Notes on some of the essays on "The Red Carpet"

Notes on Red Carpet Essays

Agenda for weeks of 12.7.09 - 12.14.09

Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-born artist based in New York. Her art can be found, among other places, at Saachi Gallery.

Upcoming:Week of 12.7.09:

Focus: Tone, Style, and Diction
The amount of reading & writing this week is light, so I expect you can make some good headway in your independent reading groups.

12.7.09: Due: 2 column notes on “Tone and Style” (pgs. 154 – 158). In class, we will read Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” & discuss.

12.8.09: Read and prepare for SRD on Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”.

12.9.09: Read and take notes on Faulkner’s “Barn Burning”. In class I will give two assignments: “The Hemingway / Faulkner Debates” & “Rewriting Hemingway or Faulkner”

12.10.09: Present: “The Hemingway / Faulkner Debates”.

12.11.09: Read & take notes on Flannery O’Connor’s “Good Country People”

Week of 12.14.09:

Focus: Irony & Putting it all together.

12.14.09: Class does not meet.

12.15.09: “Rewriting Hemingway or Faulkner” with meta due. Read and prepare for SRD on Borges’ “The Gospel According to Mark”.

12.16.09: In class essay on TBD. You will not know which story until you arrive in class. Turn in Reader’s Notebook for Short Story Unit.

12.17.09: Paper due on Laura Chester’s “Story TBD”.

12.18.09: Set up Poetry Aloud contest.

Week of 12.21.09:

• Poetry Aloud contest
• Indie Group Reading assignment # 2 due. Groups are.
  Nabokov’s *Lolita*
  Dick’s *Scanner Darkly*
  Plath’s *Bell Jar*
  Austen’s *Pride and Prejudice*

Agenda for weeks of 11.23.09 & 11.30.09

Avinash Veeraraghavan
Total Internal Recall
Print component

Digital print on Arches textured paper
3.5' x 4.6'
2008

Found at GALLERYSKE

Week of 11.23.09:
Topic / Objective: Characterization--"SWBAT explain how an author develops characterization to illuminate theme."

11.23.09: In-class, open-book essay on either “A Rose for Miss Emily” or “Miss Brill.” You can use your textbook, which can have post-it notes, to answer the prompt: "Explain how the author uses point of view to help illuminate theme. . ." This will be graded on the APE rubric and will be in the 'Quizzes and Open Response section' of your grade. As you are writing, I will give you a grade on your Reader's Notebook, so make sure you have it in class.

11.24.09: Due: 2 column notes on “Characterization” (pgs. 67 – 69) as well as all four stories in the section (pgs 70 – 109), SLD on “The Red Carpet” by Lavanya Sankaran.

• This is one of those moments where you will have had to budget your time to do effectively. In full disclosure, we will only be covering "Characterization" and "The Red Carpet" in class, but if you did not complete the whole reading assignment (with 2 column notes), you will want to over break and make sure you are more aware of your long-term reading assignments, as you are responsible for everything that is assigned.
  

11.25.09: No class, due to rotation.

Thanksgiving Day Break.

1st book club cycle should be complete. (Blogs)

Week of 11.30.09:
Topic / Objective: Setting--"SWBAT explain how an author uses setting to illuminate theme."

11.30.09: Due: Paper on “The Red Carpet” by Lavanya Sankaran (4-5 papes typed). In class we will begin Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”. We will read aloud, so you will not have had to have read it before class. It is in your textbook.

12.1.09: Due: 2 column notes on “Setting” (pgs. 110 – 112) as well as all four stories in the section (pgs 113 - 153). In class, Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”.

12.2.09: In class, Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby” continued.

12. 3.09: No class, due to rotation.

12.4.09: In class essay, TBD (on setting).

Women and The Middle East

Here's your schedule that you came up with:

• November 16: 1st section of book and posts due by midnight.
• November 21: 2nd section of the book and posts due by midnight.
• November 28: 3rd and final section of book and blog posts due by midnight.
  

This is a 100 point homework assignment.

• You need to make 9 posts in total. (Your book should be broken up into three sections, and for each section you should post three times.)
• Please title your posts Post 1-3, Parts A, B, C etc.

Part A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking in the book (though this is not a minimum, each post should be around 400-500 words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts.
Part B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).
Part C: You should continue to respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).

You will be graded on the Malden High School Open Response Rubric.

The above prompts are vague because it is up to you as a group to start to develop your own focus. You can feel free to bring in outside research etc, just make sure you cite or give a link to your sources—but I’m most interested in your “philosophical” discussions about specifics in the books and your ability to discuss the writer’s technique and how he or she affects meaning.

Here’s a links to a solid discussion from two years ago: Madame Bovary. The requirements were a bit vague for the postings and there is a variety of effort and insight in these posts, but on the whole I thought it was quite nice to read.

Monsters in Literature

The schedule you came up with for posting:

• November 16: 1st section of book and posts due by midnight.
• November 20: 2nd section of the book and postsdue by midnight.
• November 25: 3rd and final section of book and blog posts due by midnight.

This is a 100 point homework assignment.

• You need to make 9 posts in total. (Your book should be broken up into three sections, and for each section you should post three times.)
• Please title your posts Post 1-3, Parts A, B, C etc.

Part A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking in the book (though this is not a minimum, each post should be around 400-500 words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts.

Part B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).

Part C: You should continue to respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).

You will be graded on the

Malden High School Open Response Rubric.

The above prompts are vague because it is up to you as a group to start to develop your own focus. You can feel free to bring in outside research etc, just make sure you cite or give a link to your sources—but I’m most interested in your “philosophical” discussions about specifics in the books and your ability to discuss the writer’s technique and how he or she affects meaning.

Here’s a links to a solid discussion from two years ago: Madame Bovary. The requirements were a bit vague for the postings and there is a variety of effort and insight in these posts, but on the whole I thought it was quite nice to read.

Insanity Group # 2

Here's the schedule you came up with:

• 11/16 First Section Blog Posts Due pg.1-106 by midnight
• 11/21 Second Section Blog Posts Due pg.106-224 by midnight
• 11/25 Last Section Blog Post Due pg.224-331 by midnight
• 11/30 Fall of the House of Usher Blog Post Due
  

This is a 100 point homework assignment.

• You need to make 9 posts in total. (Your book should be broken up into three sections, and for each section you should post three times.)
• Please title your posts Post 1-3, Parts A, B, C etc.

Part A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking in the book (though this is not a minimum, each post should be around 400-500 words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts.

Part B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).

Part C: You should continue to respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).

You will be graded on the

Malden High School Open Response Rubric.

The above prompts are vague because it is up to you as a group to start to develop your own focus. You can feel free to bring in outside research etc, just make sure you cite or give a link to your sources—but I’m most interested in your “philosophical” discussions about specifics in the books and your ability to discuss the writer’s technique and how he or she affects meaning.

Here’s a links to a solid discussion from two years ago: Madame Bovary. The requirements were a bit vague for the postings and there is a variety of effort and insight in these posts, but on the whole I thought it was quite nice to read.

Insanity Group # 1

Here's the reading schedule you all came up with:

• posts on pages 3-148 due by midnight 11.15.09 (I extended so you could get work done and in on time for this one).
• posts on pages 149-320 due by midnight 11.20.09.
• posts on pages 320 -468 due by midnight 11.25.09 (I will extend this if needed if you let me know in advance.)
  

This is a 100 point homework assignment.

• You need to make 9 posts in total. (Your book should be broken up into three sections, and for each section you should post three times.)


• Please title your posts Post 1-3, Parts A, B, C etc.

Part A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking in the book (though this is not a minimum, each post should be around 400-500 words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts.

Part B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).
Part C: You should continue to respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--).

You will be graded on the

Malden High School Open Response Rubric.

The above prompts are vague because it is up to you as a group to start to develop your own focus. You can feel free to bring in outside research etc, just make sure you cite or give a link to your sources—but I’m most interested in your “philosophical” discussions about specifics in the books and your ability to discuss the writer’s technique and how he or she affects meaning.

Here’s a links to a solid discussion from two years ago: Madame Bovary. The requirements were a bit vague for the postings and there is a variety of effort and insight in these posts, but on the whole I thought it was quite nice to read.

Agenda for week of 11.9.09 & 11.16.09

Week of 11.9.09

11.9.09: Due: explication on Pico Iyer’s “In Praise of the Humble Comma”. In class, we will finalize small group reading projects for the next two books. They are due asap.
11.10.09: No class due to rotation.
11.11.09: No school, Veterans Day.
11.12.09: In class, look at Ted Berrigan’s “Red Shift”
11.13.09: In class, thesis writing, Ted Berrigan’s “Red Shift” continued.
If the classes on the 12th and / or 13th are shortened or lost due to Assemblies etc, we will shelve this lesson.

Week of 11.16.09:
Focus: Point of View

11.16.09: No class, due to rotation.
11.17.09: Due: 2 column notes (same format as How To Read Literature Like a College Professor summer notes) on “Fiction”, “Reading a Story”, & “Fable and Tale” (pgs 1 – 5), then “Plot” & “The Short Story” (pgs 9 – 12). As well as “Point of View” (pgs 19 – 25)—we can discuss anything you want or don’t understand at the beginning of class, but the purpose is for you to know all of the terms mentioned and be able to use them when discussing or writing about literature. If at any point I feel as if you need it (for whatever reason), I reserve the right to give you a quiz on the terms.
Also due: Read William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Miss Emily”—post it note text and be able to discuss text both in terms of how point of view helps illuminate the work as a whole.
11.18.09: Due: Read Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill”—post it note text and be able to discuss text both in terms of how point of view helps illuminate the work as a whole. SLD.
11.19..09: In class: We will either work more with the stories or on multiple choice strategies, depending on what I feel like you need.
11.20.09: No class, due to rotation.

For a preview of the rest of the quarter, look in the comment stream.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Part IV “Austen”

This is a 100 point assignment in the ‘Participation’ section of your of your grades.

• You will be graded on the Malden High School Open Response Rubric.
• You need to make 2 posts in total. There is a Part A and a Part B to each post you make.
• Both posts are due by Friday, Oct. 30th @ 11:59 p.m., though you should make your first post as soon as possible. Keep in mind others depend on your comments to continue with their own.

Please label your posts.

Part A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking in the book (though this is not a minimum, your post should be at least a few hundred words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts.

Part B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--a couple hundred words as a minimum.)

The above prompts are vague because it is up to you as a group to start to develop your own focus. You can feel free to bring in outside research etc, just make sure you cite or give a link to your sources—but I’m most interested in your “philosophical” discussions about specifics in the book and your ability to discuss the writer’s technique and how she affects meaning.

Image of Nafisi from The New York Times article, which also covers her new memoir Things I’ve Been Silent About. Feel free to use as fodder for discussion topics.

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Part III “James”

This is a 100 point assignment in the ‘Participation’ section of your of your grades.

• You will be graded on the Malden High School Open Response Rubric.
• You need to make 2 posts in total. There is a Part A and a Part B to each post you make.
• Both posts are due by Wednesday, Oct. 28th @ 11:59 p.m., though you should make your first post as soon as possible. Keep in mind others depend on your comments to continue with their own.

Please label your posts.

Part A: Post your reaction to something specific and thought provoking in the book (though this is not a minimum, your post should be at least a few hundred words.) Feel free to ask questions in this section as well, since everyone will be reading these posts.

Part B: You should also respond by elaborating on another comment in the stream (about the same length--a couple hundred words as a minimum.)

The above prompts are vague because it is up to you as a group to start to develop your own focus. You can feel free to bring in outside research etc, just make sure you cite or give a link to your sources—but I’m most interested in your “philosophical” discussions about specifics in the book and your ability to discuss the writer’s technique and how she affects meaning.

Image: "Two Orientalist paintings: Sir Frank Dicksee's Leila and William Clarke Wontner's Safie, One of the Three Ladies of Baghdad; Three colonial picture postcards of young Algerian women--staged, produced and bought by French colonial officers; The original picture from which the cover of Reading Lolita in Tehran was cropped." (Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM 1996) Click this link for image in context & source of info.) An interesting perspective from a non-American source. Feel free to use as fodder for discussion if you want.

Agenda for 10. 22 - 30. 09 (end of First Quarter)

10.22.09: Work on Question 3 style prompts: crafting a subtle and sophisticated thesis; rubric calibration with sample essays. Work with A Doll’s House to prepare for Question 3 style prompt.
10.23.09: continued. Turn in 3rd draft of college essay.


10.26.09: Long block. Reading A Doll’s House in Tehran assignment due. In-class Question 3 style essay on A Doll’s House: Collect Reader’s Notebooks.
10.27.09: Plan 2nd quarter book clubs.
10.28.09: continued. Post blog entries on Reading Lolita in Tehran, Part III by midnight.
10.29.09: no class.
10.30.09: Class TBA (starring Mr. Weir). Post blog entries on Reading Lolita in Tehran, Part IV by midnight.

Quarter ends.

READING A DOLL’S HOUSE IN TEHRAN assignment

100 points. Major assignments & papers
due: Monday, class time

In “Part II: Gatsby” in READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN, Nafisi puts Gatsby on trial in her class. In past years teaching Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE, I have had my students put Nora on trial for her decision at the end of the play. This year, I’m synthesizing some of my previous assignments.

Objective: You are to write a chapter as if you were Azar Nafisi and have decided to put Nora on trial instead of Gatsby. You will be graded on your ability to

• successfully capture the tone and style of Nafisi[1]
• accurately portray characters from Nafisi’s memoir by how they could be expected to react to Nora (or any other characters from A Doll’s House.)
• present an insightful & sophisticated character analysis of Nora from A Doll’s House
  50 points: all areas demonstrate an exceptional level of mastery
  45 points: all but one are demonstrates an exceptional level of mastery
  40 points: one of the areas demonstrates an exceptional level of mastery
  35 points: all areas show good quality and effort; demonstrates progression towards mastery. Papers with mistakes in grammar and mechanics (which do not interfere with meaning) can not be scored higher than 35.
  30 points: demonstrates some progression towards mastery. Papers with mistakes in grammar and mechanics (which interfere with meaning) can not be scored higher than 30.
  Less than 30 points: demonstrates a lack of understanding or effort with assignment.

If you quote anything directly from Nafisi, please italicize. Use Times New Roman, 12pt font, double-spaced, 2-3 pages. If you do not follow these format guidelines, I will not accept paper.

Your meta will be in a different format this time, though still graded on the APE rubric.

You are to use the ‘comment function’ on Word to highlight what you are doing with the choices you are making, instead in an essay form.

[1] (which includes, but is not limited to: how author presents dialogue, appropriate word choice, symbols, punctuation tendencies, etc.)

Which portrayal of characterization is better?

Watch the following two interpretations of the opening of Ibsen's A Doll's House & respond to the prompt below:


Directed by George Schaefer; Julie Harris as Nora and Christopher Plummer as Torvald (1959)


Patrick Garland; Claire Bloom as Nora and Anthony Hopkins as Torvald (1973)

Objective: Watch the following two versions (posted above) from the opening of Ibsen's A Doll's House and argue which of the two videos is the best interpretation of either Nora or Torvald's character.

• Offering your opinion on this subject with specific reasons on why will help you craft a sophisticated thesis.
• The rest of your essay will go into detail explaining your thesis.

Your critique of the video must be based on your knowledge and understanding of the passage, so you must provide textual evidence from A Doll's House as well as provide descriptions of the video. (I can't watch the video and read your post at the same time, so you need to make me see what you see with your words. It will also help you to take notes on the video while you watch it. Pay attention to what you captures your attention. Notice what you notice!)

Pay attention to:

• delivery of the lines
• imagery the setting / scenery
• the portrayal of the actor
• lighting & camera effects
• sound effects or music

Random Notes:

You have the names of the actors and the directors. Make it clear whether you are commenting on Ibsen, the director, the characters, or the actors.

It should be about 1,000 words. Edit and put spaces between paragraphs before you post please!

These should take more than one sitting to complete and show some depth and organizational structure.

I am well aware that neither video follows that play exactly. Your objective is not to point out the differences from the text. Your objective is listed above.

Though this is opinion, there is no need to use first person pronouns, and certainly not the 2nd person.

Some Helpful Hints:

Thesis paragraph:
Should state which movie clip presents the best version of either Nora or Torvald and explain why.
· You may only focus on the movie which is best.
· A sophisticated thesis will explain how characterization is created through author, actor, and director’s techniques.

Body paragraphs:
Should each focus on a specific topic which helps prove your thesis.

· Topic
· Provide context and “integrate evidence from the play”(37).
· Explain how author creates characterization with evidence.
· Explain why the movie version you picked represents this well.
· Give specific evidence (description) from the movie.
· Explain effect(s) of what you see actor doing, or techniques of the director.

You have until Monday 10.18.09 @ noon to complete this assignment.
It is worth 100 points and will be graded by the following rubric.

Agenda for week of 10.12.09

10.12.09: No school, no class. Columbus Day.

10.13.09: College Essay due. (You are more than welcome to rewrite this as many times as you want for a higher grade, but this will be the last required time.) Also read Ibsen's A Doll's House. Post-it note the play for moments which highlight how Ibsen creates characterization. If you are interested in hearing actors read it to you, it is in the public domain. In class, we will be working with A Doll’s House.

10.14.09: College Fair 8:30 – 9:30, 9:30 – 12:30 G.E.D. sample test & pizza party. No class.

10.15.09: Long Block. In-class work on performance project. Details coming soon.
10.16.09: Mass Poetry Festival Field trip. Those of you not going will have some computer time to do work for my class, revision of new projects.

Upcoming Events:

10.19.09: Video critique of scenes from Act 1 in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Assignment coming. (If you attend the Mass Poetry Festival on Friday night or Saturday / Saturday night and go to some readings / panels, then you can opt out of this assignment. You will need a visual, i.e as in a photograph of yourself at the events, preferable with one of the poets, and a short write-up as to your experience. The field trip on Friday does not count.) You will present your scenes in class.

Image is of Anne Waldman, a performer you would not want to miss at the festival.

College Essay Scoring Guide

Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies for Self-Portrait” (1976) is expected to sell for between $25 million and $35 million at Christie’s New York.

50 points--Grammar, mechanics, typos, spelling, & usage. Remember, this is your only impression to show yourself through language. No matter the content of your essay, careless mistakes make you seem--well, careless. And you do not want the college admissions team to think you are apathetic. I expect you to make sure the essay is flawless. I would be happy to suggest how to phrase things grammatically better, but I should not be spending my time fixing your careless typos and spelling errors (and I won't).

• 50 points--Writer demonstrates control of sentence structure, grammar and usage.
• 40 points--Errors do not interfere with communication. There are few errors relative to length.
• 30 points--Errors interfere with communication.

50 points--Insight and creativity, readability, and is your essay compelling? A note to remember your audience here and the purpose of your essay: All writers do this on some level--we consistently look at audience and purpose when we analyze writing. If you are using this to apply to college, keep in mind that the admissions officers are looking for intelligent and motivated students who will be successful at their school. Your essay should:

• Be personal (instead of general)
• Be concrete (instead of abstract--can you make your reader "see" your world?)
• Include anecdote (instead of summary--this is not a resume)
• Include a hook or lead
• Have sophisticated and / or subtle organization
• Show a sophisticated or subtle mastery of language
• AND AVOID CLICHE!

PLEASE PRINT THIS PAGE OUT AND ATTACH TO THE BACK OF YOUR ESSAY SO I CAN WRITE COMMENTS. WHEN YOU PRINT, MAKE SURE YOU ONLY PRINT THIS PAGE.

College Essay Prompts

image: Jay DeFeo The Veronica, 1957; painting; oil on canvas, 132 in. x 42 3/8 in. (335.28 cm x 107.63 cm); Collection SFMOMA, Gift of Irving Blum; © Estate of Jay DeFeo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The prompts provided are often a starting point—it’s not really about which prompt you choose to answer, but HOW you use the topic to write an essay.

Remember Borges, “people tend to prefer the personal to the general, the concrete to the abstract”. You will notice that the questions are vague, repetitive, and general. You could almost adapt any good essay to fit a prompt.

Anyway, here are the common application prompts:

Personal Essay Please write an essay (250 words minimum) on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below, and attach it to your application before submission. Please indicate your topic by checking the appropriate box. This personal essay helps us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself.

• Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
• Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
• Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
• A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
• Topic of your choice.

Image of Jay Defeo working on an early draft of "The Rose."

Agenda for week of 10.5.09

Shameless self-promotion: If you are interested, feel free to read some of my translations and 'metas' on eXchanges (I'm second from the bottom.) It is the University of Iowa's MFA online journal for literary translation candidates and they were nice enough to solicit me for some work this summer.

10.5.09: Your final translation assignment is due on Monday, Oct 5th in class. Monday is a shortened period, so I'll have just enough time to collect work. I'm also going to take this opportunity to hand work back to you (I'm completely caught up in grading.)

10.6.09: Nothing due in class. We are going to be discussing the college essay during class. The first draft of your college essay will be due in class on Thursday, October 8th. I'll make a separate post early this week about things we will discuss in class, including a rubric.

10.7.09: No class (due to the unfortunate nature of rotation.)

10.8.09: 1st draft of college essay due in class. Bring three copies. We'll workshop them.

10.9.09: Class will meet in the library; guidance will be running a college application / life after high school seminar thingy. You won't want to miss.

Upcoming Events:

• read Ibsen's A Doll's House for Tuesday, October 13th. Post-it note the play for moments which highlight how Ibsen creates characterization.
• final draft of college essay due on Tuesday, October 13th. (You are more than welcome to write as many versions of this essay as you want and sit down with me after school and I will continue to offer suggestions and critiques.
  

Agenda for week of 9.28.09

9.28.09: No class, no school--Yom Kippur.

9.29.09: Poetry in translation workshop, Day 3. Everyone should have her packets in on Tuesday. We will distribute at the beginning of class so that we can take notes on the packets the night before the presenters go. We will be looking at translations from Kellie, Olivia, & Sam J.

9.30.09: Poetry in translation workshop, Day 4. We will be looking at translations from Sandy, Jess, Gaelle, & Jen.

10.1.09: Poetry in translation workshop, Day 5. We will be looking at translations from Steph J, Hillary, Jackie.

10.2.09: Long Block. Part 2 "Gatsby" of Reading Lolita in Tehran is due (pages 79 - 153), with 5 notebook entries and post-its ready to go for a graded Student Run Discussion (SRD).

Upcoming Events:

• Umass Lowell, AP Day on Sat. Oct 3rd. Make sure to give your permission slips to Ms. Clapp asap.
• Your final translation assignment will be due on Monday, Oct 5th.
• We will begin college essay discussions on Monday, Oct 5th.
• We will be reading Ibsen's A Doll's House the week of Oct 5th.
• I totally owe you all a mass email through snapgrades; I have done quite a bit of grading lately and am pretty caught up--so I will email you your password / log in info and pass stuff back to you on soon.

Above image of Joan Mitchell, one of my favorite painters, was taken from the archives of LIFE magazine, which first appeared on May 13, 1957.

Important info regarding Full-scholarship opportunity:

The following is from Mrs. Lipinski:

Hi all,


I just to make you aware that I will be hosting a Colby Sawyer College Progressive Scholars Information meeting next Thursday, Sept. 24th at 2:30 in the library. This will be an informational, informal meeting. If you have specific people you envision as potential candidates (outgoing, wants to be involved in their college campus, and has at least a 3.0 (unless there is some reasonable explanation as to why they don't), please send me their names so that I can reach out to them personally, as well as through the informational meeting.

The scheduled dates with CSC are:

October 8th- CSC visit MHS for their own private information session with the more serious candidates.

October 27- CSC visit MHS for official interviews at 12:00. (I will need to give CSC team a list of students a week ahead of time).

November 5- MHS visits CSC campus, along with Cambridge students.

More dates to come for the New Year.

Thanks for your support.

Victoria Lipinski, Holland House Guidance Counselor

Agenda for week of 9.21.09

9.21.09: Your final Conrad Poem Project is due (as you walk into class.)  I would also like you to have a copy of a poem (around ten lines--use your judgment on this one) that you would like to translate. In class, I will demonstrate how the process of translating will go & begin discussion on 'college essay' memoir writing stuff.

9.22.09: SLD on Part I "Lolita" (pps 3 -77) in Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran.  You should have 5 Reader's Notebook entries.  When in doubt on what to say or write, let's make sure we are going back to moments in the text and focusing on the choices a writer makes to affect meaning in her work, rather than straying too far into the realm of theory & sweeping generalizations.

9.23.09, 9.24.09, & 9.29.09:  We will be going over your translations as a class.  On the day that you are scheduled to present, you should bring 13 copies to class.

Image is: "Ma ba ham esterahat mikonim" "We'll rest next to one another" by Samira Eskandarfar

Agenda for week of 9.14.09

photo: "Gertrude Stein & Picasso's Portrait" by Man Ray in 1922. Click here to learn more about the connection Stein to Picasso.


9.14.09:  Homework due: 1,000 word letter.  In class, I will hand out & explain the Conrad Poem assignment.

9.15.09:  Homework due: print out, read, & mark up the following poems for discussion in class:

• Gertrude Stein's “If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso”, Text  & if you would like to listen to her read her poem, the audio.
• T. S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men", Text & if you would like to hear him read the poem, there is a cool youtube video here

9.16.09:  No class.

9.17.09:  Homework due: Bring in three copies of the first draft of your Conrad poem for workshop in class.

9.18.09:  No homework due.  We will be going over the poetry translation project assignment & any loose ends.

For a preview of next week:  (Because the assignments due next week are time intensive, you should be working on them all of this week...)

9.21.09: Your final Conrad poem project, with meta will be due.  You will also need a copy of the poem you are going to translate by class time.  We will be discussing the college essay in class...(I think.)

9.22.09: Long Block. Part 1 of Reading Lolita in Tehran is due (pages 1 - 78), with 5 notebook entries and post-its ready to go for a graded Student Led Discussion (SLD).

Picasso's Potrait (1906)

Homework Assignment for 9.14.09

due by class time on Monday 9.14.09.

First, either create a new blog or go into your settings and change your display name to what you are called in class. Maybe for you all that share a name, you can add your last initial. Your display name is different from your username, which is probably your email. If you need some help with this, make sure you see me after school on Friday & I will help you set up your blog. Remember, this is a public (as in everyone in the world who has internet access can read it) space, so please do not share any personal information.

In the comment box of this post, I would like you to write a letter to the class (me included) as an introduction to yourself. Share anything you want (remember this is public), but I am most interested in learning about your life as a reader and a writer thus far. Self assess & share. This is a homework assignment and will be given a completion grade.

Please put an extra space in between your paragraphs before you paste into the comment box.

Length: 1,000 words

Image is by Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986

Agenda for week of 9.8.09

For Friday's class, read and post-it note the following two essays in your new Norton Critical Edition of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness:

• Chinua Achebe's "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness" pgs 336 - 348 & Lissa Schneider's "Iconography and the Feminine Ideal" pgs 474 - 483.

We have long block, so will spend about 40 minutes on each essay in a Student Led Discussion (SLD) format. This means you need to come to class prepared to say quite a bit. Achebe, as I'm sure you caught on, is the author of Things Fall Apart, which is also free to be discussed in context of these essays. The image I posted is Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? by Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903). He briefly is mentioned in the Achebe essay. The painting is also up for discussion.

Welcome to AP English, Class of 2010...

Gallagher AP Syllabus 2009 - 2010

Senior Portfolio Assignment

Senior Portfolio Assignment & Rubric(s)

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Humanities research literature

Poet Robin Blaser reads from 'The Holy Forest'

Robin Blaser

1925 – 2009

Rest in Peace.

a note from Ms. Karamcheti ...

Good Afternoon,

I will be conducting an AP Pre-Administration Session for all students enrolled in an AP course on Thursday, April 30th @ 2:15pm in Cafe B. The purpose of this session to to have students fill out their Student Handbook, Student Survey, and Initial Answer Sheet prior to actual exam administration. This should save on time and confusion during each AP test window.

Please notify students in your AP courses over the next few days. Attendance at this workshop is MANDATORY.

Agenda for week of 4.27.09

Monday, April 27th, 2009. Day 2:
In class: SLD, Volume 3
Homework Due: Prep for SLD, chapter questions.

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009. Day 1:
In class: SLD, Volume 3
Homework Due: Blog post (see previous post.)

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009. Day 7:
In class: Question 3 Style prompt on Independent Reading Book. APE rubric
Homework Due: Independent Reading Assignment: most of you chose post-its or d.j.s
.
Thursday, April 30th, 2009. Day 6:
In class: SLD, Sadoff, Dianne F, "The Father, Castration, and Female Fantasy in Jane Eyre." (518-534)
Homework Due: read and post-it: Sadoff, Dianne F, "The Father, Castration, and Female Fantasy in Jane Eyre." (518-534).

Friday, May 1st, 2009. Day 5:
In class: Tie up loose ends, AP Prep, TBA.

Final Blog Post for JANE EYRE

Due: Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 @ 3:00 p.m.

Scoring Guide: APE rubric

Late work for Major Assignments & Notebooks will have a letter grade deducted for every day late.

In full disclosure, I did not come up with these topics, but I do like them. I would cite or reference this, but I don’t know from where they came.

These are prompts, meant to prompt you to make some interesting and (provable with text) assertions:

When Jane returns to Rochester she finds him blind and the house burnt down. Has Rochester has changed and learnt from this experience? Consider chapter 37 “Jane! You think me, I dare say, an irreligious dog. . .”.

• Do you feel that it is only now that Jane and Rochester can be equal? Does his blindness and reliance on her negate her social inferiority, or is that too harsh a view of their relationship?
• What, in the final chapter, do we learn from their marriage? Does it represent fulfillment to both characters or is it the marriage still balancing of opposite values?
• Why does the novel end with the reference to St. John Rivers, rather than to herself and Rochester?

Blog 'passage explication' on one paragraph in Volume 1

Blog 'passage explication' on one paragraph in Volume 1 of Jane Eyre. Reference APE rubric and passage explication handout if needed.

You can replace the above phrase 'one paragraph' with 'half a page' if that helps you.

Post in this comment stream by noon, April 14th, 2009.

Creating a paired poem prompt:

• You may not choose the same poem as one of your classmates. You will post in this blog's comment stream when you find a poem on a first-come-first-serve basis.
• Please familiarize yourself with the prompts given online at the AP Central site in order to most effectively complete this assignment.

For this assignment, you are to find a 'Romantic Era' Poem to match with “It’s a Woman’s World” by Eavan Boland. It is due on Thursday, April 16^th, 2009. Day 4: (as you walk in to class.)

Details of Assignment: 50 %

• 10—Exceeds expectations with exemplary work
• 9—Meets expectations
• 8—Mostly meets expectations
• 7—Somewhat meets expectations
• 6—Shows evidence of trying to meet expectations
• 5—Does not show evidence of trying to meet expectations

Selection of the poems makes for a compelling, interesting, and insightful match that allows for a range of essays to be crafted.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5

Prompt is written in a way that allows for a range of essays to be crafted.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5

Looks like an AP prompt, with all the same directions and layout.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5

Introductory information and / or footnotes are provided to allow for a range of essays to be crafted.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5

Error free in mechanics, punctuation, spelling and grammar.

10, 9, 8,7, 6, 5

Meta-cognitive 50%

• 1000 words minimum
• graded on the Open Response Rubric.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5

Post your poem choice here in this comment stream on a first-come-first-serve basis.