Today, we took a look at all of those context clues that students searched for last night. I am hoping that you found this useful as a vocabulary activity. Probably, we will be prepared to quiz on those on Monday.
I talked about the two "tracks" that are currently running through our study in AP Lang. The first involves
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The weekend research project and the resulting class discussion tomorrow should help us build the background knowledge necessary to comprehend the reading on a variety of levels: literal, historical, etc. Additionally, our vocabulary study is meant to help us move smoothly through Stevenson's Victorian prose.
The second track is about essay writing. Today, we read an article in class titled,
On Essays: Literature's Most Misunderstood Form. I told students that I hoped it changed their lives. I wasn't being dramatic. I really hope it opened some minds today about what it should be like to write and/or read an essay. I asked students to find a "pithy" quotation in the essay. That is one that they feel important or one that they think changes their ideas about essay writing or adds to their understanding of essay writing. Students are putting the quotations on paper and then writing a paraphrase and a rationale for their choice. You can find the essay here:
http://www.pw.org/content/essays.
A messy vocabulary list--which is only meant to aid your comprehension-- for the essay is a follows:
Cleave: to adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly
Artifice: craftsmanship or conventions
Postmodernism: of, relating to, or being any of various movements in
reaction to modernism that are typically characterized by a return to
traditional materials and forms (as in architecture) or by ironic
self-reference and absurdity (as in literature)
Machinations: crafty schemes, plots
Flagrante delicto: in the very act of committing the offense.
Metaphysical: highly abstract
Self-effacing: the act or fact of keeping oneself in the background, as in humility.
Tincture: a slight infusion, as of some element or quality:
Accrue: to happen or result as a natural growth, addition, etc.
Vacillations: a state of indecision or irresolution.
unsteady movement; fluctuation.
Amorphous: lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless
Protean: readily assuming different forms or characters; extremely variable.
Averse: having a strong feeling of opposition, antipathy, repugnance, etc.;opposed
Narcissism: inordinate fascination with oneself
Distillation: the purification or concentration of a substance, the obtaining of theessence or volatile properties contained in it, or the separation of onesubstance from another, by such a process.
The assignment for the pithy quotations is as follows:
Pithy Quotations
The idea of the assignment is to
select a quotation which you consider to be important or “pithy.” (The pith of
a plant is that center part of the stem that contains and carries nutrients to
the rest of the plant; hence it is its most rich and important
part.) You
will need to choose what you think is important or meaningful in the reading
and apply it to your own experience and your understanding of essay writing.
The “Pithy Quote” assignment has three parts:
v The first is to find a section of
the reading that you consider important or meaningful and quote it
directly. Write it out on the poster
board provided for you.
v
The second part is to paraphrase the quotation (on your own lined
paper that will be turned in). Put it
into your own words.
v
The third part is to write an explanation for
your choice. How does it help you better
understand the assignment? What does it teach you about writing? Explore the wider implications by comparing
the ways in which the information from the quotation matches up to your
previous knowledge or experience. How
has it changed your thinking? How has it
added to your understanding of essay writing?
v
Be prepared to present all of this to the class.
