Literary Interpretations DUE Today!

HOMEWORK OVER THE BREAK:  Practice for the exam!  Now is the time to start thinking about the exam in May.  For our next class, please a) borrow or buy a AP English Lit Exam Prep Book (the CNG library should have some to copy or checkout), b) complete a full-length practice test, c) analyze your results and d) post a reflection on your Google Doc with the specific challenges you see us needing to work on in the months leading up to the exam.  Have a great break, and don't forget to look up at the sky!

TODAY'S WRITER'S WORKSHOP: You have until midnight tonight to submit your papers using Turnitin.com.  Below are instructions for submission.  Please take time today during our writer's workshop to create a student profile using the steps below.

STEP 1: Create a student account on Turnitin.com HERE

NOTE: You will need the following class ID numbers and passwords:
Block 1 Account ID - 5531087 (enrollment password - aplitblock1)
Block 3 Account ID - 5531093 (enrollment password - aplitblock3)
Block 7 Account ID - 5531096 (enrollment password - aplitblock7)

STEP 2: Click on link to the enrolled class ("AP Lit Block __")

STEP 3:  Look for the "Assignment Inbox" and click SUBMIT

STEP 4:  Select the pull down for "Single File Upload"

STEP 5:  Follow the steps to upload your paper.  If you have completed the steps correctly, you'll receive a receipt at the end and a preview of your paper.  SAVE YOUR LOG IN INFORMATION, SO YOU CAN ACCESS MY FEEDBACK IN JANUARY.

Final Drafts Due Thursday

On Thursday, we'll upload your final drafts to Turnitin.com, and you'll be finished! I've been impressed by the effort many of you have made to interpret a major work. Keep up your focus for a few more days, and you'll enjoy a well-earned break.

Today's writer's workshop will focus on revising your body paragraphs using these tips we discussed last week. Please complete the following:

A) You need to ask a partner to read and give feedback on one of your body paragraphs using the following:

1) After reading the first sentence, the controlling idea of the paragraph is going to be _______________ (thread + criteria).
2) An implicit or explicit reference to the text that related well to the controlling idea was _____________.
3)  An implicit or explicit reference to the text that you might want to revise is ______________________.
4)  In my opinion, your commentary showed your thinking on the topic by ________________________.

B)  Format your paper for MLA.  Read "General Guidelines," "Formatting the First Page of Your Paper," and "Section Headings" HERE.  For your section headings, divide your paper into 1, 2, 3 and give titles for each thread-related criteria.  For example, you might have 1. Social and Historical Values Towards Economic Stratification Embodied in The Great Gatsby. 

Literary Interpretation Final Grading Criteria

In order to earn an advanced score on your research paper, you need to achieve the following:

40% - STANDARD: Uses a clear, logical, purposeful, and effective structure
Well-organized research paper containing an introduction with a thesis that answers a research question and gives a blueprint of where the author is going to take the reader in the paper.  All body paragraphs use controlling ideas and analyses that add depth to the claim made in the introduction.  Conclusion provides a response to the "so what?" question.

40% - STANDARD: Presents a balance of generalization and specific, illustrative detail

Interpretation is supported with at least three peer-reviewed pieces of literary criticism that strongly relate to the thread and criteria that the author is analyzing.  

Author explores each of the following criteria separately:
- Structure, style, and themes
- The social and historical values it reflects and embodies
- Prominent elements in the text such as the use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, irony, tone, etc.

Author uses the claims, evidence and commentary sequence in each body paragraph.

20% - STANDARD: Uses correct grammar, spelling, and sentence construction

Most sentences are well-constructed; correct punctuation, spelling and capitalization are used

Author uses MLA formatting with accurate in-text citations and works cited page.

First Draft Due Tuesday

In today's writer's workshop, I will offer conferences on body paragraphs after you have asked a peer to help you revise a body paragraph by answering the following questions for you:

1) I believe the controlling idea of the paragraph is going to be ___________________ (thread + criteria) after reading the introductory sentence.
2) An implicit or explicit reference to the text that related well to the controlling idea was _________________.
3)  An implicit or explicit reference to the text that I didn't understand was ________________________.
4)  In my opinion, your commentary could best be described as _______________________________.

Next Tuesday, you'll need to have completed the first draft of your Literary Interpretation with MLA in-text citations and your works cited page.

Here are a few links if you would like to generate your works cited page using an internet tool:

www.easybib.com
www.bibme.org

Writer's Workshop - Drafting

You should now be in the process of applying the organization system you created for your source notes and quotes to the drafting of your paper.  Draft your first 1,500 words with MLA in-text citations by Friday and paste them into your Google Doc.  

For guidance on using MLA in-text citations, read pp. 374-379 in the Everyday Writer.

We will meet in the EVL for writer’s workshop Friday, and you will receive a process grade (completed memo, note taking system, draft body paragraph with levels of generality, and your first 1,500 words draft) for the character you have demonstrated so far in taking this assignment seriously.  

The research continues...

This week we will transition from source acquisition to drafting.

Your homework tonight will be to 1) scan through pp. 185-196 in Everyday Writer and place post-it notes on pages you plan to use and 2) draft a body paragraph for one of your three interpretive criteria and put it on your Google Doc for Wed’s writer’s workshop.

On Friday, some of you requested some additional guidance as far as what is expected of you in writing a piece of literary interpretation.  As you continue working today, you should be asking yourself the following:

1)  Am I text-centered in my research?
Your focus is best when it is on the novel.  You are on-track if you have completed a targeted rereading of your selected text and organized thread-related material from the selected text.  Lastly, you are combining the text and your sources using a logical system that will make it easy for you to address the three interpretation criteria.

2) Am I developing my thinking about the novel in a systematic way?
Good research satisfies a curiosity that you have.  As you read more deeply into your chosen text and into academic journal articles written about it, you should be systematically organizing what you'll use in support of your thinking.  Remember, there is a huge difference between reporting what you find and analyzing what you find.

Looking ahead

Over the weekend, please develop a system that works for you for note taking and annotating the sources you found this week.

The Everyday Writer has some good suggestions on pp. 180-184, and I'll share some methods that have worked for me in my research using Microsoft Excel.  You need to come to class on Monday prepared to show me your organization method and how you have used it for at least five articles that hold promise in supporting your thinking about your chosen text.

Here are some column headings if you'd like to organize your sources using a table:

TEXT CODE	PAGE NUMBER	QUOTE	NOTE	CITATION	SOURCE ID

Literary Interpretation - Days 3-4

Today we'll be working on developing your research question based on the "Dear Mr. Ferrebee" memo you wrote over the break.  I'll assign grades based on the specific textual support you mention and the focused thinking you demonstrate on the three interpretation assignment criteria.

EVL steps for today and Thursday:

STEP 1: Check out The Everyday Writer from the EVL.  (HW - skim through pp. 149-180 and place post-it notes on sections you'll use or that you'd like to discuss in class)

STEP 2: Read 14B on pp. 151-52 on "Formulating a Research Question." Add a research question below your Google Doc "Dear Mr. Ferrebee" memo.

STEP 3:  Create a research account:

• 1.       Go to the CNG webpage and click on ‘Libraries.’
• 2.       Click on ‘EBSCOhost.’
• 3.       Choose any database and click on ‘Sign In.’
• 4.       Create a New Account.
• 5.       Add articles to your Folder or save them as .PDFs to your flash drive.

STEP 4: Use the following databases to search and collect articles from academic journals on your text/thread:

EBSCO (check out the Literary Reference Center first - it is FULL of great material)

Gale CENGAGE Learning

STEP 5:  Compile your articles and begin rating them on how useful they will be to you in developing your thinking on the three interpretation assignment criteria.

The Congo... a story you might be interested in

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20437106

Literary Interpretation - Day 2

The dangers of a single story about the first Thanksgiving.  Oh the irony!

Over the holiday break, be sure to turn your attention towards your "Dear Mr. Ferrebee" memo.

Also, I'd like you to complete a major work review for Heart of Darkness, so you'll have comprehensive notes on the novel when you consider your Fantastic 4 for the exam.  For the 30-years of AP Open Questions tables, here are the types of questions you might face.

Have a good break!

Literary Interpretation - Day 1

The Shenandoah River in my home state of Virginia.

To begin our literary interpretation project, we'll first need to reflect back on what we've read this year and what has most interested us.  The research we complete will be driven by our interest in threads (or topics) that have run through the texts we've read.

Here is an overview of the project and your assignment for over the Thanksgiving Break.

Cross-Cultural Literary Adventure

Heart of Darkness Wordle

Over the weekend, please continue working on your Mock Exam Answer Key.  I realize that some you have more work than others in preparing the key.  Since many of you that are in this demographic also ended up guessing on some of the questions in the final minutes of the exam, I don't expect you to prepare responses for those guesses.  I hope this helps.

Monday we'll discuss your powerpoint slides.

Lastly, thanks for your participation in today's Skype conference and for your feedback on how we might make it better next time.  You put a lot of thought into your artifacts, and my only regret is that time prevented us from being able to discuss all the artifacts.  Mrs. Molodow sent the following email, however, with the subject line "Thank you!":

That skype was just incredible...both blocks! 

I loved what your students presented. Please tell them that my students were very impressed. The connection to the poem really had an impact... My 3rd block especially left the room saying how much they enjoyed this and can't wait till we meet next time. One student even said he thinks I should host this on a larger scale, in the library, after school with all 3 classes together.

I am anxious to talk again.

Time to Share Colombia through "Hollow Men"

DEADLINE EXTENDED - If you have not emailed me your powerpoint slide (1 brilliant, insightful slide), please do so.  This homework assignment (see last Thursday) will help broaden our discussion of Heart of Darkness.

In preparation for Thursday, please look at the following:

Block 1 - We'll have a live, text-centered discussion of "Hollow Men" with the students from Cox High School in Virginia Beach.  You will introduce Colombia through your Colombian artifacts and pose questions for discussion that take us deeper into the poem.

Block 3 and 7 - Unfortunately, scheduling issues will prevent us from having a live conference.  Please email me, however, if you are interested in introducing Colombia during a lunchtime conference on Thursday.  If so, please bring your lunch and come to my room at 11:50 to begin the conversation.

HOD enrichment over the weekend...

NOTE FROM TODAY'S CLASS - please send me your artifact if you haven't already done so.  I will share them in advance of our Skype call next Thursday.

Your homework over the weekend is to complete the following:

 1) Read these articles about the Congo: "Article #1 - Genocide with Spin Control" ; "Article # 2 - Congo Profile by the New York Times" ; "Article #3 - An Image of Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness"

 2) Select one article and prepare a powerpoint slide to present to the class next Thursday. Your slide should weave together a quote from the article with a literary wave from Heart of Darkness. Be sure to design your slide slide creatively using images or auditory support; and

 3) Email your slide to tferrebee@cng.edu with the subject line "Article #___ Powerpoint slide" before our next class.

Sharing a Colombian Cultural Voice

For next class, please complete the following:

1) Watch Chimamanda Adichie’s 18-minute Ted Talk below or through this link and post a short (at least a paragraph) response on your blog.

  2) Next, begin preparing for our Skype Conference next Tuesday with Virginia Beach’s Frank W. Cox High School by considering the story of Colombia and bringing an artifact to class on Thursday (a piece of art, song, poem, etc.) that you think shares the ”authentic cultural voice” of Colombia with AP students in Virginia Beach.  Your artifact must relate to one of the following themes to be considered for our conference: dissatisfaction, passivity, identity, hopes and plans, or exile.  On Thursday, we’ll discuss what you have found and prepare to discuss it with students from Cox High School.

Deeper into the Congo We Go...

Weekend assignments are as follows:

1) Read HOD Part 3
2) Post Reading Blog #3 for Part 3 and respond to a classmate's Part 2 blog post using the "comments" feature
3) Google document reflection on the strengths and areas for growth in your OFOCN essay

WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR ESSAY GRADE?  COME VISIT ME DURING OPPORTUNITY PERIOD NEXT WEEK WITH THE FOLLOWING TASKS COMPLETED:

1. Write your reflection on the Google Doc.
2. Complete your revisions below your reflection and bring your essay to our opportunity period conference.

Sample revision (to be typed in your Google Doc) –

      Circled Issue – You where dead.

Revision – You were dead. 

Heart of Darkness Part II

For Thursday, read Part II of HOD.

Also, post a reading blog response and post a response to a classmate's Part I post using these links to the blogs.

Into the Darkness... Reading Blog #1

For Tuesday, read part one of Heart of Darkness and post a response to your reading blog.  You can choose the topic, but make sure you respond using one of these prompts.

Isn't it Ironic... Don't you think?

Please consider the following song lyrics and answer the questions that follow in a post to your blog (no need to write in essay form, just post responses for review on Friday):

“Great Nations of Europe” by Randy Newman

The Great Nations of Europe had gathered on the shore.
They'd conquered what was behind them and now they wanted more,
so they looked to the mighty ocean and took to the Western sea -
the great nations of Europe in the 16th century.

Hide your wives and daughter; hide the groceries too.
The great nations of Europe comin through.

The Grand Canary Islands first land to which they came
they conquered all the canaries there which gave the land its name
there were natives there called guanches, guanches by the score
bullet's, disease the Portuguese, they weren't there any more

Now they're gone, they're gone, they're really gone.
You never seen anyone so gone.
There's pictures in a museum, some lines written in a book
but you won't find a live one, no matter where you look.

Hide your wives and daughters; hide the groceries too
The great nations of Europe comin through.

Columbus sailed for India found Salvador instead.
He shook hands with some Indians and soon they all were dead.
They got tb and typhoid and athletes foot, diphtheria and the flu
'scuse me great nations comin through.

Balboa found the Pacific, and on the trail one day,
he met some friendly Indians whom the Church told him were gay,
soooooooooooooo
he had them torn apart by dogs on religious grounds they say
the great nations of Europe were quite holy in their way.

Now they're gone, they're gone, they're really gone.
You never seen anyone so gone.
Some bones hidden in a canyon some paintings in a cave
they're no use tryin to save them, there's nothin left to save.

Hide your wives and daughters; hide your sons as well
with the great nations of Europe you never can tell.

Where you and I are standing at the dawn of a century
Europes have sprung up everyone as even I can see
but there on the horizon is the possibility
that some bug from out of Africa might come for you and me
destroying everything in its path from sea to shining sea
like the great nations of Europe in the 16th century. 

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR BLOG POST: What examples from the song are ironic?  How can you tell?  What examples are not ironic?  How can you tell?

Colonialism and Post-Colonialism on the River to the Heart of Darkness

Before we begin reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, we'll spend some time Wednesday exploring the colonial and post-colonial experience in the Philippines.  I've asked some Filipinos in Santa Maria, Tarlac to help us try to define a "post-colonial mentality" that many Filipinos debate after periods of Spanish, Japanese and American colonial rule.

Please listen to the following 25-minute recording and note quotes and questions you would like to discuss on Wednesday.

In-Class Essay and Major Work Review

We'll finish off our unit on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on Monday with an in-class essay.  You may use your book ONLY during the essay.  You'll have 50-minutes to write, and you'll want to consider the following criteria for earning an advanced score (4):

40% --- STANDARD: Uses a clear, logical, purposeful, and effective structure
Description: Well-organized essay containing an introduction with a thesis that answers the prompt and gives a blueprint of where the author is going to take the reader.  Body paragraphs clearly support and add depth to the claim made in the introduction.  Conclusion provides a response to the "so what?" question

40% ---- STANDARD: Uses detailed and persuasive references to the text
Identifies the madness or the irrational behavior of a character and persuasively explains the nature of this delusion or eccentric behavior and how it might be judged reasonable in the context of the entire work. Using apt and specific textual illustrations but without belaboring the plot, they fully explore not only the nature of the character’s madness but also its significance to the work as a whole.

20% --- STANDARD: Uses correct grammar, spelling, and sentence construction
Most sentences are well-constructed; correct punctuation, spelling and capitalization are used.

Lastly, you'll want to complete your major work review for OFOCN, so you can consider the novel for one of your Fantastic 4 (or 5) novels for the AP open question.

Welcome Back!

Getting back on the bus this week.
Here is what is left of the Merry Prankster's bus from the 1960s.

I hope you enjoyed your break.  We'll use this week to wrap up our study of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Take a look at today's news.  This does not bode well for us as we continue to improve our writing.

For Thursday, take a look at the Google Document feedback I've provided on your reading blog posts on the topic of fog.  I'd like you to write a reflection on where you are in your introduction writing.  Next week, you'll be writing an in-class essay, and your introduction will be a critical component.

Lastly, if you are a discussion leader for Thursday, please reread the passages I've assigned, so you can come to class prepared to discuss some literary waves (key passages/quotes) from your assigned sections.

Fall Break Assignment

Finish reading OFOCN.

Read the Sketches by Ken Kesey, Foreward by Chuck Palahniuk and Introduction by Robert Faggen.  These sections provide an interesting closure to our reading.

Post a blog response on the topic of character change in the novel (focus on a single character).

Enjoy your time off!

For Thursday's Panel Discussion...

Continue reading OFOCN pp. 175-221.

Also, please take a look at the introductions for our guest speakers, so you can be thinking about questions you might like to ask on the topic of "The Psychology of Power."

Here is the link to introductions.

Cuckoo's Nest and Writing Practice

A note for leadership folks who will be out on Friday -
Build people through leadership.
We have enough broken Billy Bibbits in the world.

Some of you are going to be out on Friday, so I am putting up your assignments that will be due next Tuesday.  Here they are:

1) Cuckoo's Nest read pp. 129-172;
2) Reading blog post on one of these topics: machine imagery or portrayal of women (REMINDER - you are responding to one of these prompts); and
3) Visit your Google Doc for Waiting for Godot blog feedback. If I have given you an assignment, complete it below the feedback. If you have no assignment, read the feedback and write a short "Dear Mr. Ferrebee" reflection.

Let's Look at Writing on Friday...

Your tasks for Friday's class are as follows:

1) Read pp. 100-126 of Cuckoo's Nest; and
2) Print the introduction from your first Cuckoo's Nest reading blog post on the topic of "fog."

Fishbowl Discussion on Cuckoo's Nest

In preparation for our discussion on Wednesday, read pp. 67-100 and come prepared with your annotated text with questions and insights you have had while reading.

A couple of questions I would like us to start considering are: How do the characters in the novel interact with society?  What role does society have in shaping their actions?

Consider these and other questions that come to your mind as you read in preparation for Wednesday's discussion.  Thank you to our selected experts who will take us through the first 100 pages.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and AP Mock Exam

For Monday, you will need to have completed the following:

1) Read pp. 3-67 in OFOCN and post to your blog on the topic of "fog" using one of the reading blog post choices.  Thanks Daniela for suggesting a new reading blog topic on exploring AP Exam vocabulary as we read.  I hope the added variety will inspire you to explore "fog" in new ways.  Click here for your updated prompt options.

2) Study your exam strategy sheet in preparation for an AP Mock Multiple Choice Exam on Monday.  The test will last 60 minutes and include 55 questions that test your close reading skills.  We'll use the following matrix to determine your grade:

% Correct = CNG Score

82-99%   = 4

73-81%   = 3.5

62-72%   = 3

52-61%   = 2.5

32-51%   = 2

22-31%   = 1.5

0-21%     = 1

This week at a glance...

On Tuesday we'll complete group presentations, major work reviews, blog conferences, and mid-course feedback.

Will Waiting for Godot become one of your Fantastic 4 (or 5) works for the AP Exam Open Question?  Your homework will be to finish the major work review we started in class.

On Thursday, we'll begin One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.

Next Tuesday - Presentations and Blog Responses

Please put up your final reading blog post for Waiting for Godot based on your "reading" from today's film clips.  If you missed class today, you can write your blog on any scene from this film.

I'm looking forward to seeing your presentations next Tuesday.

A balanced pairs sentence structure suggestion:

Prepared yet nervous, well-rehearsed yet somewhat uncertain, the group members reminded themselves that they would do well if they creatively incorporated textual details from Waiting for Godot and spoke clearly and confidently during their presentations.

Waiting for Godot and a Metacognitive Journey

Continue to prepare for your group presentation next Tuesday!

For Friday, you need to update your Google Doc Online Writer's Workshop with a reflection on the essay I returned to you today.  I have circled areas of concern and underlined particularly strong areas in your essay.  In some cases, I've given you comments.  If you receive comments on the essay, you need to respond to those in your reflection.  If you did not receive comments, you should still write a general reflection on your performance.

We are going to start charting your writing progress this year, so return your graded essay to me on Friday.

If you have enjoyed WFG and think it might be one of your Fantastic 4 (or 5) novels for the exam, you'll enjoy this website, which is full of critical analysis of Lucky's speech and other juicy tid-bits from the play and Beckett's life.

Waiting for Godot Group Project

Le Monde by Man Ray, 1931

Here is a link to the Waiting for Godot Group Project that you will present on Tuesday, September 18th.  I'll be looking forward to assessing your individual contributions to your group.  You'll be graded based on the creative manner in which you incorporate textual details into your presentation and on your speaking skills.

Wednesday I'll be meeting with you to grade your blog entries for The Stranger.  If you have had issues with creating a blog or ensuring that I have access to it by posting a comment here, those issues must be resolved by Wednesday.

What is a Reading Blog?

Reading to Blog

What's more important the book or our interpretations of the book? Can there be a book without there being interpretation? We'll be able to answer some of those questions after we've recorded the history of our relationships with our books.

You will write your own blogs and respond to your blogs as prescribed by your homework blog entries. You should not approach each blog the same way. With variety comes varied thought; therefore, I hope you focus on different topics and take different approaches in each entry.

Here are your possibilities:

-Respond to the text through an AP Exam vocabulary word:
The author uses personification to develop a story with important connections to human work ethic.  Having pigs as home owners may at first seem ridiculous, but the reader quickly learns that the pigs are reflections of our own frailties and strengths in a world "huffing and puffing" with danger.

-Respond to the text personally:
I never had my house blown down by a wolf, but I have felt loss. For example, I once abandoned my favorite apartment. I left most of my furniture there, some clothes, even a television!

-Connect text to another book, a film, work of art, a comic or any other creation:

The Three Little Pigs reminds me of The Matrix. When the Wolf "huffed and puffed and blew his house down" he acted just as Morpheus did for Reeve's character. Suddenly, Reeves was without the security he once felt.

-Analyze a question that you have or is raised in the book:
What might the grandmother represent? Why would the Wolf want to blow down the houses? How might I write a better ending? 

-Visual Vocabulary
Select the words you think it was important to define in the text. Match a picture to it on your blog post.

Lastly, you might want to use hyperlinks - the 21^st century's answer to footnotes when you're talking about something that is not common knowledge.

Focus your each response on one of the choices above. We'll take a look at them in class and in conferences.

Waiting for Godot Reading and Reading Blog Post

For Monday:

Let's practice some of the sentence complexity we studied today in class.  I'd like you to read Act II of Waiting for Godot in preparation for discussions, and post a reading blog in response to your reading of the play.  Be sure to underline a new sentence structure you are trying out in your post.  We'll take a look at some your postings on Monday.

Waiting for Godot and Fantastic 4 (or 5) Novels

For Thursday, read Act I of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.  Here is a link to an e-book version. 

If you can obtain your own copy of this play, annotating your own copy of the text would be ideal.

Also, don't forget to complete your major work review sheet for The Stranger as practice for creating your Fantastic 4 (or 5) novels you intend to have fingertip control of before May.  These 4 or 5 novels will be your foci as your prepare for the AP Exam Open Question.

An Existential Weekend Plan

No plans for the weekend?  Feeling like society is bearing down on you?  Nurse your existential soul by sitting alone and completing the following:

1. Post Blog response #3 - Based on your reading from last night, go back to the 10 existential introductory statements for which you wrote responses used in class discussion. Pull from your reflections any connection between the statement/class discussion and what you see in the novel. For example, you may consider the statement "We are alone,” then discuss which aspects of this section of the novel connect to it.
2. Read and annotate http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/camus-translation.html in preparation for your in-class essay next Tuesday.  You will be responding to the following prompt: 

This blog post by Ryan Bloom explores the significance of a single quote in The Stranger.  After reading and analyzing Bloom’s approach, select a different Meursault quote from anywhere in the novel.  Then write an essay in which you explain 1) the quote’s importance to the novel; 2) how its tone helps readers better understand the character of Meursault; and 3) how this quote affects your understanding of the novel as a whole.

Homework for Friday

For Friday:

1) Finish reading The Stranger

2) Post Blog Response #2 on the following:

For blog response #2, I want you to consider how gaps in the text (what’s NOT there) prompt you to unravel author truth/ the novel/its characters. Identify what is missing (note the page number in your blog response)/what information you are not given enough of, then comment on what this lack of information makes you consider. 

Readings and postings for Wednesday

For Wednesday:

The Stranger

Read Chapters 5 and 6 from Part 1
Read Chapters 1 and 2 from Part 2

Blog Response #1

For Blog Response 1, In your blog, record your reflections on the existentialism in Chapters 1-4 of Part 1 by examining two quotes. For example, you may speculate on your ideas as to how the narrator's reaction to Maman's death fleshes out existential concepts. Then you may ponder what connection his encounter with Marie has to do with the loss of Maman, if any. The whole idea behind your blog response is to force you to examine the existential concepts in the initial pages of the novel. Please examine at least two quotes.

We have begun our existential journey!

On Thursday, we read the opening pages of The Stranger and attempted to create a literary blueprint for where the novel might lead us. 

For next Monday, you will need to have read Chapters 1-4 of Part 1 of the novel.

If you are new to the class, welcome to the class blog where you'll find up-to-date information on our course.  If you haven't done so, you need a copy of the book - click here for a posting that will lead you to two different e-book versions.

Online Writer's Workshop

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend.

For Thursday:

1) Reread your Gatsby essay.  Consider what you might have changed had you had more time.
2) Review the essay feedback you received in class and the feedback on your Google Doc Writer's Workshop History
3) On your Google Doc, write a "Dear Mr. Ferrebee"reflection below the feedback I've given.

Color Symbolism in Gatsby

For our next class, you'll need to post an explicit or implicit color quote from Gatsby on your blog.  Next, write a one paragraph analysis where you infer Fitzgerald's symbolic intent for the color.  Use your understanding of the color and evidence from the text to support your conclusions.

Also, we will begin The Stranger by Albert Camus next week.  The EVL has limited copies of the text, so please purchase a copy of the book or download an ebook version for free in .pdf here or .epub here.

Welcome to AP Literature

This week you need to begin a blog here and then, once signed in comment on this post.  In your blogger profile be sure to use your full name.

For our second class, we'll be assessing your understanding of The Great Gatsby with an in-class essay.  You'll have an opportunity to choose between two prompts.  The first is related to character development and the second is related to questions raised in the novel.

After your assessment on Thursday, we will begin our first discussion of symbolism.