Pre-AP English II: Metamorphosis Socratic Seminar Questions

For this Friday's Socratic Seminar, you need to compile dialectical journal entries that will engage the classroom in discussion.

You (and your group) need to come up with a total of ten dialectical journal entries. Five of the entries should include a quote from Metamorphosis, a brief analysis of the literary device(s) Kafka used, and your interpretation of why Kafka used the literary device in the way he did. The other five entries should not have the interpretation information.

If you did not participate with a group, you need a total of two entries with and two without the interpretation.

Due tomorrow, Thursday, December 1.

Pre-AP English II: Socio-Economic Analysis Presentation

In case you lose your notes or just want to relive the experience....

Pre-AP Classes: Assignment Reminders

English I (Pre-AP): Please remember that you should be through Chapter 12 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Monday. You also have the ongoing "Facebook Page" project assignment to be thinking about/working on.

Pre-AP English II: You should be done reading Metamorphosis by Monday. There will be a book check for A Christmas Carol on Wednesday, Nov. 30 (check back tomorrow for information on how to get a free e-book copy). You may turn in a draft of your IWA at any time (remember, the deadline for a successful first draft is Friday, Dec. 9 -- only two weeks away!)

Above all, have a safe final couple days of your break. See you Monday.

Pre-AP English II: Norm McDonald Tells the Moth Joke

Want to see it again? Be my guest.

Pre-AP English Classes: Test Preview

Tomorrow, Pre-AP English I and II classes will be taking an AP-style multiple choice test on the texts you are reading. You will need to know the sets of of literary devices we've been working on this semester.

Pre-AP English I
Bring your books tomorrow. You will be tested on Chapter 8 of To Kill a Mockingbird and will need to know the following literary devices:

• Alliteration


• Allusion


• Diction


• Hyperbole


• Metaphor


• Onomatopoeia


• Oxymoron


• Paradox


• Personification


• Simile

Pre-AP II
I will provide you with an excerpt of the novel. You will be tested on the following literary devices:

• Alliteration


• Allusion


• Anaphora


• Apostrophe


• Diction


• Foreshadowing


• Flashback


• Hyperbole


• Imagery


• Metaphor


• Metonymy


• Onomatopoeia


• Oxymoron


• Paradox


• Personification


• Simile

you will also need to know the three types of irony

• Verbal


• Dramatic


• Situational

Pre-AP English II: IWA #3

Use either Metamorphosis or A Christmas Carol to help you write a well-organized essay on the following prompt:

Authors not only create memorable characters and plots to tell their stories, but they also carefully guide their readers’ reactions to those characters and their actions. In a well-developed essay analyze and explore how Kafka or Dickens uses diction and imagery to build narrative tone and consequently evokes specific responses from the reader.

Tips to success:

Focus on only one of the novellas. Focusing on both Metamorphosis and A Christmas Carol will immediately result in a REDO grade (no points). If you want to use A Christmas Carol, you must complete reading it in time to proceed through the IWA process.

Do not simply recount the plot or attributes of the characters. You must specify what tone(s) the narrators use and what reaction(s)—mood(s)—they produce in a hypothetical, typical reader. Extensive lack of focus on diction and imagery will result in a REDO grade (no points), not a REWRITE (70 points).

The earlier you turn in a draft that you expect to earn an 85 (only revision is needed) the more likely you are to eventually receive an 85 (your idea of what is revision-only and my idea of what is revision-only may differ) or 100 (because you’ve made the necessary revision, or you refined your essay on your own before you turned it in).

This will be the last time a70-point grade will be given on an IWA. Last year many students who had never bothered to rewrite an essay during the first semester had a very difficult time during the second semester when an 85 was required to avoid P.A. and/or IWA n.1.

This is also the last time IWAs may be turned in handwritten. Please see the note on the bonus in the next paragraph.

Paper should be about two-pages long, handwritten, or one-page long, typed, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman or Garamond. Five bonus points will be awarded to properly typed essays.

Daily P.A. for non-/unsuccessful-submitters begins Friday, December 9, 2011

Drop-Dead Deadline: Friday, December 16, 2011.

IWA 3.1 will be assigned on Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Pre-AP English II: Metamorphosis Vocabulary Set 1 / Meaningful Sentences

Use the vocabulary words above to write meaningful sentences. For slides that have two words, you need only write one sentence.

Remember:

• a meaningful sentence is made up of two independent sentences combined with a semicolon (;)


• the first sentence includes a vocabulary word


• the second sentence contains the definition of that vocabulary word


• the first word of the second sentence is not capitalized


• you should underline the vocabulary word and its definition

For instance, if the vocabulary word was:

Metamorphosis (n.): a complete change of form, structure, or substance, as transformation.

a meaningful sentence would be:

The caterpillar went through a metamorphosis; when it came out of its chrysalis it had transformed into a beautiful butterfly.

Due Date: Friday, Nov. 18

Pre-AP English II: Franz Kafka Presentation

If you missed any part of today's presentation, or just want to relive the moment, please play through it at your own pace. (First period: There are some new slides for the information I wrote on the board. Enjoy!)

Pre-AP Classes: Weekend Reading Assignment

Please come to class on Monday having read the following:

Pre-AP English II:
Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Section I

English I (Pre-AP):
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Chapter 1.

Don't forget to use the Half Price Books coupon(s) I mentioned in class.

Pre-AP English II: Metamorphosis for Free: More Options

If you have not yet acquired a copy of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, here are a couple other ways of obtaining a digital copy free.

1) Scan the QR-Code at left or visit m.gutenberg.org on your mobile device. Enter metamorphosis into the search bar and select the Franz Kafka version. Follow instructions to download and install book for your e-reader app/device.

2) If you have the iBooks app on your Apple device, click the "store" button and search for metamorphosis. The green-covered book is free.

There will be a book check on Friday, November 11. Be prepared.

Pre-AP English II: Metamorphosis for Free

Amazon is currently giving away Kindle copies of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis for free (normally $2).

If you have a Kindle or an Android or iOS device with the Kindle app, get the book for free. (If you don't have the app, get it, then get the book!)