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(S1C7) Moving Beyond Formulaic Compositions

9/9/2015

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Today in class
After the Great Expectations quiz on Volume III, we'll discuss satire. Here are two questions for you to consider:

1, What aspects of Victorian life does Charles Dickens satirize in Great Expectations? How? Through what means? Through which characters? Situations?

2. Which characters change throughout the course of teh novel 

You can expect to receive your GE and Dracula in-class essays on Wed./Thu. and we will discuss ways to improve your analytical writing.

I will be handing you a print-out of the following packet. Please treat this as the most important handout of the year.

     DOWNLOAD: How to Write a Literary Essay (PDF)

Today is a big day in your high school English career. Today is the day I am going to begin pushing you to move beyond the formulaic 5-paragraph essay. Understanding this formulaic writing -- intro w thesis + 3 bodies paragraphs, each with a topic sentence  + a conclusion -- is important to being able to move ahead and develop your own style and tone.

College-level writing is not formulaic. You are expected to bump up to college-level writing as of today. Today, I will be returning your Dracula essays to be revised. You will treat your in-class essay as a "rough draft". Your revision, since you will be taking it home to work on over the course of a week, is expected to be a development of the ideas you put down on paper in 50-minutes. Your revision should reflect your understanding of the PowerPoint above and the "How to Write a Literary Essay" handout (see below).

First, a couple of quick tips:

1. Thesis + Evidence: Every analytical essay you write on the subject of literature will need a controlling thesis. And that thesis will still need to be clear, strongly worded, debatable (not fact), and supportable by evidence (examples, details, etc.) from the text. So, in order to prepare for the next in-class essay, you should review my handout on "How to Write a Literary Essay." Everything in that handout still applies.

2. Avoid All Redundancies / Repetitions: Part of the problem with formulaic 5-paragraph essay writing is that it 1) often sounds like a lab report, and 2) often includes a number of redundancies and/or repetitions. The rule of thumb now should be: avoid all redundancies and repetition. In order to do that, first make sure that you are varying your word phrasing. Second, you probably don't need a blueprint statement that tells the reader the subject of each of your three supporting paragraphs. Third, in the more sophisticated writing that you will be doing, you can almost always dispense with that formulaic topic sentence at the beginning of each support paragraph. Instead you should work on using appropriate transitional phrasing that leads from topic to topic. Fourth, your conclusion absolutely must not repeat your thesis. Instead, your conclusion should focus on providing some insight, tying together your various supports, and driving home your thesis  by explaining its importance.

For next class - Fri-B3/Mon-A2
    - Review Chapters 1-9 of Dracula and be prepared for a quiz and class discussion
    - Complete LRJ#3 for Dracula: "A Definitive Primer..."
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(S1C4) Dracula Essay & Diagnostic Euro-Geo

8/31/2015

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Today in class: Dracula In-class essay (50-minutes) + Diagnostic European geography

For Wed-B3/Thu-A2
Review Volume One (Chapters 1-19) of Great Expectations. We'll be discussing it and having a brief quiz.

My reading quizzes typically include ten multiple choice questions or fill in the blank short responses + 3 extended response prompts. We'll use these brief quizzes as a springboard for discussion; so, please bring your copy of Great Expectations.

Reminder: You are required to bring your LRJ + your 3-ring binder with you to class heretofore.

Finnegan's Wake Book Club

Picture
After an A2 discussion about allusions and James Joyce and the inscrutability of some novels, I've decided to start a book club to read, study, analyze, interpret, and discuss Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce. I'm putting out a call to anyone and everyone who is open to this literary escapade.

The FW Book Club is open to anyone in the Moeller community -- students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, et al. We will do this online in order to accommodate anyone and everyone who is interested.

If you are interested, please let me know by September 15! Drop me an email, and I'll let you know how to join up with us.

Not sure if you should be interested or not? Read this article on Finnegan's Wake:


Read More
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(S1C2) Preparing for Victorian Lit In-Class Essays

8/25/2015

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I have a few suggestions for you as you begin to prepare to sit your two in-class essays on Thu/Fri (G.E.) and Mon/Tues (Dracula) this coming week.

1. Have a look at the analytical essay prompts for Great Expectations  and Dracula. Decide which prompt you would like to respond to -- and then prepare by annotating the pertinent
sections in your book. You will be expected to provide quotations and cite example throughout your analytical essay.

2. Peruse (peruse here means "to look through carefully") my seminal instructional handout for this class: How to Write a Literary Essay. We will be referring to this handout throughout the year. 

Here is the PowerPoint on the Five Paragraph Essay -- a review that should prove helpful.

3. Don't forget to bring your annotated books with you. Again, you may use post-it notes if you wish -- these are silly and clumsy compared to making notes in your own book -- but you may not use any notecards, notes, or your laptop on the in-class essays.

4. Don't forget to bring a pen and loose-leaf notebook paper.

Here's the grading rubric I use for essays: Essay Rubric (PDF)

Brit Lit Trip to England -- June 2016
Interested in going to England next summer? The Moeller Brit Lit Trip for June 2016 is now open for enrollment. Space is limited.

    FULL DETAILS: Moeller Trip to England (webpage) 


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Welcome to A.P. English Literature & Composition

6/19/2015

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Summer Reading
Before you come to the first class you should have completed the summer reading for this course. Two novels and two short articles:

     1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
     2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
     3. "How and Why to Read Dickens" by Norrie Epstein
     4. "How to Mark a Book" by Mortimer

Refer to the [ Summer Reading Packet ] (PDF) for full details.

Note: Each of the books we study in this course has its own webpage chock-o-block full of resources. Here are the two for the summer reading:

     - Great Expectations page (link)
     - Dracula (link)

































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(S1C13) Victorian Unit Exam, LRJ's, Extra Credit, etc.

9/24/2014

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First off...
Please note well that you will have your first unit exam of the year on Friday/Monday. In order to be very clear about the material that will be covered, please download and review carefully my download Victorian Unit Exam Study Sheet.

    Note: Victorian project PowerPoints are available on the Great Expectations page

     DOWNLOAD: Tips on How to Answer Short Essay Questions on Exams (F451)

Extra Credit Books: Please bring both your books to the unit exam. You will be permitted to use those on the extended response part of the exam. If you have your own annotated copies, you also have the opportunity to donate those to the school for 10 XC points per book.

Also, an LRJ reminder: I will be collecting and grading your LRJ's before the exam on Monday. You should have completed all three Great Expectations prompts and all three Dracula prompts by that time. Remember, each entry should be 2-3 pages of single-spaced thoughtful writing. 

In-class assignment
After the Victorian presentations, you will be preparing a study sheet for the unit exam -- you'll need the following two downloads for reference:

    1 -- Introduction to Gothic Literature & Bram Stoker's Dracula
 
   2 -- Victorian Literature -- An Overview (PDF)

and the following eWorksheet on Victorian literature:

    3 -- eWorksheet on Victorian literature (PDF)

Drop-box when finished.


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(S1C11) Dracula -- part three

9/18/2014

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You should come to class today with your revised and developed Dracula essay printed out and stapled to the back of your in-class draft and self-evaluation sheet.

We'll be finishing up our discussion of Dracula today with Chapters 19-27. After that we'll be working with your essays.

Victorian Presentation Submission Guidelines
All parts of your group presentation are due next class: on Monday(A)/Tuesday(B). Here are the requirements for submission:

    1. Written Paper + Works Cited: Print this out and turn this in to me.
    2. PowerPoint: You must deposit this in a specific file on the X drive as follows:
        A2: X:/Teacher Folders/Rose/Vic Presentations/A3
        A4: X:/Teacher Folders/Rose/Vic Presentations/B1
    3. Oral Presentations: Should be between 10 and 15 minutes!

IMPORTANT: Please deposit your PowerPoint by 8:00 a.m. on the morning it's due. I need only one per group!

Frankenstein
The next novel we'll be reading is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. If you want to buy your own copy, now would be a good time to do so. I have 10 used copies in very good condition for $5 each. The money goes toward the English department book budget.
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(S1C10) Dracula - Chapters 10-18 + essay stuff

9/16/2014

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As you work on revising your Dracula essay, have a read through this exemplary sample student essay, which provides a model for literary analysis. 

    DOWNLOAD: Sample Literary analysis Essay -- use this as a model (PDF)

LRJ's #1-2 should be complete before class today. We'll be discussing and working with the "Patterns of Language" LRJ responses.

Upcoming important dates:
Thursday/Friday, September 18-19: Dracula essay, revised & developed DUE

Monday/Tuesday, September 22-23: Victorian Presentations -- all materials due
Wednesday/Thursday, September 24/25: Dracula Vocabulary + Euro Geo quiz

    DOWNLOAD: Vocabulary Sheet for Dracula (PDF)
    LINK: Dracula Vocab List at Dictionary.com
    DOWNLOAD: European Geography Map (PDF)
    DOWNLOAD: United Kingdom & Ireland Map (PDF)
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(S1C9) Dracula - Chapters 1-9

9/12/2014

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Dracula Essay Revision -- Due Sept 18 (A)/19(B)
If you missed class on Thursday you should view this PowerPoint:
How to Move Beyond the Formulaic Essay 

and review this very, very, very, very important document:
"How to Write a Literary Essay."

Dracula Unit Page
Second, if you haven't already, check out the Dracula unit page on this website, especially the lovely slideshow I spent all summer preparing for you. It also includes many resources that may be helpful for you in developing your essay and on your Victorian unit exam. It also includes the vocabulary list and Euro geography maps. Remember you'll need to know all the countries and capitals by next week (September 19). Explore the page!

Dracula LRJ#2
You should have already completed LRJ#1 on "Dracula: A Primer". If you haven't already -- shame -- you should download the LRJ prompts, which are available in the previous blog post and on the Dracula unit page.

LRJ #2 on "Patterns of Language" is due on Wednesday, September 16 (A)/17(B). Important note: Although the prompt asks you to use five key words, you need only do three.

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    The AP English Lit & Comp Blog is by and for students in Mr. Rose's AP English Lit. & Comp. classes at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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