Monday, April 30, 2012

Pre-APEnglish 10: April 30-May 4, 2012

Greetings Young APES!

This year has veritably flown by!

We have SO much left to do! Not only must we complete our research papers, but we must also learn all about the American Romantics, Transcendentalists, and Anti-Transcendentalists! Do not forget to bring in your bibliography and note cards on the assigned day (see link)!

After we discuss the stories we have read by Irving/Knickerbocker/Oldstyle/Crayon, we will read two poems by William Cullen Bryant that illustrate the connection the Romantics felt with Nature: "To a Waterfowl" and "Thanotopsis."

We will also read two stories by Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher," which will will analyze for symbolism and artistic merit, and a frame story, "The Oval Portrait," which we will compare to Anti-Transcendentalist author, Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Birthmark." By comparing and contrasting these two stories, you should be able to discern the differences between Romanticism and Anti-Transcendentalism, which so many misguided souls lump together as one movement.

Be sure to read all the aformentioned texts at home for class discussion.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO



English 10: April 30-May 4, 2012

Greetings Sophomores!

This year is dashing past us! We have only three weeks before exam week!

This week we will continue our study of American Romanticism and finish reading "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Devil and Tom Walker."

We will also read two poems by William Cullen Bryant, "To a Waterfowl" and "Thanatopsis."
These poems illustrate the Romantics' focus on nature as a means to understanding.

You also should be working on your Career Research Papers. You should have already shown me your source sheet or cards. Your NOTE cards are due on Friday of this week. They count as an essay grade, so don't neglect them. I will not accept them late. If you have forgotten how to make note cards, see the link on the side of my blog.

This week we will also be working in small reading groups. While I work with a few students at a time, the rest of you will be reading from your text books or reviewing grammar exercises. I will need your cooperation so that we can all become stronger readers.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 12: April 30-May 5 2012

Greetings Seniors!

Only two weeks remain until finals! I hope you are using your time wisely.

As you know, you have a research paper due NEXT WEEK. Some of you are working towards that goal, and I am very proud of your progress. Some are falling behind. This is not a project to ignore! Note cards are due Thursday of this week at the latest to earn any credit. They count as a 40 pt. ESSAY grade, so do not neglect to do them. I have guidelines for creating note cards on the sidebar of my blog. I also have demonstrated proper use of note cards in class. Your ROUGH DRAFT is also due Thursday. Be CERTAIN to bring a hard copy for peer review. Your FINAL COPY is due MONDAY MAY 7, 2012

Monday you will have your test on the Restoration period. I hope you all studied! After your test, you will read the background information for Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one of the poets from the British Romantic Period. We will begin reading Rime of the Ancient Mariner in class on Thursday and complete it and have a short test on that work and possibly a few other poems from the period next Thursday. If we have time for more poems, I will post the appropriate information on next week's blog.


See you in class!

Mrs. SO

Thursday, April 26, 2012

APEnglish 12: April 23-27, 2012

Greetings APE's!

As you know, we have just completed our discussions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. As usual, you must complete a Major Works Data Sheet for this play. (Friday, April 27). Since some have indicated they have already done one for Hamlet, which I did not actually assign, I have decided to accept either/or on this MWDS assignment.

You have been reading Heart of Darkness at home (or should have been), and your MWDS for this novella is due. Please upload it to Moodle no later than Tuesday evening, April 24. If for some reason you cannot access Moodle, please email me or bring me a hard copy.

On Tuesday, bring the thesis statements you practiced for homework to class. You will select one of these for an in-class essay on R&G are D. I will return your Hamlet essays. Those of you who failed to turn one in will see the deficit on your progress report. It is imperative that you do all your assignments.

On Friday we will discuss Heart of Darkness in class, including a character analysis of the African mistress. Please review the following links prior to discussion:



Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" Massachusetts Review. 18. 1977

"Heart of Darkness"--by Mark Dintenfass

The Symbol of the Wilderness in Heart of Darkness--by David Dunson

 Edit: A number of you will be on a field trip Friday, so we will practice multiple choice questions on HoD after the character analysis activity. Those who miss the class must complete the MC questions at home.

 See you in class!

Mrs. SO 


 

English 12: April 23-27, 2012

Greetings Seniors!

I hope you had a restful weekend, because the coming days will be full!
Progress reports go home this week.
Your research should be underway. I will check your bibliography cards this Thursday. By next week, everyone should have completed note cards. Please see the link above for specific dates for your class.
To review how to make note cards, see the link on the side of my blog page.

We will finish our study of the Restoration period, and review for a test Thursday. Your test will be Monday, April 30.

See you in class!
Mrs. SO                 

Monday, April 23, 2012

English 10: April 23-27, 2012

Greetings Sophomores!

I hope you had a restful weekend, because the coming days will be full!
Progress reports go home this week.
Your research should be underway. I will check your bibliography cards this Friday. By next week, everyone should have completed note cards, the making and use of which I will demonstrate in class. Please see the link above for specific dates for your class.
We have begun studying the Romantics, and you should have already read the following stories at home this weekend:
"The Devil and Tom Walker" (also in your text)
"Rip van Winkle" (not in your text)


We will discuss both stories in class and create a chart to compare and contrast the protagonists of each. By doing so, you should be able to determine what Irving has to say about what makes a man worthy of reward.

After our study of Irving, we will analyze two poems by William Cullen Bryant, the poet who envisioned Central Park as a means for urban dwellers to experience the country and escape their troubles. Many Romantic era poets depicted communion with nature as a means to understanding.

Those two poems are:
"Thanatopsis" and "To a Waterfowl"

In addition to these stories and poems, expect a discussion of the poem "The Raven" and two short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, "The Oval Portrait" and "Fall of the House of Usher," and an excerpt from James Fennimore Cooper's The Prairie before we delve into our discussion of the Transcendentalists.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

PreAPENGLISH 10: April 23-27, 2012

Greetings Sophomores!

I hope you had a restful weekend, because the coming days will be full!
Progress reports go home this week.
Your research should be underway. I will check your bibliography cards and thesis statements this week. By next week, everyone should have completed note cards, the making and use of which I will demonstrate in class. Please see the link above for specific dates for your class.
We have begun studying the Romantics, and you should have already read the following stories at home this weekend:
"The Devil and Tom Walker" (also in your text)
"Rip van Winkle" (not in your text)


We will discuss both stories in class and create a chart to compare and contrast the protagonists of each. By doing so, you should be able to determine what Irving has to say about what makes a man worthy of reward.

After our study of Irving, we will analyze two poems by William Cullen Bryant, the poet who envisioned Central Park as a means for urban dwellers to experience the country and escape their troubles. Many Romantic era poets depicted communion with nature as a means to understanding.

Those two poems are:
"Thanatopsis" and "To a Waterfowl"

In addition to these stories and poems, expect a discussion of the poem "The Raven" and two short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, "The Oval Portrait" and "Fall of the House of Usher," and an excerpt from James Fennimore Cooper's The Prairie before we delve into our discussion of the Transcendentalists.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

Monday, April 16, 2012

APEnglish 12, April 16-20, 2012

Greetings APEs!
I looked at my calendar and nearly had heart failure. I cannot believe we have so little time left before the big exam! This will be a major cram time, reading, writing and discussion as much as possible, so long as quality discussion is allowed for.

Don't forget that you need to write a MWDS for Heart of Darkness. This sheet must be uploaded by Monday, April 23. You will also be expected to discuss HoD in class, so be prepared with specific examples from the text that you want to look at more closely and with open-ended questions about the text by Monday also.

Expect some MC questions on HoD and both an open-ended (q3) essay and a passage based (q2) essay. The two essays will be written in ONE class period to help you prepare for the time constraints of the exam.

This week IN class we will finish reading and watching selected clips from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Look back to last week's blog to review the major ideas of Existentialism. Be prepared to write one q3 essay on this text after a class discussion of it.

Our next text for in class reading will be the play The Glass Menagerie. You can read some preliminary background about the author, Tennessee Williams, here.

Here is an entire dissertation on the symbolism in TGM, for anyone who's interested.

Like I said...so much to do!

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

Sunday, April 15, 2012

English 10: April 16-20, 2012

Greetings Sophomores!

Time is flying! We have so little time with so much to do!

This week you will not only work on your Career Research Papers, but you will complete your study of The Age of Reason period, review for a test on it, and take the test on Wednesday.

I will be reviewing MLA format with your and review how to properly cite sources. See my link for more research paper details, including DUE DATES.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

PreAPENGLISH 10: April 16-20, 2012

Greetings Sophomores!

I hope you had a restful weekend, because the coming days will be full!
You have a test on the Age of Reason/Enlightenment period on your first day this week.
We will begin studying the Romantics, for which I need you to read the following stories at home this week:
"The Devil and Tom Walker" (also in your text)
"Rip van Winkle" (not in your text)

A little background on American Romanticism follows:
American Romanticism 
1. Romantic Period – began in England around the turn of the nineteenth century
· In England, origin attributed by some critics to the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, and others to the publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798
· Both Coleridge and Wordsworth felt that the crucial elements of a poem were found in the mind and emotions of the poet and not the conventions of the outer world.

2. Attitudes and Tendencies of American Romantic Literature:
· A disdain for the city or a "distrust" of civilization
· Nostalgia for the past
· Concern for individual freedom
· Love for the beauties of the natural landscape
· Interest in the supernatural

3. Romantic Sensibilities
· The imagination, spontaneity, individual freedoms, and nature are of greater value than reason, logic, planning, and cultivation.
· Reason is limited; the imagination is able to discover "truths" unreachable through reason.
· Authors should rise above empirical evidence to a realm of higher truth – truth can even be found in exotic settings or in a world far removed from the industrial age. Gothic novels with wild landscapes and mysterious castles exemplify this approach.
· God is found in nature; the nature of God is not as clearly defined when compared to the Puritans who found in nature the God they knew from the Bible.
· Science is a "vulture whose wings are dull realities" (Poe).

4. Features of American Romantic Literature
· The hero may have youthful qualities, innocence, a love of nature and distrust of town life, a distrust of women (thought by male writers to represent civilization and domestication), and a need to engage in a quest for a higher truth in the natural world.
· Journeys found in American Romantic Literature are usually from the city to the world of nature.
· Many Romantic pieces require that readers willingly "suspend their disbelief" (Coleridge).
· European models still heavily influence American poetry.
· Unlike European models, the American novel depicts a wilderness experience, idealizes frontier life, and coincides with westward expansion and the growth of a nationalist spirit.

We also need to get moving on our research papers. I am attaching the specifics. You may choose one of the The Scarlet Letter topics listed, or submit a LITERATURE BASED topic of your own for my approval.

So much to do...so little time!
See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 12: April 16-20

So, I looked at the calendar and had a mild heart attack. I cannot believe how little time we have left!

This week we will finish our study of 18thC and the Restoration period.  We will also review MLA format and go over the instructions for your research papers.

Remember, for your paper, you may choose any author and determine how or if his or her life affected his or her work. Some of you have already given me your topic ideas, but I will need those in writing. Your topic selection will count as a daily grade.

Here is a link to the paper due dates. I will review the expectations and format in class.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

APENGLISH 12: April 9-13, 2012

Greetings APEs!

Can you believe we finally finished Hamlet? I hope you understand how thematically versatile and what wonderful fodder for writing that play is. After our thesis writing activity, it has come to my attention that we need more practice writing thesis statements. Many of you are not breaking down the question into the parts necessary to answer it completely and garner that grade I am sure most of you desire. Remember there is always more than one part to an AP prompt, and the BIG part is figuring out THEME...the meaning of the work as a whole. Remember themes are derived from the plot, but have nothing to DO with the plot. Themes are universal truths or at least applicable outside the text in question. Do NOT forget to present a theme as part of your thesis statement, then prove that your ostensible theme is a legitimate interpretation with evidence and commentary in the subsequent paragraphs.

This week I would like you to continue to read Heart of Darkness at home. We will discuss and write about it next week. Some of you have indicated that you know the plot, but remember, plots are not what we are focusing on. Plots are just a means to get to theme. You need to understand what the novella is truly about, and not just what happens in it. Look for symbols. Look for allusions. What does Conrad do with the traditional views of light and dark? Consider the ivory? What color is it? What does it represent? What color is the Sepulchered City? And then, there is the conversation between the manager and his uncle? What does that conversation tell us about human nature? How is that conversation translated into Kurtz? Where did Kurtz come from? Who made him? Why is that significant? What about his painting? How is the lady depicted? What effect does the light have on her face? And speaking of ladies...what about Marlowe's aunt, the Intended, the African mistress? What do they signify? How do you know?  There is so much more to consider, but start there.

As for class time, we will practice a thesis statement at the start of each class. After an overview of Existentialism, we will read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and we will discuss it in the context of existentialism and theatre of the absurd.

Myth of Sysiphus

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

PreAPENGLISH 10 and Grade-Level English 10: April 9-13, 2012

Greetings Sophomores!
The year is passing so quickly, and we have so much left to do!

Let me begin with the plans that apply to all classes. This week we will complete the unit on The Age of Reason. We will be reading selections from Thomas Jefferson and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and discussing how parody and satire can be used together. We understand from these texts the meaning and use of parallelism in literature. We will also read the short story "Harrison Bergeron" and discuss it in the context of the rights listed in the "Declaration of Independence." In addition to these texts, we will read an excerpt from Letters from an American Farmer and learn about African-American poet Phylis Wheatly. All this will culminate in a test on this period.

Grade level students will have a quiz on vocabulary lesson16.

Pre-AP students must upload their essays to Moodle by Tuesday evening.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

English 12: April 9-13

Greetings Seniors!
This is an A week, so I will meet with you three times. We have so much to do in the little time remaining this year.
On Monday, I will discuss with you the required research paper. You must select an author that we have studies, or one approved by me, and research his or her life. In your paper, you will discuss how the events of your chosen author's life affected his or her writing.

For a review of the format for bibliography and note cards, see the research paper guidelines beginning on page 240 of your literature textbook. I will explain these guidelines in class.

Remember that you have a tool that will help with creating properly formatted MLA citations at citationmachine.net. I encourage you to use this tool. I also encourage you to visit the Alabama Virtual Library for resources on your chosen author. The best database for literary sources is reached by clicking on the "Literature Resources from Gale" link.

This week we will also begin a study of the Restoration (of the monarchy) and 18th Century Literature. Be sure to read the introduction to this unit at home. Much of the literature from this period is satire. The first piece we will read and discuss is Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." We will also read selections by Alexander Pope, the inventor of the Heroic Couplet and author of the Mock Epic The Rape of the Lock, Daniel Defoe, and Voltaire.

Like I said...so much to do!

See you in class!

Mrs. SO

Monday, April 2, 2012

English 12: April 2-6

Greetings Seniors!
Last week was Spring break, but don't let that lull you into thinking our work is done. This week we will review Book I of Paradise Lost and excerpts from Pilgrim's Progress. You will have a test review on these works Monday and a test on Thursday.

You will also be given instructions for your research papers on Thursday. If you have done research for a project in your math class, as some of you have, you may use that information in the paper you write for me. We will be reviewing MLA formatting for papers and citations. I have a link to an MLA handbook on the sidebar of my blog.

See you in class!

Mrs. SO