First, enjoy your month off, and above all else I hope you and your families are well.
The rules we have been given for this time off include:
No work is due
No work can be assigned
Students work should be reading, review and enrichment.
Also, teachers will have virtual office hours on school days.
For you, this means that we pick up after break the same way we would have on Tuesday. I am giving you a chance to revise some earlier work and to get a head start on later work.
So: Here is what we are doing:
(Note: This schedule assumes that we will return the Monday after spring break, which is not certain.)
Hamlet:
I told you at the start you will write three passage analysis essays and I would grade one.
First Hamlet passage essay/chance to submit or improve
I am going to take advantage of this time apart to grade the first essay, which I have already collected. If you like the one you turned in, you're done with this. However, looking at the submissions I noticed that several essays were pretty weak and that not everybody even turned one in. Therefore, you may turn in a new or first version of this essay if you want. Make it good. I have said you may consult outside sources to improve you understanding, but you must put these sources aside hours before you write. Don't consult any sources while you write and let your ideas be your own. You may consider: dramatic situation, imagery, syntax, diction, rhetorical and literary devices, tone, etc.
I have an assignment on turnitin. I would like to get the essay on this progress report, so I need the essay by Monday noon. If you turn it in after that, but before Wednesday midnight I will revise your grade. Again, you can stick with your original submission.
Because your quotation reflection was not due until Tuesday, that is now due the day we return. If you want to get it done sooner. You may submit to turnitin at any time.
When you return, you will write the second essay on one of the soliloquies. I am linking the google docs with the prompts: "To be or not to be" (Act 3, scene 1) or "How all occasions." (Act 4, Scene 4). Because you were given class time to mark these up, you must show me thoroughly marked up passages on the day we return. Things to note in the margins:
Unfamiliar language (write the modern English as you need to)
Key diction (simple vs. complex, categories of words, strong language, etc)
Syntax (periodic vs. cumulative sentences; questions/statements/exclamations/commands; inverted sentences; separation between grammatical parts and ideas)
Figurative language: (Metaphors, similes, personification etc)
Imagery
Tone (use the list of words; look for shifts) www.dropbox.com/s/6osgwb4ogai9lw1/tone_vocabulary.pdf?dl=0
Meaning (what is Hamlet saying? why does it matter?)
You will be able to have this with you when you write (and we will also score this essay)
You have the questions for the end of Act 3 and Acts 4 and 5. You have had class time to start this and were assigned to read Act 5 and answer questions for Tuesday. This due the day we return will be: One-page summaries for Acts 1-3 and your answers to the questions. You answers should be thorough and thoughtful.
For the final we will write an essay on the play as a whole in the week we return. You may look at the possible prompts below: FINAL ESSAY PROMPTS. You will also take a quotation quiz (who said it, to whom, context and meaning). I have gone over key quotes as we have read. The Folger edition has a list of famous quotes in the back. I will provide an almost-comprehensive list of possible quotes for everybody in a few days so we are all equal. You will have a few days to review when we get back, so anything you do over this break is review and enrichment.
You have also been assigned to memorize the to be or not to be soliloquy. I will make this simple: The Friday of our return you will have memorized just as far as "so long life." Pshaw, that's nothing. But the points are going to be all or nothing. Extra credit if you go to "lose the name of action." Poetry out loud competitors this semester are exempt.
Tone words (see below): We will have a test on tone words one week after we get back. If you want to get a head start learning unfamiliar words, here is your chance.
We will also have test reviewing lit terms, one week after that.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3sfiqz55r1qjwgw/Literary%20Terms.doc?dl=0
(Sorry, I have to paste the url here. A little while ago this site started freezing whenever I tried to create a link.)
Coming up on our return:
Submit something you have already written for consideration for publication in the Levee. Not something new; not part of your outside writing. Just pick your best poem or story or personal essay and submit it. You may also submit sooner. I'd love it if you would!
We will probably not read another book, and instead turn our attention to poetry and short stories. May read "The Importance of Being Ernest" because it is so funny and we could all use a laugh.
We will all write a very short short story: 1,000 words max, probably shorter. We'll work on it together, but if you want to write over break, go for it. If you write before we return you can go to 2,000 words. I will post the actual assignment in a few days. Again, you'll have time when we get back; but you might want to get a head start.
AP LITERATURE EXAM NOVEL REVIEW
Every year, I require students to do an extensive review of three or four books they have read that may be used for Question 3 on the AP exam. You will have time when we get back, but if you want to get a head start, here is the assignment from last year:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/84lcrlpq65d3i9c/Novel%20Project.docx?dl=0
I will post more about that in a couple days.
Your outside reading book: Remember you must read a pretty good book, before the start of senior finals. You will have time to do that, but you could also read the book during this month. If it's a very good book, you could use it for your AP Lit Review Novel Project. Certain books can also be reviewed for the Mirada for outside writing. Let me know what the book is before you start.
Outside writing: Your two submissions are not due until May 1, but many essay contests are due during our break. Hopefully, you can take advantage. Also if you are writing for the newspaper (review, op-ed or profile), they need the first patch as soon as possible. If you are writing something for the yearbook, that had to be done by April 5. Email me with questions: If you play a sport (even some fall sports, alas) and want to do that spread let me know. We are scrambling, but we will get it done.
NOT OUTSIDE WRITING, BUT: If you are a club president don't forget to email club info to [email protected]
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wE4BqC2IP7wbHoK7F3jTzkFjgj3TvI4FB7PG_yNuUgw/edit?usp=sharing
The original plan for the semester called for you to make a video of a classic poem with a group. I don't know if we will have time. But if we don't get to that and if you want to make one, I could give extra credit.
Here are some models from a PBS series from the 1990s, The United States of Poetry. The Voices and Visions series from the 80s also has some good examples mixed in with discussions about the poet. I will work out exactly what we are doing over the next couple days, so you will know what to expect. The thing with extra credit is that students who cannot do something like this over break, have to have a fair and equal chance for those points. Same thing if this is part of the regular curriculum.
Enrichment and AP exam prep
The green paperback book you got at the beginning of the year, has excellent AP exam prep in it, so does the back of your fat green anthology (text book). If you wish to prepare for the AP exam, this is a good place to go.
The College Board AP Lit and Comp Course Description has practice questions and exam explanation. Start on Page 137.
Assignment Handouts
Tone Words: We will work on tone for the rest of the semester. Attached is an extensive list of tone words that you have to know. You may not use all of them in your writing, but you have to know them for when you see them written.
Tone words
www.dropbox.com/s/6osgwb4ogai9lw1/tone_vocabulary.pdf?dl=0
This site lists words with definitions and may help you learn the words:
https://blog.prepscholar.com/list-of-tone-words
Hamlet quotation reflection due to turnitin Tuesday, March 17:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mf_i0a2HiOUs2PmSH8vdjwrdSIW8HDQMqjEz3PcMa68/edit?usp=sharing
Hamlet Questions. Finish Act 4 for Friday, March 13. Finish Act 5 for Tuesday March 17 (bring completed questions to class on Tuesday)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jA61c2zmnuuWAz8JHjJiJL3ZUyBP5L1bP7WHiCh6JHY/edit?usp=sharing
Thoroughly mark up both of these passages: We will write in class next week.
"How all occasions do inform against me" passage and prompt
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VqDjvVtiydPJlLZ8cXxGUdkjIGGPcu6s1_mKnYEqeCU/edit?usp=sharing
"To be or not to be" passage and prompt
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BELnnkJTobZ6eVYV6Izn2iCJsD7vEvpyGOvBUa96EOE/edit?usp=sharing
HAMLET FINAL ESSAY PROMPTS
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10KrorH2qJuieXBmdetIA5ah9OCl_gVYMLUqwKpQ9ABI/edit?usp=sharing
Literary Termswww.dropbox.com/s/3sfiqz55r1qjwgw/Literary%20Terms.doc?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3sfiqz55r1qjwgw/Literary%20Terms.doc?dl=0