I Yam What I Yam: November 21, 2014

Focus: What are we starting to understand about the narrator in Invisible Man?

1. Warming up with our old friend, Foster, and what he has to say about eating

From "Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion":

"Here's the thing to remember about communions of all kinds: in the real world, breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace, since if you've breaking bread you're not breaking heads.  One generally invites one's friends to dinner, unless one is trying to get on the good side of enemies or employers. We're quite particular about those with whom we break bread...The act of taking food into our bodies is so personal that we really only want to do it with people we're very comfortable with. As with any convention, this one can be violated." (8)

"...writing a meal scene is so difficult, and so inherently uninteresting, that there really needs to be some compelling reason to include one in the story." (8)

Check out two eating scenes from recent chapters:

• Pork chops and grits for breakfast: Pages 178-179

• I yam what I yam: Pages 263-266

What specific words and phrases stand out to you in these descriptions, and why might they be important?

Through these scenes of eating, what do we learn or understand about the narrator?

2.  Enjoying small group discussions of Chapters 14-16 (20 minutes)

3. Getting a head start on your reading assignment for Monday

HW:

1. Read through Chapter 20 for Monday's big Socratic seminar.  I'd like everyone to be caught up at that point.  If you get on a roll and decide to finish the last two reading assignments for Invisible Man, the last three reading tickets are your choice:

• 10 good questions/inferences
• A mini metacognitive on an important little paragraph
• Charting out patterns established in Chapter 1
• Drawing a significant scene and identifying/explaining briefly at least five symbolic elements in that scene

2. Poetry project people: Please work through that proposal and turn it in on Tuesday.  Check your metacognitives, as I will be giving you feedback on Monday.

A.P. Lit Students Are Venturing into Their Own Minds: November 20, 2014

Focus: What's going on inside your mind as you process a poem?

1. Warming up by thinking about next semester

• Do you enjoy this class?

• Is this work you're putting into this class worth what you're getting out of this class?

• What is the ultimate reward of taking this class for you?

• If you're taking it largely for the A.P. credit, do the colleges you're considering take A.P. credit?  If so, what scores do they accept, and are you likely to achieve those scores?

• Do you know what the concurrent enrollment classes are, and do you think they'd suit you better?

2. Recapping the idea behind metacognitive writing and looking at an example

3. Performing a metacognitive writing (this counts as a Tuesday writing, but it's not graded at all like  a Tuesday writing)

Here's what we're going for:

Constant references to specific pieces of text

Questions and ponderings

Inferences and patterns

Possibly tone and themes?

HW:
1. If you need more time on your metacognitive writing, please finish it before Thanksgiving break.

2. Read Chapters 14, 15, and 16 for Friday (broken into two nights, it's about 27 pages a night).  We will read Chapter 17 together in class on Friday. For your reading ticket, find one passage that is no more than half a page in length and perform a metacognitive writing on it.

3. Project people: Start up the back burner in your mind and let the ideas simmer.

A.P. Literature Is Both Invisible and Manly: November 19, 2014

Focus: If it's Optic White, is it the Right White?

1. Warming up with the grand overview of your final hurrah here in A.P. Literature: The Poetry Project vs. the Poetry Essay

2. Enjoying an illuminating conversation about Invisible Man, Chapters 7-14

3. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Look over your five poems, and select ONE that you think would work well for your project or poem.  Bring that poem to class tomorrow for a metacognitive writing.  This writing will count as a Tuesday writing.

2. Bring a laptop to class tomorrow if you have one.

3. Read Chapters 14, 15, and 16 for Friday (broken into two nights, it's about 27 pages a night).  We will read Chapter 17 together in class on Friday. For your reading ticket, find one passage that is no more than half a page in length and perform a metacognitive writing on it.

A.P. Literature Isn't Getting Enough Sleep: November 18, 2014

Focus: How can we combine different literary devices to respond effectively to Question 1?

1. Warming up: Question marks, exclamations and periods, oh my!

• How many questions are in this speech?
• How many exclamations?
• How many simple, declarative sentences?
• What do these sentence structure statistics reveal about the speaker?

Revisit the syntax of the final line.  Aside from the fact that it would throughout off the rhyme and rhythm of final heroic couplet, why isn't it written like this?

Uneasy rests the head that wears a crown.

The head that wears a crown lies uneasily.

Uneasy lies the king's head.


2. Exploring a sample essay together for strengths and weaknesses

3. Playing the matching game

Find one strong analysis of imagery in the first body paragraph.

Heart: Find two specific verbs that support the statement

Diamond: Find two examples of euphony and/or cacophony that support the statement

Spade: Find a word with a double meaning that supports the statement

Club: Find two examples of alliteration, assonance, perfect rhyme, and/or slant rhyme that support the statement

4. Editing your own timed writings

Round 1: Thesis and topic sentences

Round 2: Paraphrasing vs. analyzing

Round 3: Mixing it up instead of being a one-trick pony (using multiple literary devices within a body paragraph)

Round 4: Style

HW:
1. Read up to (but not through) Chapter 14 for Wednesday; for your reading ticket, please track one or two patterns just as we were doing in class yesterday.  Jot down the page numbers on which you find these patterns, and form 10 good questions/inferences based on the passages that display them.

2. By tomorrow, compose a list of about five poems that intrigue you and seem worthy of intensive study.  Time period does not matter, but difficulty does. Toss them into a Google doc, and be sure to include title, author, and year published.

Have You Seen the Invisible Man? November 17, 2014

Focus: What larger meaning can start to make of the patterns in Invisible Man?

1. Warming up: Taking moments from Chapter 1 and exploring how they play out in Chapters 3-9

The narrator's speech

The white lady

The chaos of the Battle Royal

Tatlock

The blindfolds

The arena

The electrified rug

The coins

The briefcase

The scholarship
The grandfather's advice

Make yourself a big, messy chart in which you focus on a few of the items above and explore how they resurface in subsequent chapters, perhaps in slightly altered forms.

How does it change? How does it stay the same?
Why is it important?

2. Taking time to read Chapter 10 and deepen these patterns

3. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Read through Chapter 14 for Wednesday; for your reading ticket, please track one or two patterns (just as we were doing in class today).  Jot down the page numbers on which you find these patterns, and form 10 good questions/inferences based on the passages that display them.

2. By next Wednesday, compose a list of about five poems that intrigue you and seem worthy of intensive study.  Time period does not matter, but difficulty does.

A.P. Is Trying to Find the Invisible Man: November 14, 2014

Focus: What vivid symbols and stereotypes are at work in Invisible Man?

1. Using your artistic skills to unravel a few symbolic scenes from Invisible Man's early chapters

• Battle Royal (22-26)
• The road from the college to Trueblood's cabin (34-37)
• The narrator driving around Mr. Norton (37-40, and top of 44)
• Reviving Mr. Norton at the Golden Day (79-81)
• Supercargo takes charge (82-85)

2. Enjoying a Socratic seminar on Invisible Man, Chapters 3-6

3. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Read Chapters 7, 8, and 9; please pick one image/scene that has symbolic purpose to it.  Type the passage, illustrate it, and label what the different pieces of your illustration symbolize (just as we did in class today).  You will be given 30 minutes of reading time on Monday to read Chapter 10.

2. By next Wednesday, compose a list of about five poems that intrigue you and seem worthy of intensive study.  Time period does not matter, but difficulty does.

A.P. Literature Is Exploring Some Dangerous Stereotypes: November 13, 2014

Focus: What stereotypes dictate the narrator's world in Invisible Man?

1. Viewing part of Ethnic Notions to gain an understanding of the danger and depth of black stereotypes

Please use the handout given out in class (and also linked HERE) to help you sort through, understand, and apply the stereotypes presented in Ethnic Notions

2. Applying these stereotypes to Invisible Man


HW: 
1. Please follow the revised reading schedule and read Chapters 4 through 6 for Friday's Socratic.  Your reading ticket assignment is the same as it was for today: 10 good discussion questions on specific elements from the pages and their possible connections to larger patterns.

2. By next Wednesday, compose a list of about five poems that intrigue you and seem worthy of intensive study.  Time period does not matter, but difficulty does.

Invisible Class: November 12, 2014

Focus: What's surprising you in Invisible Man, and what questions are starting to arise?

PLC: Shortened Class Today

1. Warming up by forcing myself to give you back your stuff (I keep carrying it around for no reason)

2. Enjoying our first Socratic seminar on Invisible Man, Prologue through Chapter 3

3. Wrapping up

HW: 
1. Please follow the revised reading schedule and read Chapters 4 through 6 for Friday's Socratic.  Your reading ticket assignment is the same as it was for today: 10 good discussion questions on specific elements from the pages and their possible connections to larger patterns.

2. By next Wednesday, compose a list of about five poems that intrigue you and seem worthy of intensive study.  Time period does matter, but difficulty does.

A.P. Literature Is Choosing the Right Answer: November 11, 2014

Focus: How can we improve our multiple choice skills?

1. Explaining today:  Hello, class!  Henry is sick, so I won't have the pleasure of joining you today.  Please enjoy the multiple choice questions I've selected especially for you today.

Feel free to mark up the tests (and be sure to hold onto them until we can discuss them further), but record your official answers on the scantron sheets.  Do your best, but try not to worry about your score too much.  In the words of Taylor Swift, shake it off.

You only need to do questions 1-40; you do not need to read the Faulkner piece at the end (unless you're dying to).

2. Wrapping up: In the last 10-15 minutes of class, please grab a partner and work through the questions.  When you and your partner disagree on a questions, take the time to talk it out until you agree on one (feel free to change your answer on the actual scantron).

3. Turning in your scantrons (I'll let you know how you did)

HW: 
Please read Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in Invisible Man for tomorrow; read them carefully and slowly because your understanding of the rest of the novel will rest heavily on these first chapters.  Form at least ten good questions using the method from today and/or the Socratic questions sheets given out in class.

Invisible Class: November 10, 2014

Focus: How can I translate my Invisible Man confusion into deeply intellectual questions?

Turn in those literary essays!  Woo hoo!

Also, I have revised the reading schedule slightly to make it more manageable.

1. Warming up: Using the symbols and imagery in the Prologue to scaffold some good questions

Step 1: Form a question about the basic properties of the symbol/image

• What's the difference between an arrow and a boomerang?  

Step 2: Draw the symbol back to the specific context of the novel/use it to clarify something

• When the narrator asserts on page 6 that the world moves like a boomerang, what does he mean? 

Step 3: Take it to the next level by connecting it to a larger pattern

• If the narrator sees the world as a boomerang instead of an arrow, what does this suggest about his history?  And his future?

2. Playing musical chairs to dive into your Prologue questions

3. Reading Chapter 1 together, pausing to pose questions for Wednesday's big Socratic

HW: 
Please read Chapters 1, 2 and 3 in Invisible Man for Wednesday; read them carefully and slowly because your understanding of the rest of the novel will rest heavily on these first chapters.  Form at least ten good questions using the method from today and/or the Socratic questions sheets given out in class.

Invisible Class: November 7, 2014

Focus: What does it mean to be invisible?

1. Warming up with a quick yet important checklist for your literary essay final draft:

2. Freewriting on some big questions for Invisible Man; discussing them in small groups

3. Starting to work through the Prologue together

HW:
1. Literary essays due Monday.  If you're absent Monday, please Google share your essay with me and bring in a hard copy as soon as you return.  See the checklist for important reminders.

2. Finish reading the Prologue for Monday; we will prepare reading tickets in class since your essay is also due. I have altered the reading schedule slightly to make your reading assignments more manageable; please click HERE for the adjusted schedule.

3. Turn in Henry IV.

A.P. Literature Is Close Reading: November 6, 2014

Focus: How do I perform a close reading of prose?

Very shortened class today: CMAS

1. Offering you one of my sample close readings from college

Moments: What imagery, diction, sounds, metaphors, and other examples of figurative language stand out?

Movement: What patterns are starting to emerge?  What interesting contradictions are you noticing?  Shift happens: What's changing? What's staying the same?

Multiple meanings: What larger themes and tone does this passage contribute to? How do your observations about this quotation support and deepen your thesis?

2. Trying out a close reading on one of your literary essay quotations

HW:
1. Bring Invisible Man to class tomorrow.

2. Finish your Henry IV blog; don't worry if it's a bit shorter than your other blogs.  Bring your book tomorrow or Monday to turn in.

3. Literary essays due on Monday.  If you are absent Monday, Google share it with on Monday and bring me a hard copy as soon as you return to school.

4. College essay revisions (along with any other minor assignments you want credit for) are due tomorrow; please follow my revision policy of highlighting your changes, typing a brief paragraph of explanation of changes you made and how they improved your essay, and attaching it to the original draft with my comments.

A.P. Literature Is About To Go Invisible: November 4, 2014

Focus: What does Henry IV suggest about honor?

1. Warming up with quick whip-around of symbolic choices in Act 5:

The most important choice that The Hollow Crown makes in its depiction of Act 5 is ___________________ because ________________.

On Friday, Joe asked, "Why is this play called Henry IV?"  Not a bad question, Joe.  The BBC apparently agreed with you because they renamed it The Hollow Crown.

• Why do you think they chose this title?  Why focus on the crown, and why is it hollow?

• Do you think that it better fits this play than the original title?  Why or why not?  

• Can you think of a better title?

2. Reading Falstaff's speech about honor and viewing the Orson Welles performance of it and his thoughts on Falstaff as a nostalgic representation of an earlier, more innocent England.

3. Mental jousting by considering the following questions:

• Henry IV is an honorable king.
• Honor pertains only to the dead, not to the living.

• Henry IV is essentially an anti-war play.

4. Wrapping up the play with some big ideas:

• The most important moment in Henry IV is when...

• The most important relationship in Henry IV is between...

• The most important shift in Henry IV is when...

• The most important aspect of Henry IV that doesn't change is....

• The most interesting foil in Henry IV is...

• The most prominent image in Henry IV is...

• A significant question that Henry IV raises is....

A heads-up: We will have a Tuesday writing, but it will not be Question 3; instead, it will be a poetry prompt that (as you could probably guess), focuses on a Shakespearean speech.

SHIFTING GEARS...

5. Creative freewriting: Offering you last year's thoughts on being invisible

• Describe a time (or two) in which you felt invisible.

• What does it mean to be invisible?

HW:

1. The majority of your draft should be completed; feel to share part or all of it with me for feedback (or, even better, come in for a conference).

2. Please bring TWO of the quotations you are using/plan to use in your essay to class on THURSDAY, along with any analysis you have done of them. If you don't have a laptop, please bring in a hard copy.

3. By Friday, please compose your big question blog entry for Henry IV, Part 1.

A.P. Literature Has a Surprise Writing: November 3, 2014

Focus: How can we improve our poetry timed writing skills?

I'm switching the Tuesday writing to today. Please don't hurt me.  Candy, anyone?

1. Warming up with happy Monday!

Who needs a copy of Invisible Man?

2. Performing a quick close reading of Hotspur's final speech on page 215 (5.4)

3. Enjoying a new timed writing on a Shakespearean soliloquy

HW:

1. The majority of your draft should be completed; feel to share part or all of it with me for feedback (or, even better, come in for a conference).

2. By Friday, please compose your big question blog entry for Henry IV, Part 1. Bring the play to class tomorrow.

3. If you have your own copy of Invisible Man, please bring it to CMAS; your Invisible Man reading assignments start this week. Click HERE for the Invisible Man reading schedule.