Using the Octopus to Start and Finish AP Lit

Flashback to 2022 - I just get hired to teach AP Lit at my new school and I have no idea what I am going to do.   It is June and I have never taught any AP course before.  I scramble. 

The first thing I did was to find a Facebook group that is dedicated to AP Lit teachers (a friend of mine who is an AP Lang teacher put me onto this idea).  I found one and noticed a lot of octopus images and a lot of octopus jokes, but with no real context.  So I started Googling "AP Lit" and "Octopus" to see what I could find and the following link was top of the list:

 Now I'm extra intrigued!  Turns out this was the year of the octopus prompt.  If you are not aware of it, it is a prompt that comes from Linda Hogan's novel People of the Whale (book available here - prompt available here page 90) and is about an octopus that walks into a cave the same time a child is born.  This evidently threw students for a heck of a loop!

Well, I am all about branding, so I decided right then and there that I was going to use octopuses in all my theming.  More importantly, I decided what to do with this prompt.

On day 2 of the class, to set the tone, I spring upon them an in class essay.  This one is all on paper and handwritten (though I do let them type the others later).  If you need the old handwritten sheets, you can get it free here.  I give them an hour in class to do their best work and then I collect them.  I let them know that this is considered the hardest prompt and now that that is behind us, all will be easier from here on out.  I do not tell them what I am going to do with them.  If anyone asks if it will be a grade, I just respond with, "We'll see."  Then I file them away.

Now, setting the tone is great and all, but the best part of this comes months later for me (we are a year long course at my school).  Right before the exam, I break these bad boys out and return them.  Then they can see with their own eyes the progress they have made.  This gives them mega confidence going into the exam and is a good day in class all around.

Feel free to share with me other ideas you have that work great in your classroom!

And if you are looking for more FRQ help, this activity works great for getting students ready for the FRQ#3 - The Deep Dive Journal.