It's 2011...!

Goodness me, it is the year 2011. What would George Orwell think/say? It certainly is a brave, new world...Talking of which, Julie Taymor (director of Across the Universe) has just directed a new version of The Tempest starring Helen Mirren in the role of Prospero (now Prospera!). Field trip...?

Anyway, I do hope you all had a warm, happy holiday. And now for this week's ideas:

Instead of a vocab quiz this Friday, you will be doing the writing portion of your final exam. I know it's very early, but I will explain in class why this is necessary. So, in order to practice and prepare, we will do some small and enjoyable writing in class (is there such a thing, you say?) and then you are highly encouraged to schedule a writing appointment with me during A or B lunch or after school this week (Jan 4th , 5th or 6th). If I have already "conferenced" (wince) with you, then there is no need.

There is no blog this week, but a modified TP CASTT (no paraphrase) poem will be assigned. I might send it as an email. With all poetry, please TRY your best without racing to Google! If you try first, you will discover exactly what you are struggling with, or you might discover you are very talented at poetic interpretation. Either way, give it a good concerted effort first, and then
if you must....hit that search button. :-)

Otherwise, these few weeks before finals will be "light" so relax! Oh, and if anyone would like to get a head start on their independent novel, I will assign them this week.

Happy New Year!
:-)

This week's quiz (supplemental info)

In addition to the "orange" sheet, please be prepared to identify works by the following artists:

El Greco, Toulouse Lautrec, and Edgar Degas (all mentioned in the poem).

Also be prepared to identify the following musical pieces:

Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," and Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries."

add to iPods :-)
Enjoy!

Your POL Choice-Claim it!

State your name, the title of your choice of poem, and the name of the poet.

Mini Vocab!

ambiguity
juxtapose
serendipity
epiphanous
tantamount
sanguine

Oryx and Crake post

Go to Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake site:

http://www.oryxandcrake.co.uk/readingguide.asp

Choose ONE question, and post your answer. Due Wednesday 3pm.

Words 'o the week:

obsequious
erudite
ersatz
ennui
jingoism/jingoist
scathing
diatribe
lassitude
farcical
impetus
poignant
temerity
earnest
disparage

More TED!

Please view the following TED lecture by Dave Eggers (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html

and post your response to the following:

What is your overall response to the lecture, and what do you think drives some people to harness their innovative, creative natures for philanthropic purposes? Is this something we as a society can nurture, or not?

Due Wednesday by 3pm.

Never enough poetry!

Revisit the Favorite Poem Project site:

http://www.favoritepoem.org/

View a few more videos, then post the title of the poem (and poet) you found most interesting/appealing/exciting/intriguing/depressing/scintillating....
and most importantly tell why the poem and or the presenter "spoke" to you.

Post due Wednesday by 3pm

Words, words, words...

For test Friday, October 15th:

Delineate,

chastise,

docile,

diffident,

perambulation,

desolating,

dirge,

obdurate,

abhor,

debilitate,

venerable,

mortification,

tumultuous

dissipate,

candor

This week is poetry blogging!

Please go to the site http://www.favoritepoem.org/videos.html and watch the following three short videos from a nationwide poetry project.

View the following poems:

"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks
"Nick and the Candlestick" by Sylvia Plath
"Out, Out" by Robert Frost

Write a brief response to each clip. Post due by Wednesday 3pm.

Enjoy!

Week's Vocab....and Orxy and Crake

We will focus on our tone words again--just the ones we have covered so far, so please begin to research the nuances of each word and not just the mini definitions on the handout.
:-)

Oh, and please have Oryx and Crake by Wednesday's SSR. That's 10 days from when I asked you all to get the books! There are still MANY copies available in the Broward County Library System. If you haven't ordered it to be delivered to your branch, you may have to drive across town, so get on it! In your hands, in class, on Wednesday....

:-)

Your Poetry Selection

Check out Poetry Out Loud website and watch the videos of excellent examples of poetry recitation:

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems/video_bestpractices.html

Begin looking through their list of eligible poems for the contest and choose a few possibles for YOUR poetry recital!

Post your choices by Thursday 3pm

More tone vocabulary

For Friday, let's have the next 15 on your tone handout under our belts. The test will be cumulative for all tone words thus far.

Brave New World--Two posts are better than one!

Please (re)read Chapter 18 and post an interpretive question (one that might inspire a discussion, not one that simply needs clarification). This post will be just the question.

Then, respond fully to another student's question. This post will require a more in-depth response.

These TWO posts are due by Thursday 3pm :-)

***If you have NOT received an email from me regarding our next text, please come see me!*****

Getting to know poetry terms

These terms are all on your poetry/drama terms handout. When researching definitions, remember these pertain to poetry. Thus, "apostrophe" used here, will not be in the punctuation sense.

Alliteration

Apostrophe

Assonance

Caesura

Conceit

Couplet (Heroic couplet)

Dissonance

Elegy (elegiac)

End-stopped line

Enjambment

Euphony

In medias res

Meter

Ode

Quatrain

Rhyme: End rhyme, external rhyme, internal rhyme,

Stanza

Volta (shift)

To what extent is it a "Brave New World" we live in?

Scientists have been researching in vitro fertilization since the 1890s, but is was not until 1978 that Louise Brown, the first "test tube baby" was born. Today, our medical capabilities have progressed beyond Huxley's wildest imagination.

Which aspects of the novel can be seen in our society today? For example, The World State has ensured no sport is promoted unless it involves the consumption of expensive equipment. This can be seen today in our costly "must have" video game consoles.

Let's see how many connections we can find. If someone else posts the idea you were going to use, please find another example. And please refer to the text; cite chapter/page numbers whenever possible.

Post due Wednesday 3pm as usual :-)

Vocab - now with extra fiber!

Your words this week can be found on the tone handout. Let's go easy and say the first ten on the list. On the quiz, you will be asked to use the words in a "literary sentence." For example, if the word is sardonic (scornfully mocking) an example of a "literary sentence" might be (and we will discuss other possibilities in class):

"The author's scornful, mocking attitude toward the subject is evident in her sardonic tone."

Remember: An author has an ATTITUDE about something, which is reflected in the TONE of the piece, which creates a MOOD experienced by the reader.

Brave New World discussion

"No social stability without individual stability." To what extent do you agree or disagree with His Fordship, and do you think our current system of being raised by "family" supports or undermines societal stability?

Vocab for 9/10 test

acerbic

(adj.) biting, bitter in tone or taste (Jill became extremely acerbic and began to cruelly make fun of all her friends.)

acrimony

(n.) bitterness, discord (Though they vowed that no girl would ever come between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)

brusque

(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive (The captain’s brusque manner offended the passengers.)

*** cacophony (you will need this one for poetry!)

(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound (The elementary school orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)

capricious

(adj.) subject to whim, fickle (The young girl’s capricious tendencies made it difficult for her to focus on achieving her goals.)

bucolic

(adj) relating to idyllic pastoral county life. (The tourists were in awe of the bucolic scene, with its rich meadows of sugar grass dotted with delicate daisies and sheep grazing lazily.)

eschew

(v.) to shun, avoid (George hates the color green so much that he eschews all green food.)

evanescent

(adj.) fleeting, momentary (My joy at getting promoted was evanescent because I discovered that I would have to work much longer hours in a less friendly office.)

fallacious

(adj.) incorrect, misleading (Emily offered me cigarettes on the fallacious assumption that I smoked.)

fastidious

(adj.) meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards (Mark is so fastidious that he is never able to finish a project because it always seems imperfect to him.)

Brave New World musings...

Do a little research on world population growth rates.Do you foresee your findings to be a possible societal problem in the future, and if so, why? Do you not see your findings as particularly problematic, and if so, why?

And the million dollar question.....what solutions would you suggest?!

"Thinking"

Post your response to the following by 3pm Wednesday September 1st:

"The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe."
Albert Einstein

What might Einstein be suggesting about "modes of thinking"?

Welcome Newbies August 2010

To become acquainted with the class blog, please post a brief initial introduction. How do you feel about reading, and why did you choose to take this course? Remember, blog posts need to conform to the rules of Standard Written English, so no "txt speek" please. And most importantly, you must include your name at the end of each post in order to receive credit.

Last vocab test words! sniff....

foremost
lucid
exuberant
quasi....
aubade
cathartic
soporific
Romanticism - define
spondee
Horatian satire
Juvenalian satire
verbal irony
invective
gossamer
nebulous
inertia
entropy
stasis
tether
fetters
inconclusive
ambiguous

Poetry Terms

Alliteration

Apostrophe

Assonance

Blank verse (is NOT the same as Free verse!)

Cacophony

Cadence

Caesura

Conceit

Connotation

Couplet (Heroic couplet also)

Dissonance

Elegy (elegiac)

End-stopped line

Enjambment

Epic

Euphony

Foot

Free verse

Iambic, trochaic, dactylic etc. (pentameter)

Imagery (visual, olfactory, tactile etc.)

In medias res

Lyric

Meter

Ode

Quatrain

Refrain

Rhyme

End

External

Feminine

Internal

Masculine

Scansion

Sestet

Sonnet

English

Italian (Petrarchan)

Stanza

Stress

Villanelle

Volta (shift)

Double Trouble for NEXT WEEK's midterm!

perfunctory
curmudgeonly
brigand
comely
swarthy
vigil
dolorous
divisive
lupine (canine. bovine, feline, equine)
Machiavellian (Machiavellian machinations!)
sangfroid
milquetoast (great word, right?)
simian
saurian
tacit
Sisyphean (ooh, GREAT word! Use it, use it! Find some excuse to crowbar it into an essay..)

Open Essay Prompts

Look at the past AP Lit open essay prompts and find one which you think would suit Jane Eyre, Earnest, and Frankenstein (one for each). Oh, and obviously tell us how and why they would work! Here are the essay prompts in case you have misplaced the handout:

http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APOpenQuestions.html

These are due on the blog by Wednesday March 10th 3:00pm

Words, art, and music!

Artists:

Kandinsky
Botticelli
Seurat

Composers:

Beethoven
Cole Porter
Gershwin

Elizabethan words:

wherefore = why
aught = anything/with a negative word=nothing
ere=before
forsooth=in truth, truly
pate=head, skull
thou, thee=you
thy/thine=yours
want(verb)=lack, be without
wont(verb)= to be accustomed to, habit (as is my wont)
wanton=carefree, incorrigible
get(verb)=to produce offspring
habit=dress, clothing
humour=disposition, mood
issue=children, descendant

Words/phrases for 2/26/10

This week is a different style test. We will discuss it in class:

Given the zeitgeist of her time, Bronte....
Such an epiphanous moment underscores...
In keeping with the concept of the Byronic hero, Rochester.....
The character is forced to rethink his/her schema regarding_____, when .....
A paradigm shift occurs when.....

Music:

Faure's Requiem
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Spring

Art:

Rothko
Monet
Manet

Jane Eyre

State your guiding question and share one key quote or passage of your choice. Explain why you chose the quote.

Vocabulary, art, and music for 2/19/10

The new multi-genre vocabulary test is here!

music:
Ravel's Bolero
Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries
Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain

art:
Picasso's Guernica
Caravaggio's Narcissus
Dali's The Persistence of Memory

words:
jejune
subjective
objective
illustrious
drole
assiduous
elucidate
impecunious
acumen
denoument

Words, words, words....(that's from?)

hifalutin
haute couture
haute cuisine
physiognomy
horticulture (You can lead a wh*re to culture, but you can't make her think! -ha ha Dorothy Parker)
canonical texts
extrapolate
zeitgeist (excellent word!)
iconoclasm
fidelity
infidel
Dualism
empiricism

The Villainy Awards

With Valentine's Day looming, I would like to introduce an alternative to all the warm and tender hearts and flowers-- The Villainy Awards! We will all posts nominees for Best Villain, Young Villain, Villains you end up rooting for, and well, any other categories you come up with. Once we have our nominees, hosts and hostesses, we will devise a menu and musical program. So, to get the ball rolling, I will begin (as an example of a suitable post):

For Best Villain: I nominate Mr. Lindner from A Raisin in the Sun for his loathsome "offer" to the Younger family.

You may draw from any of our class texts, from 11th grade texts and from your independent novels. No movies/TV shows/works of non-literary merit.

(imagine devilish emoticon here)

Words for 2/5/10 test

quintessential
definitive
insuperable
epitome
surmountable
epitome/epitomize
x is antithetical to y...
Methuselah
coquette
debacle
brouhaha
hue and cry
veritable
cornucopia

Bon mots: week of Jan 25-29

Wagnerian
caustic
wit
pithy
repartee
salacious
adversarial
rancorous
remunerative
coffers
symbol, theme, motif (know where these terms either diverge, converge, or just plain merge!)
anthropomorphism v. personification
polysyndeton
asyndeton
existentialist

Humor Part II - Satire

Research the difference between Horatian and Juvenalian satire, and even just satire if you are unclear about that. Don't hate me, but wikipedia does a good job of explaining it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire
Now post your comments about satirical humor. What is its purpose and have you enjoyed any such humor (share an example). Why or why not did you enjoy it?

The ineffable....What is "funny"?

As we start the new term with comedy, I wanted to start with the question of what makes us laugh and why? Simply post a TV show, movie, book, or comedian you find "funny."

Fresh, sparkly AICE words for test 1/22/10

Easing in with a short list, seeing as it's a short week!
:-)

Ernest
earnest (you must be clear on the difference between these two homophones)
chiding
sprightly
promontory
satire
forlorn
vignette
billowy
visage
benefactor/benefactress

New Words - Test on 01/08/10

magnanimous
mercurial
myriad
neophyte
paragon
polemic
quagmire
recalcitrant
salient
sanctimonious
vapid
cogent
missive
pedagogue
banal
pithy
banter
puckish
mores
malaise