AP Lit: Post-Test Design Challenge & This Week's Work

Here we go . . .

Your "To Do" List for the 4th Quarter

WRITING ASSESSMENTS

FRANKLINERS short story: 1st submission Due 5/16.  Final Due 5/31 so they can be compiled in an anthology before end of year.
SYNTHESIS 3 Revising
SYNTHESIS 4 Due on Day of Final 6/6

MEDIA ASSESSMENTS

DESIGN CHALLENGE Reflection & "Ship It" Date 6/2


BLOG POSTS
2x Per Week.  Design Challenge Process.  #ShowYourWork.  Keep track of everything.


For THIS WEEK . . .

We are defining the problem that is starting from this place: How might we address the "brain drain" problem of Franklin County?

On Monday we discussed the challenge of defining this problem, seeing this problem from different points of view, and establishing our user class.

We had to do some narrowing . . . 

On Wednesday, we will work to further define the problem and identify our users.  We will use a couple of design thinking strategies and protocols to help us with this work. Remember: design is messy and requires both a bias toward action and a recognition that we may need to shift or pivot our work in a different direction.  It can be tough to reconcile what may seem like divergent problems.

For Wednesday, some folks agreed to dive into the empathy work -- connecting with both folks who might be leaving the area AND with folks who live outside the area and may need to be convinced to return AND with folks who have not lived here before.  Wow.  I just identified a third user class.  I wonder . . how might we appeal to all three with one solution?

Other folks agreed to do some more focused research on brain drain in Franklin County.

And remember through it all, we need to be thinking about how we might employ literature and our knowledge of literature into whatever solution we pursue.

That's one of our key creative constraints.  Using literature to solve the problem. Still leaves us plenty of possibilities to explore.

All Classes: ScreenVid: How to Embed Flipgrid on Blogger Post

AP Lit: Hamlet Acts II & III: Discovery/Experiment Phases of HMW Stage "To Be or Not to Be"

We're doing a bunch of close readings, we're exploring how Shakespeare constructs this narrative, we're discussing how Shakespeare serves as a drama rather than a dogma, we're heading toward building empathy for these characters, and we are taking each class period as it comes so we can focus on the scenes, the moments that speak most to us in the moment.

Phew.  I'm tried just writing all of that.

Here are the blog prompts of last week and this week with regards to Hamlet.   The new blog tracker is up.

ACT I.
Blog: Analytical and Design.  Potent Quotable.  Choose a line from the act I you believe captures the essential TONE of the play so far.  The attitude Shakespeare as author, creator, intent driven artist is bringing to the words of the play.  Playful? Pedantic? Satiric? Doleful?

Then take that one line and illustrate with either an original photograph of your own or an image from Unsplash.com.  Use fonts and your design skills to create a visual.  Post it along with a written or recorded explanation of your intentions behind your design.  Posting your intentions is necessary to meeting the standards for media and reading.

Blog:  Critical Creativity.  Color Palette.  Use ColourLovers.com to create a three to five color color palette for Hamlet Act I. Give each color a unique name that reveals your understanding of the characters thus far.  Explain your intentions to meet the reading standard.
Due Jan 27, 2017

ACT II.

Blog post:  Casting Call.  Very few people did this one last time.  Important to do so this time around because this sort of thinking will help you with your design challenge.  Cast Prince Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Ghost Hamlet, Polonius, Laertes and Horatio.  Creative constraint:  must be a cast that could actually exist.  In other words, you may use actors from the past, but all of the cast must be from that era.  Include a line of dialogue you can imagine the actor speaking in that role and a brief rationale for each chocie.

Blog Post: Close reading Hamlet.  Select a speech or soliloquy from Acts I or II -- any speech except for this, too, too, sullied flesh.  Unpack the speech in terms of poetic and literary devices used, allusions and references, and finally how those elements seem to contribute to a key idea in Hamlet.

Due Feb 6, 2017

ACT III.

Staging Hamlet.  Rose/Bud/Thorn.  Take a look at these three versions of Act I, Scene i.  Rose/Bud/Thorn each interpretation and record your thoughts on FlipGrid.  Then embed your FlipGrid on your blog.  (Help each other to figure out how to do this.  You can do it!)

Scoring Hamlet. (Act III.)   Create an original score for any scene in Act III using either live instrumentation, Garage Band, SoundTrap  Wolfram Tones, Beat Lab, or another online/digital music generator/creator.  Explain your intentions.

Due Friday, Feb 10th, 2017.

AP Lit: Hamlet Begins

This week we begin our work with Hamlet.  I'm currently trying out my iPad to type this so apologies for wonky formatting.  I bought a keyboard case for it but it is sorely lacking.

Monday we explored some of Shakespeare's thematic ideas that emerge in Hamlet: trust, knowledge, discomfort, awareness, observation, power, control. Of course these are just ideas and topics, not themes unto themselves -- what Hamlet forces us to consider, those will be the true themes of the play.

I didn't take any pics of our staring at one another, but that's a great deal of what we did.  And then  discussed how we felt, what we experienced; we also did an exercise in observation.

And just barely started the play.

Wednesday, we dig further into the play.  We will read a great deal of the text in class and do some close readings.

Friday, you will present your True Grit as poetry presentations and explore various productions of Hamlet.

Show Your Thinking.

Read: Hamlet Act I.  Due Friday.

Blog: Analytical and Design.  Potent Quotable.  Choose a line from the act I you believe captures the essential TONE of the play so far.  The attitude Shakespeare as author, creator, intent driven artist is bringing to the words of the play.  Playful? Pedantic? Satiric? Doleful?

Then take that one line and illustrate with either an original photograph of your own or an image from Unsplash.com.  Use fonts and your design skills to create a visual.  Post it along with a written or recorded explanation of your intentions behind your design.  Posting your intentions is necessary to meeting the standards for media and reading.

Blog:  Critical Creativity.  Color Palette.  Use ColourLovers.com to create a three to five color color palette for Hamlet Act I. Give each color a unique name that reveals your understanding of the characters thus far.  Explain your intentions to meet the reading standard.

Independent Book Project: design a solution to a problem posed by your free choice work and present that prototype next Tuesday.  Be certain to justify your prototype intentions based on the text evidence you uncover.  Empathize with your user, consider what truly meets the needs and how you know.  Present to class next Tuesday.

True Grit as Poetry.  Make the case that True Grit follows the structure, form, qualities of an epic, ballad, or sonnet.  Design a visually effective presentation to make your case.  Think about the aesthetic qualities of those poetic forms, consider the devices that best define them, consider tone, subject matter, associated with each.  This should be a challenging question to answers, case to make.

AP Lit: Bieber to Barbara Allen -- Exploring the Ballad

We opened today with a listen to the Beeb's masterpiece,  "Sorry."

We took a look at the lyrics as we listened to this cover  by Ben Rector.

This led to a discussion of tone, of voicing, of speaker, of aesthetics and presentation and its influence upon interpretation.  Rector's rendition lends an authenticity we felt missing from the original -- which we also discovered was written by The Beebs and a team of hundreds (or maybe like three or four other people.)

From here we shifted about a decade back to The Avett Brothers "Ballad of Love and Hate."

We started making a few connections here, seeing a couple of possible patterns, but it really didn't kick in until we dove a generation or two back.

We looked at Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"

And we discovered it's an emotional song for many of us.  We also discovered a great deal interesting about its structure and form, about Dylan's use of internal rhyme and alliteration, and about the effect of the song being in two voices -- the father and the son.   We dove briefly into the biblical allusions evident in the text and then turned our attention to a female balladeer.

Dolly Parton has become synonymous with 1980s country-pop and become more known for her personal style  than anything else.  But here's the thing: for people in the know?  Dolly Parton is one of the greatest songwriters that has ever lived.  Period.   "Jolene" is one of her many masterpieces.  We had a brief discussion of this song and made some interesting points about whether or not Jolene actually exists or is just the manifestation of the speaker's insecurity.  I'm looking forward to returning to this song when we are talking about different lens through which to read and view literature -- a feminist lens on the poem I think could reveal some new insights.

We ran short on time though we did talk even more more about what we could uncover about the ballad form from these selections.  We noted that they tell stories, that they are often quite straight forward even if they make use of figurative language and metaphor, that there is often a dialogue or two characters at the very least.  The stories are usually sad and involve love or romance of some sort.

Before we ended the class we took a look at a few of the traditional ballads of Great Britain's past.

Barbara Allen was the first.  

Barbara Allen

Related Poem Content Details

BY ANONYMOUS

In Scarlet town, where I was born, 

   There was a fair maid dwellin’, 

Made every youth cry Well-a-way! 

   Her name was Barbara Allen. 

All in the merry month of May, 

   When green buds they were swellin’, 

Young Jemmy Grove on his death-bed lay, 

   For love of Barbara Allen. 

He sent his man in to her then, 

   To the town where she was dwellin’; 

“O haste and come to my master dear, 

   If your name be Barbara Allen.” 

So slowly, slowly rase she up, 

   And slowly she came nigh him, 

And when she drew the curtain by— 

   “Young man, I think you’re dyin’.” 

“O it’s I am sick and very very sick, 

   And it’s all for Barbara Allen.”— 

O the better for me ye’se never be, 

   Tho’ your heart’s blood were a-spillin’! 

“O dinna ye mind, young man,” says she, 

   “When the red wine ye were fillin’, 

That ye made the healths go round and round, 

   And slighted Barbara Allen?” 

He turned his face unto the wall, 

   And death was with him dealin’: 

“Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, 

   And be kind to Barbara Allen!” 

As she was walking o’er the fields, 

   She heard the dead-bell knellin’; 

And every jow the dead-bell gave 

   Cried “Woe to Barbara Allen.” 

“O mother, mother, make my bed, 

   O make it saft and narrow: 

My love has died for me today, 

   I’ll die for him tomorrow.” 

“Farewell,” she said, “ye virgins all, 

   And shun the fault I fell in: 

Henceforth take warning by the fall 

   Of cruel Barbara Allen.” 

And "Lord Randall" the second.

We will be looking at more ballads in the week to come, but first we must take a look at epics and get our 2nd synthesis essays in good order.

SHOW YOUR WORK.

This weekend read these openings of ancient, classical,  medieval and English Renaissance epics.

READ the 1st 20 lines of The Odyssey by Homer.

READ  the 1st 20 lines of Beowulf, the ancient poem of northern European origins.

Those two above are to give you some context for the epic form in its origins.

READ, NOTE & CREATE. For the next two, take the time to annotate, take notes, and/or sketchnote.  Bring LITERARY  3x3s of these selections by Dante and Milton to class on Tuesday, 12.6.16

READ.  the 1st Canto I of Dante's Inferno, a medieval story of descending into the underworld.

And finally READ.  Book 1 of Milton's Paradise Lost, the opening scenes depicting the beginning of the world according to Milton's take on Christian dogma.

UPDATE the Q2 BLOG TRACKER with your best evidence from November, as well as anything current.

WRITE to TURN IT.  Be prepared with 1st SUBMISSION DRAFT of your 2nd Synthesis Essay for THURSDAY'S class, 12.8.16. I want these back to you with plenty of time BEFORE the break.

AP Lit: Writing Workshop, Haiku & Blog Posts for This Week

Today we workshopped intros and thesis statements.  I got a ton out of it.  I hoped you did as well.

I don't have any pics of the work though, because I forgot my phone at home.  I'm doing ok.  Thanks for asking.

Here's the work for Wednesday and most of what's due on Friday.  Be prepared to read a ton of ballads for Friday.  Those are coming soon.  (And prepare this weekend to read some epic poetry of the epics.)

WRITE.  Revised.  Introduction and thesis statement for 2nd Synthesis.  (This is a change up from today's assignment.  I'm soft and crumpled like a wet newspaper in a hurricane.)

READ.  Haiku.

Overview of Haiku from Poets.org.

READ.

Haiku of Issa as translated by Robert Haas

Haiku of Basho from a variety of sources.

Haiku of Buson from a variety of sources.


READ.  The haiku inspired works of Matthew Rohrer available at PoetryFoundation.org.  Read the notes he has provided for his methodology and mindset behind these works.

READ.  Some of the other haiku available at PoetryFoundation.org or a Poets.org.  Go hunting.  See what goodness you find.

READ.  What this writer learned by writing haiku.  Think about our work with Meg Willing and what resonates here.

On Wednesday night, expect a collection of ballads to compose.

CRITICAL CREATIVITY BLOG POST.  Compose an original a haiku or ballad.  Consider the three different lenses we learned from Meg Willing:  poet, editor, designer.   Then design the cover for a volume of your poetry based on this one haiku or ballad you created.  

DESIGN THINKING BLOG POST.   EXPERIMENT Phase.  8 Box.  Poetry as Problem Solver Design Challenge.  Put yourself on a 4 minute timer.  Generate 8 ideas for addressing a problem in the school in 4 minutes.  Select one of your ideas.   Get three sticky notes/scraps of paper/index cards.   Storyboard that idea in action.  Put those three panels on a blank piece of paper.  Add context and explanation.  Mark it up.   Take no more than 30 minutes total from start to finish on this entire exercise.

Take a picture of your work.  Post on your blog along with any written or audio/video recording explanations we may need to understand your current ideas.

AP Lit: Poetry & Empathy & Problem Solving

Gonna keep this one short and to the point because it really outlines the work you need to do between now and next class and then over the Turkey Day break.

I added a reading/analysis piece that I did not mention during class.

We're diving into our first collaborative design challenge:

HOW MIGHT WE USE POETRY to SOLVE a PROBLEM at MT BLUE CAMPUS?
How might we use poetry to solve a problem at Mt. Blue Campus?

We've got to use our observations of the climate and culture at Mt. Blue to help us in this work, but more importantly we need to get to understand the users of our potential solutions and see what problems they are perceiving.

ASSIGNMENT 1. Empathy Interviews.  (Empathy PhasestInterview at least 3 Mt. Blue Campus students and/or staff.

Record/note answers to these five questions.


1. What day to day problems do you encounter?

2. How might these problems relate to a bigger problem you are seeing?

3.  How do you deal with the problems you encounter?

4. How do others contribute to solving those problems?

5. How do the problems you encounter affect the atmosphere of the school?


DUE. Monday, November 21.


ASSIGNMENT 2.  Sonnet Collection.  Investigate a number sonnets from the collection at Poets.org.

Curate a collection of least three sonnets, spread out across at least three different generations/schools/eras/, that share a common thread.  It may be subject matter.  It may be rhetorical.  It may be the placement or meaning of the volta.   It may be any sort of common thread.


Document your process of identifying and then forming this collection.  You may do so through an audio or video recording, written piece, sketchnote, any method you like, so long as you

a) document your process of curating your collection

b) explain your intentions for including each piece.


ASSIGNMENT 3. Synthesis Essay #2: Sketchnote & Introduction/Thesis Statement.
Just as last quarter, you are writing a multi-draft essay that discusses an observation, argument,  or understanding you have developed from our class readings as well as any other literature, film, music, art, culture, and/or life experience to inform  your argument.

For Monday, November 28, the Monday AFTER Turkey Day, complete a sketchnote that captures your intentions for your synthesis essay.  Think of a this as a visual map or outline of your essay.

THEN, compose a working draft of your introduction and thesis statement and be prepared to workshop these in class.

AP Lit: Sonnets & Sonnets & Sonnets . . .

Today we rocked some more Literary 3x3s, we learned about Jacques and Miles' literary design solutions, and we briefly wrangled with Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 "Shall I Compare Thee?"

We ran our first Literary 3x3 battle as well, seeing how quickly we could create Dalloway from our decks, while stealing from others' decks as well.  Grand fun.

The Hours in 3x3

Calling Quietly Out/Watching Behind Windows/Cornered By Wanting

Three Women Intertwined/Wrapped Within Strife/[?] Blooms Up -- The Hours

We also learned about Miles' Death of a Salesman mirror, his prototype solution to help Willy Loman deal with reality.

And we learned about Jacques' The Stranger glasses to help Meursault adjust his vision to a less objectivist point of view.

Finally we tackled Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee" and it turns out the answer is no, no you shall not.

We talked briefly about sonnet forms, something into which we will dive MUCH further next class.

SONNET Readings to Complete for Thursday:
Shakespeare's Sonnet 25

John Milton’s “When I Consider How my Light Is Spent”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee”

Thomas Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt, I Know Where Is an Hind” 

Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”

Claude McKay’s “America,”

Molly Peacock’s “Altruism”

Choose two of the above to annotate & sketchnote.

Choose one of the above to create a Literary 3x3.   (It may be one of the two you annotated and sketchnoted)

Put pictures of your sketchnotes & annotations in your AP Lit IN Folder.

BLOG Posts for This Week.

ANALYTICAL POST.  Identify a thread streaking through two or more of the sonnets we read this week.  Discuss the idea you've uncovered and how the sonnet form, with its structures, shape and design, helps the poets deliver this intentional meaning.  In other words, why did the poets choose  the sonnet to express these ideas?

CREATIVE POST.   Two Images.  One Question.  Select one of the sonnets from this week.  Create a three-slide presentation that consists of two images and a single question.  The three slides should work together to capture the essence of the sonnet, the images functioning as metaphors/analogies for the ideas in the sonnet and the question being a core question the poet raises with the piece.   Write or record an explanation of your your choices.

AP Lit: Poetry Workshop w Meg Willing & Lit 3x3 & More

POETRY WORKSHOP.
Today we had a tremendous poetry workshop with  poet/editor/designer Meg Willing, who also happens to be an alumna of THE Mt. Blue High School.

She showed us how to look at a poem through three lenses: poet, editor, and book designer.  She used Marie Howe's "The Gate" as the centerpiece of this work.

We read the poem a number of times, she guided us through the poem through those lenses, and then we did some close readings.

This was followed by an exploration of rapid fire book designs for "The Gate."  This was lot like our 8 Box experience -- this time we had nine boxes & three minutes, followed by three minutes to expand three ideas on index cards.

We ended with just a short amount of time to play with cutup poetry -- an idea to which we will most definitely be returning in the near future *cough* next week I think *cough*

LITERARY 3X3
Coming up on Thursday . . .  Literary 3x3s done right.   We got away from these during Q1 and no longer.  They are powerful ways to move our thinking around and tackle analysis and we need to be doing them regularly and with great intent.   So . . .

Bring Literary 3x3s for The Hours, Mrs Dalloway, and Shakespeare's "Fear No More."

Here are the parameters for Literary 3x3s

1. Criteria for an effective L3x3
1. Three, Three-Word “Sentences”: loose grammar
2. Powerful, Meaningful Diction: consider connotation vs denotation
3. Every Word Counts: avoid prepositions and articles
2. Upon forming the deck, lay out the L3x3s and then number the cards in a backside corner 1-9, so as to create an answer key.  Put your initials in the lower right corner of the numbered side of the deck.  On the word side of the cards, put the name of the text or abbreviation in lower left hand corner, creator in the lower right. This way you can mix up the decks and always get back to your starting position.

On Thursday, we have a short class, so we will be working with these Literary 3x3s and sharing projects.

Here's the blogging and reading for this week.

SHOW YOUR THINKING.

READ.  How to Read Lit.  "If It's Square, It's Sonnet"

BLOG POST. Written Analysis.  Select a power quote (a key moment in Foster's chapter) that you believe captures the essence of the chapter. Defend your choice.

Due. Friday 11.11.16

BLOG POST.  Reflection on Dallowinian Party.  What did you take from it?  What would you do the same?  What might you do differently? 

Due. Friday 11.11.16

READ. The Sonnets & Poetry Foundation Background on Sonnets -- Read all of the Highlighted Sonnets.

•  Sonnet XVIII: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? by William Shakespeare : The Poetry Foundation
• Sonnet  18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? by William Shakespeare : The Poetry Foundation
• Sonnet XXV: Let those who are in Favour with their Stars by William Shakespeare : The Poetry Foundation
• Sonnet : Glossary Term : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation 

Read these in the service of your analytical blog post this week so you have some context for sonnets.  Be familiar with all of them for Tuesday, 11.15.16 for our work that day.

Choose one to annotate and Literary 3x3 for next Tuesday.  11.15.16 

AP Lit: Literary Solutions Design Challenge Single Point Rubric Q1

AP Lit Fall 2016: Literary Solutions Single Point Rubric

How might we uncover the problems character’s face, the thematic challenges the creator’s want readers to consider, or the societal struggles evident in the text?  And how might we prototype solutions to those problem, challenges, and/or struggles?

Finally, how might such solutions demonstrate a rich understanding of the source text?

Creative Constraints:  

• Your prototype must be visible and shareable, but it does not need to be physical
• You must document your process (Discovery (Research/Problem Finding), Empathy (User Needs), Experiments (Brainstorming/Ideating/), Products
• You must submit a written or recorded explanation of the intentions behind your prototype.
• You must use explicit text evidence for meaningful effect in your prototype and/or within your intention explanations

Criteria	Evidence of Exceeding the Standard (clever, insightful, unique, powerful, creative, meaningful, professional)	What Meeting the Standard Looks Like	Evidence of Needs for Improvement (gaps, missing pieces or evidence, incomplete thoughts)
Literary Solution Prototype (MEDIA)		I like how your prototype presents an effective solution to the identified problem.  I like how every aspect of your prototype seems purposeful. I like how I only have to ask minimal questions to understand your solutions.
Design Process Documentation (MEDIA)		I like how your design documentation shows that you have identified a problem, considered the users needs, explored several solutions, and worked up a prototype. I like how you organized your photos/video/notes/sketches in a way that it is easy to see your thinking.
Literary Evidence (READING)		I like how your prototype and/or intention explanations integrate meaningful text evidence that demonstrates complete understanding of the text in question.  I like how the text evidence seems vital to the project rather than a fill-in-the-blank to meet criteria.  I like how the literary evidence speaks to core themes, character, language, style and/or structure of the text.
Written Intention Explanations (WRITING) (OPTION A)		I like how your details are specific and make it clear to me what you intended with your prototype.  I like how well organized your writing appears and how it seems to show your voice.  I like how I get a strong sense of how your prototype will solve the problem.
Vocal Intention Explanations (SPEAKING) (OPTION B)		I like how articulate your explanations come across because your details are specific and you make it clear to me what you intended with your prototype.  I like clearly you speak with a deliberate pace. I like how I get a strong sense of how your prototype will solve the problem.
Mechanics, Usage, Grammar, Spelling (MUGS)		I like how your work is nearly error free in terms of MUGS.  There may be one or two minor errors but you generally show control of your writing.
Timeliness (HABITS of WORK)		The final product is turned in within 24 hours of the agreed upon due date.

AP Lit: Poetry Test Prep & Planning for a Dallowinian Party

You'll start today with some test prep via Abraham Cowley's "My Picture."  I've included the answer sheet so make sure you don't look at the answers until after you've done the practice.  (Unless you want to be THAT person . . . )

IMPORTANT. Put yourself on a 10 minute timer to answer those questions.

Take a few minutes to discuss your results and then turn to the matter of planning for the Dallowinian Party.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Create a list of guests inspired by the characters of The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway. These should not be straight from the novels. Developing original characters challenges you to apply your knowledge of the source material.
2. Determine a time period in which you want to set this story. Think about a setting that would add meaning and depth to the event, as well as would be fun to explore.
3. Determine who will serve as the host.  
4. Develop those characters and write brief profiles of those characters including such details as name, age, occupation, religion, a short biography as well as a description of their relationship to the host.
5. Work as a class to build a map, flowchart or family tree of sorts making the extent to which the guests know one another, how they feel about one another, and any history they share.
6. Collaborate on a list of “interruptions,” plot events or twists that may occur randomly during the party itself.  These might be “reveal a secret,”  “accuse someone of spreading a lie,”  “leave the room and discover a dead body,” or “confess your love.”

OUT OF CLASS WORK.

Read.  Mrs. Dalloway.  Finish the Book. 

Due. Friday 10.21.16

Blog.  Two Posts.

Critical Creativity Post.  A  Mrs. Dalloway employs color in meaningful, powerful ways.  Perhaps you have noticed this, perhaps  you have not.  (Pay particular attention to flowers, foods, skies, clothing and faces.)

Use Colourlovers.com  to create a custom palette of at least three colors relating to meaning in Mrs. Dalloway.  You will need to name the palette and each color within it.  Be certain to choose purposeful names and push your self to go beyond the concrete.  (Concrete:  "blue sky" because the sky was blue.)

Share your palette on your blog w/ explanations of your choices.