Friday, January 31, 2014

Regents Debrief/ Realism Unit

Good afternoon folks!!

I hope you all had a good week of testing and aren't too tuckered out. We have the scores for the Comprehensive English Regents exam and will be going over them with you today for a part of class.

The rest of the time, we will be introducing the upcoming unit of American Realism, which we will be starting on Monday with the start of fourth marking period!

What we need to have from you today is your book choice for the Literature Circles! We will be giving you an index card and you will need to fill out the following information:

  • Your name
  • Your first THREE choices for the novel that you wish to read
  • The choice of novel that is an absolute NO for you.
Each period is going to have a different set of texts to choose from (although there is two overlapping titles) so please read each option and look up a brief summary of the novel to help you make your choice


**Please choose a novel that you find interesting and will want to read instead of one that your friends choose!! You will be working with this novel for the next few weeks!!**


PERIOD 5 TEXTS
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gillman
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
My Antonia by Willa Cather


PERIOD 9 TEXTS
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gillman
Puddn’head Wilson by Mark Twain
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Daisy Miller Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Critical Lens on the Regents Comprehensive Exam

Today we will discuss approaches to the critical lens question on the Regents Comprehensive exam and practice outlining/brainstorming (prewriting) for this important question.

Extra Credit Essay:

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Major Works Data Sheet Assignments

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Period 5

The Pearl—Veronica
Of Mice and Men—Jackson
Raisin in the Sun—Aleja
Lord of the Flies—Molly
A Tale of Two Cities—Rachael, Carly
Merchant of Venice—Deanna
Night—Jaida
Things They Carried—Ethan
Slaughterhouse Five—Alyssia
Ragtime—Elizabeth
Their Eyes Were Watching God—Deja, Irene

Period 9 **IF YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WHICH WORK YOU WANTED BEFORE YOU LEFT CLASS TODAY, I ASSIGNED YOU AT RANDOM. MAKE SURE THAT YOU DO THIS FOR TOMORROW'S CLASS!**


Of Mice and Men--Gena
Antigone--Nicole
The Pearl—Artemis
Othello--Lillian
Hamlet—Julia, Hannah
A Raisin in the Sun—Phalyn
Lord of the Flies—Alison
Night—Laura, Quinn
A Tale of Two Cities—Enuma
A Doll’s House—Ben
The Tempest—Julie
Merchant of Venice—Nate
Their Eyes Were Watching God—Jasmyn
Things They Carried—Alice
Ragtime—Samiya
Slaughterhouse Five—Lauryl
To Kill a Mocking Bird--Duncan
A Lesson Before Dying—Kayli
1984--Concetta
The Great Gatsby—Tim, Alexis

Monday, January 13, 2014

Synthesis Essays/ Ragtime quiz

AGENDA:

1. Ragtime quiz (15 minutes)--
Take the Bookrags Ragtime quiz and see how you do!
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-ragtime/free-quiz.html

2, As a group, we will group grade your synthesis essays after you take the Ragtime quiz and discuss the grading.

Monday, January 6, 2014

RAGTIME

AGENDA:

1. Go over packet #3 for AP English Language practice--DUE FRIDAY!

2. Go over RAGTIME questions and observations

3. For homework:  Read article about Doctorow and the Kohlhaas story (Kleist)

From Kohlhase to Kohlhaas to Coalhouse
All writing comes from other writing, and of course E.L. Doctorow was not the first writer to populate a fictional narrative with historical figures. It just seemed that way to many people when Ragtime was published, to great fanfare, in the summer of 1975.
coverBut as Doctorow happily admitted in an interview in 1988, Ragtime sprang from a very specific source – an 1810 novella called Michael Kohlhaas by the German writer Heinrich von Kleist. The parallels between the two books are unmistakable. In Kleist’s novella, the title character is based on an historical figure, a 16th-century horse dealer named Hans Kohlhase, who seeks justice when he is swindled out of two horses and a servant, a campaign that wins the support of Martin Luther but eventually leads to Kohlhass’s violent death; in Doctorow’s novel, the black musician Coalhouse Walker mounts an equally fierce campaign for justice when his pristine Model T is desecrated by a company of racist firemen, a campaign that wins the support of Booker T. Washington but eventually leads to Coalhouse’s violent death.
“Kleist is a great master,” Doctorow told the interviewer. “I was first attracted to his prose, his stories, and the location of his narrative somewhere between history and fiction… Ragtime is a quite deliberate homage. You know, writers lift things from other writers all the time. I always knew I wanted to use Michael Kohlhaas in some way, but I didn’t know until my black musician was driving up the Broadview Avenue hill in his Model T Ford that the time had come to do that.”

Tuesday: continue Ragtime discussion
Wednesday: Review Synthesis essay
Thursday: In-class writing--bring pen and looseleaf paper
Friday:  Packets due, quiz on Ragtime