All I Need for the AP Exam is Harry Potter

 Recently, I had my students working on some prep for the upcoming AP English Literature Exam.  They had recently finished reading a Shakespearean play (selected by student choice, interest, and previous Shakesperience).  In order to prepare for their Shakespeare in-class essay, students were brainstorming possible questions that might be presented for Question #3, the Open Question.  

Students were focusing on part-to-whole ideas that might be addressed in the prompts.  They considered past questions and made their own, and no matter how much they tried to focus on Shakespeare, they just kept coming back to Harry Potter.  

Now, no matter how much I tell them it might not be the wisest decision to use Harry Potter on the AP Exam, there is no stopping the love they have for this magical series.

Some samples from their conversations:

Student 1: The question about a character who briefly appears or doesn't appear at all?

Student 2: Works for Harry Potter.  You could address Harry's parents, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew

The list went on...

Student 1: A question about seeking revenge?

Student 2: Again, Harry Potter!  Could be Snape.  Or Harry.  Or Hermione. Or Mrs. Weasley.  SO MANY.

Student 1: Hmmm...and if we wrote about Harry Potter, would we have to stick to one book? Or could we address action that happens in all of them?  Would we have to limit our knowledge?

Another:

Student 1: We could do the symbol question!

Student 2:  Yeah!  It could be the snitch.  Or the Whomping Willow.  Or the Hapee Birthday Haree cake.  Or Hogwarts itself!

Student 1:  Oooh--and that could be a setting question! Hogwarts!

Other Prompt Creations They Made:

Death of a character

Dysfunctional family relationship

An act of betrayal

Impact of a matriarch

They DID eventually make it back to Shakespeare, but it was fun to see them think of all the different ways that part-to-whole functions...which what I wanted them to do in the first place.  

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Different Approaches to the Same Task

 This lesson was focused on poetry in an AP Literature classroom.  

I gave small groups of students an envelope with 19 slips of paper in it.  The slips were individual lines of the poem The Death of a Toad by Richard Wilbur--plus the title.

Then, based on what we had learned about poetry in terms of syntax, rhyme scheme, structure, point of view, & more, students were to fit the "puzzle" of the poem together.  (NOTE: I did NOT cut the papers such that the students could actually fit the lines together puzzle-style...and I told them this.)

This year, my students were so thoughtful about their approach to solving the puzzle, that I just had to share it with you.

Here are some direct quotes from their conversations:

• After reading over the poem "let's organize it before & after his death." (Focusing on PLOT & STRUCTURE)

• "Let's look at all of the periods so then we can figure out how full sentences fit together" (Focusing on SYNTAX & STRUCTURE)

• "How does the rhyme scheme work? Is it AA BB or is it AB AB...?" (Focusing on RHYME SCHEME & STRUCTURE)

There were more, but these were the few I jotted down as they worked.  I was so impressed with them--pulling together all the things they knew and had learned about poetry in order to figure out how this poem "worked."

Poetic Lessons

This semester in AP Lit, I tried out Station Rotation for some work with poetry.  In brief, here was the focus at each station:

1.  share notes from previous night's homework (on imagery)

2.  Read My Papa's Waltz.  Make a T chart of positive or negative imagery.  Make determination of Woo Hoo or Boo Hoo for the poem.

3.  Read Those Winter Sundays.  Determine Woo Hoo or Boo Hoo.  Write brief paragraph explaining decision.

4.  Read poems on poetryfoundation.org.  Select a few lines from a poem of your choosing that would be suitable for hanging on a poster in our school.

5.  Read Blackberry Picking.  Then, listen to Seamus Heaney read it.  Annotate the poem to show what you noticed about it based on hearing the poet read his own work.


I wanted to share some of the results of my students' work on #4.  I thought they had great ideas about how to inspire others through poetry (and even gave pointers about where to hang the hypothetical posters!).

Here are some of their selections:

• Books are door shaped portals carrying me across oceans and centuries, helping me feel less alone.  —Margarita Engle

• We need you and your stories and questions that like a fresh path will take us to new vistas.  —Pat Mora

• You had my back.  We fought the fight.  And though our score was less last night, we’re walking tall.  Our team came through and stuck together like crazy glue. I’m proud to say I lost with you. —Sara Holbrook

• The windows of a classroom always open to the future. —Yehuda Amichai