Notes After the Song of Myself Session

Here you'll find a link to an online version of the poem, some comments on the poem, and a helpful link posted by Allie L.

I began typing up notes from this morning's discussion but then I decided to erase them. Instead I'll hit the ball--tennis? volleyball?--into your court. What questions do you still have about the poem, about what Whitman is saying? What is he saying about the self and the relationship between the self and the body, other people, animals, beliefs, etc.? How does what he is saying overall find expression (and nuance and revision) in individual sections? Post ideas and questions in the comments box. Use the comment box as a class resource.

Here are the revised prompts:
(Post or email one of the two by Monday, August 25. Post or email the other by Tuesday, September 2. Post or email the reflection as soon as you think of it or before Tuesday, September 2.

1. Analyze a section of Song of Myself
Choose one of the numbered sections from Song of Myself that you think is particularly worth analyzing and explaining. Write a response that meticulously explains what Whitman is saying in the section, explains how Whitman's use of language and literary devices contributes to what he is saying, and explains how the section contributes to the meaning of the poem as a whole.

Expectations: I expect you to make strong insightful assertions about the meaning of the section and the meaning of the whole poem; I expect to use (quote, explain, develop) specific evidence from the section (the whole section not just parts of it) to support your assertions. (Please indicate what edition of Song of Myself you are using: 1855, 1882, or another.)

If you have questions please email me. In today's session we practiced relating close reading of a section to the meaning as a whole, but you still might have some questions.

2. Write a Whitmanesque Poem
Write a poem (20+ lines) of your own using Whitman’s work as a guide. First, determine three characteristics of Whitman’s poetry. Then write a poem that emulates those three characteristics. (Think about the long lines, lists, repetitions, parallel structures. Think about Whitman’s assertion of self and the relationship between that self and the things around the self. Think about his observations of other people and other things around.) Be inventive. Have fun with this. Then write a paragraph explaining how your poem uses (and perhaps adapts) at least three characteristics of Whitman’s poem.

3. Reflection on the summer
Instead of writing reflections about your last set of responses, please take a moment to write a reflection about the summer reading, summer writing, and summer sessions.

Self-Reflection on the summer work for AP English

Name:

Assignment: Summer Reading, Summer Writing, Summer Sessions

I had trouble with... (please be specific)

1.

2.

3.

What I like about my summer work (reading, writing, participation in the sessions--please be specific and seek personal insight):

What was most difficult for me (reading, writing, participating in the sessions--please be specific and seek personal insight):

What I learned from the summer sessions:

What I will do differently when the school year begins:

Dispatch after a Week of More Teacher Camp

Final AP English Summer Session

The final AP English summer session will be held on Monday, August 18 from eight am until lunch in room 2207 at Gloucester High School. This date was set early in the summer. I hope you have planned accordingly.

You must either attend the session or email me before the session explaining why you will be unable to attend.

Finishing the Summer Strong

AP English summer preparations have fallen apart a bit in the past several weeks. The third session had the lowest attendance. The work assigned for the third book has been the slowest to arrive. I understand that completing schoolwork in the summer is difficult for many reasons. I, too, have fallen off the pace a bit. (I spent most of last week in a graduate course in Cambridge where I didn’t have access to a computer.)

But we will not wallow in self-pity. We will not fear the coming of the fall. We will embrace it. Here’s how.

First, you will either attend the session on Monday or send me an email explaining why you cannot be there. This email should also contain some of your thoughts and a few of your questions about Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself.

Second, you will complete the Song of Myself responses on time. One of the responses will be due on Monday, August 25—my daughter’s birthday!—and one will be on Tuesday, September 2—in other words, before the first day of school. (You choose which one to turn in on which date. Revised prompts will be posted on the blog after Monday’s session. Email the responses or post them on the blog.)

Third, you will complete the work you have missed. This is the most important part of the “finishing the summer strong” plan.

I will begin calculating your summer work grade* after the first day of classes (September 3). Therefore, all late work must be in by September 3.

Fourth, after we have completed the four summer readings and eight summer responses, we’ll begin the year with confidence. We’ll have had a lot of experience with the sort of thoughtful reading, writing, and talking that will help you get fours and fives on the AP test next May.

I will see you on Monday or hear from you before then.

Sincerely,

Mr. James Cook
Gloucester High School

*How will summer work grades be calculated?

As most of you know, I have been evaluating your summer responses as homework assignments that “exceed expectations,” “meet expectations,” or “do not meet expectations.” To “meet expectations” your writing must make plausible assertions and support these assertions with accurate evidence from the text. Simple.

What do the phrases “exceeds expectations,” “meets expectations,” or “does not meet expectations” mean in terms of grades?

If you consistently exceed expectations you will earn a grade in the mid to high A range. If you consistently meet expectations you will earn a grade in the B to A- range (depending on whether you occasionally exceed expectations or occasionally fall below expectations). If you consistently do not meet expectations you will earn a grade in the C to B- range.

Students who have attended summer sessions and have handed work in on time can expect a bump up in the summer work grade. So, if you’ve consistently met expectations and have turned in your work on time and have attended the sessions (or have stayed in contact with me) you’re more likely to earn an A- (even if you haven’t exceeded expectations).

Notes after the Translations Session

New prompts:

1. Passage Analysis

Choose a passage from Brian Friel’s play Translations in which translation (mistranslation, imperfect translation, the absence of translation, renaming as a form of translation, cultural translation, etc.) plays a significant role. Type out the passage including the page number and MLA citation. Below the typed out passage, explain how Friel uses literary techniques, such as selection of suggestive detail, indirect (or implied) characterization, point of view, events (on stage or off stage), actions (as implied by dialogue or stated in stage directions) irony, etc., to make a point about identity, language, and culture. The best analyses will display a mastery of what Friel is saying (or, rather, what he is suggesting or implying) in the passage, what techniques Friel uses in the passage to say it, and how the passage relates to the work as a whole.

Note 1: Make a strong assertion about what Friel is saying (suggesting or implying) in the passage.

Note 2: When showing how Friel uses a technique or techniques to make his point in the passage, discuss only the techniques that you understand and that contribute to the meaning of the passage you’ve chosen. Some responses may mention all the techniques I’ve listed but will fail to show an understanding of how Friel uses the techniques to make a point about translation. Other responses may focus on one or two techniques but thoroughly and convincingly explain how those techniques contribute to what Friel has to say about translation. If you can explain how Friel’s way of writing contributes to what he is saying (implying, suggesting, showing, illustrating) but you do not know the name of technique, don’t worry. Explain what you think Friel is doing; you can learn the name for the technique later.

Note 3: You must have direct quotations from the passage in the body of your response. Avoid dropping the quotations into your writing as separate sentences. Try weaving the quotations into your own writing. If that seems too hard do this: “place the quotation after a colon if what precedes the quotation is a complete sentence on its own.”

2. Passage Creation

Write a brief scene (300+ words) of your own in which translation, mistranslation, or lack of translation reveals something about identity (who I am), language (how we communicate), culture (how a group acts, what it believes, what it values), and/or power (who is in control). In other words use the conventions of dramatic writing—especially dialogue and stage directions—to make a point about translation. (Don’t forget to title your scene.) (Alternative: if you are uncomfortable using the conventions of dramatic writing you may instead write a personal narrative essay in which you narrate and reflect upon a story about yourself in which translation plays a prominent role.) I am looking to see that you understand how issues of translation can reveal something about identity, language, culture, and/or power.

3. Self-Reflection on Wide Sargasso Sea Responses

Name:

Assignment:

I had trouble with

1.

2.

3.

What I like about my responses:

What was most difficult for me:

What I learned from this assignment:

What I will do differently on the Translations responses:

Post these responses to the blog or email them to me. One is due Sunday, August 10. The other is due Friday, August 15. You choose which is due when. (When you post or send the "Passage Analysis" of Translations also post or send a self-reflection on the Wide Sargasso Sea responses.)

AP Summer Session #3: Translations

The third and penultimate AP English Literature and Composition summer session will be held on Monday, August 4 from eight am to lunch in room 2207 at Gloucester High School.

Please email me to tell me you're coming or to explain the dire circumstances that will keep you away.

Click here for the "before reading," "while reading," and "after reading" notes for Translations. These notes are also available on the blog. (Depending on what I learn by reading the rest of your WSS responses and what I learn during Monday's session I may alter the "after reading" prompts but rest assured that one response will be analytical and the other will allow you to put a more personal spin on the issues of identity, family, culture, and "translation".)

You'll see, I think, when you read the notes that over the course of the summer we've been building a substantial understanding of the relationship between, on the one hand, the self and identity and, on the other hand, the effect that one's surrounding have on one's development of self and identity.

The play is a pretty quick read--and the play was designed to be part exploration of identity and culture and part entertaining loving story--so even if you have not begun reading it I expect that you will have read it by Monday. (If you have any problems let me know before Monday.)