Tag Archives: AP

Thug Notes Introduction

In June 2013, Thug Notes produced its first video to YouTube. Thug Notes introduces classic works of literature with a hip-hop twist. Creators Jared Bauer and Jacob Salamon write the scripts with actor/comedian Greg Edwards hosting each episode as Sparky Sweets, PhD. The aim is to summarize and analyze classic works of literature with a hip-hop twist.

Here’s an example of the Thug Notes style applied to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ll post the Thug Notes version of each work they cover that we read in class, but be warned! Salty language and adult themes ahead. Proceed with caution.

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Filed under AP Literature, Honors IV

Othello Vocabulary

othelloPlease study the following words for your vocabulary test, which will be given on Wednesday, February 26.

HATRED/ANGER
abhor
odious
provocation

REPUTATION
eminent
infamous
restitution
taint

RUDE
barbarous
insolent
peevish
vexation

MANNERS
civility
discreet
tranquil

THOUGHT/BELIEF
beguile
credulous
ruminate
veritable

Choose two additional words from the remainder of the list to study.

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Filed under AP Literature

Semester Exam Analysis

ap-exams-aheadEssay Analysis
Select one of your exam essays for analysis. You may mark sentences with letters, or you may color-code with highlighters.

L — (literal) Your thought was stated directly in the text

The Joads are traveling from Oklahoma to California

I — (inference) Your thought was not stated directly in the text, but there is evidence for it. It is hinted at, implied, or suggested.

There is more promise for a better future in California than in Oklahoma or other parts of the country 

C — (critical) Your thought was an original idea, opinion, connection or critical question related to the text.

In appearing to be a promised land, California can be compared to the land of “milk and honey” of the Old Testament

After marking the text, write a short summary/analysis about what you need to do on future essays to improve. You may do this at the end of your selected essay or on the back of your essay total sheet. Submit the whole packet for review (it will be returned).

 

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Filed under AP Literature

Lord of the Flies Vocabulary

Please study the following words for your vocabulary test, which will be given on Thursday, October 17.

RESPECT
decorum
reverence
sanctity

DISRESPECT
contemptuously
curtly
derision
specious

MOVEMENT
loitered
sauntered

AGGRESSION
belligerence
enmity
malevolently
rebuke
truculent

SOUND
clamor
lamentation
mimicry
strident

Choose two additional words from the remainder of the list to study.

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Filed under AP Literature

Oedipus Rex Vocabulary

oedipus[1]Please study the following words for your vocabulary test, which will be given on   Monday, September 23.

CHARACTERISTICS
adamant
brash
tremulous

THOUGHT
sapient
purblind
enjoin
didactic

CORRUPTION
perdition
calumny
malevolence
insensate

JUDGMENT
compunction
scruple
suborn
impiety
pariah

MERCY
clemency
succor

Choose two additional words from the remainder of the list to study. You will be asked to apply the words using examples, i.e. WORD: tiger DIRECTION: place where you would find one of these ANSWER: Asia, The Jungle Book, Frosted Flakes box, etc.

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Filed under AP Literature

Thug Notes: Jane Eyre

You work your groove, girl. Salty language and adult themes ahead. Proceed with caution.

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The Importance of Being Earnest Review

Tojackgirls prepare for your test on The Importance of Being Earnest, you should be able to answer the following questions.

The Importance of Being Earnest

1. John Worthing uses two names. List the two names and tell where he uses each one.
2. Explain how Gwendolyn, Algernon, and Lady Bracknell are related.
3. Name the main reason Lady Bracknell refuses to let Mr. Worthing marry Gwendolyn.
4. How did John Worthing acquire his name and his wealth?
5. Algernon has also created a false identity. Name that person and explain why Algy has created him.
6. TRUE OR FALSE: Gwendolyn has “Ernest” tattooed on her behind.
7. Explain how John Worthing and Cecily Cardew are related.
8. What does John Worthing say has happened to Ernest?
9. How does Algernon gain access to the Manor House?
10. What do Cecily and Gwendolyn discover about their marriage plans?
11. What do John Worthing and Algernon plan to do to get around their name problem?
12. What prompts Lady Bracknell to accept Cecily as a proper bride for Algernon?
13. What is the big mistake Miss Prism made as a young woman?
14. Which couples are together at the end of the play? (Proper names, please.)
15. Explain the pun that ends the play.

An online text of the play may be found here.

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Filed under AP Literature

“My Last Duchess” Poetry Focus

DuchessIf your birthday occurs between January and June, you will be analyzing the Robert Browning poem “My Last Duchess.” Using the TPCASTT strategy may be a helpful way to discern meaning within the poem. Ultimately, you will need to create and support an AP-style statement with information gleaned from the poem itself. Your AP statement should read as follows:

The writer (use the author’s name) employs X (articulate techniques and strategies) to reveal Y (the theme of the poem).

Here is the text of your poem:

My Last Duchess
by Robert Browning

Ferrara

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myselfthey turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
Frà Pandolf chanced to say “Her mantle laps
Over my Lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat”: such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart — how shall I say? — too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace — all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men, — good! but thanked
Somehow — I know not how — as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech — (which I have not) — to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark” — and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
–E’en then would be some stooping, and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

 

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Filed under AP Literature

“Dover Beach” Poetry Focus

Dover BeachIf your birthday occurs between July and December, you will be analyzing the Matthew Arnold poem “Dover Beach.” Using the TPCASTT strategy may be a helpful way to discern meaning within the poem. Ultimately, you will need to create and support an AP-style statement with information gleaned from the poem itself. Your AP statement should read as follows:

The writer (use the author’s name) employs X (articulate techniques and strategies) to reveal Y (the theme of the poem).

Here is the text of your poem:

Dover Beach
by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

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Filed under AP Literature

Their Eyes Were Watching God Vocabulary

coverPlease study the following words for your vocabulary test, which will be given on Wednesday, March 6.

HARM
treacherous
insinuation
malice

CARE
indulge
commiserate
lavish
gallant

POWER
preside
usurper
proposition
suppress

MOVEMENT
saunter
swagger

NOTICE ME!
boisterously
temerity
pugnacious
clamor
fracas

Choose two additional words from the remainder of the list to study.

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Filed under AP Literature