Moving to AP Lit

For those of you going into AP Lit next year (which you should if you want to be part of an upper-level book club that continues to build your discussion and writing prowess and a feeling of community through creative thought, expression, and performance - I had to plug the class since you can still become a part of it) or for those of you who just want some incredible literary masterpieces, modern works of fiction, and cultural texts to read over the summer for fun (I'm trying to do that right now and all I do is note all the polysyndeton and asyndeton in Colm Toibin's The Master), head over to my blog for AP Lit with its surprising address: http://fznaplit.blogspot.com/.

As our school district is moving over to Canvas next school year, my blogs will be officially replaced by that medium, which should offer a lot of new tech features (fingers crossed).

The Shoe Vote Concludes

The voting for Lit & Lang was very similar this year with both groups liking Italian, very expensive shoes, wedges, and butterflies.

Here are the top vote-getters:

1: Dolce & Gabbana Jewel Keira Sandals had the most votes. This black with red rose version wins for AP Lang, and the pink and green version won for AP Lit. Alas, these are on the expensive side, so another shoe will be ultimately purchased.

A 3-way tie for second place:

2: Sophia Webster Cassia Wedge will actually be the shoe purchased this year for AP Lang. Sophia Webster has her sale going on - yes! There are 2 heights to these wedges (90 vs. 140), and since I already have a pair of high white wedges, the lower heel one has been selected! And, fun fact, AP Lit had a Sophia Webster Wedge too! I do love Sophia Webster - she has such clever, fun designs, and I actually met her at Saks when she visited as a "new" designer. She even signed my heels!

2: Aquazzura Papillon Sandal in Green - this was also voted highly by AP Lit. While I do love the green, I didn't realize it came in other colors as well!

2: Dolce & Gabbana Cut Out Flower Pump - I would nickname this one "Cinderella" for obvious reasons, and it is sold out just about everywhere now. I do wonder how comfortable it would be on  daily basis.

The Kings & Queens of Chalk

As promised, here are my artistic renderings of our 6 kings and queens - with some bonus commentary and added visual references - in chalk.

Class Shirts

The results of the poll find that the majority of Langers are interested in a class shirt this year! To begin the first phase of shirts, we need designs to vote upon to represent AP Lang as a whole (not shirts by hour). Submit your designs (can be one side or two sides) in the Shared Drive in the T-Shirt folder. Currently, Zoe's submission resides there. Do not worry about shirt color as we will eventually vote on that element later. The most important considerations are images and words at this point. Submissions will be accepted through Tuesday, so my artists and my digital designers, here is your opportunity to create!

P.S. The shoe vote for AP Lang will begin next week! A tradition that you can read more about in the Shared Drive under Shoe Voting Updates! While this is completely optional, just like the shirts, it's a fun activity to balance out all of the rhetorical analysis and discussion.

Shoe Voting Is Almost Here

If we were in Room 404 now, there would be a colorful display of shoes lining my board, and you would be voting each day for the pairs you would want me to purchase to represent AP Lang. This fun activity, not required, but definitely a little levity in a time of end-of-year assignments and AP tests, allows you to do something completely free from rhetorical analysis, argumentation (unless you want to convince other classmates on their voting choices), and synthesis!

Obviously, we're not in Room 404, so the vote has gone digital. In the upcoming days, you will receive a form for voting. You have the chance to vote for a maximum of 5 pairs of day. You are able to submit a form once a day until May 20, so those passionate about AP Lang shoes will have their choices counted. 

In the meanwhile, all of the past shoes and the current 88 candidates can be found in the Shared Drive in the Shoe Voting Updates Folder. 

This is an AP Lang & Lit tradition, so do participate if you have the time and inclination :) 

Timed Digital Prompts

We enter new territory in AP Lang this week with a complete timed digital prompt on AP Classroom. Last week, you tried a close reading and reflected on the process, hopefully garnering some ideas of how to approach your next prompt and prepare for the writing portion of this task. This week, you have a full essay to do, and it is the main assignment this week for AP Lang as I want you to designate time to complete this assignment and give it your full attention. 

Normally, we would have this in class, hard copy, with my eyes watching the clock for you. Now, you have this at home, digital, your own timer. 

I want to reinforce that the directions I am giving you for this prompt, clearly outlined in the lesson plans, is the best means of ascertaining your abilities not just in writing rhetorical analysis but also in the ability to write a digital prompt in the specified time frame. 

Ergo, this is not just a prompt to be evaluated (which I will be doing); this is also a prompt to help you build strategies for the next one. If you do not follow the guidelines/rules/instructions, you may have stronger feedback, but you may not have the base to form strategies for improvement. 

Reminders, observations, and thoughts to read PRIOR to writing the essay: 

• I want to remind you how important it is to be honest with your work, especially with timing situations, while you are digitally on the clock. 
• Whether you are taking the test or not, the ability to respond to a timed prompt is a skill for the AP curriculum, college curriculum, and course curriculum. The justification "I'm not taking the AP exam" is not valid here as this is an assignment for all of you.
• With the fact that you are not receiving a percentage grade, this is the opportunity to test out what you are able to produce in a timed situation and prepare for future activities and actual exams online.
• This prompt has a time limit of 45 minutes, which will be the same for the AP exam. This includes close reading and writing the essay. You then have 5 minutes of time for submitting the exam. 
• You are to take this prompt in one sitting - not look at the prompt, think about it, and come back another day. I am trusting you to do this. 
• If you wifi goes down, stop your timer and then resume with the same time remaining. Do not work on the prompt during this down time. This is why I'm not presetting the timer for the prompt myself (yes, I can do that) as I know tech issues might occur. 
• Yes, do your best, but be prepared to make sacrifices with your close reading and writing to finish on time. And, if something goes wrong, bring that into your strategy for next time.
• As many of you are noting in your reflections, close reading for 3 strategies and writing the essay probably won't be as successful as when in hard copy. Close reading for 2 umbrella strategies and/or shifts is probably the way to go here.
• During close reading, jot down minimal notes to help set up your essay. Do not write out full thesis statements and detailed outlines. Notes could include the strategies you note, references to evidence you may use. 
• If you are given line or paragraph numbers, use those for citations. If you are not given anything for citation, don't worry about it. Yes, I wrote that down. Digital rules.
• The biggest points are for evidence, i.e. the body paragraphs, so that is where you should spend the majority of your time. Don't waste time on writing a long introduction. Set up the context, have a fast analogy, but get into that thesis and the body paragraphs. You can always go back and add more if time permits. 
• If you need to review how to write a rhetorical analysis essay and what to do in timed situations, your classmates did a superior job on our April 7 meeting. 
• As AP has noted, they cannot stop people from "open notes" on these tests. For AP Lang, the only "open notes" could be a thesaurus/dictionary/rhetorical toolbox list. You don't have time to constantly be looking up words, so use this sparingly as to not take away from your writing. 
• We will have one more full timed prompt in a couple weeks, so that you can take this experience and feedback and do better the next time around. 
• We worked on rhetorical analysis almost all of first semester and have been highlighting it during our fourth quarter work. You know how to do this. Put yourself in the writing mental space, welcome the paper fairies into your mind and fingers, and do your best.

Once again, the expectation is you take this prompt as you would in class. Find a quiet place, a timer, and the best connection to wifi and write it. Submit the work, receive the feedback, garner what you can from your experience to better strategize the next time. 

The Tudors

Having historical context of our kings and queens can only help you as you delve into their speeches from centuries ago. There are countless films, television series, and plays that deal with our Tudor father-daughter combo of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I highly recommend The Private Life of Henry VIII starring Charles Laughton. It probably created the stereotypical picture of the turkey leg chomping monarch, and it gives some humor to the cycle of wives in which Henry attempted to produce an heir and substantiate his legacy. The whole movie is on Youtube even. For Elizabeth I, my favorite portrayal is Cate Blanchett in 1998's Elizabeth (the sequel isn't bad either). The film further sets the context of Elizabeth's adjustment from "illegitimate" daughter to mighty ruler and further exhibits why Cate should have won an Oscar for that role. While each film probably plays with historical accuracy - as does every historical film - I always find I learn a great deal of historical figures from films. Happy watching if you have the time and inclination!