Ms. Bridges' AP English

APRIL 28TH WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR AP ENGLISH MONDAY, APRIL 28TH: Your Mary Barton essay is due today. Brief discussion of WAITING FOR GODOT, which you should read tonight. Please remember that with WAITING FOR GODOT, just as you have with the other selections you have read: THE STRANGER, THE METAMORPHOSIS, etc.,you must write a brief synopsis of the story, and give examples and comments on the literary tropes. In WAITING FOR GODOT, the tropes will include tone, theme, motif and symbolism. You should also address the characters and the relationship(s) they have with each other. You may write any other comment you would like on the piece. The reading log for WAITING FOR GODOT will be due on Friday, May 2nd, along with an essay the topic of which I will give you in class. At noon we will have a timed forty-minute essay on “The Birthday Party”. TUESDAY, APRIL 29TH: Shortened Day! Your AP test is nine days away! We will discuss WAITING FOR GODOT today and also go over some writing techniq...

Thursday Update for April 24, 2008: Writing warm-up: Compare and contrast Camus' use of diction, syntax and imagery at the beginning of THE STRANGER with his use of diction, syntax and imagery on pages 58-59 when Merseult kills the Arab. How does this change affect the tone and intensity of the murder scene? Please write two paragraphs on the above prompt. Then share with a partner for peer editing. Then revise and turn in on Friday.

Edvard Munch's "The Scream" "Have you ever felt like this?" APRIL 21ST WEEKLY AGENDA FOR AP ENGLISH LITERATURE MONDAY, APRIL 21ST: Hey Guys! This is existential week in room 508! Go over Albert Camus’ THE STRANGER and discuss. Collect your reading logs for The Stranger. We will read Albert Camus’ “The Myth of Sisyphus” and discuss. What we do not finish, we will read tonight and take notes. We will discuss Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and discuss some writing tips for better essays. You will take home your two paragraph essay on “In Another Country” and work on it, improving and expanding it to a full essay. It will be due on Tuesday, April 22nd. TUESDAY, APRIL 22ND: Your VOCABULARY WORKSHOP: Level F or G; Unit 5 will be due today. Your “In Another Country” essay is due today. You will break into groups of three and peer edit each other’s work. You will then take it home for further revision. This will be due on Wednesday, April 23rd. There will be...

Hi guys! Here's a fun little website you might want to check out: Metamorphosis Test And here is the prompt for Kafka's THE METAMORPHOSIS: How does The Metamorphosis reflect Kafka's views and fears about the human condition? How does he convey these anxieties through his use of tone, syntax, imagery, motif and symbolism? Just a brief update: By the beginning of class tomorrow (11:40 am; Tuesday, April 15th) you need to have read up to page 28 in Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS. During tonight's reading, you need to: summarize the pages read; have at least one notation of the following plus a brief commentary: DICTION SYNTAX TONE SYMBOLISM MOTIF IMAGERY You need to write a phrase, line, or passage (or paraphrase) from the book which shows each one of the above devices. Then you must comment on the example and show how it expresses Kafka's use of diction, syntax, tone, et al. We have discussed in class Kafka's syntax (according to Julius, Kafka uses simple declar...

Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS APRIL 14TH WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR AP ENGLISH MONDAY, APRIL 14TH: Journal: You have awakened one morning to discover that you are some huge, hideous creature, but it is imperative that you get to school on time and not to unduly alarm your mother who is very annoyed with you right now. Break into groups and read the next ten pages of Kafka’s METAMORPHOSIS, write brief summaries, notate literary language, symbolism, motif and themes and then regroup as a class and discuss what we learned. For tonight, please read the next fifteen pages of the book, and write a brief summary which includes notating of literary language, symbolism, motif and themes. TUESDAY, APRIL 15TH: I made a really odd little mistake - I wrote last week that the “Varying Sentence Beginnings” would be due on Monday, April 20th - which is two weeks later AND this year the 20th of April falls on a Sunday - I don’t know which calendar of which space-time continuum I was looking at, but I would li...

Hello All, I am updating this week's blog's entry by adding the following assignment: ENGLISH WORKSHOP; the completed course, "Adverbial Clause"; pages 177-178; exercises 3 and 4. This lovely little assignment will be due on Thursday, April 10th. And yes, we did check out our grammar books today - finally!

APRIL 7TH WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR AP ENGLISH MONDAY, APRIL 7TH: Today I will be flying home and tomorrow - if all goes well - I will be back! Today, please work on the next prompt which deals with delirium in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. This is NOT a free day! Your two essays - the above essay and the other one covering Svidrigaylov’s suicide - will be due on Tuesday, April 8th. TUESDAY, APRIL 8TH: Yippee! I’m back and I hope I’m feeling better! Today your two essays will be due. There will be a discussion on the prompts, and on some writing tips. We will break into pairs or groups of three and read and edit each other’s papers. Then the papers will be turned in. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9TH: Today, if everything goes according to plan - and it rarely does - your eagerly awaited grammar book AND a new novel - Franz Kafka’s THE METAMORPHOSES - will be passed out to you! In your English Workshop; “Varying Sentence Beginnings”; pages 95 through 98; exercises 9, 10 and 11 will be assigned to you....

Here are the CRIME AND PUNISHMENT prompts. The due dates are listed. Please also go to the next blog posting because the final one is posted there. Prompts for CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 1. In a carefully constructed essay, examine the motif of delirium that Dostoevsky uses throughout the story. Note when and how it is used: after Raskolnikov’s commission of the crime, and before Svidrigailov commits suicide. Do these characters’ delirious states support or refute Nietzche’s ideas of the übermensche? Why or why not. Give supporting details from the text. Essay #1 will be due on Tuesday, April 8th. 2. In a carefully constructed essay, examine the fall of Katerina, her illness, her disastrous wake for her husband, her family’s eviction, and the final scene in the street with her children. Does the fall of Katerina prove or disprove the effectiveness of the Utilitarian Theory? Give specific examples of where it’s proven or disproven. What role - if any - does Raskolnikov play in he...

Prompt for CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Please read carefully the following prompt and then write a well organized essay which examines Dostoevsky’s use of imagery, symbolism and motif to create the internal landscape of the character. A thick milky mist covered the city. Svidrigaylov walked along slippery, greasy, wooden pavement towards the Little Neva. His mind still held the illusory vision of its waters rising in flood during the night, and pictured Petrovsky Island, the wet paths, the soaking grass, the dripping trees and bushes, and at last that one bush...In an effort to think of something else, he looked disapprovingly at the houses. The avenue was empty of cabs and passersby. The little bright-yellow wooden houses, with their closed shutters, looked dirty and dejected. The cold and damp were penetrating his whole body and making him shiver. Occasionally, he came across signs outside little shops and market-gardens, and he conscientiously read each one. The wooden pavement had c...