Pre-AP Literature March

Madness
As we begin the frenzy of March Madness, it seems only fitting that we conduct our own
tournament challenge in Pre-AP World Literature. Of course, rather than basketball, we will focus
our efforts on deciding which piece of literature from this year is the ultimate tournament
champion.

Heres how it works:

Below is a list of all of the texts we have read or watched this year. Before we can begin the
tournament, we must decide the seedings for our 32 tournament entries. To do this, you
will work with a small group to seed the texts from 1 (highest seed, strongest piece) to 32
(lowest seed, weakest piece). We will discuss the criteria for evaluation as a class.
o Yes, I know we read some of these texts months ago. If you cannot remember a
particular text, please work with your group to review what it was about.
o Once your group has seeded the 32 pieces, I will compile the seedings from each
group to determine the overall seeding. These texts will then be separated into two
regions with the top two vote earners established as the #1 seeds in each region.
Once the match-ups have been determined, there will be a master bracket in the room, along
with a virtual bracket that will be updated on Blackboard. We will conduct these match-ups
over the course of the next few weeks.
In order to make sure that each text is fairly represented in the match-up, each of you will be
randomly assigned one of these texts. You must be prepared to argue in support of that
pieces advancement in the tournament.
o You will have to be prepared to give a brief argument in support of your text on the
day of that match-up. You will have to be able to argue why your piece is better than
the opposition. As there are 25 of you in this class, so I will ask seven of you to speak
for two texts instead of just one.
Think of this argument as an impromptu speech. Your argument should fulfill
the criteria of good public speaking discussed previously in class. You will
earn points for this argument. Plus, you could be responsible for helping a
text win the championship. You should prepare for 1-2 minutes.
It is my preference that you are the representative for that text throughout the
entire tournament; however, if you truly do not want to speak beyond the first
round, I will ask for volunteers to take over your text. You will earn extra
credit if you continue to argue your piece and it continues to advance. This
should provide extra incentive to craft a thoughtful argument for your text
throughout the tournament.
Your speech (argument) is not just a recap of what the text was about. Argue
the merits of your piece (what makes it a superior work of literature) and show
why your piece is better than the text it is up against. Please be thoughtful in
how you structure and support your argument.
o For each match-up, after we have heard from each representative, you will be asked
to vote for the piece you believe should advance. The votes will be tallied, and the
winning text will move onto the next round. At the end, we will crown the tournament
champion!
 Before we begin the match-ups, but after we have seeded all the pieces, you will each be
provided with a blank bracket. Your job is to complete your bracket based on your own
preferences for which piece advances through the tournament. You will then follow along
(and update your bracket) with the class votes to see how closely your own preferences align
with class majority.