The Metacognitive: January 31, 2020

Focus: How does your mind puzzle through a poem?

1. Warming up by getting set up for your metacognitive

• You may either handwrite or type.

• At the top of your document, please include the poem itself, including the title and author. If you're handwriting, please staple the poem to your metacognitive.

• Please use all of the class time given. If the class time is not enough, you can finish up at home tonight. This will count as a timed writing grade.

• Remember the two big goals of the metacognitive:

(1) You should be constantly bringing in words and phrases from the poem. All metacognitives stem directly from the author's language.

(2) You should end in a better place than where you started. What did the process of the metacognitive help you understand better or differently about your poem?

2. Getting metacognitive with your selected poem

• Click HERE for an overview of the method and purpose of the metacognitive (given out yesterday in class).

• If you handwrote, please turn in your metacognitive at the end of class if you're finished.

• If you typed, please share your Google doc directly with me before you leave class today.

HW:
1. For MONDAY: Please finish your metacognitive if you did not finish in class.

2. For TUESDAY: Read the first two chapters of Part 2 in Beloved and prepare for Socratic with a reading ticket.

Sixty Million and More: January 30, 2020

Focus: What does Beloved's violence represent on a metaphorical level?

1. Warming up with Morrison's dedication and our old friend, Foster:

"If we only understand Beloved on the surface level, Sethe's act of killing her daughter becomes so repugnant that sympathy for her is nearly impossible. If we lived next to her, for instance, one of us would have to move. But her action carries symbolic significance; we understand it not only as the literal action of a single, momentarily deranged woman but as an action that speaks for the experience of a face at a certain horrific moment in history, as a gesture explained by whip scars on her back that take the form of a tree, as the product of the sort of terrible choice that only characters in our great mythic stories--a Jocasta, a Dido, a Medea--are driven to make. Sethe isn't a mere woman next door but a mythic creature, one of the great tragic heroines."  (Foster 91)

Take a look at the shifts in point of view in Chapters 16, 17 and 18.

• How would you describe the point of view(s) in each chapter?

• Why do you think Morrison structures it this way?  What's the purpose of each chapter?

• Other ways of thinking about the above question: Why not just tell the story from Sethe's point of view? How is the story being filtered?

• How does the point of view affect the way you perceive Sethe? Does your perception shift throughout these chapters? Do you agree with Foster that Sethe comes across as a great tragic heroine?

2. Engaging in a Socratic seminar on Beloved, Chapters 13-18

3. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies and kudos

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Select your poem from the metacognitive. If you type, you will need to paste the poem and author at the top of your Google doc; if you handwrite, you will need to staple your poem to the front of your metacognitive.

2. For MONDAY: Please finish your metacognitive if you did not finish in class.

3. For TUESDAY: Read the first two chapters of Part 2 in Beloved and prepare for Socratic with a reading ticket.

Finishing Part 1: January 29, 2020

Focus: How does Morrison conclude Part 1, and for what purpose?

1. Warming up with little Quizlet Live and Vocabulary Quiz #3

2. Reading through the end of Part 1 in Beloved

3. Revisiting yesterday's prose slow-down with two sample student essays that scored well in Row 2

HW:

1. For TOMORROW: Finish Part 1 (Chapters 13-18--it's a little under 50 pages) and complete your Socratic ticket. Everyone will submit a ticket that day.

3. THIS FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

4. ONGOING: Serial Reading and scrolling through your first three vocabulary lists.

Prose Writing, Slowed Down Again: January 28, 2020

Focus: How can we improve our close readings of 19th century prose?

1. Warming up with a little Quizlet Live, Lists 1-3 (thanks to Kai for the cumulative list!)

2. Slowing down on a 19th century prose prompt; reading the first inch and the last inch for tone/shift (and offering a few strategies for dealing with confusing, old passages)

3. Enjoying a close reading drill (focus on Row 2 of the rubric) and perusing sample essays to see prose close reading in action

HW:

1. For TOMORROW: Study your first three vocabulary lists for a brief quiz.

2. For THURSDAY: Finish Part 1 (Chapters 13-18--it's a little under 50 pages) and complete your Socratic ticket. Everyone will submit a ticket that day.

3. THIS FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

4. ONGOING: Serial Reading and scrolling through your first three vocabulary lists.

The Myth of the Happy Slave: January 27, 2020

Focus: Why is Beloved an important narrative for us to read?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Understanding the myth of the happy slave

(You can make a copy of the Google slides and type in the note section under each slide, or you can jot down ideas in your composition notebook.)

• What stands out to you in each image?

• What specific myth of slavery does each image propagate, and for what purpose?

• For each slide, find one line from Beloved that challenges / undoes the myth.

• So far, what do you see as Morrison's intent in writing this story?

3. Watching part of Ethnic Notions to understand stereotypes about slaves

HW:

1. For WEDNESDAY: Study your first three vocabulary lists for a brief quiz.

3. For THURSDAY: Finish Part 1 (Chapters 13-18--it's a little under 50 pages) and complete your Socratic ticket. Everyone will submit a ticket that day.

3. THIS FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

4. ONGOING: Serial Reading and scrolling through your first three vocabulary lists.

The Clearing: January 24, 2020

Focus: What are the purposes of physical spaces in Beloved?

1. Warming up with the film version of the Clearing scene with Baby Suggs

Close reading a physical space: 

• What specific elements in this scene interest you?

• What are the qualities and purposes of this space? 

• Why might Morrison name it "the Clearing"? 

• Who used to govern this space? Who governs it now? What does this shift mean?

• Through this space, what do you think Morrison wants us to understand better or differently (about slavery? memory? pain? freedom? ownership?)?

3. Discussing Chapters 9-12 in Beloved in a Socratic



4. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos

HW:

1. For THURSDAY: Finish Part 1 (Chapters 13-18--it's a little under 50 pages) and complete your Socratic ticket. Everyone will submit a ticket that day.

2. FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

3. ONGOING: Serial Reading and scrolling through your first three vocabulary lists.

Prose Writing, Slowed Down: January 23, 2020

Focus: How can we improve our prose timed writings?

1. Warming up with Academic Vocabulary, Set 3 charades!

2. Introducing the senior contract (finally!)

3. Practicing our prose timed writing with a slow-down on close readings (Row 2 on the rubric)

HW:

1. For FRIDAY: Read Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12; prepare your Socratic ticket.

2. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

3. TWO CHANGES:
THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY WILL HAVE JUST ONE SOCRATIC; IT WILL BE ON THURSDAY, JAN 30, AND WILL COVER THE REST OF PART 1 (13-18): 

FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

Magical Realism: January 22, 2020

Focus: What role does magical realism play in Beloved?

1. Warming up with Academic Vocabulary Quiz #2

2. Introducing ourselves to magical realism

3. Reading Chapters 9-12 in Beloved

HW:

1. For FRIDAY: Read Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12; prepare your Socratic ticket.

2. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

3. TWO CHANGES:
THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY WILL HAVE JUST ONE SOCRATIC; IT WILL BE ON THURSDAY, JAN 30, AND WILL COVER THE REST OF PART 1 (13-18): 

FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

Life Marks All Who Pass Through It: January 21, 2020

Focus: Who/what is Beloved?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Considering the following: How is Beloved marked?

• What does our friend, Thomas Foster (from How To Read Literature...) have to say about marks?

• "...character markings stand as indicators of the damage life inflicts...[characters] bear signs illustrating the way life marks all who pass through it." (195)

• Find two or three good passages illustrating how Beloved is marked.  What might these marks signify? 

• How are the other characters marked?

3. Discussing Chapters 4 through 8 of Beloved, Socratic style

4. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudos

HW:

1. For WEDNESDAY: Prepare for your next vocabulary quiz, which will cover Lists 1 and 2.

2. For FRIDAY: Read Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12; prepare your Socratic ticket.

3. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

4. TWO CHANGES:
THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY WILL HAVE JUST ONE SOCRATIC; IT WILL BE ON THURSDAY, JAN 30, AND WILL COVER THE REST OF PART 1 (13-18): 

FRIDAY, JAN 31 WILL BE THE POEM METACOGNITIVE: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

Questioning Uncomfortable Scenes: January 17, 2020

Focus: What does the exposition of Beloved invite us to question?

Enjoy your new seating chart!

1. Warming up with two quick rounds of Socratic ticket musical chairs

2. Considering the uncomfortable scenes of Chapter 2...

• What does our friend, Thomas Foster (from How To Read Literature...) have to say about the literary function of sex scenes?

• "Drives you crazy, doesn't it? When they're writing about other things, they really mean sex, and when they write about sex, they really mean something else. If they write about sex and mean strictly sex, we have a word for that. Pornography." (Foster 144)

• You just know that these scenes mean something more than what's going on in them...sex can be pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination, enlightenment, the whole works." (150-1)

• Chapter 2 in Beloved centers on a sex scene between Sethe and Paul D with flashbacks to sexual repression and release during their enslavement at Sweet Home. What do you think Morrison's intent might be in including this chapter? What is she trying to teach us?

3. Using the Fishbowl format to answer our Level 1 questions and formulate our Level 2 questions

HW:

1. For TUESDAY: Read Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Beloved; compose a reading ticket to prepare for discussion.

2. For WEDNESDAY: Prepare for your next vocabulary quiz, which will cover Lists 1 and 2.

3. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

4. BY MONDAY, FEB 3: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

Entering the Gothic House: January 16, 2020

Focus: What is the role of a Gothic setting?

1. Warming up: Augmenting your vocabulary with List 2 (Circle Storytelling)

2. Re-entering the Gothic church in your multiple choice packet

• Which details of the setting strike you? (Moments)

• How is the setting personified? (Movements)

• How do we figure out the tone of this piece? (Meanings)

3. Considering the role of the Gothic house in Beloved

4. Compiling types of MC questions stems and reviewing any other MC sections / questions that are haunting you

HW:

1. For FRIDAY: Read the first four chapters of Beloved and create your first reading ticket.

• Click HERE for the Beloved reading schedule.

• Click HERE for Beloved reading ticket possibilities.

2. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

3. BY MONDAY, FEB 3: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

Moving into 124: January 15, 2020

Focus: What does the exposition of Beloved look like?

1. Warming up with an Academic Vocabulary Quiz: List 1: Please close your other tabs and click HERE when you're ready to take the quiz.

2. Taking 40 minutes to read Beloved; passing around the Serial Reading sheet

3. Signing off on the Senior Contract

HW:

1. For FRIDAY: Read the first four chapters of Beloved and create your first reading ticket.

• Click HERE for the Beloved reading schedule.

• Click HERE for Beloved reading ticket possibilities.

2. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

3. BY MONDAY, FEB 3: Decide on your poetry paper/project poem and bring it to class. Remember that it should be from a different genre / time period than your 1st poem.

Camping with Dad: January 14, 2020

Focus: What are we doing well in our prose timed writings, and how can we improve?

1. Warming up with a little Quizlet Live review of Academic Vocabulary, List 1

2. In Question #2: Johnny Got His Gun, considering the first inch, the last inch, and the concrete details and devices in between

• A quick creative writing / tone exercise: Rewrite the first inch or the last inch to change the tone.

• Making a group how and why chart for close reading practice

3. Perusing two sample essays on Q2 with a focus on Row 2 of the rubric

4. Peer workshopping each other's essays by applying Row 2 to them

HW:

1. For WEDNESDAY: Study Academic Vocabulary, List 1 for a short quiz.

2. For FRIDAY: Read the first four chapters of Beloved and create your first reading ticket.

• Click HERE for the Beloved reading schedule.

• Click HERE for Beloved reading ticket possibilities.

3. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

Two Quarters Left: January 13, 2020

Focus: How do want our last two quarters of high school to go?

1. Warming up with three good things and 10 minutes of Serial Reading

2. Signing the Sparknotes oath and the Senior Contract

3. Finishing our MC discussion of the sonnet and attempting to calculate your overall score 

• Click HERE for a helpful conversion website.

HW:

1. For WEDNESDAY: Study Academic Vocabulary, List 1 for a short quiz.

2. For FRIDAY: Read the first four chapters of Beloved and create your first reading ticket.

• Click HERE for the Beloved reading schedule.

• Click HERE for Beloved reading ticket possibilities.

3. ONGOING: Spend 5-10 minutes Serial Reading each day.

Haunted: January 10, 2020

Focus: How do we enter the disturbingly haunted world of Beloved?

1. Warming up with high velocity freewriting on where we're journeying to in Beloved

(Click here for the music.)

2. Facing some difficult images and reading some important lines to prepare for Beloved

3. Entering 124 together

HW:
1. TONIGHT: 

• Take on 10-20 minutes of Serial Reader (hopefully you're at least a few issues in).

• Look over Academic Vocabulary, List 1 (mini quiz next week on Jan 15).

2. Next WEDNESDAY you will have a short quiz on Academic Vocabulary, List 1.

3. For NEXT WEEK: Consider purchasing your own copy of Beloved. Our school copies look like this: 

Words, Words, Words (MC Poetry Workshop): January 9, 2019

Focus: How can we improve our understanding of denotations and connotations?

*Please turn in your signed class syllabus/expectations.*

1. Warming with Academic Vocabulary: List 1; transitioning into MC vocabulary

2. Performing a quick connotative brainstorms on charged words from the Norma Millay Ellis poem

3. Working through the multiple choice together

HW:
1. TONIGHT: 

• Take on 20 minutes of Serial Reader.

• Look over Academic Vocabulary, List 1 (mini quiz next week on Jan 15).

2. Next WEDNESDAY you will have a short quiz on Academic Vocabulary, List 1.

3. For NEXT WEEK: Consider purchasing your own copy of Beloved. Our school copies look like this: 

Q1 Workshop: Focus on Close Readings: January 8, 2020

Focus: How can we improved our close readings in poetry timed writing?

1. Warming up with Serial Reader

2. Considering the nature of the soliloquy

• Offering you the 21st century, TV-version of the soliloquy (opening and 2:34)

• Who's involved in a soliloquy?

• What happens during a soliloquy that can't happen when other characters are on stage?

• What's the relationship between the character and audience during a soliloquy? (

• How does the soliloquy "break the fourth wall"?

2. Performing a dual reading of Henry's sleep soliloquy to shake out the complexities

3. Perusing your own timed writings and mapping out on the white board the what, how, and why of close reading (aka, Row 2 on the rubric)

HW:
1. TONIGHT: 

• Take on 20 minutes of Serial Reader.

• Look over Academic Vocabulary, List 1 (mini quiz next week on Jan 15).

2. FOR TOMORROW: Ask your parents/guardians to sign our class syllabus.

It's a New Year! January 7, 2020

Focus: How does A.P. Literature get even better in 2020?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Indulging in some excellent New Year's poetry

• Round Robin, stanza-by-stanza reading of the first three poems.

• Perusing the rest at your own pace

• Responding in one of two ways (10-15 minutes):

• Find one or two lines that capture your thoughts about 2019/2020. Write them out and respond to them.

• Find one poem that speaks to you. Perform a mini metacognitive of it.

• Sharing beautiful words, questions, and epiphanies

3. Taking a look at what's new in A.P. Lit this semester

HW:
1. TONIGHT: 

• Take on 20 minutes of Serial Reader.

• Look over Academic Vocabulary, List 1 (mini quiz next week on Jan 15).

2. FOR THURSDAY: Ask your parents/guardians to sign our class syllabus.