Poetry Project / Paper Work Day: February 28, 2019

Focus: How can we lay a strong foundation for our poetry papers and projects?

1. Warming up with a lively recap of Academic Vocabulary, Set 5 (short quiz tomorrow)

2. Re-introducing ourselves to the objectives and steps of the poetry projects and papers

3. Outlining and conferencing on your projects and papers

HW:
THIS FRIDAY:

• Acquire your British Book Club novel and bring it to class.

• Complete and submit your project proposal or your essay thesis (and any outlining you've done). You can also conference with me instead of e-mailing or handing papers in.

• Look over Academic Vocabulary, Set 5 to prepare for tomorrow's short quiz.

Writing Your Own Conceit: February 27, 2019

Focus: How can we creatively write our way to a better understanding of conceits?

1. Warming up with a little brainstorming:

• Create a table with four columns. You may handwrite in your composition notebook or type on your laptop. Go with whichever way you write best!

• Here are the labels for your columns: People, animals, abstract nouns, and concrete objects

• Write down at least five items in each column. Here is an example:

2. Composing a poem or short piece of prose in which you extend the metaphor

• Select one item from the "People" column or the "Abstract Noun" column and turn it into a metaphor with an item from the "Animal" or the "Concrete Object" column.

• Examples:

• Bradley Cooper is gravelly-voiced lynx.
• Envy is an oversized clock.
• My mom is a Spanish guitar.

• Then, spend the next ten minutes elaborating on that metaphor by composing either a poem a short piece of prose. You metaphor can be the first line of your writing (or not--your choice).

3. Returning to "The Century Quilt"

Using the poem, how would the speaker finish complete this statement?

• My ____________________ is a century quilt.

Using your work from yesterday, break down this metaphor a bit:

• How is _________________ a century quilt? What qualities of ____________ match with the qualities of the century quilt?

• Why is ________________? In other words, how does the century quilt help us understand ___________________ better or differently?

HW:
THIS FRIDAY:

• Acquire your British Book Club novel and bring it to class.

• Complete and submit your project proposal or your essay thesis (and any outlining you've done). You can also conference with me instead of e-mailing or handing papers in.

Writing about the Century Quilt: February 26, 2019

Focus: How do we write about metaphysical conceits?

1. Warming up a one-minute brainstorming on the title, "The Century Quilt"

2. Reading the poem aloud together with an MMM approach: Mark up the poem for...

• Words, phrases, punctuation, and devices that make you pause and take a MOMENT.

• Larger patterns, shifts, and actions that form MOVEMENTS.

• Themes and tone that emerge to creating MULTIPLE MEANINGS.

3. With a partner, please accomplish the following:

• Identify the vehicle, tenor, and meaning of this poem's metaphysical conceit.

• Mark up the prompt and compose a thesis statement in response to it.

• Compose topic sentences.

• Outline your body paragraphs (but no need to write them) with the quotations you would use and bullet points on how you would read them closely.

HW:
THIS FRIDAY:

• Acquire your British Book Club novel and bring it to class.

• Complete and submit your project proposal or your essay thesis (and any outlining you've done). You can also conference with me instead of e-mailing or handing papers in.

Browsing British Book Club Novels: February 24, 2019

Focus: How do we find the book that's right for us?

1. Warming up with three good things and turning in your Invisible Man essays

2. Offering your overviews of the poetry projects and papers; I'm changing our project/paper work day to Wednesday so that I can hopefully be here.

3. Introducing ourselves to British Book Clubs; browsing the summaries and first pages of books

Remains of the Day
Pride and Prejudice
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
Atonement

4. Forming groups based on book interest and completing your proposals

HW:
THIS FRIDAY:

• Acquire your British Book Club novel and bring it to class.

• Complete and submit your project proposal or your essay thesis (and any outlining you've done). You can also conference with me instead of e-mailing or handing papers in.

Revising for Style: February 22, 2019

Focus: How can we strengthen the style of our essays to establish command?

1. Introducing ourselves to Academic Vocabulary, Set 5; putting your academic vocabulary to work in your Invisible Man essays

2. Peer/self editing each other's essays for structure and evidence (try to partner up with someone who addressed the same question that you did)

3. Offering you a recap of our first stylistic lesson (avoiding redundancy) and an introduction to our next stylistic lesson (using active voice)

• Click HERE for the slides on style.

4. Peer editing each other's essays for style

HW:
1. For MONDAY:

Please finish all revisions for content and style and PRINT your essay to turn in.

2. For WEDNESDAY:

Please share with me (or conference with me on) your project proposals and essay thesis statements.

Revising for Content: February 21, 2019

Focus: How can we revise our way to a better understanding of both IM and Q3?

1. Warming up with why the narrator has exactly 1369 lightbulbs in the Prologue (but doesn't mention them in the Epilogue?)? Watch this!

2. Typing your Invisible Man essay. Yep! This will be the only time we type and revise a timed writing.

3. Peer editing each other's essay for structure and evidence (try to partner up with someone who addressed the same question that you did)

HW:
1. TOMORROW: 

• Make revisions to the structure and evidence of your essay based on today's editing lesson.

• Bring your laptop to class.

2. MONDAY:

• Print the final, edited draft of your Invisible Man essay.

• Start thinking about your poetry project / paper; proposals and thesis statements will be due next Monday.

Steve Was Punctual: February 20, 2019

Focus: How can we write our way to a better understanding of Invisible Man?

1. Warming up with your previous timed writings and Q3 reminders

2. Composing a timed writing (Q3) on Invisible Man

HW:
1. TOMORROW: Bring your laptop to class.

2. Start thinking about your poetry project / paper; proposals and thesis statements will be due next Monday.

Woke: February 19, 2019

Focus: What does it mean to be "woke," and how does this illuminate the ending of IM?

1. Warming up with three good things

2. Offering you two contemporary journalists' definition of "woke" (and my own experiences with this concept over the weekend...and your experiences as well)

3. Rereading the Prologue and Epilogue

• What important shifts do you see from the Prologue to Epilogue?

• How has the narrator changed?

• How can you apply the term "woke" to our narrator?

• How is he talking to you, personally and collectively, in his final line?

4. Returning to your initial Battle Royal variation chart, considering how these variations play out in the final chapters, and analyzing the larger meanings to be drawn from each one

• Ellison repeats/revisits/returns to _______ to suggest / criticize / challenge / assert that...

5. Wondering about why the narrator has exactly 1369 lightbulbs in the Prologue (but doesn't mention them in the Epilogue?)? Watch this!

HW:
1. Start thinking about your poetry project / paper; proposals and thesis statements will be due next Monday.

2. Make sure your Invisible Man blog is posted.

The End Is in the Beginning: February 15, 2019

Focus: How is the ending in the beginning (and still far ahead)?

1. Indulging in one final round of Socratic ticket musical chairs

2. Close reading the epigraph

2. Enjoying our final Socratic seminar: Invisible Man, Chapter 24-Epilogue

3. Wrapping up with questions, epiphanies, and kudoes

HW:
Start working on your Invisible Man Big Question Blog (due Tuesday). My tip: Get extremely specific by going into depth on ONE motif and bringing in ample textual evidence.

The Eolian Harp: February 14, 2019

Focus: How can vehicle and tenor help us make meaning of metaphysical conceits?

1. Warming up with the father of metaphysical conceits: John Donne

2. Revisiting "The Eolian Harp" with a focus on unpacking the metaphysical conceit

• What is the vehicle? Underline all imagery and verbs surrounding this vehicle.

• What is the tenor? Underline all imagery and verbs surrounding the tenor.

• What is the meaning of this conceit? What do we understand better or differently by seeing these two unlike things being compared?

3. Exploring the multiple choice stems and predicting the answers

4. Making strong choices

HW:
1. For Friday: Finish reading Invisible Man and complete your final reading ticket...ever!

2. By next Tuesday: Please complete your Big Question Blog for Invisible Man.

Registering for the Test: February 13, 2019

Focus: How do we register for the A.P. Literature test?

Tribe: Shortened Class

1. Warming up with Mr. Lewis and important information about registering for the A.P. Literature test

2. Perusing your vocabulary words and taking the short assessment on Academic Vocabulary, Set 4

3. Meeting Academic Vocabulary, Set 5 and using it to write Valentines :)

• Try to incorporate all six words and perhaps a few words from previous sets as well.

HW:
1. For Friday: Finish reading Invisible Man and complete your final reading ticket...ever!

2. By next Tuesday: Please complete your Big Question Blog for Invisible Man.

The Metaphysical Conceit: February 12, 2019

Focus: How can vehicle and tenor help us make meaning of metaphysical conceits?

1. Warming up with Quizlet Live and Academic Vocabulary, Set 4

2. Indulging in a poetry exercise: Moving from abstract to concrete and using your unlikeliest comparisons to create a metaphysical conceit

3. Understanding and practicing vehicle, tenor, and meaning with metaphysical conceits

4. Reading "The Eolian Harp" with a focus on unpacking the metaphysical conceit

• What is the vehicle? Underline all imagery and verbs surrounding this vehicle.

• What is the tenor? Underline all imagery and verbs surrounding the tenor.

• What is the meaning of this conceit? What do we understand better or differently by seeing these two unlike things being compared?

HW:
1. For Wednesday: Prepare for a short vocabulary assessment on Academic Vocabulary, Set 4 (it should be back in your Quizlet account now, I hope).

2. For Friday: Finish reading Invisible Man and complete your final reading ticket...ever!

3. By next Tuesday: Please complete your Big Question Blog for Invisible Man.

The Unrecorded History: February 11, 2019

Focus: What unrecorded history is Ellison recording?

1. Warming up with three good things and my new favorite website:

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/ralph-ellison-an-american-journey/

Help yourself become an expert on Invisible Man!

• Watch a few videos on topics in Invisible Man that interest you.

• Use the videos to generate questions (or answer questions) that pertain either to recent chapters, to the text as a whole, and/or to our focus question: What unrecorded history is Ellison recording?

2. Enjoying our penultimate Socratic seminar: Invisible Man, Chapters 22-23

3. Wrapping up with questions, kudos, and epiphanies

HW:
1. For Wednesday: Prepare for a short vocabulary assessment on Academic Vocabulary, Set 4 (it should be back in your Quizlet account now, I hope).

2. For Friday: Finish reading Invisible Man and complete your final reading ticket...ever!

3. By next Tuesday: Please complete your Big Question Blog for Invisible Man.

The Metacognitive: February 8, 2019

Focus: How can you use metacognition to find your way into a poem?

1. Warming up by filling out your poem information on THIS FORM

2. Performing a metacognitive on your poem

Reminders:

• If you're typing, please place this in your shared folder and label it "__________ (your last name) February Metacognition)"

• If you're handwriting, please e-mail me a copy of your poem.

• Include a copy of the poem at the TOP of your document; remember to include the author. If you're handwriting, please print a copy and staple it to the front of your metacognitive.

• Include an MLA heading.

• This is a Tuesday Writing grade. I'm looking for 55 minutes worth of metacognition in which... 
• each train of thought stems directly from the poem's words and phrases, and...

• you end in a better place than where you began.

3. Turning in your metacognitive if you handwrote

HW: 
For MONDAY: Please read Chapters 22 and 23 of Invisible Man and prepare a Socratic ticket (this is your penultimate IM reading assignment!).

What Makes the Sambo Doll Dance? February 7, 2019

Focus: How does the dancing Sambo doll serve as an extended metaphor?

1. Warming up with five questions about the Sambo doll; working through them, musical chairs-style



2. Enjoying a Socratic seminar on Invisible Man, Chapters 18-21

3. Wrapping up with your questions, kudos and epiphanies

HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Select your poem for the in-class metacognitive.

2. For MONDAY: Read Chapters 22 and 23 and prepare your penultimate Socratic ticket (ever)!

Plunging Outside of History: February 6, 2019

Focus: What does it mean to plunge outside history?

1. Warming up with a quick inside vs. outside history whiteboard activity

2. Reading Invisible Man and getting ready for a THURSDAY Socratic

HW:
1. For THURSDAY: Read through Chapter 21 and prepare a reading ticket. We will have Socratic on Thursday instead of Friday (and Wednesday will be largely a reading day).

2. For FRIDAY, FEB 8: Have your poem selected for the in-class metacognitive.

Ellison's Prose and Hughes's Poetry: February 5, 2019

Focus: What larger, poetic patterns are starting to take form in Invisible Man?

1. Warming up with Ellison's good friend, Langston Hughes

2. Creating found poetry out of one of Hughes' poems and any of Ellison's pages that echo that poem

• What words or phrases from Hughes' poem make you pause / take a moment? Collect them!

• What scenes / symbols / settings / characters / motifs from Invisible Man do these words and phrases remind you of? Look up those scenes, and collect words and phrases from them.

• Reassemble your words and phrases to create a found poem.

• What did this process help you understand better or differently?

3. Offering you the gift of my new favorite website:
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/ralph-ellison-an-american-journey/

• Try watching a few short videos on topics that interest you, and consider bringing a few gems of information into your next reading ticket!

HW:
1. For THURSDAY: Read through Chapter 21 and prepare a reading ticket. We will have Socratic on Thursday instead of Friday (and Wednesday will be largely a reading day).

2. For FRIDAY, FEB 8: Have your poem selected for the in-class metacognitive.

Ellison's Milieu: February 4, 2019

Focus: What artists might have influenced Ellison's writing?

1. Warming up with an MMM reading of a Harlem Renaissance painting

2. Enjoying Socratic stations (a new variation) on Invisible Man, Chapters 16 and 17

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

HW:
1. For THURSDAY: Read through Chapter 21 and prepare a reading ticket. We will have Socratic on Thursday instead of Friday (and Wednesday will be largely a reading day).

2. For FRIDAY, FEB 8: Have your poem selected for the in-class metacognitive.

I Yam What I Yam: February 1, 2019

Focus: What is the nature of the "Brothers'" interest in the narrator?

1. Warming up with 20-30 minutes of catch-up or get-ahead reading



2. Enjoying a Socratic seminar on Invisible Man, Chapters 13-15

3. Wrapping up with questions, kudos, and epiphanies

Image of Mary's bank:


HW:
1. For MONDAY: Read Chapters 16 and 17; prepare a ticket for Socratic.

2. For THURSDAY: Read through Chapter 21 and prepare a reading ticket. We will have Socratic on Thursday instead of Friday (and Wednesday will be partly a reading day).

3. For NEXT FRIDAY, FEB 8: Have your poem selected for the in-class metacognitive.