HW 11/29

Hello. For this evening, you should finish your reading cards. The cards are due tomorrow. For the students presenting tomorrow, you should be well prepared by conducting an extremely close reading of the pages for which you are responsible. For the rest of us, please be prepared for the presentation with questions, comments, concerns, etc. If the presenters have questions, please email me this evening. I will try to respond by 8 pm. Have a good night.

HW 11/23

Hello. For this evening, I would like you to read the next few pages of the text. You can stop at "... I had fairly begun to hop for it." I would like you to consider the pov of this story. Who is the narrator? How does Conrad's use of narration change our perceptions of Marlow, London, etc.? These do not have to be answered formally, but should guide your reading. We will discuss this in class. We will also finish what we started in class. Have a great night.

HW 11/22

Hello. For this evening, I would like you to close read the passage from today's class and answer the questions that follow. After that, please read the next two pages of HOD. You should close read the selection and come in with a few discussion points for class tomorrow. You should continue to work on your independent reading assignments. We will likely have timed write on Wednesday, or when we come back from break. Have a good night.

HW 11/18

Hello. We will begin the new unit in the coming days. If you bought the book, please bring it to class with you tomorrow. I will have extra copies available while you await the arrival of yours. I hope you all found the test manageable. It is important that you get used to taking notes and studying a broad base of information for midterms and finals. In college you may take a test that covers material from and entire semester's worth of work. I'm sure you all did fine. Just a note about late work. Late work is subject to a significant point deduction. While there are times when late work is unavoidable, it should not be a common occurrence. See me if you are having difficulty keeping up with your work. Have a good night.

Test Thursday

For your test Thursday I will expect you to have a general knowledge of the information covered in the short story unit. This includes, but is not limited to:

1. All the elements of fiction and how they function in literature
2. The primary characters of all the stories. Make sure to pay special attention to those we discussed in class.
3. Diction and syntax
4. Major literary terms
5. Tone and how is it established
6. Details about the actual AP exam
7. Paragraph topic sentences
8. The themes of the stories covered in the unit
9. Existentialism
10. Utilitarianism
11. Archetypes
12. Jung
13. Basically, anything else I've ever said since the beginning of time. I hope you took good notes.

HW 11/15

Good evening. For this evening you need to complete your reading schedule and all your college app. materials. I would hope that the majority of you have completed your essays, but if you have not, please work on them this evening. I can review them for you if you catch me in the morning. You will be responsible for the short story and the accompanying questions from today's class. They are due on Wednesday. Have a great night.

HW 11/11

Hello. I hope you are all enjoying a day away from school. You should be hard at work completing your college applications, essays, supplements, etc. You should also begin researching book ideas for your independent reading assignment. Please read the handouts on annotations and study your materials for the unit test next week.

I do need to mention a few things that I feel are extremely important. As I walked around the room yesterday, I was disappointed to see that the vast majority of you did not close read the story by Kincaid. This is not a choice. This is an important part of the process and one that is required by all honors and AP students. You need to actively engage with the text and begin reading with purpose. This is not a pleasure read course and your close reading of the text is the key to success in the course and on the AP exam. Now, I must take some of the responsibility as I must not have conveyed the importance of this clearly. I tend to take for granted that AP students will do these things automatically. So, from this point forward, I will periodically (unannounced) check to see that you have done the reading, closely. In addition, please make sure that you have done the reading before each class. If I need to give quizzes on a daily basis, I will, but this takes up valuable time that we really don't have.

Finally, talking. It is not okay to talk while other people are talking. That would include me, or other students. It is rude, disrespectful, and immature. I really believe that AP literature is a course that is built on mutual respect. I want to avoid treating you the way I do other classes, but that is up to you. Please do not take advantage of my good nature and the privileges that I give your class. I am asking you all to self-govern and show academic respect and maturity. I know that some of you are legitimately discussing the text, but doing so while I am talking is inappropriate. I have a lot of respect for all of you and I ask that you respect the class and your classmtes. I want to avoid classroom confrontation as this only serves to weaken a class and create a negative tone. I can handle a little talking, but please pick appropriate times. I am confident that this will be all that is necessary to solve this issue. If it is not, then I will have to take additional measures.

Hw 11/8

Hello. For this evening, I would like you to begin looking over your notes and studying the stories we've read this semester.

Vocabulary for the week:

Temerity, Ostentatious, Cajole, Recrudescent, Iridescent, Obstreperous, Fractious, Venerable, Attenuate, Punctilious.

Hello. For this weekend I would like you to read the attached Woody Allen story "The Kuglemass Episode." "The Kugelmass Episode" is generally acknowledged to be a classic short story and one of the finest pieces in Allen’s relatively small output of prose fiction. This story is funny and is great to use when teaching humor and satire. Consider how Allen uses humor and comic situations to poke fun at people and situations and to show the absurdity of human desires and pursuits. Allen is undoubtedly using satire to to attack literature and the study of it (I'm sure you will enjoy that).

Please continue to work on your independent reading - due Monday. Also, work on your college essays.

Have a good weekend

HW 11/1 - 11/2

Hello. I would like you to read the handout on existentialism and read the story "The Guest." I will have to post a link later tonight, as I am unable to do so from the school. In your reading of the story, please consider the point of view of Daru. Consider the story from an Existential perspective. In what ways can the story be analyzed using the Existential framework? We will have a chance to discuss this more in class on Wednesday.

Looking ahead we will be completing the short story unit next week and beginning our first major work. We will certainly have a unit test on all the work we have done so far, so begin looking over your notes and reference materials. In addition, you should familiarize yourself with the major characters and events of the stories we've read thus far. I am planning a 45 minute M/C at some point in the near future (possibly Friday). Your independent reads are due Monday and college essays are due subsequent to that. You have a lot to do. For those handing in late work, you will see a signifiant point reduction, so try to stay on top of the scheduled work. I should post new vocabulary words for this week by tomorrow. Other that that, have a great day off.