AP Lit 2B/3B/3G: Tone & Frankenstein & On Demand Writing

This week we started to tackle tone.  Little word.  Big deal.

We started with an on-demand of Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us"

Tone, the speaker's attitude toward the subject, may well be the most difficult literary device to identify and characterize.  We know what we mean when we say "tone of voice," and yet identifying the tone evident in a poem or selection of prose can be prove daunting and make one want to smack one's self in the face with a wooden spoon.  Repeatedly.

Remember how much we've talked about diction and its importance?

When it comes to tone, it isn't just the choice of words that matter.  It's their placement, the syntax, the structure.  And tone? Tone is all about what the audience hears in the words, making it one of the most human-centered design elements of the entire work.

For example. . .

This video is a presentation of Jonathan Reed's "Lost Generation."  Look at what happens when the words simply arrive in reverse order.

In class we discussed the difference between tone & mood.  (Tone contributes to the mood.) We determined that diction, syntax (word order in a sentence), structure (overall order of ideas), and context all contribute greatly to the tone.  

For the first time all year, I think, I failed to take pictures of the board and all of the notes accumulated.

That was not wise.

With the weather being what it is, one of our lessons from these two weeks is going decidedly digital and will serve as the blog post for this week.  It will NOT BE DUE UNTIL MONDAY, MARCH 17.

Blog: 3+ Posts

Req'd:

Read, annotate & then exploring the connections & disconnections -- similarities, dissimilarities, threads, insights, reveals -- between the following poems.  Consider also the subtitle of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus

"Prometheus" by Lord Bryon

"Prometheus Unbound" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Prometheus" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Due: Monday, March 17

Comments on Frankliners are Coming VERY Soon (a.k.a. Wednesday)

Comments on Synthesis Essays are Coming VERY Soon (a.k.a. Sunday)

Revision Due Dates Are Coming.

Remember!  Analytical and writing process paper due in early April!  

Humanities: Symbolism & Matt & Kim & Speak

We continued digging into symbolism and Speak today by exploring the song "Daylight" by Matt & Kim.

DAYLIGHT

we cut the legs off of our pants
threw our shoes into the ocean
sit back and wave through the daylight
sit back and wave through the daylight

slip and slide on subway grates
these shoes are poor mans ice skates
fall through like change in the daylight
fall through like change in the daylight

i miss yellow lines in my roads
some color on monochrome
maybe i’ll paint them in myself
maybe i’ll paint them in myself

these sidewalks liquid then stone
building walls and an old pay phone
it rings like all through the daylight
it rings like all through the daylight

chorus
and in the daylight we can hitchhike to maine
i hope that someday i’ll see without these frames
and in the daylight i don’t pick up my phone
cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home

I have five clocks in my life
and only one has the time right
i’ll just unplug it for today
ill just unplug it for today

open hydrant rolled down windows
this car might make a good old boat
and float down grand street in daylight
and float down grand street in daylight

and with just half of a sunburn
new yellow lines that i earned
step back and here comes the night time
step back and here comes the night time

chorus
and in the daylight we can hitchhike to maine
i hope that someday i’ll see without these frames
and in the daylight i don’t pick up my phone
cause in the daylight anywhere feels like home

We started by watching the video a couple of times and following along with the lyrics.

Then we marked up everything we thought could be symbolic.

Kindly ignore the WATER bottle ON the LAPTOP . . . for crying out loud people . . . 

And then we created remixes to emphasize the symbolism.  We cut and pasted and moved and drew and wrote to create versions of "Daylight" focused exclusively on the symbolic meanings.

It was pretty neat.

Then we moved our thinking over to Double Entry Journals (DEJs) and looking at how we can explain our thinking in writing.  This is something you will need to do on Speak this week and next.  

• We looked carefully at what makes the difference between a MEETS, DOES NOT MEET, and EXCEEDS the standard response.  
• Keys to meeting?  
• Identifying the symbol that is being used. 
• Explaining what the symbol means to the overall idea the author is trying to get across.  
• Identifying the author and the work. 

HOMEWORK

Blog: 3+ Posts

Req'd Post: Take pictures of three items that symbolize who you are.  They may be things you own, they may be objects you see, they may be in the school, they may be around town.  Take three pictures and explain how each represents you.
If you HAVE to find pictures off the web, ok.  Try to make that your LAST option.
Due: Friday, March 14

Double Entry Journals: 3 on SymbolismDue: Wed, March 19

Roots: Roots 11
Quiz & Product
Due: Thursday, Mar 20

8th Grade Transition Video

Due: April 15

AP Lit 3G: Byron & Shelley & Frankenstein

I haven't been here this week, so Ms. Haskell and the rest of the folks in the room caught me up to the speeds.

We looked at Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" as a class because so many  folks have been absent recently.

We highlighted the contrasts of light and dark, the structure of the rhyme scheme, the presence of only two nouns per line, all working toward Byron's idea of maintaining balance.

We then took a look at an excerpt from Frankenstein.  I selected the opening paragraph from Chapter 20.

We explored the essential questions Shelley raises: responsibility for creation, playing Creator, progress vs safety and more.

More importantly, we examined HOW she builds these ideas through structure, parallelisms, diction and imagery.  

We discussed how Shelley functions as a designer of her work, thinking about the effect the construction of her piece will have upon her chief user: the reader.  

Hence, the lack of breaks in the paragraph, the building intensity, the exponential degrees of growth over the space of the passage, all there to get the reader feeling an overwhelming intensity.

If Shelley didn't employ empathy to achieve these ends, I'm not sure what she used.

Design. Build. Create.

Accept. Communicate. Trust.

HOMEWORK

Blog: 3+ Posts
Req'd Post: Use Colourlovers.com  to create a custom palette of at least three colors relating to meaning in Frankenstein.  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.)
Due: March 7

Complete: Synthesis #3
Due: Mar 7

PACE: Design Thinking Challenge in a Day: Pitches & Macbeth

Hey folks,

I've been away presenting at SXSWEdu.com this week and learning tons and meeting folks I want to connect with you all.  One thing I learned was a fantastic mashup/remix strategy from Kami Thordarson, an innovation coach and teacher in the Los Altos School District in California, based on the DEEP design thinking from Mary Cantwell we've been using all year.

Here's what we did this morning so you can reference back to it as you create your Macbeth Pitching Power pitches over the next week.

We started with three groups and quick mapping/vizthinking about we know about Macbeth.

Then we listed movies and films and games and books we enjoy.

Then we listed reasons why we enjoy them.

Then we highlighted key ideas/insights that stood out to us.

Then we took post-its and put some of those ideas from each category on to a post it.

Then we put those post its on tables.

We sent runners to grab a post it from each table.

The group generated a pitch from the three post its.

We tried to make as many pitches as we could with new sets as we could in the time given.

Then we shared and practiced delivering the pitches.

It was awesome. And surprisingly easy and not scary.


Pitches and show bibles are due next Thursday.  Be certain to check out one another's blogs and share ideas. 
Design. Build. Create.
Accept. Communicate. Trust.

HOMEWORK 

Blogs: 3+
Req'd Post: Put up your pitch thinking from today AND/OR link to someone else's and share your thoughts.
Due: Friday, Mar 7 (Teacher PACE)

Macbeth Graphic Organizers: Must Complete 3

Teacher Pace Due Dates:

Wed: Feb 12

Tue: Feb 25

Wed: Mar 5

MUGS: Commonly Confused Words #2
Quiz: Friday, Feb 14 (NEW MAKE UP DATE - FRIDAY, Mar 7)

QUACK: Unit 1 Part 1
Quiz & Product Due: Thursday Feb 27

Think & Design: Movie/Video Game/TV Show Pitches & Bibles
Due: March 13