Tuesday, January 5, 2009

Gifted English II: Your HW last night was an open-play quiz on Act I; today, we transition to Act II. I have some questions you will need to answer for this part of the play, which is largely expository and not as action-oriented as the other acts. We are going to work through part of this today in class--your HW is to finish the questions.

AP Lit and Comp: We need to finish the analysis of "Preludes" and transition into Romanticism. Reminder: Please go by the Media Center to pick up a copy of Frankenstein. We will be working through the epistolary part of the novel (the first four chapters) together this week, while preparing for the semester exam/essay portion.

I will be giving you each an outline for note-taking purposes, but here is the essence of what you can expect for those of you super-organized types:

Romanticism Notes: APeees

People to Know

William Wordsworth

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Percy Shelley

John Keats

William Blake

George Gordon, Lord Byron

John Constable

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Mary Shelley

Concepts to Know

mutability

the quest for immortality

nature imagery

the paradox

spirituality

connections: landscape to sky; art to immortality

lyric poetry

the Gothic novel

romanticism and revolution

Specific Works for Reference

“The World is Too Much With Us”

“Tintern Abbey”

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

“Kubla Khan”

“Ode to a Nightingale”

“When I Have Fears”

“Ode on a Grecian Urn”

“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”

“Ozymandias”

“Ode to the West Wind”

The Gothic Novel

Frankenstein

Jane Eyre

Wuthering Heights

The Byronic Hero

Monday, January 4, 2010

Welcome to the new year, if not the new semester--we still have until January 25 or so to finish this quarter. I've been reading online about the debate between pronouncing this year "two thousand ten" vs. "twenty-ten" and I have to say that I am partial to the brevity and power of the latter. Regardless of what you call it, though, we have entered a new decade, and I truly hope that each of you finds great fortune, knowledge, and understanding in your future endeavors.

Announcements:

1. For those of you who still need service hours for NHS, I have an opportunity for you--I could really use some help this week cleaning 313 in preparation for district and state level visitors from the Advanced Studies Department. The first item on the rubric they are using states "A clutter-free classroom is evident," and man am I in trouble. Right-brained over here; need some help.

2. If you are on the Project X-Mas committee, thank-you note season is upon us! Many, many people helped us reach our goal this fall, and we need to thank them appropriately. I've already sent e-mails to the entire faculty indicating our gratitude, but see Mary Claire for individualized thank-you note plans. Service hours, as always, are given for your work on this committee.

3. Sophys: You will need to acquire a personal copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White before the end of January. It will be our primary grammar guide for the spring term.

4. Seniors: You will need to acquire a personal copy of Jane Eyre IF you wish to annotate as you read. Our first reading in the Romantic unit will be Frankenstein, available in the BHS library, but JE lends itself more to marginalia. If you are so inclined, it's a worthwhile investment--and you can take it with you to college next year for literary magic 8-ball purposes!

Today's Lessons:

Gifted English II: Julius Caesar--review key concepts from December, review Act I main points, and distribute thought questions for Act II. We will also be going over the memorization assignment, which is due by the end of this month as well. Two of you are already finished. Bravo! I will have a finished calendar for you by the end of the week with all of the registration dates for next year's classes, as well, and can start meeting with you one-on-one to help make decisions about your schedule.

AP Lit and Comp: I asked each of you to annotate "Preludes" by T.S. Eliot; today in class, we are going to analyze the heck out of this lyric poem. Come prepared to TP-CASTT and beyond, and to massage a lot of diction. Mere months to go until the national exam, my peeps. Months to go.

Homework for APees

(I will be e-mailing this to you via www.turnitin.com once they finish their site update; probably not until Friday or so.)

The written part of the semester test will be administered to you according to our discussion before Winter Break, and will be two essays: one, an FRQ based on something we read in class thus far, and one, an analysis of a poem. To prepare for this, I would like you to read this poem over and annotate it before you come to class on Monday, January 4. I will have copies available for annotation if you have no access to a printer, and this poem is also in your literary anthology, but I am reprinting it below under Common Use license since it is in the public domain.

T.S. Eliot is an impenetrable poet for many of you, but I think "Preludes" is just enchanting--and not in a good way, necessarily. Now that you have studied "Prufrock" and have some critical readings behind you, take a good look at this piece--perhaps for the second or third time, for some of you--and annotate. You may use TP-CASTT if you like, or merely highlight words/phrases that stand out to you.

The website where you can find the poem is http://www.bartleby.com/198/3.html.

But here is the text:

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). Prufrock and Other Observations. 1917.

3. Preludes

I THE WINTER evening settles down With smell of steaks in passageways. Six o’clock. The burnt-out ends of smoky days. And now a gusty shower wraps 5 The grimy scraps Of withered leaves about your feet And newspapers from vacant lots; The showers beat On broken blinds and chimney-pots, 10 And at the corner of the street A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps. And then the lighting of the lamps. II The morning comes to consciousness Of faint stale smells of beer 15 From the sawdust-trampled street With all its muddy feet that press To early coffee-stands. With the other masquerades That time resumes, 20 One thinks of all the hands That are raising dingy shades In a thousand furnished rooms. III You tossed a blanket from the bed, You lay upon your back, and waited; 25 You dozed, and watched the night revealing The thousand sordid images Of which your soul was constituted; They flickered against the ceiling. And when all the world came back 30 And the light crept up between the shutters And you heard the sparrows in the gutters, You had such a vision of the street As the street hardly understands; Sitting along the bed’s edge, where 35 You curled the papers from your hair, Or clasped the yellow soles of feet In the palms of both soiled hands. IV His soul stretched tight across the skies That fade behind a city block, 40 Or trampled by insistent feet At four and five and six o’clock; And short square fingers stuffing pipes, And evening newspapers, and eyes Assured of certain certainties, 45 The conscience of a blackened street Impatient to assume the world. I am moved by fancies that are curled Around these images, and cling: The notion of some infinitely gentle 50 Infinitely suffering thing. Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh; The worlds revolve like ancient women Gathering fuel in vacant lots.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! The first decade of the 21st century is almost behind us. Please make good choices and celebrate safely and legally.

Are you making new resolutions? I read today (not sure where) that many sociologists consider January 21 to be the most depressing day of the entire year--the nexus of Christmas or other winter holiday credit card debts coming due, resolutions failing miserably three weeks into the year, and the uncomfortable knowledge that it's months until Spring Break send many people into an abyss of shame and despair.

But this need not be your fate! Look at all the amazing things we have to look forward to:

*Two consecutive three-day weekends in January (for you, not me)--Dr. King Day, followed by semester tests, followed by a teacher workday. You are out of school on the 18th AND the 22nd!

*The beginning of the third quarter, and new, rich opportunities for knowledge!

*Another three-day weekend in February!

*Groundhog Day!

*For my sophys: A chance to select your courses for next year!

*For my seniors: The inevitable knowledge that This Is The Last Semester of High School (for most of you--I am always surprised by the few who self-select failure as a preferable option to entering Le Real World, delusionally thinking that college is Too Hard. Tip: It isn't.)

*Another opportunity to come into the zany world of room 313 where you will learn some stuff, and I guarantee laugh at least once or twice.

So c'mon back, y'all. We got stuff to do. Peace out!

Celebrate Good Times, C'Mon!

(I love that song; Kool and the Gang rocks.)

Reminders: Hamlet focus paper due tomorrow; make-up work due by Friday (including extra credit for attending The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged); semester exam, part I, is Thursday for seniors. I will distribute the Semester Exam Review Sheet to the sophomores on Friday.

On Friday, we are having a last-day-before-Winter-Break celebration of sorts; I got each of you a tiny memento to commemorate the season, and baked goods are highly recommended.

Four days, guys!!! Say farewell to the "aughts" (weirdest name for a decade ever) and welcome to 2010!

T to the Witter

Quick post: The Twitter account I use for foreign travel updates has again changed names. If you are interested in reading about our Paris trip, or are following for the upcoming Ireland adventure, you have to access it at www.twitter.com/BHS_Ireland2010.

Love to all!!!

Tentative Lesson Plans for December, 2009

It occurred to me today during the Semester Exam Committee Meeting that it might be helpful for your planning purposes to publish the schedule I have in mind for the rest of the two weeks leading up to Winter Break. This may change, barring fire drills, Kwahanukahmas tree removals, and/or last-minute shifts, but this is pretty much what I have in mind for the rest of 2009, instructional-style.

First, announcements:

1. Ireland trip meeting is tomorrow night (12/8) at 7 p.m.

2. Poetry reading will be Friday after school (12/11) in my classroom. Come see what Mrs. Covert and I can do to some poetry--it's beyond awesome.

3. Project X-Mas still needs your help, desperately. Please help us.

4. If you need community service hours for Bright Futures (or, thanks to recent legislative decisions, Slightly Dimmer and More Expensive Future) see me ASAP and I will be glad to help.

Now, the potential schedule:

THIS WEEK December 7-11, 2009

Gifted English II

12/7 Edusoft Benchmark Testing

12/8 FCAT Writes! practice essay

12/9 Exit Satire unit; begin lecture

material for Shakespeare and set

dates for Author of the Day

12/10 Shakespeare

12/11 Shakespeare

AP Lit and Comp

12/7 Hamlet Review/BF info with Mrs. Gertel

12/8 Hamlet Unit Test

Assign FP #2 (due 12/15)

12/9 Prufrock/Eliot

12/10 Prufrock analysis

Dist. semester exam rev.

12/11 Prufrock analysis/Eliot critical essays

NEXT WEEK December 14-18, 2009

Gifted English II

12/14 A of Day

Julius Caesar intro

12/15 A of Day

Julius Caesar

12/16 A of Day

Julius Caesar

12/17 A of Day

Julius Caesar

12/18 A of Day

Semester Exam Review

AP Lit and Comp

12/14 Semester Exam Review

12/15 Semester Exam Review

FP #2 due by 3 p.m.

12/16 Eliot Timed Writing

12/17 SEMESTER EXAM PART I

(content)

12/18 Make-up exam

Hamlet related cultural activity (think "Circle of Life")