Gods, Humans, Heroes, and Beasts: August 30, 2019

Focus: How does Odysseus navigate the space between heroes and beasts, and what should we take away from his experiences?

Because our Monday Socratic was short, I will combine Monday with today for your 1st Socratic grade.

Please turn in your poetry responses. :)

1. Warming up with a quick exploration of the Greek Underworld and the strata of gods, humans, and beasts

2. Enjoying a Socratic Seminar on The Odyssey, Books 10, 11, and 12 (and any earlier books)

3. Wrapping up with kudos, epiphanies, and lingering questions

HW:
1. For Wednesday and Thursday: Bring your laptop to class for college essay drafting and revising.

2. For Friday: 

• Reread Chapters 13-20 in The Odyssey to prepare for our one Socratic seminar next week.

• Prepare a ticket by trying out the following exercise in character empathy: Rewrite one scene from the first-person perspective of a minor character (not Odysseus or Telemachus). You can handwrite or type and print, and it should be about a page.

• Compose your next poetry response. Instead of a packet, I'd like you to use this website: https://poets.org/poem-a-day and select one of the current or past poems-of-the-day. We're going contemporary!

Answering the Call of the Prompt: August 29, 2019

Focus: How do we start drafting an authentic, compelling college essay?

1. Warming up with a mindful minute

2. Offering you a few gentle suggestions, then bringing up your prompts

3. Looking at last week's topic generators and mining your brainstorming for gems

4. Drafting and conferencing

HW:
For Friday:

• Reread Books 10, 11 and 12 in The Odyssey and prepare a Socratic ticket.
• For this week's ticket, please focus on one scene from Books 10, 11, or 12 (in other words, about 3-5 pages). You must use the Wilson translation.

• Fill a page with questions about this scene (diction, allegory, characterization, Foster stuff, etc). You can also ask fewer questions and brainstorm your responses underneath. Handwriting or typing is fine.

• Complete your next poetry response. If you type it, print it before class.

• BRING YOUR COPY OF THE ODYSSEY TO CLASS on Mondays and Fridays. You need to be reading the Emily Wilson version; let me know if you need to check out a school copy.

Indulging in Imagery: August 28, 2019

Focus: How can we use imagery to unearth complexity in poetry?

1.  Indulging in the imagery in "Terminus" to complicate the metaphor

2. Forming thesis statements that address the COMPLEX attitude of the speaker; using the rubric to shape our thesis statements

HW:
For Friday:

• Reread Books 10, 11 and 12 in The Odyssey and prepare a Socratic ticket.
• For this week's ticket, please focus on one scene from Books 10, 11, or 12 (in other words, about 3-5 pages). You must use the Wilson translation.

• Fill a page with questions about this scene (diction, allegory, characterization, Foster stuff, etc). You can also ask fewer questions and brainstorm your responses underneath. Handwriting or typing is fine.

• Complete your next poetry response. If you type it, print it before class.

• BRING YOUR COPY OF THE ODYSSEY TO CLASS on Mondays and Fridays. You need to be reading the Emily Wilson version; let me know if you need to check out a school copy.

Using Extended Metaphors To Turn the Light On: August 27, 2019

Focus: How do we use slow reading to build complex thesis statements in A.P. Lit?

1. Warming up with the extended metaphor and "Light On"

2. Reading "Terminus" and puzzling together the extended metaphor

3. If time allows, organizing multiple meanings into complex thesis statements; using the new thesis rubric to edit our thesis statements and to address any questions (if we don't have time for this, then we will return to it next Tuesday)

HW:
1.  For Wednesday:

• Bring your laptop to class. We'll be looking at your college essay prompts.

2. For Friday:

• Reread Books 10, 11 and 12 in The Odyssey and prepare a Socratic ticket.
• For this week's ticket, please focus on one scene from Books 10, 11, or 12 (in other words, about 3-5 pages). You must use the Wilson translation.

• Fill a page with questions about this scene (diction, allegory, characterization, Foster stuff, etc). You can also ask fewer questions and brainstorm your responses underneath. Handwriting or typing is fine.

• Complete your next poetry response. If you type it, print it before class.

• BRING YOUR COPY OF THE ODYSSEY TO CLASS on Mondays and Fridays. You need to be reading the Emily Wilson version; let me know if you need to check out a school copy.

Entering the Cave: August 26, 2019

Focus: How do Odysseus's battles parallel our own?

1. Getting into a happy mental state with three good things

2. Warming up with a few fun facts about The Odyssey and reading ticket musical chairs

3. Enjoying our first full Socratic Seminar on The Odyssey, Books 5 through 9 (feel free to talk about Books 1-4 as well)

4. Wrapping up with kudos, epiphanies, and lingering questions

HW:
1.  For Wednesday:

• Bring your laptop to class. We'll be looking at your college essay prompts.

2. For Friday:

• Reread Books 10, 11 and 12 in The Odyssey and prepare a Socratic ticket.
• For this week's ticket, please focus on one scene from Books 10, 11, or 12 (in other words, about 3-5 pages). You must use the Wilson translation.

• Fill a page with questions about this scene (diction, allegory, characterization, Foster stuff, etc). You can also ask fewer questions and brainstorm your responses underneath. Handwriting or typing is fine.

• Complete your next poetry response. If you type it, print it before class.

• BRING YOUR COPY OF THE ODYSSEY TO CLASS on Mondays and Fridays. You need to be reading the Emily Wilson version; let me know if you need to check out a school copy.

Tell Me about a Complicated Man: August 23, 2019

Focus: What is the function of the Telemachy (the first four books of The Odyssey)?

Please turn in your first poetry responses.

1. Warming up with a Foster approach to eating

2. Offering you an overview of Socratic seminars and reading tickets

3. Creating our first Socratic ticket for the Telemachy

4. Discussing the Telemachy in a shortened Socratic seminar; debriefing with kudos, epiphanies, and lingering questions

HW:
1. For Monday:

• Reread Books 5 through 9 of The Odyssey and create a reading ticket (handwritten or typed) to prepare for our first full Socratic seminar. For now, I recommend generating either a giant list of questions, or a shorter list of questions with some of your own brainstorming underneath each one. Feel free to invoke Foster!

2. For Wednesday:

• Bring your laptop to class.

Blueprinting: August 22, 2019

Focus: How do physical spaces shape who we are?

1. Warming up by touring the poetic rooms of Many Storied House

2. Drawing a blueprint of your home and zooming in on a space

3. Sharing beautiful words

4. Wrapping up with a few fun facts to keep in mind as you review the first four books of The Odyssey

HW:
1. For Friday:

• Complete and print your first poetry response (click HERE if you need the packet).
• Make sure you (and hopefully your parents/guardians) have completed the survey I sent you last week.
• Reread Books 1-4 of The Odyssey (we'll do our first Socratic ticket in class).
• Have our course syllabus signed.

2. For Monday:

• Reread Books 5 through 9 of The Odyssey and create a reading ticket (please type and print it) to prepare for our first full Socratic seminar.

3. For Wednesday:

• Bring your laptop to class.

Directions To You: August 21, 2019

Focus: How do you generate topics for personal narratives?

1. Warming up with "Directions To Where I Live"

• What did you notice?

• What surprised you?

• Which lines felt important?

2. Introducing you to our first unit: Narrative Journeys

3. If time allows, experimenting with another topic generator: Boundaries Writing

4. Highlighting key parts of the syllabus and introducing you to the website

HW:
ASAP:

• Please join our class Remind account either by accepting the invitation I sent you on Saturday or by clicking here.

For Friday:

• Complete and print your first poetry response (click HERE if you need the packet).
• Make sure you (and hopefully your parents/guardians) have completed the survey I sent you last week.
• Reread Books 1-4 of The Odyssey (we'll do our first Socratic ticket in class).
• Have our course syllabus signed.

How To Read Like an A.P. Lit Student: August 20, 2019

Focus: How do we use Foster's ideas to develop our identities as readers?

Please have out your summer reading assignments at the beginning of class.

1. Warming up with "I Am Offering This Poem" and the poetry response

*Feel first; think second.*

2. Sharing your summer responses to Foster in small groups

• Underline / highlight your favorite line or two from your response.

• Read it to your group and explain why you chose it.

• Respond to the lines being read aloud (in other words, converse like normal humans might).

***Quick break to establish a screen-free zone and to set up your notebooks***

3. Using Foster to (re)interpret two scenes:

• A lunch scene

• Tunneling to freedom

• Which chapters/lines from How To Read Literature Like a Professor might apply to these clips? How so?

• What do you see now that might have been invisible to you before?

4. Joining the A.P. online classroom and exploring this semester via the syllabus

Our join code: 7VKVYQ

HW:
For tomorrow:

• Please join our class Remind account either by accepting the invitation I sent you on Saturday or by clicking here.

For Friday:

• Complete and print your first poetry response (click HERE if you need the packet).
• Make sure you (and hopefully your parents/guardians) have completed the survey I sent you last week.
• Reread Books 1-4 of The Odyssey (we'll do our first Socratic ticket in class).
• Have our course syllabus signed.

Welcome Back! August 19, 2019

Focus: Who are we as readers and writers?

1. Warming up with three good things

Consider the following facts about happiness:

• When your mind is in a happy state (as opposed to a negative or neutral state), you're significantly more efficient, competitive, and successful.

• "Doctors put in a positive mood before making a diagnosis show almost three times more intelligence and creativity than doctors in a neutral state, and they make accurate diagnoses 19 percent faster." (Achor The Happiness Advantage 15)

• "Optimistic salespeople outsell their pessimistic counterparts by 56 percent." (15)

• Students in a happy mood before taking a math achievement test receive significantly better scores on average than students in a neutral state of mind. (15)

• You can rewire your brain to become happier by performing certain tasks on a regular basis.

2. Taking the "Two-Minute Personality Test" and introducing ourselves

• Tell us your name. :)

• Share one of your three good things.

• Share one response from your "Two-Minute Personality Test."

Small break: Welcome to a screen-free zone!

3. Launching the Writer's Notebook

4. If time allows, discussing "I Am Offering this Poem" and meeting the Poetry Response

HW:
For tomorrow (Tuesday):

• Please print your summer reading assignment and bring it to class.
• Bring How To Read Literature Like a Professor to class.
• Please join our class Remind account either by accepting the invitation I sent you on Saturday or by clicking here.

For Friday:

• Complete and print your first poetry response (click HERE if you need the packet).
• Make sure you (and hopefully your parents/guardians) have completed the survey I sent you last week.
• Reread Books 1-4 of The Odyssey (we'll do our first Socratic ticket in class).
• Have our course syllabus signed.