Sample AP Prompts

In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole

Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main characters may likewise be guilty of treachery or may betray their own values. Select a novel or play that includes such acts of betrayal. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the nature of the betrayal and show how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

In many works of literature, a physical journey – the literal movement from one place to another – plays a central role. Choose a novel, play, or epic poem in which a physical journey is an important element and discuss how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.

Wuthering Heights Unit Plan

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Friday
9/25-9/29			Pride and Prejudice Unit Assessment	Introduction to Wuthering Heights
10/2-10/6	Read to Chapter 4	Read to chapter 7	Chapter 9	Chapter 11
10/9-10/13	Chapter 14		Close-Reading Essay	College Essay Presentation
10/16-10/20	Chapter 17	Chapter 20	Chapter 23	Chapter 25
10/23-10/27	Chapter 30	Chapter 32	Finish the Novel Wuthering Heights Unit Assessment one week from today (11/1)

Pride and Prejudice Unit Plan

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Friday
8/28-9/1	Read to chapter 6 for this day.	Chapter 10	Chapter 12 (Thursday – Chapter 17)	Summer Reading Assessment
9/4-9/8	No School	Chapter 21	Chapter 27 (4) Hand back essays	Review Summer Assessment
9/11-9/15	Chapter 33 (10)	Chapter 36 (13)	Chapter 43 (1)	Chapter 46 (4)
9/18-9/22	Chapter 49 (7)	Chapter 52 (10)	Chapter 56 (14)	Chapter 57 (15) Rewrites are Due
9/25-9/29	Finish the novel	Work Period	Pride and Prejudice Unit Assessment

Open Ended Questions

Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” Choose a novel, or play, and, considering Barthes’ observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers answers. Explain how the author’s treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Many works of literature not readily identified with the mystery or detective story genre nonetheless involve the investigation of a mystery. In these works, the solution to the mystery may be less important than the knowledge gained in the process of its investigation. Choose a novel or play in which one or more of the characters confront a mystery. Then write an essay in which you identify the mystery and explain how the investigation illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Friday April 14th

Hello students of literature and blue devil knowledge,

I am sadly at the District Office today since I got in trouble for eating food in the library, but do not fear, Mr. Edwards is here!

For today, you will watch the beginning of the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As we have already discussed, the 1962 novel is quite sexist in the way it displays its female characters and depicts the overall views of women at the time. The movie, however, was made a bit later in 1975. As you watch the film, write down how the movie deviates from the novel in terms of both plot and its treatment of women. On Monday, be ready to discuss...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Reading Schedule

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Fri
4/3-4/7		Read to Chapter 5	Chapter 6	Chapter 9
4/10-4/14	Chapter 12	Chapter 16 (Part 2)	Chapter 19	Chapter 24 (Part3)
4/17-4/21	Chapter 25		Chapter 26 (Part 4)	Chapter 28
4/24-4/28	Finish the novel	Review	Final Exam

Research Paper Rough Draft

Remember that your research paper rough draft is due on Friday. I've altered the page limit a bit. It is now 4-5 pages that are expected for the rough draft, not 5-6 pages. Just a typed copy, no turnitin.com.

Romantic-Era Poetry Assignment

Whether you believe it or not, you all have the spark of the Romantic Poet somewhere in your soul. For this assignment, you will tap into this fire and give it room to burn brightly by writing a mock-Romantic sonnet.

As you have seen, many of the Romantic writers saw beauty and meaning in the simplest of objects, experiences, or settings. For example, John Keats wrote sonnets praising a translation of Homer, depicting his feelings on solitude in nature, and capturing the pleasure of cuddling with his love. He has also written a number of odes to ideas and objects ranging from the season of autumn to expensive household decorations. For this poetry assignment you will need to observe and witness one of the following:

·       A location you once spent time at that would bring forth nostalgic feelings.

·       An item you personally feel has beauty and profound meaning.

·       A natural or pastoral element or setting that exhibits elements of the sublime.

After observing this item or setting, write a sonnet that captures not just the emotion you are feeling, but also the Romantic Voice of the early nineteenth century. This sonnet must be written in the Petrarchan or Shakespearean format and must be typed and turned in by Friday, March 24^th.

Try to mimic the language, voice, and style of the Romantic writers we have studied (such as Keats, Wordsworth, Blake, or Smith). You will need to have a strong understanding of their language and poetic style in order to effectively write your own Romantic poem. 

Friday 2/17

Hello students,

Sadly I am sick today and unable to come to class, but I am sure all will go smoothly during this period. Please make sure to turn in your dialectic essay in the cardboard box at the front of the room. You will then have the remainder of the period to work on your research paper.

For today, I recommend answering the essential question of the assignment: Why is your poet an important artist? To begin answering this question, simply start writing out some sentences that incorporate the ideas from both the critical research you have collected and also your own analysis of the selected poem. Hopefully, there are multiple answers (or sub-answers) as to why this poet is an important artist. It also helps if these sub-answers can easily connect to elements of the specific poem you are analyzing. Once you have a firm answer to this essential question, you may begin to see an outline or an organizational structure of the essay take shape. For example:

I. Intro
II. Background of Poet
III. First Sub-Answer to Essential Question
IV. Second Sub-Answer to Essential Question
V. Third Sub-Answer to Essential Question
VI. Detailed Analysis of the Specific Poem (connect with sub-answers)
VII. Conclusion

Crime and Punishment Essay

More Databases!!

In EBSCOhost, you will also have access to three other useful databases:

High School Resources

Advanced High School Resources

Literary Reference Center Plus

If you return to the DHS Library page, you can also access our local Yolo County library database called General OneFile

This does require a Yolo Library County Barcode (which is free to get since membership to a public library is free - I recommend getting a card). But there is also an easy workaround to gaining access to the general one file without a library card. Just email me if you need more information on the workaround.

Starting the Research Process: Critical Academic Sources

Some useful tools for acquiring academic sources for your research papers:

Our school has access to the EBSCOhost database when you are on campus. You can access it off campus with the correct password and username (if you need this info, please email me).

There are several databases to select from. Some are great for this research essay; some, not so much.

I recommend starting with the EBSCOhost research database and then selecting the Academic Search Premier. This is one of the better databases we have access to and I would start search here.

Feel free to explore all the other EBSCO databases, and if you're up for the challenge, Google Scholar sometimes gives you access to some excellent sources.

Poetry Research Paper - Getting Started

Hello Comp/Lit students! I am sorry that I cannot be present today, but please be not afeard; all is well.

First, take out your "Poetry Research Journal." If you do not have one, make sure you have one by tomorrow and that you transfer any notes you take today into the journal.

Today you will do an initial overview of background information on your poet, and we'll be collecting this information from one of the best sources on the interweb: The Poetry Foundation.

While this does not count as a "critical-academic source" for your paper, it is a reliable source that will provide you with a good start on your familiarization with your poet.

The links for each poet are listed below. Make sure to first copy down all information from the source that is required of you (see poetry research paper handout). Then copy down any notes that you believe will help you better understand your poet. Following this information gathering, reread your poet's selected poem and see if your understanding or interpretation of the poem has changed or evolved given your newly acquired knowledge.

Wordsworth

Wilbur

Nelson Waniek

Lee

Atwood

Crime and Punishment Reading Schedule

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Friday
1/9 - 1/13	No School	Camus, The Stranger, and Myth of Sisyphus	AP Practice Prose Essay	Crime and Punishment Part 1 Chapter 5
1/16 - 1/20	No School	John Stuart Mill Part 2 Chapter 1	Book Club Discussion Part 2 Chapter 5	Part 3 Chapter 1
1/23-1/27	Part 3 Chapter 3	Nietzsche Part 3 Chapter 5	Book Club Discussion Part 3 Chapter 6	Part 4 Chapter2
1/30-2/3	Part 4 Chapter 4	Kierkegaard Part 4 chapter 5	Book Club Discussion Part 5 Chapter 1	Part 5 Chapter 4
2/6-2/10	Part 6 Chapter 1	Sartre Part 6 Chapter 3	Part 6 Chapter 5 Book Club Discussion	Epilogue Essay Topics
2/13-2/17	No School	Novel Conclusion	Work Period	Essay Due by 4:00 to Turnitin.com

Fyodor Dostoevsky Book Club

For this unit you will be placed in book clubs of four students and will plan out as a group how you will proceed through Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment.

Process:

On each book club day of this unit, your book club will meet for 30 minutes during class to discuss topics of interest in that section of Crime and Punishment.

·       For each book club gathering, one student will type up four discussion questions from the reading for that week.

·       These questions will be provided on one piece of paper and they must be analytical reading questions, two of which must incorporate direct quotes (at least one from the novel).

·       A supplemental “philosophical” reading will be studied prior to the meeting (typically the day before) and I have ensured that each supplemental reading ties directly into the concurrent reading from Crime and Punishment. At least one of the questions must incorporate specific ideas from that week’s supplemental reading.

·       The preselected group leader of that week will lead his or her book club discussion. This group leader will be responsible for taking the “group notes” in response to his or her questions on the printed handout.

Book Club Meeting Blueprint:

Session 1: 1/17        Group leader: ____Mr. Achimore         Part 2 Ch. 2

Session 2: 1/18       Group leader: ______________        Part 2 Ch. 5

Session 3: 1/25       Group leader: _____________          Part 3 Ch. 6

Session 4: 2/1        Group leader: ______________         Part 5 Ch. 1

Session 5: 2/8        Group leader: ___________ __          Part 6 Ch. 3

Homework for Friday 1/13

For Friday, read up to Part 1 Chapter 5 in Crime and Punishment.

For Tuesday, read up to Part 2 Chapter 1 in Crime and Punishment.