Week 4:3 (Feb. 6-10)

Sat, 4 Feb 2012 19:00:14 -0500

pre-AP & Honors Freshmen,
We’ll be starting some Romeo and Juliet-related notes early this week. We’re also starting to read and interact with the play. A copy of RJ is required in class daily. Please pay close attention to all due dates (marked in red). Students should be working at completing the following journal assignments for next week’s journal due date: (“Harrison Bergeron” Questions, “Poison” Questions, Prologue Colormarking, and RJ Act I #1-4).

AP Seniors,
This week will flow similarly to last week. Please bring Heart of Darkness with you to class on Thursday, and prepare for more direct exam practice.

Week 4:2 (Jan. 30-Feb. 3)

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:00:14 -0500

Freshmen:
We’ll be covering two short stories in class this week - “Poison” by Roald Dahl and “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut (audio file available to the right). These stories will be the basis for this semester’s first journal assignments. Both stories are in the textbook (checked out to each student from the classroom).

Seniors:
Have Heart of Darkness with you this week. This week (schedule likely will be re-arranged in order from what’s posted), we’ll be reviewing Friday’s prose essays, reviewing Part 1 of Heart of Darkness, and doing some group work with AP multiple choice sections.

Week 4:1 (Jan. 23-27)

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:00:14 -0500

Freshmen,
We’ll be tackling some general reading assessments this week and touching on some thematic topics that relate to various pieces of literature that we’ll be reading this semester. Items due this week include the Personal Paragraphs and a blank composition book for use as this semester’s journal.

Seniors,
Please have a copy of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in class by Thursday. (Lending copies are available.) Monday and part of Tuesday will be used for the practical purpose of reviewing your Hamlet and Beloved journals, the Beloved essay, and your exam. This six weeks begins an increasingly singular focus on direct practice with the AP exam itself. This Friday also marks the first of several “AP Fridays” to come in which you’ll encounter one of the exam’s four portions. This is valuable time, and not much else will prepare you as well as good old-fashioned practice (followed by some review each Monday).

Week 3:6 (Jan. 9-13)

Sat, 7 Jan 2012 06:00:14 -0500

Freshmen, pay close attention to this final week of the grading period’s final quiz on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Your 7th period exam takes place at the beginning of the day this Friday. I will post the exam schedule and exam study guide later this weekend; limited time permits me from doing so right now.

Gawain stuff
• SG Vocab List
• Colormarking #8

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Fri, 6 Jan 2012 22:07:14 -0500

This clip is a reading of the poem in its original (now extinct) dialect of early English. In class, we will of course be reading a more modern translation of the poem that retains the bob-and-weave beat and captures the author’s unique syntax and style present in the original text.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written about 600 years ago by an unknown author, has got just about everything: it is an action-packed adventure, a ghost story, a romance, a morality tale, and the world's first eco-poem.

The anonymous work follows an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's legendary Round Table. In the tale, Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious bearded giant; this challenge tests his sense of honor and commitment to chivalry in the face of great danger.

In addition to its complex plot and rich language, the poem's chief interest for literary critics is its sophisticated use of medieval symbolism. Everything from the Green Knight himself, to his challenge, to the magical sash Gawain trusts as his protection from the axe, is richly symbolic and steeped in Celtic, Germanic, and other cultural traditions.

Gawain Handouts
• PB Vocab #3
• Gawain Questions
• SG Vocab List
• Colormarking #7
• Colormarking #8