Monday, March 28, 2011

APEnglish 12: March 28-April1, 2011

Greetings APEs!

I hope you had a great weekend. I have your timed essays on my desk as I type. I know requiring two essays in one class is a challenge, but it is the best way to prepare you for the constraints of the AP exam, which will be upon us before we know it. I hope to get those graded quickly and back to you.

As you know we have been reading The Importance of Being Earnest, which is something of a farce/comedy of manners. A genuine comedy of manners would be a bit more subtle in it's humor, but like this play, would satirize society and social mores. We should finish the play this week and move on to a day of poetry analysis on Friday, so bring your Perrine's literature books that day. I will delay an essay on the play until next week and will likely assign two essays again, one from the play, and one on a poetry selection. Expect these essays on Wednesday of next week.

Also, continue with your at-home reading of The Heart of Darkness. We will begin our class discussion of the novella next Friday.

See you in class,

Mrs. SO

English 10 (All Classes):March 27-April 1, 2011

Welcome back Sophomores,

I hope you had a great weekend. We have a great deal to read and learn about this week, so remember to bring your books every day.

If you have me on Monday, you'll take the test the B class took last Friday on The Age of Reason authors and texts. Hope you studied well. The rest of the week will be spent as follows:

We will begin a new unit on the Romantic period. This is a really exciting movement in literature that is a direct rejection of the previous one. This is not to say that reason was rejected altogether, but rather that a realization that rationalization did not solve many of the ills people were facing came into play, and people began to look instead back to intuition, nature and imagination for both answers and escape. This is a great period that includes the first American fiction, both novels (such as the Leatherstocking Tales) and short stories. This period also includes some amazing poetry that we will read and analyze together.

This movement in literature brings us some of America's most memorable writing by authors such as Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe. We will be reading some of each of these authors, including Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," which is considered the first American short story. Since this particular story is not in your text book, I am including a link to it here. I expect you to read it for homework and come to class prepared to discuss it.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 12: March 27-April 1, 2011

Good morning Seniors!

Welcome to another of the final few weeks of your high school career! I certainly hope you all had a restful weekend. Below is a list of the tasks I hope for us to accomplish this week.

On Monday we will be reading excerpts from Paradise Lost. This epic is pretty difficult, so we will stop often and review. For your better understanding of the text, I am including here a study guide with summaries. It also contains some amazing artwork inspired by the text that we will look at during class. Because we will be reading most every day for the rest of the year, be sure to bring your literature books every day from here on out.

On Wednesday we will continue with our study of Paradise Lost and take a look at Bunyons's Pilgrim's Progress. This text is an allegory in the truest sense of the word. You will note how each character's name indicates the concept or theme he symbolizes.

Thursday we will have quizzes on lessons 16-17 in your vocabulary workbook, so be sure to do the practice activities. We will also read and overview of the Enlightenment period, so again, bring your books.

See you in class.

Mrs. SO

Monday, March 21, 2011

English 10 (All Classes): March 21-25, 2011

Welcome back from the weekend, Sophomores,

This should prove a busy week. We will be finishing up the Age of Reason unit by reading the short story "Harrison Bergeron," a modern story, and looking at it in the context of the Declaration of Independence and by reading an excerpt from Letters from an American Farmer. After a review, you will have a test on this period (Thursday or Friday). So be prepared.

The next unit is a fun one, in my estimation, because we finally get to the point in US literature when fiction is introduced. We will read a few of the earliest short stories and excerpts from early novels and we will learn to recognize the characteristics of Romanticism. Look forward to some fun and interesting discussion in this coming unit.

See you soon!

Mrs. SO

English 12: March 21-25, 2011

Greetings Seniors, and welcome back from the (ahem) long weekend.

I hope you have enjoyed your study of Hamlet. I consider it one of Shakespeare's greatest works. This Thursday we will have a test on the play and Monday we will review for it. After the test review, we will move on to the Neoclassical period, also know as the Age of Enlightenment or the Restoration period, since this was the time when the monarchy was restored. This new period is characterized by an interest in logic. Some of the key authors from this time:
  • Alexander Pope
  • Daniel Defoe
  • Jonathan Swift,
  • Samuel Johnson
  • John Bunyan
  • John Milton

We will certainly read excerpts from Milton's Paradise Lost and the pamphlet "A Modest Proposal" by Swift.

Looking forward to seeing you and learning lots!

Mrs. SO

Friday, March 18, 2011

APEnglish Literature: March 21-25

Hello Seniors,

I hope you are well rested and ready to read and think (and write).
Don't neglect or forget to check my Moodle for due dates and to upload Major Works Data Sheets.

This week we meet three days, so I am hoping we can get a great deal accomplished. As you know, we completed our reading/discussion of The Glass Menagerie last week, so it's time for an essay. You will write a timed, in-class essay on either the play as a whole or an excerpt from it. I would also advise you, if you are not already doing so, to review the prompts for question three from previous tests and think about which books or plays you have in your repertoire that could have been used to answer those questions. Also, think about which prompts could fit with each text we read.

In addition to the timed essay, we will also be reading another play: The Importance of Being Earnest. This play will give you a glimpse of the satirical nature of the comedy of manners. It would probably serve you well to dig up a copy of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, or some other Austen novel for a more in-depth look at this genre. 

I hope for us to finish this play in one week and write about it the next. Don't forget that you should be reading Heart of Darkness and taking notes on it for homework. After our paper on The Importance of Being Earnest, I will expect you to be ready for some deep discussion of this very deep novella.

The coming weeks don't bring much relief, I am afraid, but I think I have selected texts that you will both enjoy and that you may be able to use on the exam should you take it.  Look forward to the following:

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Dr. Faustus
And Pygmalion if time permits
Plus POETRY, POETRY, POETRY!

Monday, March 14, 2011

English 12: March 14-18. 2011

Hello Seniors!

I hope you had a restful weekend. I know we've all lost an hour of sleep, but let's not let that zap our energy.

We have much to do this week.
  • First of all, your research papers are due. I have created an upload spot on Moodle, so get them turned in on or before Thursday. After Thursday, they will have late points deducted daily (including weekends).
  • We are in the midst of reading/discussing Hamlet. I hope to finish that play this week and view some clips from the Kenneth Branagh film. Expect a test on the play in the next week.
  • Also, don't forget to study lessons 13-14 in vocabulary for a quiz on Thursday.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 10 (All Classes): March 14-18, 2011

Hello Sophomores!

I hope you are all well and that you enjoyed your weekend.
I have a number of things planned for this week.
  • As you know, research papers are due. Please upload them to Moodle by Thursday. 
  • We are in the midst of our study of Age of Reason literature. We'll be reading Patrick Henry's speech to the Virginia Convention, Thomas Paine's The Crisis No. 1, The Declaration of Independence, and the short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. I know some of you have already read the aforementioned speech, but we will revisit it and discuss it in the context of the other passages we will be reading. 
  • We will also have a vocabulary quiz on lessons 14-15, so study those words.
  • Finally, if we finish all of the above, we will have a test on the literature from this movement. Should we not get that far, the test will be next week.

See you in class!
Mrs. SO

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

Monday, March 7, 2011

APEnglish 12: March 7-11, 2011

Good Morning, APEs!

I certainly hope your weekend was restful. We have a busy week ahead of us. This is a B week, so we will meet three times. I have a number of things planned for our time together:

On Tuesday we will have our final vocabulary quiz. We will also complete at least one Voice Lesson activity and write an in-class, timed essay on Mrs. Dalloway.

On Wednesday, we will review some of the MC questions from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and we will begin reading the play The Glass Menagerie, so bring the brown Perrinne's books to class.

On Friday, we will read and discuss more of TGM. If time permits, we will also complete a Voice Lesson activity.

Don't forget that Saturday March 19 is scheduled for our class's weekend session.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 12: March 7-11. 2011

Greetings Seniors!

I hope you had a restful and refreshing weekend, since this will be a busy week for you.
This is big week in writing. Those of you entering the Huntsville Writers' Association Competition need to upload your projects ASAP. And EVERYONE should complete his or her research paper rough drafts this week. You will need to bring FOUR (yes FOUR) hard copies on Thursday, March 10 for peer evaluation and for me to check for formatting.  Final drafts must be uploaded to Moodle by Tuesday, March 15.

To help you meet all these deadlines, I have scheduled some lab time for everyone.

In literature, we will continue our study of Renaissance Literature with our reading of Hamlet. This is a difficult play, so don't be shy about asking for explanations. It's also a worthwhile play, and one, I am sure, you will remember and allude to for the rest of your live if you put in the effort to understand it.
To help you with your understanding, I will leave a link to a side-by-side translation with modern English. See my links column.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 10 (All Classes): March 7-11, 2011

Hello Sophomores!

Here's hoping you had a restful weekend.
Graduation exams are finally passed, but school isn't over, so I hope you are ready for a lot of learning yet.
We've reviewed all the grammar we will need this year, and we will have a comprehensive grammar test soon, so don't forget what you've learned just because the exam is passed.

We will continue with our DOL's to keep us in practice, since you will always need grammar skills, and you will be tested comprehensively on your final exam.

This is big week in writing. Those of you entering the Huntsville Writers' Association Competition need to upload your projects ASAP. And EVERYONE should complete his or her research paper rough drafts this week. A-Day students need to bring FOUR (yes FOUR) hard copies on Thursday, March 10 for peer evaluation and for me to check for formatting. B-Day students must bring their FOUR hard copies on Friday, March 11. Final drafts must be uploaded to Moodle by Tuesday, March 15 (this applies to all classes).

To help you meet all these deadlines, I have scheduled some lab time for everyone.

We've now all moved beyond Puritan literature and are beginning our study of the Age of Reason or Rationalists. Some of America's most inspiring writing comes from this period. We will be reading speeches and pamphlets from Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin. While reading these texts, consider how those words written so long ago still apply to us today. Also consider how this movement in literature and history evolved as a reaction to the previous one.

I look forward to seeing you in class!

Mrs. SO

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

English 10 (ALL classes): Feb.-28-Mar. 4

Greetings Sophomores!

I certainly hope you all studied and are ready for graduation exams. I am rooting for you to pass them all the first try! Make sure you get plenty of rest each night and that you eat a good breakfast.

This week in class we will be doing the following tasks:
  • Last minute review for the language exam
  • Take a quiz on vocabulary lesson 12
  • Turn in note cards for the research paper
  • Finish Puritan literature with a look at poetry by Edward Taylor and some excerpts for Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World
  • Introduce the Age of Reason and the historical reasons for it
  • And, if time permits, read Franklin's Autobiography and Franklin's "Dialogue with the Gout." When we read these works, we will discuss how they align with the ideologies of the rationalists.

Don't forget that you must upload your outlines and bring research paper rough drafts next week. Check my moodle page for exact dates. So much to do...so little time.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO