Thursday, September 19, 2019

Create a Blog

1.       Go to blogspot.com (or click "create blog" up to the right here!)


2.       Create a profile (I just did “Limited Profile”) (I do recommend not including your full name on your blog.)


3.       Add “disherap2019.blogspot.com” to your Reading List (That’s our class blog! This one you're reading!)


4.       Click “Create blog” (or “New Blog”)


5.       Choose a Title and pick a url address.  You can also pick a design template.


6.       You should then see something like this:







7.       Click “Start posting”

8.      In the textbox that appears, post the title of the MOR novel you have chosen for October, and say briefly why you chose that book.  Also, give your partner a shout out!

9.      When you’re ready to have the blog appear, look for the buttons in the top, right-hand corner and click “PUBLISH”  (or Preview...and then publish. You can always edit the post later if necessary.)

10.   You can then click “view blog” to see how it looks.  If you want then, you can play around with your blog settings by clicking “Design” in the top right corner to change up your template and layout.  You tech savvy kids should be able to figure that out, but even if you can’t, the above steps should enable you to complete the required assignment..

11.   VERY IMPORTANT: you should then email your blog address to me!

Yay!

October MOR (Due Monday, Nov. 4)

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Please partner up and read a Contemporary novel (published after WWII) for your first MOR partner dialogue. As you read, you should write four entries each (approx. 300-400 words per entry), conversing with each other as you go, to analyze the text. Please refer to quotations from the text and include at least one question for your partner in each entry.  Your dialogues may be informally composed (I/you/contractions ok), but they should also demonstrate that you are reading deeply and keeping an eye on how the lit devices that we are studying show up and help create deeper meaning. Don't forget to discuss the ending!


You should post these dialogues on one of your blogs. For example, Jaden might make the first entry by posting on his blog, and then the rest of his and his partner's entries would be posted as comments on that first post. (I highly recommend composing the posts in Word or another program first, however, as it is easy to lose track of spelling, word count, and even whole pages of content if one composes in the blogspot space itself.)

A list of all works that have been suggested on the AP exam since 1971 can be found at this link (most frequently recommended works are also listed at the bottom). You may, of course, read a novel that is not on this list, but please make sure it is of sufficient literary merit that you might be able to use it on the open essay question of the AP test. If you would like any advice, I've got plenty!


A few recommendations that would not disappoint:


1984, George Orwell
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Click here for a fuller discussion of what "contemporary fiction" means today.

Music Mondays

http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2015/10/31/63581857989
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Simile/Metaphor sample"Screen Door" by Rich Mullins
Aesthetic sample"November" by Azure Ray