Most students can identify personification, especially when an animal does something a human would do. However, that's not exactly what AP* Lit teachers are looking for in analyzing personification. The AP® Lit CED includes the skill question, "How does making a comparison between a nonhuman entity ...
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The Importance of Student Reflection: A Post-Essay Writing Lesson
In my past years of teaching AP®* English Lit, timed essays were usually given out right from the start. But now that I'm following the new CED closely, I postponed full essays and we focused on paragraphs for the first three months. Yesterday, at the culmination of our Frankenstein unit, my ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Imagery
I was so excited to tackle STR 5.D (the function of imagery) at first, and then I became completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of imagery. It wasn't that I couldn't find an idea, I had way too many ideas. Finally, I decided to go to my comfort zone, which is film analysis. Also, the good folks in ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Allusion
AP* Lit Essential Skill 6.D focuses on the function of allusion. Allusion is not a complicated device to spot, but students sometimes struggle with explaining its function. The key lies in analyzing the bridge between the text and the alluded work.
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Diction
AP* Lit skill 5.B, explain the function of words and phrases in a text, seems to function as a bit of a catch-all. When looking at the subordinate questions related to the skill, it mentions ambiguity, connotations, alliteration, hyperbole, antecedents, and plenty more. If I had to bottle this skill ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Similes and Metaphors
Two basic poetry skills are the function of similes and metaphors, AP* skills 6.A and 6.B respectfully. Most incoming AP® Lit students know these fundamental poetry skills, so instructing them is usually not an issue. However, many have been trained to simply find these elements, rather than to ...
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