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=AP English Lit 2012-13 Survey= =Course Descriptions 2012-13=

Here are some of the books selected for my classes this fall -
E9: Fahrenheit 451, Great Expectations (Fallen Grace, Jane Eyre optional) E10: To Kill A Mockingbird, A Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice (Jane Eyre optional), Chocolate War. E11-12: Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde AP: Beowulf, A Free Life, Picture of Dorian Gray, Les Miserables.

**Themes of Men and Monsters (What does it mean to be human? What terrifies us?): Brit Lit/AP Lit**
Why I love it: Every sentence in this book takes us closer to a heart of darkness - a human, geographical, spiritual, or social/industrial one. The mysterious quality of the book is like the mysterious paintings of the late 1800s, with color, light, and texture. Like the plot itself, reading this story is like a slow journey up the Congo River to a dark place. Why I love it: It is able to very realistically depict the way a person's mind works; but at the same time, we aren't sure exactly what is happening inside the minds of the other characters. Can little kids really be evil? Innocent? The book makes me question both ways of seeing, especially when it comes to judging another person's goodness or spiritual position. a writer's family settles in at a resort as caretakers for the long winter, but can they handle the isolation? a writer is held hostage by his biggest fan. a little girl is lost in the woods, and needs to depend on her own resources to survive. Why I love it: The whole time you are reading, you are asking, what does this story mean? It makes you read almost every book after it differently. Conflict of Cultures: Rural vs. Urban, Eastern vs. Western, angelic vs. bestial, scientific vs. spiritual. Conflict of Natures: old man vs. new man, technology vs. nature. Why I love it: one stubborn, beautiful woman -- three men. The language is lovely, with humor underlying much of it! Hardy makes us feel for his main characters, so we want them to make good choices.
 * Bleak House** - Esther Summerson tells a story of the many lives she touches, but what she wants most of all is a relationship with the mother she believes dead, but who happens to be very much alive, and whose story is told by a second narrator. Why I love it: No one uses words as Dickens does! I spent a week this summer immersed in Bleak House at Dickens Camp, and can't wait to share its strange worlds with others.
 * Great Expectations -** Charles Dickens's novel about a boy, Pip, raised by an older sister and her husband, Joe, a blacksmith. When Pip encounters a larger world, with a beautiful girl, a strange rich woman who raised her, and an escaped convict, his worlds clash, and he becomes a bit of a snob. Why I love it: This book works whether you are a freshman or a senior or a senior citizen. I never tire of reading it, and the characters are richly drawn, the story compelling, the themes relevant to faith and life today, with both humor and sadness.
 * Frankenstein** - Three stories are told, one inside the other, of a scientist who builds a man from parts of dead bodies and brings him to life--only to find he has created ugliness instead of beauty, causing him to abandon his creature, who feels lost and alone. Why I love it: You get to hear the "daemon's" side of the story; our class set has illustrations by a friend of ours that add a dimension.
 * Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde** - a first person narrator tells of two men he knows, one a calm, distinguished doctor who carefully protects a secret, the other a wild, passionate, dangerous and mysterious newcomer. Why I love it: It's short, and you don't really know until the end what has happened; it is fun to outguess the narrator, because I feel I know more than he does most of the time.
 * Dracula** - An eerie atmosphere surrounds the Transylvanian castle where Count Dracula resides, but his guest Jonathan Harker can't figure out why his white-haired host never appears in daylight. Why I love it: it is not what I expected, and I am excited to tie this gothic horror novel in with all the other vampire, horror, and suspense movies and books out there, plus with the older books about demons and good vs. evil. Also it is told in multi genre form - journal entries, etc.
 * Beowulf** (Heaney translation) - In this first English epic poem, a young hero comes to save a kingdom from the clutches of a monster named Grendel, a descendant of Cain; but when he is conquered, his angry mother goes on the attack. I love that we get to hear what our own tongue sounded like before the influence of French, and I am captivated by the Christian language in it. The story has great drama and adventure.
 * Picture of Dorian Gray** - This fable about a man who lives unchanged while his picture ages raises questions about art, beauty, the soul, and how humans try and resolve the dual natures or personalities that battle inside us. I love the way humorous witty conversation turns philosophical one moment, then cruel and sarcastic. I was surprised at the actions of Dorian, and how close this feels to a tale of a man selling his soul.
 * Jane Eyre** - a young orphan girl is sent to a cruel boarding school, then becomes a governess who falls in love with the wealthy man she works for, who has been keeping a terrible secret from her. Can she still love him when she knows his past? Why I love it: Written by a woman, and featuring a strong woman. I cry every time I read when Orphan Jane, at a cruel school, sits at the bedside of a little girl who is the only one who has befriended her. Mysterious, stormy atmosphere and emotions!
 * Othello** - an envious white man, Iago, deceives the noble black man, Othello, into believing his wife, the white Desdemona, unfaithful; like a magic spell, the trick works on Othello's mind and creates tragedy -- but what makes a person doubt in the first place? Are any of us free from the clutches of temptation?
 * Heart of Darkness**-
 * Turn of the Screw**- a young governess must solve a problem on her own: she believes two children in her care are haunted or even possessed by the ghosts of two former servants at Bly, an English mansion. She risks frightening the innocent children and exposing them to evil in order to help them. Is it worth the risk?
 * The Shining**- (Stephen King)
 * Misery**- (Stephen King)
 * Looking for Tom Gordon**- (Stephen King)
 * The Things They Carried** - a collection of related stories about the lives of soldiers in Viet Nam.
 * In the Lake of the Woods** - a Viet Nam veteran, now in politics, faces the disappearance of his wife on the night he also had a strange blackout. What really happened? The book asks us to wrestle with knowledge and uncertainty.
 * Tuesdays with Morrie** - a journalist spends every Tuesday with an old man, his teacher from years back, now undergoing treatment for life-threatening illness. His teacher's hopefulness and stories remind him of the great joy of living.
 * Metamorphosis**(Kafka) - In this surreal, dreamlike fable, a man wakes up one morning as a giant cockroach or beetle, and he and his family try to keep on living as best they can. Spawning numerous interpretations, this story is one that makes you think on many levels.
 * The Tempest** - A father and daughter live exiled on an island with a beast named Caliban and a sylph named Ariel. Prospero has a sorcerer's powers, but can they be used to control his daughter Miranda's love life and to reconcile him to his long-lost brother?
 * Night Shift** (Stephen King) - a great collection of scary stories, including "Jerusalem's Lot", which we may read in 11-12.
 * Paradise Lost** - Milton's allegorical account of the fall of Satan and the fall of Adam and Eve, this epic poem is a classic which has influenced the protestant views of heaven and hell forever.
 * Beloved**- Sethe has lived a dramatic life - escaping slavery while pregnant with a child, and now her house seems to be haunted; not only that, but a grown woman shows up claiming to be "Beloved", the very name of Sethe's dead child. What is it that the people in this story know but aren't talking about? Why I love it: written by a woman writer recognized as one of the greatest, and featuring strong women, the book not only offers me MYSTERY, but a tale of African Americans during and after slavery.
 * To Kill A Mockingbird**
 * The Yellow Wallpaper** - a young wife is confined to a quiet bedroom to get over her nervous disorder (what we know of today as depression). The problem is, she begins to see a woman trapped behind bars in the wallpaper...a women just like herself. Can she rescue her?
 * Never Let Me Go** - This futuristic novel is about a group of teens who are clones - raised from birth to supply organs to their human counterparts. But are they human, too, or only creations of science?
 * Tess of the Durbervilles**- A young woman must help her family by claiming kin with a distant cousin, who then takes advantage of her; she eventually falls in love with another man, but finds herself caught in a victorian world where people judge you by your past more easily than practicing forgiveness. Why I love it: a strong female in a hostile social landscape is a beautiful setting for Hardy to develop his themes; he writes with humor, romance, and allusions to myth and the Bible. Stonehenge.
 * Far from the Madding Crowd** -
 * Middlemarch -** at its heart this is a love story set among the characters of an English village; it is very smart, full of wise humor that expects much of its audience, and written by a woman who respects her characters and audience. Why I love it: I am only part way through it, but I know my students who like late 19th Century novels would love it. I have always wanted to study more novels that I am less familiar with as a class, leveling the playing field between teacher/tutor and students - we would truly be co-learners.

Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times Romeo and Juliet (1968)
 * FILMS that may supplement our reading**

= Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins shares her [|favorite books] = ...including A Wrinkle in Time, Thomas Hardy's novels, (Far from The Madding Crowd).

**Zechariah offers themes for many of this year's units**
//The LORD will cut off the pride of the Philistines// How is human pride made humble?

//I will wipe the blood from their mouth and snatch the abomination from between their teeth// How do God and humans deal with bloodthirsty monsters? How do individuals and societies become monstrous or merciful?

//Faithful City and City of Truth// How do poems, stories, and plays reveal truths, even though they may be fictional? How do believers speak truth to their culture?

//Care for widows and orphans// Seek justice, peace, and mercy How do we handle responsibility to God, others, and ourselves? How do we determine what is good?

//Fasting days become feasts of celebration// How do people find joy and peace in the midst of suffering? How is comedy different from tragedy? How does our point of view affect our actions?

Further Updates: Makeup policy for legitimate (sickness and death) and excused absences

Technology


 * Class Goals** - Thinking and Learning: asking the big questions

[Under Construction - please follow this link to Staples Web Site for a similar approach to writing]
 * Writing Instruction** overview (patterned after Staples High School in Connecticut)

code The tree lay down on the garage roof and stretched, You have your heaven, it said, go to it. code || Find this and other poems at [|Poetry.org]
 * The Hurricane ||||  ||
 * by [|William Carlos Williams] ||

Receive English class credit for your
> Ask me how!!!
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 * ==humor==
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Admittedly obscure, bizarre: searchable signatures on old bookshop door
== My expectation is that students develop their critical thinking skills in every class period - and that students understand that those skills - including reading, writing, speaking, and listening carefully--apply in all areas of our curriculum, not just in English class.* ==
 * A recent [|article]in The New Yorker lists “to think critically, reason analytically, solve problems, and communicate clearly” as aims of college learning.

Read more [|http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/06/06/110606crat_atlarge_menand#ixzz1VbWq2Vp1]

Student goals for each class can be found on the Envisioning English page.
= POETRY =

Here is an example of the kind of reading we might do, and the method we could use to figure out not only what the poem says, but what it may mean, and what it may mean to us.
Tyger, Tyger, Burning bright In the forests of the night What immortal hand or eye Did frame they fearful symmetry?
 * William Blake –**

=
Log into Edmodo.com, then select under GROUPS "Join" and type in the class code for a class or drama interest. (Parents, Ms. Berrend or I are happy to provide your parent code after your student has joined an ICS class, but any teacher may be able to help you) =====