Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition, Milton – THS
Dear parents and members of the Class of 2009:
Contrary to the prevailing attitude about one’s senior year, easy is not always better. College is demanding and rigorous, and your senior year is a precious opportunity to strengthen your background in reading and writing and critical thinking.
The worst experience during your senior year is that of boredom, commonly referred to senioritis, as though it were a rite of passage! While many of seniors decide they have earned this time to coast along without much to do, if allowed, boredom sets in very early on, and an important truth about life is discovered: Interesting work does not seem so much like work and boring leisure time can be as mind-numbing as meaningless work!
Please note that universities throughout this country are looking more and more closely at how seniors complete their education to the very end of their senior year, including the second semester! I read an article earlier this year about prestigious colleges reclaiming scholarship offers to students who, after they received the scholarship offer in the first semester of their senior year, had dropped demanding courses they had planned to take their second semester. It seems to be that university scholarship officials are contacting high school guidance counselors and checking to see that potential scholarship recipients remain vigilant in their education throughout their senior year! Just a heads up!
In closing, I will assure you that AP requires time, effort, energy, and dedication, just like college. It also opens your mind and fills your time with a wealth of fascinating thoughts, intriguing discussions, and engaging work that helps you know those parts of yourself that are just emerging. I am looking forward to a wonderful year of getting to know you, learning with you and from you, and providing opportunities that you will find challenging and enjoyable.
Sincerely,
Debbie Milton
SUMMER READING/WRITING: (must read and do assignments on both books)
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney ISBN 0-393-32097-9*
Lord Of The Flies by William Golding
2008-2009 AP LITERATURE READING/WRITING SELECTIONS: These books will be read over the course of the 2008-2009 school year.
Selections (essays/chapters provided for you in class) from the following:
• Graham Anderson’s Fairytale in the Ancient World
• Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth
• Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces
• Thomas Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor
• Maria Tatar’s The Classic Fairy Tales, A Norton Critical Edition
• Marie-Luise von Franz’s Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales
• Marie-Luise von Franz and Kendra Crossen’s The Interpretation of Fairy Tales
• Jack Zipes’ The Great Fairy Tale Tradition:From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm
Sir Gawain And The Green Knight by Burton Raffel, translator by Burton Raffel published by Signet ISBN: 0451528182*
Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table (Signet Classics) by Sir Thomas Malory (Author), Robert Graves (Introduction), Keith Baines (Translator) ISBN-10: 0451528166*
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer – copy in class
Mentor Book Of Major British Poets, Edit. Oscar Williams New American Library
The Voice That Is Great Within Us: American Poetry Of The Twentieth Century (Bantam Classics), Edit. Hayden Carruth
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Dubliners by James Joyce
The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner
Death Of A Salesman by Arthur Miller (in your Perrine text checked out from the Media Center)
*These specific editions and no others.
Summer Reading and Writing Assignments & Required Reading for 2008-2009
The versions of the following MUST be those identified below (see ISBN numbers):
Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Le Morte D’Arthur.
SUMMER READING/WRITING TOPIC: CULTURAL ICONS, PATTERNS, SYMBOLS, AND ARCHETYPES
BEOWULF: A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION by Seamus Heaney - ISBN 0-393-32097-9
Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in old age in a vivid fight against a dragon. The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the poetry from deep beneath its surface. Drawn to what he has called the "four-squareness of the utterance" in Beowulf and its immense emotional credibility, Heaney gives these epic qualities new and convincing reality for the contemporary reader. Seamus Heaney received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.
LORD OF THE FLIES - WILLIAM GOLDING
William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition.
ARCHETYPES HANDOUT - This handout will be especially helpful to you in creating your writing portfolio. Place it in your binder for reference all year. Print from blackboard website.
SUMMER WRITING PORTFOLIO:
Source of teacher-inspiration for summer writing portfolio assignments: Tom Romano’s Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers.
Archetypes are important because they result in cultural icons and patterns and symbols that we find repeated in every aspect of life from the time we are born until the time we die. The texts chosen for summer reading are exceedingly rich in icons, archetypes, patterns, and symbols. The reading and writing you are assigned for the summer is intended to help you think and use your imagination and originality during a time when you are less academically disciplined than during school. Approach summer reading and writing with a positive attitude of understanding that using your imagination is both enjoyable and rewarding. Remember that your summer work creates a compelling first impression on your teacher.
Unfold the story of your summer reading by thinking and writing through a multi-genre portfolio. Each writing piece will show your understanding of the archetypes about which you have read. You may write about a wide variety of these archetypes, so feel free to include any number of them in each writing piece. The story each of you will tell will be different because (after reading the three texts above) each person will reflect his/her own voice, will write about his/her own relationships, and will have different perspectives on the historical value of archetypes to us today. The goal of all your portfolio entries is that of thoughtfully and thoroughly responding to the idea of archetypes in the texts and in your life by considering those archetypes from several vantage points and collecting them in this portfolio of varied genres.
Instructions: Of the first eight assignments, you must complete six. Everyone must complete the ninth assignment for a total of seven. The entire portfolio (seven assignments) is due on the first complete day of school in the fall. All late work for this assignment as well as the entire year results in a 50% deduction of points earned.
Entry #1:
Create a free verse poem that is an extended metaphor that expands on one/some of the archetypes in either Beowulf or The Lord of the Flies. The poem must be at least 20 lines long, and, in content, must show that its selection for metaphorical meaning expands meaning of at least one character in one of the two texts. This is a poem that may use very powerful connotations, symbols, shifts, imagery, etc., but not rhyme. Specific details are important here to make your metaphor work. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thought of this particular topic as a metaphorical free verse poem.
Entry #2:
Create a diary entry that describes a dramatic scene in your own life that relates to one of the archetypes, signs, or symbols in one of your two summer texts (or both). Diary entries are personal, reflective, first-person writing that reveals your feelings about a situation. The dramatic scene may be either fictional or actual; you choose. A dramatic scene is different from just summarizing something that happened to you because your goal is to create a much more emotional imprint on the reader because the scene about which you are writing is a moment of intense emotion. You do more than just give information; you give more details about the character so that your reader can really identify/connect to the character and feel the tension of the moment. You set your character in motion and have them do things, speak, and interact; therefore you must appeal to a reader’s sense of visual imagery. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thought of this particular topic as your dramatic scene.
Entry #3:
Create a conversation that reads as though it were an excerpt from a longer play based on your archetype. Imagine a general act and scene structure of your play, give it a title, write a brief summary of the play, and then write this assignment as though you have “lifted” an important conversational encounter from the entire play. Your goal is to show a deep understanding of one of the archetypes from the texts, but you may create this conversation between people of any time or place; the point is to connect it to Beowulf or The Lord of the Flies with its archetypal meaning. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thought of this particular topic as the subject of your conversation lifted from a drama.
Entry #4:
Write song lyrics (including at least 3 verses and a refrain) that can be sung by you and at least two of your friends (using a well-known melody). Base the content of your lyrics on an archetype that can be found in or inspired by one of the summer texts. A full-length song needs to be at least 1 ½ minutes in length when sung. Include the audio cd in your portfolio and label it. Feel free to accompany your song with a musical instrument or instruments. Entitle your song, and include name of song melody to be used. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your inspiration for these song lyrics and why you chose this particular melody.
Entry #5:
Include an illustration, a drawing, a series of intelligent doodles, a symbolic design, a cartoon, a sketch, or a system of abstract symbols that provide a connection of one of the archetypes in one of the texts to the visual arts. Be sure to include a paragraph to explain your inspiration for the art very clearly to the reader. The choice of a visual art as an entry in your portfolio must be made with an understanding of your abilities. If you have not developed the ability that would result in a conscientious accomplishment of this entry, perhaps it is one you may want to skip. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thought of this visual art connection to the archetype.
Entry #6:
Fictional Genealogy – Imagine a scenario in which a character from Lord of the Flies turns out to be Beowulf’s descendant. Imagine also that Beowulf, who never had a child of his own, adopts his nephew Wiglaf, and at the end of Beowulf’s life, claims Wiglaf’s descendants as his own. Write a letter from Beowulf before he dies to that descendant who turns out to be one of the characters in Lord of the Flies. Use a clever perspective on personality traits that this modern character reflects in LOTF and that he may have inherited from Beowulf. Use what we know about Beowulf’s values to create as authentic as possible a letter that a warrior of his time would have written. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thoughts of how to write the content of this letter.
Entry #7:
Write-like-an-archaeologist assignment - Imagine that you are in charge of a dig in which a discovery is made that verifies one or more of the events recounted in Lord of the Flies. Write a newspaper article, complete with title of your discovery. Create this article in justified columns with a pull-quote and an attention-getting title. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thought of this particular topic as your newspaper archaeology discovery.
Entry #8:
Create a musical pastiche (parts of many songs audio-taped and blended together in a whole) of some musical compositions that all relate to a central idea that connects to one of your archetypes. Make sure that you use songs from a variety of genres (rock, classical, etc.), but combine them in a cohesive way so that the audience senses an artistic blending and not just disjointed music spliced together with no consideration for its total effect. Label the audio cd and include it in your portfolio. In your Letter to the Portfolio Reader, be sure to include what in the summer texts prompted your thoughts of which selections to include in your final musical pastiche. Use Microsoft Publisher to create a jewel case insert that shows creativity and gives credit to the artists whose work you have used.
Entry #9: Must be completed by everyone!
Part I:
Go to http://thisibelieve.org. Go to the Advanced Search page, and find and print two essays of your choice in each of the following four categories: brotherhood/friends; courage; fear; good/evil. That is four categories, so you will have a total of eight essays. Read each essay and then write a 250-word response to each (one Word doc page double-spaced for each of your responses). Make sure you include both the original essay in your portfolio as well as your response following it.
Part II:
Choose one of the four topics and write an essay of your own, using a similar approach to those essays you read. Try to include ideas that relate to archetypes found in the summer texts and the handout.
Finally, a LETTER TO THE READER of the portfolio is your final entry. Use a friendly letter format and tone. Write so that you
• describe reflectively the inspiration for each piece;
• include the sources, formal or informal, that helped you;
• explain how your imagination worked to help you create something original; and
• how and to what extent the new meaning you created for yourself about the two texts extended your learning.
Be sure to accurately, precisely, thoroughly, and with specific details, describe your behind-the-scenes thinking, attitudes, and processes that will help the reader of the portfolio understand your entries. In other words, answer completely the following question: What is invisible about the work I see in the portfolio?
ASSESSMENTS:
The portfolio will count as two major grades and will be graded as follows:
RUBRIC FOR GRADING SUMMER WRITING PORTFOLIO
AP-Level writing throughout!
TYPED, DOUBLE-SPACED, INSTRUCTIONS FOLLOWED, SUBMITTED ON TIME : +0-20 pts.
CONTENT IS THOROUGH, IMAGINATIVE, ORIGINAL, PROVIDING AN EVER-EXPANDING VIEW OF THE TOPIC : +0-60 pts.
LETTER TO THE READER : +0-20 pts.
You will have a series of quizzes on both of the summer texts during the first two weeks of school; first quizzes will check for reading, and later quizzes will assess deeper insight and understanding. The summer writing portfolio and the tests taken on the summer texts will compose about seven major grades in the first quarter.
COURSE MATERIALS
In addition to the individual texts that follow, the class text is Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, Ninth Edition. Thomas R. Arp, Southern Methodist University; Greg Johnson, Kennesaw State University. Students check this text out of the Media Center at the beginning of the year. Drama and poetry from this text will comprise part of our study for the year as well the chapters related to writing about literature.
FIRST THROUGH FOURTH QUARTERS READING/WRITING:
The following selections include essays and chapters rather than the entire book; these copies will be provided for you:
1. Selections from Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines
2. Selections (essays/chapters) from Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth
3. Selections from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces
4. Selections from Graham Anderson’s Fairytale in the Ancient World
5. Selections from Marie-Luise von Franz’s Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales
6. Selections from Marie-Luise von Franz and Kendra Crossen’s The Interpretation of Fairy Tales
7. Selections from The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm
8. Sir Gawain And The Green Knight – Burton Raffel, translator by Burton Raffel published by Signet - ISBN: 0451528182
9. Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table (Signet Classics) by Sir Thomas Malory (Author), Robert Graves (Introduction), Keith Baines (Translator) - ISBN-10: 0451528166
10. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer– copy in class
11. Mentor Book Of Major British Poets, Edit. Oscar Williams New American Library
12. The Voice That Is Great Within Us: American Poetry Of The Twentieth Century (Bantam Classics), Edit. Hayden Carruth
13. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
14. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
15. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
16. The Dubliners by James Joyce
17. The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner
18. Death Of A Salesman by Arthur Miller
Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition is a college-level course that provides extensive reading and writing for students in an attempt "to connect students to college and opportunity ... by providing them with the challenges and rewards of rigorous academic programs... The Advanced Placement Program is a collaborative effort between motivated students; dedicated teachers; and committed high schools, colleges, and universities. Since its inception in 1955, the Program has enabled millions of students to take college-level courses and exams, and to earn college credit or placement, while still in high school." --excerpted from May 2006 English Literature and Composition Course Description. College Board.
COURSE MATERIALS AND ORGANIZATION
In addition to the individual texts that follow, the class text for the year is Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, Ninth Edition. Thomas R. Arp, Southern Methodist University; Greg Johnson, Kennesaw State University. Students check this text out of the Media Center at the beginning of the year. Drama and poetry from this text will comprise part of our study for the year as well the chapters related to writing about literature. Copies of all handouts are provided online at our class website http://rcu.blackboard.com. The username is 'tupelosenior', and the password is 'ths'. The Senior Project ’09 Manual will also be online sometime during the summer at the same website, but the username is 'thssenior' and the password is 'ths'.