Thursday, April 22, 2010
English IV--Summer Reading List
English IV & AP
2010 Recommended summer reading
Prior to the first week of the new school year, please read at least one of the following titles, all written by authors from the British Isles or Commonwealth. If you are enrolled in English IV AP, please select at least two titles, one from list I and one from list II. You are, of course, encouraged to choose additional titles for your own pleasure reading. (N.B. “H” designates historical fiction, set in a period earlier than its date of composition; “F” represents a work set in the future.)
I. Nineteenth century
Jane Austen, Persuasion (1818)
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847)
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847)
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859) (H)
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
II. Twentieth/Twenty-first century
Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972)
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1986) (F)
Pat Barker, Regeneration (1991) (H)
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1962) (F)
A.S. Byatt, Possession (1990)
Peter Carey, The True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) (H)
Roddy Doyle, The Van (1991)
Nadine Gordimer, July’s People (1981)
Graham Greene, The Quiet American (1955)
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (2003)
George Hagen, Tom Bedlam (2007) (H)
Nick Hornby, High Fidelity (1995)
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) (F)
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day (1989) (H)
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1942)
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009) (H)
Yann Martel, Life of Pi (2002)
Ian McEwan, Atonement (2001) (H)
Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (1995) (H)
Patrick O’Brian, Master and Commander (1969) (H)
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (1992) (H)
George Orwell, 1984 (1949) (F)
Graham Swift, Waterland (1983)
Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger (1992) (H) or Morality Play (1995) (H)
Several of these novels have been adapted into fine movies. Feel free to rent the film after you read the novel, as you could elect to write a brief comparison of the two for your first written assignment.
2010 Recommended summer reading
Prior to the first week of the new school year, please read at least one of the following titles, all written by authors from the British Isles or Commonwealth. If you are enrolled in English IV AP, please select at least two titles, one from list I and one from list II. You are, of course, encouraged to choose additional titles for your own pleasure reading. (N.B. “H” designates historical fiction, set in a period earlier than its date of composition; “F” represents a work set in the future.)
I. Nineteenth century
Jane Austen, Persuasion (1818)
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847)
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (1847)
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859) (H)
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891)
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
II. Twentieth/Twenty-first century
Richard Adams, Watership Down (1972)
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1986) (F)
Pat Barker, Regeneration (1991) (H)
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1962) (F)
A.S. Byatt, Possession (1990)
Peter Carey, The True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) (H)
Roddy Doyle, The Van (1991)
Nadine Gordimer, July’s People (1981)
Graham Greene, The Quiet American (1955)
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (2003)
George Hagen, Tom Bedlam (2007) (H)
Nick Hornby, High Fidelity (1995)
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) (F)
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day (1989) (H)
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (1942)
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009) (H)
Yann Martel, Life of Pi (2002)
Ian McEwan, Atonement (2001) (H)
Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (1995) (H)
Patrick O’Brian, Master and Commander (1969) (H)
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (1992) (H)
George Orwell, 1984 (1949) (F)
Graham Swift, Waterland (1983)
Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger (1992) (H) or Morality Play (1995) (H)
Several of these novels have been adapted into fine movies. Feel free to rent the film after you read the novel, as you could elect to write a brief comparison of the two for your first written assignment.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Shakespeare--important dates
Friday, April 16--Vocab 23, 24
Wed. April 21 -- Test on Twelfth Night (ID's, a few passages, a short essay topic)
Friday, April 23 -- Sonnet performances in honor of Shakespeare's (and Sarah's) birthday (thanks to Sarah A and Salona for cake and cookies)
Tuesday, April 27 -- Review plays & vocab lessons 25 & 26
Wednesday, April 28 -- Selection of final performance projects
Friday, April 30 -- Last vocab quiz (25, 26)
Thurs, May 13 -- Final project performances in Dorrance, 11:30 - 12:15, public invited
Friday, May 14 -- Last day of class
Saturday, May 15 -- Prom
Monday, May 17 -- Awards Day
Tuesday, May 18 to Friday May 21 -- Senior class trip
Monday, May 24 -- Final exams for any unfortunate souls with averages below 72.5%
Thursday, June 3 -- Graduation rehearsal, graduation
Friday & Saturday, June 4 & 5 --Greer Days celebration & parade
Wed. April 21 -- Test on Twelfth Night (ID's, a few passages, a short essay topic)
Friday, April 23 -- Sonnet performances in honor of Shakespeare's (and Sarah's) birthday (thanks to Sarah A and Salona for cake and cookies)
Tuesday, April 27 -- Review plays & vocab lessons 25 & 26
Wednesday, April 28 -- Selection of final performance projects
Friday, April 30 -- Last vocab quiz (25, 26)
Thurs, May 13 -- Final project performances in Dorrance, 11:30 - 12:15, public invited
Friday, May 14 -- Last day of class
Saturday, May 15 -- Prom
Monday, May 17 -- Awards Day
Tuesday, May 18 to Friday May 21 -- Senior class trip
Monday, May 24 -- Final exams for any unfortunate souls with averages below 72.5%
Thursday, June 3 -- Graduation rehearsal, graduation
Friday & Saturday, June 4 & 5 --Greer Days celebration & parade
Monday, April 12, 2010
AP--week of April 12
Day 1--small group discussions of The Glass Menagerie. All answers must be supported by examples drawn from the text of the play.
Group 1--what are Amanda's admirable qualities? How do they add to the presentation of her character? How sympathetic is her total portrayal in the play?
Group 2--Why does Jim respond so warmly, even protectively, to Laura? What do they have in common? Why does he pull back from her so suddenly?
Group 3--How does Tom, unlike Laura, protect himself from the debilitating atmosphere of the apartment? How do his soliloquies employ irony to illustrate his methods of psychological self-defense?
Day 2--before class, read Arthur Miller's essay "Tragedy and the Common Man," on p. 1833. Which of his ideas about tragedy differ most sharply from those implied in the plays of Sophocles and Shakespeare? in class, read the handout from "The Play is Memory," by Benjamin Nelson. Discuss this question: to what extent do you agree with his implication that the major shortcoming of The Glass Menagerie is that its characters lack tragic stature?
Day 3--Read Act 1 of Fences; come to class prepared to discuss your initial impressions of all the central characters. Also, in-class exercise on AP style analysis.
Day 4--vocab 23 & 24 quiz. Short video on the career of August Wilson. Continue reading and researching your outside novels.
Monday, April 19--finish reading Fences.
Group 1--what are Amanda's admirable qualities? How do they add to the presentation of her character? How sympathetic is her total portrayal in the play?
Group 2--Why does Jim respond so warmly, even protectively, to Laura? What do they have in common? Why does he pull back from her so suddenly?
Group 3--How does Tom, unlike Laura, protect himself from the debilitating atmosphere of the apartment? How do his soliloquies employ irony to illustrate his methods of psychological self-defense?
Day 2--before class, read Arthur Miller's essay "Tragedy and the Common Man," on p. 1833. Which of his ideas about tragedy differ most sharply from those implied in the plays of Sophocles and Shakespeare? in class, read the handout from "The Play is Memory," by Benjamin Nelson. Discuss this question: to what extent do you agree with his implication that the major shortcoming of The Glass Menagerie is that its characters lack tragic stature?
Day 3--Read Act 1 of Fences; come to class prepared to discuss your initial impressions of all the central characters. Also, in-class exercise on AP style analysis.
Day 4--vocab 23 & 24 quiz. Short video on the career of August Wilson. Continue reading and researching your outside novels.
Monday, April 19--finish reading Fences.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Final projects--African-American Lit
Suggested reading list for final projects.
N.B. Projects must be “multi-media” in some way. That is, the reading may be accompanied by research in an area related to its theme, into African-American popular culture, into film, art, and music, and the results of this learning are to by synthesized into a powerpoint presentation involving text and either audio or visual supplements.
Alice Walker -- The Color Purple
James Baldwin -- If Beale Street Could Talk
Audre Lorde ???
Gloria Naylor -- Mama Day, The Women of Brewster Place
Ishmael Reed -- Mumbo Jumbo
Rita Dove -- Mother Love
Ntozake Shange -- Nappy Edges, for colored girls who have considered suicide . .
Toni Morrison -- Bluest Eye, Sula, Jazz
Lucille Clifton -- Adventures of Everett Anderson—all volumes
Terri MacMillan -- Waiting to Exhale
Carolivia Herron -- Thereafter, Johnnie
Barbara Smith -- Home Girls
Paule Marshall -- Brown Girl, Brownstones
August Wilson -- The Piano Lesson
Ernest Gaines -- The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Alex Haley -- Roots
Maya Angelou -- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Walter Mosley -- Devil in a Blue Dress
N.B. Projects must be “multi-media” in some way. That is, the reading may be accompanied by research in an area related to its theme, into African-American popular culture, into film, art, and music, and the results of this learning are to by synthesized into a powerpoint presentation involving text and either audio or visual supplements.
Alice Walker -- The Color Purple
James Baldwin -- If Beale Street Could Talk
Audre Lorde ???
Gloria Naylor -- Mama Day, The Women of Brewster Place
Ishmael Reed -- Mumbo Jumbo
Rita Dove -- Mother Love
Ntozake Shange -- Nappy Edges, for colored girls who have considered suicide . .
Toni Morrison -- Bluest Eye, Sula, Jazz
Lucille Clifton -- Adventures of Everett Anderson—all volumes
Terri MacMillan -- Waiting to Exhale
Carolivia Herron -- Thereafter, Johnnie
Barbara Smith -- Home Girls
Paule Marshall -- Brown Girl, Brownstones
August Wilson -- The Piano Lesson
Ernest Gaines -- The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Alex Haley -- Roots
Maya Angelou -- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Walter Mosley -- Devil in a Blue Dress
Monday, April 5, 2010
AP schedule April 5 - May 6
Week of April 5--Read The Glass Menagerie, scenes 1 - 5, pp. 1836 - 1860 for Thursday; multiple choice practice quiz Friday; blog on outside reading over the weekend.
Week of April 12--reading blogs due Sunday night; read The Glass Menagerie, scenes 6 & 7, pp. 1860 - 1885 for Monday; Read Fences, Act 1, pp. 1996 - 2026 for Thursday; vocab quiz 23-24 Friday.
Week of April 19--Read Fences, act 2, pp. 2026 - 2048 for Monday; multiple choice practice quiz Friday; finish novels and JStor research for papers
Week of April 26--Write papers; five typed pages due in class Tuesday/Wednesday; final drafts due Friday, April 30 (approx 2000 words); 60-minute multiple choice practice exam Thursday April 29.
Week of May 3--Exam review; exams in Government, French, Spanish, Statistics, Calculus, and Chinese; AP exam in English literature Thursday, May 6, 7:45 AM.
No class Friday, May 7
Week of May 10--To be Announced. We will definitely have class Friday May 14 (last day for seniors)
Week of April 12--reading blogs due Sunday night; read The Glass Menagerie, scenes 6 & 7, pp. 1860 - 1885 for Monday; Read Fences, Act 1, pp. 1996 - 2026 for Thursday; vocab quiz 23-24 Friday.
Week of April 19--Read Fences, act 2, pp. 2026 - 2048 for Monday; multiple choice practice quiz Friday; finish novels and JStor research for papers
Week of April 26--Write papers; five typed pages due in class Tuesday/Wednesday; final drafts due Friday, April 30 (approx 2000 words); 60-minute multiple choice practice exam Thursday April 29.
Week of May 3--Exam review; exams in Government, French, Spanish, Statistics, Calculus, and Chinese; AP exam in English literature Thursday, May 6, 7:45 AM.
No class Friday, May 7
Week of May 10--To be Announced. We will definitely have class Friday May 14 (last day for seniors)
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