Due Thursday, September 28th - Reactions to "13th" in Your Journals

Please compose a journal response detailing your personal reactions to 13th.  Use the space to think about your personal experiences and how the events shared in the documentary have shaped your understanding of racism in the United States.  You need to praise or agree.  Think about the ways you viewed things prior to viewing the documentary.  Also, where should you go from here?  Where could you go for more information in order to be more knowledgeable about this topic?

Note:  I will be asking you to do the same for I Am Not Your Negro.  You may wish to add to your class notes.

Due Friday, September 15th - Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin and respond on the blog.

Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin and respond on the blog.  As a class, let's think about the plot structure.  Then, work your way through the other elements of fiction.  Read each other's blogs and let's see how much of the text we can cover as a class.  (In other words, everyone should find a particular angle of the story to comment on.  Do NOT cover the whole darn story as an individual.)

I look forward to your responses,

Mr. P. ;)

Due Tuesday, September 12th - Plot

1) Please read and be prepared to discuss the following short works on Tuesday: The "Plot" introduction in the Norton Anthology and Margaret Atwood's "Happy Endings." Also revisit Jhumpa Lahiri's Only Goodness (from Unaccustomed Earth).

2) Compose a "fat paragraph" blog response comparing and contrasting the use of plot development in a"Only Goodness."  Use direct evidence whenever possible. Please use a personalized writing voice. Do not make yourself and sound like a robot. Also...NO SPARKNOTES!!!! I CONSIDER IT CHEATING! If I catch you, you will receive no credit for the assignment.

This is your opportunity to engage with the text. This is a skills based course. This is your chance to build-up those skills without risk. Read the stories. Give your personal opinion. Be thoughtful. Be authentic. Be brilliant.

I look forward to your responses,

Mr. P. 

Blog Criteria & Rubric

Overview:  This is your space to read and discuss ideas about the material we read in class.  You will notice that these blog responses are intensive, but it will allow you to speak your mind and obtain immediate feedback.  These homework assignments will count substantially, and the rubric below will help guide you.  I will show some examples in class, and you are always free to discuss your work with me in class or after school. 

A range has the following qualities:

Ø  Well written

Ø  Personal voice is present

Ø  Thoughtful, meaningful, and there is always evidence that the student read the text closely

Ø  Responses do not merely agree but challenge fellow students to think critically

Ø  Well-chosen direct evidence from a text

Ø  Responds to fellow classmates so that a dialogue is going on

Ø  Takes risks

Ø  Returns to add comments to have a conversation

B range may exhibit some of the above qualities, BUT:

Ø  Too formal, little personal engagement

Ø  Direct evidence from text; however, it may not be well chosen or framed

Ø  A thinner response than the A range

Ø  A super long technical response that could be more concise

C range may exhibit some of the above qualities, BUT:

Ø  Responds to the prompt in a general manner

Ø  Repeats what someone else wrote, as the student obviously did not read through the other responses

Ø  There is a voice, but little evidence that the student read closely

Ø  There are no direct evidence, but there are some general examples

D and F range may exhibit some of the above qualities, BUT:

Ø  Late responses that could be high quality but only completed to avoid a zero

Ø  A few sentences and comments, but little to no analysis

Ø  Little engagement

Ø  Is openly cruel to a classmate

Ø  Knowingly inappropriate

Welcome to Advanced Placement Literature & Composition

Mission

To provide a space for book lovers to read great works, share ideas, and learn to read and write like a professor of literature.

Summer Reading

Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth

Tim O’Brien, In a Lake of the Woods   

Michael Cunningham, The Hours     

Short Story Boot Camp

Students will read three (3) assigned stories.  In class we will discuss 1-2 of the stories in-depth.  Next, you will compose an essay on the story we did not discuss as a means of evaluating your understanding of the skill set.

Plot                                                             

Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings                          

James Baldwin, Sonny’s Blues                                

Jhumpa Lahiri, Only Goodness                   

Narration and Point of View                           

Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants        

Shira Nayman, The House of Kronenstrasse              

Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth            

Character                                                     

Nikolai Gogol, The Overcoat                                   

Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol                                            

Herman Melville, Bartley the Scrivener

                               

Setting                                                                    

Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour

Anton Chekov, The Lady with the Dog      
Jhumpa Lahiri, A Choice of Accommodations 

                

     Symbol                                                                    

Franz Kafka, A Hunger Artist                                

Nick Hornby, Nipple Jesus  

Jhumpa Lahiri, Hell-Heaven                                               

Theme                                                                     

William Faulkner, That Evening Sun                     

William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily           

Jhumpa Lahiri, Nobody’s Business

Whole Text

Jhumpa Lahiri, Hema and Kaushik:             

 Once in a Lifetime

 Year’s End

 Going Ashore

Major Works

Jane Austen, Persuasion

Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Albert Camus, The Stranger

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

James Joyce, Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Drama                         

Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

Peter Shaffer, Amadeus

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

                       

Poetry Boot Camp

Students will read a collection of assigned poems.  In class we will discuss 1-2 of the poems in-depth.  For homework, you will compose an essay on one of the poems we did not discuss and you will be expected to bring it to the next class. We will also compose our own poems and perform in a public space.

Poetry Texts

Norton Anthology of Literature, 8th edition, ed. Jerome Beaty

Poetry 180 and 180 More, ed. Billy Collins

Aloud:  Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, ed. Miguel Algarin & Bob Holman

Poetry SLAM:  The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry, ed. Gary Mex Glazner

Tone                                                              

Marge Piercy, Barbie Doll

Richard Wilbur, A Barred Owl

Billy Collins, The History Teacher      

Taylor Mali, Like, Totally Whatever

Jan Heller Levi, Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad          

Theodore Roethke, My Papa’s Waltz

Morrissey, There is a Light That Never Goes Out

Speaker                                  

Billy Collins, Introduction to Poetry

Sharon Olds, First Hour

Ted Hughes, Hawk Roosting 

Mark Doty, Golden Retrievals

Andrew Marvell, A Dialogue Between the Soul and Body

Richard Wilbur, Advice to a Prophet

Taylor Mali, What Teachers Make

Metaphor & Symbol                                                     

Robert Bridges, Eros

Anne Stevenson, Eros          

Seamus Heaney, Blackberry Picking

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Eolian Harp

Alexander Pope, Imitations of Horace

Setting & Situation

Rita Dove, Fifth Grade Autobiography

Seamus Heaney, Mid-Term Break

Robert Penn Warren, Evening Hawk

Laura Gilpin, The Two-Headed Calf

Stephen Dunn, Death of a Colleague

Ted Kooser, Selecting a Reader

Internal Structure

Philip Larkin, Church Going

Sharon Olds, The Victims

Gerad Manley Hopkins, The Habit of Perfection

Taylor Mali, The The Impotence of Proofreading

Sylvia Plath, Daddy

Ryan Adams, Sylvia Plath

External Structure                                           

John Donne, Death Be Not Proud

William Shakespeare, Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds

Elizabeth Bishop, Sestina

Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Marianne Moore, Poetry

Thomas Gray, Hymn to Adversity

William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow

Sound:  Spoken Word & Hip Hop                                                                      

Jack McCarthy, Careful What You Ask For

Jessica Care Moore, Warrior Walk Alone

Mos Def, Mathematics

Nicki Minaj, Super Bass

Missy Elliot, Work It

N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton

The Notorious B.I.G., Juicy

Haki Madhubuti, The B Network

Nikki Giovanni, Mothers, Talk to Me Poem

Eminem, Lose Yourself

Bassey Ikpi, Like Sometimes              

Big Poppa E, The Wussy Boy Manifesto

Public Enemy, Fight the Power

Beastie Boys, Root Down

Assessments for Term 1

Essays 55%:  This is will be the bulk of your grade.  We will be working on the writing process throughout the year, but you should see the most progress during boot camp.  Some essays will be work-shopped.  Some essays will be written at home.  Most will be in a timed classroom session.  Criteria and rubrics will be made available.

Blogs & Quizzes 30%: Every night you will read a selection and be expected to compose a blog response or take a quiz (from official A.P. Exams). If you are absent, a make-up quiz will be given. Criteria and rubrics will be made available.

Journal 15%:  Everyday you will freewrite in your journal as a means of actively thinking during class discussions.  You will be asked to share your ideas.  These journal responses will also be used to compose blog responses, in-class essays, as well as fully processed essays.  You will receive a grade at the end of the term for your overall body of work.  Criteria and rubrics for the above will be made available. (For the grade conscious:  This is how the B+ becomes an A-…and vice versa)

Classroom Behavior

Students must adhere to the rules of conduct outlined in the Andover High School Student Handbook 2017-2018 edition.   If you act like an adult, I will treat you like one.

No Cellphones:  No handheld devices should be in my view at anytime.  Administration will be contacted if this becomes a persistent problem.

Late Work: It is your responsibility to approach me about your work.  Please refer to the Andover High School Student Handbook 2017-2018 edition for details. 

Aspen:  Grades and progress reports will be consistently posted on Aspen.  It is your responsibility to track your progress.