Eating Those Babies!

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Three-fourths into "A Modest Proposal," Jonathan Swift reveals his true argument, a hidden list of feasible requests that could put the kibosh on Irish poverty and save women and children from starving on the streets. However, you have to find your footing through his hyperbolic exemplification to see that his satire exists as a critique of those exploiting the poor.

For our modes of discourse week, we began with satire featuring Swift and his above text. If you were absent, you should read the source material -- it can be found on multiple sites on the web. For tomorrow's class, you will create multiple choice questions using this text.

Lucy Logs Reminder

AP Langers,

For the past four weeks or so, you have spent time with Lucy Grealy in her own words and in the words of her friend. The logs for each text are due by 3:45 p.m. on Friday. If you have not picked up your second text, you should do so on Monday in order to complete this assignment. During Friday's class, we will have a discussion about these texts, their presentations of Lucy, and the idea of physical beauty in our culture. This is one of my favorite discussions all year, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Lucy and her life.

LAG

The Day Before Thanksgiving Eve

After going over MC Passage 4 answers, we completed MC Passage 5. 

As a Thanksgiving present, your Lucy logs covering Autobiography of a Face and Truth & Beauty will be due Friday, December 4. 

At this point, you should be well on your way into your second text. Remember, you must turn in your first text to receive your second text.

Yep, It's Your Surprise Prompt Day

As we spent the entire hour writing a rhetorical analysis prompt, we will resume our multiple choice analysis for Tuesday.

Other reminders that seem pertinent:
1. Make sure you complete the guidance survey by Tuesday. It is on an earlier blog post. This should not take you more than 5 minutes.
2. Remember, the Lucy logs are due next week, which means you have read both texts in that time frame. Ideally, you should already be in the second text.

Speech Comparison/Contrast

First up, you finished with your partner(s) the speech analysis. Following work time, you combined with another group and compared & contrasted QE II's statement on Diana's death with Earl Spencer's eulogy for his sister. Last up, you completed MC Passage 4. For this passage, you close read first and we shared our noticed strategies, purposes, and tones. Then, you completed the question portion. Next class, you will explain why the answers are correct and the other choice are incorrect.

Don't forget to complete the guidance survey by Tuesday -- the link can be found on a previous blog.

Juniors -- Take This Survey For Guidance

Hey, Mrs. Peters has requested that all juniors take this following survey involving the guidance department. Please do so by the end of the school day on Tuesday.

http://goo.gl/forms/Z62weFDyZt

Links for Diana Speeches

In case you were absent last class or you would like an encore presentation, here are the links to QEII and Earl Spencer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_moIV4wDQsY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VUy-wBwBvw

MC Passage 3 & Diana

For all classes, we completed the class multiple choice. While this did take more time than an individual timed passage, we reviewed important strategies and skills to assist you in completing multiple choice questions. For instance, we previewed questions by identifying key words, phrases, and line numbers. We then moved onto close reading -- the notice of patterns, strategies, and other components the author is communication. Last, we used process of elimination to have a better chance at answering the questions.

For passage 3, we identified bing and time-eater questions. While you will not have time on the actual test to identify that this one is a quick question and this one takes time consideration, you should still answer the easier questions first. Often, these questions will help you understand later questions and give you the opportunity to get to know the passage.

The Wuthering Heights prompt was handed back to you. At this stage of rhetorical analysis, if you are still having difficulty with structure or mechanics, you are more than welcome to set up a tutoring session or q&a session to assist you in improving your writing and alleviate any distractions.

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To review rhetorical analysis -- you know a prompt will be coming soon -- we read/watched two speeches given to honor Princess Diana's death on August 31, 1997. In partnerships, you completed a chart utilizing rhetorical strategies, which you will finish quickly at the beginning of the next class session.

The British monarchy has a section dedicated to Diana on its website. This link will take you to the opening page. If you look in the left column, you will find more categories detailing Diana's life and legacy. http://www.royal.gov.uk/HistoryoftheMonarchy/The%20House%20of%20Windsor%20from%201952/DianaPrincessofWales/Background.aspx

And, if you are of a fashion mindset, here is a link to her style. I was fortunate to visit the Queen Mary's Diana exhibit last year and see her gowns (and Kate Middleton's) in person. http://www.instyle.com/celebrity/princess-dianas-most-iconic-style-moments

Proofreading Practices

For any of you struggling with proofreading your own essays, check out this link with practices that are delineated by type of mechanical issue (quotation marks, subject-verb agreement, and so on).

http://college.cengage.com/english/raimes/universal_keys/1e/students/editing/index.html

While it is easy for most of us to find fault in other writings, it is difficult for us to find fault in our own. Hence, it would behoove you to practice proofreading -- especially your own work -- as we continue through AP Lang. Simple errors such as not using apostrophes or misspelling the author's name can distract readers from the content of the text.

MC Passage 2

As with all AP Lang multiple choice passages, the first goal is to attain 50% of the questions correctly. In order to do so, there are several strategies to help your accuracy and speed. For instance, with passage 2, we previewed the questions first and categorized the questions to help us understand what we should answer. Another method is close reading the passage as you would a rhetorical analysis prompts passage. Breaking down the diction, patterns, and other rhetorical strategies will help your accuracy on the questions. If your class did not finish the close reading of MC passage 2 in class, make sure you have that completed for the block class. As a class, we will answer the questions together. (You are more than welcome to try them out prior to class as well.)

Next class agenda; MC Passage 2 & 3, Rhetorical Analysis of Multiple Texts, possibly more multiple choice if time permits.

Let the Multiple Choice Begin!

1. We finished the Democratic debate transcripts and the identification of fallacies in the text. As evidenced by the plethora of examples in class, the political machine continually relies on fallacious thinking to sway the audience.
2. You added the Birdie prompt to your portfolio and filled out the connecting chart. The previous blogs have suggestions and tips for improvement. You should utilize this assistance to improve your writing as we will have the last timed rhetorical analysis prompt at some point during the next 7 class sessions.
3. Without any direction, you completed the first multiple choice passage. Afterward, I annoyingly did not give you the answers. Instead, we discussed the strategies and techniques that one uses in completing multiple choice passages. Then, we looked at 7 categories of questions. For homework, you will identify the category of each question. We will discuss this tomorrow and then you will find out the answers and your final score.
*Remember, you need to score 50% or higher on multiple choice passages to be at your first goal level.

Tuesday's theoretical plans - multiple choice passages 1 & 2, rhetorical and fallacy analysis of speeches.

Prompt Writing Tips - Part II

These tips are repeats from the power point we used in class last month. Many of you have adapted your writing to complete the following items properly: appropriate apostrophe usage, appropriate punctuation with quoted evidence, and appropriate parenthetical citations. If you are still making these errors, you need to study the rules and links provided to improve your writing. The above items are complete distractions from your content. Once again, if you are struggling with these rules of writing, you need to ask, e-mail, or set up a tutoring session.

1. Apostrophes are for possessive nouns and contractions. Apostrophes are not used in verbs ("he see's") or ordinary plural nouns (the two bird's). If you do not use an apostrophe with a possessive wording (the nightingales vs. the nightingale's), you have created audience confusion. AP readers do not want to be confused or have to reread a sentence for clarity.  http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp
2. As you are transitioning words and phrases into your writing (in place of full sentences of dialogue), you still need to follow punctuation rules and not randomly add commas prior and/or following quoted material. "Shelly illustrates his bird to be a," blithe spirit," that has come down from Heaven." Imagine that sentence without the quoted evidence - would you put commas there? No, you would not. As with all rules, look at the individual sentence to figure out if you need a comma or not.  https://www.hamilton.edu/style/punctuation-of-quotations
3. Citations are at the end of the sentence -- even if you the quoted material is at the beginning or middle of your sentence. Read this OWL example and check out the very end to see how you should incorporate multiple citations from multiple authors at the end of the sentence.  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

Remember, the AP readers want clarity and not confusion. Lack of apostrophes, random punctuation, and improper citations distract from what you want the reader to notice: your incredible analysis, mature voice, and original presentation of ideas.

Prompt Writing Tips - Bird Edition Part I

I was in process of making a power point of strong examples and areas needing attention (akin to the Keats' diction prompt) when I realized it would take several class periods to go over individual mistakes that may not be an issue with the majority of the class. However, the majority of us (I included myself in there as grammar and mechanics are a lifelong study), need a refresher of rules from time to time to avoid distractions and not annoy the audience with countless errors. Hence, this blog post and the given links will give you the opportunity for personal study prior to the next prompt writing and our eventual argumentative essay work. If you need additional help for a specific distraction, you can always set up a study session with me before or after school or e-mail for additional suggestions, tips, or practices.

• Formal writing does not use contractions. Spell out your words to avoid any issue with its and it's. Possessive pronouns do not have apostrophes.  http://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-2/pronouns/lesson-2/cases-of-personal-pronouns
• Writers use transitions for flow. These transitions (hence, therefore, however, on the other hand) are not part of the sentence's grammatical structure and are known as conjunctive adverbs or adverbial conjunctions depending on your grammar handbook. Therefore, commas are needed to separate the transition from the sentence.  http://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-7/conjunctions-and-interjections/lesson-4/conjunctive-adverbs
• Write in full sentences and avoid dependent clauses. Even though fictional writers use dependent clauses to create atmosphere and add to the voice of the narrator, the AP reader wants to see your ability to write grammatically correct sentences. What makes such a sentence? A subject, a verb, and a complete thought.
• Example: "John Keats and Percy Shelley, the blinding infernos that yearned for so much yet fell short of their desires." There is a subject but only a dependent clause following it.
• Improved: "The blinding infernos John Keats and Percy Shelley yearned for so much yet fell short of their desires." In this improved version, the subject now has an active verb and a complete thought.
• Speaking of verbs, you should be writing with active verbs and amend any passive constructions or "to be" verbs that muddle up your writing.  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/539/
• Improper title punctuation creates a distraction from the opening paragraph - especially if you use quotation marks and underlining at the same time. If a text is short or can be removed from a larger text (short story, essay, poem), you will utilize quotation marks. If a text is long, you will choose underlining if you are handwriting or italics if you are typing.  https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Punctuating_Titles_chart.pdf
• When mixing and matching clauses, you need to incorporate the appropriate punctuation. Starting with a dependent clause, you normally need a comma before the independent clauses. I put "normally" as some grammar rule books like to say you should have 5 words or more before utilizing a comma. However, take this example: "Throughout this poem Shelley makes a sudden tone change." Without the comma, "poem Shelley" becomes one idea; therefore, a comma is needed to isolate the separate ideas. If you reverse the situation and have the independent clause first, you do not need a comma before the dependent clause. A comma before because is unnecessary in almost every situation.  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/598/01/
• In our previous power point, we spent time discussing quotation marks (the fences) and punctuation marks. Remember, commas and period go inside the fence; semicolons and colons go outside the fence.  http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/quotation-marks.html#adjacentpunctuation
• We spent a great deal of time talking about punctuation with citations and where periods go. Amend this issue to alleviate distractions. I really am fond of this link as it gives a plethora of examples. https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Lit_Citation_Problems.pdf
• If you are thesis mapping or listing rhetorical strategies in your introduction, you need to keep the same sequence in the body paragraphs. 
• If you have a compare and contrast assignment, avoid the predictable words of "alike," "similarities," and "differences." Your audience will groan at reading these familiar words. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6Fnhu3dWHJ8J:faculty.ncc.edu/LinkClick.aspx%3Ffileticket%3DRg4fkx2Qhhg%253D%26tabid%3D4476%26mid%3D5702+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

To improve your overall writing, you must take a vested interest in review, practice, and study outside of the classroom. If you find something challenging or need clarification, it is up to you to ask for help or additional tutoring. Take the initiative -- I am here to help you earn a 5 on that AP exam.

More tips and links to follow in upcoming blogs! 

Democratic Debate Fallacies

I planned for the fallacies to take up half the hour. However, there are so many fallacious statements in the debates that some classes did not even make it to the halfway point! A highlight package of fallacies includes straw man, hasty generalizations, dogmatism, appeal to pity/sentimentality, begging the question, and ad hominem.

On Monday, we will finish the transcripts. Then, we will start working on multiple choice passages and strategies to help you score higher on the exam.

AP exam questions fall into the following categories: purpose, tone, rhetorical strategies, mode of discourse, inferences, details, and context. Reviewing rhetorical strategies will help on all parts of the test, so I recommend you have ethos on all the terms and definitions.

Fallacies 2 & 4

Before jumping into fallacy work, fourth hour finally completed the vocab quiz.

As for fallacies, we reviewed and shared examples of fallacies from the packet, video, and power point. Following this review, you created team commercials in which we had to guess the fallacies. As you may have noted, some fallacies are very apparent (slippery slope, faulty authority) and others can be sly (faulty causality, either/or).

To end our classes, you were assigned a section of the Democratic debate transcript. You will have approximately 8-10 minutes to finish prepping your identification of fallacies before sharing with classmates. You are welcome to look over your assigned section this evening to expedite the process.

Fallacies 1 & 7

Today's classes centered around fallacies, the illogical mistakes writers, advertisers, and politicians make in their arguments. While fallacies are not intentional to the creator, they do create emotional responses from the audience and betray our want of logical decisions.

In regards to the packet, we have reviewed its 15 fallacies. While these are not all the fallacies available, these are used quite often by writers and in multiple choice questions on the AP exam. (If you pull up a list online of fallacies, you will find a variety of ones. I just read about "I Wish I Had a Magic Wand" fallacy. I have never heard of this one, but I suspect Harry Potter might be involved.

Then, we looked at further examples -- thank you DirectTV for creating your slippery slope advertisements.

With such inspiration, groups then created commercials -- varying from chocolate to yogurt to water bottles -- utilizing fallacies. As noted in first hour, either-or fallacies go by so quickly! We will have to pay special attention to that "or" fallacy in our future readings.

For first hour, you have a copy of the Democratic Debate transcript in your student e-mail. Each partnership or group was assigned 8 pages of the speech and you will be identifying fallacies to share with the class. You will have approximately 10 minutes to prep on Friday, so feel free to utilize outside of class time if you think you will need it for quality responses.

Seventh hour, you will receive the transcript e-mail prior to class on Friday. You will receive the partner assignment during Friday's class, so do not begin thorough analysis of any particular section. You are more than welcome to take a glance at it, though.

Upcoming work will feature fallacies, rhetorical analysis (still have one prompt remaining), and multiple choice, which will make an appearance very shortly.

Post Presentations

Another outstanding day of presentations in which I touched starfish goo, sat in a campfire circle listening to horror stories, heard interviews with Malala and families of autistic children, and witnessed on the ground reporting in Nigeria. A whirlwind of a day!

If you were absent for the verbal portion of the show, don't fret -- you will have your secondary assignment later this week in order to complete your verbal requirements of this assignment.

Any student missing the post-discussion period, you may make up those points before or after school on Wednesday or Thursday.

Homework-wise, you all have the fallacy packet. Make sure to annotate/highlight/read over the information to have a working knowledge for next class. You do not have to memorize anything but be prepared for work tomorrow.

Oh, and 4th hour, we will finally have that vocab quiz on Thursday.

P.S. I have seen several of you reading your selected Lucy book and working on your logs. Remember, you still have another one to complete by the first week in December!

Favorite Presentation Moments Day I

Highlights from today:

1:

Team "Starfished" used  maps, charts, disease steps, personal anecdotes, and video to make the issue more about the future than the present state of marine biology. MI starred as Ms. Clearwater, the reporter with a starfish in her hand, imploring the "hoi polloi" to care about this topic just as much as she. This was definitely one of my favorites of the entire day -- and it was the first one to present this morning. You definitely set a standard for the remaining evaluations.

Team Temple did not even introduce Temple Grandin until halfway through the presentation. Instead, they utilized ethos (especially from NO and her confident, knowledgeable voice) and provided background information regarding autism, social isolation, and emotional concerns to set up Temple's ideas of autistic education and her own struggles as an autistic person.

Team Boko's MS pronouncing with ease (or at least appeared to the audience) Nigerian words! Her ethos added to the Prezi work, a strong visual artifact that gave a great deal of digestible information to the group. The addition of the John Green video also provided another voice to augment your own foreign correspondent.

2:

Skit characterization of people in horrendous situations -- the pregnant couple from Syria, the man overcome with grief of his daughter's near assassination, the father of a kidnapped girl. Each characterization created pathos for the audience.

4:
Team Temple's SH took on the role of Temple Grandin with passion, knowledge, and fast talking -- all characteristics of the autistic education advocate.

Team Malala created what they called a "spoken word/slam poem" that created a voice for all the girls without an education. Using numbers - the numbers of western culture's 12 grades, the numbers of foreign culture's 9 then 6 then 3 grades, the numbers in reverse, the numbers in correct order - they presented a united front that clearly presented the dissonance of education across the world. Wonderfully clever, thoughtful, and emotional work.

7:
Team Syrian's poem, a chorus of Syrian women from different religions, different educations, different likes and needs, resonated with the class. Even the incorporation of the various fruits and food items reflected the symbolism of the culture that is slowly migrating into other nations.

Team Boko certainly made us, the American audience, question our response to international crises that do not involve our own people or boundary lines. You asked if we would remember this presentation and the content of Boko Haram's terrorism in 20 minutes. The answer is yes, we will remember due to your skit of a terrorist, Nigeria, and the U.S. government.

Team Malala began with audience participation -- the index cards delegating which students would be educated in Pakistan (not that many) and which students would not have the opportunity (the remainder of the class). When one student said he wanted to keep the card and have an education, E's response (something akin to definitely not you) reflected ethos on how people view education in other societies.

Rhetorical Appeal Presentations

As many of the rhetorical appeal presentations have extended beyond expectation in quality and time, we will be continuing the presentations tomorrow. Following the remaining presentations, we will discuss the topics more in-depth and allow the audience to share their impressions about these current event topics.

Fourth hour, you will have the vocabulary quiz tomorrow after all of the above. Make sure to review your words!

Presentation Evaluation Grading Scale/Class Preview

In a previous blog, I mentioned that the Rhetorical Appeals Presentation will be graded 80 % AP and 20% participation. 

The following will be the point values for the assignment:

Score (1-9):  

9 = 80

8 = 76

7 = 72

6 = 68

5 = 64

4 = 60

3 = 56

2 = 52

1 = 48

Participation in Activity:               20/20

Total:  __________/ 100

As an audience member tomorrow, I look forward to learning more about Malala and her female educational platform, Boko Haram and their terrorism, Syrian refugees and their migration, Starfish and their wasting disease, and Temple Grandin and her autism educational endeavors.

The remainder of our semester will be broken into four categories. Here is an overall preview -- saving the specifics for our class time: 

• Rhetorical Analysis - fallacies, texts, final prompt, strategy/term quest 
• Multiple Choice - passages, tips, satire, stems, create, more passages
• Modes of Discourse - description, process analysis, cause & effect (with kairos), argumentation with exemplification
• Lucy - logs, discussion, argument

These categories will overlap with one another, so you will be able to utilize all the skills you have learned thus far with the upcoming ones for multiple choice and argumentation work. 

Persuasive Appeals Presentation Prep

Not much to report on my end for Wednesday and Thursday classes. However, the student side of the equation worked diligently on the presentation by constructing polls, completing research, creating visual artifacts, and preparing a performance component. From my eavesdropping, we have some clever presentations headed our way.

All presentations will be on Monday. Remember, any student absent will have a secondary assignment.

In the vocabulary arena, fourth hour will be taking the vocabulary quiz following the presentations.

Rhetorical Group Prep

All classes worked on the preparations for the rhetorical analysis group presentations, which are scheduled for Monday. If you are absent on Monday, the group will still perform and you will have a secondary assignment to make up these points. I will be evaluating these presentations in an 80 (1-9) -20 (participation) fashion.

Vocabulary Per Hour:
1: Review today; quiz Wednesday.
2: Quiz today, which any absentee will make up by Thursday.
4: Finish last 3 words; review Thursday.
7: None -- we finished up the quiz on Tuesday!

Pathos Appeals

I thought I would add some Halloween pictures to liven up this blog today.

To celebrate the 220th birthday of my beloved Keasty, Ihmotep and I read his letters and poems. Well, Ihmotep just hummed and grunted. He does not have that gift of language anymore. 

1:
We finished Unit 15 vocabulary words today, which means a review tomorrow and a quiz on Wednesday.

You received the Lucy assignment -- 2 memoirs in 4 weeks with the added joy of a log to keep all the details in order -- and selected your first text. If you did not select you book today, you will need to do so tomorrow to begin the process.

Pathos visuals using photography and advertisements were a quick review of how one can engage the audience.

With five minutes to go, you were given the assignment for the group rhetorical appeals presentation. We will finish going over the assignment tomorrow and then you will form your groups, pick a topic, and start the presentation process. Look over the handout tonight so we can expedite the information as quickly as possible. The presentations will be Monday. If a group member is absent, the groups will still present and the absentee will have a makeup assignment for the presentation component.

Monty playing with Ihmotep, his new favorite six foot toy.

2: 

In partners or small groups, you reviewed vocab for your quiz tomorrow.

We resumed pathos by looking at advertisements and how words can create an impact as much as images to engage the audience.

For the remainder of the hour, you picked groups and topics for your rhetorical appeals presentation, which will be performed on Monday. At this point, I am assuming from eavesdropping on your collaborations, that you have divided up your duties and will be starting to craft polls, survey people, and research the topic. Be thorough -- you want to have a strong mix of logos, ethos, and pathos. After watching a couple videos of your previous skits, I have a feeling that these presentations will be quite memorable!

To add to my sugar intake, I made a haunted house out of cupcakes, ice cream cones, cookies, and chocolate trees. It remained standing for 2 1/2 hours, so I will consider this a baking success!

4: 

You turned in your tone prompt essays.

We added 4 more vocabulary words to your knowledge bank, which means we will finish the remaining 3 words during tomorrow's class. 

You received the Lucy assignment - the two memoirs and the related log that will be completed during your reading process. Make sure you do not procrastinate this one -- you have a lot of reading and analysis to do over the next four and a half weeks.

We reviewed pathos by looking at photography and advertisements. While these are visual mediums, it is amazing to see the power of words and how this impacts the audience's understanding.

With our last moments, we started to discuss the group rhetorical appeals presentation. At this point, you know a little about the possible topics. Tomorrow, we will finish going over the requirements and you will be selecting your groups and topics. Read over the handout tonight -- yes, there is a large typo in there -- in order to expedite our work tomorrow.

Here are my two jacks awaiting the candy hordes. 

7: 

One of my first hour students asked if the AP Lang classes will ever be on the same schedule again, and I can only hazard a guess that we will be on December 18. In the meanwhile, you are the first AP Lang class to take the Vocab 15 Quiz -- which was partner-style. If you were absent, you will need to make up this quiz by November 5.

We reviewed pathos by looking at photography and advertisements. We also learned that while the Nike ads were geared towards female empowerment, young men can also feel motivated and proud of their individuality and body image. 

In our last moments before announcements ended our party too soon, you became aware of the group rhetorical appeals presentation. Due next Monday, you will be finalizing groups, selecting topics, and working in the presentation tomorrow.