Here are a few important things to remember:
*** You must come to the first meeting with the assignment, as some of the activities rely upon your written work. If you can not come to the meeting, please email the assignment to me when it is due: mtelles@gloucester.k12.ma.us
*** If you can not come to the meeting, check the blog for a post-meeting summary and add a comment in response to one or more of your classmates' ideas (300-500 words would be good).
Thank you, and please return to your Ambie Sausage or fried dough, Mr. Telles.
AP
Literature and Composition
Invisible
Cities: Passage Response Assignment
Description: This assignment is a hybrid
which combines the skill of responding to a passage in an exploratory and
provisional way (as in the traditional quotation response journal) and
something approaching the more focused and formal skill of the AP-style passage
response (Question 2) on the AP Literature exam. Use the attached rubric to guide you through
the shorter quotation responses. The
same rubric is applicable to the longer portion of the assignment, only rather
than including personal connections and open-ended questions, you should
maintain your focus on what is being asked of you in the directions.
Directions:
Part One:
After reading Invisible Cities
by Italo Calvino, respond to four passages from throughout the text. You can write about the language, ask
exploratory questions, or make connections between your passage and other parts
of the book. Keep in mind these
fundamental questions: why does your passage matter so much, and how does your
passage function on its own and in relation to the rest of the book? Each response has a 60 word minimum.
Part Two:
Write one longer response to a passage, around 300-500 words. Here is the set-up:
Many
students respond most readily to the “conversations” between Marco Polo and
Kublai Khan that tie together the various descriptions of the cities. These exchanges are filled with intriguing
philosophical dilemmas, ideas and abstractions that are a lot of fun to
contemplate. The descriptions of the
cities themselves, however, are a bit harder to approach intellectually.
In your
response, choose as your passage part of a city’s description. Explain how Polo’s description of the city
ties into the larger philosophical issues in the book. You will need to consider
a)
imagery (what is connected and what is in opposition, what is described and how
is it described?).
b) the
symbolic or metaphorical suggestions that are latent in the imagery.
c) the
structure of the description (i.e. what is revealed and what isn’t, and how
does Polo guide you through the details?).
d) How
does the description of the city reflect, dramatize or complicate the abstract
ideas and philosophies explored in the Polo / Khan passages?
You do
not need to identify and analyze all of these elements, but one or more should
be addressed in your response.
