Tuesday, Dec. 22 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Harlem Renaissance Annotation Posting

*Of Mice and Men Section 1

*Journal Entry from the perspective of George or Lennie on events from Section 1:

*OMM section 2 –read to page 30 (bottom of page, be prepared for quiz and to discuss after break)

*Journal Entry on section 2 (17-29), can be from same perspective or switch, half page long (summary and character’s reactions to events, first person pov) 

Have a nice Christmas Break!  Remember, BwF journals are due the Friday after break!

Monday, Dec. 21 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Books with Friends Reminders

*American Dream Discussion

*Definition of American Dream

*Discuss the fourth question, focusing on your prior knowledge of the Great Depression era (as that is when the book is set)

*Homeless: What is this saying about the American Dream today?

*As you read, you hopefully marked up connections to the American Dream, or in general things to talk about

*Once done discussing, quick bullet points showing what you discussed, hand that in when done –the person writing notes should be the person who has a birthday closest to today

*Jazz Age, Harlem Renaissance, Great Depression (notes review)

*Langston Hughes – “Harlem,” “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and “I, too, sing America” pg. 880-3/packet

*Paul Laurence Dunbar “We Wear the Mask” pg 621/packet

***There are suggested note questions to have answers to (last page of the packet), but also annotate the poem on your own, with your own thoughts

*Discussion on Harlem Renaissance Poetry (tomorrow/online for those gone for choir)

*Begin Of Mice and Men: Basic Intro then Topic/Big idea sheet

Friday, Dec. 18 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: 45 min work time on “Pit and Pendulum” or reading/journaling for Books with Friends

*Discuss “Pit and Pendulum”

*Sensory Details (post on Blog)

*Begin “American Dream…American Conflict”

*What is the American Dream? Answers to questions in your WN 

*What is the American Dream? 

*How does The American Dream differ for different groups of Americans?

*Do all citizens of the United States have equal opportunity to achieve The American Dream today? What supports your argument?

*In what ways has The American Dream changed throughout the existence of America? What has caused these changes (think of changes in the economy, changes in the social structure of the country)? 

*Is it easier for Americans today to achieve The American Dream than it was for Americans at other points in history (ie: during the Depression)? Why do you think that?

Homework:

*Homeless: What is this saying about the American Dream today?

*As you read, mark up connections to the American Dream, or in general things to talk about

"Pit and the Pendulum" Sensory Images

With a partner, pick the best piece of textual evidence you found for three of the five senses.  You want to make sure the evidence creates a strong picture in the mind of readers.  Please include in-text citations with your textual evidence.

Thursday, Dec. 17 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Poe Background

*Discuss Anabelle Lee

*“The Raven”, pg 244 or 436, rhyme structure, alliteration, plot, characteristics of Gothic Lit.

*Discuss “The Raven”, how is his life reflected in his writing? (with partner)

*“Raven” (while listening, check rhymes and alliteration notes)

*On a sheet of paper to turn in:

*“plot” of poem

*Gothic characteristics

*“Pit and the Pendulum” pg 230 (packet)–due end of work time tomorrow

*Read. While reading, identify 6 most important scenes and draw them (like a six frame comic) or explain them in extreme detail, and textual evidence of sensory images *due at the end of work time tomorrow (35ish minutes)*

*“Pit and Pendulum” comic- six cells, cover whole story (especially how they attempted to kill him/he escaped death each time), and list one detail (textual evidence) from the story for each of the five senses (on back of sheet)

Wednesday, Dec. 16 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: On sheet of notes: Why would what happened happen (what was revealed in the end of the story)?

*What textual evidence from the story supports your idea/answer?

*Chronological Order of “Rose for Emily” on same sheet with WN entry –turn in to stool (read BwF book if done before others)

*BwF Journal Reminders: length, format, cover

*Poe

*Background Info p410, take notes, discuss

*“Anabelle Lee”: explicate the poem (meanings (fig and lit), poetic devices, author’s life in poem, Gothic Characteristics,  etc)

Tuesday, Dec. 15 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Poem Collection

*Emulation poem: on rubric, write down what 3-4 devices are you emulating that should be evaluated (if you didn’t already)

*Am Voice Poem: on rubric, write what devices you used that I am looking for to evaluate if you want (this helps me see what you were aiming to accomplish, thus being able to grade it better)

*“Law of Life” group discussion

*American Gothic- Notes on Gothic Literature: Looks at humanity’s attempt to supersede nature, spiritual and emotional disconnect from nature: “men have become the tools of their tools” and “things are in the saddle and ride mankind”

*Southern Gothic: “A Rose for Emily” (packet)

*Answer questions from the sheet on a separate piece of paper to turn in.  Can work with partner on questions/timeline. Due tomorrow

Monday, Dec. 14 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: “Law of Life” reminder (with some folk gone on the Government trip, we’ll have the discussion tomorrow)

*1- Conflict: Man Vs. Nature

*2- Conflict: Man Vs. Self

*3- How does the story “The Law of Life” show the Naturalistic movement’s ideas? 

*4- Personification of Death: how? And What does the old moose symbolize? Specific connections

*Poem Work Time

*If you are going to perform your poem on Wednesday, we need to talk and work on an intro to your poem

*Make sure you have identified what elements should be graded on the rubric

*You should have another person read through and help you make your poem better

*Printed out copies of both poems due tomorrow

*BwF Work Time

*Journals can be collected before Christmas, but are due the week we get back

Friday, Dec. 11 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Presentations: Claire, Nick L., Nick K, Mark, Dani

*American Voice and Regionalism

*Realism, Naturalism notes review

*“The Law of Life” pg 771

*While reading, make sure you understand the story as a whole (plot, characters, etc) but pay close attention to the topics and take notes on your specific number

*1- Conflict: Man Vs. Nature

*2- Conflict: Man Vs. Self

*3- How does the story “The Law of Life” show the Naturalistic movement’s ideas? 

*4- Personification of Death: how? And What does the old moose symbolize? Specific connections

*The story is due on Monday, so choose what to work on first (poems, short story, or BwF novel)

*Discussion Monday

*Writer’s Workshop on poems

*Finish conferring, work on revising and polishing, read for BwF or read “Law of Life” if poem is complete

*Final, polished pieces due Tuesday

*Two separate pages, typed, follow points on sheet from yesterday (back side), need both rubrics with them to be worth full credit

Thursday, Dec. 10 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Presentations: Rhiana, Matt, Avery, Dakota, Emily, Austin, Claire, Nick L., Nick K, Mark, Dani

*Peer Review of poems: If typed, print out two copies of each poem (click on the link for the review directions)

*Part 1: four times (even for your own poems)

*Part 2: Conference, if you want to have someone else look at your poem, so do before going into part 3, or do some revising, then have someone else read

*Part 3: Begin to revise, look at the back of the sheet for polishing info

Emulation Rubric

American Voice Rubric

Wednesday, Dec. 9 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: More Presentations (as many as we can get through before I have to stop in to a meeting at 9):

*Tessah, Jacob, Maddie, Genna, Paul

*Poem writing or BwF reading work time

*Poem rough drafts due tomorrow!

Tuesday, Dec. 8 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Presentations (as many as we can get through)

*Shayna, Hallie, Kayla, Jordyn, Jared, Cohl,

*Poetry work time

*Who is your poet? –write it on the door if not already

*What are some of the structural choices, ideological choices, stylistic choices, theme choices, etc. that you are thinking of emulating

*Use the rubric as you work on your draft to know what needs to be in each poem

*Rough draft of both poems due Thursday

More Presentations tomorrow (and most likely Thursday)

Presentation Order

Here is the order of poetry presentations for Tuesday:

Shayna
Hallie
Kayla
Jordyn
Jared
Cohl
Tessah
Jacob
Rhiana
Maddie
Matt
Genna
Paul
Avery
Dakota
Emily
Austin
Claire
Olivia
Nick L.
Nick K.
Mark
Dani

Monday, Dec. 7 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Explication check and Presentation work time

*Make sure you have consulted the rubric and have labeled everything for me to understand

*Presentation Order

Explicated poems and presentation due TOMORROW!

*Introduce American Poetic Voice assessment

*Work Time on poems

*By end of tomorrow at the ABSOLUTE latest, I need to know what potential devices, structural ideas, ideological choices, and theme choices you are going to be emulating.

*You need to have a rough draft of both poems by Thursday for peer review

Friday, Dec. 4 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Multi-Modal Presentation Examples

*Work Time for Explication of Poems

Analyzing Poetry: 

*Read through one time.

*Figure meanings of unknown words, think/write questions, comments, thoughts about the poem.

*Read again.

*Is there a rhyme scheme? What is it? Repetition? Figurative language? What poetic devices? Annotate the poem, marking these and ideas (all poetic devices and structural details).

*Read a third time.

*What are some possible meanings? What happens in it? What parts of the poem make you think what you do about it? (Annotate the textual evidence for the meanings)

*Connect to the author’s life/bio (find specific lines to show)

*Where is the author’s voice seen?

*How does the poem show the American Voice? What aspect of American Voice is it demonstrating?

*BwF half way check is TODAY: give me what you have (should be 3 initiateds and 3 responses)

Thursday, Dec. 3 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Google and Search Tips in Library

*Finish Modern Presentations

*American Voices answers

*Posting on your author(s)

*Discussion of Rubric

*Reminder of what is needed for each poem, what you will be presenting.

*Explications due Monday

*Presentations: Tuesday

Current Poets Researched

At this point (beginning of class on Thursday), you should know what poet you are going to be researching and hopefully have an idea of at least one of their poems you will be explicating.  Please comment to this post the name of your poet and the title of one of their poems that you will be focusing upon.

Wednesday, Dec. 2 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: American Voices groups:

*What is the American voice: your group needs a few different ideas/definitions/aspects to definition –post this on my blog, then follow the directions on the post about what to do next.

*Dickinson and Bradstreet (Kajsa’s), Whitman (Rhiana’s), Thoreau and Emerson (Jordyn’s and Maddie’s), William Carlos Williams and other modern poets (Hallie’s and Mark’s)

*Overall Question: How does their writing exemplify the (or an) American voice?

*How does their writing show America at their point in time?

*What does their writing say about people and society?

*Thinking of all, what aspect(s) of America are not reflected with the voices so far?

*Write up on blog (also write on sheet of paper for self)

*Current Poets Research: Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marilyn Hacker, Dana Gioia, Jack Kerouac, Pedro Pietri, Marc Smith, Taylor Mali, Robert Pinsky, Li Young, AND LOTS MORE TO CHOOSE FROM

*Research and Work Time

*Presentation Rubric

*Multimodal presentation (more than just the words), digital presentation

Authors We've Read and Their American Voice

Your group has been assigned an author/authors.  *Dickinson and Bradstreet (Kajsa’s), Whitman (Rhiana’s), Thoreau and Emerson (Jordyn’s and Maddie’s), William Carlos Williams and other modern poets (Hallie’s and Mark’s)

You need to find the notes/information you have on that author/authors and answer these questions about their American Voice.  Make sure one of you types up the answers as a comment to this post, but all of you write it down in your notes.

*Overall Question: How does their writing exemplify the (or an) American voice?

*How does their writing show America at their point in time?

*What does their writing say about people and society?

*Thinking of all, what aspect(s) of America are not reflected with the voices so far? 

Once you have posted these ideas, work on your current poet research.  If you have any questions, email me as I'm over at the middle school and can answer questions easily if emailed...

American Voice Definition

Post your group's definition (and associated ideas) of American Voice as a comment to this post.  Once every group has posted, read through them and create a working definition of American Voice by compiling the important points from everyone's definitions.  Use that as your definition while working as a group on the next post...

Tuesday, Dec. 1 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: 15 min time to finalize poem teaching

*Presentations, take notes (pgs 1-3)

*Current Poets Research: Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marilyn Hacker, Dana Gioia, Jack Kerouac, Pedro Pietri, Marc Smith, Taylor Mali, Robert Pinsky, Li Young, AND LOTS MORE TO CHOOSE FROM

*BOOKS WITH FRIENDS half way check Friday, so use time if you have it

Monday, Nov. 30 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Discuss “O Captain” and “Song of Myself” then Whitman and Dickinson (WN entry)- partner, then large group

*Modern Era Review

*Modern Era Poem Explicating Practice with Partner pg 930

*Movements of Modern Era poetry: Notes and group work

*Read all poems together, then:

*With your group, plan if any research needs to be done before you present, then do it if necessary

*Work time on poems: you will TEACH them tomorrow:

*Annotate, teach (explain in detail) anything/everything you think needs explaining, meanings (literal and figurative), poetic devices, background, connection to Modern Era and poetic movements

*Things to Teach: 

—What is the poem about? Surface (what happens in the poem, story)? Deeper (theme, message, big picture)?

—If also in a text book, what are some of the questions the book asks?

—Is there any pattern (word, rhyme, image, etc)?

—What poetry terms are used in the poem? How do they contribute to the meaning?

—Alliteration, symbolism, personification, rhyme, repetition, figurative language (simile, metaphor, imagery), allusions, others?

—What characteristics from our notes can be seen in the poem? How does it fit into this era? (imagism, free-verse, objectivism, etc)

—Is there a format? (What does it look like, mechanics, line breaks, etc)

—What rules does the poem follow or break?

—(Page 4 folks…) Ars Poetica: a statement by the poet about poetry, about his or her beliefs about what poetry is and about what it does. What does the poem demonstrate about poetry? 

*BOOKS WITH FRIENDS half way check Friday, so use time if you have it

Friday, Nov. 20 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Finish Literal and Figurative “Because I could not Stop”

*Anne Bradstreet: note check from hwk (also bring up your “Because I could not Stop” sheet)

*“The Author to Her Book” (on own or with partner)

*What lines imply Bradstreet sees herself as unworthy to write

*Interpret lines 3-5 of “The Author to Her Book”

*What do you think about her attitude that the book is a ninth child? Is this a good comparison (how are they similar or not)?

* Discussion of Bradstreet Poems

*Grab blue book: Walt Whitman

*“Oh Captain! My Captain!” pg 375

*Analysis of what is the literal level, what is the figurative level (like with “Because I could…”)

*Whitman: Note check of “Oh Captain! My Captain”

*“Song of Myself” pg 368

*questions and WN due: MONDAY

*In WN: What do you think are some stylistic (format, structure, conventions) and ideological (beliefs, views, etc) similarities and differences between Dickinson (talked about her yesterday) and Whitman? Please list as many as you can think of, if you want to do a venn diagram or a chart, that’s fine.

Thursday, Nov. 19 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Find the 4 poems you wrote about and write your insights (just a few of your interpretations) on the documents as comments (DON’T write on the document itself)

*Read and analyze/explicate “Because I could not stop for Death-” on page 548/sheet

*On sheet (then put it in your binder):

*What is this extended metaphor comparing?  (Extended Metaphor: a point by point presentation of one thing as though it were another)  List three specific comparisons you can find in the poem.

*How do the three images (visual images seen during the ride) reflect stages of life? What parts of life is she saying goodbye to?

*How would you describe the overall mood of the poem?  Does this mood reflect the speaker’s attitude toward death? Be specific

*“Because I could not stop for Death” stuff and comments on documents due in +/- 25 minutes

*Discuss Emily Dickinson’s poetry (packet and individual)

*Extended Metaphor Discussion

*Anne Bradstreet –Notes (HOMEWORK)

* “Upon the Burning of Our House” pg 118

*Analyze the poem (also, how do you see Puritan characteristics)

*Final step, meanings and poetic terms

Wednesday, Nov. 18 Agenda

*Bell Ringer: Walden/Civil Disobedience Discussion

*Find your poetry terms sheet, read through to remind yourself of all of the ideas we look for in poetry (we will be looking at poetry for a few days, so if you aren’t sure on definitions, check different resources as well)

*Editing of timed essay (using ‘suggesting’ mode on google drive): need by end of block

*Emily Dickinson p546 (READ THIS IF YOU FINISH YOUR ESSAY BEFORE WE MOVE ON)

*Read ‘author’s style’ pg 547 (add any definitions to poetry terms sheet, if necessary)

*Read through and annotate all of the poems in the packet.  Once you’ve read and quickly annotated them all, pick four. For those four, make sure your annotations are very detailed and you have a solid understanding of different ideas within the poem.

*What does the author say? How does he/she say it?

*Read through one time

*Figure meanings of unknown words, think/write questions, comments, thoughts about the poem (what the author says)

*Read again

*What are some possible meanings? What happens in it? What parts of the poem make you think what you do about it?

*How can we see influence of Dickinson’s life in the poem? Is the author the same as the speaker?

*Read a third time

*Is there a rhyme scheme? What is it? Repetition? Figurative language? What poetic devices? (how the author says it)

Walden and Civil Disobedience

Once your group has discussed your ideas, and each of you has written notes down on your worksheet, one of you needs to post your information/answers as a comment to this post.

*3 Aphorisms (short saying or pointed statement {Direct Quote}) and 3 Main Ideas of the selection assigned (2 groups, one for each selection) (1=Walden, 2=Civil Disobedience)

*Pros and Cons that Thoreau would have about today’s society/America (3) (6)

*Thoreau’s guide (steps) to living the ‘simple life’ (4)

*Thoreau’s guide to politics/life in an American Society (5)

For pros/cons, aim for about 4 each side.

For the guide, aim for 7 or so