It is the day before the AP exam and the teacher is nowhere to be found.

It’s kind of fitting, really. When I’m feeling better I’ll tell you the tale of my morning. It’s a grand adventure wherein I battle the evil forces of gravity in an attempt to make it to school and help my students cram for their big assessment.

But then I’m not one for cramming. (Or assessments.)

You all have been with me for nearly nine months, and I have seen you grow from hesitant writers bored with the tired writing equations you’ve been forced to follow, into energetic crafters of cogent arguments. You have learned to write with style, to take chances with your words, and to present your ideas with an air of credibility that most people never achieve.

Well done. You’ve made it. The test seems like an afterthought.

Really though, tomorrow is not your trial but a chance to show off what you can do; it’s a performance. You don’t need to cram, you don’t need to shuffle through your flash cards one last time. Writing is a skill that each of you has honed to a sharp (often acerbic) point. Write as you always have: with style, with authority, and with clarity.

You can’t cram for that.

We did it! Well, almost. We finished our discussion of "Another View of Hester" on Thursday, but did not get to "Hester and the Physician." In light of this, here is the reading schedule for this week:

Monday—Discussion of "Hester and the Physician," "Hester and Pearl," and "A Forest Walk." Pass out "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

Tuesday—Discussion of "The Pastor and His Parishioner" and "A Flood of Sunshine"

Wednesday—Discussion of "The Child at the Brookside" and "The Minister in a Maze"

Thursday—Discussion of "The New England Holiday" and "The Procession"

Friday—Discussion of "The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter" and "Conclusion"

So, did I forget anything? Ahh yes. The paper. I promised to include Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," so we will be discussing this in relation to The Scarlet Letter as we wrap up on Friday. Most of you have already read it, but it would be worth going over again sometime this week. (It’s in the back of your book.) I will also pass out "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin.

Over the weekend you will write a synthesis essay. Utilizing themes from the three stories, you will write an essay in which you develop a position on the actions of the individuals in these small towns.

Some questions/statements to get you thinking:

• In each of these stories, the citizens of a small community are acting to defend their way of life. They perceive the foreign to be a challenge to this way of life, and are acting in response.
• Do you see the actions of the people in charge as self-serving, or are they genuinely concerned for the people under their care?
• Can you find other examples of these situations? What is different in your example?
• The essential question here: Is it acceptable to sacrifice the individual for the good of the group?

This will be the framework of our discussions as we finish the novel.

Good luck on the essay this weekend. Feel free to revise after you write it, but it would be a good idea to stick with the 45-minute time limit.

Vocab:

• Quiz I
• Decorous (7)
• Prolix (8)
• Emoluments (13)
• Vicissitude (20)
• Sagaciously (24)
• Vitiated (30)
• Filial (53)
• Indefatigable (54)
• Quiz II
• Visage
• Wont
• Mien
• Peremptory
• Efficacy
• Ignominy
• Quiz III
• Lurid
• Sable
• Superfluous
• Exhortation
• Insidious
• Contumaciously
• Quiz IV
• Inscrutable
• Morbid
• Mutability
• Caprice
• Anathemas
• Expatiating
• Eldritch
• Quiz V
• Intrinsic
• Unpremeditated
• Endowed
• Panoply
• Quiz VI
• Averred
• Appellation
• Deportment
• Countenanced
• Impelled
• Quiz VII
• Imbued
• Palliate
• Somniferous
• Presentiments
• Preternatural
• Quiz VIII
• Purport
• Effected
• Propinquity
• Blighted
• Sedulous
• Scintillating
• Quiz IX
• Contiguity
• Misanthropy
• Compass
• Latitude
• Quiz X
• To quaff
• Arraigned
• Animadversion
• Necromancy
• Plaintiveness
• Unscrupulous
• Quiz XI
• Gross
• Nugatory
• Sable
• Gules

Whew.

We did it! Well, almost. We finished our discussion of "Another View of Hester" on Thursday, but did not get to "Hester and the Physician." In light of this, here is the reading schedule for this week:

Monday—Discussion of "Hester and the Physician," "Hester and Pearl," and "A Forest Walk." Pass out "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"

Tuesday—Discussion of "The Pastor and His Parishioner" and "A Flood of Sunshine"

Wednesday—Discussion of "The Child at the Brookside" and "The Minister in a Maze"

Thursday—Discussion of "The New England Holiday" and "The Procession"

Friday—Discussion of "The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter" and "Conclusion"

So, did I forget anything? Ahh yes. The paper. I promised to include Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery," so we will be discussing this in relation to The Scarlet Letter as we wrap up on Friday. Most of you have already read it, but it would be worth going over again sometime this week. (It’s in the back of your book.) I will also pass out "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin.

Over the weekend you will write a synthesis essay. Utilizing themes from the three stories, you will write an essay in which you develop a position on the actions of the individuals in these small towns.

Some questions/statements to get you thinking:

• In each of these stories, the citizens of a small community are acting to defend their way of life. They perceive the foreign to be a challenge to this way of life, and are acting in response.
• Do you see the actions of the people in charge as self-serving, or are they genuinely concerned for the people under their care?
• Can you find other examples of these situations? What is different in your example?
• The essential question here: Is it acceptable to sacrifice the individual for the good of the group?

This will be the framework of our discussions as we finish the novel.

Dearest Students:

There comes a time in every unit when the reading schedule must be updated. Now is just such a time. I know it can be frustrating (if you put off a concert to discover Pearl’s true nature) or relieving (if you didn’t), but it must be done.  Therefore:

Monday—Review of essays and "Chapter VI: "Pearl," discussion of "Chapter VIII: The Elf Child and the Minister"

Tuesday—Discussion of "The Leech" and "The Leech and His Patient"

Wednesday—Discussion of "The Interior of a Heart" and "The Minister’s Vigil"

Thursday—Discussion of "Another View of Hester" and "Hester and the Physician"

Friday—Essay. (In the interest of not giving anything away, I’ll explain the prompt at the appropriate moment. Just know it will be argumentative [not an analysis] and will focus on the ethical treatment of a few characters.)

With warmest regards and best wishes,

JS