THE FISH ANALYSIS AND NOTES

1. Go to the following website for an interactive study guide on “The Fish:”
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/fish_elements.html
2. Look at the left side of the screen within the green box. Read the “Elements of Poetry” tab carefully.
3. Click on the following literary elements: Diction, Image, Irony, Simile, Symbol, and Tone
4. For each, after clicking on the term, click on “Complete Exercise.”
5. THEN, carefully read each of the samples and TAKE NOTES on analysis that is helpful to you, gets your attention, or heightens your understanding of the poem. Notes on only one sample per exercise is acceptable.

SYLLABUS 2011-2012

WORLD LANGUAGE HIGH SCHOOL
COURSE SYLLABUS
2011-2012
ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

Instructor
Mr. Julius
Email: ajulius@cps.edu
Phone: (773) 535-4334
Web Blog: www.juliusaplit.blogspot.com

Supplies Needed

-Each of the following supplies must be brought to class every day. Each item should be for this class only:
o Binder/Folder
o Notebook
o Pen
o book or reading for the day

Course Description and Assignments

Reading

The most important requirement for this course is that students read every assignment. Assignments must be read with care and absolutely on time. Students who are not used to the amount of reading in this course will need to plan ahead, read ahead, and begin assignments will plenty of time. Please do not plan to read novels or even poetry at the last minute. Not having read assignment on time will be a devastating negative move for your grade and your experience in this course. Students should closely follow their reading calendars. The class blog will be another useful tool for students, as it will be updated with reading tips, guiding questions and ideas, and literary links.

Writing

This course is designed to teach college-level writing through the study of works of literary merit, and follows the requirements of the College Board’s AP course description. This class will act as a kind of workshop in which you will study literature through many lenses and produce well thought-out, meaningful literary criticism. We will write several formal pieces per quarter, all of which will target some aspect of writing, such as structure and style. Your writing will be kept in a portfolio which will serve as your own personal collection of close reading and analysis.

The types of writing in the course will include writing to learn, and writing your own critical pieces. All critical writing will ask you to evaluate the effective of a literary piece, and to effectively explain your analysis to a reader audience.

Many of your writing pieces will be revised, some more than once. Each revision will concentrate on a specific aspect of writing style and/or structure, so that they are worthy of a polished AP portfolio. Students will use a variety of feedback from the instructor, such as individual written feedback, whole-class general feedback on common struggles and strengths, collective feedback on an overhead projector, and constructive peer review. All in all, there are high expectations for timely work, careful reading, and participation in discussions and collaborative learning.

Each student will write several short critical papers, analyzing prose, poetry, drama, and literary criticism. Creative writing will involve some short poetry and drama. Students will also use research and criticism to write at least two long papers. All papers will be assigned with a handout description and/or rubric, and most will need to be appropriately typed and formatted, all information of which will be dispersed to students ahead of time. Final drafts of papers are expected on the due date, during the class period.

Quizzes, Exams, In-Class Writings

On occasion, we will have essay and short answer response exams that will ask students to synthesize their understanding and their work. Many will be structured like the AP English Literature exam, which will be taken in May 2010 by all students. Most quizzes will be announced, and will be short in length. Their main purpose is to account for the reading and to engage an idea I will have previously asked you to pay close attention to. In-class writings will mimic the AP English Literature Exam in order to prepare you for the exam. Many of the in-class writings will serve as a quiz grade.

AP English Literature Exam

All students are expected to take the exam, which is a course requirement. The exam is scheduled for Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 8 a.m. Throughout the year, students will be familiarized with the exam structure and what it takes to be successful on the exam. In-class writings will be a frequent strong indicator of student preparedness for the exam.

Class Participation

Because this course is designed as a college-level literature study course, class participation is necessary and will be graded. All students are expected to contribute to discussion. Although some students are more vocal than others, traditionally non-vocal students can still receive a very good grade for class participation if they express something meaningful or insightful when they choose to speak. All students are encouraged to speak in class, and all students are expected to show respect in all literary argument and discussion

Binder and Journal

All students should have a binder and journal for this course exclusively. It is important element of being an organized, successful student in a challenging course.

Tardiness

All students are expected to be on time. As AP students, seniors, and young adults, chronic tardies are unacceptable. Multiple tardies will be result in a negative grade in the participation section below. The proper consequences according to school and campus policy will be followed.

---Tardy Policy:

1. Sign in when you come in late, or when told to do so.
2. After 3 tardies, a call home home will be placed
3. After 3 tardies, your grade will be dropped by up to 15 points in the Class Participation and Policy grade
4. Note: In the last few years, some of my students have failed the class in part because of this. See me after school for details.


Grading Scale

Letter Grade Numerical Average
A 100-90
B 89-80
C 79-70
D 69-60
F 59 & below

Literary Works
-These are some of the works that we will study in this course, although this list is subject to change.

Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Goblin Market, Christina Rossetti
Oedipus the King, Sophocles
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Paradise Lost, John Milton
The Inferno, Dante
The Piano Lesson, August Wilson
The Stranger, Albert Camus
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster
Various short stories
Poetry weekly
Various works of visual art, film, and music


 BY BEING IN THE ROOM OR ACCESSING THE BLOG, YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE COURSE OVERVIEW AND STANDARDS IN THIS SYLLABUS.

Samuel Beckett and the Theater of the Absurd

-Theater of the Absurd:
-Read and take notes.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-theater-of-the-absurd.htm

-Samuel Beckett:
-Skim through and jot down important points about this author.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett

MY SCHOOL, MY VOICE SURVEY

-Copy and paste the link below into the address box.
-Read the questions carefully and respond accurately and honestly.

http://research.cps.k12.il.us/MyVoice

The Things They Carried: Web Questions

***Answer the Following Questions on a Separate Sheet***

1.Read the epigraph at the beginning of the text of The Things They Carried.

a. What is an epigraph? How do writers use them?

b. This epigraph is a citation from John Ransom's Andersonville Diary. Go to the website below and answer the following questions: Who was he? What was Andersonville? What is the book about?

http://www.amazon.com/Ransoms-Andersonville-Diary-Bruce-Catton/dp/0425141462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237213843&sr=1-1

c. Given what you discover about the “Andersonville Diary” epigraph and what it introduces, what do you think is the purpose of it introducing The Things They Carried?



2."On the Rainy River" questions the American war in Vietnam, referring to a series of names and places. Look them up.



a. What was the USS Maddox?
b. Where is the Gulf of Tonkin and what is its relationship to the Vietnamese War?
c. Who was Ho Chi Minh?
d. What was SEATO? What were the Geneva Accords?
e. What was the Cold War and why are dominoes mentioned?



3. Browse the photos on the following websites. Warning: some photos are graphic. Choose any three photos and write: 1) a description of the photo, 2) the significance of the imagery in the photo, 3) the emotion or tone of the photo



a. Vietnam War Pix: On this site, browse the categories near the top. (Note: the “Hippies” category sometimes freezes).
http://www.vietnampix.com/



b. Vietnam Gear (Photos arranged by category).
http://vietnamgear.com/gallery.aspx



4.At the end of "On the Rainy River," the narrator makes a kind of confession: "The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war" (p. 61). What does this mean?



5. Carefully read the following quote by author Tim O’Brien. Then write your personal reaction to the quote. For example, do you agree with O’Brien, or disagree? Explain your response.



"Good movies -- and good novels, too -- do not depend upon 'accurate portrayals.' Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an 'accurate' representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows? Who cares? It's a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder, makes us gape; finally makes us look inward at ourselves."

THE WORLD OF DANTE

---Use the given website to answer the questions below. It may be helpful to open up two separate windows on your browser, so that you can read and answer the questions on one page, and explore the website on the other.

http://www.worldofdante.org/index.html

1.Look at the picture on the home page. “Cover” the image of the Inferno on the painting to answer: when does the voyage through hell begin?

2.Click on “Inferno” at the top left. Then, click on the “Gallery” bar. Take a few minutes to watch the slideshow.

3.Click on the “Gustav Dore” section below the slideshow. When did Dore live?

4.Scroll down and choose one of Dore’s illustrations for The Inferno. Click on it and write a good detailed paragraph that describes the overall scene, along with the tone and message the drawing delivers.

5.Click on the “Maps” bar. Explore the three maps of Dante’s Inferno. Notice how you can zoom in and around to navigate the illustrations. Which one of these is your favorite depiction of Dante’s hell, and why? Explain.

6.Take a minute to click on and explore the maps of Italy in Dante’s lifetime.

7.Go further below into the Astronomy section. Click on “Full Moon in Libra” What is the significance of this?

8.Click on “Dante’s Universe” and note the way people in Dante’s lifetime viewed the universe. What is different about what we know now?

9.Click on the “Timeline” bar. Shortly after Dante was born, the Battle of Benevento took place. What year, exactly?

10.In what year was Dante’s first encounter with Beatrice?

11.Although there is truly not much we know about Dante outside of his writings, there is much mythology and unsubstantiated about his encounter with Beatrice. Legend has it that she was Beatrice Portinari. Read the story here- at least the first four paragraphs. TAKE NOTES.

http://www.wisdomportal.com/Romance/Dante-Beatrice.html

AP LITERATURE SUMMER ASSIGNMENT 2009!

World Language High School
AP English Literature and Composition
Summer Assignment: 2009
Due Date: Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

1. Read the entire play Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller.

2. Before reading, complete the handout “The Art of Pre-Reading.” It is due along with the Reading Guide Questions.

3. Complete the Reading Guide Questions in a notebook. All question responses are short answers, most ranging from 1-2 sentences. Please respond in complete sentences.
- I strongly demand that you do not copy these answers from each other. Of course, you may discuss the play with each other; I encourage it. However, if you do not read and then copy the answers from someone, it will be a disastrous mistake, perhaps resulting in a complete zero for both people.

4. This is your first assignment of the 2009-2010 school year. It is worth a total of 50 points.

5. Plan to have your notebook and responses in front of you for our first few days of school. We will discuss the book in depth. You must read and complete the questions to be prepared for both the small group discussions of the play as well as the whole class discussions.

6. Additionally, your first essay of the year will be focused on Death of a Salesman. The essay assignment will be given to you during the first few days of school.

7. This assignment, as well as a copy of the reading questions, will be available all summer on the website below. Also, by June 12th, there will be new postings that may help guide you through the play, such as links to vocabulary, discussion questions, etc. This is the website: http://www.juliusaplit.blogspot.com/

8. This is a independent assignment, but if you are really lost and need assistance, feel free to email me at: popilius@yahoo.com