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).

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Agenda for week of 4.13.09

Monday, April 13^th, 2009. Day 7:

• In class: SLD, Volume 1, Preface – Volume 1, Chapter 15 (pgs. 17 – 156)
• Homework Due: Prep for SLD, chapter questions.

Tuesday, April 14^th, 2009. Day 6:

• In class: SLD, Volume 1, Preface – Volume 1, Chapter 15 (pgs. 17 – 156)
• Homework Due: Prep for SLD, chapters 10 – 15, Romanticism, Byronic Hero, Gothic.
• Homework Due: See notes about Notebook entries.
• Homework Due: Blog passage explication on one paragraph in Volume 1.

Wednesday, April 15^th, 2009. Day 5:

• In class: SLD, Volume 2, Chapter 16 – Volume 2, Chapter 26 (pgs. 157 – 293)
• Homework Due: Prep for SLD, Group of Prompts.

Thursday, April 16^th, 2009. Day 4:

• In class: SLD, Volume 2, Chapter 16 – Volume 2, Chapter 26 (pgs. 157 – 293)
• Homework Due: Prep for SLD, Group of Prompts.
• Homework Due: See notes about Notebook entries.
• Create Paired-Poetry AP Prompt with Romantic Era Poem (with meta.)

Friday, April 17^th, 2009. Day 3: No class due to rotation.

April 18^th – April 26^th: April Vacation:

Agenda for week of 4.6.09

Monday, April 6^th, 2009. Day 4:

• In class: Agenda Update, Independent Reading Choices & Assignment, Jane Eyre Reading Schedule, etc.
• Homework Due: (you have plenty due next week)
  

Tuesday, April 7^th, 2009. Day 3: No class due to rotation.

Wednesday, April 8^th, 2009. Day 2:

• In class: “It’s a Woman’s World” by Eavan Boland
• Homework Due: (you have plenty due next week)

Thursday, April 9^th, 2009. Day 1:

• In class: In-class essay practice, graded
• Homework Due: (you have plenty due next week) but post book choice (below) and review APE Scoring guide.
  

Friday, April 10^th, 2009. No School. Good Friday.