Thursday, September 27, 2007

Paragraph Organization

Today we'll briefly discuss the organization of this paragraph from the textbook's sample explication essay.

Remember...Say It, Show It, Explain It!

Like many other sonnets, "Design" is divided into two parts. The first eight lines draw a picture centering on the spider, who at first seems almost jolly. It is "dimpled" and "fat" like a baby, or Santa Claus. The spider stands on a wildflower, whose name, "heal-all," seems ironic: a heal-al;l is supposed to cure any disease, but this flower has no power to restore life to the dead moth. (Later, in line ten, we learn that the heal-all used to be blue. Presumably, it has died and become bleached-looking.) IN the second line we discover, tolo, that the spider has hold of another creature, a dead moth. We then see the moth descrived with an odd simile in line three: "Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth." Suddenly, the moth seems not a creature but a piece of fabric--lifeless and dead--and yet "satin" has connotations of beauty. Satin is a luxurious material used in rich formal clothing, such as coronation gowns and brides' dresses. Additionally, there is great accuracy in the word: the smooth and slightly plush surface of satin is like the powder-smooth surface of moths' wings. But this "cloth," rigid and white, could be the lining to Dracula's coffin.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Important Due Date Change!

The due date for the explication paper has been changed to Tuesday due to the college fair!

Integrating Quotations

Today we took notes on quotation use. Here's the link to the slideshow. Here's the handout:


Here's the notes for the middle.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Binder Breakdown

Today we will be setting up our binder. Here are the sections you need:

1. Writing Reference
2. Reading Reference
3. Voice Lessons
4. Finished Writing Pieces
5. Quizzes and Tests

Friday, September 21, 2007

Writing Workshop Rules

Here are a few quick and easy rules to help provide an efficient and effective work environment during writing workshop.

  1. Process is Important Above All Else - Carefully brainstorm. Organize your thoughts. Draft. Revise. Edit. We are here to develop academic habits. I do abide by the logic "don't worry, Mr. Malley. It'll get done." I want the best you are capable of. Always.
  2. Talking is to be very, very limited - Writing is thinking. Don't put your thoughts into the heads of others while they are trying to write.
  3. Do Not Shout My Name for Attention - Raise your hand and wait patiently, or if you see I am distracted, walk over to me.
  4. When we conference, talk in your four inch voice. Maybe six - If you talk in your regular voice, it may disturb someone the thoughts of someone else.
  5. Computers Are for My Classwork Only - Don't let me catch you viewing sneakers or working on work for another class.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Word of the Day Feature

We are now responsible for the word of the day on the announcement. Each week I will look for five volunteers to seek out a word from our reading. These words will then serve as the word of the day during the next week's announcements.

I'll have a form for you to record your word. For each word I'll need the following:

  1. The word.
  2. The definition of the word as it is used.
  3. The word in context as it appears in the work.
  4. The author and work.
  5. Your name.
Example
  1. Visionary
  2. definition: existing only in a vision or imagination
  3. "All looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom..."
  4. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
  5. Francis Peters

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Did You Know...Explication Rhymes with Rhythm Nation

And that's no coincidence. Here's the assignment sheet, but that's the only help you're going to find here.




The rest of the help can be found at

Poetry Explication Wiki

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Explication of Hands

Today I asked you folks to explicate this poem in class. By the end of the period, I need you to have one sheet of paper with the following information:

A one to three sentence explanation of the theme.
A two column chart:

Important Line.............................Its Effect or Significance
____________________________________________________________________

Inside a cave in a narrow canyon near Tassajara
The vault of rock is painted with hands,
A multitude of hands in the twilight, a cloud of men’s palms, no more,
No other picture. There’s no one to say
Whether the brown shy quiet people who are dead intended
Religion or magic, or made their tracings
In the idleness of art; but over the division of years these careful
Signs-manual are now like a sealed message
Saying: “Look: we also were human; we had hands, not paws. All hail
You people with cleverer hands, our supplanters
In the beautiful country: enjoy her a season, her beauty, and come down
And be supplanted; for you also are human.”

______________________________________________

poem reprinted from http://piesenlatierra.wordpress.com/tag/robinson-jeffers/



Note: I've published the chart we finished in class. It can be found here.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Unit One: Building Blocks

excerpted from Mr. Malley's syllabus...

Unit One – Building Blocks
Approximate # of Weeks: 3
Text(s)
• Selected poems from X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama as well as copies of other poems to supplement. John Updike's A & P.
• Chapters 15, 16 , 17 from Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama covering connotation, imagery, and figurative language and the “Explicating” sections from Chapters 41 & 42

Big Questions/Big Ideas
How do smaller units of meaning (words, syntax, devices) affect the overall meaning (tone, theme)?

Essential Skills – In this unit, students will review/be introduced to basic skills for literary analysis. As the poem is an accessible, self-contained unit of meaning, it’s a good way to start off looking at how the pieces (language, devices) affect the whole (tone, theme, etc.). We will study these small works and eventually build up to Updike’s short story. Students will practice annotating and will write an explication. Writing mini-lessons will be delivered on effectively integrating quotations and logical structuring of evidence and critical commentary.

Assessment
• Nightly annotations
• analytical essay explicating a poem (500 – 750 words)

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Welcome AP!

Writing Prompt: You are in Advanced Placement Literature because you have chosen to be. What has helped you develop an appreciation for literature. What were those factors? Was there an important book(s)? Important people? Momentous experiences? What has made you like books to such a degree that you are willing to do extra work during your senior year for an opportunity to study at an advanced level?

Be truthful, be poignant. We're going to end up making this into a film.