AP Seniors: The Kite Runner Frontloading

(due as a comment to this post on syllabus date; worth 2 quiz grades; 0-+ holistic scale)

Part A: Click here to visit the CIA's World Fact Book. Peruse the site and respond to the following questions:

1. What are the top eight agricultural products? What product is #1? 

2. What is the life expectancy rate? What is the infant mortality rate? What deeper issues are typically reflected in these statistics?

3. How many kilometers of coastline does Afghanistan possess? How might this number have contributed to the country's history?

4. Identify the transnational issues that Afghanistan faces. 

5. Construct a thesis statement that encapsulates the essence of the Afghan nation (both its assets and its challenges). 

Part B: Click her to visit The Boston Globe's "The Big Picture: Afghanistan". View each photograph (use your judgement for the objectionable pieces) and read the corresponding footnotes. Choose the most powerful image to prompt a piece of short fiction. Write a descriptive passage that embodies the "show vs. tell" technique.

Part C: Article: "Hazaras: Afghanistan's Outsiders" (9 pages). Produce a thesis statement that encapsulates the author's message and illuminates the deeper meaning of the text.

Part D: Click here to view the Frontline Program: "The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan". Take notes and prepare to participate in a Discussion Facilitation that will include this topic.

Extra Credit: A quiz grade of 100 will be awarded for comprehensive notes for the Frontline Program: "The War Briefing". 

The Poetry of Song: Analytical Paragraphs (Friday and Monday)

On Edline, you will find two documents that are essential for this assignment. The first is a document copy of the “Jigsaw” assignment and lyrics; the second is an “analytical statement rubric”.



1. Begin by revisiting a Jigsaw song of your choice. Paste the lyrics into Word and reread them. Choose an element or device to classify and explore in an analytical paragraph of at least 5 sentences. Every single sentence should fulfill the requirements represented in the rubric.


2. Next, choose three of the poets listed below and copy and paste three poems of your choice (from three different poets) into Word. Utilize your experience in analyzing songs to study and analyze the poem. Refer to the SSRS form if need be, and produce two additional five sentence analyses, again focusing on an element or device to classify and explore.


After proofreading, post your results as a comment here.


Your teacher will randomly select on sentence from each analysis to grade with the rubric. (3 quizzes total). Do your best- these are our last assessments before the end of the course.


Robert Frost


Seamus Heaney


Jane Kenyon


Robert Creeley


Gwendolyn Brooks


Cornelius Eady

Interdisciplinary Arts: Supplement

Click here to visit Stephen Wiltshire's website. Mr. Wiltshire is an artistic savant who is capable of reproducing incredibly detailed landscapes from memory. 1. On the left, click on "My Videos". Watch at least four of the videos and offer a commentary for each.
2. Visit his "Gallery" and browse through his work. Identify his most impressive drawing and his most impressive painting; offer explanation for each.

1-17 Classwork: Interdisciplinary Arts

As we conclude our time together, please consider- and respond to- the following prompts. Post and print your results (let's shrink our margins and font to save paper). You may use your writing as notes for the Final Exam next week. Consider pasting the images and prompts into Word to streamline the process.

1. Study the drawing below by Dorian Iten. Before this course, the approach to the rendering of a bust such as this may have been something daunting and esoteric to you. Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end. Discuss the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts. (3-5 paragraphs)

2. Below is a painting entitled "Entombment" by Michelangelo Caravaggio. Discuss the composition, along with any underlying compositional "ribbons". Consider and describe how the artist approached this visual problem from beginning to end and his employment of the 4 essential phases of the formal drawing process, light considerations, and relationship to spherical concepts.

3. Finally, reflect on your coursework from this semester. Describe the skill-set you arrived with and how it has or has not progressed. Which drawing problems or tasks did you most benefit from? Which were too basic or redundant? Which might you undertake again? Did you make any visual "breakthroughs"?