Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Overachieving

Don't forget that a rhetorical toolbox quiz is coming sooner or later. Make sure you have your toolbox with you in the upcoming days as you will not be allowed to go fetch it once class starts.

1: After copying down Unit 12 vocabulary and learning of your new expert assignment, we returned to the world of Julie and how author Alexandra Robbins presents her in The Overachievers. As per our discussion, the author utilizes many organizational and rhetorical strategies to show us a multifaceted characterization of Julie. Following our full class analysis, you were assigned one of the remaining Overachievers, analyzed the related strategies in their presentations, and shared your findings with classmates. Overall, the significance of time and chronology with Audrey shows her perfectionist qualities. And, the inclusion (or takeover) of Mrs. AP Frank adjusts the tone, diction, and syntax of the situation as AP Frank disappears under his mother's ideals.

To end class, you received the group rhetorical analysis assignment. To highlight, you will read a 1-2 page letter or essay and construct a verbal essay regarding purpose and rhetorical strategies. For homework, you should have completed a close read for purpose and strategies and brainstorm hook ideas to help your group preparations on Friday. During the majority of Friday's class, you will have prep time to work on the presentation, which will occur on Tuesday.

3: We began vocabulary with a word from your toolbox list: malapropism. At that point I hijacked vocabulary experts and began a presentation detailing the history of  malapropisms and examples of this comic, humorous device in writing and real-life scenarios (Jesus instead of genius was very effectual in class today). And since the presentation included zeugma and anadiplosis, we also learned about these two devices and how these can be utilized in writing to create tone and meaning. Back to vocab experts, we finished with the remaining three words today.

For the remainder of the class, we worked on identifying strategies, organizational patterns, and modes of discourse in passages from The Outliers and The Overachievers. In both circumstances, it is beneficial to look at patterns in the whole text and identify what strategies help the author to create this pattern and, ideally, the purpose of the whole text. Using your own Overachiever analysis, you met with classmates to discuss your findings and complete your picture of rhetorical analysis for this text. For next class, you will find out more about the group verbal rhetorical analysis presentation that first hour received today.

7: We finished the paper meetings! Actually, I find these meetings very helpful in ascertaining what you need to work on for the next rhetorical analysis. Afterwards, you were assigned your next vocabulary expert word, which will be needed for Friday's class. Then, we worked with identifying rhetorical strategies, modes of discourse, and organization in selected passages from The Outliers and The Overachievers. How wonderful to hear you gain in confidence with your rhetorical strategies! Enumeration! For homework, read through your assigned Audrey or Frank passage, jot down strategies, modes of discourse, and organization, and be ready to share these on Friday!

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Makeup Vocab Quiz 11

If you were not in class today for the vocabulary quiz, you will need to make arrangements to make up the quiz by Friday. The quiz will take a maximum of 10 minutes for you to complete. You may schedule before school, after school, or during a study hall (preferred) or during class (if only option).

Seeking the Rhetorical Strategies

Check out your individual class for information. We are all in different spots!

1: After our vocabulary quiz, we spent some quality time looking at passages from The Outliers, identifying rhetorical strategies, and discussing the purposes of these strategies. I have already been bragging about our epiphany regarding the usage of cause & effect, anaphora, and enumeration and how the author builds from vague evidence to specific ethos creating a more formal tone with each and every section! (By the way, that sure sounds like an outline for an essay to me.) To end the show, we began reading about Julie, the Superstar from The Overachievers, and analyzing the author's presentation of her character and situation. We will finish Julie's classification tomorrow and then you will be working on analyzing another character from The Overachievers.

3: After our vocabulary quiz, we finished up our paper meetings. Hopefully, you will take the feedback and advisement to heart and consider ways to improve your rhetorical analysis writing skills for our next diagnostic prompt. To end the hour, we started analyzing passages from The Outliers. By looking for specific strategies and explaining how these strategies work in the passage, you are completing rhetorical analysis. We will finish these passages tomorrow -- don't forget the one about cause and effect with hockey players! We will also start vocabulary unit 12 vocab experts amongst other items on the docket.

7: With a tornado drill and largest class size, we almost finished our meetings today. I will meet with the last three people tomorrow and then we will spend time analyzing passages for rhetorical strategies. Following our vocabulary quiz, you copied down unit 12 vocabulary. Since the bell rang before I could assign your vocab expert word, you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out your new responsibility. Lots to do tomorrow!

Monday, August 29, 2016

Meeting, meeting, meeting

Originally, I assumed that paper meetings would take one class period or maybe a second one for the bigger classes. However, I think our one-on-one discussions flourish with additional time and will benefit your next diagnostic prompt writing (most likely next week). In the meantime, all hours reviewed vocab for tomorrow's quiz and finished, resumed, or commenced paper meetings.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Paper Meetings

With the MOBap visit, our schedule has been delayed somewhat. Hence, we will continue with paper meetings on Monday. While this may seem tedious, utilize this opportunity to clarify feedback and amass advisement for improving your writing. And remember, if you still need assistance, set up an appointment with me before or after school for additional guidance.

All classes- We finished learning vocab for lesson 1. The review will be on Monday, and the quiz will be Tuesday. We heard about MOBap's college credit program. Remember, MOBap does require an 18 on the ACT. Next week, UMSL information will be disseminated for those of you without an ACT score or who would prefer that school*.

*You can amass college credit through semester classes (a grade will transfer to your college along with credit) AND the AP exam (credits without a grade). This is not an either-or-fallacy. You can do both -- if that is your fancy. You can also take one semester college credit and then take the test second semester. Or, you can just take the test. You have so many options if you would like college credit in English.

1: We jumped into our paper meetings and made it through a 1/4 of the class. We will wrap on Monday and then continue rhetorical analysis identification with a few brief examples.

3: We finished the power point of writing tips. In the last 5 minutes, you received your essay and, alas, probably did not have enough time to review the feedback. Don't worry -- you will have the chance to look over the essay, fill out your chart, and meet with me during class on Monday.

7: Hmmm...I'm writing this in sixth hour, so, in theory, you will be in the same spot as third hour. If that is not the case, we will return papers and have meetings on Monday.


Thursday, August 25, 2016

Bonus Blog

For any AP Langer who would like to become more proficient in rhetorical strategy knowledge, stop by my room at 7:05 a.m. on August 29, 30, and 31. We will have 15 minutes of card games each morning.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

AP Lang Evaluations

After vocabulary and the conclusion of "The Story of an Hour" purpose and strategy analysis, we spent the remainder of the hour delineating the evaluation process for AP Lang essays. Using the inspiration of your first rhetorical analysis essay, you are gleaning the necessary requirements for this particular writing style. Via examples and tips. you witnessed the many components that construct a mature rhetorical analysis essay: complex purposes, upper level rhetorical strategies, non-distracting evidence incorporation, and little details that help a composition escalate from a 1 to a 9 (or at least an 8). Yes, there are a lot of things to do for mature writing. And, we will be working on all these elements during the entire course -- individually and as a class -- so that you can improve with each essay.

For next class, we will begin with our vocabulary. Then, first hour will dive directly into one-on-one conferences regarding the Gladwell prompt. Third and seventh hour, we will finish the power point tips, return essays, and then have our conferences.

After conferences, we will be looking at samples for picking out strategies and then you will have a group rhetorical analysis to work on next week.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Story of Purpose

After our second day of vocabulary, we spent the remainder of the hour analyzing a fictional text and tying the author's character, plot, and themes to purpose. In AP Lang, purpose is the center of life, or the center of rhetorical analysis.

1: After we read "The Story of an Hour," we selected an overall purpose to help us further analyze rhetorical strategies in the text. For homework, you will need to select one strategy, highlight the textual evidence, and write one paragraph analyzing the strategy. We will use this tomorrow in small group share and discussion.

3&7: We just barely made it through the shocking end of "The Story of an Hour." For tomorrow, be ready to discuss the last page of the text.

All Classes: We will continue our rhetorical analysis immersion by looking back at "The Roseto Mystery" and your in-class essays. After reading two paragraphs of TK's essay, I am so motivated to evaluate your work and put together a brand new (well, maybe a mix of last year's presentation and new) power point with what to do and what to improve upon as we move forward.

P.S.Scholar Quiz is our school's academic trivia team. Some of you have attended our practices, which occur every Friday after school in room 404. You are all welcome to attend our practices -- whether you look to be a full time player and earn a letter for competing or a part time player wanting to have fun and learn in a supportive team atmosphere. By the way, it is never too late to join the Scholar Quiz team. We are a splub competing with schools across St. Charles and St. Louis counties, we have finished second in district competition five times, and our goal this year is to win districts and make it to sectionals for the first time in our school's history. If you like trivia and have scheduling conflicts, we have trivia lunches every block Thursday in the library conference room. Bring your lunch, play trivia with us, and spend some quality time with the Scholar Quiz team in a relaxed environment.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Toolboxing

Before a day of rhetorical strategies, we commenced with four vocabulary words, which will soon become part of your vernacular. Then, we played card games for 15 minutes to review familiar terms and start the introductory process of rhetorical strategies. Last, you worked on your toolbox for the remainder of the hour. The toolbox does not have a due date - it is for your benefit on quizzes and analyses. However, you should have as much done as possible for next week's first quiz.

Due Wednesday = your decorated portfolio needs to be returned. Make sure your name, AP Lang, and hour are prominently displayed.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Diagnostic Day

Watching AP Lang students type fervently was not the most exciting teaching day for me, but reading your essays in the upcoming days will give me a better picture of what we will focus upon during class. Today's diagnostic was a rhetorical analysis on Malcolm Gladwell's "The Roseto Mystery" from The Outliers. This baseline essay will help introduce you to AP evaluation process and help you determine the specific areas of essay writing that will need attention for future improvement. 

For Monday's class, bring in your index cards (if that is your chosen material) and your vocab expert word. 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Prepping for Friday & Monday


All Classes:

  • Friday's classes will be in the library. As soon as you arrive, grab a laptop or claim a wall computer and begin your essay writing.
  • As suggested by Lyle in AP Lit today, you are welcome to set up your essay document prior to class starting tomorrow. This means creating a document, titling it, and setting up any formatting and headings necessary to your writing. Do not start writing the essay until you are in the library.
  • Monday's class will involve your index cards (or notebook) and vocab experts. Make sure you have the proper materials and preparations for such.


1: We copied down vocabulary lesson 11, and you were introduced to vocab experts. You will be sharing your vocab expertise starting on Monday. Then, we discussed the Roseto essay that you will be writing during Friday's class time. Remember to meet in the library, bring your close reading of the text, and the outline. For the last minutes of class, we played cards and you learned a few new rhetorical strategies to add to your memory banks. More to come!

3 & 7: We started off class by sharing examples of "Theme" close reading strategies. Remember, this close reading and its small paragraph analysis are the building blocks of rhetorical analysis essay -- i.e. what your diagnostic essay will cover tomorrow. Then, we did everything listed under hour 1, so do check the remaining agenda above.



Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Theme on Close Reading

Don't forget to close read "The Roseto Mystery" for Friday's class. You will receive a handout with the official assignment tomorrow, and you may use this handout to create an outline for the essay. (I hope you like the border.)

Don't forget to bring in your index cards if you are choosing the flashcard route for Monday's class. If you do not like the idea of flashcards, I will have notebooks for you.

During class, we performed our first close read on "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes. Using color marking (one color per rhetorical strategy), we identified repeating strategies (motifs, tones, diction, syntax, and so on) and constructed small paragraph analyses to reflect the author's purpose. This is the basis of rhetorical analysis and what will be your first steps in constructing essays.

First hour, you definitely impressed with the confidence and thoroughness of your responses. Every group grasped onto a strategy and there was such a variety of selections and explanations. Paradox, persuasion, pronouns were big hits for me. We will work on a longer close read tomorrow.

Third hour, there was a great pause before the class strategy, but you more than made up for hesitancy by looking at how rhetorical questions, passive diction, and final statements construct a sarcasm to the assignment, the professor, and the society. Volunteer or random groups will share tomorrow and then we will have more close reading.

Seventh hour, what an impressive team effort to describe the setting moving from small (college town) to large (America) and how this could reflect a ripple effect from one person's ideological change (the teacher) to society as a whole. Volunteer or random groups will share your third color marking tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Day 1

Before we go over today's agenda, I highly recommend checking the previous blog for tips on grammar, writing, and habitual mistakes that create distractions in writing. We will most likely discuss all of these issues at some point of the year, but many of you can actually resolve these errors now before we even start writing -- on Friday.

Otherwise...

I officially welcome you to AP Lang. Today started off with not the discipline review, but a q & a session to start the participation in your class. AP Lang is a collaborative classroom, and we all help each other to learn more about purpose and readings. (I include myself in that first person plural pronoun. I am part of the learning experience as well.)

In paperwork, we looked over the required discipline and school policies and checked out the syllabus for the class.

To end the hour, you received the rhetorical toolbox term list. In the upcoming week, you will decide whether you will have an index card holder of flashcards or a Steno pad. Once that is determined, you will need to make flashcards/provide definitions for the terms you do not already know. We will not be memorizing all the terms this week, but these rhetorical devices, modes of discourse, and fallacies will filter through class starting this week.

Due Friday: Close read The Outliers selection. Close reading means annotating for purposes, modes of discourse, and rhetorical strategies. You will use this close read to type an essay during Friday's class.

*If you are wondering what exactly this close reading means, we will be completing a couple samples together in class.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

AP Lang Tips for Better Writing NOW

Welcome to AP Language & Composition. While I have been a derelict with summer blogging (best intentions, I promise you), I do update the blog every school day with overviews of our class content, previews of future assignments and strategies, and hints for improvement. As of this moment, I am revising the AP Lang syllabus -- again. The syllabus for this class is an organic document and will adjust in readings, assignments, and prompts in order to help the class succeed in all required elements.

This course differs from your average English class. How so? Our class concentrates on three areas of writing: rhetorical analysis (the what and the why), argumentation (claims and whatnot), and synthesis (incorporating multiple texts and citations). Underneath the umbrella of each area, we will study modes of discourse, multiple choice strategies, and writing methods to help you for AP testing and college-level writing and analyses.

While you are waiting impatiently to have the syllabus in your hands on Tuesday, I would like to give you a few suggestions for common writing errors. Instead of typing out all these hints again, I will advise you to check out the links to blogs from last year's course. While we will be working on all of these items at some point during the class, you may start improving these mechanical faults at the start of the year and from your own study as well.

READ THESE. PRACTICE THESE. WRITE CORRECTLY PLEASE.

http://fznaplang.blogspot.com/2015/11/prompt-writing-tips-bird-edition-part-i.html
http://fznaplang.blogspot.com/2015/11/prompt-writing-tips-part-ii.html