Assignment for Tuesday, Oct. 16

1. Re-read "Dead Cousin" poem.  Identify two flaws (weaknesses or inconsistencies) in the poem that reveal it as an imposter (fake) poem.

2. Continue adding quotes to your Tragic Character Essay Outline.  You should have 15 or more quotes for Tuesday's class.

Upcoming:
--We will talk more about "Dead Cousin" and "Dead Boy" with the goal of clarifying the questions, What is literature?  Why is it important?

--We will write a timed essay, "What is literature and why is it important?" in-class on Wednesday.

--We will review the prompt and rubric for the tragic character essay.  You will begin drafting the essay later on this week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday).

Assignment for Monday, Oct. 15

Please complete before class on Monday:

• Develop your Character Diagram by adding 29 or more adjectives or phrases that describe the groups you have already listed.  (You should now have 9 or more characters, 3 or more groups, and 29 more adjectives.)
• Develop your Oedipus & Willy Outline by adding additional quotes, especially from the beginning and ending pages of the book.  Include page numbers.  You should aim for a minimum of 10 quotes.

During Class on Monday:

• Discuss Character Diagrams 
• Complete Oedipus & Willy comparison chart
• Review resources (see links below)
• Choose & write down preliminary focus for essay -- aspects for comparison
• Share out quotes / search for additional quotes / add to outlines
• First reading of 2 poems.

On Tuesday/Wednesday, we will

--Write a timed essay comparing the two poems

--Review the Oedipus/DOAS Comparison Prompt

Death of a Salesman and Tragedy Resources II

for Review:
-Character Diagram (activity)
Death of a Salesman movie trailer
Death of a Salesman (full length film)
"Death of a Salesman in 60 Seconds" (commentary)

for Sharpening Your Focus:
on Tragedy, Fate, Fatal Flaw, Hubris . . . 

You will be writing an expository essay.  For help with Essay Format:
Purdue Owl:  Expository Essay
" . . . Expository Essay vs. Persuasive Essay" (Pen and Pad)

Organization Patterns for a Compare/Contrast Essay from SJSU
How to Write a Comparative Analysis from Harvard College Writing Center

--What is Literature?  Handout & Assignment

--Selected videos

--Kahoot

--Discuss Character Diagrams 

Assignment for Tuesday, Oct. 9

--Read to page 110 and complete 3 sticky note responses.

--Complete any revisions on TFA Essay. (To be eligible for a higher grade, revised draft must be turned in with original draft and scoring rubric.)

Assignment for Wednesday, Oct. 3:

Read Death of a Salesman to page 50.
Identify 4 passages from the play that contain imagery or dramatic irony and that enhance the sense of tragedy.  A prompt on Google Classroom has been created for your response.


Tuesday, Oct. 2 -- Day 22 of 87
Death of a Salesman Resources  

Death of a Salesman online (pdf format)

Death of a Salesman Notes & Terms

Death of a Salesman video w/ Dustin Hoffman & John Malkovich

Death of a Salesman:  analysis of the play
     --for more analysis, see also Arthur Miller commentary in Bedford text, pp. 1986 -1989.

Storyboard That (includes themes, motifs, and sample storyboards)

Towards the Examined Life --- Notes for Reading

Tragedy & the Common Man -- Arthur Miller

Oedipus & Willy Comparison Chart

Assignment for Tuesday, Oct. 2

--Read Death of a Salesman, to page 25.
--Write a "found poem" of 6 - 12 lines, using lines from the first 25 pages of the reading.  (The purpose is to look back over this section of the play, to find lines that have symbolic relevance, and to explore what may be potential themes of the play.)  An example is below:

Goin' Off the Road  (a found poem based on lines from Death of a Salesman)
The peonies would come out, and the daffodils
And then all of a sudden I'm goin' off the road

Bricks and windows, windows and bricks
You can't raise a carrot in the back yard

Life is a casting off
The mind is what counts
I see everything
I can't seem to -- keep my mind to it

Assignment for Monday, Oct. 1

Complete Reading Oedipus Rex, pp. 84 - 91.  (Oedipus Rex, Robert Fagles translation, Part 2 (begin on page 82))

Use Kami to create 5 annotations for the pages above.

Things Fall Apart Essay Due Thursday, Sept. 27.

We will set aside some time tomorrow for peer editing and final teacher feedback.

Oedipus Rex Resources

The Riddle of the Sphinx:
The Sphinx stopped travelers on the road to Thebes and posed them a riddle. If they answered wrong, they died. The hero Oedipus was asked the following question: "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three at close of day?"  Click here for the answer.

Oedipus Rex, Robert Fagles, translation Part 1
Oedipus Rex, Robert Fagles translation, Part 2 (begin on page 82)

Oedipus Tyrannus, modern translation

Greek Theatre (slideshow)

The Theater of Ancient Greece -- An Intro. to Oedipus Rex (slideshow)

The Story of Oedipus (Animated cartoon)

Tragedy Unit Overview & Expectations

TFA Interpretive Essay: Getting Started and Timetable for Completion

Write a draft introductory paragraph and a body paragraph for your Things Fall Apart Interpretive Essay.

• Your thesis should appear as the last sentence of your first paragraph.  
• The lead sentences of your first paragraph should introduce your topic in a general way.
• The next few sentences should gradually narrow toward the thesis.
• Your first body paragraph should consist of:
• a topic sentence that includes key words from your thesis.
• one or more quotes 
• specific detail as evidence
• analysis of the quotes and evidence
• transitions that help link the above

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During Class:  Open the Google Classroom TFA Essay Template.  Personalize the header information and remove the works cited section at the end.  Paste in what you have written so  far.  Then continue drafting your essay.

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Things Fall Apart  Interpretive Essay Timetable

--prior to Wednesday:  read and collect quotes

--Thursday

• Create outline
• Revise working thesis (if needed)
• Check, reflect on, and revise first 2 paragraphs
• Draft additional body paragraphs 2, 3, 4

--Friday

• Draft additional body paragraphs (if needed)
• Write closing paragraph
• Self-evaluation

--Monday

• Revise essay
• Peer conferences
• Further revisions & teacher conferences

--Tuesday, Sept. 25

• Outside of class teacher conferences as needed.

--Thursday, Sept. 26 -- TFA Interpretive Essay Due

• quotes/double-entry journal
• rough draft including evidence of peer conference
• final draft

TFA Interpretive Essay Resources

Essay Guidelines

Writing an Interpretive Essay / Literary Analysis -- General Resources
Purdue Owl, Writing a Literary Analysis (slideshow)
Roane State Owl, Literary Analysis
Bucks.edu, How to Write an Analysis

Assignment for Friday, Sept. 14
Choose a topic for your essay.  Identify and label at least 3 d-e quotes that fit your topic.

Assignment:for Tuesday, Sept. 18
-Complete reading Things Fall Apart.
--Add 6 more entries to your double-entry journal.  Ideally, most or all with fit with your focus.

--Pretest yourself on basic AP English vocabulary by practicing the Vocabulary.com activity here.  A second list is here.
--First reading of the Yeats poem, "Second Coming"
--More on Things Fall Apart Interpretive Essay.
--Discussion based on D-E Journals.
--Mini-Research:  West African food, music, and culture.

Assignment:
1. Complete TFA, Part 1 (to page 125) for Thursday.
2. Complete 3 more double-entries.  (Total of 11 double-entries)

Things Fall Apart Resources

Things Fall Apart online

Chinua Achebe biography

Chinua Achebe on Nigeria & Africa 50 years later (video)

Premium Times Nigeria (Nigerian newspaper online)
The Guardian (Nigerian newspaper online)

William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"  (poem)

Gender Role Test (Take the test once for yourself.  If you have time, take it again for Okonkwo).
-------------------------------------------------------

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer; 

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; 

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world . . . "

                        --from Yeats, "The Second Coming"

Anthem Resources

Anthem (online version)

Online lectures about Anthem

Interpretive Strategies
Another briefer explanation of interpretive strategies is here.

Online children's stories for practice with interpretive strategies:

• "The Wiener Dog Magnet"
• "Invisible Alligators"

World's Shortest Political Quiz
Are You a Capitalist or Socialist Quiz

Assignment for Thursday, Sept. 6:
--Complete reading Anthem for Thursday's class.
To be completed in-class on Thursday:
--Write a one-paragraph interpretation of Anthem using the interpretive strategy of your choice.  Begin your paragraph with a one-sentence statement about the meaning of Anthem.  Then support your statement with evidence from the text and/or from outside research. (Biographical and historical strategies often require outside research).  Include at least one page number as a parenthetical reference.  (If you use an outside source, also provide an informal reference [author and title] for that.)  Be sure to select evidence appropriate to the interpretative strategy you have chosen.

Welcome to Advanced Placement English Literature & Composition

About AP and About the Course:

The College Board:  Advanced Placement English Literature & Composition

• Reasons to Take AP
• Course Description
• Course Overview