Five Steps to Leverage Collaboration and Appreciate Booker Prize-winning novel, Prophet Song

Please help us decide upon the best design? While we have the same content in each visual display, we are curious to know what each individual thinks! Please create a “comment” below this post and explain your votes!

Through many different iterations of group work, also utilizing Todd Finley’s (PhD, a tenured professor of English Education) #BrainBlast framework, to understand what aspects lead to quality group work.  Our #LitCircle group selected the #TheBookerPrize winning novel #ProphetSong by Paul Lynch and completed a #BrainBlast analysis on our #LitCircle performance for the past spring trimester. Our #LitCircle gradually recognized and noted the steps needed towards making a successful #LitCircle. The exchange of ideas and perspectives is fundamental to group learning and lends itself to literature metacognition. Exchanging within a group also helps in appreciating the novel’s connection within the global community. These 5 skills/steps are pillars for creating a successful #LitCircle group. What core ideas do you think are important for creating an efficient and effective group? #StepsToSuccess #APLit #APlang #ProjectBasedLearning  

Western Lane Podcast- Cam & Sam

In this podcast, Sam and Cam discuss an important question we thought during our time in #LitCircles: Was Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo, deserving of the Booker Prize award? Although we did not have opposing opinions, Sam took the role in arguing for the book being deserving of the award. In our constructive criticism of the novel, we praise, yet challenge the opinions surrounding the global discussion of the decision to shortlist Western Lane.

Cadence of Courage: Confronting Mental Health with Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song

Hello everyone! Senior Dom Balise of Mr. Sullivan’s Honors English IV Class at Suffield Academy read the 2023 Booker Prize winning novel Prophet Song. One of the major themes Dom picked up on was that of mental health struggles. He decided to have a discussion with one of the school counselors about mental health. He got the privilege to speak with Mrs. Heather Dugan! The two discuss a few passages from the novel that highlight intense moments of anxiety, and the podcast finishes with Mrs. Dugan giving helpful advice for dealing with anxiety.

Thank you to Mrs. Heather Dugan for speaking with Dom and giving excellent insights!

Special thanks to https://transistor.fm/free-podcast-intro-music/ for the musical interludes!!

The Bee Sting Podcast – Ella Slate and Nick Prescott

In an SEL oriented analytical podcast of The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, students Ella Slate and Nick Prescott discuss the disarray of the Barnes family following the decline of their family business. The podcast highlights the possible benefits of implementing SEL learning into the lives of the characters, as one of the paramount contributors to the disfunction of the family is a lack of communication and sympathy.

Mini Graphic Novel of Othello

Senior Dom Balise of Mr. Sullivan’s Honors English IV Class created a mini graphic novel of Shakespeare’s Othello to make it more understandable for students.

Dom then presented this comic to a class of Juniors in an English III class. He first gave them a synopsis of the story. He then asked them to read though it and fill out a form asking them if they found the comic understandable and/or helpful.

Dom also talked a bit about Shakespeare’s life itself. Dom talked about the resentment Shakespeare felt towards the state due to them firing his father, murdering his uncle Edward Arden, and their overall erasure of Shakespeare’s Catholic past. He noted how these events caused Shakespeare to feel vengeful against the state, and that this motif can be seen in many of his works, including Othello.

During the class’s discussion, the students brought up the Bible, The Scarlett Letter, and The Avengers as examples with similar motifs as Othello.

Of the students who responded, the majority of them said that the comic was helpful in explaining the plot of Othello. In the prompt that asked them what they would change about the mini graphic novel, a lot of them said it would be helpful if technology was used. If the quotes were typed they could be more easily read, and technology could probably make the whole thing neater. They noted, however, that the graphic novel was very thorough and demonstrated immense effort.

Overall, Dom is happy with how his project turned out, and he hopes he can share his rendition of Othello with more people in the future.

othello-character-chartDownload

othello-comicDownload

Shakespeare Podcast

Shakespeare’s sexuality: a complex dilemma that raises questions about Shakespeare’s promiscuous past. In this podcast, we delve into how Shakespeare’s sexuality was portrayed in his poetry. Analyzing poetry from a period when modern sexual terminology did not exist and religious oppression was prominent, we tried to dissect Shakespeare’s sexuality in a modern lense.

Shakespeare in Pop Culture: Media, Marketing, and Viral Moments

https://on.soundcloud.com/XXCno

https://on.soundcloud.com/XXCno

Prophet Song Podcast

This podcast gives an in depth look at Paul Lynch’s, Booker Prize winning novel, Prophet Song. This podcast looks at the unique rhetorical writing style that Lynch uses in this novel to convey his story. This podcast also looks at how the lessons from this novel can be applied to modern day situations all around the world.

Study for Obedience Podcast

Classmate Ella Slate and I did a deep dive into some of the themes and intricacies of Study For Obedience by Sarah Bernstein.

Grief and Sisterhood: The Complex Characteristics In Western Lane

Our podcast (Ania, Claire, Conor, Max and Nora) examines the main themes of grief and sisterhood in the novel Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo. The book shows grief take on many forms in the way it differently affects each of the three sisters, Gopi, Kush, and Mona, as well as their father, Pa. The loss of their mother alters the relationships between the sisters and Gopi finds squash as a way to cope. In addition to our podcast, we have also created an Instagram post reinforcing the themes of the book, and also highlighting some critiques and praise that Western Lane has received, being a member of the Booker Prize shortlist. This can be found at pbl_facilitator on Instagram.

https://on.soundcloud.com/ucQYg