston Hughes papers are due Tuesday.  Upload them to Moodle.
• I will also be checking out The Heart of Darkness this week. Don't be fooled by its thinness. The book is quite dense. You'll be reading this text at home, making a Major Works Data Sheet (the blank form is on my Moodle page), and creating discussion questions for Socratic Seminar. I will want you to have completed these tasks by March 26, after which we will discuss the novella in class and write an essay. Expect some multiple choice questions on this text as well.
• Also this week we will continue our look at Voice Lessons. I hope to focus on diction this week.
• Finally, if time permits, we will begin another in-class reading. The next play we tackle will be Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus. This play is historically significant as the first written Faustian tale. It also features for the first time the good and evil angels that are now commonplace. It may also hold a deep hidden meaning tucked under the morality play surface. See if you can figure out if it does and what it might be.

This should prove to be an exciting or at least interesting week!

See you in class!

Mrs. SO