Cindy Syntax Continues

First things first, the next close reading club will be Tuesday after school for any students wanting to close read with each other and me for a half hour. We will be including syntax analysis too -- as syntax week continues forward.

And, don't forget the big comma rules that we worked on today: compound sentences require a comma before that FANBOYS https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-11/punctuation-end-marks-and-commas/lesson-5/commas-in-compound-sentences; complex sentences beginning with a dependent clause need a comma before progressing to the independent clauses https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-11/punctuation-end-marks-and-commas/lesson-6/commas-in-complex-sentences.

1: We copied down the next unit of vocab, number 14. Afterwards, we reviewed clauses, syntax types, and comma rules for compound & complex sentences. To wrap up the hour, we returned to Cindy and looked at the purposes of each section. Alas, we did not finish the purpose portion of the day, so we will finish that on Monday.

3 & 4: We began with our traditional vocab experts, moved into a review of clauses, syntax types, and comma rules, and then finished up the purpose of our Cindy passage. In groups, you then worked on clarifying the main purposes of the text, and then decided who would become a syntax expert for each form of syntax. Starting this weekend, continuing onto Monday's class in groups, and due on Tuesday, you each have a section of the text that you will use to highlight your assigned syntax type (or types for those 3 people in fourth hour). You will also look for other forms of syntax including telegraphic, declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, fragments, hypophora, ananphora, epistrophe, polysyndeton, and asyndeton. 

7: After copying down Unit 4 vocab, we reviewed all those clauses, syntax types, and comma rules for compound and complex sentences. Afterwards, we spent quality time wrapping up the purpose of Cindy Syntax and dividing into groups. In groups, you then worked on clarifying the main purposes of the text, and then decided who would become a syntax expert for each form of syntax. Starting this weekend, continuing onto Monday's class in groups, and due on Tuesday, you each have a section of the text that you will use to highlight your assigned syntax type (or types for those 3 people in fourth hour). You will also look for other forms of syntax including telegraphic, declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, fragments, hypophora, ananphora, epistrophe, polysyndeton, and asyndeton. 

Hello, Cindy

Fourth hour, today we commenced with vocabulary unit 4, continued forward with a review of clauses and syntax, and ended with a reading of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, which we analyzed by paragraph and small sections for purpose. For homework, finish the passage and identify the purposes.

The EKS

As Jalen pointed out in first hour, many of us suffer from English Kid Syndrome, which is diagnosed by the never-ending need to correct grammar, punctuation, and diction (and sometimes demand consistent color-coding of clauses). So, all those EKS Langers out there, this is for you...

1 & 7: We finally made our way to the vocab quiz for unit 13. As with all quizzes, any absentees have 48 hours to either take the quiz or schedule a time to take the quiz. Following that momentous occasion, we concentrated the rest of the class on syntax, reviewing independent and dependent clauses, the six types of syntax, and the purpose of cumulative and periodic sentences. And to end class, we began reading and analyzing the purpose of Chapter 1 of Cinderella Ate My Daughter. For homework, finish identifying the purposes of each section and be ready to share on Friday. If absent, you should stop by tomorrow to pick up a copy. (Oh, you also turned in your sentences and the Capote paragraphs.)

3: After jotting down vocab for unit 14, we spent the rest of the hour on clauses, syntax styles, and Chapter 1 of Cinderella Ate My Daughter. For homework, make sure to finish reading the text and identifying the purposes for each section.

The Six

With block days looming so close, the plan for today was reversed, and we started with something new and ended with something old. The new - that all classes are now aware of - are the 6 types of syntax that we will be utilized for rhetorical analysis. (You are still more than welcome to go declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, telegraphic, hypophora, anaphora, and the like too.) We focused upon simple, compound, complex, compound-complex, cumulative, and periodic syntax today - what these are and what purpose they have in writing. If you were absent, you will need to know these sentence types either from a friend's notes or from online research. Expected for your class tomorrow will be 2 original examples of each sentence type, which will be turned in and used for future practices, reviews, and quizzes.

1: After our syntactical "introduction" - those quotation marks are for Andrea - we returned to the Capote prompt, shared our introductions, and peer evaluated the body paragraphs. For tomorrow, you will need to turn in your introduction, body paragraph, and concluding paragraph for this prompt.

3: After diving into the world of syntax, we returned to the Capote prompt, and the class peer evaluated the body paragraphs. You then turned in this assignment for my turn at evaluating. To end the hour, you had vocab quiz 13. As a reminder, anyone missing the quiz has 48 hours to either take the quiz or schedule an appointment to take the quiz.

4: Just like first hour, syntax was quite popular as a topic. After all that fun, the class peer evaluated the body paragraphs, and you turned in this assignment to me. To end the hour, you copied down vocab unit 14, and you know your new expert word for tomorrow's class.

7: I never realized how impactful air quotes are until teaching the forms of syntax today! After all those air quotes, we looked to the Capote prompt by sharing introductions in class and peer evaluating the body paragraphs. For tomorrow, you will need to turn in your introduction, body paragraph, and concluding paragraph for this prompt.

Writing Holcomb

1: Vocab Review followed by the class close reading of In Cold Blood passage. For homework, construct an outstanding introductory paragraph and one body paragraph on one strategy. Bring tomorrow for peer review and discussion.

3: Vocab Review followed by thesis statement analysis of Capote passage. Then, you constructed an introductory paragraph for the prompt. For homework, compose one body paragraph for one strategy and the concluding paragraph. In all, you will end up with 3 paragraphs for this assignment.

4: Vocab Quiz 13 followed by the reading of introductory paragraphs. During the rest of class time, you worked on one body paragraph and the concluding paragraph for this prompt. Make sure to have all 3 paragraphs ready for class tomorrow.

7: Vocab Review followed by the last paragraph close reading of the Capote passage. Then, you crafted thesis statements for the prompts, which allowed us to analyze and provide feedback of your work. For homework, compose an outstanding introduction for the prompt, and then select one of the rhetorical strategies and write one body paragraph.

Close Reading Club Commences Tomorrow

For those of you available on a Monday afternoon, our first close reading club will be in my room after school. Ideally, we will have a current article to close read and then have an official AP Lang prompt for another practice. For each one, we will be close reading, identifying strategies, and formulating thesis statements. I just found a strong article for our first close read! Let's just say that it has to do with an animal that just had its appreciation day last week: the rhino.

Holcomb

All the classes are in different spots, so do make sure that you are following your specific hour's assignments. And band people, you only have to complete the assignment that reflects where you class happens to be. I gave you more stuff to do just in case!

1: Vocab experts continued, meetings completed, and we began the close reading of the In Cold Blood passage, which you will finish over the weekend. Be ready to share your "circles" as we finish the class close read on Monday.

3: Vocab experts resumed, and we completed the class close reading of the In Cold Blood passage, which really delved into this "outlier" community and what was to come to Holcomb. For homework, you are to take the 4 required parts of a thesis statement and write a thesis statement that answers the prompt. We will have thesis statement feedback on Monday.

4: Vocab review happened, which means you have a quiz on Monday. We finished the class close read of the In Cold Blood passage, crafted individual thesis statements for the prompt, and evaluated sample introductory paragraphs that were quite boring and faulty. Since those introductory paragraphs lacked the voice and excitement that an analysis of Capote deserves, your homework is to write the most amazing introduction ever!

7: Vocab experts finished, and we began the close reading of the In Cold Blood passage. Alas, we did not finish the close reading, so you will have to finish that up over the weekend!

Survey - Complete Prior to 9/29

Our school district needs a favor from you: a brief survey detailing what English classes you have taken and related questions to your experience at FZN. It is 5 questions and should take you all of two minutes to complete. Here is the link: https://goo.gl/forms/Ns3ukhff2JX347Vo2. Make sure you complete this activity by September 29.

The Path to Close Reading

All classes are continuing with vocabulary on the block days with fourth hour completing all 15 words at this point. All classes reviewed tips from my previous blog regarding how to write a strong rhetorical analysis essay. All classes came up with new nicknames for our buddies Jeffy and Washy. All classes started Banneker prompt meetings to clarify future writings. All classes should know what rhetorical strategy I have been using throughout this paragraph.

Individually...

1: Still have a few meetings to finish for Friday's class. Afterwards, we will work on a class close read to practice the skill and to encourage your rhetorical strategy identification.

3 & 7: Meetings are completed. We ended class breaking down the prompt for the Capote passage to determine what we will be close reading in the upcoming passage on Friday.

4: Meetings are completed. We spent the remainder of the class breaking down the prompt for the Capote passage and almost finishing 2 paragraphs for the class close read. At this point, you have identified several words to characterize the town and a few strategies that are already popping up in Capote's view of Holcomb. We will continue this tomorrow during class, and then it will be time to take the close read and apply it to the writing process.

All band students should have picked up their homework assignment - one page has the instructions, and the other page has the actual text. 

Rangefinding

After vocabulary today, we spent the rest of class analyzing the rangefinders and looking at what to do and what not to do. Tomorrow, we will review my blog from Saturday, which enumerates all the reminders on how to write a successful rhetorical analysis essay, and have essay meetings on the Banneker prompt. After that, we will be completing a class close read on a prompt, so make sure you are reviewing your terms in preparation!

*Vocab Quiz 11 will be recycled on Friday, so you will need to pick up the quiz - especially those of the nameless that currently have a zero in the gradebook.

Close Reading Club

After evaluating three classes and their rhetorical analyses of Benjamin Banneker's letter, a common theme began to appear: students were not close reading the text for its overall strategies and were not fully comprehending the prompt. This could stem from nerves at a timed prompt or a lack of experience with how to close read a passage. As there are some of you with ethos in the close reading field and some of you completely foreign to the concept, it is fortunate that we will be spending quality time with close reading a variety of texts over the upcoming weeks.

For those of you who want to foster stronger prompt understanding, close reading skills, and strategy identification sooner rather than later, I will be instituting a Close Reading Club, which will start next week. This is an optional club that will feature passages from articles, essays, and actual AP prompts. Ideally, we will start with a recent article and then do an AP-style prompt to show the transference of strategies in different styles of writing. I highly recommend that you attend any or all of these club days - which will vary according to my after school commitments with Scholar Quiz and meetings - in the upcoming weeks. You will be able to keep all of the passages, and you will be able to discuss these passages with me (of course) but also your fellow classmates in a smaller setting.

The first Close Reading Club will be Monday, September 25. Future club days will be announced via the blog and will not always be on Monday for those of you with commitments on that general day.

The basis of close reading is noting words and patterns in the text. As soon as you start the reading selection, begin to circle words that stand out to you. Eventually, those words create a pattern - a diction shift, repetition patterns, tone shifts, persuasive appeals, and all those frisky upper level strategies that you are learning. Find three patterns and you have three strategies for your essay.

Tomorrow, you will receive your essays for the Banneker prompt. Thus far, two of the classes have improved their average score; one class has dropped in average.  (I'm in the midst of the last class.) While this may be disappointing in the short term, it should be noted that this is a diagnostic prompt and now you know what you need to do to excel in rhetorical analysis writing. And a great deal of lower level essays misread the prompt regarding audience, possibly mislabeled strategies, and continued to create distractions via informal reference to the author/audience, full sentence textual evidence and mechanical issues. All of the aforementioned errors are FIXABLE if you take the time and effort to continue close reading and rhetorical analyses practices. Just as when you struggle with math or chem or any other subject, you often have to do supplementary work to improve. For those willing and needing that supplementary work, you now have another option to help you out.

I shall now return back to the last 23 prompts to evaluate, and I hope to see you on Monday for our first Close Reading Club. Remember, if you are struggling, you need to ask for help and assistance to improve your writing levels.

"You Can't Say a Benevolent Sandwich"

After vocab experts today, you had your first rhetorical toolbox quiz - nine passages to identify as rhetorical strategies. If you were absent today, you will need to take this quiz or schedule a time to take this quiz in the next 48 hours. The quiz can only be made up before and after school and will take 10 minutes. For those at camp this week, the quiz will need to be made up or schedules as soon as you return. At the end, we had a chance to finish up the close read of the Banneker prompt - and learn that "you can't say a benevolent sandwich" to Thomas Jefferson! (Thanks for the clever example, Jalen!) Then, you found out the actual scoring of the rangefinders and worked with partners to analyze why those essays scored as such. As mentioned in class, the 2010 prompt did not focus on citations for evaluations. However, as part of the class of 2017, citations are definitely needed to help indicate your evidence's location. Remember, you don't want you reader to do extra work!

Notes on Banneker Evaluation

In the midst of fourth hour's essays, my notes regarding what to remind you about rhetorical analysis prompts became so lengthy, that I decided just to post a blog about it instead. So, the following will feature a list of reminders, which will sound quite similar to the power point presentation that you experienced after the Gladwell prompt. 

• Formal writing means that you refer to the author and the audience by their LAST NAMES. If you don't know these people - and I'm sure they would be fascinating dinner companions with their experiences and historical importance - you are NOT referring to them by their first names. This becomes a big distraction for your reader who wants a mature, formal expression of the text. 
• Write in PRESENT TENSE. A text is perpetual in its content; it does not change. It becomes even more distracting when a writer flips back and forth throughout the essay with tense. 
• The hook for this one could be about the post-Revolutionary era, the parallel between fighting for freedom against GB and slavery, an account of slavery in a brief scene incorporating fierce imagery and mature diction, a context of abolitionists and their role in post-Revolutionary America, or something cleverly compared to the situation. A rhetorical question is not the way to hook the audience. You should not be including rhetorical questions at all in your writing. 
• Write tight thesis statements. Author + active verb + specific strategies + mature purpose. This is of my own creation: Banneker capitalizes on a pathos-filled analogy, dramatic diction shifts, and complex syntax to argue against slavery and entice Thomas Jefferson to review his stance on those in forced servitude. There are no excess words - or waste of precious seconds. Hence, no need for "rhetorical strategies such as" or "the purpose of." Be direct - be active - be specific to leave your reader with confidence in your future body paragraphs. 
• The order of your thesis is the order of the body paragraphs. During presentations, this occurred a great deal, and it is happening in the essays as well. 
• This prompt had a specific audience - Jefferson (not Thomas, Tommy, or TJ) - and you have to utilize this audience in your essay. Citing multiple audience members (hello, Washington), conveying a plural audience, or not mentioning the audience at all did not help your analysis.
• Verb choice reflects maturity. "Use" becomes redundant and reflective of a less effective presentation. Relying on "to be" verbs (remember when we conjugated on the board) creates passivity instead of active verb strength. 
• Topic sentences should clarify the author, the specific strategy, and the purpose of that strategy. There should be no evidence in the topic sentence as that suggests that the only paragraph is only about that particular sample of evidence. 
• Once you introduce the author and title in the intro, you need only the line numbers in the citations. Precious seconds go by with each time you write more than you need to do. 
• Speaking of citations, the citation doctor is finding a great deal of errors that could be easily fixed: citations go at the end of the sentence, the period ends a sentence and should be found after the citation (if you have a period before and after, you are double punctuating), punctuation rules still exist when you are bringing in evidence. 
• If you don't recognize line numbers in your citations, you are making your evaluator do the work for you. 
• If you are analyzing diction, don't go with "the author instills diction to argue against slavery." If you have a text, you have diction. Be specific with adjectives to clarify what kind of diction is specific to the text. See the above thesis sample for an example. (This also works for tone, syntax, and a plethora of other rhetorical strategies.)
• Each paragraph should feature multiple examples of textual evidence, and these examples should filter throughout the paragraph and not be "dumped" right in the middle. Examples should reflect the entire passage and be from multiple sections. 
• With each passing day, you should have more ethos with rhetorical strategies: names, definitions, samples. While we are still in the midst of learning some of these terms, that does not excuse not knowing the standard ones or the recently learned advanced ones. You need to know these terms for class, for prompts, for the test (look, I just used asyndeton to make my point). Take one term a day and commit it to memory to help you with your AP Lang jargon. 
• Cease writing the word "purpose." Instead, directly state the purpose. Don't make your audience do extra work. 
• Don't list your body paragraphs as first, second, third, or anything that reflects an enumerative objective. Each body paragraph reflects a strategy utilized throughout the text's entirety. 
• Don't start the conclusion with "In conclusion." It is self-explanatory.
• Write in THIRD PERSON. No I, me, we, us, or you. Not to sound snarky, but the essay is not about you or your eventual evaluator; it is about Banneker and his letter.        
• And, of course, close read the passage!                      

Close Reading

Close reading is an integral part of comprehension, analysis, and writing rhetoric prompts. As noted in class today, it will take time at the beginning of a prompt to connect with the text via the circling/underling/what geometric shape you prefer of words and phrases that stand out during your reading process. These words will eventually form patterns of diction, tone, and other strategies or signify shifts in strategies throughout the passage. The most significant reason to close read is to have a plan and have the evidence for your essay at your fingertips. You won't have to reread the passage over and over to find suitable evidence. Close reading saves you time in the long run! Shocking!

To start a prompt, you have to break down the prompt itself: what type of essay are you writing, who is the author and his/her audience, what is the background needed for analysis? As noted in class, some people misread the prompt from the beginning - identifying the wrong audience or the wrong information regarding Banneker. 

Afterwards, you dive into the prompt, circling (my preference) words of importance, significance, notice. You may not know the strategy yet, but you can find connections between your circled words. As you progress through each paragraph, you will begin to notice repetitive and shifting elements -- what you need for an understanding of the entire passage!

Once the close read has reached its zenith, you can then construct a brief outline/list/plan for what the essay will cover. Knowing your strategies - and the order - will help you write more effectively and more quickly. Notice how time just came up again!

For homework, finish any close reading of the Banneker prompt, read the instructions for your new AP scoring gig, and evaluate the rangefinder essays by giving each one a score somewhere in the range of 1-9. We will be working with these rangefinders on Monday, so make sure you have everything ready to go for class. Absentees, this is hard copy only. I highly recommend stopping by on Monday morning and picking up the rangefinder packet to prep for your later AP Lang class that day.

Meanwhile...at this point, all classes have been assigned Vocab Unit 13 words, which will either resume (4th hour) or begin (the rest of you) on Monday. 

Fourth Hour RA & Tips for All Classes

Today's class centered around the rhetorical analysis presentations with Dan & Brennan stealing the show with their interpretation of John Adams' lackluster response to his wife's demands of equal rights and political ideology. Next up, you completed the unit 12 vocab quiz (no, I can't relieve the answer to the extra credit question until all quizzes have been taken) and copied down unit 13 vocab, which we will start tomorrow. Remember, the 48 hour rule is still in effect for any absent quizzes or prompts. You have 48 hours to make up the quiz or schedule the make up time.

As for the presentations...

The best presentations had...

• An original hook that created a mood in the classroom (melancholy, humor, empathy), utilized mature diction ("sentient" comes to mind), and set up the text and its analysis. First hour, you shined the most at hooks, bringing a variety - yep, that's an alarm happening to wake us up to as silent spring day - and a thoroughness to setting up the thesis statement.
• Thesis statements clarified the specific purpose, added a mature verb, and clarified the 3 devices that would be analyzed in the upcoming essay.
• Rhetorical strategies of upper level analysis added to the presentations. Repetition may not be upper level, but anaphora and epistrophe would be. Comparison may not be the strongest device, but juxtaposition would be better. Hypophora, polysyndeton, asyndeton, enumeration, zeugma - these were are all featured in a presentation - and sometimes together!
• Bringing in multiple examples of the strategy to support your analysis. Examples should come from across the text and show how an author selects a strategy that connects to the whole passage. Including citations for all of these examples was also necessary and noted.
• A conclusion that continued the opening hook and left the reader with something memorable about the topic. Ending with a regurgitation of everything you just said is not the most effective way to keep your audience's attention and favor. 
• On a little note, refer to the author by the last name (o.k. the Adams one is a little different to differentiate author and audience) for formal writing. Unless you know the author, the first name is too personal a way to reference him or her. 
• The range for this prompt was 4-8. 
• First hour average = 6.2
• Third hour average = 5.5
• Seventh hour average = 6.1
• Fourth hour average = 6.8

So what's upcoming for AP Lang...

• Vocab Unit 13
• Close Reading: Yes, you have to do it, and yes, it works in your favor
• Rangefinders for the Banneker prompt 
• Banneker prompts return and brief meetings
• Close Team Reading: Yes, you have to still do it
• Syntax - there's more to sentences than that they are short or long
• Diction - it's not just identifying the author uses diction (they all do)

All Those Lassos!

What a way to start the morning - presentations full of commanding voice, mature diction, and audience engagement from a plethora of mighty hooks, er, lassos!

After the presentations are completed tomorrow in fourth hour, I will have the class averages for you and also a list of observations on exemplary work and areas that will need improvement for the next time you create a rhetorical analysis.

Congratulations to class favorites Jalen & Alex in first hour; Mia, Amelia, and Aileen in third hour; and Connor and Brendan in seventh hour! Due to your stellar presentation skills, each partnership/group will receive 3 extra credit points!

At the end of each hour, we had the second vocab quiz (with seventh hour having time to write down a majority of vocab unit 13's words - don't worry, you will have a few minutes at the beginning of Friday to finish those up). If you missed the vocab quiz, the standard time frame applies: you will have 48 hours either to take the quiz or set up an appointment to make up the quiz.

Partner Time

After our last person standing vocab review, partnerships and small groups had the remainder of the time to prep for tomorrow's rhetorical analysis presentations. So far, I have heard some stunning hooks, mature purposes, and clever strategy identification! Very much looking forward to tomorrow and having you teach the class - and me - about your text!

Presentation Preparations

After finishing up our new vocab words - 2 or 3 depending on the hour - you were assigned the partner/small group rhetorical analysis presentation. In briefest terms, you selected one of ten letters or essays to complete a rhetorical analysis of purpose and strategy. With your partner or partners, you will construct a verbal essay - hook, thesis, strategy sections with analysis, evidence, & citations, conclusion - to share with your classmates. On Wednesday, you will be informally presenting your findings, in which you may use your notes and passage to assist your presentation. (As mentioned in class, you are not to type an essay and read verbatim.) As I strongly reminded you, all group members will need to participate and be here for the presentation. For our absentees, you will be in a partnership/group with other absentees. While you may not have today's class period to work on this, you will have almost the entire class period to do so tomorrow and Tuesday evening homework to finalize your preparations.

As stated in the previous post, if you missed the diagnostic prompt on Friday, you have 3 options to make up this prompt by the end of Tuesday: 1. study hall 2. after school on Tuesday 3. during class time on Tuesday. If you choose not to take the prompt during this time - or you have not contacted me with a request for an appointed time to do so - you will receive a zero on this assignment.

The Nameless

I'm putting in vocab quiz grades today, and about 10 people throughout my classes neglected to put their names on their work. So if you are seeing a zero in the gradebook and you completed the quiz, I would suggest looking through the quizzes and identifying which one is yours to receive credit.

Diagnostic Prompt #2

Today's classes were on the quiet side as you constructed your second diagnostic essay. If absent, you will need to make up this prompt in one of three manners by Tuesday: 1. during a study hall (preferred) 2. after school on Tuesday 3. during class on Monday or Tuesday (this is the last option so you do not miss class unless the other two are not feasible in your schedule).

Next week, we will have more rhetorical analysis. I know you are shocked by that declarative sentence. To make it interesting for all of us, the rhetorical analysis will be a partner/small group dynamic with different texts per group and presentations of what strategies and information are garnered in your analysis.

Don't forget to have your toolbox with your during class. There may just be a surprise quiz in your near future, and you may want to have that with you.

Still Overachieving

All the classes are at different spots today, but we are all ending with the knowledge that tomorrow is your diagnostic cold read prompts. Be here. Be on time. Have your paper and writing instrument ready to go. Writing begins at the bell.

1: After our normal vocabulary commencement, we recapped Julie's overachieving introduction and how the author constructed her role and audience understanding. Following that moment, the class was divided in half with one half analyzing Audrey and one half analyzing AP Frank. If you were absent, you will need to select one of these personages - your choice - and jot down notes regarding organization and rhetorical strategies. This will need to be shown to me for participation points. At the end of class, we tied together the three overachievers to formulate an overall purpose.

3: First was a fire drill. Then, we resumed our vocabulary instruction with four more words. Following this, you looked at a few examples from The Overachievers and The Year of Living Biblically as a reminder of how to find a strategy and how to look for patterns. Last up, we returned to playing cards, in which your class scored a record high of 66% for third hour.

4: So, we - I - skipped vocab and dived right into samples from The Year of Living Biblically to look at a few more strategies and patterns in writing. Then, you played cards - not only played cards but completed 14 rounds of strategies and definition with 100% accuracy. After 3 weeks in Lang, you are starting to realize that those pesky strategies are imprinting themselves on your mind! To end class, we returned to vocab - with the addition of malapropism, zeugma, and anadiplosis examples.

7: For the first time, seventh hour completed the cards with 100% accuracy! It must be a result of all the stealth overachievers that we have in class! Prior to this impressive display, we added to our vocabulary, met in groups to learn and analyze Audrey and AP Frank's passages, and looked at a few samples of allusions and how they may interconnect in a text. If absent, you will need to show me your notes for your Audrey or AP Frank section to earn your participation points for today.

That is all from the world of AP Lang today. I am ready to go home and celebrate Tango's fourth birthday with some pretzels, banana crumb muffins, and lots of seed (that's for him).

Overachieving

Let's just put the date on this diagnostic prompt: Friday, September 8. On Friday, you will walk into the room and prepare your notebook paper and pen/pencil for this timed writing. I will be passing out the prompt - face down, of course - prior to the bell. When the bell rings, you will begin the prompt, which makes your promptness particularly meaningful for Friday's class. At the 40 minute mark (which is the standard timed essay amount), I will have you draw a line on your essay to show your progress. You will then have until the bell rings to finish the prompt. If you finish early, you will not be able to work on anything else. Since we have been working on rhetorical analysis for the past two weeks, make sure to apply all the information, examples, tricks, and tips that you have learned and write a strong essay.

As for the Overachievers Audrey/Frank analysis and discussion, if you were absent for that activity (whether it was today or tomorrow according to our class agenda), then you will need to show me your notes for the passage when you return to class to achieve your participation points.

As for today...

1: We continued vocab experts - with a minor tangent on hurricanes and hegiras - and then moved into rhetorical analysis via snippets from The Outliers, which had a very specific pattern of starting with a broad analogy, moving into a group circumstance, isolating a specific person, and finalizing with a well-known figure. And through all that, you spotted anaphora, enumeration, polysyndeton, and other strategies that work within many of this cause and effect discourse. All of the above is rhetorical analysis. While in the future you will be analyzing one passage, this should provide a model of how to look at a passage as a whole and find strategies that exist multiple times within its content. Next, we started The Overachievers and analyzed how the author introduced Julie, the Superstar. Through surface reputation to internal reality to brief anecdotes to Vera and her outsider point of view, the author purposely set up Julie in this fashion for the reader to find out her true personality. For homework, you are to finish reading the Julie section, noting what other techniques and strategies filter through her introduction. If absent, here are the opening pages from Amazon (click on "Look Inside" for the text); make sure you read the Julie section and no further: https://www.amazon.com/Overachievers-Secret-Lives-Driven-Kids/dp/140130902X.

3: After vocab experts, we returned to Julie's introduction and looked at how the author uses first person point of view to allow Julie's words to speak for her and how the author injects herself into the text, creating greater voice, a sympathy with Julie, and a greater ethos. Then, the class was divided into 2 with each half taking one of our remaining Overachievers: Audrey or AP Frank. After reading and noting strategies and structure, you met up with like analysts and discussed your Audrey or AP Frank perspective. Then, we mixed and mingled with Audreys and Franks meeting in the middle to teach one another about these Overachievers. At the end, we identified the purpose of this whole section since that is what rhetorical analysis should be.

4: After another round of vocab experts, we finished our discussion of Julie and how the author becomes part of the text via her observations of Julie, her empathy for Julie, and her perspective of Ms. Von Helsinger. Then, you had the opportunity to share your analysis of strategies and organization with your fellow Audreys and Franks. Eventually, this then merged into a partner activity in which the Audreys and Franks met with each other and taught each other about the passages. Once you were back in your original locale, we talked purpose of this passage as purpose is our passion in AP Lang. Last, we looked at all of the Overachievers, and you selected which one best represents your overachieving style.

7: We finally had the first vocab quiz! Since it was quite brief, I hope you did well -- no crying at my desk after school! As with all vocab quizzes, absentees will have a 48 hour window to either take the quiz or schedule a make up time. Afterwards, we resumed vocab unit 2 - which also included a presentation on malapropisms, zeugma, and anadiplosis, or three toolbox terms that you can use for strategy identification. After this, we returned to our overachieving Julie, looking at how the author continues to explore her personality via first person journal and author injection into the storyline. For homework, you are to analyze either Audrey or AP Frank for structure, strategy, and author organization. A, since you were absent, you will need to prep AP Frank for tomorrow's class.

Snippets

In exciting news, the document camera, the mouse, and the printer are now in working order! I hope I didn't just jinx all of that by mentioning it here. Oh, well, we will still be working on rhetorical analysis in the upcoming days, which will eventually lead us to your second diagnostic prompt later this week.

1: First hour was all about the meetings for you essay with a dash of vocabulary thrown in during the last five minutes. Tomorrow, we will be back in the work of rhetorical analysis, so I would advise reviewing your toolbox to help prepare you.

3: After vocab today, we looked (well, listened) at passages from The Outliers to indicate the various types of strategies and the author's purpose in using these to establish an understanding with the audience. As noted in class, a pattern began to develop throughout the passages, which exhibits how you can pull a strategy from across a text. To finish up the hour, we started reading about Julie, better known by the epithet Superstar, and how the author introduces us to her via multiple ways. Notice I'm dodging the specificity as to not influence other classes who will be reading the text tomorrow. For homework, you will need to finish reading the Julie section and note how she is continued to be introduced and what strategies you are noting. If absent, here are the opening pages from Amazon (click on "Look Inside" for the text); make sure you read the Julie section and no further: https://www.amazon.com/Overachievers-Secret-Lives-Driven-Kids/dp/140130902X

4: Ditto for above, but you will also have the task of analyzing either the Audrey or the AP Frank passage for how each person is introduced and what strategies the author decides to use for that particular section. If you were absent, choose either Audrey or the AP Frank sections to analyze for class. The link above will take you to the beginning of the text.

7: Read the third hour synopsis for our agenda and homework today. In addition, it looks like we still have take vocab quiz 1 - those pesky meetings distracted us (me) from giving that to you on Friday. As a result, we will take the vocab quiz tomorrow.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

In all classes, you copied down the latest round of vocabulary words for vocab experts, which will begin on Tuesday. During that time, I started, resumed, or finished meetings with your classes. On Tuesday, we will have meetings (if any are remaining), practice identifying rhetorical strategies through sample passages, and work on analyzing a longer passage for its techniques. Enjoy your weekend!