Quo Vadis

Composition Book

• We have spent two years reading rich texts and sharing life.  What discussion would you like to have in class?  Is there an issue, a story, an idea, a question, you would like to consider together?  Is there a subject we began but couldn't finish (bell rang, etc.)?  Perhaps an issue a text brought up that we never had time to treat? 
• Party on Block Day
• Dance?

Per. 3: Finish Video: 1:28:35

Where are you going?

We begin our discussion in the halls of Heorot:

• Esolen: 
• Secular Grendel
• Stand Firm

Short Stories

• The Oral Tradition in the Modern World
• What is Love in the Modern World? 

• John Cheever
• "The Swimmer"
• Drinking...and Swimming

• Eudora Welty 
• "A Worn Path" 
• Faithfulness

• Flannery O'Connor
• "A Good Man is Hard to Find" 
• Who are You?

• Ernest Hemingway
• "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
• Men, Women, and Tragedy 

To the Victors Go the Honors

Congratulations!  You made it!

We will be watching A Knight's Tale as we relax and share a bit.

I apologize that I have been so slow about all assignments not directly related to the AP exam.  I will be catching up with the rest now.  Thank you for your patience with me.

Here are some assignments to note:

• I will be checking your Outside Reading Assignment on block day.  
• If you typed the assignment, please print it and also submit it to turnitin.com (it is up and available there now). 

• The Optional Research Paper, due block day next week. 

• If you didn't take the AP exam, you will have an essay-based final exam.  Your writing will treat the last historical periods you studied ("The Victorian Era" and "The Twentieth Century to the Present") and your outside reading.  You'll want to review those three documents for the final exam.  It will help if you make a study card for your novel as I'll be asking you to treat important elements and themes. 

In class, we will finish the movie, share our senior projects or research essay topics, and do a little bit of college preparatory reading with a spiritual focus.  If you miss class due to an AP exam, you will have no make-up work. 

This and that for the AP Lit. Test

Celtic Study Music (Katterhagen Approved) 
 
* For the passage-based essays, work for subtlety; avoid simplistic clichés in your interpretation, thesis statement, or development.  The AP passages will be rich—treat them as such. 

* For the passage-based poetry response, if you have a modern poem, do not use lack of rhyme or rhythm as a literary device...it doesn't mean anything.  Look for other structural cues like a shift in perspective (3rd to 1st...or "You" all of a sudden), a shift in tone (bright to dark, wistful to doubtful, etc.), a shift in tense (past, present, future), unusually short or long stanzas, or other volta-worthy movements to tie to your illuminating theme. 

* Odds are reasonable that you will have a sonnet on the test somewhere, so give your notes a quick gloss if you have time.   


More Preparation

Essays:

• SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAYS FOR ALL PROMPTS FROM THE COLLEGE BOARD

• Read a few sample 8 essays if you haven't yet.  

• Open Prompt Exercises

Multiple Choice:

Just attack one passage, look at the answers, and figure out how to arrive at those answers.  Take your time.  Then do another one or two passages in the same way if you wish.  No need to tackle an entire practice test:

• 1999 AP English Literature and Composition Released Exam  
• 1987 AP English Literature and Composition Released Exam

 
AP Test Preparation Page

 

Open Prompt Exercises

1. Mixing it up: Listen to the following two songs.  Choose one song to relate to Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  

• The Waterboys: "Strange Boat" 

• Bastille: "Weight of Living, Part 1"

• Prompt: How do the themes and techniques employed in your chosen song compare and contrast with those employed by Coleridge in Rime of the Ancient Mariner?
• Write your first paragraph, at least. 

• Did you like that and want to try again?  Use the same songs and prompt with The Tempest.  It works!  

* If you don't feel strong in your drama/poetry card category, you could add Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to your group (for the Open Prompt); however, the test will almost assuredly not require a poem from you.  Generally, it will allow a poem but not require it for the open prompt.  


2. Open Prompt Practice

• Open the .pdf in Notability.  Begin with the first prompt (2013). 
• Read the prompt and note three texts you would use to answer the prompt.  List any quick details and terms you would use to form your thesis.
• Move on to the next prompt.  
• Once you have completed all prompts, consider which five texts would be wisest to review for the open prompt on tomorrow's essay.  Go in with five cards with significant variety (regions, periods, themes, styles, characters, plots).  
• Study those cards.  

Your AP Literature Test Tomorrow

Begins at 8 am in the new MS Gym.  You do not need to arrive before 7:30 am.  Arrive around 7:45 to be safe, though.