The Last Class of January

In a few hours, we discussed the "Z" virus that some see as a burgeoning pandemic. Here is an article with some information if you would like to one day use it for an argument: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/zika-virus-update-31-people-us-infected-houston/story?id=36597002

I have decided to use a dash of asyndeton today in our recaps.

1: MC packet explanations, vocab and tone experts, almost finished allusion posters.
2: MC packet explanations, vocab and tone experts, allusion posters, deadline 9 p.m. tonight for vision paragraphs.
4: Partner argument counterclaim & rebuttal, vocab and tone experts, CDQ introduction with partner work.
7: Finished allusion posters, vocab and tone experts, group argument.

Bonus Content:
Scholar Quiz will be having an open house on February 16 for those unable to attend Friday practices and would like to check out the team. We will have snacks, trivia, and buzzers. Scholar Quiz is MSHSAA organization (I like to call us a "splub") and official competitors receive a letter. We are looking for full time teammates and also practice partners at our Friday practices, Thursday trivia lunches in the library conference room, and random acts of trivia that are announced on our twitter page @FznQuiz. Scholar Quiz assists in AP classes such as AP World, AP US History, AP Stats, AP Calc, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Chem, AP Physics. We have had 50 people involved with Scholar Quiz practices and trivia lunches thus far this year. We look forward to seeing you there.

January 27/28

1: If you like variety, you certainly enjoyed class today: exemplification group work (final paragraph deadline is Thursday at 9 p.m.), vocab experts, tone paragraph 2 to the topic of North West, tone word speed learning, and grading the multiple choice packet. For Friday's class, make sure you have the explanation for your assigned MC number, you allusion poster ready to go, and your tone words studied. Argument will take center stage now -- hint -- your vision work is already one.

7: After vocab experts, we played with tone words via paragraphs on dinosaurs, speed learning, and circle review. Those words will return on Friday and in future classes -- in addition to the previous tone words. To complete our class time, we graded the multiple choice packets, and you explained the correct answers. We almost made it through the third round of allusion posters. For the four remaining, make sure to bring it back on Friday for sharing. Don't forget that your vision paragraph deadline is Thursday at 2:25 a.m. That gives you an additional 12 hours to complete.

2: Read first hour's agenda - with the exception that your topic was winter and your final paragraph deadline is Friday at 9 p.m.

4: After vocab experts, we played with a new set of tone words and constructed paragraphs on our topic of the day: cannibalism. Once allusion posters were shared, we returned to argumentation via partnerships on a variety of topics. We will work on the second half of those arguments tomorrow.

January 26

First & Second Hours: We finished allusion poster 2, which is appropriate since tomorrow starts the cycle for allusion poster 3. Then, you finally completed the vocabulary quiz for unit 16. During our next class, we will start unit 17. Last, we began the group exemplification project. At this point, you have shared a document for your work and are to create a brainstorm of examples indicating vision. If you were absent, you job is to add to the list. Vocabulary quizzes must be made up by Friday.

Fourth Hour: After 10 minutes to confer with your group regarding the group exemplification project, you have until 11 p.m. tonight to finalize your individual paragraphs. Next, we started vocab 17 experts. For the remainder of the hour, we graded your MC packets and analyzed the answers. See you tomorrow for vocab, tone, allusions, and argument.

Seventh Hour: I have a feeling we will take the vocab quiz and continue with our group exemplification project by selecting relevant examples (one per person in the group), determining the range, and assigning each person a specific example to construct a paragraph. The group document will hold all of these paragraphs -- in order of the range -- and must be completed by Thursday morning at 2:25 a.m. (That's 36 hours from the end of today's class.) Absent parties are expected to work on their assigned example to meet this deadline.

*******First, second, and seventh hours received the multiple choice packet to complete for next class. If you were absent, you will be completing this packet in the hallway during class -- if you do not pick it up prior to class. ********

Bonus Content:
In case any of you are interested in buzzers, tone words, and allusions, there will be a review and competition Thursday morning. Arrive between 6:50-7:00, grab your tally sheet from the wall, and begin playing. Door closes at 7!

And, after our next mini-argument unit, you will have a full, timed MC test. Make sure you continue reviewing your strategies, tone words, and close reading.

It's Monday

I don't have a punny or cute subject line for today -- all the classes had remarkable different experiences due to guidance office visits. Here is a recap, though, for AP Lang today:

1: All guidance meetings -- we will have allusion posters, vocab quiz 16, and group exemplification project tomorrow. With the loss of a day, we will be expediting a great deal this week, so be ready to write again! P.S. Over the 50 minutes, you did write down the vocabulary for Unit 17. We will start this on Wednesday.

2: Almost all guidance meetings - we did write down Vocab Unit 17 (to begin on the block day) and began sharing allusion poster #2. We will finish allusion posters, have a vocab quiz over unit 16, and start the exemplification project.

4: After guidance meetings, we copied down Unit 17 vocab with the intention of starting vocab experts on Tuesday. Meanwhile in AP Lang Land, we continued work on your group exemplification project. Your individual paragraph is due by 11 p.m. on Tuesday. If you were absent, you will need to check the group document to see which paragraph you are to write. Remember, you will have 10 minutes tomorrow to confer about this writing. For additional homework, you are to complete the 3 passage multiple choice packet. This one counts -- so make sure you put your full attention into the process.

7: Guidance meetings filled the majority of the hour, so we had to put off Vocab Quiz 16 again. Meanwhile, we started the process for your exemplification project -- in which you will be brainstorming examples this evening for homework. Remember, you want examples to come from multiple subjects -- literature, history, current events, science, math, mythology, Biblical, fine arts, and so on.

All at Different Steps

As with first semester, each hour is finding its own way through the daily agenda. Hence, we will start dividing by hour to clarify.

1: We discussed class options for next year, returned and recorded the Lucy argument, introduced exemplification (key steps are brainstorming, thesis creating, relevant example selecting, range determining, and specifying). Starting up next week will be the allusion posters, a vocab quiz, and a group exemplification project.

2: Check out first hour, ignoring the first item on the agenda as we discussed class options on Thursday.

4: For once, your class is ahead of all the others -- please no more drills! First up, we shared allusion posters with the group. Note for myself, buy more magnets a.s.a.p.  Second, we completed the vocabulary quiz. Third, we commenced the exemplification group project in which you created a group document and worked on the first two steps. I highly recommend you add to your brainstorming list over the weekend -- you will need a plethora of examples from multiple subjects. 

7: I am writing this sixth hour and hoping my psychic abilities are spot on here. After learning about the components of exemplification (brainstorming, thesis creating, relevant example selecting, range determining, and specifying), we shared allusion posters and completed the vocabulary quiz. 

10...9...8...

The subject line results from the creative introduction from Team Camille today in second hour!

All classes are at different point again, so this will be an overview of the agenda.

1. We shared cause and effect pseudo-essays and voted on the best work. In classes thus far, the winning essays featured creative, engaging introductions full of imagery or mature diction, specific logos regarding the past, present, and probable future of the Rams, and created transitions from each paragraph. Absent people will still need to turn in their paragraph for credit.

2. Vocab Review or Vocab Experts for the last 3 words -- depending on your hour.

3. Surprise tone & allusion quiz -- words relating to your specific hour's experiences. Absent people will need to have this made up by Tuesday.

Additional items for fourth hour (maybe seventh):
4. Pass back Lucy arguments and start a new form for argumentation.
5. Learn about exemplification and its key steps - brainstorming, thesis/theme, relevancy, range, and specificity
6. Read "The History Teacher" by Billy Collins and identify the thesis, examples, and range.

Lots of items left on the docket...
Allusion posters
Vocab Quiz
Group exemplification

Cause & Effect

1. Introduce new vocabulary words and review tone words from Friday's class. There will be a surprise quiz over these tone words during our next class session. And, there may be a few allusions thrown in there as well.
2. Work on cause & effect with the topic of the Rams leaving St. Louis. After utilizing pre-writing organization (our handy little chart), you constructed a thesis statement incorporating the cause and effect of such an event. For the remainder of the class/homework, each person has one paragraph to write for a team essay. We will read these essays tomorrow during class and vote on the most successful. Since we have been discussing tone words a great deal, you may want to have a specific tone in your writing.

Note: If you would still like to share your teacher argument essay with your chosen teacher, there will be class time tomorrow to print out. Make sure your essay is ready to go -- i.e. proofed for quick production.

Toning

For all classes today, we worked on tone words via speed learning, memory tricks, and tone circles. These tone words will return next week -- so make sure you are maintaining your knowledge.

In second hour, we completed our tone paragraph with the topic of vacations. If you were absent, you will need to draw a tone card and complete the assignment next week.

In the other hours, we started our cause and effect practice on the Rams leaving St. Louis. We will finish that next week and then move into exemplification and argumentation.

Educator & Employee of the Year

I just returned from the Educator and Employee of the Year meeting and had the privilege of hearing 5 AP Langer's words describe their appreciation for the staff here at FZN.

The Employee of the Year is Alice Maloney, nominated by Amber Parkinson, who was at the event to present the award.

For educator of the year, there were 21 nominations, 5 finalists, and 1 winner.

Here are the 16 who were nominated:
Adiputra
Babel
Ms. Baker
Mrs. Baker
Mrs. Bertram
Geusz
Hoffman
Hylton
Klos
Mattingly
Rapp
Sayers
Smith
Steele
Vaughn
Wulfert
*These essays were not read to the audience but were included with their nomination. Interestingly enough, the names of the essay writers were not included. If you nominated one of the above teachers, stop by and say hello tomorrow and let them know!

Here are the 4 finalists:
Kircher
Parker
Mrs. Richards
Mrs. Shields
*These essays were read by Mr. Sutton. However, I have heard from one of these finalists that the essay writers' names were not included. If you are one of those writers, I need to confirm with you so you can amass extra credit and those teachers need to know because of how much your words mean to them.

And the educator of the year:
Nigus
*Cameron Wulfert's essay for Mrs. Nigus was read during the event, and she was there to help present the award.

Date Processing

I never realized all the possible permutations of bad dating until witnessing first and seventh hour's process analyses. Thus far, the worst AP dates of the year are Rory (1) and Noah (7). Additionally, Jac (2) and Haley (4) are also worst AP dates of the year. Congratulations?!?

Our first block day of 2016 featured our process analysis "bad date" skits, the presentation of allusion poster #1, and tone paragraphs on dogs (first hour) and teenage relationships (seventh hour). We will continue to utilize these tone words during Friday's class.

In regards to Friday's class, we will be moving forward to cause and effect. For this activity, our topic will be the Rams leaving St. Louis. If you do not have ethos on this topic, read a few articles and prepare notes for class work.

Bonus Content:

There are remaining allusion posters up for grabs. If you would like to do an additional one for extra credit, e-mail me the one you would like to do from the following choices. This is a first-come, first-serve type of deal, so it is not your allusion until I have given you an e-mail response. You must put in this request by January 20.

Remaining allusions:
28, 37, 136, 186, 202, 214, 220, 229, 267, 284, 293, 294, 297, 300, 302, 305, 308, 309, 312, 314, 316, 317, 318, 320, 321, 322, 324, 325, 326, 328, 329, 330, 332, 333, 334, 336, 337, 338, 340, 341, 344, 345, 346, 348, 349, 350, 352, 353

Processing

After establishing further vocabulary prowess, we finished our quick mechanical review (comma splices and random apostrophes = bad).

For the next two classes, we will be spending quality time with process analyses, which can come in the directional or the informational form. After reading the process of bike riding, you were placed into groups to construct a directional process analysis skit on how to be a bad date. During the next block class, you will have some time to finish your skit and then you will perform this process for the class. From our reading and your creative flourished, you will have a better comprehension of process analysis writing and be able to better differentiate this mode of discourse during multiple choice and rhetorical analysis passages.

Bonus Content featuring the top 16 tone words! While you have a list of 100 (or so) tone words, these are the 16 you should know now: vituperative, gothic, flippant, colloquial, effusive, clinical, apprehensive, biting, cliched, didactic, wistful, laudatory, lugubrious, facetious, nostalgic, jingoistic. Prep these tone words now and you will benefit during our circle reviews, buzzer competitions, and future quizzes.

MC & Mechanics

After resuming vocabulary, we finished the multiple choice packet with passages 9e and 10e. Either these passages are more facile or we are becoming more accustomed to these passages! More multiple choice will be coming in the near future -- timed, non-timed, in-class, homework, full test.

To end class today, you completed a mechanics practice to check your understanding of punctuation, grammar, and citations. This also worked as a way to review common rules. We will finish remaining numbers tomorrow.

Juniors, you spent some of your quality time today at a registration meeting. Moving into twelfth grade, you have a plethora of options for your English credit. Basically, you are required to take one full year of English (unless you doubled up this year). This full year may be accomplished by a full year class or two semester courses. For those of you favoring literature, writing, and all things English-related, you may take more English classes and count these as electives.

Take Home MC

Other than I renamed several students today -- sorry -- we spent the first half of class explaining multiple choice passages 3e & 5e. As you become more accustomed to AP-style multiple choice questions, you may notice that process of elimination has become easier for you and accuracy has become stronger for you. This will continue to grow as we work on modes of discourse (process analysis, cause & effect, exemplification, and argumentation all next week), vocabulary (it's back!), tone words (block day tone writings), and allusions (posters).

Beyond multiple choice, we looked at the Fredericksburg prompt from the final, and you averaged your rhetorical analysis prompts from the semester. Ideally, you want to average a 5 or above. If you are still working toward that average, we have time to fine-tune your writing (mechanical review next week) and work on rhetorical analysis skills (March). Remember, there are 4 components of the test -- multiple choice, rhetorical analysis, argument, and synthesis. You will have your strongest component and your weakest component. Once we determine that, we can work on strategies to improve and utilize the strengths and weaknesses.

Last up was the copying and assigning of vocab unit 16. We will begin that on Monday in addition to going over multiple choice passages 9e & 10e from the packet.

MC Redo

We only made it through 2/5 of my to do list today. The first fifth would be finishing the definition portion, which reviewed strategies, modes of discourse, and tone words. The second fifth would be redoing the multiple choice section from the final. For the most part (or at least from what you told me), this helped you make corrections and understand why an answer is correct.

For homework, you need to finish first two passage (3e & 5e) of the multiple choice packet. Next to each correct answer, you will need to write a brief comment on why that is the correct answer. Do not write a paragraph response.

Misery

The subject line references my current state. Three more hours to go. Three more hours to go. Three more hours to go. Yes, I am chanting this over and over again.

During class, you received the extra credit poster assignment for the bulletin board. Remember, you may complete a poster for each of my three classes, and you must e-mail me this poster by January 11. The winning posters will be enlarged an in the 400 hallway next week.

Next, you received the allusions assignment  - 4 posters of 4 allusions in order to help the class learn Biblical, mythological, literary, pop cultural, and historical references. Allusions pop up in multiple choice and rhetorical analysis passages all the time. An additional benefit = you may use these in your writing to create hooks and show maturity of analysis.

For the remainder of the hour, you took on a didactic tone and taught the class 6-14 terms (depending on the class) from the list. You will be able to use this list when we "redo" the final multiple choice passages.

Semester 2

Our classes this week will focus on reviewing and refreshing terms and skills as we begin our second semester work. For today's class, we played on the buzzers and brainstormed topics for our future tone block days. Homework tonight includes your assigned terms to define/be able to explain to class tomorrow. We will go through these fairly rapidly and then use this information to retake (not for points) the multiple choice passages on the final.

First Week Back Plans

Hello, AP Langers. Our first week back will be a recap of first semester and the final exam. This recap will include a buzzer review of rhetorical toolbox terms and vocabulary, a term and tone assignment, mechanical multiple choice and rule review, close reading of Fredericksburg passages, and a close inspection of multiple choice passages from the final.

The English department will be creating an advertisement board for elective classes. While I will be introducing the information in class on Wednesday, I thought some of you may want a head start -- and a chance at extra credit to begin second semester. If that is the case, e-mail me and I will send you the information.