Friday, September 6, 2019

AP Registration Join Code

To make your enrollment in this AP Literature and Composition course official, please add our class to your account on collegeboard.org using the join code: J3QR3N

FYI: Ms. Hastings says that I should give you a heads-up that payment for the exam itself ($94 per exam) will be due in November.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

HW 9/3: Gentleman in Moscow Interview

Welcome Seniors!  My first teaching mentor, Susie Carlisle, began her letter to seniors with the line, "Welcome to your Senior selves ... " and although I don't want to just steal Susie's line, I love the thought behind it and would like to extend the sentiment to you: you are yourself always, of course, in the broad sense of the tremendous idea encompassing the vast experiences of a human life.  But let's remember that we are at a particularly poignant place as seniors -- symbolically standing on the threshold to adulthood, ready to take the accumulated experiences and joys and hardships and lessons and triumphs of childhood and translate them into a productive and positive adult life.  You possess, in a sense, what Susie called the "promise of a seed" -- an amazing potential that needs only a little nourishing and time to self-actualize.  Thank you in advance for trusting me to help you along the way.  I am excited and humbled to get to be part of your senior experience, and I am looking forward to this year very much.  Yours, Mr. G :)

Now, here's your first HW assignment (because I love you):

Assignment for 9/3:
1. Watch or listen to this 2016 Wall Street Journal interview with Amor Towles.  Prepare a synopsis of no more than 1 typed page, double-spaced in which you track the general flow of the interview with specific examples and short quotations as needed.  It is not necessary to analyze the interview or to respond to it at this point; instead, focus on what is discussed ... and maybe a little of how it is presented.  Be prepared to discuss the interview in class tomorrow and to share a little of how hearing the author's ideas affect your understanding of the novel as a whole.
2. For those of you looking for a little more to dig into or to to talk about, here is a transcript of some interview questions that you are welcome to use as well: Amor Towles Q&A