good stuff for AP

http://www.dothgrin.net/apwritingguide.doc

Local Theaters Putting On Any Good Plays?

Hey folks. I'm attempting to take my students to see a play this year. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding an appropriate play to attend. Studio Arena doesn't have anything I'm interested in, nor does Kavinoky. Does anyone else know of any good theaters that I could look into? I've been bumping around UB, Buffalo State, etc. and can't find much, but I'm not averse to attending a play at a college within an hours drive. Let me know if you have any ideas.

iMovie Ideas for Oedipus Rex

Jackie and Frank...this started off as a comment in the last post, but I wanted to embed two videos so I made a new post...

We just got our network up and running, and I'm in the iMovie planning stages. I'm thinking one of two options:

1. Sock Puppet scenes - Using iMovie and voiceover narrative to do some sock puppet drama...maybe reader's theater or something but heavily utilizing the camera and close ups, etc.

2. Speech interpretations - Students would take a 10-15 line (or possibly lengthier) speech, record the voice-over and then visually interpret the lines. I'm just struggling with what they would film. I definitely want to avoid simply their face on camera while reading, and I don't want to go the imported still from the internet route. Maybe filming drawings? Not sure.

A few years ago I had students find important quotes from a Ray Chandler story (Cathedral, I believe), illustrate those quotes, and then film the illustrations. It worked out pretty well, although the film as a whole doesn't make much sense...hee hee.




The "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" Video we watched last week was kind of the same concept. Here's the video. It's on Youtube, so you'll have to check it out at home.




Frank...what kind of help do you need?

Frankenstein/Gothic

Hello everyone. This site seems to need a little content momentum, so I am going to start posting periodically about things I am doing in my AP Lit classroom. (The hyperlink links to my AP Lit blog.)

I've had some success this year. I spent the first few weeks having students workshop an explication paper, and I must say that, collectively, they were some of the strongest papers I've seen yet. Students chose one of five modern poems from the textbook The assignment sheet can be found here. (So, I'd like to thank Bruce and Frank for the Poetry Professor activity last year, as it has led to some pretty cool things.)

I've also implemented the annotation policy this year. On reading due dates (Mondays), students must bring in their texts annotated. I've liked it thus far, as kids seem to be able to easily reference important quotes and parts during discussion. I bought a Palm, so grading at the doorway is insanely easy. In order to help my students understand annotation we made a quick little iMovie in a day and a half.



Right now we're finishing up our first work, Frankenstein. We're studying the gothic/romantic angle in addition to the major theme (Prometheus and what not). We've read a couple of companion pieces, like Ozymandias and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which have helped reinforce gothic characteristics. Right now we are reading "The Fall of the House of Usher" in class to further reinforce these ideas. Students will be using the next couple of days to read the story and turn it into a short comic.



Anyways, that's my report. I've got a LCD projector in my classroom now, courtesy of City Voices/City Visions, which allows me to use a great deal of tech stuff (Youtube, Google Docs, etc.).

I'd love to hear from anyone who wants to share materials, ideas, or experiences. I benefited greatly from the collaboration last year and would like to see communication continue.

Next Up: Tragedy - Oedipus Rex and Death of a Salesman

The Books are Here!

For those of you dying to get your hands on the review books for AP Lit. - they have arrived! Let me know when you want to pick them up and I'll have them counted and ready to go.
Julie

another book

Peoples Education just sent me an examination copy of Writing The Synthesis Essay. It's not great for AP, but would be wonderful for a research paper unit, and would go well with teaching MLA documentation.
The company seems very agreeable about mailing out free stuff. The website is www.PeoplesEducation.com. The back of the book contains a 20% coupon on the AP Language text called Analysis, Argument, and Synthesis. If you're going to teach AP Lang., you might want to take a look.

Hey, Anyone Get Their Review Books, etc., Yet?

If anyone receives their review books, let me know, so I can start poking around in the nooks and crannies looking for mine. I want my Voice Lessons!