August 14

AGENDA:

1. JOURNAL Write: 
2. Grades and summer homework - annotations
3. Why we are here and what we want to accomplish and how we will accomplish this - AP does not stand for ALWAYS PUZZLING
4. Syllabus - Texts and plan (1st semester only) 
             Pride and Prejudice 
             Serial
             Heart of Darkness / "White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling
             "The Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot
             Macbeth
             Poetry
             Equus
             A Lesson Before Dying (maybe before the break or over the break)
             
5. Your papers -  Rubric for Papers all year
6. Personal spreadsheet on what you have read and what you know as we move forward this year  
7. Personal Statements / college apps and resumes (CV's) 
8. "Two Cows"

Two Cows


HW: Papers due in class on Monday (2 copies) 

August 13

AGENDA:

1. Socratic Seminar on Jane Austen

HW: Paper due Monday in class (two copies)

August 12

AGENDA:

1. Test on Pride and Prejudice
2. Hand back notes from Pride and Prejudice
3. Mining Literature and discussion (annotations)
4. If time, discuss P & P



HW: Writing assignment due Monday at the beginning of class (bring in 2 copies for class)  - choices here to pick from:


1. One critic writes that "in all Austen's novels, but especially in Pride and Prejudice, pursuing happiness is the business of life," and some would argue that this is not subject enough for a major work of fiction. Do you think that following this small collection of characters as they pursue their versions of happiness is an admirable or appropriate mission for a novel? Explain your response.

2. How do Darcy and Elizabeth show they have overcome their feelings of pride and prejudice?

3. What techniques does Austen use to tie up all loose ends at the climax of the novel?

4. Good sense brings characters together. How does this affect five of the minor or major characters in this novel?

Mining Literature - Pride and Prejudice

August 11

AGENDA:


"There's nothing like teaching," he replied. "There really isn't. Teaching is about connecting. It's about really trying to understand the person that you're working with, the people you're working with, understand their reality. And then try to introduce to them a broader picture that allows them to see things that they might not have seen except for the fact that we had this conversation."



1. Introductions + desk arrangements
2. Turn in your active reading notes on Pride and Prejudice
3. 

 
4. Background on Jane Austen and comparing it to A Doll's House, another 19th century work about women, society and autonomy. Role of the Napoleonic War.
5. If time, more discussion on P&P

HW: Test tomorrow on Pride and Prejudice focusing on the use of epistolary writing as a narrative structure