A.P. Lit Is Qua Qua Quaing: April 9, 2015

Focus: Why do they wait?

A. Warming up: Viewing a performance of Lucky's speech and exploring what happens to the speech when you eliminate the "blah blah blah's" and "qua qua qua's"

Find three parts of Lucky's speech and try to connect them to other lines/stage directions in Act 1. 

• What patterns does Lucky's speech share with the rest of the play so far? 
• What metaphorical luggage is Lucky carrying for everyone in this play?
• Why have outsiders (Pozzo, Lucky, and the Boy) enter the scene? What purpose do they serve?

2. Acting out the first part of Act 2

III. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and booklist; let me know anytime you'd like feedback. Outline due Friday.

2. A heads-up: On Monday, we will have a Socratic seminar on Waiting for Godot.

Advanced Placement Waiting: What Day Is It?

Focus: What are they waiting for?

1. Warming up with a brief film clip echoing Alex and Joe's performance

• What aspects of human existence does this performance accentuate?

2. Sharing of your thoughts from yesterday and entertaining few questions about Lucky

• How is Lucky "lucky"?  In other words, how is his suffering less than that of Didi and Gogo?
• To what extent is his name ironic? Or, how is he suffering more than Didi and Gogo are?
• What might the rope around his neck symbolize?

From shmoop: "At least Lucky can see the rope around his neck. Vladimir and Estragon can’t."

3. Reading the rest of Act 1 in Waiting for Godot 

• Viewing a performance of Lucky's speech

3. Wrapping up

HW:
1. Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and booklist; let me know anytime you'd like feedback. Outline due Friday.

A.P. Lit Feels Anaphoric Today: April 7, 2015

Focus: What are they waiting for?

1. Waiting for your prompts and book lists to turn into an outline

2. Waiting to understand the absurdist elements you're noticing so far in Godot

3. Waiting for Alex and Joe to perform more of the play for us

HW:
Continue working on your culminating essay prompt and book list; outline due this Friday.

A.P. Lit Is Waiting: April 6, 2015

Focus: What does it mean to wait?

1. Warming up with "I Am Waiting"

• MMM approach: What strikes you about this poem?

• What does it mean to wait? Does it make you powerful? Vulnerable? Hopeless? Hopeful?

• What are you waiting for?

2. Building a little background knowledge on the Theatre of the Absurd and Absurdist protagonists

3. Starting to act out Waiting for Godot with focus questions


HW:
Continue to build ideas for your culminating essay; start gathering old books, looking through your childhood stuff, reworking your prompt, etc.  I will start giving you feedback on your prompts and booklists this afternoon.

A.P. Lit Is Thinking About How It all Comes Together: April 3, 2015

Focus: What is the culminating essay, and how do we begin?

1. Warming up: Listing your favorite books from childhood to today

2. Perusing four sample essays from students of years past and discussing the components of the culminating essay

3. Forming rough drafts of your culminating essay prompts and booklists

HW:
1. Please e-mail me/Google share with me a draft of your prompt and booklist by Monday.

2. Poetry response #9 due Monday.

3. If you have your own copy of Waiting for Godot, bring it to class Monday.

A.P. Lit Is Editing: April 2, 2015

Focus: How can we improve our timed writings?

1. Warming up: Evaluating your 12-week grades

2. Gathering with your book clubs one last time to assess your Tuesday writings:

a. Discuss how you answered the prompt.  How did you interpret the prompt?  What examples did you use? What was the larger importance of the book to which you connected those examples?

b. Read through the rubric together, highlighting important words that distinguish one grading category from another.

c. Pass clockwise and read quietly once without making a mark.

d. Comment on its content and organization (thesis, topic sentences, examples, close readings, etc.); then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.

e. Pass again clockwise and read quietly without making a mark.

f. Comment on its style (diction, sentence variety, lead-ins, transitions, etc.); then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision. 

g. Pass one last time (clockwise) and read quietly without making a mark.

h. Comment on what the writer asked you to comment on; then, using the rubric, suggest a grade range and give a brief explanation of your decision.

3. Conferencing with your fellow group members on the feedback you gave

HW:
1. Tomorrow marks the end of 12 weeks. If you have any make-up work from the past six weeks (including poetry responses) or a revision of your critical review, you must turn it in by this Friday.

2. Make sure your big blog post is ready for me to look at tomorrow.

3. If you own your own copy of Waiting for Godot, start bringing it to class tomorrow/next week.

A.P. Lit Is Writing About Their Book Club Novels: April 1, 2015

Focus: How can we write effectively about our book club novels?

1. Warming up: Trying out Mrs. Ferrill's nifty three-minute outline

• Showing you an example

• Trying it out with a previous timed writing (or other essay if you don't have a timed writing handy)

• Backing it up with concrete examples (the key to avoiding excessive plot summary)

Vague example: Sethe takes the life of her own daughter.

Concrete example: The scene in which Sethe murders Beloved is narrated primarily through the third person omniscient viewpoint of the "four horsemen" who have come to collect her.


Vague example: Sethe constantly remembers the abuses of Schoolteacher's nephew.

Concrete example: Sethe carries a chokecherry tree scar on her back.


Vague example: Billy Pilgrim bounces around irregularly in space and time.  OR

The Tallis home is dysfunctional.

Concrete example:


2. Enjoying your book club timed writing


HW:
1. This Friday marks the end of 12 weeks. If you have any make-up work from the past six weeks (including poetry responses) or a revision of your critical review, you must turn it in by this Friday.

2. Make sure your big blog post is ready for me to look at tomorrow.

3. If you own your own copy of Waiting for Godot, start bringing it to class this week.