For once, on this 223rd birthday of Keats, all classes are working with his letters in some form or fashion. First hour has the close read of the first letter for tomorrow's class, third hour has the last letter to present, and fifth hour, most likely, is wrapping up their essays this evening. Today, I found out that there is a John Keats Bicentenary that reviews letters he wrote on the corresponding date! I can't believe I didn't know about this, follow it, and worship it on daily basis!
And, while I was "researching" online, I found the Anaphora Dress and the Anaphora Boutique! That then stimulated a search for other AP Lang terms such as zeugma (it's a furniture design company). All of this is the study of AP Lang!
And, all of our tone texts are already on a previous blog for your perusal and preparation. Fifth hour is in the midst of tone, third hour will most likely start tomorrow, and first hour will be centered on attitude starting Friday.
1: We read "Ode on a Grecian Urn," identified it purpose and diction and crafted a polished thesis statement to represent the aforementioned items that you would need to cover in your introductory paragraph. Afterwards, you found out more about Keats and his life - especially regarding his relationship to Fanny, the addressee of his letters, which we will analyze for diction and purpose tomorrow.
3: After our vocab quiz, I modeled for you how to analyze and present Keats' letters (adjective, evidence, analysis, repeat until finished, purposes). Then, you did the same for your own assigned letter. Alas, we were short one, which means the last letter will be tomorrow.
5: While Keats may be part of your homework (tomorrow is the deadline), we spent our hour working with tone - how to identify five different tones, how to craft conversations to show the slightest tone shifts. Tomorrow, we will then transfer those shifts into poems. Remember, all the links were on a previous blog for you to use in preparation.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Monday, October 29, 2018
Monday's Recap
As noted in the previous blog, you have the titles and links of the poems that will center our upcoming tone unit. Fifth hour will start tone on Tuesday, third hour on Thursday, and first hour (maybe?) on Thursday as well. As part of a college-level class, preparation and participation are key to comprehension and the application of skills to a plethora of texts and writings. Taking the time to preview work, clarify any vocabulary or allusions that may not be in your ethos, is the way to make our classes spend more time on the analysis (i.e. what you need for the test) rather than the paraphrase/summary portion (i.e. what you should be able to do on your own).
1: After vocab experts, we spent the class analyzing Gray's "The Favourite Cat" and Shelley's "Ozymandias," which coincidentally happen to share a similar purpose. While the diction may be different in each poem, both, as you concluded, acted as a warning to dissuade selfishness in society. (Of course, we did revise our class thesis statement for more "d" words as your class has now adopted the very solid, strong "d" sounds in verbs, adjectives, and purposes. Tomorrow will be "Ode on a Grecian Urn," one more opportunity to analyze diction and practice writing thesis statements.
3: After our vocab review, you had the chance to hear (and visualize) more about Keats and his life in preparation of our analysis of his letters to his beloved Fanny Brawne. At the end of the hour, you close read his first letter, which I will present to your class tomorrow as a model for how you will accomplish the same activity. Overall, it will involve multiple forms of diction, the adjectives to describe them, the evidence to support it, and the analysis of it.
5: We completed the vocab quiz for unit 15, which means any absentees will need to make up the assignment. For part two of class, we finished up the Keats' letters and ended with a summation of the diction and purposes that progress throughout the text and "chronicle" (thanks, CS for that purpose word) his life and affections.
To finish up our diction work, you have the following take home prompt to complete: Analyze how John Keats' diction reflects his mentality and purpose in his letters to Fanny Brawne. As clarified in class, you may handwrite or type the essay. A hard copy is due by 2:35 p.m. on Thursday. If you are absent for part of the day, you still need to turn this in by the deadline. If you are absent the entire day, you will need to e-mail, share, or send me a picture of your work and turn in the hard copy the next class session. I hope you enjoy writing about my Keatsy - just don't compare him to a girl waiting for a prom date (yes, real hook from several years ago).
To end the hour, we completed our second rhetorical toolbox quiz, which will be need to be made up by any absent students. See you tomorrow for all of our tone work - including the ever-fun, at least to me, tone mapping - with a reminder to preview some of the poems for tomorrow's class.
1: After vocab experts, we spent the class analyzing Gray's "The Favourite Cat" and Shelley's "Ozymandias," which coincidentally happen to share a similar purpose. While the diction may be different in each poem, both, as you concluded, acted as a warning to dissuade selfishness in society. (Of course, we did revise our class thesis statement for more "d" words as your class has now adopted the very solid, strong "d" sounds in verbs, adjectives, and purposes. Tomorrow will be "Ode on a Grecian Urn," one more opportunity to analyze diction and practice writing thesis statements.
3: After our vocab review, you had the chance to hear (and visualize) more about Keats and his life in preparation of our analysis of his letters to his beloved Fanny Brawne. At the end of the hour, you close read his first letter, which I will present to your class tomorrow as a model for how you will accomplish the same activity. Overall, it will involve multiple forms of diction, the adjectives to describe them, the evidence to support it, and the analysis of it.
5: We completed the vocab quiz for unit 15, which means any absentees will need to make up the assignment. For part two of class, we finished up the Keats' letters and ended with a summation of the diction and purposes that progress throughout the text and "chronicle" (thanks, CS for that purpose word) his life and affections.
To finish up our diction work, you have the following take home prompt to complete: Analyze how John Keats' diction reflects his mentality and purpose in his letters to Fanny Brawne. As clarified in class, you may handwrite or type the essay. A hard copy is due by 2:35 p.m. on Thursday. If you are absent for part of the day, you still need to turn this in by the deadline. If you are absent the entire day, you will need to e-mail, share, or send me a picture of your work and turn in the hard copy the next class session. I hope you enjoy writing about my Keatsy - just don't compare him to a girl waiting for a prom date (yes, real hook from several years ago).
To end the hour, we completed our second rhetorical toolbox quiz, which will be need to be made up by any absent students. See you tomorrow for all of our tone work - including the ever-fun, at least to me, tone mapping - with a reminder to preview some of the poems for tomorrow's class.
Poetry Readings for the Tone Unit
Later on today, I will be updating the blog with our hourly agenda. In the meantime, our upcoming tone unit will feature a plethora of poems. The following will be links to these readings. If these links do not work on your device, you can always google the title and find it on your own.
The idea behind providing you with these readings in advance stems from you understanding the plot and ideas in the poem. You do not have to analyze strategies - we will do that in class together. Feel free to take notes for plot or to print out the passages (that really aided last year's students) and have them in the upcoming days. We will be analyzing these poems in the order given, so I would go sequentially. Remember, this is for plot/idea/word/allusion understanding.
"Chicago" by Carl Sandburg
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago
"The Children's Hour" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44628/the-childrens-hour-56d223ca55069
"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson (I affectionately refer to him as EAR.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44982/richard-cory
"Miniver Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44978/miniver-cheevy
"To a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (My nickname for him is definitely not affectionate.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45146/to-a-skylark
"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale
The idea behind providing you with these readings in advance stems from you understanding the plot and ideas in the poem. You do not have to analyze strategies - we will do that in class together. Feel free to take notes for plot or to print out the passages (that really aided last year's students) and have them in the upcoming days. We will be analyzing these poems in the order given, so I would go sequentially. Remember, this is for plot/idea/word/allusion understanding.
"Chicago" by Carl Sandburg
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago
"The Children's Hour" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44628/the-childrens-hour-56d223ca55069
"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson (I affectionately refer to him as EAR.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44982/richard-cory
"Miniver Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44978/miniver-cheevy
"To a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (My nickname for him is definitely not affectionate.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45146/to-a-skylark
"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale
Friday, October 26, 2018
More Keats Converts
I have been fortunate to find some like-minded students in these past few days who seem to find Keats, his complexities, his emotional turmoil, and his penchant for incredible analogies stemming from everyday accidents, quite a fascinating figure to analyze, whether it be his poems or his letters. Whether you are a fan or not, at least you know of his life and his tragic end.
1: We spent the hour looking at our Autumn Diction analysis by emphasizing evidence to support diction adjectives, purposes, and thesis statements. For next class, we will be looking at Gray's "Favourite Cat," Shelley's "Ozymandias," and Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and it would behoove you to read these poems to make sure you know what all the words mean or what all of the allusions reference. You can find these poems online through a search, or you can find them through links on earlier blogs from the past week or so - under the classes.
3: When we put our heads together, we certainly can craft one heck of a thesis statement: Gray elucidates naive, karmic diction whilst Shelley epitomizes desolate, tyrannical diction to warn against acting on materialistic, selfish desires. Pretty impressive! After marrying our cat and pharaoh, we spent the rest of class looking at my Keatsy's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and recognizing that the true conception of beauty, the juxtaposition of joy and love to pain and sacrifice, is the only way to understand the truth of the scene or circumstance. We still have a thesis statement to compose for this poem, and then we will be in Keats' world for the next couple of days.
5: We reviewed vocab for the quiz on Monday. Then, we spent the rest of the hour analyzing my Keatsy's words in his letters to Fanny, identifying his multi-layered purposes as the letters move from young love, carefree and tumultuous, to tragic end, pained, impassioned, loss. Amidst this transition throughout the letters, you have the best concept of all: purplue! Oh, Keats! To take something so mundane, the dripping of ink and its variegated shades, and make it into the concept of togetherness, a union of the two, is pure brilliance of a writer's mind. We will finish up the letters on Monday - with his last letter to Fanny - and then you will see what you will be up to with all of your notes with these letters. In the near future, you will have another toolbox quiz, and you will dive into the world of tone, its shifts, and its maps --- yes, maps!
1: We spent the hour looking at our Autumn Diction analysis by emphasizing evidence to support diction adjectives, purposes, and thesis statements. For next class, we will be looking at Gray's "Favourite Cat," Shelley's "Ozymandias," and Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and it would behoove you to read these poems to make sure you know what all the words mean or what all of the allusions reference. You can find these poems online through a search, or you can find them through links on earlier blogs from the past week or so - under the classes.
3: When we put our heads together, we certainly can craft one heck of a thesis statement: Gray elucidates naive, karmic diction whilst Shelley epitomizes desolate, tyrannical diction to warn against acting on materialistic, selfish desires. Pretty impressive! After marrying our cat and pharaoh, we spent the rest of class looking at my Keatsy's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and recognizing that the true conception of beauty, the juxtaposition of joy and love to pain and sacrifice, is the only way to understand the truth of the scene or circumstance. We still have a thesis statement to compose for this poem, and then we will be in Keats' world for the next couple of days.
5: We reviewed vocab for the quiz on Monday. Then, we spent the rest of the hour analyzing my Keatsy's words in his letters to Fanny, identifying his multi-layered purposes as the letters move from young love, carefree and tumultuous, to tragic end, pained, impassioned, loss. Amidst this transition throughout the letters, you have the best concept of all: purplue! Oh, Keats! To take something so mundane, the dripping of ink and its variegated shades, and make it into the concept of togetherness, a union of the two, is pure brilliance of a writer's mind. We will finish up the letters on Monday - with his last letter to Fanny - and then you will see what you will be up to with all of your notes with these letters. In the near future, you will have another toolbox quiz, and you will dive into the world of tone, its shifts, and its maps --- yes, maps!
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Lucy is Here
In all classes, you were assigned the Lucy Grealy memoirs and the attached log that you will be completing for each chapter of each text between now and December 6 (as noted in class, I have already included a 3 day extension for this due date). At this point, you have your first memoir in your possession, and you should have some plan for breaking up the reading and work to pace yourself - and, ideally, not procrastinate - throughout the whole process. If absent, you will need the assignment sheet and text to begin the process as soon as possible.
Meanwhile in the world of diction...
1: We continued working with thesis statements with you working in groups to analyze diction in a passage and create a strong, engaging, mature, collegiate-sounding thesis statement. You will be "teaching" your passage to the class tomorrow.
3: We didn't go too far today, but we did read Shelley's "Ozymandias." Tomorrow, we will work on "marrying" two poems together and creating a dual thesis statement, analyzing "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and finding out more about my beloved Keats. All of the aforementioned poems can be found online or in past blogs via links. You are expected to know "Ode on a Grecian Urn's" vocabulary and allusions so that we have a successful discussion of this influential poem.
5: I modeled for you how to present diction analysis for the Keats' letters, which included utilizing adjectives and devices to identify and explain ALL forms and patterns of diction in the common text. Then, you worked in groups to do the same with one of the letters. We will be wrapping this up tomorrow. Absentees, depending on the situation tomorrow, will either be placed in a group with few minutes to prepare or will be responsible for a summative wrap-up of all diction and purposes. In either circumstance, you should do a light close read of all the letters, so that you do have contribution points tomorrow.
Meanwhile in the world of diction...
1: We continued working with thesis statements with you working in groups to analyze diction in a passage and create a strong, engaging, mature, collegiate-sounding thesis statement. You will be "teaching" your passage to the class tomorrow.
3: We didn't go too far today, but we did read Shelley's "Ozymandias." Tomorrow, we will work on "marrying" two poems together and creating a dual thesis statement, analyzing "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and finding out more about my beloved Keats. All of the aforementioned poems can be found online or in past blogs via links. You are expected to know "Ode on a Grecian Urn's" vocabulary and allusions so that we have a successful discussion of this influential poem.
5: I modeled for you how to present diction analysis for the Keats' letters, which included utilizing adjectives and devices to identify and explain ALL forms and patterns of diction in the common text. Then, you worked in groups to do the same with one of the letters. We will be wrapping this up tomorrow. Absentees, depending on the situation tomorrow, will either be placed in a group with few minutes to prepare or will be responsible for a summative wrap-up of all diction and purposes. In either circumstance, you should do a light close read of all the letters, so that you do have contribution points tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
A Little Team Promotion
As you may know, I am the coach of the Scholar Quiz team,
our competitive trivia team that travels to schools across St. Charles County.
We have been fortunate to win the Holt Invitational, win Districts for the past
two years, and have competitive Sectional matches. Since the Scholar Quiz team
is an extracurricular, I do not want to hijack the class or try to “sell” it to
any of you or make it seem that being part of the team will influence your AP
class standing whatsoever. However, some of you may not know about our team and
would like a little background information.
So, if you are looking to add something to your college
resume, improve your knowledge for a multitude of AP classes, work with a
supportive team, compete with other schools, meet many other students from our
area, and earn a letter, stick around for a bit more details regarding the
team.
On the other hand, if you have a packed schedule and do not
have interest in joining our extracurricular, thank you for taking the time to
read the introductory paragraphs and considering any involvement.
The Scholar Quiz team is currently looking for team members
to join Varsity, JV, and Novice levels. Those who join the team can have
strengths in academia (literature, science, math, history), current events, pop
culture, sports, or fun facts. Even if you are not an “expert,” you can become
one by working with the Scholar Quiz team.
The time commitment is quite manageable for whatever your
commitment would be to the team. So if you want to be a full time member or
part time member, there are opportunities to be part of our competitive team.
During a regular week, we have Trivia Lunches on C/D days (1/2 hour) and
practice on Fridays (approx. 1 hour). We also have additional chances to prep
and practice for competition in what I call “Random Acts of Trivia” that occur
after school in ½ hour increments from time to time. For those thoroughly
committed to the team, we do have bonus practices prior to big competitions.
Competitions run from late November until April. There are 6
competitions on Tuesdays (2 hours for 2 matches for players of all ability) and
a minimum of 5 Saturday matches (full day and for the strongest players). If
you sign up, you will communicate with the team your full availability – as in
all – or if you will have a partial schedule.
If you are interested, stop by any of our trivia lunches or
practices to check out the Scholar Quiz team. And if you would like to be an
official teammate, pick up an availability form (it is a grandiose RSVP form)
to clarify your availability for our upcoming competitions.
If you have any questions, please do ask me, our Captain
Emily Sigmund, our Captain of Representative Leadership Lorraine Linson, or any
team members. And, thank you for reading about our Scholar Quiz team. This is
my tenth year coaching, and it has been the most rewarding experience for me to
be part of such a close team (we still have our alumni showing up during the
year) and to learn so much random facts like the Defenestration of Prague, the
Great Emu War, or the Great Molasses Flood.
The Hour of "Poses"
1: After copying down our next unit of vocab, we worked on reading works for diction, picking up patterns of diction, noting shifts of diction, and describing diction with mature, collegiate, variegated adjectives. This was quite an adventure through "A Birthday" and celebrity quotes as your class clearly likes words ending with "pose" such as expose, juxtapose, compose, and I'm sure there will be more in the future! We will continue forward with all of this "posing" next time, so be ready to further show off your own diction!
3: After our vocab work today, we settled right back into the world of diction by practicing our thesis statements in full class and in groups. If absent, you are to take this following quote by Ray Bradbury and do the close read and thesis statement: "He had never liked October. Ever since he had first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother's house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him. It always went away with spring. But, it was a little different tonight. There was a feeling of autumn coming to last a million years. There would be no spring." Either print out the quote for your close reading, or write it out on notebook paper to complete the close reading. At the end of class, we read the ever-fascinating Thomas Gray's Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat for its diction, and we will return to this work next time around. As a preview, we will also be looking at Percy Shelley's Ozymandias and my beloved John Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn. I highly suggest that all of you read these poems and know what all the words and allusions mean for a stronger interpretation during class.
5: After our vocab work, we spent the hour with the best man in the world, my Keats, my poor, beloved Keats and his work "Ode on a Grecian Urn," which is linked above. After creating a strong thesis statement (I think you are getting the drift regarding the expectations), we moved onto the background of my Keats in order for you to have context of his letters, which will be the main focus of our diction analysis. During class, you had time to close read the first letter for next time around. If absent, I highly recommend picking up a packet on Wednesday so that you do not fall behind with the readings.
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