Course Blog Index for 2014-2015

COURSE INDEX PAGE FOR 2014-2015
This blog operates as a portal page for the two courses I am teaching this year. Please consult the separate course blogs listed below to read and follow on-going information for each of the two courses.  Although I revise this page from time to time, there is usually little need for regular updates; however, I write new posts for each of the course blogs almost every day.

Contact Info
E-mail:  boazm@issaquah.wednet.edu 

Phone:  (425) 837-6094

Note to parents--It is usually best to initiate contact via email. Many questions or concerns can be easily handled in that way; however, I am happy to arrange a time for a phone call or a meeting if that seems more appropriate.

For British and Western Literature (Periods 1, 2, and 5)
The URL for the blog specific to this course: ihs2303BritLit.blogspot.com
Course Syllabus for 2014-2015

For AP English Literature and Composition (Periods 3 and 4) 
The URL for the AP Lit and Comp blog:  ihs2303APLit.blogspot.com
Course Syllabus for 2014-2015

Please make note of the blog address for your particular course. On these blogs I provide a brief overview of the day's activities, immediate homework and often reminders about upcoming assignments, links to necessary sites and/or Google Drive for selected hand-outs, and whatever else seems essential "for the good of the order." Although I don't use the blog to announce otherwise unexpected homework (except for one first-of-the-year "check the blog" activity), I often use it to provide more specific details and to clarify questions about homework assignments mentioned in class.

The blogs are invaluable for students who are absent, but I expect all students to routinely "check the blog" every day.

Special note to parents: You are encouraged to read the blog to stay current on what your student is/should be doing in our class. Sometimes parents have mentioned that they enjoy simply knowing what literature we're reading at the moment, because it can spark satisfying moments of  "book talk" across the generations.  Please be aware, however, that the tone of the blogs is somewhat informal because I'm writing primarily to and for the kids.

Note to AP Students, 2014-2015

Updated Information:
There will be an All the Pretty Horses reading test on Monday, Sept. 8, for all sections of AP Lit. So if you have still been procrastinating, now you have a deadline!!

Yes, it's much later than the first week of August or so that I vaguely remember promising in June!  I hope you've had a great summer but that you've also managed to acquire the summer reading text for AP Lit and Comp:  Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses.  In fact, I hope you've read it--or started it . . . But if you have not, there's still time--but those grains of summer sand are fast pouring through the hourglass.

I have not asked you to keep a journal or to show up in class with written responses to a specific set of questions.  However, here are a few ideas to consider as you read the text (or to refresh your thinking from earlier in the summer):

1) Do you think this book is "difficult"?  If so, try to organize/articulate the reasons as concretely as you can.  What have you done as you read to foster greater understanding?

I am going to make a wild guess here and venture that for some of you, McCarthy's liberal use of Spanish is one stumbling block.  Some of it is easily guessed, I think, but not all--and yet, there's important content conveyed by the Spanish text.  You shouldn't just skip it.  Here's a handy resource:
http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/resources/translations/

2) Apart from the use of Spanish, what other features mark McCarthy's style?  We'll look at this closely, of course, but you can jumpstart the process by starting to jot down some categories and representative examples (page numbers/marking in your book is fine for now--I am not expecting pages of sample text here!).

3) Have a really solid idea of the character whom you find most intriguing, and WHY.  And for that particular character, which relationship(s) seem most useful in drawing out the character's traits?

4) You've studied novels for quite a few years now, and know the "big picture" elements of fiction as well as various ways of dissecting style, diction, language use, tone, etc.  Where should we spend the most energy on this book?  As a "summer reading text," the assumption is, of course, that everyone has read it--all of it-- before we begin to discuss it.  That should give more perspective than we usually have when we begin discussing a book piecemeal and often have to backtrack a bit after completing the text.  And yet, because we're not going to revisit every chapter in detail, we want to focus our class time on what seems most important.  So where do YOU think our emphasis should be?

That's it for a "getting started" post.  Check back again soon.  I look forward to meeting you on Sept. 3!