ATTENTION!!! PLEASE READ

Hey! What I would have told you if you have been in my room today OR if I had been able to address you this morning when I came over is this:

Thank you so much for a wonderful semester. You are all such fabulous people and I consider myself so lucky to get to teach you! We have done a lot of work and hopefully have learned a lot and improved, but we have also had some fun (I have, at least... not sure about you) and done some interesting things. My favorite thing about teaching this class as a skinny is that I don't have to say goodbye to you in December, but that we will get another semester together. I hope you have an awesome break and that you get lots of rest. The due date is on the Kafka assignment and I'll take the take home test back on the first day back.

IF you want to perform your spoken word poem for extra credit, come by my  room and get it at some point today or tomorrow. We will do those the first week we are back in school. You certainly don't have to, but you can. :)

Thanks for a great semester! Can't wait to see you in January! Hope you get lots of great books for Christmas! ;)

Kafka's Metamorphosis Assignment

OK, friends! I know that you will all spend time curled up beside the lights of the Christmas tree, reading about Gregor and his Bug Life. I know that the pamphlet isn't too much and soon you will be ready for an assignment! Well, I spent a lot of time last year (all kidding aside) reflecting on what I want students to get from this book and this project and what would be the best assignment for you. It came to me like a lightning bolt in the middle of the night last night last December! So.... here you go.  It's in three parts and before you panic, the entire assignment should not take you longer than about 3-4 hours, total. Probably less. OK?  Not only that, I am not making it due until the Friday after we come back to school so.... for those of you who either choose to or NEED TO delay your work until we are back on schedule, you have that option.

DUE DATE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 8

Part 1: Shrinklit Poem

I haven't assigned this for a few years and I LOVED it when we did them before. Essentially, it's a 12 line rhyming poem that sums up a book. You will need to detail the plot but also address theme, tone, and characters. They are typically humorous, if only because they condense an entire book into twelve lines.
Your best bet is to first write a summary, then decide which pieces are most important. Take those pieces and work them into your poem.

Below is a great example of a Frankenstein ShrinkLit:

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
In his occult science lab Frankenstein creates a flab
Which, endowed with human will
Very shortly starts to kill.
First, it pleads a lonely life
And demands a monster-wife;
“Monstrous” Frankenstein objects,
Thinking of the side-effects.
Chilled with fear, he quits the scene,
But the frightful man-machine
Follows him in hot pursuit
Bumping people off en route,
Till at last it stands malign,
By the corpse of Frankenstein!
Somewhere in the northern mists
Horrid thing – it still exists. . .
Still at large, a-thirst for gore!
Got a strong lock on your door?
~ Maurice Sagoff

Part 2: Let Your Creativity Run Wild!

I want a creative project over the book. The important piece here is that you don't just illustrate the events of the novel but convey the message, the deeper complexities, any author information you have, etc.. I am including some ideas for you that I found on Pinterest below. You will include an index card explanation with your project and that will be almost as weighted in the grade as the creative project itself. Options are a book cover, a tshirt, a poster, a graphic design, a repurposed book, a 3-D display, a diorama, it's as wide as your mind!!!
All images below are courtesy of Pinterest...
Examples:

Part 3: AP Style Essay Question with an answer outline

You know the drill. Write a fantastic essay question, AP style and caliber, over Kafka's Metamorphosis. Then give me a brief outline of what you would expect in the answer.

That's it! And you get to start the new semester with an easy grade! WIN-WIN! :) 

I will miss you all over this break and I am very excited to see you on the first day back!!!

Portfolio Reflective Essay Assignment

As part of the final grade for this semester, you will take your writing portfolio (located in the plastic crates on the filing cabinet) and read through the essays in it. The essays there should be Hamlet, Frankenstein, College Application, Canterbury Tales, and Self Assessment. Feel free to add any of the practice essays we have done in class as well. After reading through your essays, I want you to write a reflective essay about your writing this semester. Where have you seen improvements? Have you lost anything along the way (I certainly hope not) or let anything slip? What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses in this style of writing? It doesn't need to be much over a page. Then you will pick ONE of the essays in your folder and revise it. There is a difference in revising and editing... Revising involves switching it around, changing sentences, adding information, etc.. We typically focus on only grammar and punctuation when it comes to editing (not that that is necessarily all that editing entails, but it's how high schoolers usually think of it). In other words, there will be sweeping changes to your paper. You need to type the revised version and then highlight all of the parts of it that are new or changes. You will turn in the portfolio complete with the old essays, the newly revised essay, and the reflective essay by Thursday, 12/17.

Allusions Week 2

Looking at the master list, see if you can identify any of them in your ME novel. Comment on this post by Wednesday of next week.

Week of December 7

I want to tell you that I have really enjoyed the poetry work with you over the past week. We are going to revisit it frequently, but I appreciate your focus and attention to detail on something that is hard and also not often liked by most. I hope the ME Novel work goes as well.

Monday, 12/7
SPOKEN WORD POEM DUE
Hour long class
Poetry discussion
Sonnet AP Q
Sonnet work

Tuesday, 12/8
ME Novel

Wednesday, 12/9
Long class
ME Novel

Thursday, 12/10
No class

Friday, 12/11
ME Novel
Journals due
Allusions quiz 2

*Remember to be working on your toolbox and your portfolios.

Sonnet Annotation Activity

Step 1: Pick a sonnet. It does not have to be written by Shakespeare (or Petrarch), but it DOES need to fit the sonnet form and be a well-written poem. The websites below will help you come up with one. Do NOT take too long to find one, but DO select a sonnet that you like and understand.

Shakespearean

Other sonnets (click on the poet's name and it will take you to that page, then you can click on sonnets written by that poet)

Step 2: Annotate the sonnet using the comments feature of the word processing program. First, copy and paste the sonnet into the document (including title and poet). Next, break it apart (the longer version of what you will do during the AP test on the poetry question), making notes and analysis. The websites below will help in this process. I am hoping we all know how to use the comments feature because I couldn't find a website with a tutorial for whatever generic version of word processing is on these machines...

Annotation Guides

Mr. Prestney, whom you probably wish was your teacher...

A wiki with a great example of what an annotated poem LOOKS like...

If that link doesn't work from school, here is another link.