AP Vertical Team--meeting fri. 10/17

Please, please, please be in my room by 7:30--Cheryl will be in around 7:45
We really have to get going on these things. I know we are all overwhelmed with things to do right now, but we need to get some main points down.
1. Grade-level literature
2. Portfolio material
3. mid-term assessments--let's not do the lame book one again. Let's find old tasks 1,2,3, and 4. Let's put someone in charge of each now. December will come quickly.
4. Literary terms that will be the main focus per grade level
5. Grade-level vocab lists. (I think I gave out a couple last time? But basically, they come out of the units in the book. I have an SAT list for gr. 11)

AP Vertical Team--short meeting --postponed

9th-Romeo and Juliet,

10th-To Kill a Mockingbird

10th (Caccamise)--Of Mice and Men, Othello, 12 Angry Men, Night, Lord of the Flies, Stuck in Neutral, A Lesson Before Dying

11th--Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, Scarlet Letter, (see ap syllabus)

12----

Grade 10 AP Vertical Post

Ok my thoughts:
1. Literature for Grade 10. I think a few classics like To Kill A Mockingbird or A Tale of Two Cities and a Shakespearan play (Caesar or something else) along with a historical piece like Night should be mainstays for sophomores. I have found success covering longer pieces of literature by listening to some of the lit with audio and discussing it as a class as we move through it.
2. Literary Elements/Techniques. I think all the basics (setting, theme, plot, conflict, point of view, symbolism, characterization, personification, simile, metaphor,etc...) plus connotation, dennotation, allusion, structure.
3. Types of written works. I think there should be some kind of research based (AP citations) paper (maybe research literary critiques with like the Masterplots series or something critiquing a short story/literary work including annotations),Regents based essays including AP driven tasks (literary analysis), creative writing including memoirs, possibly poetry, narratives. I am also a big advocate of journal writing. My students write a 5 minute journal response for me every other class day on various topics. It is good to keep them writing.
4. Essay skills. I think students should be able to construct a solid thesis statement with topic sentences to write a cohesive 4 paragraph essay. 10th graders need constant practice developing thesis statements along with supporting details.
Ok that is all for now. I did my homework!