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 13
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:
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Kafka's Metamorphosis Assignment
Posted by A. Davis at 5:18 AM 0 comments
Friday, December 9, 2016
Week of December 12
It's all Middle Eastern novels, all the time this week!
Monday, 12/12
ME Novels
Tuesday, 12/13
Middle Eastern novels
Wednesday, 12/14
ME Novel
Thursday, 12/15
ME Novel
Friday, 12/16
ME Novel
Panels
JOURNALS DUE
Posted by A. Davis at 11:06 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Sonnets!!!
We are hitting several things today, all with sonnets. And hopefully all on the computers. First of all, after I give the notes, you will visit Sonnet Central (link here) and find a sonnet to annotate. What you will need to do is copy the sonnet and past it into a word document, then use the comments to annotate it. I don't want something with two or three points on it. I want something that looks like a WEB of detail. :)
In the Shakespearean sonnet below, the poet analyzes perspectives of reality. In an organized essay, discuss the literary techniques used to reveal the speaker's attitude toward truth in love and the apparent relativity of it.
CXXXVIII
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
Of love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.
Posted by A. Davis at 5:08 AM 0 comments
Friday, December 2, 2016
Week of 12/5
Monday, 12/5
1-TT
2-Satire
Tuesday, 12/6
Annotate a Sonnet
Sonnet AP Q
Long class
Wednesday, 12/7
No Class
Thurday, 12/8
Sonnets
Poetry Activity
Friday, 12/9
ME Novel
(Quiz and work due)
Posted by A. Davis at 11:19 AM 0 comments
Monday, November 28, 2016
Essential Questions
Posted by A. Davis at 11:55 AM 0 comments
Middle Eastern Lit Assignment
Posted by A. Davis at 7:04 AM 0 comments
Friday, November 18, 2016
Week of 11/28
Monday, 11/28
FrankenFun Party
Tuesday, 11/29
SUB
Satire
Wednesday, 11/30
Multiple Choice Test
Long Class
Thursday, 12/1
Therapeutic Thursday
Friday, 12/2
Satire
Allusions quiz
Posted by A. Davis at 7:46 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Thursday's Plan
I meant for you to do this on paper, but since I have to be unexpectedly out today, this was the best way to do it. I want you to do two things. I want you to answer the 8 multiple choice questions, then I want you to outline your answer to the essay (OUTLINE-- DO NOT WRITE AN ESSAY-- JUST OUTLINE WHAT YOUR MAIN POINTS WOULD BE). Do these things in a word document and email to me. adavis@clevelandschools.org
Multiple Choice:
Passage is from Letter IV, starting the paragraph before "August 13th, 17--" and ending with "soul-subduing music" just before "August 19th, 17--".
1. The phrase "culled with the choicest art" (just after August 13th, 17--) could best be restated as
A. collected with knowledge
B. picked with pain
C. fraught with color
D. selected with expertise
E. uttered with care
2. The lines from "I was easily led...." to "transmit over the elemental foes of our race" employ all of the following EXCEPT
A. synaesthesia
B. parallelism
C. ellipsis
D. hyperbolic language
E. imagery
3. The stranger's agitation in his words to the narrator ("Unhappy man!" to "dash the cup from your lips") is revealed LEAST by which of the following?
A. allusion
B. diction
C. syntax
D. imagery
E. parallelism
4. In the lines from "Having conquered the violence" to "he led me again", the narrator utilizes diction to create imagery of
A. madness
B. warfare
C. anger
D. resignation
E. depression
5. The stranger's assertion in the lines from "do not lend his aid" to "You have hope" is an example of which fallacy?
A. argumentum ad hominem
B. non sequitur
C. equivocation
D. post hoc ergo propter hoc
E. false analogy
6. The lines from "Ever broken" to "folly ventures" reflect
I. the stranger's descent into madness
II. the ideas of Romanticism
III. the duality of the stranger's mental state
A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. I and II only
E. II and III only
7. The narrator's description of the stranger in the lines from "Such a man has a double existence" to "folly ventures" contain connotations that are predominantly
A. intellectual
B. scientific
C. religious
D. judicial
E. supernatural
8. From the passage as a whole, the reader can infer that
A. the stranger has no desire to be the narrator's friend
B. the narrator's analysis of the stranger is objective
C. the stranger and the narrator have different outlooks on life
D. the narrator is in awe of the stranger's intellect and personality
E. the stranger is more concerned with his own plight than with the narrator's need for a friend
Passage Question:
Read the following passage Start of Chapter 11 to "frightened me into silence again" (4 paragraphs)
There are often similarities drawn between the monster as a baby learning to experience its world and life around it. Consider the techniques used by the author to create that parallel.
You aren't writing the full essay... You are only outlining it.
Posted by A. Davis at 11:23 AM 0 comments
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Unit 1 Test Review
This is for the benefit of group 2, since I didn't get a chance to talk to them.... But group 1, you can refresh what I said to you as well. :)
The test covers The Canterbury Tales, archetypes, allusions, Hamlet, and The Alchemist.
You need to look back over The Canterbury Tales since it has been so long. I am not asking you specific questions about specific characters or anything, but you probably need to skim back over it. You have 3 short answer questions from this work and all three are really easy if you just look back over notes and the works.
There are two lit terms that aren't terms we quizzed over, but terms we have discussed in relation to the works. Again, check your notes.
Remember the archetypes packet? Look over it for sure. There are two questions from it.
Remember the handout of notes I gave you for Hamlet? It had the historical context, Renaissance Literature, and the roots of Hamlet? LOOK AT IT. There are two questions from it.
The Hamlet question is EASY and you all were with me the whole time and will be FINE.
There is one question over The Alchemist. It is in regard to symbols.
There is one question about the "Classics" sheet from the beginning of the year, day 2. Look at it.
There are 5 multiple choice questions based on a passage. You can't really prepare in advance for them.
There are three lit terms definitions PROBABLY. I need to make sure we have covered them since I reversed the order this year.
There are four allusions. Remember how I said you were on your own for the allusions? There are four on here, one Biblical, one literary, one mythological, and one historical. They aren't obscure. But look over it for sure.
Last of all, there will be a quick short answer essay involving the essential questions.
Posted by A. Davis at 7:54 AM 0 comments
Monday, October 24, 2016
Lit Terms 5
Asyndeton
Confessional poetry
Irony
Dramatic irony
Situational irony
Verbal irony
Impressionism
Surrealism
Telegraphic sentence
Posted by A. Davis at 7:19 AM 0 comments
Week of 10/24
Hamlet, Hamlet, and more Hamlet. :) It's going well and I promise, we will finish at some point. :)
Monday, 10/24
Hamlet IV
Lit Terms 5
Tuesday, 10/25
Hamlet IV
Wednesday, 10/26
Adams
Thursday, 10/27
1-Practice Poetry Strategies
2-TT
Friday, 10/28
Hamlet IV/V
Lit Terms Quiz
Posted by A. Davis at 4:53 AM 0 comments
Friday, October 7, 2016
Week of October 17
I hope you remember something about Hamlet from the past few weeks after having fall break off!!!
Monday, 10/17
Hamlet III
Tuesday, 10/18
Hamlet III
Wednesday, 10/19
Senior Interviews
Thursday, 10/20
1-TT
2-Poetry annotation
Friday, 10/21
Hamlet III
Journals due
Posted by A. Davis at 11:21 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Hamlet Memorization
Posted by A. Davis at 6:39 AM 0 comments
Monday, October 3, 2016
Lit Terms 4
More of a mix this week! Exciting stuff!
Anastrophe
Metonymy
Realism
Hypotactic
Litotes
Syllepsis
Polysyndeton
Apostrophe
Elegy
Paradox
Posted by A. Davis at 6:26 AM 0 comments
Week of October 3
I hope you are enjoying Hamlet because we are going to be reading it for-practically-ever. :)
Monday, 10/3
Lit Terms 4
Hamlet Act I
Tuesday, 10/4
Hamlet Act I, II
Wednesday, 10/5
Hamlet Act II
Thursday, 10/6
1-Alchem MC
2-TT
Friday, 10/7
Lit Terms 4 quiz
Hamlet Act II
Posted by A. Davis at 6:25 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 23, 2016
Week of 9/26
IT'S TIME FOR HAMLET!!!! For one week, I am going to get to teach Hamlet first period and Macbeth 2nd!!! This job is too much fun to be paid for.
Monday, 9/26
Hamlet/Shakespeare into, notes
Intro to Hamlet
Bring DiYanni books
Tuesday, 9/27
Hamlet Act I
Wednesday, 9/28
Hamlet Act I
Thursday, 9/29
Group 1-TT
Group 2-Poetry Annotation
Friday, 9/30
Interview skills, resume, etc
Posted by A. Davis at 6:08 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 16, 2016
Week of 9/19
It's finally time for the Alchemist!!! :)
Monday, 9/19
Alchemist discussion
Tuesday, 9/20
Alchemist discussion continued
Symbols
Wednesday, 9/21
Alchemist symbols
Thursday, 9/22
1-AP Grading/Collaboration
2-TT
Friday, 9/23
AP Writing activity
JOURNALS DUE
Posted by A. Davis at 8:10 AM 0 comments
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Lit Terms 3
More, more, more! We are getting good.
Syntactic fluency
Regionalism
Chiasmus
Anaphora
Plain style (in writing)
Unity (in the grammatical sense)
Rationalism
Aphorism
Synecdoche
Didactic
Posted by A. Davis at 7:03 AM 0 comments
Week of 9/12
Revising the cal a little bit this week, sorry about that. Y'all know it bothers me more than it bothers you. ;)
Monday, 9/12
Group AP Grading
Lit Terms 3 on blog
Tuesday, 9/13
Archetypes Packet
SUB
Wednesday, 9/14
College Fair
Thursday, 9/15
1-TT
2-AP Grading/Collaboration
Friday, 9/16
Alchemist Discussion
Lit Terms 3 Quiz
College App Essay Due
Posted by A. Davis at 7:03 AM 0 comments
Friday, September 2, 2016
Week of 9/5
It's Labor Day week!!!! Enjoy your long weekend and Monday off!!! :)
Monday, 9/5
OFF
Tuesday, 9/6
Open Essay Practice
Wednesday, 9/7
Group AP Grading
Thursday, 9/8
Therapeutic Thursday for both
Friday, 9/9
Group AP grading
Posted by A. Davis at 10:13 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Week of 8/29
Sorry this is so late! I didn't anticipate a sick daughter this week. :)
Monday, 8/29
All with Adams
Tuesday, 8/30
Allusions Work in class
Wednesday, 8/31
Poetry AP Practice
Thursday, 9/1
1- AP MC Prac
2-AP MC Prac
Friday, 9/2
Lit Terms Quiz
Assign college application essay
Open question, Prose question
All with me
Posted by A. Davis at 5:18 AM 0 comments
Monday, August 29, 2016
Lit Terms 2
These are a little harder! Sorry I'm a few hours late getting them up!
Lyric poem
Inversion (in grammar and comp)
Oxymoron
Puritanism
Epanalepsis
Anthropomorphism
Syntactic Permutation
Epistrophe
Antimetabole
Transcendentalism
Posted by A. Davis at 4:55 PM 0 comments
Friday, August 19, 2016
Week of August 22
I hope you are enjoying reading, annotating, and discussing the Canterbury Tales. I know that I am. :) Thanks for your attentiveness and sweet attitudes throughout my recovery and return to school.
Monday, 8/22
Discuss Wife of Bath's Tale
Pardoner's Tale for homework
Tuesday, 8/23
Pardoner's Tale discussion
Wednesday, 8/24
Open Question Character essay
Thursday, 8/25
1-AP Prac
2-TT
Friday, 8/26
Prologue Memorization due
JOURNALS DUE
Say, Mean, Satire during recitation
Make sure you are making progress on The Alchemist!
Posted by A. Davis at 5:42 AM 0 comments
Monday, August 15, 2016
Week of August 15
Here we go! We are starting the longest unit today, and like I told you on the first day, you are going to BLINK and this year is going to be over. Enjoy the ride!
Monday, 8/15
Intro to Search for Identity
Tuesday, 8/16
Assign Part 1 of Prologue
C-T notes
Wednesday, 8/17
C-T Part 1 discussion
Read Part 2 for homework
Thursday, 8/18
1-TT
2-AP Prac
Friday, 8/19
Lit Terms 1 quiz
Part 1 discussion
Pardoner's Tale for homework
Posted by A. Davis at 5:08 AM 0 comments
Friday, August 12, 2016
Lit Terms 1
CONFESSION: I am reversing the order of the lit terms from the past few years. Normally we start with the VERY EASY ones and then work up to the hard ones. The problem with that (and something that last year's group agreed with me was a problem) is that you don't have much time to practice and use the harder terms. Ideally, you would learn them upfront and then you will recognize them when they show up on the practice tests. Well guess what??? We have a clean slate and we can DO IDEAL! :) But. Some of these are hard, and there are even more challenging ones in the future. Sorry.
Naturalism (as a literary era/genre)
Modernism (as a literary era/genre)
Epigraph
Antihero
Juxtaposition
Periodic sentence
Apposition
Tricolon
Antithesis
Causal relationship
Posted by A. Davis at 6:34 AM 0 comments
Friday, April 29, 2016
Final Project Assignment
Posted by A. Davis at 12:04 PM 0 comments
Week of May 2
AP Test this week!!!! Please, please remember everything I said to you about taking it seriously and please give it all you've got!
Monday, 5/2
No Class
Tuesday, 5/3
Circuit Training
Wednesday, 5/4
AP Lit Test!!! 8 AM, Arena 12/13
Thursday, 5/5
All with me for two hours
Lovesong
Friday, 5/6
All with Adam
Final Projects are due Monday, 5/9
Posted by A. Davis at 11:58 AM 0 comments
Friday, April 22, 2016
Week of 4/25
5. We have 5 class days left together before the AP test.
7. We have a total of 7 class days left together before you walk out those doors and leave me behind, left with nothing but your picture stuck some random place, a Popsicle stick project, a copy of some awesome written assignment, and a whole lot of memories. And probably I'll be crying in a corner somewhere. So there's that.
I have such a frantic feeling, that sand slipping through your fingers, Time's winged chariot at your back urgency. I know it's so cliche, but I can't believe it's over. It seems like I walked into that room only yesterday to talk to you for the first time. And now here we are.
Please help me make the most of the last of our time. And please remember all that I have said about taking the test seriously.
Monday, 4/25
The Things They Carried AND assignment due
Tuesday, 4/26
Prose Focus
Wednesday, 4/27
Poetry Focus
6:30 -- my house -- movie night. Don't leave me alone with a set up and no people.
Thursday, 4/28
Open Focus
Toolbox due
Friday, 4/30
Feel free to come hang out. 😉
Posted by A. Davis at 7:17 AM 0 comments
The Things We Carry
Please make certain that you have read The Things They Carried chapters assigned in the previous blog post. Today, I asked you to write a reflection on the things that you have carried throughout this educational career or your lives up to this point. I did write one of my own last year while my students wrote theirs. I have pasted it below, but it also reminded me of a blog post I wrote a while back. The link is below, if you want to check it out. It might be a good time to read it, as you are coming to the end of your time with your teachers, going on your senior parade, etc..
http://athenajdavis.blogspot.com/2013/11/its-heavy.html
Below are links to three Tim O'Brien interviews/reviews/articles. I would love for you to have read and/or listened to them by class time tomorrow.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125128156
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-04-18/entertainment/ct-ae-0418-lit-life-20100418_1_e-book-read-tim-o-brien
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/books/review/tim-obriens-things-they-carried-read-by-bryan-cranston.html?_r=0
Posted by A. Davis at 6:35 AM 0 comments