Tuesday

The show

Students created slides for a class slide show on the life and times of August Wilson. Those who missed class should band together into two small groups to complete the assignment on

5. quotes from August Wilson
7. quotes about Wilson's work

Do this on August Wilson:

Go to lab.

Fire up Powerpoint and Explorer.

Check into Discus and a couple of other reputable sites.

Research one of the following about Wilson:

1. August Wilson: the Early Years (through high school)
2. Education after high school
3. Primary influences on Wilson's work -- include patrons and support groups
4. Major themes running throughout Wilson's work (view on history/identity/religion?)
5. A selection of quotes by (and maybe one about) Wilson
6. The man's legacy
7. Critical quotes ABOUT Wilson's work

Each slide should have

• a clear, proportional, RELATED image

• CONCISE text

• a tiny citation in MLA style at the bottom of the slide (like, 10 pt.)

• drop it to me as Names.Wilson1 or Names.Wilson2

Monday

Brie	1
Blake	2
Victoria	3
Ryan	4
Daniel	5
Zephania	6
Kayla	7
Holden	8
Le	9
Kailyn	10
Andy	11
Taylor	12

I think all these students have their books, but if not, they should get the appropriately numbered book. The copies of The Piano Lesson are on the long table.

BUT FIRST,
Look at "Woman's Constancy." Here is a paraphrase. After reading and comprehending the poem on a literal level, look closely at the highlighted part. Write EXACTLY ONE PAGE of clear, precise analysis of the sound, structure, and rhythm of these lines. But first, we have to determine a purpose for these enjambments, caesuras, and de-emphasized rhymes. Could it be something like, "The sound, rhythm, and structure of these lines reflect the emotional insecurity (aggressiveness, anger, instability?) of the speaker." Then show what is unstable, insecure, or aggressive about it. Determine whether you think the speaker really believes that women are so untrue or whether the speaker is actually driving her away and trying to blame her for it.

THEN,
Really check the world premier assignment posted Friday. Make Thanksgiving week special.

AND FINALLY,
Read Act 1, Scene 1 in The Piano Lesson for Wednesday. Pay special attention to stage directions.

Friday

Students reviewed "Woman's Constancy" and received The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. The assignment is to read Act I, Scene 1 for Tuesday. Students should pay special attention to stage directions and all they reveal.

They also received the premier announcement of the next big thing, a three-part creative assignment: "Variations on a Theme."

CONSIDER a theme or recurring obsession of your own.
DECIDE how to comment on that theme.
CREATE a poem as either a spoken word performance or as a written piece that you will read to the class.
CREATE an audio-visual show that presents the same theme and a similar comment but in a new medium of video or slide show. Avoid lyrics in music that will interfere with or carry the theme: go for instrumentals. No spoken language allowed. The language must be visual and accompaniment must be aural.
CREATE a prose piece that works the same theme. Make it between one and three pages in length. Double space and type. Present it as well.

Have this art show ready for Thanksgiving week performances: that will be Monday and Tuesday, November 24 and 25. If you are skipping off to St. Thomas on the Friday before, then your due date is the Friday before, and you will miss the party (with pie).

This project is an INDIVIDUAL expression. You may certainly recruit help in producing its constituents, but YOU, individual guy, are solely responsible for its final form. I recommend you ask for and give help to classmates in the video portion.

Thursday

Students reviewed "Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness." They also viewed two quality commentaries on separate poems. Of Donne, one remains: "Woman's Constancy."

Students also received The Piano Lesson by August Wilson.

Wednesday

Many students were in TOK. Remaining students shared their takes on sound in "The Prohibition" and did preliminary work on "The Indifferent." For next class, we'll look at "The Indifferent" in-depth as a class.

Monday

A-day students, being somewhat confusing or confused, studied "The Indifferent" in class today.

Friday

Students studied "Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness."

For Wednesday, B-day should perfect the responses on sound in "The Prohibition."

Thursday

Students studied "The Prohibition," discussed a video adaptation of the poem, and closely looked at aspects of sound.

Wednesday

Students studied "The Prohibition." We spent part of the class outside.

Tuesday

Students studied "Love's Usury."

Monday

Students reviewed and discussed "Love's Usury" in class today.

Thursday

Students finished presentations and took the Lit Terms 4 quiz.

Here is "A Finger, Two Dots Then Me" by Derrick Brown. (Explore the rest of the site -- Andrew Allen is a curator of the site).

Students studied, among themselves, "Love's Usury."

Wednesday

Students wrote their timed commentaries in class.

All missing Lit Term quizzes from B-day should be made up in ICU Wednesday or Thursday.

Mr. Galeota has graciously allowed us to perform imaginaterpretive thingies Thursday at the very start of second block.

Tuesday

A-day wrote timed commentaries in class today. We will finish all presentations on Thursday. A-day only will take the Lit Terms quiz.

Monday

Please place all preliminary drafts to your commentaries, stapled together, on the roll table by the door as you enter. Or after you have been seated and have seen this note, place them there...

Note that you will have a timed commentary in class on Wednesday. Prepare by reviewing all poems we have discussed in class -- including today's poem, "Love's Usury." This assignment will be the last grade in the quarter.

Be seated in a nice, cozy circle. Take the poem, "Love's Usury." Read it aloud at least twice. Come on, readers! Step up. Justin, how about you? On the second reading, try ACTING! (By the way, I'm really sorry I'm not there for the imaginaterpretive thingies today. Can you please have them Wednesday or Thursday (if Mr. Galeota allows)?

First, choose a facilitator among yourselves -- someone who can help guide the conversation through these steps. Of course, everybody should help with this, but it helps to have one who is thinking about it. (Facilitator: don't rush it, and fear not when silence descends like a pall. Which isn't likely knowing this crowd).

Then, after the readings, discuss the unfamiliar terms and phrases. Look them up, if necessary. And answer -- why is this guy "praying" to the god of love now? Does he feel himself falling? No? Wut?

Next, discuss in depth all figures of speech. Line by line, identify any figures of speech you see. You can use your "Lit Terms" handout if you need to. Note them on the poem and discuss with the group to have consensus on what figure it is (metonymy? metaphor?) Be sure you realize what comparisons reside in those figures, and discuss how the figures affect meaning. Put little stars by the two or three standout figures of speech that you find most important to the poem. You might identify other aspects of the poem that can be identified with your "literary terms" under "meaning."

Then discuss in depth all aspects of structure and form that contribute to the poem's overall effect. Note the stanza form and the meter. Any reasons for these choices that you can see? Does it fit within Alicia's hypothesis about Twoo Wove, Devotional, and Cynical poems? Explain that to each other.

Finally, take on sound. Discuss and choose two limited, key spots in the poem where sound stands out the most -- where has the poet interfered most flagrantly with the established meter? Where does he use other aspects of sound as defined in your lit terms? What effect do his disruption of pattern and his re-establishment of pattern have on the poem? (It won't always be directly about meaning...)

Apply this thinking to other poems to prepare for the commentary.

TEACHER: The Pointe Time plans are as follows -- Explain that we are trying to gather some data on student understanding of PBIS. Here is a link to a quiz students are to take in Pointe Time to help collect that data. Allow them to use their phones for this (I guess -- how else?) After the quiz, link to this video. Ms. Dreher next door may be helpful in explaining the assignments for this time, but the video is related to Ms. Fields's "Celebrate My Drive" initiative. Now go to the third block web site.

Thursday

Commentaries from A-day should be submitted to Dropbox, named as instructed and formatted according to MLA style. All previous drafts and comments should be turned in during class tomorrow. Papers NOT in the Dropbox, not named correctly, or not formatted according to MLA style will not be timely but late. Attempt to improve all areas I commented on. Please pay attention to detail on your last draft.

A number of students seem to be willing to fail utterly. I am surprised and taken aback. Please don't be that guy!

A-day will also have a lit terms quiz on Sound and all preceding terms.

Wednesday

Students presented their imaginaterpretive thingies and studied "Love's Growth." See below and calendar for upcoming assignments.

Tuesday

Several students made up the Lit Terms Quiz. We reviewed "Love's Growth" and the class had some very interesting takes on it.

Tomorrow, we begin presentations of the imaginaterpretive thingy. Thursday and Friday classes will take the fourth lit terms quiz.

Friday (A) and Monday (B) are due dates for the written commentaries dropped into Dropbox. Old drafts should be resubmitted on the same dates.

On October 21 and 22, students will write in-class timed commentaries, which will complete the nine weeks' work. The last day of the quarter is October 23.

Friday

Students took a Lit Terms quiz. I acquainted them with important deadlines listed on the calendar in in Thursday's post. Class reviewed "Twickenham Garden."

Thursday

A class diminished by the SAT prep course took Lit Terms Quiz 3 and reviewed "Twickenham Garden."

See the calendar for upcoming deadlines to the end of the quarter. The "timed commentary," having only one item in it at quarter's end, will weigh ten percent of the quarter grade.

Oct. 15-16: Imaginaterpretive Thingy
Oct. 16-17: Lit terms quiz 4
Oct. 17-20: Final drafted commentary (graded with rubric)
Oct. 21-22: Timed written commentary

Wednesday

Oh. So. I see how it is.

Remember the lit terms quiz tomorrow. See the October 2 post below for a larger description of expectations for that quiz.

Bring fresh minds to "Twickenham Garden" and "Love's Growth."

Presentations are due on October 15/16.

Tuesday

Remember the lit terms quiz from "Structure and Form" on Thursday/Friday. Also, the imaginaterpretive thingy is due on October 15/16. Theater students who will perform live go upon their return; those theater students who mean to produce a video, submit it BEFORE you go.

Today, go look at "Twickenham Garden" and do the responses attached. Write neatly on your own paper. Submit to the teacher at end of class. Then you may work as teams on your presentations for next week.

Teacher: Please display the linked file and scroll up or down according to student need. The poem should be read aloud at least twice in class.

Monday

Remember the lit terms quiz from "Structure and Form" on Thursday/Friday. Also, the imaginaterpretive thingy is due on October 15/16. Theater students who will perform live go upon their return; those theater students who mean to produce a video, submit it BEFORE you go.

Today, go look at "Twickenham Garden" and do the responses attached. Write neatly on your own paper. Submit to the teacher at end of class. Then you may work as teams on your presentations for next week.

Teacher: Please display the linked file and scroll up or down according to student need. The poem should be read aloud at least twice in class.

Friday

Classes met with Mr. Galeota for a history assessment today. The imaginaterpretive thingy is due on October 15/16. Expect a lit terms quiz on "Structure and Form" terms on October 9-10.

Thursday

Class met all together in English. Students took a literary terms quiz and examined "The Relic." Imaginaterpretive Thingies are due on Oct. 15 and 16. Meet all together in history tomorrow.

Next lit terms quiz will be Thursday and Friday, October 9 and 10. It will focus on the "Structure and Form" words but will be recursive. Five items will require you to apply "meaning" terms. You will have to call them up from your memory, not from a list, and you will need to be able to apply the best term to a sentence. For example:

21.______ The White House is angry with the suits down at the Secret Service. And I don't think the Crown is much happier with her British security.

You write metonymy.

Wednesday

Today's poem was "The Sun Rising." Students received a new assignment, the imaginaterpretive thingy, which is due on October 15/16. The rubric is linked in yesterday's post.

Tuesday

First, if you have not done so, read the post below called "Monday 2."

Students received word of a new interpretive project, one I have named, in the scholarly tradition, Imaginaterpretive Thingy. It is due on October 15/16. The rubric is here.

Remember your quiz Thursday on the "Meaning" items on your Literary Terms list.

Monday 2

1. Drafts of "drafted writing" should be fully formatted according to MLA style before you submit them to me.
2. Deadlines refer to the time a paper should be submitted. Henceforth, that time is 8:00 A.M. By 8:00 A.M. of the due date papers must be labeled "Lastname.firstname.tag," in MLA format, and dropped in the Dropbox. Email me by 8:00 if you need the paper printed. Papers not submitted by that time, formatted as instructed, or submitted without following that naming protocol will not be accepted as timely and will receive no more than 80% credit. See the published grading policy. At the end of one week, the grade drops to zero.
3. Drafts should represent your full effort. I do not wish to waste my time making suggestions that you would come up with on your own if you only tried. That practice would simply represent your success at shifting work you can do onto me, a practice I do not want to enable. Further, I do not wish to compose another rubric for drafts, and I do not think that is required of me. I am going to judge your work at this stage on the basis of my own experience -- experience that cannot be so easily codified. I will decide whether your paper is a good-faith effort (100), a partial effort or a searching one that is somewhat developed (80), or an undeveloped paragraph or two tossed in my general direction (50). 
4. If you see and understand, respond to me in an email before you come to your next class with the following text: "This is ___your name___, and I understand."

Monday

Students provided peer assessment of each others' drafts today. A student capably taught aspects of "The Triple Fool."

Friday

Here is a pdf of the literary terms list from which I will take all of your quizzes. A-day, for Tuesday of next week, prepare for the words under the "Meaning" heading. For B-day, make that Wednesday.

Let's make that Thursday for everyone. We will all meet together on Thursday because you will have a history test on Friday.

Today's poem was "The Triple Fool."

Thursday

Today's poem was "The Undertaking." Students annotated the poem and helped make reasonable meaning of it. B-day's first TYPED, fully developed draft is due Monday.

Interesting comments on meter in "The Triple Fool."

on "The Sun Rising"

Wednesday

Today's poem was "The Undertaking." After that reading, students worked on individual written commentaries. Those commentaries are due on Friday, typed, formatted, and fully developed.

Tuesday

Today was much like A-day Monday, but students had less time to work on their own commentaries. Bring necessary things to work on those commentaries with you to class on Thursday.

Monday

Today was A-day, and students received "Song" and worked out personal responses to it. They had about 30 minutes to work on their own chosen poems for the written commentary due on Friday/Monday. They also took a literary terms quiz.

Friday

Today students in B-day class chose their poems for written commentary. They also finished discussing main ideas and comprehension of "Love's Alchemy" and started such work on "The Good Morrow."

There will be a quiz on Tuesday for B-day on the literary terms listed below under Thursday's post.

B-day's first due date for a solid, well-constructed draft of the commentary is Monday, September 29.

Those students who were not in TOK received progress reports.

Thursday

The new poem was "The Good Morrow." Students chose their poems for written commentary. The first draft is due for A-day Friday, September 26 and for B-day Monday, September 29. There will be a quiz on literary terms Monday/Tuesday, September 22/23.  Here is the list of terms you should know by then:

speaker

tone

rhetorical stance

meter

rhythm

structure

sound

imagery

diction

metaphor

simile

analogy

irony

conceit

paradox

hyperbole

personification

allegory

apostrophe

wit

These are not "terms" but still could help with your commentaries:

intellectual emotion; emotional intellect

earthly things for intellectual or spiritual ideas

argument

Wednesday

Same as yesterday: we did not quite finish reporting on "Love's Alchemy," so we will take that back up on Friday. TOK students, make arrangements to get notes on this 20-30 line poem.

As Tuesday's post says, prioritize at least three poems from the Donne pack. Each must be between 20-30 lines in length. You are choosing this poem as the subject of a written commentary. This paper will go through drafts. It will be quite heavily weighted in the grade book.

Tuesday

A-day turned in oral commentaries. The new poem is "Love's Alchemy." Find a 20-30 line poem in the Donne pack. Actually, prioritize a list of several. Just have it selected and read for next class.

Monday

Today the class heard most of the remaining presentations and turned in the oral commentaries.

Friday

Prepare a five-minute (it really MUST be five minute) oral commentary to present for critique on Tuesday.

1 min : Intro with author, title, overview of general meaning (no specifics), and key focal points for the commentary. I suggest, for the whole commentary --

 

Intro:  1 minute

·      Structure:       1 minute (sonnet, quatrains, couplet, octave, sestet); rhyme scheme suggesting  a blend of Petrarchan and English forms, leading to how structure affects meaning –

·      Diction and imagery (2 min): look at each quatrain. Note the diction and imagery come from blacksmithing. The second, it is from war and politics (look up words you do not know, students!) The third, it is from love and marriage. What is the effect as the poem progresses through these patterns? How does the couplet “wed” the last two quatrains?

·      Rhythm and meter (2 min -- Help us, O Justin) – do a scansion of the first quatrain. Point out the effects of the spondees and caesuras. How do they reflect, amplify, or otherwise affect the poem? Note the enjambments at lines 1 and 12. Effects? Does the sentence “bend – or break”?

Thursday

I was out today and a substitute replaced me. Students studied "Batter My Heart." Their assignment is to prepare a five minute oral commentary on that poem to present for critique on Monday. I encourage students to work together to flesh out the commentaries and learn how to go about this type of test.

Wednesday

We finished presentations today. The poem for the day was "Sonnet XIV: Batter My Heart, Three Personed God."

Tuesday

Remember that Wednesday is a late start day. School begins at 10:30.

Thursday/Friday

Today's poem was "Holy Sonnet 10." Presentations and posters are due Monday/Tuesday.

Tuesday/Wednesday

The A-Day prevailed upon me with their argument, and I yielded like a maiden with a flea bite. Presentations and posters are now due on Monday/Tuesday with the additional requirement that they be drop-dead awesome.

We reviewed "The Bait" in class today.

Thursday/Friday

Today's poem was "The Canonization." Then class went to the lab to research topics for the project due next Thursday/Friday.

Tuesday/Wednesday

New day, new poem: reread "The Flea." Keep planning and working on your project. See the packet, "Donne Packet," that is linked on the right of this page. You may need to "view web version" to see the link.

Here is a link to a rubric for the project. Check it and be ready to challenge it if you want to in your next class.

Friday

Here is a copy of "Meditation 17" by John Donne, and here are the study questions. Please complete the study questions neatly by Tuesday/Wednesday.

Thursday

Hmm. Conventions...

Some sample six-word stories -- useful for form below.

Here is one of my own: "Wanted it all; never made choice."

From jdgrafton: "I'm beside myself! Cloning machine works."

  Here are many more from an external site.

Rhapsody

Thursday

If I returned a paper copy of your explication draft 2 to you with a list of suggestions attached, please bring that paper in with you to class tomorrow.

Thanks!

Tuesday

Although I really think that if you are confused about the presentation, you are one who likes being confused and therefore will persist in that state, I will nonetheless review what is already in the instruction pack linked on the right as "Final 9 Week Assignment."

1. You use poems from the poetry packet. You do not use poems that are not in the poetry packet. Pardon me if I did not explicitly say that (although I probably did). I did not expect to need to say that. The poetry pack is linked on the right as "Poetry Pack."
2. Hand in, as you enter the room, your study guide. "Hand in" means that it needs to be printed. "As you enter the room" means as you should give it to me as you enter the room -- before you start to present. I have asked you to use the template I provided and that is linked on the right as "Rubric and template." It is an MS Word doc that you can type directly into, and the guide will be formatted in an orderly way. I will use this guide to check your presentation AND you receive a grade for the guide itself, as specified in the "Final 9 Week Assignment." You, the presenter, may NOT use the guide as you present. You must know the material.
3. On your desk you may have the three unmarked focus poems from each poet, a blank rubric, the comments by your critics, and a timer. The comments from your critics should be printed out separately a second time so that I get the study guide with the critics and you keep just the critics. That requires two (2) copies of the critics' comments. 

Any pair who would like to go on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday immediately after school is welcome. Make the arrangement with me. Anyone who would like to go immediately after first block, during the first minutes of second block, make arrangements with me.

Monday

Great start to the presentations today -- with bonus points, we had a 106. Two memorizers have earned a 106 as well.

For Tuesday, five presenting groups have signed up. If any of you presenters could run into second block without dire consequence, let me know.

Friday

Again, draft 3 should be dropped in the dropbox. Use the same naming protocol (Last.First.exp). Papers are due at 8:30 a.m.

Assessment will credit 20 points timeliness, 20 points to MLA formatting, and 60 points to your full response to my comments and suggestions.

Updated rubric

Look just below for the requirements for your paper, which is due Monday at 8:30 a.m.

Use the active voice and do not use these words or phrases:
can be viewed as, can be seen as, may refer to, refers to, is referencing, or any other use of "refers" since to use that word means you are not interpreting but somehow showing us what a poetic phrase REALLY stands for, as if the poet could not express the real thing somehow. Rather, investigate relationships within the poem. Everything is about relationships -- word to word, sentence to line, image to idea, me to you. What network of relationships has the poet constructed, and how do you and I fit into it?

Draft 2 of Grade 3: The Explication (without proper citations, the paper is not done)

Format and instructions (20)
Dropped on time: 8:30 a.m. Monday, April 7	10	0
Named	2	0
Works Cited format	2	0
Parenthetical and in-text citations	2	0
Page numbers	2	0
Font (Times New Roman or Garamond 12 pt.)	2	0
Development (30)
Overview/intro	5	3	1
Form and structure	5	3	1
Imagery and metaphor	5	3	1
Movement	5	3	1
Balanced, full-bodied treatment of whole	5	3	1
Conclusion/response	5	3	1
Engagement with text (and critics) combined with language use (50) (The terms that best describe the piece determine the score. Use the active voice. Check behind yourself.)	50 Lively, sophisticated, intense, fierce, playful, obsessed, opinionated, curious, committed, argumentative, tenacious, funny, moving, beautiful, striking	40 fluent, involved, opinionated, sincere,  curious, argumentative, interesting	30 accurate, sincere, workmanlike, sensible	20 puzzling, unresearched, sometimes nonsensical, “Who are you?” clichéd, bland, uncaring, shows tendency to settle

Click here for a pdf that you can print if you like.

Tuesday

We discussed drafts of the explication. For Monday, please do things THIS WAY!

Name your document Lastname.firstname.exp

Drop it in the Dropbox portal linked on the right of this page.

On time means by 8:30 Monday. After that is LATE!

Fully format the paper in MLA style with a Works Cited page and proper documentation.