Welcome to second semester!

You made it! I am excited to work with you for another few months. As I said in class today, our reading work outside of class will be independent, but will include your third novel and synthesis. Here are the guidelines:
1. You must read for 2.5 hours per week. You decide what you read. Three times a week, I'll ask you to record what you have read on a sheet I'll pass around class. You must determine your reading rate for each book. Assessment will happen in weekly conferences, but may not happen on every book you read. I'll ask you to write a letter about a book every two weeks.
2. You are expected to read your third novel for your literary analysis project. This book and its work is due on Monday, February 24th.
3. We'll look deeply at short texts: poems, flash fiction and excerpts from longer works. You will have two analytical essays on these texts. One will be a take home essay and one will be an on demand essay.

Upcoming deadlines: comparative essay on the Wilbur and Collins poems due on block day next week: February 5 or 6. You will receive the poems this week during block day.

Independent book letter due Monday, February 10:
Note: If you are reading your author text, complete the work first and then complete this letter when you pick up your next book. For those of you reading an independent book, please complete a one page double-spaced which responds to this idea, below. If you have read more than one book, choose one:

Consider the questions the author is asking in the book you are reading and what you think about those questions. Most of these big questions are at the center of the character's struggle and journey and when we step back, we often understand more.  This letter is informal and the hope is you will write to think. In other words, you may figure out questions as you write that you didn't think of initially. In this assignment, that is great. Don't spend too much time on summary. 1-2 sentences at the beginning will suffice.


Third novel work:
This work may combine the literary analysis chart, as it did with the exemplars below. If you find it helpful to keep the literary analysis chart separate, that is fine too.
Analytical threads paper:
Identify 3-5 thematic or language oriented threads that seem to be significant to making meaning out of the novels you've read so far. Those might be significant to all three novels, but a marked absence or contrast might also offer you an opportunity for interesting analysis.You are exploring possible foci for your final project.

Write a narrative, casual voice exploration of each of your identified threads. How does each one work in each book? You aren't trying to arrive at a set thesis statement yet... it's more like you're mulling over the evidence and thinking about what potential theses might flow from the texts. In so doing, you should be considering specific details as well as overarching plot and theme trends. In the end, you might settle on one thread for your paper, or you might have more than one that interlock and compliment one another.
This paper will probably run 4-5 pages. If you work with fewer threads, you would want to do so in more depth.

Exemplar #1
Exemplar #2

Midterm information

Monday: Read and annotate the Etheridge Knight poem for Tuesday.

MIDTERM:
Your work this week is to prepare for your midterm next week. If you have questions, please see me. Here are the instructions and rubric again: AP midterm and rubric: AP Midterm and rubric

If you would like some sample introduction letters, you can look at these multi-genre papers. These are semester long projects, so the actual projects are different, but the letters are similar to what I am looking for. Specifically, think about the context of the novels or texts, what big ideas it made you think about and how those ideas translated. Engaging and vibrant writing is always expected. Tantalize us.
http://www.users.muohio.edu/romanots/mgrpapers.htm

Note: This will be the entire midterm in terms of grades, although you will be writing an in-class essay which will count on Quarter Two.

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe it is already 2014! This week your work will focus around Poetry Out Loud and then poetry analysis as we close out this semester. Specifically, here are your assignments:

Tuesday: Memorize second poem for Poetry Out Loud. Performance will be on block day.
Block day: Complete Poetry Multiple Choice to discuss on Friday.
Friday: Read and annotate Etheridge Knight poem, "The Idea of Ancestry" for Tuesday, following the TPCASTT model. Brainstorm genres for Midterm. Here is the assignment and rubric, in case you need another copy: Midterm assignment and rubric