AP Lit

I collected the what/so what charts for Gatsby.

If you were absent today, pick up the handout on comedic elements. Also watch the Russell Peter's video on YouTube called Beating Your Children and list the number of comedic elements he uses.

Pick up a copy of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Also, pick up your mock exams.
If you'd like to write an AP Lit mock Monday night with Mr. Dewar's class, you may.
You must let me know though so I make you a copy of the exam. It begins at 3:45 and it includes pizza.

We'll watch the play Monday and Tuesday and then have three days to practice the open-ended essay question. You will need to submit the what/sowhat chart and then in class next week, write the composition on Gatsby.

See you Monday. Have a great weekend.

Writing 12

What a  wonderful presentation. Thanks to Jack and to Kaylaa. Check out more Raymond Carver on line or ask Mrs. Tweedie to order a book for you. J and K, could you please return any books that you borrowed? Thanks.

Homework: Bring the poems you plan to read on May 2 and/or June 6 to class Tuesday so that you can use the time to practice as we do the exercises that Sandy will teach us.

Also, you need to edit/complete the Two Strangers stories for May 11.

Bill Gaston comes to class May 7. Check the dates of your author presentations. This would be a good weekend to read. It will relax and inspire you.

Next on our agenda: post card stories and monologues. Yay.

English 10

Great job reading Act 2. Make sure you have good notes.

Read Act 2, Scene 4 and make notes, highlight the key notes.

Lit 12

Be sure that you know who is to present on bookclub days. Two groups presented today as the boarders were absent. Boarders, get together in your bookclub groups and present the second section to each other and hand in the notes. Sydney, get the notes from Elliot.

Keenan, I need your notes from today's presentation.

Keep note of key quotes as you will be required to create a quotation log.
We'll be in the lab for two days. First day you respond to quotes. Second day, you write the essay.
Deadlines come sooner than we expect. Check your calendars.

Next class: Robbie Burns and William Blake.

Next bookclub: Day 4: Friday, May 4.

English 9

You are such an amazing group of people. I am always delighted by how much we accomplish in one period.

Homework: Choose five great poems from the Claremont Reviews you took home with you. Post it note them. Next class we'll begin our anthology project. I'll book a computer lab. Arrive knowing why you like it--stucture, theme, imagery, reminds you of someone, inspires you etc.

This weekend work on your story. Is it as good as you can make it? What do you need to alter/revise?

I collected all the short story texts today. If you still have your text at home, please return it to me on Monday.

Due Monday: Last day for USSR forms for April. Typed, edited short story. Can't wait to read them.

Thanks for listening to my poems. You'll be reading your poems aloud at the end of the unit. We bring food to share and imagine we are in a poetry cafe.

If you want to be inspired, ask for persmission to come to the theatre in EITHER period 4 or 5 next Wed. May 2. We have four astonishing professional poets coming to the school and Writing 12 students will be reading their work as well. It will give you a lot of ideas for writing your own poems.

Your entire period 4 or 5 class is welcome to come. Your teacher simply needs to email Ms. McCachen to tell her you are coming. It's to celebrate National Poetry Month.
Yay.

English 9

Today we read our USSR books for 15 minutes. Next, each student edited two stories.

Make sure to correct/revise tonight so that your story will be ready for Thursday.

BRING A COPY OF THE EDITED STORY TO CLASS. TITLE IT BUT DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON IT.

Thursday, during class, you will fill out a contest entry form and staple it to your story. Good luck. Be sure to keep an electronic copy safe so that if you do win, you will be able to send them a copy.

Your edited short story is due Monday, April 30. Be sure that you have met all of the criteria.

English 10A

I collected the love/hatred paragraphs based on your analysis of Act 1.

Shelfari was due April 15th so be sure to update your account.

The final Shelfari date is May 31. There is an award for our top reader so you may want to list all the books you have read this year or add them to your bookshelf so we can ascertain a winner.

We read Act 2's prologue and scene 1 but mostly we tried to ascertain our own prejudices regarding love. We could not agree on much although Richard's Venn diagram seemed to calm us down and return the passionate discussion to a milder skepticsm that may be masquerading as rationalism.

Tonight: USSR--update Shelfari and keep reading. There is not a lot of homework during the Shakespeare unit so it is a great opportunity to read those books on your to-do lists.

We did comment on Romeo's symbolic representation of love. In order to follow love in Act 2, he must separate himself from his friends. Is that wise? Mercutio says, The ape is dead.

What part of Romeo has died and what part has come alive? We began reading the balcony scene.
Romeo's depiction of Juliet is filled with light imagery. Why?

Lit 12

I collected the Modest Proposal imitations today. I also emailed everyone updated marks. Please check to ensure they are correct.

Today, we introduced the topic: Romantic Period. Read and take notes. Whenever you take notes, be sure to add in your inferences.

We took notes on the pre-Romantic poet, Robert Burns. Read the section on Burns in your text book.

Next, we discussed the definition of lyric poetry, since "Ode to a Mouse" is a lyric.

Finally, we began to read the poem. We will finish up tomorrow before starting Blake.
We also discussed the role of art and who should pay artists. Government? Benefactors?
Why is art needed in society?
Imagine a world without music, art, literature, television, scuplture, opera, dance.
What is left?
Why do we create art? Why do we crave it? Ignore it? Praise it? Revile it?

Writing 12

I emailed you all the important dates. Please mark them on your calendar.
May 2 reading is all set. Check the schedule so you know when you are reading.
Get permission to miss class. Remind me to put it into SDS.

AP LIT

We'll go over the mock multiple choice next class. You also have a practice multiple choice section.
Please complete that one for Wednesday. You have the answers for that one.
Are you noticing a pattern in the errors?

Next up--a comedy and then it's review.

Anyone wanting to write a mock this Saturday? Let me know.

Lit 12

Tuesday: Submit your "Modest Proposal" imitations. We will have a pop quiz on Pope (open notebook) so make sure your notes are detailed.

Today: Book club. If you were absent, be sure to speak to a member of your group and copy down all of the notes.

Be sure to note the date for your presentation to your group. Hand in those notes on the day that you present.

English 9

Today we wrote the comprehension test for our short story unit.

Tuesday: your first draft of your short story is due. Be sure to type it up, double space, check and re-check that you have followed all of the criteria. Re-read the exercises we did in class where we practiced revealing character traits and character motivations through action and dialogue rather than through straight description. As you revise, ensure that no more than 25% of your story is "telling". Focus on showing--via action, descriptions of symbols which represent the character, what other characters have to say or their reactions to the character, character foils, dialogue, dreams, etc. Read your notes.

Looking forward to reading your stories soon.

We will need to submit them Friday (good copy) in order to mail them off to the BCTELA writing contest. Maximum word length: 1500.

English 10

Today, we finished reading Act 1. We took a lot of notes on the last two scenes, focussing on the attitudes toward love from Mercutio and Romeo's positions. We discussed the role of passion as the catalyst for irrational acts. We discussed the dichotomy between the characters who view love/hate rationally and those who view it passionately. We also discussed Romeo's reactions to first seeing Juliet and the Biblical imagery which he uses to describe her. Be sure to get the notes from a classmate.

Homework:

Review Act 1. Make sure you have notes on all of the scenes and that you are systematically underlining key passages to use in your quotation log as preparation for the literary essay.

Write a 250 to 350 word literary paragraph on the following question:

Discuss the attitudes toward love and hatred in Act 1. Be sure that your thesis offers an insightful summary to what we have been discussing and that you cite the passages accurately. Be sure to add insight. I suggest you spend time on creating a what/so what chart so that you may focus on writing style as you organize your thoughts into a paragraph. (GREAT REVIEW for the final exam, too).

"......." (1.2.11). (Act. Scene. line). No period after the line. Place the period after the bracket.
If you are citing more than one line, use a hyphen (1.2.31-33).

Writing 12

Congratulations to Gabe who won first prize for his poem, ``Below the Branches,`` in the national poetry contest sponsored by The League of Canadian Poets. GAbe won $350.00 cash, will be published in a special collectioin of poems called The Silver River, a national poetry month poster, and a one year membership to the League of Canadian poets.

Congrats to all of you on your wonderful first drafts!! Now, the writing begins. Where can you take these characters? Where might the writing benefit from a little sprucing up? Where do you have to put pressure on your characters? Do you have the point of view correct? Is the structure working for you? Do you need to add another scene or two?

Thanks also for volunteering to read during period 4 or 5, May 2.
And mark your calendar for our BIG night, THE CHAPBOOK LAUNCH, Tues. June 5.

Friday: Science Bldg. Computer Lab
Monday: South Computer Lab: Crothall
Wednesday, April 25: Science Bldg. Computer Lab
Friday: Short Story is due. Bring two copies. One for me to edit / mark  and a second one WITHOUT YOUR NAME ON IT that we can mail to Vancouver for the BCTELA contest. Be sure to keep electronic copies handy and to check your email over the summer as they will be contacting you.

If you would like me to read and edit the story before you send it to the BCTELA, I would need to have it by Tuesday (dinner time) in order to get it back to you by Wednesday's class.

AP LIT

For you faithful blog-checkers

Today: If you were absent, be sure to pick up the handout and copy the notes from a friend. We finished the novel study today. There will be an in-class essay on the novel late next week.

Monday: Multiple-choice section of the mock AP exam. Bring pencils for the bubble sheet.

A practice mock exam is available for pick up in my room.

Lit 12

Today I collected the notes from the 18th century. We introduced the genre--the mock-epic. (If you were absent, be sure to get the notes from a friend). We discussed a new author, Alexander Pope, see page 400. We took notes on page 401 and then we read and made notes on the mock-epic poem, The Rape of the Lock. For each canto (section/chapter) of the epic create the following:
1. a summary of what happens
2. examples of satire
3. examples of mock-epic style or content
4. Write down a good quotation which summarizes the tone of the section.

Be prepared to share your answers next day in class.

You may want to use Spark Notes for this one in order to make sure you know what is happening as the language and the mock-epic style inflate the trivial in order to satirize society's obsession with triviality: gossip, hairstyles, fashion, courtship.

Look for the use of allusion and juxtaposition throughout the piece.

|Read the footnotes. Know what a sylph does and who their leader is.

English 9

Today we practiced the difficult creative writing skill called showing and not telling.
We shared the descriptions we wrote at home, we wrote about three objects in our bedrooms and we created a scene with a father and son in a garage. If you were absent, be sure to call your homework buddy to get more specific instructions. I also handed back the paragraphs you wrote during class before the spring break. If you would like it back to study from, see me tomorrow.

Friday: Short Story Test. Be sure to study.

Tuesday: Bring your first draft to class for peer editing. Typed, double-spaced, following the criteria plus no more than 25% of the piece should be directly stated. 75% showing not telling. Let your reader infer. Also, it's more fun to write from an indirect stance. Rely on your inner-sneaky self!! (EVIL LAUGH HERE!).

AP Lit

If you were away today, ask me for the article I handed out about The American Dream in the 20s. Then we worked in groups on key concepts of the novel, women, identity, symbols, and setting. If you missed the class, choose one of the topics and create notes so you'll be able to participate tomorrow.

Mock multiple choice section is scheduled for Monday, April 23. Shakespeare's birthday.

Lit 12

I love your enthusiasm for Lit 12!! I always feel more enlivened after an hour with you. Thanks for that.

If you were absent today, there are a couple of things to do to catch up.
1. Read and take notes on Jonathan Swift. Read his essay entitled "A Modest Proposal". Review the elements of satire. When you return, get the notes from a friend.

We discussed how effective this satire was in truly moving the reader on an emotional level despite the essay's rational, calm tone.

Your job now is to imitate Swift's style. However, on a much smaller scale, and you may choose a pet peeve rather than satirizing a government's blatant collusion in the starvation of the poor!

Choose a topic you would like to satirize: curfews, driving tests, lunch programs, uniforms, big brothers, little sisters, first dates, whatever you want.

Choose an appropriate narrator, tone, and diction (key elements in Swift's piece).

Use specific examples to promote your piece. Good writing also always uses concrete imagery and appeals to the five senses.

Marks awarded for using the elements of satire as well: hyperbole, understatement, sarcasm, wit and irony.

Length: 300 to 500 words. Typed. Double spaced.
Due: Tues. April 24. No lates accepted. If you need an alternate deadline, let me know well in advance.

Homework due tomorrow: 18th century notes what / so what -- Be sure to include all the key facts but also your reactions to those facts. Add enough detail to make the section memorable.

AP Lit

I've marked your Camus tests. A few of you have not yet handed me section 3--the absurdist rant. Must bring it tomorrow in order for it to count.
I won't be handing the tests back until all students have written them.

We'll continue our study of The Great Gatsby tomorrow.
Be sure that you have read it so that we can work in small groups to create presentations.

Lit 12

Last day for Lear work and BCTELA entries is today.

18th century: Read and make notes on pages 332 to 342. The best notetaking is not simply copying from the text but to add your opinions about what you are reading. What/so what work best.
Next, apply that information to the works we read during this unit.
Be able to answer this question:
How will the political and cultural situations of the time influence the writing of the time?
What are their interests? What genres will suit these themes?
Sonnets? NOOOOOOOOOOO
Lyrics? Maybe?
Satire? HMMMM
Parody? HMMM

We will cut "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" from the core list. Scratch it off.

Read Chudleigh's |"To The Ladies" on page 355 (if you were absent). Take notes on form, literary techniques and form. Also, tie it to themes from works we have already studied. By doing so, you are preparing for the final essay from the exam, where you choose three works to discuss in a formal literary essay on a topic that the three works share.

In Chudleigh--focus on the rhyming couplets, the use of apostrophe, the radical message, the idea that laws can be changed, power is not natural, the imagery she uses, the fact that she repeats the word nothing five times and the extended metaphor of the servant, throughout.

Next class, we'll be reading Swift. Be prepared for a shock and bring ketchup.

English 9

Keep handing in those USSR forms and filling in the  SMUS reads forms!! You are really doing great work.

Today: We are starting our creative writing assignment, the short story. 1500 word max. in order to meet the BCTELA criteria. Their deadline is May 1.

YOUR deadline is to have a draft here by Tues. April 24th for peer editing. Double space.
If you cannot meet this deadline, you may risk your marks for peer editing. So, break it down into steps.

1. Conclusion: end so the reader doesn't know exactly what will happen next, open-ended is best
2. Imagery: appeal to the five senses, compare using character foils, use characters' thoughts to describe another character, SHOW DON'T TELL
3. Structure: how will you organize the details? Use flashbacks at least once in the story. Make sure it is clear to the reader that you have gone into the past.
4. Sentence Variety, Vocabulary, Diction--good writing starts with the sentence!! Edit well.
5. Character Development: a character must change, a character must confront a situation that makes him/her question his/her beliefs about him/herself.

A story is the "art of the glimpse". Choose one small amount of time--a funeral, a scout banquet, a fishing trip, a visit to the doctor, a first date, a first day of school or new job, a visit to a baseball game, in order to put some pressure on your characters.

Good writing makes a character confront!! Confront their comfort zones. Confront their self image.

NO ONE CAN WRITE YOUR STORY. IT'S NOT ABOUT TALENT--IT'S ABOUT SIGNATURE. THE WAY YOU TELL THE STORY IS WHAT WE ARE INTERESTED IN. MAKE THE CHARACTERS BELIEVABLE AND MAKE THEM TALK AND DO THINGS.

Your story must have dialogue. It cannot simply be a journal entry.



Tonight's Homework:
Create a scene where you describe something from one character's point of view. Make the character (happy or sad or angry or confused). When we read your description, we should be able to figure out what your character is feeling indirectly by inferring from your descriptions.

For example, imagine describing a barn from a father's point of view who has just lost his son in a tragic farming accident. Suddenly, the light shining through the crack in the roof looks like the light he saw at the funeral home, the cow is thin and looks like death, the hinges on the big door squeak as if they are mocking him, the hay is dry and tasteless, the horse refuses to eat.

Choose your details with care. You may have dialogue in your description. Try to apply the criteria for good writing that we discussed today.

After you wrote it, think about your process. Which details are too obvious? Which ones need to be more developed? Which details are cliched (i.e you stole the idea from TV or a book). Which ideas are original? Which ideas are your pleased with?

Bring this passage to class Wednesday. Be prepared to share it with the class and to discuss your process.

English 10 A

I collected your poems for the BCTELA contest. Good luck. I'll mail them in this week.
Thanks for entering all of the contests on line as well. If you've forgotten, there is still time!

We did a VENN diagram on love and hatred. Your topic for the essay and quote log is love and hatred in Romeo and Juliet. (play titles are italicized or underlined when writing)

We reviewed the Renaissance in England, the sonnet, love poetry, iambic pentametre, blank verse, prose, the characters in the play, and we read the prologue.

You own these books so be sure to highlight key lines as we read. More specifically, look for quotes on the love/hatred topic. You may use different coloured highlighters.

Be sure to update Shelfari for the book (s) you read between March 15 and April 15.

AP LIT

Grad Write-ups are due today. Please email me your blurb. Thanks.

Camus Test was today. If you were absent, be sure to study your notes. Arrive with the Absurdist response if you feel you will need more time.

Mock Exam Monday: Section TWO
Periods 4 and 5 for most of you.
Lunch time and period 4 for Jack and Chrystine.
Other times by arrangement-Hannah, Jonty, Mitch, Peter?

This section is the three 40 minute compositions piece.

1. Read a prose passage and write a composition. These questions are testing your ability to annotate prose. There will be a specific question regarding the character or the setting or some change in the piece and they want you to discuss it in terms of style-diction, syntax, tone, symbol, etc

2. Read a poem and answer a question in an essay. (Similar to above but using poetic techniques). Be sure to review previous compositions that you have written this year.

The key to success on 1 and 2 is to play close attention to the passages and to use a number of key quotations in your answer. For each quotation, be sure to clearly explain it. No need to repeat what is already there. Inferences are needed. Explain how the example proves your thesis. Be sure to stick to the topic. ANSWER THE QUESTION.

3. Composition on works you have read. There will be one question (see the list of 23 questions from the last few years) on the handout I gave you. They list possible titles and authors. Don't worry if a novel or play you wish to discuss is not on the list. Their list is a recommendation.

Use works we studied this year or any piece of literature from grades 9 to 12 that you know well.

The key here is to use specific examples. Discuss the graveyard scene, the bedroom scene, the nunnery scene from Hamlet, for example. Discuss the restaurant scene, the garden scene, the character of Ben in Death of a Salesman. Discuss the vigil, the shooting of the Arab, the reading and re-reading of the newspaper article in The Outsider. Without specific examples (and ideally quotes) you will not get a high mark. Review the elements of formal, literary writing. Style is a key element for AP Lit. They want to see accurate diction, sentence variety, a facility with language and punctuation, engaging
prose. Underline the titles of novels, plays and epic poems. These are the only three genres you may use on this section.

When trying to choose a book to write about, immediately think of three key scenes. If you cannot, DO NOT USE THAT BOOK.

Please arrive on time and bring two pens and some water. You will have two hours to write.

Writing 12

I have emailed you your first lines (mysterious laugh here). Take the character you created and the character you were handed and create the first 300 words for a story similar to the Dobyns' story we read in class where Floyd Beefus meets the gas man and one of the characters is definitely changed by the encounter but the reader does not know which one until the end of the story. Dobyns said that he wrote that story from a first line which is why I have emailed you all your first lines. If the line doesn't fit exactly the characters you have, feel free to change it to suit your needs.

Bring the typed 300 words to class Tuesday to read aloud and to discuss your process.

We worked with the idea of status today and ways to improve dialogue so using Dobyns as your model, the idea of status and dialogue ideas, let's see you experiment with your writing style.

I collected your first stories today. I'm looking forward to them.

Author presentations will start the week after next. We will do two per week. I'll give you your date on Tuesday. Your job now is to read, read, read your author's books and to decide what attributes you think the class would enjoy imitating. Looking forward to these presentations. Your poetry presentations were brilliant.

Lit 12

I returned the essays, tests and notebooks today. Quote logs will be marked by the next class.
I thought you all did a terrific job. Today, we started the novels. You each know when you are presenting. On your presentation day, submit your notes to me to be marked. What / so what? chart or what's important and why charts are fine. Just be sure not to miss any good parts. Look for the items we had on the board today: motif, tone changes, symbols, themes, character changes, bring key passages to the group for analysis (the way we did with Lear). We are not looking at plot here. Your essay is on theme--what observation of the world is the author making through these characters at this time in this place? Your personal analysis is best. Spark notes and company are good for general summaries and for noting motifs but the depth is simply not there. Your ideas are needed. If you do visit sites, be sure to include a works cited page with your chart.

In-class essay will be June 5 in the south lab. You will also be able to use this novel on the Lit 12 final exam and next year on the AP Lit or Lang exams. Yay!!

Bring your novels to class every day 4 and 8 only. Bring the text to class for the other days.

Keep reviewing the Anglo-Saxon and Renaissance materials whenever you can as the final exam is not that far away.

You'll love units 3 and 4. Guaranteed!!

We'll make notes on the 18th century next class and soon we'll read a hilarious essay by Jonathan Swift called "A Modest Proposal". Only the Irish would suggest eating babies as a way to solve the poverty problem. He makes a persuasive argument. (ouch, this tongue is stuck in my cheek).

English 9

Welcome back. Great to see everyone and as a group, you read over 50 books during the break! Congratulations. Did you know that if you read just 21 minutes per day, you expose yourself to 1, 823,000 words? The world's words are a lot less lonely because of English 9 students like you.

BUT did you know that if you read just 65 minutes per day, you read 4, 358,000 words per year?

Go, readers, go!

Tonight: Finish reading Arthur Gordon's story, "The Sea Devil" on page 32 in your short story texts. Be sure to note all the instances of personification you can find. Arrive, next class, prepared to discuss the effects of personification for this particular story. How do we persuade effectively? One great way is empathy. Get your reader to step inside the body of your character. In this case, inside a FISH!! How does Gordon create empathy for the fish?

Next class, you will begin writing your short story. One of the key tasks in this story will be to create empathy for your character so you'll pick someone that doesn't always get the understanding that you think they deserve. It could be based on a family member--grandparent, uptight uncle, hyperactive cousin etc. It could be based on a stereotype that you wish to uncover--a murderer, a politician, a teenage boy, a monster under the bed, an insect. Stories are the "art of the glimpse". You will need to narrow the situation down to one key incident, ie, the loss of a penny, one event of fishing, a scout banquet, a day in the life of a family, etc. Re-read the stories in your text book for ideas regarding structure. "Penny in the Dust" is a flashback, for example. "The Veldt" uses a few key elements of science fiction--a technologically sound house. "The Father" uses a few flashbacks but the actual event is one evening. Amazing!!

Study for your test and keep reading. Words will thank you for it.

Writing 12

Great to see you today. Welcome back. We read the Stephen Dobyns' story, "So I Guess You Know What I Told Him". Friday, we'll be using some of Dobyns' ideas to do a writing activity that will work into a new story.
We'll be looking at the concept of "status" between characters.

Your edited stories from term 2 are due Friday. I'm really looking forward to reading these.
Be sure to double space them, have a title, and follow the criteria for literary short stories. Look at the criteria sheet. The copy should be clean. Catch typos.

Friday: Bring a character to class. You will need a name, age, and occupation for this fictitious character. High school student or university student can be an occupation for this exercise.

AP Lit

Camus Test Friday.
Mock AP exam Monday, periods 4 and 5. If you are not free during period 5, arrive at lunch so you will have enough time. Thanks.

Please be sure that you have read and thought about the novel, The Great Gatsby. We'll spend time on it next week.