Applying Literature Circle Model to AP LitWestin Stonebriar Hotel & Golf Club

Dallas, TX

Nancy Dickinsonnancy.dickinson@fortbendisd.comnancydickinson@ymail.comdickinsonclassroom.com

Independent Reading in the AP Literature Classroom

Coming of Age Selections

All the Pretty HorsesCatcher in the RyeBless Me, UltimaKite Runner

Pulitzer and Nobel Prize Winners

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar WaoA Visit from the Goon SquadAll the Pretty HorsesA Thousand Splendid SunsThe Round House

Novel Prize Winners

All the Light We Cannot SeeThe Orphan Master’s SonThe Goldfinch

Science Fiction

The Handmaid’s TaleThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the GalaxyBrave New WorldSlaughterhouse Five

Steps to Organizing Your Independent Reading Unit

1. Select a few books you know well. Group by theme or genre.2. Divide book up into 4 parts.3. Introduce novels a week or two before students need to make a choice. Sell the novel. Use First Pages

Exercise to write themes before students have to make a selection.4. Provide a focus for annotations by picking Question 3 prompts you might use for the exam.5. Schedule reading quizzes, verbal COWs, written COWs, silent reading days, and discussion days.6. Final Assessment: Use Question 3 Prompts from AP English Literature Exam.7. Use AP Rubric to score essays.8. Plan a debriefing day after essays are scored.

Discussions for Literature Circles

1. First Page Exercise: Best used as the introduction to the project. Instructor copies first page of each novel. Students read and annotate, not knowing the author or title of the work. Analyzing the prose, students generate themes. Remarkably, students predict themes of the novel before even learning the title. Writing Component: List of themes.

2. Literary Theory Conversation: Using the webpage on Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism at Purdue’s Online Writing Lab, assign students a school of thought. Student friendly theories include Moral Criticism, Formalism, Psychoanalytic Criticism, Marxist Criticism, Feminist Criticism, and New Historicism. Students briefly research their theory and meet in groups to discussion the novel through this perspective. Writing Component: Journal how a student of this theory might analyze the novel.

3. Professional Discussion: Assign students a profession: journalist (specializing in sensationalism), a child psychologist, history professor, movie director, detective, scientist, or criminal lawyer. Students first meet in groups organized by profession. Many times the students don’t need to be prompted for a discussion; however, if the career titles fail to generate dialogue, instructor can lead the discussion with study guide questions or COW prompts. For round two, reassign groups with one professional per group. For the second round, instructor may need to prompt discussion with questions. Writing Component: Field Notes. Students write a report on their subject in the form of professional notes that they would submit to their client or boss.

4. Psychologist’s Diagnosis: Using simple description of the work of Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner, and Carl Yung, students discuss the main character, and then the author, through the eyes of the famous psychologist. Imagine the main character is the patient. Writing Component: Notes for the patient’s file.

5. Poetry Gallery: Using a packet of several poems, instructor creates a gallery walk with poems. Students travel with groups through each poem, identifying similarities in content and attitude between the their novel and the poem. Writing Component: Compare and contrast paper.

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Sample of Specific Can of Worms Part I

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar WoaWho are Oscar’s furies (his personal pantheon)?Describe Oscar’s first two girlfriends and what became of them.Describe Oscar’s friends from high school.Fuku?The narrator shifts in the first part. Who are the speakers? And what is the significance of the shift?MisterSAT class

All the Pretty HorsesWho has died? How is his or her death significant?Who is Mary Catherine?Describe Blevins? How does Rawlins feel about him?What is the significance of coffee?Bonus Question: What is John Grady’s mother’s name?

A Visit from the Goon SquadGold Flakesred MercedesI BELIEVE IN YOUSasha

A Thousand Splendid Sunsharami“Now you know what your rice tastes like.”PinocchioRasheed

The Round HouseDescribe Aunt Clemence.gasoline“Let’s go find her.”Indian suitcase

The Poisonwood BibleMethusalahMama Tataba’s adviceDescribe Rachel’s style of speaking. How does it fit her personality?Explain Nathan’s style of parenting. How does he punish his children?

Bless Me, UltimaLupitoowlpen and paperMarez blood

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25 Questions to Ask on Generic Quizzes

Directions: Answer questions with a short paragraph. Make a strong claim. Support claim with examples from the novel, specific details that not only address the topic but contribute to the meaning of the work. Draw connections between the topic and theme. Consider why the author made the choices he or she did and how it affects meaning.Each question is worth 33 points. Equal points are giving to your claim (10 points) and strength of connection to theme (10 points). Selection and specificity of details from the work account for 13 points.1. Which one of these poetry quotes connects most strongly to your book so far? Explain.

A. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)B. “Water, water, every where,/And all the boards did shrink;/Water, water, every where,/Nor any drop to drink.” (“Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Coleridge)C. “When can their glory fade?/O the wild charge they made!/All the world wonder’d./Honour the charge they made!/Honour the Light Brigade,/Noble six hundred!” (“Charge of the Light Brigarde,” Tennyson)D. “My little horse must think it queer/To stop without a farmhouse near/Between the woods and frozen lake/The darkest evening of the year.” (“Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” Robert Frost)

2. To your protagonist, what would be the worst outcome of the plot? Explain.3. Motif (or motive) is defined in A Handbook to Literature as “recurrent images, words, objects, phrases or actions that tend to unify the work.” Motif is often associated with leitmotif which “tends to unify a work through its power to recall earlier occurrences.”

Select a reoccurring symbol or motif. Describe its use in the work and how it has affected meaning. 4. Which poem we read in class best resembles your book in content, tone, or theme? Explain. 5. Assume the role of your protagonist’s psychologist, what is your diagnosis and recommended therapy. Why?6. According to A Handbook to Literature, a conflict is “the struggle that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces.” One of these opposing forces “is usually a person.” What character seems to be generating the most conflict for your character at this point in the novel?7. Which of the following quotes best describes your protagonist at this point in the story? Explain why.

A. “You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.” ― John LennonB. “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” ― Bertrand RussellC. “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, 

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by fearing to attempt.” ― William Shakespeare, Measure for MeasureD. “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ― Maya Angelou

8. If you were a character in this work, who would you be and why?9. If your character were alive today, living in our community, how would they act differently? Use evidence from the text to support your theory.10. Analyze your main character’s relationship with his family and friends. 11. Author Katherine Mansfied says, “How hard it is to escape from places. However carefully one goes they hold you — you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences — like rags and shreds of your very life.” Explain how this quote affects the characters in your novel.12. Who is the sanest person in this book? Explain why.13. So far in the novel, how has the protagonist lied to himself and why?14. How does the author use the protagonist as a device for social criticism? 15. Compare the conflict (or social criticism) of a poem we’ve read to the conflict (or social criticism) examined in the novel? Compare and contrast the different philosophical outlooks of the poet and the author. 16. If the protagonist of your novel was re-cast as an antagonist, who or what would the character be working against and why?17. Authors frequently play with time and revealing details to add suspense through non-chronological storytelling and flashbacks.  Choose one essential scene from your novel and discuss how moving its placement in the novel would substantially alter the work as a whole.18. Describe an occasion when your main character surprised you. Why was her or actions surprising? How does this behavior contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?20. How does time affect the meaning of the work? Consider time period of setting or the concept of time.21. Discuss the order of events in the novel. How is the work organized? How does the organization contribute to the meaning?22. A static character is a character who does not change. Name such a character in your work and explain how this static character affects the main character.23. Select one of the following adjectives. Explain how the adjective describes your character. Give examples from the text.Jealous Assertive Selfish Restless Uncertain Nervous

Exhausted

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24. Is your character honest? To others? To him or herself? Give examples of honestly or dishonesty. How has your character’s honest/dishonestly affected the story?25. Sigmund Freud says, “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.” Explain how this line describes a character in your novel.

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Rubric for Can of Worms Short Response

There are usually three short answers for the Can of Worms Quiz. Each answer is worth 33 points.

A Response 33-30 Points

The A Response is thorough, providing precise evidence that effectively answers the question. The A Response clearly reveals that the reader has carefully read the work. A connection between the evidence and the meaning of the work as a whole is authentic and insightful. The writer has an understanding of the effect of the author’s choices.

B Response 29-26 Points

The B Response indicates that the writer has read the assigned work and is able to identify the plot details with accuracy. The connection between the meaning of the work as a whole and the plot details are strained or forced. The writer recognizes that the author has made choices but explains those choices in such a way as to indicate a lack of real understanding.

C Response 25 Points The C Response indicates that the writer has read the work assigned; the plot details are not inaccurate. The writer makes no attempt or a shallow attempt to explain how plot details connect to author’s purpose or larger meaning of the work.

D Response 24-20 Points

The D Response has inaccuracies and is incomplete.

F Response 19-0 Points The F Response may make an effort to answer the question but is inaccurate. May be blank.

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Tickets for Literary Theory Discussion

Moral Criticism and Dramatic Construction (~360 BC-present)

Formalism (1930s-present)

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Psychoanalytic Criticism (1930s-present)

Marxist Criticism (1930s-present)

New Historicism, Cultural Studies (1980s-present)

Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)

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4 Fantastic Thinkers Who Helped to Shape Psychology by Jeffery Goode

With a huge pool of famous, influential and simply brilliant individuals to pick from, it is very difficult to select only four persons who have left indelible marks on the science of psychology. It is with this in mind that honorable mention must be given to such thinkers as Pavlov, Bandura, Zimbardo, etc. who are all major contributors to the field. However this article will focus on the incredible foundation-laying work of Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner, and Carl Jung.

Sigmund Freud

How could you have a list of famous master psychologists without naming Sigmund Freud? Highly influential and quite controversial, Freud, and Austrian neurologist, lived from 1856 to 1939. He is known as the founding father of psychoanalysis and developed groundbreaking theories about the unconscious mind. According to Freud, our personalities are composed of three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego — which direct our actions and behavior. He also developed theories involving free association, the existence of libido, transference, repression, and dreams and the unconscious mind. He published his famous book “The Interpretation of Dreams” in November 1899, and is also known for his ideas about psychosexual development. Freud’s theories tremendously shaped psychology as we know it today, and, because of him, we use and hear the terms “Freudian slip”, “repression”, and “denial” in everyday conversation.

 Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers, who lived from January 8, 1902 to February 4, 1987, was among the fathers of the humanistic approach to the field of psychology. He believed that the self is composed of self-worth, self-image and ideal self, and that people can be in congruence or incongruence, depending on how these aspects are in balance with reality. He was very interested in self-concept and believed that humans are motivated to self-actualize, or fulfill their potential and achieve high levels of self-worth. He also believed that in order for humans to live up to their potential, their environment must provide genuineness, acceptance, and empathy.

 B. F. Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner, otherwise known as B.F. Skinner, was born on March 20, 1904 and died on August 18, 1990. He was a behaviorist, psychologist, inventor, author, and social philosopher. Skinner founded his own type of experimental research psychology which is known as the experimental analysis of behavior. He developed the operant conditioning chamber, which you may know as the “Skinner box”, and used it and other tools and techniques to study people’s behavior and how it is modified by positive and negative reinforcement. He did not advocate the use of punishment to modify human behavior, but supported the idea of using positive and negative reinforcement as a more effective way to control and shape one’s behavior. Skinner is famous for his use of psychological behavior modification techniques and many of his theories and findings are present in modern day psychology.

 Carl Jung

Carl Jung lived between the years of 1875 and 1961 and was actually friends with Sigmund Freud. Jung developed a fascination for the unconscious mind, much like Freud, but later began questioning and rejecting many of Freud’s theories. Jung formed the theory of analytical psychology and believed that the human psyche is made up of three components: the ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. He believed the collective unconscious was a pooling of all of the experience and knowledge of the whole human race. Jung developed the concepts of introversion and extraversion that are alive and well to this day, and his advice to a struggling alcoholic helped lead to the program we know as AA or Alcoholics Anonymous

Jeffrey Goode is a counselor and writer who contributed to the Top Online Masters in Psychology program for people looking to further their education while taking advantage of the convenience of online courses.

http://www.whatispsychology.biz/4-fantastic-thinkers-psychology-0003311

Ships that Pass in the NightBY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massing;

      I look far out into the pregnant night,

Where I can hear a solemn booming gun

      And catch the gleaming of a random light,

That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.

My tearful eyes my soul's deep hurt are glassing;

      For I would hail and check that ship of ships.

I stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud,

      My voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips,

And but its ghost doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.

O Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing,

      O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the dark!

Is there no hope for me? Is there no way

      That I may sight and check that speeding bark

Which out of sight and sound is passing, passing?

Much Madness is divinest Sense - (620)BY EMILY DICKINSON

Much Madness is divinest Sense -

To a discerning Eye -

Much Sense - the starkest Madness -

’Tis the Majority

In this, as all, prevail -

Assent - and you are sane -

Demur - you’re straightway dangerous -

And handled with a Chain -

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The Use And Abuse Of Toads by A.E. Housman

As into the garden Elizabeth ranPursued by the just indignation of Ann,She trod on an object that lay in her road,She trod on an object that looked like a toad.

It looked like a toad, and it looked so becauseA toad was the actual object it was;And after supporting Elizabeth's treadIt looked like a toad that was visibly dead.

Elizabeth, leaving her footprint behind,Continued her flight on the wings of the wind,And Ann in her anger was heard to arriveAt the toad that was not any longer alive.

She was heard to arrive, for the firmament rangWith the sound of a scream and the noise of a bang,As her breath on the breezes she broadly bestowedAnd fainted away on Elizabeth's toad.

Elizabeth, saved by the sole of her boot,Escaped her insensible sister's pursuit;And if ever hereafter she irritates Ann,She will tread on a toad if she possibly can.

A Quiet Day by Barry Spacks

My poem, I place the weight of the day on your shoulders.A quiet day, no gong of terrors sounding.Not the grand style of the hectors striding forthbut the quiet braveries take you: say the manunlocking his store at eight despitethe gunmen.Say the feverish child; the mother all night beside him.All the little acts. the endurance of the aged.My neighbor McFee, sweat driving from his chin,eighty-four and he feels it, paintinghis empty home.Or a wife assisting the long divorce of her hsuanbdfrom his large dreams. Or a widow, baking bread.Or Andromeda laughing, the heave horsecrest helmetset on the brow of her son. The daybefore.The dayafter.

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Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal InsaneBY ETHERIDGE KNIGHT

Hard Rock / was / “known not to take no shitFrom nobody,” and he had the scars to prove it:Split purple lips, lumbed ears, welts aboveHis yellow eyes, and one long scar that cutAcross his temple and plowed through a thickCanopy of kinky hair.

The WORD / was / that Hard Rock wasn’t a mean niggerAnymore, that the doctors had bored a hole in his head,Cut out part of his brain, and shot electricityThrough the rest. When they brought Hard Rock back,Handcuffed and chained, he was turned loose,Like a freshly gelded stallion, to try his new status.And we all waited and watched, like a herd of sheep,To see if the WORD was true.

As we waited we wrapped ourselves in the cloakOf his exploits: “Man, the last time, it took eightScrews to put him in the Hole.” “Yeah, remember when heSmacked the captain with his dinner tray?” “He setThe record for time in the Hole—67 straight days!”“Ol Hard Rock! man, that’s one crazy nigger.”And then the jewel of a myth that Hard Rock had once bitA screw on the thumb and poisoned him with syphilitic spit.The testing came, to see if Hard Rock was really tame.A hillbilly called him a black son of a bitchAnd didn’t lose his teeth, a screw who knew Hard RockFrom before shook him down and barked in his face.And Hard Rock did nothing. Just grinned and looked silly,His eyes empty like knot holes in a fence.

And even after we discovered that it took Hard RockExactly 3 minutes to tell you his first name,We told ourselves that he had just wised up,Was being cool; but we could not fool ourselves for long,And we turned away, our eyes on the ground. Crushed.He had been our Destroyer, the doer of thingsWe dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do,The fears of years, like a biting whip,Had cut deep bloody groovesAcross our backs

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Aunt Jennifer's Tigers by Adrienne Rich

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.They do not fear the men beneath the tree;They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her woolFind even the ivory needle hard to pull.The massive weight of Uncle's wedding bandSits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lieStill ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.The tigers in the panel that she madeWill go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

This girlchild was born as usualand presented dolls that did pee-peeand miniature GE stoves and ironsand wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:You have a great big nose and fat legs. 

She was healthy, tested intelligent,possessed strong arms and back,abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.She went to and fro apologizing.Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs. 

She was advised to play coy,exhorted to come on hearty,exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.Her good nature wore outlike a fan belt.So she cut off her nose and her legsand offered them up. 

In the casket displayed on satin she laywith the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,a turned-up putty nose,dressed in a pink and white nightie.Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.Consummation at last.To every woman a happy ending. 

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That Will to Divest by Kay Ryan

Action createsa tastefor itself.Meaning: onceyou've swept the shelvesof spoons and platesyou keptfor guests,it gets hardernot to also simplify the larder,not to dismiss rooms, not to divest yourselfof all the chairsbut one, notto test whatsingleness can bear,once you've begun.

Christopher Robin by Czeslaw Milosz

I must think suddenly of matters too difficult for a bear of little brain. I have never asked myself what lies beyond the place where we live, I and Rabbit, Piglet and Eeyore, with our friend Christopher Robin. That is, we continued to live here, and nothing changed, and I just ate my little something. Only Christopher Robin left for a moment.

Owl says that immediately beyond our garden Time begins, and that it is an awfully deep well. If you fall in it, you go down and down, very quickly, and no one knows what happens to you next. I was a bit worried about Christopher Robin falling in, but he came back and then I asked him about the well. 'Old bear,' he answered. 'I was in it and I was falling and I was changing as I fell. My legs became long, I was a big person, I grew old, hunched, and I walked with a cane, and then I died. It was probably just a dream, it was quite unreal. The only real thing was you, old bear, and our shared fun. Now I won't go anywhere, even if I'm called in for an afternoon snack.' 

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AP Literature Q3 Rubric

9-8 Well-focused analysis of the topic and how it functions to illustrate the meaning of the work as a whole. Persuasive analysis of the topic. Apt and specific textual support to support analysis of the significance of the topic to the work as a whole. Makes a strong case for their interpretation. Discusses literary work with significant insight and understanding. 9 offers more sophisticated analysis. 9 offers more effective control of language.

7-6 Reasonable analysis of how topic functions in the work as a whole. Reasonable analysis of all elements required of the prompt. Analyzes the significance of the topic in the work. Insightful. Understands the passage. Analysis is less thorough than 9/8. Analysis is less perceptive than 9/8. Less specific in supporting detail than 9/8 paper. 7 presents better developed analysis. 7 has more consistent command of the elements of effective composition.

5 Superficial. Thinly developed in analysis. Relies on plot summary that contains some analysis. Attempts to discuss the topic as it functions in the work as a whole. Attempts to address all requirements of the prompt. Simplistic understanding of significance of topic in the work. Support from the text may be too general. Adequate control of language but marred by surface errors. Not well conceived. Not well organized. Not well developed.

3-4 Fails to offer an adequate analysis of how the topic functions in the work as a whole. Does not address all requirements of the prompt. Analysis is partial. Analysis is unsupported. Analysis is irrelevant. Incomplete understanding. Oversimplified understanding. Relies on plot summary alone. Unfocused presentation of ideas. Repetitive presentation of ideas. Absence of textual support. Accumulation of errors. Lack of control over the elements of college-level composition. Significant misreading. Inept writing.

2-1 Makes some attempt to respond to the prompt. Unacceptably brief. Incoherent in presentation of ideas. Poorly written with distracting errors in grammar and mechanics. Little clarity. Little organization. Little supporting evidence. Little coherent discussion of the text.

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