What's Going On?

* College Essay (either a new draft or same as last quarter) Due 12/19

* Blog posts about the plays (Ibsen, Lorca, Irish, USAmerican) Due 12/19 (unless you use a letter, then due 1/5)

* Compare and Contrast Bildungsroman Essay Due 12/19 (unless you use a letter, then due 1/5)

* Personal Poetry Anthology Due dates and directions here

* Memorize and be able to analyze a sonnet (look here here and here) for the midyear exam (D-block 12/22, F-block 12/23) (Notes: On Monday 1/5 F-block should be prepared to "teach" the two sonnets you have read and taken notes on. Both classes will also do a fun activity on Monday with Sonnet 130 and a postmodern poem by Harryette Mullen called "Dim Lady".)

* Learn several literary terms for the exam. (Look here for last year's list and student-researched definitions. More on this after break.)

* Read something that you don't have to. I recommend The Best American Nonrequired Reading. It's put together by high schoolers in the Bay Area of California and new edition comes out every year.

* If you're feeling up for some intellectual stimulation. I will be giving a lecture on Charles Olson's Maximus Poems called Polis is What? on Saturday, January 3 at three in the afternoon at the Cape Ann Museum on Middle Street.