Vacation Reading

Your last reading assignment (until after CWW!) will be to read over break. Most of you are beginning your third book, you would finish the third book for a reading conference our first week back in January.

Re-re-take Emily Dickinson Quiz

For those of you that left the class before the substitute arrived, you must now take your Emily Dickinson Quiz the day you take take your Semester Exam at 10:45am, H301.

Exam Review

Today there are up to three different activities to prepare for our Semester Exam. You must at least complete one. If you feel that is enough, you may move on. If you´d like more, I tried to include as many exercises as I could.

1. In your author study group, read Sherman Alexie´s ¨Superman and Me¨. At the end of each paragraph make at least one annotation that deals with syntax, tone or diction. 

When finished take a look at my annotations, then listen to the first five minutes of this analysis of it (before moving on to biographical information that we want to avoid on our exam). Notice that both of these deal with tone, syntax and diction, without ever explicitly stating it.

2. Read the essay prompt and passage for Question 2.

When finished have a look at the first two samples of this collection that represent a high-scoring and mid-scoring response.

While not exactly the same, the samples are good representations of who to discuss prose.

3. Ensure that you´ve annotated your passage for our exam, if nothing else, you should be prepared to discuss the syntax, tone and diction. If you haven´t had this conversation yet, or completed this close reading, this would be a good time. If you´d like formative feedback read an earlier entry in which I explain the close reading assignment. You´ll get your feedback handed back before the exam.

Today´s Make-up Quiz

Please note that while I will not be in school today, a sub will be administering the quiz during Opportunity Day. Be sure to arrive promptly at 2:15pm H301.

Dickinson Timed Writing Exemplar

For those revising, or those who missed class, here is an exemplar of our Emily Dickinson Timed Writing.

Here is a link to the Sherman Alexie essay ¨Superman and Me¨.

Formative Preparation for Semester Exam

If you'd like formative preparation for the Semester Exam, bring in an annotated photocopy of your passage. This will be graded in the same way the Emily Dickinson poems were.


Please note you need to give it in and discuss it with me before the day of the exam.

'A Quiet Passion' Lauded by the NYT

Best movies of 2017?

Two critics listed the Emily Dickinson biopic, A Quiet Passion.

Don't believe me. Take a look.

Quiz Re-take next Monday

Anyone re-taking the Dickinson Quiz it will be on Monday, December 11th, after school. It will be on Walt Whitman´s ¨Oh Captain! My Captain¨.

Terms:

slant rhyme

masculine rhyme

internal rhyme

exact rhyme

ballad 

sestina

sonnet

ode

elegy

refrain

anaphora

metonymy

synechdoche

Our Semester Exam

A brief word about our semester exam. It will be an timed writing exercise, similar to one of the questions you will receive during the AP exam. You will be asked to analyze tone, syntax and diction and explain how it relates to the overall meaning.

Your group will choose a passage of no more than two pages of which you will perform a close reading. You will need to bring the passage with you to class.

Tone Word Sheet

You can see our tone word chart here. When you get a copy of the sheet please keep the pdf handy on your electronic device.

Emily Dickinson Exhibit Information

To mount the poems next to your boxes, we need to verify all the titles of poems used. Please add the title of your poem to this spreadsheet.

Note: if someone else has the same poem you do not have to enter the title.

Review for Our Dickinson Timed Writing

Together with your group perform a close reading of  these two poems.

When finished, discuss the essay prompt together.

After discussing, it together as a class let´s read aloud the first two student samples here.

Title for our Poetry-in-a-Box Exhibit

We´re going to display our Poetry-in-a-Box's in the EVL next week.

Any idea for a title of the exhibit? We're looking for suggestions that are allusions to a Dickinson poem.

Please leave them in the comment section here.

Dickinson Timed Writing

On Friday, December 1st or Monday, December 4th, bring to class your Emily Dickinson poem in print with line numbers (you can do this by hand or use a photocopy).

We´ll have a timed writing prompt in which you´ll have one hour to analyze your poem. Remember: your formative feedback should help you improve your analysis. As usual, we´re looking for ways that the way in which Dickinson wrote something is related to what she means.

Poetry in a Box (summative)

Our Poetry in a Box (summative) is due at the end of next week, November 29th or November 30th. 

Here is the rubric.

Dickinson Multiple Choice (formative)

On November 27th or 28th, we will be having a multiple choice quiz on Emily Dickinson's "Success is counted sweetest...".

The following terms will appear:
meter (of various forms)
aphorism
homilies
epigrams
axioms
chiasmus
feminine rhyme
half rhyme
double entendre
oxymoron
antithesis
adage

The following vocabulary words will appear:
pedantic
didactic
moralistic

Poetry in a Box (formative)

For next class, print out your Emily Dickinson poem and like Ms. Habegger annotate your poem.

A high-scoring close reading would:
connect form and content to demonstrate their understanding
(i.e, ¨heart¨ and ¨hearth¨ or ¨morning¨ and ¨mourning¨ relate to the aftermath of a funeral)

A mid-scoring close reading would:
demonstrate valid inferences that relate to the overall meaning of the poem

A low-scoring close reading would:
misread or misinterpret various literal elements of the poem

Here's a high-scoring example.

Tell It Slant: The Emily Dickinson Project

For the next few weeks, we'll be studying the dickens out of Emily Dickinson (horrible pun intended).

There will be two summative grades related to it:
- a Dickinson box creation based on one poem (summative) 
- a timed writing exercise of the same Dickinson poem (summative)
- multiple-choice exam on an Emily Dickinson poem (formative)

We'll also be watching some of the Emily Dickinson biopic that came out last year, A Quiet Passion.

You can choose any of the poems hyperlinked in this article about Emily Dickinson. We also have a collection of her poems in H301, should you prefer to peruse a paper copy.

You should choose your poem by the end of this weekend, latest.

Here was Ms.H´s presentation.

PS: Part of this project is to make it easier for athletes in binationals. Whatever we do next week, you can complete upon your return. You will miss some amazing parts of A Quiet Passion.

Altoid Tin Donations

If you have leftover Altoid tins at home please bring them in next week for a new Maker Space project - Poetry in a Box.

Assignment For Next Class

After our lesson on syntax, write a blog post to your group in which you perform a close reading on one sentence that you find to be particularly significant. Why is this sentence significant? How does its syntax relate to its meaning? Remember we´re writing about this informally.

Syntax: Fear Not!

Writers Workshop: Writer´s Choice

Today you can choose which skill you´d like to work on. Please sit with all other students working on the skill that you choose.

Our options are:
- comma splices and run-on sentences
- semi-colon and colon use
- citing text
- transitional phrases


Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences

For practice try here. For some more comma practice, go here.

When finished read one another´s recent blogs. Identify one sentence in which comma use should be revised.


Colon and Semi-colon Review

See noredink.com for exercises.

Share examples and revise Chopin Timed Writing.

Citing Text

See noredink.com and look for the embedding text practice.

Transitional Phrases

Try some exercises.

Now, choose a transitional phrase at the beginning of each paragraph in your Chopin Timed Writing.

A Halloween Sonnet

Monster Mash by David Trinidad

Frankenstein, Godzilla, the Blog, Phantom
of the Opera, The Wolfman, The Hunchback
of Notre Dame, Children of the Damned, Them,
Queen of Outer Space, Creature from the Black

Lagoon, Curse of the Cat People, The Mum-
my, The Green Slime, The Brain that Wouldn't Die,
Invaders from Mars, It! The Terror From
Beyond Space, Dr. Cyclops, Freaks, The Fly,

Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible
Man, The Mole People, Dr. Jekyll And
Mr.Hyde, Mothra, The Incredible
Shrinking Man, Dracula, The Crawling Hand,

Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, King
Kong, Tarantula, 13 Ghosts, The Thing.



If you've never heard the song "Monster Mash", this is what Trinidad was alluding to.

Soccer and Poetry

I thought this was a neat blog post about the connections between great soccer players and poets.

Our Author Conversation with Kim

Block 5 Writing Center Appointments

For students that need to revise your Chopin Timed Writing, you need to schedule an appointment by sending an email to Mr. Ferrebee. Afterschool days are Tuesday and Wednesday.

Also, all re-writes are due our next class, Tuesday. If not, you will receive the grade you scored on your first try.

We´ll be discussing ¨Son¨ by Craig Morgan Teicher. You can find it here.

Enjambment in ¨The Red Wheelbarrow¨

Here´s Craig Morgan Teicher´s recent essay about the poem.

Model Chopin Timed Writing

Here is a model paper for our Chopin Timed Writing assignment.

Sonnet Multiple Choice Quiz (formative)

On next Wednesday or Thursday (whenever we meet) we'll have a multiple choice quiz about the poem "November Cotton Flower".


The following terms will appear on the quiz as possible answers:

paradox
apostrophe
anaphora
alliteration
understatement
rhyming couplets
visual imagery
auditory imagery
enjambment
variable rhythm

Here is some vocabulary that you may not know:
lament
incongruous
fleeting
dearth

First Semester Feedback

By the end of the week, please take a few minutes to fill out an evaluation form. It is only for me to improve my instruction.

You´ll find the form here.

Blog Post Over the Weekend

Over this weekend, write a blog post for your group. Be as provocative as possible. Focus on aspects of the texts that surprise, shock, or bring us to ask questions. 

Good Reading Habits

What are the behaviors that we should exhibit as upperclassmen reading a novel? I´d like to assess this, but let´s discuss together what a good reader as an upperclassmen would look like.

Please contribute here. 

Reading Goals for Weekend Reading

After taking the timed writing exam, be sure to come up with your reading goals for next Monday and Tuesday.

Back in Those Days

Back then? In those times? What about today?

Here's a study from the Harvard Business Review that might change your mind about some of your impressions.

Email in Flipgrid

As I'm grading your responses, many of you have not included your email address. As such, you can't receive my feedback on the video. Please sign in and read my commentary in the case that you haven't.

Videochat with author Kim Chinquee

Block 2 will be speaking with author Kim Chinquee on October 25th in the GLS. We´ll be reviewing her work and preparing questions in class before then.

Timed Writing This Week (Summative)

On Thursday or Friday - depending on when we meet - you´ll be analyzing a short story by Kate Chopin. As we´ve been practicing you´ll have to analyze it. The rubric will be the same as the formative rubric we used for our last timed writing (only the grammar section has been expanded to include colon and semi-colon use).

Choices for Today

While I´m conferencing with writers, you can work on semi-colon use:

You can find exercises here.

Watch the first half of a speech by Chimanand Ngozi Adichie and answer these questions:

1. When Adichie mentions her preference for high heels what does she mean by the ¨male gaze¨?
2. Evaluate her use of narration.
3. What does ¨homely¨ connotate in Nigeria?
4. Why does Adichie insist on the term ¨feminist¨?
5. Describe how gender roles do harm to both men and women.
6. Do you agree with Adichie? Why? Why not?

Read and organize our Sentence Elimination poems. Ask your classmates to share the poems with you, then compile them on a new Google doc.


Go back to ¨Wild Iris¨ by Louise Gluck. Compare Edna´s suicide to the perspective of the speaker. Record your discussion then post to Soundcloud.

Author Study Authors

The authors that you can choose from are:
Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Junot Díaz, Sherman Alexie, Edwidge Danticat, Kurt Vonnegut, Zadie Smith, Korean-American Authors (Suki Kim and Krys Lee), Daniel Alarcón or the notorious F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Vacation Reading Assignment

Over break, you must at least read the first fifty pages of your chosen novel. You do not need to take notes, if you do not wish to. We´ll be trying to increase our volume of reading with this assignment and as such will spend less time on annotation.

Sentence Elimination Poem

Please complete your Sentence Elimination Poem. Link your poem on a google document on your blog. Do so by Thursday or Friday - depending on when we meet.

Reminder about Summative Flipgrid Assessment

We´d like to actually watch these Flipgrid conversations in class either Thursday or Friday (when we meet) so the assignment needs to be completed by then. If not, the assignment will be counted as late - given that we have break directly following said date.

Second Reading Blog Due

Please write a second reading blog if you haven't already.

Happy Banned Books Week!

We're reading a banned book right now: The Awakening!

Model Paper for Citation Exercise

Here's a model paper, should you want to see the successful employment of a variety of ways of citing text in a single essay.

Writers Workshop: Colon Mini-lesson

When finished work on these colon exercises. Please note that the webpage's version of the sentence is one of many possible revisions.

What would Chopin say?: Chopin Summative Assessment

In your groups you've been gathering evidence from The Awakening to determine what Chopin might say about your controversial statement.

For example, does she think your own happiness comes before everyone else's?

To demonstrate your understanding, your group will record a Flipgrid discussion in which you use a close reading of three passages to determine Chopin's response.

While the platform does not explicitly support it, I'd like to see you annotating text during the videos. You might consider making a photocopy of a page or take a picture of a page that you can then manipulate in your Flipgrid video.

Start your topic on the Flipgrid forum entitled,  What does Kate Chopin think about _____?

Follow this link and open an account. 

The Flipgrid discussion will be due October 5th for even blocks and October 6th for odd.

Here is the rubric.

Reading Blog Due

Next class (Tuesday or Wednesday - depending when you have have class) complete one reading blog. See rubric in the "What is a reading blog?" post. This is a formative grade.

What is a reading blog?

Reading to Blog

What's more important the book or our interpretations of the book? Can there be a book without there being interpretation? We'll be able to answer some of those questions after we've recorded our relationships with the books we read.

In order to preserve paper, as well as to promote our communication with the academic world outside of CNG, we'll be keeping blogs about the books we read.

You will write your own blogs, and respond to your blogs as prescribed by your weekly homework blog entry. You should not approach each blog the same way. With variety comes varied thought; therefore, I hope you focus on different topics and take different approaches in each entry.

Imagine you have been assigned "The Three Little Pigs" for homework. To write a reading blog based on this reading here are some possibilities:

-Respond to the text personally: 

I never had my house blown down by a wolf, but I have felt loss. For example, I once abandoned my favorite apartment. I left most of my furniture there, some clothes, even a television!

-Connect text to another book, a film, work of art, a comic or any other creation: 

The Three Little Pigs reminds me of The Matrix. When the Wolf "huffed and puffed and blew his house down" he acted just as Morpheus did for Reeve's character. Suddenly, Reeves was without the security he once felt.

-Ask questions to later answer:

What might the grandmother represent? Why would the Wolf want to blow down the houses? How might I write a better ending? I would then maybe answer these questions in later blogs. 

-Visual Vocabulary 

Select the words you think it was important to define in the text. Match a picture to it on your blog post. 

-Hyperlink 

You might want to use the 21^st century's answer to footnotes when you're talking about something that is not common knowledge. We'll do a demo of how to insert a hyperlink in class.

You may use any combination of these, or you can write your own type of entries. Let your reading guide your entries. We'll take a look at them next week in class and in conferences.

Take a look at this example from a student a few years ago. Here's a more satirical style and here's another more effusive style. 

Here you can find the rubric I'll be using to assess your blogs.

Writers Workshop: Diction Explanation and Exercises

Here is the diction explanation.

Here are the exercises. 

Stop Motion Videos

Please upload your stop motion Kim Chinquee short story videos to your blogs by Friday or Monday - whenever we have class. This will count as a life skill grade.

Model Papers from Timed Writing

Here you can find two papers that scored well on our pre-assessment timed writing about A Simple Heart.

Student 1

Student 2

Announcement for New Students

If did not complete A Simple Heart timed writing exercise,  complete this prompt (by hand):

Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

You will be graded using this rubric.

Updated Reading Goals

Please remember I will be assessing your reading next week. Be sure to set doable but challenging reading goals with your group.

Writers Workshop: Incorporating Text into Analysis or Citation

Here's a slideshow I created about embedding text for your review. I'll be using this for my in-class mini-lesson.

Poetry Karaoke Instructions

Please upload your poetry karaoke videos to youtube and then embed the videos in your blog. Please note, as stated in the rubric, this is part of your media grade. 

Incorporating Text into an Essay (summative assessment)

After our lesson today, what should our rubric look like for evaluating our use of incorporating text.


Chime in here.

This is due next Writers Workshop - Wednesday or Thursday - depending on when we meet.

Speaking Aloud: Formal Discussion Rubric

We'll be having in-class discussion from time-to-time, which will be graded.

Our first one will be on Monday (odd) or Thursday (even). If you're absent it's simply recorded as a no count grade.

The works to be discussed will sometimes be given beforehand - or may be about a novel we are reading - or may simply be a text that we need to read and respond to in a brief period of time.

Here is the rubric. 

Noredink.com Class Code

Here is the class code for noredink.com:
shallow salsa 17

Capitalization Quiz on Wednesday and Friday

Please make sure you complete the capitalization exercises in preparation for the quiz this week.

Rhythm in Poetry

Here's the slideshow that I showed in class about rhythm in poetry.

Rubric for Post-its

As we'll be assessing your reading weekly, here is the rubric we'll be using.

Poetry Quiz

We'll have a formative quiz on rhyme and rhythm in poetry here in class on Friday or Monday  Tuesday depending on when we meet.

Poetry Karaoke: Upcoming Summative Project

What is poetry karaoke?

That's when you scan a song and then find a poem of more or less the same meter and combine. Then you sync the instrumental with your poetry version.

Wanna see an example? This is Shakespeare's renown Sonnet 18 matched with Pharrell Williams's "Happy".

So take a song scan it and try to match it to a poem. You should only use this search engine to guarantee you have a renown poem. Try sticking to poems before the 20th century. That will almost guarantee that you´ll have some form of meter.

This will be a summative assignment. It will be graded according to this rubric.

This will be due on Friday, September 15th.

Noredink

I have noticed that not everyone is completing the noredink assignments designed to improve your grammar skills. These grammar skills are evaluated in your writing (i.e, the timed writing we just completed). To further underline the importance of said skills we are going to have quizzes based on the grammar lessons in class.

A capitalization quiz (formative) will take place next Writers Workshop.

Homework for Thursday or Monday (depending on section)

Read the first chapter of The Awakening as slowly and with as much attention to detail as you can. Use post-its for questions and inferences.

The Awakening Questionnaire

In class we'll be filling this questionnaire out together.

Erasing: Poetry Lab #1

Bring your completed erasure poems to our next class.

A Visual Conversation

Flaubert Student Discussion (for those that missed class)

Note About E-mail Subscriptions

Some of you mentioned you have not received e-mail updates from my blog. You need to confirm your subscription by clicking on a link that is emailed to you. Please check your inboxes to do so.

The Capitol of Capitals: brief video to review capitalization

During Human Utopia

Keeping our momentum in class which has 10th, 11th and 12th graders this week will be difficult. However, I have structured our week in such a way that most of the key content will be available online.

Tuesday - types of rhymes, read "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, identify types of rhymes in "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons and then Emily Dickinson poem

Wednesday - Review capitalization. Complete exercises on noredink.com. Review key moments of A Simple Heart, student-led discussion of the ending to be posted to blog for those unable to attend

Thursday - Review capitalization. Complete exercises on noredink.com. Review key moments of A Simple Heart, student-led discussion of the ending to be posted to blog for those unable to attend

Friday - Pre-assessment A Simple Heart exam; get copies of The Awakening

Monday - Pre-assessment A Simple Heart exam; get copies of The Awakening

Just in Time for Rhymes

Here's a brief video about different types of rhymes. While listening be sure to pause and take notes when necessary.

Key terms:

end rhyme
internal rhyme
perfect rhyme
half rhyme

Oops: Clarification About Titles

Things to capitalize in a title:

Nouns (man, bus, book)

Adjectives (angry, lovely, small)

Verbs (run, eat, sleep)

Adverbs (slowly, quickly, quietly)

Pronouns (he, she, it)

Subordinating conjunctions (as, because, that)

First Formative Assessment: The Title of Your Blog

For next class be sure to have decided on a CCOA title and update your blog. I'll be assessing your blogs on a scale of one to four. I will award a point for each successful part of CCOA completed.

What is a blog?

Before creating your blog's on Blogger let's review what a blog is, as we will be reading blog posts as well as writing blog posts.

Heck No, Hedda Gabler!

The vote has demonstrated that roughly half the class does not want to study the play - so we will not.

I appreciate everyone's honesty!

Wanna study Hedda Gabler?

Cinecolombia will be showing this play the weekend of September 3rd. It might be nice to take advantage of this class production and study it together.

Please respond whether or not you'd like to study it using the poll on the right-hand side of my blog. Be sure to watch the trailer first.

PS I actually saw this production live many years ago in New York. It is very intense!

Bring Post-Its

For next class, we'll have our first Life Skills assessment: bring in a pack of post-its that you can use this semester.

In Regards to Summer Reading

If you haven't received an email, or are new to this class you'll need to have read A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert (translated by Charlotte Mandell) by August 22nd. 

Please don't fret: the reading is very short (62 pages!). You can think of it either as a long short story or an extremely short novel (in class, we´ll refer to it as a novella). 

You can pick up a copy here at school (H301) or you can buy a pdf from the publisher Meville House for six dollars, or on iBooks, or on Amazon. However, be sure to get this particular edition, as it´s translated and so differs greatly depending on the translation. 

Welcome to AP Literature and Composition

On this blog you'll find information about assignments, links to readings and other resources you might need throughout the year.

But before we go any further you need to enter your email address into the bar above to get updates on my new posts. I'll never assign homework if we haven't discussed it in class first, but this will be the written record of assignments and dates.

In addition, you can find a summary of our syllabus on the AP Lit Links sidebar, listed as Course Description.

Checking Out

For those with check-out sheets, you need to bring in a list of all the books you read this academic year. In parenthesis write down the location of each book.

For example:

The Awakening (returned to the EVL)
Hamlet (returned to the EVL)
The Parable of the Sower (can't find)
Kindred (returned)


Then I will stamp your sheet.

Senior Announcement

Please note the previous blog entry posted last week in which it explains your final exam.

After the Exam

When the exam is finished we'll be working on a final project together. After the exam when I am not here you may begin work on one of the following activities. If you have an idea for something you'd like to do more and is LITerary come speak with me for approval.

Seniors: Seniors must imagine they have been invited to read the Class of 2017 a poem. As experts in poetry, you will choose one of these forms to write your poem in: sonnet, villanelle, sestina. It may be an ode, an elegy, or a lyric poem. This is the corresponding rubric.

Keep in mind your performance will be graded rather than your actual poem, so you'll want to practice your performance.


Juniors: Choose one of the following options. You´ll be assessed once formatively and during our final exam day summatively. You can choose to work in a group of 2-3 if applicable.

- Translate a short story or poem or series of poems (length will be approved by teacher).

- Create a graphic novel of a short story. You can use computer software on campus for this, however I prefer people that are more artistically inclined do so.

- Create a graphic novel of a few poems by the same poet.

- Create a zine.

- Adapt a full poem to a full song.

- Write a sonnagram

- Write a song with lyrics.

- Create a new version of a short story we´ve read.

- Create a short film version of a short story we've read together.

- Read a series of graphic novels by the same author (Lynda Barry, Alan Moore, Alice Bedchel (mature content), Charles Burns (mature content))

- Create a series of concrete poems or sound poems with a motif.

- Purchase and read the modern version of Pride and Prejudice, Eligible

- Read Margaret Atwood´s The Handmaid´s Tale and watch the new TV series based on it.

-Watch and write movie reviews of several films about poetry (parental permission needed due to mature content of films) Kill All Your Darlings, Howl, Dead Poet´s Society, Paterson, Total Eclipse, Bright Star

- (Whole class only) Perform a one-act play (comedy or tragedy) only for other Lit sections. (Zoo Story, All in the Timing, God by Woody Allen)

-  Purchase and play the video game narrative everyone is talking about, Gone Home. You can either write a brief essay (2-3 pages) that analyzes the video game, or create an analytic walk through video that focuses on one part of the story. You can play the video game in class.

- Purchase and play the video game narrative everyone is talking about, Walden. You can either write a brief essay (2-3 pages) that analyzes the video game, or create an analytic walk through video that focuses on one part of the story. You can play the video game in class.

Lessons in My Stead

Here are all the activities I'd like you to complete before the exam May 3rd.

For Candide Readers

Here´s a recent musical version of Candide.

Vegetarian Physics by David Clewell and Questions

Given that tomorrow is the March for Science, I decided to read a poem with a science motif with you.

Here you can find the poem and the questions.

More practice for the exam?

Download the new Poetry magazine app. They re-designed it for Poetry month. In it you´ll find new poems. The podcasts are particularly good for studying: the poet reads her/his poem, followed by a brief discussion of the editors about the poem. I enjoy them, but I think they could also be really useful for practicing interpretation.

Please be aware the texts are college-level and as such may include profanity. 

New Spring Break Idea!

Forget about Cancun! You can now rent Emily Dickison´s bedroom! I am not kidding.




Read about it here. 

Worried About Your Score?

If you're feeling concerned about the exam, check out

The Sound of Poetry by Robert Pinsky - it's very short. Reading it would be a great way to study.

It's available in the curriculum resource library; please see Alonso.

Study Sheet

I've begun a study sheet for literary devices. Keep in mind, it would be just as useful to study the tone sheet. If you can find yours please use the search bar and it will appear. You may also want to review the syntax sheet.

Remember: linking form and content is more important than listing literary devices. Try to put together coherent analyses - that are reasonable or compelling even.

Anyway, here is the sheet. Please use your notes to fill in with definitions and better yet - examples.

May 2nd - Special In-class Study Day

Given that I will be on paternity leave starting April 25th, it´s really important that you make the most of preparation for this class yourself in my stead.

I´ve got Fences planned for the days leading up to the exam.

I promise after we complete the exam, I will be funnier and my poems will be better. There will NOT be a FINAL EXAM. As such, it´s up to you to come to class on May 2nd, to study for this exam together.

I´ll leave special activities for you. Everything will be posted on the blog. So please mark it on your calendars.

Reminder: Summative Exam On Friday

You should either finish your book or read up to page 300.

How to embed soundcloud in your blog?

Find some audio on soundcloud.com you'd like to share on your blog. Press the share button in the top left-hand corner of the player: Click on the Blogger button. If this is your first time posting audio to your blog from SoundCloud, you'll need to grant SoundCloud access to your Blogger account.


All of your sound poems should be embedded.

Fences It Is!

You've chosen Fences to study as your last work before the exam. Copies will be available on next Tuesday, April 25th. You do not have to bring these home or read these at home. 

I'd like some feedback on what was good this year with the course and what could be improved. Please fill out the following when you have the chance.