Agenda 1/4

• Focus: Welcoming you back; revisiting the past and looking ahead to the future
• A glimpse of your future in A.P. Literature
• Battling out the answers to the multiple choice questions on your final exam
• HW: Start reading The Stranger; complete the critical review proposal by Friday; make sure your big question blog is up-to-date. ☺

What will we read this semester?

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• The Stranger—Camus

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• Beloved—Morrison

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• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce) OR Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)

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• Possible book of poetry...stay tuned

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• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead—Stoppard

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• Modern book of your choice (must be a work of fiction, not a memoir, published within last five years—nothing older than 2009).

Good News!

• You only have three big writings this semester:

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• Critical Review

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• Creative Poetry Project / Paper

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• Culminating Essay (involves your “big question”)

Raising the Bar

• 2nd semester you must have mostly 7s or above in two of the three major categories (timed writings, literary essays, and Socratic seminars) to earn an A.

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• You may not have any zeros in the smaller categories, and you should not have more than one or two 1s (if any).

Agenda 1/5

• Focus: Strategizing for multiple choice success
• Announcements (and we need to sign up for snack days this semester!)
• Return open-prompt essays
• Back to multiple choice!
• Discuss the satire as a class
• Discuss the sonnet as a class
• Discuss the passages of your choice with partners
• HW: Start reading The Stranger; complete the critical review proposal by Friday; make sure your big question blog is up-to-date. ☺

Warming Back Up to the Multiple Choice Section

• Skim back through the passages and identify the type of each passage as closely as you can.

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• Ex: 17^th century sonnet, or modern essay

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• Identify which one was the easiest for you, and which one was the hardest.

Agenda 1/6

• Focus: Don’t get left in the dark!
• Announcements
• Peer editing circles: Discuss Dickinson’s and Frost’s poems; share 2 essays
• Look over sample essays on Dickinson and Frost to norm your grading
• Anonymous trading and grading
• HW: Start/continue reading The Stranger; complete the critical review proposal by Friday; make sure your big question blog is up-to-date. ☺

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Agenda 1/7

• Focus: Assessing your A.P. performance
• Announcements and semester grades; collect critical review proposals
• Finish grading yesterday’s essays
• Quick discussion of the prose prompt and anonymous circle grading/feedback
• Time to calculate your actual scores!
• HW: Prepare for Monday’s Socratic seminar on The Stranger: Part 1, Chapters 1-3 + typed reading ticket.

Tight Points of Comparison

“We” vs. “I” (point of view)

The Rules and Regulations of Pictionary

• The class will be divided into two teams.
• Each “artist” will get one minute at a time to get his or her team to guess the definitions of the words assigned.
• Each correct definition guessed will earn that team one point.
• “Artists” may use symbols, but they may not use words, make sounds, use the technique of “sounds like…”
• The winning team will receive a warm plate full of homemade cookies at some point this week.

What have we figured out about multiple choice so far?

Agenda 1/8

• Focus: Assessing your final two timed essays
• During announcements: Look back to yesterday’s samples; write one sentence of defense for each grade you assigned
• Is it a 1? Is it a 6? Sharing your grading from yesterday on “The Street” and circle grading your essays on “The Street”
• Quick norming with the open prompt and circle grading of your open prompt essays
• Calculating your actual score, if time…
• HW: Read Metamorphosis in all its glory and create a reading ticket that addresses the first third of the book; email me the title, author, and year of publication of your critical review book if you have not yet done so. ☺

Agenda 1/11

• Focus: Questioning Kafka’s The Metamorphosis
• During announcements: Figure out your 2 timed writing grades by calculating the average score on each. Ex: If your graders gave you a 4, 5, and 6 on your second timed writing, your grade would be a 5.
• What did you get on your midterm? Calculating your A.P. score and setting goals for yourself
• Unleashing the “monster” of Kafka’s Metamorphosis: Small group Q & A
• HW: If you haven’t emailed me your reading proposal yet (author, title, and year of publication), please do so tonight; look over your vocabulary before you go to bed; see website calendar for discussion schedule of The Metamorphosis. ☺

A.P. Scoring: �How To Decipher the Chart

• If you get 20% of the MC questions right, you need to get 6’s and 7’s on the essays to get a 3, and 8’s and 9’s to get a 4. A 5 is not feasible.

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• If you get 30% of the MC questions right, you need 5’s and 6’s to get a 3, 7’s and 8’s to get a 4, and all 9’s to get a 5.

Kafka Groups

• With your group, please discuss the first 3^rd of Metamorphosis. Here are a few guidelines:
• Share and discuss your reading tickets.
• As a group, create five good discussion questions and write each one on a separate card.
• Try to include at least three passage-based questions, and include the passage on the card.
• When you finish your questions, place them in the bin of knowledge and take out two new ones.
• When you finish discussing your two questions, exchange them for two new ones.
• The quantity of notes you take is up to you, but you should be jotting down ideas and questions to share with the class (and to keep for yourself).

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Agenda 1/12

• Focus: A more structured look at Metamorphosis; overview of the critical review
• During announcements: Vocab. fun!
• Reading ticket quickwrites and give-aways!
• What’s a critical review? Samples of style, structure, and substance
• HW: Create reading ticket for second half of Metamorphosis based on one of today’s statements. ☺

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Agenda 1/13

• Focus: Turning your Kafka questions into Kafka responses
• During announcements: Vocab. pop quiz #3
• Warm-up: Gallery walk of reading tickets
• What’s bugging you about The Metamorphosis? Exterminating your Kafka issues, fishbowl-style
• HW: Read your critical review book; start your final reading ticket for Friday. For that final reading ticket, use Galenet to find an article on The Metamorphosis; print it and read it, then type a half-page to a page summary and opinion of it. ☺

Best Metamorphosis Questions

Why doesn’t anyone question his transformation?

What is the metamorphosis other than physical?

Is the metamorphosis exemplifying Gregor or his family?

What is the significance of Grete in the story? Why does she leave?

What is the central conflict?

Agenda 1/15

• Focus: Analyzing The Metamorphosis
• During announcements: What happened to Ms. Leclaire?
• Character dance-off
• Socratic seminar: The Metamorphosis
• Goal #1: 100% participation
• Goal #2: Share ideas from your articles
• HW: Incorporate The Metamorphosis into your big question blog/wiki; read your critical review book; poetry response due next week. ☺

Character Dance-Off

• 1^st step: Get into character by brainstorming everything you know about the character on your card.
• 2^nd step: Think about how this character would act, say, move, etc.
• 3^rd step: As the music plays, wander/dance around the room. When it stops, grab a partner.
• 4^th step: I will post a question on the overhead, and you must discuss it with your dance partner for 2 minutes IN CHARACTER.

What do you do for fun?

What has been your greatest struggle?

What is the greatest tragedy that can befall a person?

What has been your greatest accomplishment?

What is the most significant change you have undergone?

What should we value above all else?

Agenda 1/19

• Focus: Seeing Kafka’s “bigger picture”
• During announcements: How’s your memory? Vocab. list 1, revisited
• Snack time!
• Remember your initial Metamorphosis questions? How well can you answer them now?
• Tuesday Writing #1: Open prompt
• HW: Bring Metamorphosis to turn in tomorrow; read your critical review book. ☺

Agenda 1/20

• Focus: Sharing final thoughts on The Metamorphosis and exploring background to The Stranger
• During announcements: Quietly enjoy a cookie bar from Ms. Leclaire
• What killed Gregor? An MMM approach
• Pre-reading questions for The Stranger
• Distribute copies of The Stranger
• HW: Read through Ch. 4 of The Stranger for Friday, using one of today’s questions as the basis for your reading ticket; poetry response. ☺

Agenda 1/21

• Focus: Addressing our social cravings
• During announcements: Quietly respond to the quick survey on the overhead.
• Is a cockroach sometimes just a cockroach? Discussing “The Meaning of No Meaning”
• Prereading questions for The Stranger: Brainstorming and discussion
• HW: Read through Ch. 3 of The Stranger for tomorrow, using one of today’s questions as the basis for your reading ticket; poetry response. ☺

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Please have this finished in your notebook by the end of announcements.

• Do you think that analyzing a text detracts from the text’s beauty and/or power?
• Absolutely Kind of Not at all
• Do you think that a piece of literature must have a “deeper significance” in order to be worthy of reading?
• Absolutely Kind of Not at all
• Please explain your two responses.

Agenda 1/10

• Focus: Introducing yourself to The Stranger
• Announcements/return proposals and timed writings
• A quick calculation of your official score
• Meet Albert Camus
• Socratic Seminar: Part 1, Chapters 1-3
• Turn in reading tickets
• HW: Start reading the rest of Part 1 for Wednesday; acquire and start reading your critical reading book.

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Agenda 1/11/11

• Focus: A simple approach to difficult poetry
• Announcements/return AP grades
• Sample critical reviews from last year
• Quick overview of the MMM approach to poetry
• Collaborative MMM-ing “To Paint a Water Lily”; individual MMM-ing “in the time of daffodils”
• HW: (Re)Read Part 1, Chapters 4-6 + brilliant reading ticket; critical review book reading.

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The MMM Approach to Poetry

• Moment: Which moments in each chapter make you pause and why?
• Movement: Where does there seem to be movement? Lack of movement? Repetition?
• Multiple Meanings: Try to find a pattern among the moments and movements you have discussed. Right now, your thoughts may largely be taking on the form of questions.

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Agenda 1/12

• Focus: Growing more acquainted with The Stranger
• Announcements/snack
• Quick gallery walk of reading tickets
• Socratic Seminar #2: Part 1, Chs.3-6
• HW: Bring your poetry term packet to class tomorrow; read Part 2, Chs.1-3 for Friday’s Socratic seminar; critical review book.

Agenda 1/13

• Focus: Fine tuning your poetry skills
• Announcements
• A more physical approach to poetry: Poetry term board wars
• Calming down with MMM and e.e.
• If time, look at the larger, more controversial topics of The Stranger
• HW: Read Part 2, chapters 1-3 in The Stranger + reading ticket; critical review book.

Agenda 1/14

• Focus: Investigating The Stranger
• Announcements/return reading tickets
• A quick revisitation of yesterday (minus your terrifying competitive nature)
• Gallery walk of reading tickets!
• Socratic seminar #3: Part 2, Chs. 1-3
• HW: Critical review reading; finish Part 2, but no formal reading ticket is necessary.

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Agenda 1/18

• Focus: Poetry prowess
• Announcements
• Quick warm up: Reading poetry in “real time”
• Tuesday Writing #2: Poem Comparison
• HW: We will discuss the ending of The Stranger tomorrow; read carefully, but no formal reading ticket is required.

Agenda 1/19

• Focus: Larger themes from The Stranger
• Announcements/snack!
• Small groups with big topics (20 min)
• Final Socratic seminar: The end of The Stranger
• HW: Aim to finish your critical review book by next Monday at the latest; update your big question blog to include The Stranger; strongly consider purchasing Beloved.

Conformity

How is conformity encouraged, even mandated, in our society?

What are the consequences of being non-conformist?

The Lie

How is lying a part of being social?

What are socially “acceptable” lies?

Which is more expensive—the truth or the lie?

Purpose

What matters?

According to whom?

Why?

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Action vs. Non-Action

Which is an ethically-correct choice given a life and death situation? Explain.

The Excluded

When does the “socially marginal” become criminal? Explain.

Is this right?

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Agenda 1/20

• Focus: Writing workshop
• Announcements
• Quick poetic warm-up with partners and Venn diagrams
• It’s time to play “Guess that AP Score!”: An energizing walk through a few samples
• Large circle workshops
• HW: Meet in the library computer lab tomorrow with your Stranger book; aim to finish your critical review book by Monday.

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Agenda 1/21 (Shortened Class)

• Focus: Synthesizing larger ideas about The Stranger
• Announcements / Distribute “The Preface”
• A little Stranger help
• Time to work on your big question blog/critical review reading
• HW: Please read and annotate the packet given out today; critical review reading; big question blog.

Agenda 1/22 (Shortened Class)

• Focus: Questioning Camus, Chs.1-3
• Any last poetry responses out there?
• Discussion of The Stranger, Chs. 1-3
• Writing Workshop: Tuesday writing on The Metamorphosis
• Sample essay and rubric
• Peer editing
• HW: Read chapters 4 through 6 for Monday; critical review book. ☺

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Agenda 1/25

• Focus: Moments and movement in The Stranger
• During announcements: It’s time for some fresh new vocab. words!
• A brief and mildly interesting presentation on Camus, your favorite Algerian author
• Small groups: The MMM’s of The Stranger
• Large group: Exploring the pre-reading question motifs (conformity, action vs. non-action, etc.)
• HW: Critical review book; by Wednesday, read Chs. 1-3 in Part 2 of The Stranger. ☺

Approaching The Stranger

• With your group, discuss the MMM of each chapter and jot your ideas down in your composition book.
• Moment: Which moments in each chapter make you pause and why?
• Movement: Where does there seem to be movement? Lack of movement? Repetition?
• Multiple Meanings: Try to find a pattern among the moments and movements you have discussed. Right now, your thoughts may largely be taking on the form of questions.

Agenda 1/26

• Focus: Practicing poetry analysis
• During announcements: Quick pictorial matching for the visual learners
• Circle story time!
• Practice with poetry: “To Paint a Water Lily”
• HW: Critical reading book; Chapters 1-3 in Part 2 + THOUGHTFUL reading ticket. Remember that it’s up to you to make meaning of our readings.

Agenda 1/27

• Focus: Has murder given Meursault life?
• During announcements: Read “Meursault Prison Pie” and highlight the line that you think is most central to this “recipe”

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• The Cure’s tribute to The Stranger
• Socratic seminar: 1^st Half of The Stranger

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• HW: Critical review book; bring back “To Paint a Water Lily” tomorrow for an in-class activity; rest of The Stranger + a motif reading ticket (creative or formal) for Friday. ☺

“Killing an Arab” – The Cure

• Why do you think The Cure selected this particular moment—the murder of the Arab—to highlight?
• Why is it significant to the book as a whole?
• Why is it significant to a popular audience?
• Does this song shed any light on the title the novel (The Stranger)?

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Agenda 1/28

• Focus: Formal and informal approaches to poetry practice
• During announcements: The joy of vocabulary
• “To Paint a Water Lily”: A few new techniques to try out; a look at the prompt that accompanied this question in 2006
• “Left-Handed Poem”: Switching poetic hands and dabbling in enjambment
• HW: Poetry response can be handed in Monday; finish The Stranger and create a motif-based reading ticket; critical review book. ☺

A few helpful terms to add to your poetic prowess…

• Perfect Rhyme
• Words with identical sounds
• Ex: great, late; dutiful, beautiful
• Slant Rhyme
• A partial or imperfect rhyme, often using assonance or consonance only
• Ex: Dry, pride; grown, moon.

• Enjambment:
• The running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break.
• Imperative statement:
• A command (the subject is the implied “you”)
• Ex: Stop! Please take out your notes.
• Oldies but goodies from the past:
• Conceit
• Conscious ambiguity

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2006 Form B Prompt

Read the following poem carefully. Then write an essay discussing how the poet uses literary techniques to reveal the speaker’s attitudes toward nature and the artist’s task. (“To Paint a Water Lily” by Ted Hughes)

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Agenda 1/29

• Focus: Looking at authorial intent
• During announcements: Vocab. doodle
• Finish left-handed poems & analyze them
• Camus on Camus: His own explanation of Meursault
• Socratic seminar: How would Camus answer our pre-reading questions?
• HW: Big question blog for The Stranger; finish reading critical review book; essay overview is online. ☺

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Agenda 2/1

• Focus: Synthesizing Camus’ themes
• During announcements: Start brainstorming your responses to the group scenarios
• Group scenarios: You vs. Camus
• Reading “The Myth of Sisyphus” and rereading the very end of The Stranger
• Final discussion of The Stranger
• HW: Did you finish your Big Question Blog yet? How’s that critical review coming along? ☺

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Agenda 2/2

• Focus: Strengthening your timed writing
• During announcements: A relaxing vocabulary task!
• Explanation of tonight’s homework (it is taking the place of this week’s poetry response)
• Reflecting on your former Tuesday writings
• This week’s Tuesday writing!
• HW: Complete your Camus poem for tomorrow; bring The Stranger to turn in; critical review book. ☺

A relaxing yet vigorous vocabulary activity to work on during announcements!

• The scene: Ms. Leclaire has just walked into S-7 right before 3^rd hour, but her AP Literature class is missing. However, they have left her a note.
• Write the note using any SIX of the vocabulary words below:
• Factious perspicacity fervent
• Enervate ephemeral opulent
• Capricious vindictive dissipate

Agenda 2/3 (Shortened Class)

• Focus: The absurd and the not-so-absurd
• During announcements: Quietly log in and open up your poems from last night.
• Submitting your absurdist poems to the blog and commenting
• Time to edit/compose your critical review essay (due Monday)
• HW: Continue working on critical review essay; no poetry essay this week. ☺

Agenda 2/4

• Focus: Wrapping up loose ends
• During announcements: The final hurrah of vocabulary, list 2!
• Mrs. Thurnau shares with you the joy of registering for the A.P. Literature test
• Okay, let’s finally talk about existentialism
• Timed writing workshop: Norming with samples
• HW: Critical review essay! Start reading Beloved. ☺

Agenda 1/24

• Focus: Final discussion of Camus
• Announcements / sign up for conferences
• Warm-up: A self survey
• A speed dating approach to the Preface and “The Myth of Sisyphus”
• Distribute Beloved
• HW: Finish your blog; start reading Beloved; critical review essay due Friday, Feb 4; please turn in your copy of The Stranger by the end of the week.

Are you like Camus?

The most important quest you can take is one for…

(A) Close relationships with others

(B) Harmony with your society

(C) Individual authenticity

The decisions you make…

(A) are determined largely by external circumstances

(B) should keep you out of danger at all costs

(C) belong exclusively to you as an individual, independent of external circumstances

Risks are…

(A) to be avoided at all costs

(B) to be avoided if the result will be personal suffering

(C) a part of life; some actions result in suffering, and it’s unethical to avoid this

Our lives are determined by…

(A) Fate (a predetermined universe)

(B) Choices made by those around us

(C) Free will (our individual freedom to make choices)

Social structures should be…

(A) obeyed at all costs

(B) disregarded entirely

(C) disregarded if they are too restrictive of individual choice/ethics

The Myth of Sisyphus

• How can you apply this myth as a metaphor of your own life / your own struggles?

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• How can we apply this myth to The Stranger?

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• What are Camus’ most significant and/or challenging points?

Agenda 1/25

• Focus: Timed writing
• Announcements
• Warm-up: A quick visualization of “The Myth of Sisyphus”
• Tuesday writing: The Stranger
• HW: Read the first two chapters (through p.27 in my edition) of Beloved; for your reading ticket, please analyze a specific character using at least 2 passages.