Q and A: The College Admissions Process

An article worth reading about the college admissions process.

We're out of school!

But you DO have a blog this week- read the post below this one.

If you need an exam study guide, email me and I can forward it to you. I won't be able to tell you if you are exempt or not until tomorrow (Tuesday).

If we don't have school tomorrow, I will go ahead and post the research paper grade for you to see. If we do, I will give back the papers in class and post the grade in the afternoon.

Enjoy your two free hours!

Last Week!! (Required)

Here's your last blog before the break. Enjoy the easy 20 points!

The topic is simple: tell me what you learned this semester in AP English.

Discuss what you struggled with, what you really enjoyed, what stuck with you the most, what you still need to work on, etc.

Enjoy your time off, and I'll see you when we get back!!!!!

I have to turn in grades on Friday, so you must post BEFORE Friday. Thursday night at the latest.

Week 15- No blog.

Celebrate. Again.

Week 14- No Blog!

No Blog this week. Think about your research paper. We meet in the library Friday, Monday, and Tuesday.

Week 13- NO BLOG!!!!!

NO BLOG THIS WEEK!

(woohoo!)

Remember: Hamlet MWDS and in class essay this Friday (11/7). Your research proposal is due on Wednesday, November 12th.

General Hamlet Discussion

You are not required to answer this post- but I'd like you to use it for your general Hamlet questions and comments. Discuss your assigned act, a soliloquy you don't quite understand, or whatever other question you might have.

For example:

Why has Hamlet captured audiences for so many years? What is it about this play that continues to inspire and enthrall people over 400 years after it was written?

Why doesn't Hamlet just kill Claudius???

Is the ghost a good ghost or a bad ghost?

Why is Fortinbras important?

Week 12 Required- Hamlet

Without a doubt, appearance vs reality is a major topic in Hamlet.

Where do we see this topic? (Think specific scenes, quotations, characters) Look for moments when something "seems" or "is like" something else.

What conclusions can you draw about this topic?

What is Shakespeare suggesting, revealing, foreshadowing, etc?

Week 11 Required Post- Poetry

The second nine weeks is mostly devoted to poetry, and the next work we're reading is Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is printed in the Bedford, but I highly encourage you to get a copy of your own for annotating. (And so you don't have to carry around the Bedford the whole time.) After Hamlet, at the end of the second nine weeks, we'll read Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, another play.

But for week 11, I'd like you to post about your experiences with poetry. For example:

• Is there a particular poet you enjoy?
  
• Have you ever had to memorize a poem? Was it a worthwhile experience? Can you still recite it?
  
• What is your earliest memory of poetry?
• What have been some of your struggles with poetry?
  
• What is it about poetry that you enjoy?
  
• Why do some people (possibly including you) think that poetry is so tough?
• Why is poetry important?
  
• What makes a poem a poem?
  

You don't have to answer all of the above questions; I've just given them to you as examples in case you can't think of something to write.

This post is due by midnight, Friday, October 24th.

Week 10 Required Post- Choice Novel

No post required for Week 9! (I'm sure you'll somehow find a way to survive....)

For Week 10, the week after Fall Break, I want you to post ALL of the following:

1. Your general reactions to your choice novel upon finishing
   
2. Your questions about your choice novel that still remain
   
3. Something in the novel you found interesting
4. A quote you loved and why
   
5. A possible theme
   

Feel free to use some of your reactions (the four typed pages due this coming Friday, October 17th). As usual, this post is due by midnight on Friday, October 17th.

Week 8 Required Post- END OF THE NOVEL!

Congratulations!! You have finished the novel!!!!!!!!!!!!! (The longest novel of the year, actually!) I am so proud of you, and I've really enjoyed our class discussions so far.

For Week 8, write down your thoughts about Ellison's Invisible Man through the end of the novel! Please write at least four or five sentences about:

• your reactions
• your questions
• your thoughts
• words, phrases, or sentences that stood out to you
• your engagement with the novel: dissect it, unravel it, work your way around in it
• what you think will happen next or at some point in the future
  

Note: I want you to be honest about your thoughts, but this is not your opportunity to whine or complain. Let's keep these posts thoughtful, intelligent, critical, and insightful.

Do not make your post simply a list of questions you expect someone else to answer.
Nor do I want a summary of what happened.

(I apologize for not being at school Friday and Monday- hopefully you used this time and will be ready for a great discussion on the novel on Tuesday!!)

Week 7 Required- IM Chapters 13-18

For Week 7, write down your thoughts about Ellison's Invisible Man through the end of chapter eighteen (this reading assignment was due on Monday). Please write at least four or five sentences about:

• your reactions
• your questions
• your thoughts
• words, phrases, or sentences that stood out to you
• your engagement with the novel: dissect it, unravel it, work your way around in it
• what you think will happen next or at some point in the future
  

Please keep your comments limited to what happens from chapter seven to the end of chapter twelve so as not to spoil anything for anyone.

Note: I want you to be honest about your thoughts, but this is not your opportunity to whine or complain. Let's keep these posts thoughtful, intelligent, critical, and insightful.

Do not make your post simply a list of questions you expect someone else to answer.
Nor do I want a summary of what happened.

Finish the novel for Monday!! We'll work on a MWDS in class next week.

Week 6 Required, Invisible Man Chapters 7-12

For Week 6, write down your thoughts about Ellison's Invisible Man through the end of chapter twelve (this reading assignment and vocab words are due on Wednesday). Please write at least four or five sentences about:

• your reactions
• your questions
• your thoughts
• words, phrases, or sentences that stood out to you
• your engagement with the novel: dissect it, unravel it, work your way around in it
• what you think will happen next or at some point in the future
  

Please keep your comments limited to what happens from chapter seven to the end of chapter twelve so as not to spoil anything for anyone.

Note: I want you to be honest about your thoughts, but this is not your opportunity to whine or complain. Let's keep these posts thoughtful, intelligent, critical, and insightful.

Do not make your post simply a list of questions you expect someone else to answer.
Nor do I want a summary of what happened.

Week 5 Required Post- Invisible Man Reactions

For Week 5, write down your thoughts about Ellison's Invisible Man through the end of chapter six (this reading assignment and vocab words are due on Thursday). Please write at least four or five sentences about:

• your reactions
• your questions
• your thoughts
• words, phrases, or sentences that stood out to you
• your engagement with the novel: dissect it, unravel it, work your way around in it
• what you think will happen next or at some point in the future
  

Please keep your comments limited to what happens from the prologue to the end of chapter six so as not to spoil anything for anyone.

Note: I want you to be honest about your thoughts, but this is not your opportunity to whine or complain. Let's keep these posts thoughtful, intelligent, critical, and insightful.

Do not make your post simply a list of questions you expect someone else to answer.
Nor do I want a summary of what happened.

Week 4 Required Post- Allusions

The novel we're starting this week contains many allusions- some of which may be familiar to you while others may not be. In class on Friday, bring information about your assigned allusion to share with the class. You are NOT turning in anything typed about your allusion- you are just verbally presenting on it. However, I'd like you to put post on the blog the factual information about your allusion for everyone to see and keep (and include a source. Where did you get your information? Please use MLA, as always, for citing your source.) More than one person has each allusion, so please try not to repeat each other.

Note: Wikipedia does not count as a source. "Answers.com," "Geocities," "Book Rags" or similar pages are also not sources. You should know by now how to do proper research, and you should know what counts as a credible website and what is simply non-academic, or even junk.

In your post, describe your allusion- who is he/she or what is it? biographical info? historical info? This information should take the form of a good paragraph (8-10 sentences at least) or paragraphs, not bulleted points. I'll post the assigned allusions this weekend on this blog.

Week 3 Required Post- Short Stories

For Week 3, I'd simply like you to respond to one of the short stories assigned this week. You may want to wait until the end of the week to post so that you've read all of the assigned readings. Your response should take the form of a lengthy paragraph or paragraphs- somewhere between 8-10 sentences at least. Basically, I want to see your thinking on one of the short stories.

Keep in mind that your response should be a thoughtful contribution to our discussion of the stories- not a summary or review. Think about the following:

What are some of the themes for these stories?

What jumped out at you the most in one, or in more than one, of these stories? What was your initial reaction?

What questions still remain following your reading of the stories? What did you notice that we did not talk about in class?

Here's your chance to say something you didn't get to say in class or didn't think about until it was too late. Please do not summarize the story or restate what we already said in class.

Week 2 Required Post- Crime and Punishment

"The real significance of crime is in its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind" - the great Joseph Conrad

For week 2, respond to one or more of the following questions:

Are there different levels of crime? Are some crimes worse than others? How do you rank what's worse?

For example, is it worse to break a promise to a friend or to cheat on a test? Is it worse to NOT help someone in need or to damage someone's property? Is there such thing as a just crime? a just war? How can we make these types of decisions? (I'm not asking you to answer THESE questions in particular, but to think about and discuss them in a general sense.) Feel free to use Crime and Punishment to support your opinions!

How do we know what's wrong or right? Where do we get our value systems? Does everyone have the same one? How do you know your value system is the right one to follow?

Week 1 Required Post- Who are you?

Emily Dickinson wrote, "I'm nobody, who are you?"

So, who are you?? Help me get to know you by commenting on this entry and posting the following:

1. Your name and class period
2. An odd fact about you that not many people know (something other than what you said in class!)
3. A favorite book and a description of why it's your favorite

Your comment is due by midnight on Friday, August 15th.

Slaughterhouse 5

Comment and post your questions/comments/thoughts about Slaughterhouse 5 for your classmates to read and respond to this summer.

The Things They Carried

Comment and post your questions/comments/thoughts about The Things They Carried for your classmates to read and respond to this summer.

The Namesake

Comment and post your questions/comments/thoughts about The Namesake for your classmates to read and respond to this summer.

Crime and Punishment

Comment and post your questions/comments/thoughts about Crime and Punishment for your classmates to read and respond to this summer.