AP English: Some Universal Truths about Comedy

Playwright and author Oscar Wilde (1854—1900), who was famous for his use of comedy to make fun of social situations.

Writing Warmup: 
On page 6 of your Drama Packets, you will find some Universal Truths about Comedy.  Comedy...

1. Is always at someone's expense.
2. Binds and excludes people.
3. Lessons social tensions.
4. Has the potential to have real tragedy embedded within it.
5. Gives power to those who make us laugh.

Using one or two of the universal truths above, describe a key moment in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (pictured above).  How does that moment prove the universal rule about comedy?

AP English: The Reader's Theater

Beginning Activities

A Doll House and The Importance of Being Earnest

Activity One:  Reader’s Theater

1.  Before students begin reading either play, randomly assign students to read and perform the following scenes.

2.  Allow five minutes for a read through and a brief discussion among the group on how to read/perform the parts.

3.  As students watch the performances, have them record initial impressions and make predictions.

4.  As they read the plays, students should test their initial responses against their later ones.

Suggestions for Student Notes:

1.  What conclusions can we draw about the characters? Do they remind you of

                  people you know or of characters in other works?

            2.   What conflicts seem to emerge in act one?  Act three?  

            3.  What leads you to your conclusions?

            4.  If the same passages are performed, are there differences in characterization?

            5.  What commonalities do you see between the two plays?  Differences?

            6.  What questions do you have after watching the plays?

Suggested Scenes from A Doll House (Dover Thrift Editions)

Act 1: 

            Pages 1 – 2.  Beginning scene through Nora’s speech that begins with          “Whatever you say Torvald.”  (Nora, Torvald, Delivery Boy (“Porter”))

            Pages 6 – 7.  Entrance of Mrs. Linde through her speech that begins with “Your     husband?  How marvelous!” (Nora and Mrs. Linde)

            Pages 14 – 15. Krogstad’s first lines “It’s me, Mrs. Helmer” through Nora’s          speech that begins with “Oh come on Dr. Rank – you really do want to live     yourself.”  (Krogstad, Mrs. Linde, Nora, Dr. Rank)

           

Suggested Scenes from The Importance of Being Earnest.  1899 Google Boocs Ed.

Act I:

            Pages 1 – 5. Opening Scene through Algernon’s speech that begins with      “Lane’s views on marriage seem somewhat lax. (Lane, Algernon)

           

            Pages 6 – 8.  Jack’s line “I am in love with Gwendolen through Jack’s speech         that begins with “Cecily!  What on earth do you mean?”

            Pages 19 - 21.  Lady Bracknell’s line “Good afternoon, dear Algernon, I hope…”   through Lane’s exit after Algernon discovers there are no cucumber         sandwiches.(Lane, Algernon, Gwendolen, Lady Bracknell, and Jack.)

Act II: 

            Pages 55 – 57.  Beginning of scene with Miss Prism through Cecily’s speech that begins with “I wish Uncle Jack would allow that unfortunate young man, his            brother, to come down here sometimes.”

            Pages 59—?.  Begin with Miss Prism and Dr. Chausible’s return from their walk:             

            Miss Prism:  “You are too much alone, dear Dr. Chausible…” and end with Jack’s

            entrance.

Port Veritas: Day 5 (AP English)

We began today's class by watching Neil Hilborn's performance of "OCD" (above) as a way to warm up our public speaking skills.

Then, each student was given fifteen minutes to practice reading a poem they wrote this week.

Speaking and Listening Instructions:
1) The speaker should introduce themselves.  "My name is ____, the poem is titled____."  If it is untitled, just say so.
2) Each of the five students is given 15-minutes each.  3-5 minutes to perform, and an additional 5-10 for feedback and a second performance.
3) Read through once, get feedback, then repeat.

Here are some of the poems we heard today:
1) One student read his sonnet on escaping the Maine winters for warmer climates.  When workshopping their poem with Robin yesterday, he put the poem in iambic pentameter! It was so cool! The sonnet was musical and punchy right when the student writer wanted it to be.

2) Our second student writer read his revised metaphor poem about a lemon, which became a personification of the bitter-sweetness of life.

3) Our third student read a poem she started last week using the Shakespearean sonnet.  The topic was about friends and dating, ending on the importance of the speaker's own heart.

4) Our fourth student read a poem about basketball and winning the state of Maine Class-D Girls' Basketball Championships.  Her rhymed coupled at the end showed how meaningful the championship was, ending with, "won the gold ball."

5) Our last student read her sonnet personifying the idea of time, using images of world clocks and people's reactions to time to stress how time affects us.

Some Tips: 
1) Look off your page! Be sure to look up as you say your lines to the audience.  Don't just read off the page.  Taking time to look at the audience and engage is an important part of public speaking.
2) Smile when it's appropriate.
3) If you have a line that ends with a single word, take a pause and deliver that word with gusto.
4) If you're going to deliver poetry that is personal and funny, and you're not sure how to deliver it, you can imagine a scenario that makes it work.  For example, delivering a poem as if the person you are talking about is at the back of the room.  Play around with your audience.
5) Always work on projection.
6) Stress words that you want stressed.  If you have trouble finding areas of the poem to stress, ask for help.
7) Don't rush off the stage after you finish reading! Pause and leave when it's appropriate.  If you are workshopping, you will need to stay "on stage" until you have received feedback and practiced reading your poem to the audience a second time.
8) Students with long or unruly hair, pull/push it out of your face so the audience can see you.

Port Veritas: Poetry Workshop Day 3

One of our seniors working with Port Veritas poets Nate and Beau.

Unlike Day 1 and Day 2 of this week's poetry workshops, today we started with a new poet, Beau Williams, and only one student in Period 2!

It was amazing.

How often does a young writer get to work with three professional creative writers workshopping his/her own work one-on-one?

Our lucky senior started by sharing last night's writing prompt (see here).  He chose to write about the smell, feel, and experience of working down at the Vinalhaven Fishermen's Co-Op.

The poem was filled with lovely phrases like "the smell of ocean and pennies" to describe the foulness of bait.

Speared bait bags (photo © by Helana Brigman, 2012.)

Some workshopping tips:
1) Play around with a thesaurus.
2) Circle all of the adjectives in your poem and try another one.  See if you like it more.
3) Beau: "give the words the power they deserve.  Confidence is key."

4) Think about the distinction between words.  What do you mean when you say "life" versus "livelihood?"

5) Trim it up: "Rotten fish may just seem like rotten fish / but to the fishermen it's their livelihood" is much more powerful, punchy, and meaningful when condensed to "Rotten fish may seem like rotten fish / but it's their livelihood."

One definition of a metaphor Beau recently heard at a play: "Trying to say one thing by saying something completely different without lying."

Senior student reading poem.

What was great about today is that our student had a lot more voice in how his poem was workshopped.  Because he was talking with Robin, Nate, and Beau one-on-one, he got really comfortable talking frankly about how he was editing and revising his work.  My favorite moment was when our student writer said, "I don't want to criticize you on my own poem...but..." and told Port Veritas's founder, Nate, that he had made an error when reading his poem.  Of course, Nate was very apologetic, but it highlighted the democratizing effect of a poetry workshop.  Student writers, although growing, really do become poets.

AP English: Discovering the Sonnet

The Sonnet: a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter (five feet of stressed and unstressed syllables).  

As we get ready for a visit from the lovely poets at Port Veritas next week, we've started to read poetry--lovely, concise, perfect poetry.  From the Greek verb poiein, meaning "to make," poetry is one of our oldest genres of literature, positioning the writer as a "maker" of rhythms, images, and verse.  In fact, many scholars surmise that poetry historically grew out of the rhythmic chanting and singing of oral traditions.  It is possible that poetry is one of our oldest modes of communication, and it is rooted in the human drive to communicate clearly, concisely, and with great feeling or meaning.

Poetry's link to oral traditions.

Yet what's really interesting about poetry is the way in which it allows the writer to use language in its most condensed form.  While it might take me 500-words to explain an idea, it might take a poet fifty or a hundred words to communicate the same thing.  Because of this compression, I have often thought that reading poetry required more work, but with greater benefit.  Poems don't always make their meaning obvious to readers, and they require a level of collaboration with the text that you don't usually see when reading a novel by Charles Dickens.

"Collaboration with the text?"

Basically, becoming involved in the creation of a poem's meaning.  By nature, reading is a passive act, but poetry doesn't allow its readers to be passive.  Readers go back, ask questions about a poem's meaning, look for repeating images, sounds, ideas, and "unpack" a text as they work their way through its short lines and intentional movements.

Here is an example of a poem our class worked with on last year, "Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room" by William Wordsworth:

Wednesday's poetry explication: "Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room" by William Wordsworth.

I put the poem on the board as a way to show how readers shouldn't just read a poem--they have to have a relationship with it.  This relationship is especially important because Wordsworth's poem is a sonnet, a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter with alternating end rhymes for each line of the work.

This particular example by Wordsworth is a Petrarchan Sonnet that is divided into two parts: an octave, or 8 lines, at the beginning, and a sestet, or six lines, at the end.  Usually, the octave will suggest a situation or an idea and the sestet will comment on that idea, offering a solution.  In the image above, our class identified the rhyme scheme (abba, abba, cddccd), the main idea at the beginning: nuns, hermits, students, maids, and bees are happy in their monotonous, "restricted" lives, and the solution or resolution at the end: the "speaker" believes that the "prison unto which we doom / Ourselves, no prison is" (lines 8-9).  This argument is a lovely way of contradicting the idea that nunneries/monasteries, cells, and citadels, just like the Sonnet form (line 11), are not places of restriction but opportunities to express meaning in a structured way.

Ultimately, Wordsworth is using the Petrarchan sonnet form to explain why he (or any poet) uses the sonnet form: its classical restrictions still offer modern poets (nineteenth century) the ability to express themselves.

Could our class have gotten to Wordsworth's argument without first annotating his poem?  Maybe, but not likely.  Like most poems, sonnets beg to be poured over and engaged.  It's one of the things I love about poetry and the reason for tonight's homework!

Homework 
Rough Draft: DUE Friday, March 31, 2017
Revised Draft: DUE Monday, April 3, 2017
Write a 14-line sonnet about a topic of your choice following the Shakespearean model: three quatrains (4-lines each) and a rhymed coupled (two lines at the end of the poem).  The turn in the Shakespearean sonnet occurs at the end of the third quatrain with the rhymed couplet commenting on (or resolving) the topic/issue/idea your sonnet is about.

Your sonnet can be on any topic you like, but it must be 14-lines and use the following rhyme scheme:

line 1 - a 
line 2 - b
line 3 - a
line 4 - b
line 5 - c
line 6 - d
line 7 - c
line 8 - d
line 9 - e
line 10 - f
line 11 - e
line 12 - f
line 13 - g
line 14 - g

AP English: Envy vs. Jealousy in William Shakespeare's Othello

Dr. B found this fabulous photo of Othello and Iago from the Bell Shakespeare Company in Australia.

The last couple of days, we have discussed the terms envy and jealousy, using them almost interchangeably.  While it is acceptable to say that you are "envious" or "jealous" of someone when they get a new car, the two words have important distinctions.

According to Stanford University's Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Jealousy involves three parties, the subject, the rival, and the beloved" ("Envy vs. Jealousy," emphasis mine).  When a person feels jealousy, his/her "real locus of concern is the beloved, a person (or being) whose affection he is losing or fears losing." 

Envy, on the other hand, is a two-party affair, in which " the envious person’s locus of concern is the rival."

For example, let's take the story of Cinderella.  In the fairy tale, Cinderella (the subject) loves her father (the beloved) and he loves her.  One day, Cinderella's father decides to remarry, introducing the wicked step-mother (Cinderella's rival).  Cinderella fears losing the love and affection of her father to her rival, the step-mother.

Using these two definitions, please answers the questions below.

Questions:
1) Based on what we have read in William Shakespeare's play Othello, who experiences jealousy within the play? 
2) If jealousy is a "three party" event, who is "the subject," "the rival," and "the beloved?"
3) If envy is only a two-party affair, who is "the subject" and "the rival?"

AP English: Central Moral Action in William Shakespeare's Othello

Quote 1: "If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject." - Ayn Rand

Quote 2: "Aim above morality.  Be not simply good, be good for something." - Thoreau

Quote 3: "Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual." - Nietsche

Quote 4: "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that...morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." - George Washington

Instructions: 
1) Pick the quote above that best reflects your point of view (POV).
2) Then, meet with other students who chose the same quote.  Create a defense for your definition of morality.
3) Pick a speaker and share your group's defense with the rest of the class.

AP English: Think - Puzzle - Know—Writing about Poetry

I chose this picture for today because it reminded me of our discussion about Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric."

For today, I wanted to finish our discussion on Writing about Poetry from Tuesday's class.  Before we do, please answer the questions below.

1) What do you think you know about writing about poetry?

2) What puzzles (confuses) you about writing about poetry?

3) What do you want to know more about writing about poetry?

AP English: Open Form Poetry Discussion

In the last week, we have spent a good amount of time discussing poetry that breaks the rules.  Rather than restrict itself to a specific formula, meter, or style, modern poetry experiments with the poem's form, asking the question, "What is a poem?" (See your notes on Lawrence Ferlinghetti and "Don't Let that Horse.)

Today, read Walt Whitman's poem "I Sing the Body Electric" located in your "Open Form" poetry packets as well as the introduction.  Then, answer the following questions in the comments section below.

Questions:

1) Free Response: What informs this speaker's attitude toward the human body?

2) Read the poem aloud.  Is it simply a tedious enumeration of body parts, or do the lines achieve some kind of rhythmic cadence?

AP Socratic Circle (1/5/16)

For today's socratic circle, Hannah, Rosie, and Evan will be our "fishbowl" group members, leading a discussion about the final section of A Christmas Carol.  Our second group will be our audience, observing how discussion is going and if they agree/disagree with the conversation taking place in the middle.

Instructions: 
Audience members: in the comments section of this post, make thoughtful observations about the conversation taking place in the "fishbowl."  Good observations will do the following:

1. Identify when you agree/disagree with observations and specifically state why (ASR: Apt Specific Reference).  
2. Observe what specific group members did that helped to "propel" conversation forward, respond to their group members, and provide thoughtful observations.

Fishbowl members: in yesterday's class, you worked with your group members to pick what sections of Staves 1 and 2 you wanted to discuss and what roles you will play (i.e., discussion leader, "Sherlock Holmes," "Librarian," "Matchmaker," etc.).  You also wrote your own Level 1, 2, and 3 questions about your passage(s).  Students receiving a 3, "Meets," on Speaking and Listening 1, will do the following: 

1. Come to discussion prepared, having read and researched materials beforehand. SL1a
2. Work with peers to promote a civil, democratic discussion, set clear goals, and establish individual roles. SL1b
3. Propel conversations forward by posing and asking questions that probe reasoning and ask for evidence. SL1c
4. Respond thoughtful to diverse perspectives, synthesize (combine) comments, claims, and evidence, resolve contradictions, and investigate meaning. SL1d

AP English Socratic Circle (12/20/16): A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

For today's first socratic circle we will be breaking into two groups: the first will be our "fishbowl," leading a group discussion about Staves 1 and/or 2 of A Christmas Carol; the second will be our audience, observing how discussion is going and if they agree/disagree with the conversation taking place in the middle.

Instructions: 
Audience members: in the comments section of this post, make thoughtful observations about the conversation taking place in the "fishbowl."  Good observations will do the following:

1. Identify when you agree/disagree with observations and specifically state why (ASR: Apt Specific Reference).  
2. Observe what specific group members did that helped to "propel" conversation forward, respond to their group members, and provide thoughtful observations.

Fishbowl members: in yesterday's class, you worked with your group members to pick what sections of Staves 1 and 2 you wanted to discuss and what roles you will play (i.e., discussion leader, "Sherlock Holmes," "Librarian," "Matchmaker," etc.).  You also wrote your own Level 1, 2, and 3 questions about your passage(s).  Students receiving a 3, "Meets," on Speaking and Listening 1, will do the following: 

1. Come to discussion prepared, having read and researched materials beforehand. SL1a
2. Work with peers to promote a civil, democratic discussion, set clear goals, and establish individual roles. SL1b
3. Propel conversations forward by posing and asking questions that probe reasoning and ask for evidence. SL1c
4. Respond thoughtful to diverse perspectives, synthesize (combine) comments, claims, and evidence, resolve contradictions, and investigate meaning. SL1d

AP English (11/14/16): Socratic Circles Overview

Socratic circles use the idea of two concentric circles: the audience on the outside and the "fishbowl" on the inside.

In Wednesday's class, we briefly discussed socratic circles and how they were set up.
For tomorrow's first socratic circle, we will be breaking into two groups: the first will be our "fishbowl," leading a group discussion about Staves 1 and/or 2 of A Christmas Carol; the second will be our audience, observing how discussion is going and if they agree/disagree with the conversation taking place in the middle.

Instructions: 
For today's class, you will prepare for your socratic circles.  First, divide into two groups; then, select what passages you want to discuss from Staves 1, and 2.  When you are ready, assign group members' roles (below) and come up with level 1, 2, and 3 questions for your passage(s).

Possible roles of group members are the following:

• Explorer: "Let's try a new path or perspective..." 
• Sherlock Holmes: "I think we have overlooked an important clue (comment/bit of text)..." 
• Librarian: "Here's a passage in the text that supports your point..." 
• Matchmaker: "What you are saying is a lot like what Sue said earlier..." 
• Judge Judy: "Let's see what the argument is between you two and try to settle it..." 
• Will Rogers: "Let's find a way to make her/his seemingly odd/unpleasant/ incorrect comment more plausible or helpful..."

Friday's socratic circle should take about fifteen minutes with group members giving feedback in the comments section of the blog.  After those fifteen minutes are up, the outer group will give a short overview of their feedback, then switch roles. We will have time to do two socratic circles in class, so be ready to be in the fishbowl and the audience! Good luck! 

AP English Writing Warmup: Charles Dickens's "Preface" to A Christmas Carol

Illustration of Marley's ghost found on page 78 of your editions.

Writing Warmup:
In the "Preface" to A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens writes these famous lines:

I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me.  May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Their faithful Friend and Servant, 

C. D.

Dec. 1843. (5)

One of the great parts of your "Annotated" editions is that the editors show readers what Dickens meant to say to his readers, and how he interacted with his publishers, Chapman and Hall.  What your annotations don't tell you is why he chose to capitalize certain nouns (e.g., "Ghostly," "Ghost," "Idea," "Friend," and "Servant").

In the comments section below pick one or two of the nouns Dickens chose to capitalize and make "proper."  Then, answer the following questions.

1) Why do you think Dickens chose to capitalize these words?

2) How does the meaning of the word you picked change when it is capitalized?

3) What do you think Dickens means when he says, "Ghost of an Idea?" 

4) Why does he describe A Christmas Carol as a "Ghostly little book?"

"Poor Unfortunate Souls": Reading Disney's Ursula and Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid"

Yesterday, we met Ursula, the infamous sea witch and nemesis of Disney's The Little Mermaid.  As you may have noticed, she's remarkably different from the version Hans Christian Anderson created in his original story, "The Little Mermaid" (216-32 of our Norton Critical Edition: The Classic Fairy Tales).

Today, I want you to consider the encounter on pages 225-27 in which Ariel makes a deal with Ursula.

Discussion questions: 
1) How is the deal the sea witch makes with the little mermaid similar/different to the one depicted in the Disney film? (You may wish to consider Ursula's motives and her message. You may also wish to consider the details surrounding how the little mermaid looses her fin.)

2) In the Disney version, what does Ursula mean when she describes "those poor unfortunate souls?"

3) In the Hans Christian Anderson version, does the term "poor unfortunate souls" still apply? Why or why not?

AP English Writing Warmup: "Sonnet 116" by William Shakespeare (11/2/16)

Bell Ringer Activity:

In yesterday's class, we discussed the College Board's tool for "entering a poem": TP-CAASSTT.  Or, Title

Paraphrase

Clever Language

Attitude

Audience

Speaker

Shifts

Title

Theme

For today, you will be working with group members to identify the parts of "TP-CAASSTT in Sonnet 116" by William Shakespeare.  Please paste your group's answers in the comment box below.

AP English Writing Reflection: Disney's "The Paperman"

Writing Reflection:
This week, we've learned a lot about the power of Disney studios and how their unique style of animation has reshaped (and recreated!) the fairytales we've read this semester.

At the end of our last presentation, I would like for you all to watch "The Paperman," a 2012 black and white short film Disney produced.  While "The Paperman" isn't a fairytale, it is a story that tells the challenges and successes of one particular couple (think princes and princesses).  As you reflect on the video, think about how this short film is different from the Disney films we have watched and how the storyline is different from a traditional fairytale.

Please respond in the comments section below.

AP English Writing Warmup: The Lady of Shalott and Snow White (10/6/16)

Writing Warmup:
Yesterday, we continued to discuss some of the ways Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" reminded us of the fairytale, "Snow White."  For today, you want to draw connections between the two stories we have read—well, technically, one "story" and one "poem"—by describing any interesting similarities and differences you see between the two texts (don't forget to use textual evidence!).  You may choose whichever story you like from the "Snow White" section of our Norton Anthologies.  Dr. B will play Loreena McKennitt's "The Lady of Shalott" to get you all feeling as magical as possible.

BONUS! Some amazing resources on the history of the Lady of Shalott myth.  

Check them out!

 http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/elaine-of-astalot

Oh, and did you know the Victorians photographed women posing as the Lady of Shalott? It's kind of amazing: http://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/elaine-of-astalot#YA

Writing Warmup (9/26/16): The Apostrophe

Bell Ringer Activity:

In Friday's class, one of our students requested we review how to use a little piece of punctuation known as "the apostrophe."  Before I handout a worksheet with rules and practice exercises, please answer the question below.

Instructions: Place the apostrophe in the correct spot for each phrase.

plural (more than one teacher): all my teachers assignments

singular (only one teacher): all my teachers assignments

singular (only one horse): the horses sore legs

plural (more than one horse): the horses sore legs

AP English Writing Warmup: "The Juggler" Thesis Competition

Group 1 winners in "The Juggler" Gallery Walk.  

Group 2 winners in "The Juggler" Gallery Walk. 

Bell Ringer Activity:

In yesterday's class, we did a "gallery walk" of thesis statements for "The Juggler" Question 1 essay (2016 AP English Literature exam).  While there was much debate about how the speaker felt about his/her subject, we decided that these two vivid arguments were the best of the bunch.

For today, please select one thesis statement and argue why it is the best one for the Question 1 prompt (you may wish to consider your primary focus and your secondary focus).  To help you answer, I have included the Question 1 prompt below.

2016 Question 1 Prompt, "The Juggler" by Richard Wilbur (original here):

"Read carefully the following poem by Richard Wilbur, first published in 1949.  Then, write an essay in which you analyze how the speaker describes the juggler and what that description reveals about the speaker.  You may wish to consider poetic elements such as imagery, figurative language, and tone."

Group 1:

"In Richard Wilbur's poem 'The Juggler,' the speaker describes the juggler as a crowd-pleasing act, expressing his amazement and excitement towards the show."

Group 2: 

"The speaker describes the juggler as a positive force of change; this reveals that the speaker has a negative outlook on life until seeing the positive change the juggler demonstrates."

[ And, because I couldn't help myself...here is a picture of a juggler. ]

AP English Writing Warmup: How Do You Like to Receive Feedback? (9/21/16)

Bell Ringer Activity:
For today's class, I'd like you to think about the way you like to receive feedback on your writing.  Please describe how you like to receive feedback in the comments box below.