CALENDAR SECTION

Personal Essay due on Wednesday!!

Reminders:  Read and Heed

Final Formatting: 

o   Single-spaced heading on left:  Name, class period, date, Personal Essay Final Draft

o   The Common Application or UW topic, as worded on the original assignment sheet, also single-spaced. Put the topic in bold.

o   If you changed topics from the first draft, type that out in bold exactly as worded on the application form. Otherwise you may omit it on the final draft.

o   Body of essay: Double-spaced, 12-font Times New Roman.

o   Make sure the word count listed on the paper and stated below is for the essay only.

What to turn in:

• This cover sheet on top
• Then the hard copy of the final draft
• Then the first draft (the stamped one, even if you’ve changed topics)

• On the bottom, the Peer Response sheet to the first draft.

       ** Each draft should be stapled, but PAPER-CLIP the full stack.  Don’t try to staple through it all.

Deadlines:

• Turn in hard copy plus support material on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
• File your paper electronically on www.turnitin.com by the 9:55 a .m. on Oct. 1

***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***

With the help of Mrs. Cote in the College and Career Center and her contacts in the admissions world, we have resolved an issue that several people brought to my attention today.  I have disabled the "student repository" section of turnitin.com.  Your essay will still be evaluated against commercial sites, online journals and other media, etc., but if a school or even the Common App people were to assess your paper, it would not show up as a match with your very own paper.  No worries!

CULMINATING PROJECT, a state high school graduation requirement:  OCT. 15

12th grade: Senior English classes assign a Resume and and answer to Question #1 in September. Note: Resumes completed in Bridges in 10th grade cannot be used for your senior resume. All Seniors (even those not in English classes at IHS) must complete a resume and the typed answer to Question 1. The resume and question 1 are turned into the Career Center by October 15th of senior year. Senior Resume Guidelines and Expectations

Senior Packet for the Culminating Project

See the resume section of the College Resource Handbook for more help with resumes.

Both the resume and response to Question 1 must be typed, of course.  Be sure to save them both in a way that can be accessed at school.

CALENDAR SECTION
Wednesday, Oct. 1:    Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)
Folder for "Final Draft Personal Essay" now open.

***IMPORTANT INFORMATION***
With the help of Mrs. Cote in the College and Career Center and her contacts in the admissions world, we have resolved an issue that several people brought to my attention today.  I have disabled the "student repository" section of turnitin.com.  Your essay will still be evaluated against commercial sites, online journals and other media, etc., but if a school or even the Common App people were to assess your paper, it would not show up as a match with your very own paper.  No worries!

CULMINATING PROJECT, a state high school graduation requirement:  OCT. 15

12th grade: Senior English classes assign a Resume and and answer to Question #1 in September. Note: Resumes completed in Bridges in 10th grade cannot be used for your senior resume. All Seniors (even those not in English classes at IHS) must complete a resume and the typed answer to Question 1. The resume and question 1 are turned into the Career Center by October 15th of senior year. Senior Resume Guidelines and Expectations

Senior Packet for the Culminating Project
See the resume section of the College Resource Handbook for more help with resumes.
================================================================
TODAY IN CLASS
Returned long-lost first week "fictional worlds" papers and the All the Pretty Horses objective reading test (just keep it to make sure what shows up online matches; typos happen). More importantly, I returned the "bath scene" quickwrite papers along with some encouragement for incorporating ample quotations from the text (along with some VERY close paraphrases, perhaps) as the basis for your own analysis and commentary.

"Miss Brill" --four or five paragraphs?? We're focussing on how Miss Brill's personality and lifestyle are revealed via her day in the park.

FOR TOMORROW
The "Setting" chapter hand-out is to be read for tomorrow; I'm not assigning written work to go along with it  (some could arise later) because the rest of the time should be devoted to the personal essay.  I know some of you are thoroughly done, but many are still crafting significant improvements, I hope.

See the reassurance above re: turnitin.com if you skipped the top calendar section.

Upcoming Major Work (Essays, Tests, Projects)

Wednesday, Sept. 24:  Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)
 If you were absent and still have not done/received a Peer Response, talk to me at the START of class tomorrow, not the end!!

Wednesday, Oct. 1:     Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)

Short Story Unit Calendar/Reading List
Due dates are given for the support material from Perrine; short stories are listed in the order that we'll read them. Dates provided as we go.

CULMINATING PROJECT, a state high school graduation requirement:  OCT. 15
12th grade: Senior English classes assign a Resume and and answer to Question #1 in September. Note: Resumes completed in Bridges in 10th grade cannot be used for your senior resume. All Seniors (even those not in English classes at IHS) must complete a resume and the typed answer to Question 1. The resume and question 1 are turned into the Career Center by October 15th of senior year. Senior Resume Guidelines and Expectations

Senior Packet for the Culminating Project
See the resume section of the College Resource Handbook for more help with resumes.


TODAY IN CLASS

Re: the Culminating Project--Although English teachers are required to "assign" this, it is NOT an English grade.  I am supposed to check your work before you turn it in, but it is really a quick check to see that it's presentable. I don't get into the details, really, but even at a glance,  I have a really sharp eye for typos.  I will mark them so that you'll have to fix them and reprint.  So you'll be better off if you proofread carefully first.

"The Chrysanthemums" Finale
Students took about 7 minutes to discuss the following questions in small groups:

1) If femininity is an issue with the bathing/dressing scene, how does that relate to the chrysanthemums?  OR if the renewal/rebirth idea is a key to that scene, how toes THAT notion relate to the chrysanthemums?
2) So what's up with the porch converstion with Henry?
3) What all does Elisa have to feel sorry/upset about when she sees the "dark speck" on the road?
Be specific re: the reasons.
4) Analyze the simile in the last sentence of the story.

And then I asked about point of view--and then had students read p. 257-top of 258.  In 4th we connected this idea to B. F. Skinner and behaviorist psychology.  3rd--we had to stop moments before making the connection.

FOR TOMORROW
Designated pages from Ch. One in Perrine (see Short Story Unit Calendar/Reading List)

We'll be starting "Miss Brill" in class tomorrow (4th looked at the first sentence to note the immediately obvious difference in POV from Steinbeck's story).  However, I'd just as soon get us all started on this together, so you aren't being assigned the story as homework.

Instead, if you haven't looked at the Culminating Project material at all yet, look that over tonight so you'll know if you have general questions

Upcoming Major Work (Essays, Tests, Projects)

Wednesday, Sept. 24:  Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)
THAT WAS TODAY.  Any lapses/missing work needs to be taken care of ASAP.  

Wednesday, Oct. 1:     Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)

Time to get serious about the Culminating Project--links provided shortly (but everything you need is already linked to the College and Career center website)

Short Story Unit Calendar/Reading List
Due dates are given for the support material from Perrine; short stories are listed in the order that we'll read them. Dates provided as we go.

TODAY IN CLASS
Yes.  The peer response for the first draft of the personal essay.  People who have not accomplished this will still have to provide/receive peer feedback; see me ASAP for logistics.

FOR TOMORROW
Bring the Steinbeck print-out and the Perrine text to class. That's it!

Essay Draft Due on Wednesday!

Upcoming Major Work (Essays, Tests, Projects)

Wednesday, Sept. 24:  Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)
Wednesday, Oct. 1:     Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55 a.m.)

TODAY IN CLASS
We went over the formatting material from the original assignment sheet.  One minor addition to what was printed on that sheet:  just single-space the typed-out prompt.

The Perrine text:
We looked at the introductory matter. Look over Chapter 1, "Writing as Literature" so that you will know what's there; much of it is useful as reference material, but it's not exactly geared toward cohesive reading.  But it's now in your court.  Either later tonight or tomorrow, I'll provide a calendar for reading from the "Elements of Fiction.

Discussion of "The Chrysanthemums":
Really good ideas and energy re: the bathing and dressing scene.

FOR TOMORROW
Just the essay draft.  Most of you saw yesterday's post; if you did not, be sure to check the blog! You have to have a printed-out draft to participate, and you need to have it on turnitin.com by the start of school.

Come to class prepared to provide and receive writers' workshop feedback!

Upcoming Major Work (Essays, Tests, Projects)

Wednesday, Sept. 24:  Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55)
Wednesday, Oct. 1:     Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55)

Catching up--
Friday in class:
Assessment AP essay for All the Pretty Horses. If you haven't already arranged for a make-up, try to make it on Tuesday after school (several classmates will be joining you!).

Week-end homework (well-advertised verbally and in Thursday's post):  be working on the first draft of the personal essay--get at least something churned out.

TODAY IN CLASS
Return to "The Chrysanthemums"--left high and dry for the counselor's visit on Thursday and the timed write on Friday.  SO, we picked up and got to the point of considering who/what Elisa was addressing in her "bright direction" comment.  After thinking, pair-sharing, and a short class discussion (about 3 minutes in 3rd, just a longish minute in 4th), many students seemed to settle on the idea that the chrysanthemums themselves operate as some sort of extension for Elisa--that in sending them off, she is doing the next best thing to leaving the valley herself.  A few people even carried this idea to the notion that the chrysanthemums are something like "children" in that, having nurtured them and given her strong interest in them, it is like sending some small part of herself out into the world.

You might not agree; we didn't have time to explore many points of view here. BUT, "hang on to that thought," whatever it was, because we'll make time for it at the end of the story when we pull all the pieces together.

Last 10 minutes or so of class--A quickwrite: "Discuss the significance of the bathing and dressing scene."  This passage was marked off on the overhead copy as the section beginning "In the kitchen she reached behind the stove . . . and ending with Elisa sitting on the porch--"Her eyes blinked rarely." If you were absent today, please do this on your own, preferably before class on Tuesday!

FOR TOMORROW
Yep, keep working on the paper.  Here are five dimensions or parameters to keep in mind, whatever your actual topic is:

1) the OPENING.
The essay needs to engage the reader straight from the start.  How you do this will vary by topic, but your essay needs to start at a high interest level that genuinely encourages even tired, over-burdened readers of thousands of applications to become focussed on yours.

2) ORIGINALITY vs. PREDICTABILITY.
There is a certain "sameness" that goes with various kinds of experience that does become familiar to readers who have read thousands of personal essays written by 18-year-olds.  You are unique, but the student accounts of various experiences sometimes sound eerily the same.  The best way to avoid that is to focus on small slices of experience; the angle or perspective you choose, and the details you develop, will have a greater chance of being fresh.  As advised with the "mission trip essay," for example, don't try to write the entire narrative; select a much narrower focal point to describe and reflect upon--hopefully avoiding the sameness that too often blurs these essays into the fill-in-the blank template I described in class.

3) INSIGHT INTO THE WRITER
Whatever the prompt, the most important subject matter is YOU.  Readers want to know you better after reading your essay, and this means more than realizing that you had predictable emotions after certain experience.  All strong personal essays amount, in one way or another, to a window into your character and/or "what makes you tick."  So one tip I have is that right now, before continuing tonight, you jot down somewhere the 2 or 3 insights that you would hope your reader gains about you.  I don't mean that your essay should identify or label explicit character traits, but I do mean that after reading a solid personal essay, the reader should be able to recognize some significant aspects of your make-up.

4) DETAILED vs GENERIC
This dimension is related to some of the others, but it focuses on the means of achieving interest, originality, insight, etc. Good writing always needs detail, example, illustration, precise description, etc., to be effective, but sometimes people who can write a powerful, well-supported argumentative essay or literary analysis shy away from the specifics that are needed to "personalize" the personal essay.

5) LIVELY, ENGAGING STYLE
Word choice:  vivid, precise, rich . . . Don't be a walking thesaurus, and I know you want to keep your own "voice," but stretch yourself a bit!!  Sound like you belong in college. :)  (But remember the specificity and details mentioned in #4; you can't just dress up flat writing with fancy words.)

Sentence style:  Remember that varied sentence length usually relies on varied complexity.  Try to balance complex and sophisticated syntax with simpler, incisive, memorable text.  Don't overthink this as you write your first draft, but keep it in mind as you revise.

Figurative language:  Effective use of occasional figurative language is an asset; strained effort or relying on cliches can backfire.  This is also an area to focus on between the first and second draft more than in the first draft.

IN CLASS TOMORROW
The finale of "The Chrysanthemums"!
Some Perrine overview info; "Elements of Fiction" pages assigned
Starter paragraph on the next story

Counselor in Class Today

Upcoming Major Work (Essays, Tests, Projects)
Friday, Sept. 19:          In-class closed book assessment, All the Pretty Horses
Wednesday, Sept. 24:  Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55)
Wednesday, Oct. 1:     Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55)

TODAY IN CLASS
Be sure to watch the video by finding the link on the counseling office website if you missed class today (or spaced on some info!).  Additional presentation varied somewhat among the four counselors I heard.  Biggest takeaways:  be proactive, work ahead of deadlines, and have a rock-solid system of organization.  First responsibility--scrutinize your unofficial transcript for errors/omissions and report problems to the counselors' office, specifically the registrar, by the end of the school day on Friday.

So our English-class work was suspended . . . but we are going ahead with the All the Pretty Horses essay anyway.  At this point, I'm more interested in what you personally have to say anyway.

FOR TOMORROW
Assuming you've read the book carefully, there's not much you can do to prepare for the essay. You will have to respond to the prompt you're given as you would any AP exam prompt, with no opportunity to look things up/outline anything in advance.

That said--know that many AP Lit open-question prompts (most, really) ask for some connection of [whatever the prompt's focus is] to "the meaning of the work as a whole."  That phrase is never explicitly defined on the exams (or in any other official AP material) but seems to encompass a broader range of possibility than "theme(s)." Main ideas, the deeper meanings of what a work is "about," something about an author's message/reason for writing/larger view of the world that the work helps reflect--all of these can be involved.  Not all readers will agree, and different prompts might channel your thinking in different directions for the same work, since multiple "meanings" are to be expected.

Also--be thinking about selecting the topic for your personal essay.

Upcoming Major Work (Essays, Tests, Projects)
Friday, Sept. 19:          In-class closed book assessment, All the Pretty Horses
Wednesday, Sept. 24:  Personal Essay--First Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55)
Wednesday, Oct. 1:     Personal Essay--Final Draft & Peer Response Day (turnitin.com by 9:55)


TODAY IN CLASS
1) Hand-out for Personal Essay distributed.

Here are two links which provide helpful support for the Common Application topics.  Please don't wait until you start writing your paper to consult these sites; the material might be useful as you narrow the topic choices and start to generate ideas.

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/essays/a/common-application-essay-prompts.htm

http://www.collegeessayadvisors.com/portfolio-items/2014-15-common-application-essay-prompts-a-guide-topics/

2) "The Chrysanthemums"
A question tossed up for grabs:  could this story be considered a bildungsroman?  Different initial opinions. . . some were not sure enough of the definition to lean one way or another.

Close reading of text--I do not wish to summarize since the classes ended at different points. We got to the tinker's description of the chrysanthemums in 3rd; in 4th there was the oops moment (my fault) when I realized I'd skipped over an important interchange that we had to double back and pick up.  Sorry!  We will pick up with the paragraph describing the tinker's appearance; note though, if you were packing up in the waning moments when I should have just stopped, that his age is left both unspecified and deliberately difficult to pin down.  Steinbeck provides conflicting evidence.  We will move on from there!

FOR TOMORROW
Start considering essay topics.
We will hear from a counselor.
We will do 3 to 5 minutes only on Steinbeck, just so we can set up a short writing task for Monday.
The summer reading novel:

• Why all the violence?  
• What are some theme STATEMENTS?  (not theme ideas/topics/phrases, but a claim that can be stated as a sentence?
• Which overall structure seems best to fit your sense of John Grady's experience and development, the use of other characters (major and minor), and as a vehicle for theme(s)?

TODAY IN CLASS
Discussion of minor characters:  Perez, Don Hector, the judge, the captain--and yes, Duenya
Alfonsa. [Just fought a losing battle with the tilde.  Sorry]  Apart from straightforward plot functions, the most interesting ideas developed how the character extended our understanding of John Grady, affected his evolving perceptions of the nature of the world and of the choices he faces, introduced symbolic and/or archetypal significance, and other aspects.

For Duenya Alfonsa, whose significance is undeniable, we perhaps need to come back (esp. in 4th period) to what the violence of her own narration involving Gustavo adds to the meaning of the work as a whole.

And we will still come back to whether you find the hero's journey or the bildungsroman to be the more satisfying structural framework for this work--and why.

But FOR TOMORROW
See yesterday's post for the link to "The Chrysanthemums" text and finish reading the story.  Please print it out if you can.

We are still working on the three strands mentioned the Monday I was back:  )Personal Writing, All the Pretty Horses,  and the short story unit.  Here is how they fall together for this week (Sept. 15-19):

• Personal writing:  
• Self-definitions turned in Sept. 12 (both hard copy and on turnitin.com--a very few individuals are missing one or the other)
• Personal essay ("college application essay") Information given out on Wednesday; draft due Sept. 24; final draft to be graded due Oct. 1.  
• Culminating Project--NOT an English grade, but stay tuned for links and dates (still TBD!) 
• All the Pretty Horses:
• Week-end character assignment collected today; DO IT if you spaced on checking the blog (end of freebies)
• Tomorrow there will be some group work, briefly focussed on some of what you did re: character for today, as well as whether you primarily see the work as a hero's journey or a bildungsroman [make sure you've read the links Friday's post]; also on the intersection of style/punctuation (or the lack thereof)/POV.  
• Thursday we'll be looking at theme/thematic ideas; also on Thursday--a counselor will be in to discuss their advice/procedures re: the college application process.
• Friday, Sept. 19-- in-class closed-book assessment essay
• Short Story Unit
• Underway with "imagery" passage analysis (limited quickwrite) on the first 3 paragraphs of John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"
• Today we micro-discussed the rest of the hand-out (not quite all in 4th)
• For Wednesday, Sept. 17--read the entire story.  I completely forgot that this story is NOT in our new book (but was in Kennedy/Gioia).  So here is the text link:  Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums"   Use it to read in preparation for Wednesday.  You will need a copy for class discussion and potential future writing; let me know tomorrow if it won't be possible for you to print this at home. (I do not want to make 64 copies . . . . )
• BUT the good news about that is that you do NOT have to bring the Perrine text on Wednesday.  
• More details about this unit will be forthcoming shortly.

First Full-Week Friday!

TODAY IN CLASS

• Self-Definitions collected today. Take care of turnitin.com if you haven't done so already!
• Short in-class passage analysis (15-minute max): Discuss imagery in the first three paragraphs of "The Chrysanthemums," paying special attention to the color scheme.
• Class discussion of your observations about imagery. Established contrast as one cohesive feature that could connect not only aspects of imagery but also syntax (coupled with offered and then negated/retracted content. But there are other ways to go about providing a "point" to your paragraph--we were just starting to look at the implications of the valley/closed pot metaphor.

FOR MONDAY--two things
1) Please read the rest of the story hand-out (front and back)--but for now, please do NOT read the rest of the story! Why? Because part of what we'll do is create expectations based on the early part of the story. And besides, there's something else you need to do . . .

2) For All the Pretty Horses--Type or write in ink for (a) and (b)
a) Identify 2-3 key character traits for Alejandra and support briefly with text-based evidence (can be done with bullet-point support for each quality/trait).

b) Decide which minor character is most significant and describe why in no more than a solid paragraph. (Do not write about Alejandra again, even if you consider her to be "minor.") Consider all three boys as "major" for the purposes of this question.

c) As a basis for common understanding across the class, please read the links below. Notes aren't necessary if you think you've got it, but from this point on I'll assume you've got the essentials down.
The Hero's Journey (yes, you've done this before--just a review)

And these:
Bildungsroman (Wikipedia)
Another look at bildungsroman

Self-Definitions Due on Friday

Upcoming Dates to Note (Major exams, assessment essays, "big" assignments)

Sept. 12:  Self-Definition 

Information for setting up turnitin.com
Class ID number:
AP Lit & Comp Per.3 = 8633309
AP Lit & Comp Per.4 = 8633320

Password for both sections = purple

If you can't get your paper uploaded to turnitin.com tonight, be sure to have an electronic copy accessible tomorrow at school so that everyone can have this in before the week-end.

And don't forget to bring a hard copy to class.

Getting Underway

Welcome to the blog and to AP Lit and Comp for 2014-2015!

In lieu of a course calendar, each post will begin with a standard copy-and-paste of upcoming major work.  It is NOT a comprehensive list of everything assigned; be sure to note the FOR TOMORROW section of most daily posts.  However, this section will highlight the most important upcoming work.

Upcoming Dates to Note (Major exams, assessment essays, "big" assignments)

Sept. 12:  Self-Definition

Information for setting up turnitin.com
Class ID number:
AP Lit & Comp Per.3 = 8633309
AP Lit & Comp Per.4 = 8633320

Password for both sections = purple

MONDAY IN CLASS
Summer Reading Pre-Discussion Assessment
Overview of Self-Definition personal writing assignment

We will be working over the next five to six weeks on three strands:

• McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses (through Sept. 19, though not every day)
• Personal Writing (Self-Definition and Personal Essay)
• Short Story Unit

TUESDAY IN CLASS
Received hand-out for Self-Definition
Individual notation/whole class discussion of stylistic features for the first paragraph of
All the Pretty Horses
3rd period only--continuation of written work with a short quick-write (8 minutes or so) on the syntax of the opening paragraphs (ending with the train). Papers collected.

For Wednesday--students asked to review Part I of the novel

WEDNESDAY IN CLASS
4th period picked up the syntax work described above; papers collected
Both classes--Students assigned to groups to discuss characterization for John Grady Cole, Rawlins, and Jimmy Blevins.  Though 3rd period began sharing with one key insight, the Wednesday-short bell rang. We will continue tomorrow.

SO--be prepared (without relying on your group) to offer insights into their traits as well as how McCarthy establishes the reader's sense of these characters.