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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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Structure
Of all the skills in AP* Lit's CED, structure is one of my favorites! My students look puzzled when they're asked to talk about structure, often because they don't know all that it entails. Structure can refer to a poem's: form, rhyme, meter, line breaks, shifts, patterns, punctuation, and syntax. ...
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AP Lit Skill Spotlight: Characterization in Poetry
One of the six featured skills in Poetry Unit 1 of the AP* Lit CED is CHR 1.A: Identify and describe what specific textual details reveal about a character, that character's perspective, and that character's motives. While characterization is an easier skill to tackle, it can sometimes give pause ...
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AP Skill Spotlight: Contrasts
One of the six featured skills in Poetry Unit 1 of the AP* Lit CED is STR 3.D: the function of contrasts. This skill seems difficult and hard to approach, but it's actually one of the most widely applicable skills in the whole CED.
*AP® is a trademark registered by the College Board, which ...
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13 Scary Stories and Poems For High School ELA
I don't like scary movies, but I love scary stories. I grew up re-reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I love to listen to Lore in October while I walk through my dark neighborhood streets. And my favorite author is Stephen King, the master of horror. The way I look at it, movies make the ...
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Discussing Complexity in AP Lit
One of the most common words in AP* Lit essay prompts is "complex," usually paired with the word "relationship." When we prepare for writing our first FRQs, I tell my students that the word "complex" is the most important word in the prompt. But when asked what complexity means, my students are ...
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