Highlighting

1: Capote prompts were collected today, and then the rest of the hour was dedicated to syntax, its 6 sentence types, its punctuation rules, and everything related to the further development of your syntactical rhetorical analysis and writing structure. If you look at the blog from 2 days ago, all of the items for syntax are listed - with links of examples - throughout first, third, and fifth hour. For homework, write 2 original sentences for each of the 6 sentence types - be creative, tell a story, be goofy - just make sure to label the syntax for me.

3: At the beginning of class, I collected your original sentences, and we shall see if they are as clever, creative, and "interesting" as fifth hour's version. For the rest of the class, we worked with identifying syntax via highlighting clauses. Finish up the handout on syntax for Monday's class, and we will see how you do with the remaining ones (be watchful for those mid-sentence independent clauses).

5: Syntax continues forward as we spent half the class highlighting clauses and identifying types of syntax. Afterwards, we looked at how you can break down sentences for what the clauses are doing (for instance, modes of discourse). For homework, complete part II handout, highlighting clauses and identifying sentence types.

The Syntactical World

1: We shared introductions from the Capote prompt and saw a wide array of hooks (some engaging, original; some more simple in approach), worked on writing 1 body paragraph and receiving feedback from your classmates, and discussed the best way to create that pesky conclusion. For tomorrow's class, you will need to turn in a completed introduction, 1 body paragraph, and 1 conclusion for the Capote prompt.

3: After turning in the Capote prompt and learning a bit more about the author and his work, we recapped all of the syntax types, rules, and theories from last class before continuing forward and learning about complex, compound-complex, cumulative, and periodic (the previous blog has many a link to reminders regarding these syntax forms under 5th hour's synopsis). For homework, write 2 sentences for each of the 6 syntax types - be original, clever, thematic, storytelling, or whatever makes this a memorable activity for your classmates.

5: After turning in your sentences, which I will be typing up this afternoon, we reviewed everything about syntax from our presentation Tuesday. From simple to periodic, a plethora of syntax filtered around the circle. Next up on the docket, we practiced punctuation proofing and rules and worked on identifying sentence types. We are in the middle of class as I type this, and it sure looks like you don't have any additional homework for tomorrow. Oh, to be ahead of the other classes.

Syntax Week Begins!

Syntax may not be the most exciting strategy to study, but it does provide a constancy of clauses and identifiable sentence types for analysis. Plus, you no longer are limited to describing sentences as long or short! As per usual, each class is in a different phrase of the class close read and the introduction to syntax week. Do note the links in the following hours to review clauses and punctuation plus provide extra examples and practices beyond what we did in class. If you were absent and do not have a strong grasp of syntax, you need to look at all of the links and garner ethos regarding the clauses, syntax types, and punctuation rules. We did a lot today, and we will do a great deal more with syntax over the next week or so.

Beyond the class variations, we did have one item in common: all classes did take Vocab Quiz 13, which means you have 48 hours to take the quiz or schedule a make-up time.

1: In regards to the class close read, the characterization of that little, out-of-the way town Holcomb, we spent quality time identifying the components of the prompt and then applying this knowledge to the close read of the passage, all of 5 paragraphs, itself. What was quite beneficial to our close read is how you noted the structure of the passage and the perspective of the author's description of the community. For homework, write the most amazing introduction for this prompt - be clever, unique, engaging!

With syntax/clauses/punctuation, our topics of focus were differentiating between independent and dependent clauses https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-10/clauses/lesson-1/what-is-a-clause, recognizing subordinating conjunctions and their part in clauses https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-8/conjunctions-and-interjections/lesson-5/subordinating-conjunctions, finding coordinating conjunctions and knowing their acronym https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-8/conjunctions-and-interjections/lesson-1/coordinate-conjunctions, introducing our first 2 forms of syntax, simple and compound https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-10/clauses/lesson-8/simple-and-compound-sentences, and reviewing the rules for punctuating compound sentenceshttps://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-12/punctuation-end-marks-and-commas/lesson-5/commas-in-compound-sentences. More of this on Thursday!

3: In the middle we are as third hour is finishing up the class close read by turning in an introduction, one body paragraph, and a concluding paragraph for Thursday's class. Feel free to revise your original paragraphs to make them even better for my eyes!

With syntax/clauses/punctuation, we did all of the above listed during first hour plus looked at semicolons and their usage https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-14/additional-punctuation/lesson-2/semicolons.

5: We are at the end of the class close read as you turned in your intro, body paragraph, and conclusion during today's class.

With syntax/clauses/punctuation, we did all of the above listed during first hour and third hour plus the horrifying comma splice, the announcing colons https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-14/additional-punctuation/lesson-3/colons, adverbial conjunctions and their comma needs, syntax types 3 & 4, the complex and compound complex https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-10/clauses/lesson-9/complex-and-compound-complex-sentences, commas in complex sentences https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-12/punctuation-end-marks-and-commas/lesson-6/commas-in-complex-sentences, and syntax types 5 & 6, cumulative and periodic.

For homework, you will create 2 sentences for each of the 6 sentence types - be creative, be original, make it fun for the rest of us! Make sure to label the sentence types too!

Holcomb

With the exception of first hour (PSAT business), you are immersed in the world of Holcomb, Kansas, conveyed by the ever-scintillating Truman Capote. No matter where you are in the process of this class close read and eventual individual writing assignment, the vocab quiz for unit 13 will occur during the block day, so make sure you have sufficiently reviewed for this event. Following this class close read, we will commence our syntax week (o.k. it's more like 2 weeks, but that's not showing a lot of brevity), which I have condensed into a review of clauses, punctuation, and syntax types.

3: For tomorrow, write the most amazing introduction possible for the Holcomb prompt. I heard a few analogies today in fifth hour, and it definitely helps make an essay stand out to the graders. We will be working with that intro and other components of rhetorical analysis after the vocab quiz.

5: For tomorrow, you will be turning in 3 paragraphs to me for the Capote prompt: an intro, a body, and a conclusion. Feel free to revise from your first go-around before I have a look-see. 

Meetings & Class Close Reads

All classes are at the mercy of Banneker prompt meetings, which will determine the commencement of the class close read.

1: We finished off our meetings today, which should help you make improvements on the next close read, writing activity, and eventual prompts. Afterwards, we reviewed for vocab, which means your quiz will be Tuesday. After the quiz, we will working on a class close read, so ready your pens and pencils!

3: We finished our vocab words, which means review day will be on Monday, and we finished our Banneker prompt meetings, which means we will be starting a new class close read on Monday. Since we had a little extra time today, you were given all the rhetorical strategy and mode of discourse cards to organize, and you did so in an impressive 10 minutes for the first go-around.

5: After finishing our vocab words, we close read a passage by Capote, noting the characterization of Holcomb, Kansas, and how the author presented the community to us via a few rhetorical strategies. For homework, write the perfect hook + the perfect thesis to create the perfect introductory paragraph. Be creative - this is your chance because you have time!

Meeting Day

In all hours today, we commenced and/or finished Banneker prompt meetings. If any remain in your hour, we will finish up tomorrow and then have a new class close read to practice our identification of words, patterns, and eventually strategies that connect to the purpose and the prompt itself.

Banneker Rangefinders

In all classes today, we continued forward with vocab and then worked with the rangefinders: scoring the essays for 1-9, finding out the official scores (which we all agree were over-marked), analyzing the + and - of each essay, and going over reminders/tips for writing.

And don't forget to take the survey linked in the previous blog!

In first hour, our small class today did something very impressive: organizing all the strategies/modes of discourse with their definitions in 12 minutes! Normally, we don't play this review mix and match until the end of first semester, so this was an extremely impressive example of teamwork, knowledge, and savant power! (By the way, my former AP Lang students were impressed by this feat.)

In fifth hour, you received your Banneker prompts back, filled out the next line on your RA chart, and commenced essay meetings with me. We will continue with those meetings on Thursday and then have another close reading activity to keep up with those skills.

School Survey - Complete by 9/19

Our school needs a little information from you in a (approximately) 5 minute survey. Please take this at some point by the end of the day Wednesday so that the information can be tabulated to help our school.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzxMXd13V3XhDi23roVgQ6n7HSoi9hkDM4psulBpBns2b3-A/viewform

Prompt Writing Tips - Courtesy of Last Year

Before we have our essay meetings, whether that be tomorrow or later this week, we will be going over the following tips in class. These tips, which may seem redundant to some of you, are reminders of what a strong rhetorical analysis prompt will need to have for higher scores. Check out the link for last year's tips, which happen to be the same areas to keep an eye upon while you continue your rhetorical analysis ethos.

http://fznaplang.blogspot.com/2017/09/notes-on-banneker-evaluation.html

P. S. Lastly, remember that you are not writing a persuasive essay. That means no rhetorical questions to make your audience think, no "Imagine" scenarios that would force the reader to create an idea, and no "you" usage that conveys the reader to do, believe, or adjust his or her line of thinking. Stick with the text and third person, and you will most likely avoid going into persuasion.

The Number

Congratulations to Jayson for knowing me a little too well and coming closest to the correct number of shoes that are currently inhabiting my shoe room and other rooms on the second floor: 428.

The Role of Close Reading

1 & 5: After continuing with our vocab work today, we looked at close reading and WHY it is a necessary component in comprehending the passage, recognizing patterns that will eventually form into strategies, and helping organize your future essay. Through the Banneker prompt, I hope, you noted the importance of close reading the prompt for its author, audience, purpose, and introductory information. Mistakes can be made by powering through these opening sentences. Following that prompt, paragraph by paragraph, close reading helps identify all of those patterns. For instance, the classes noted the opening analogy that centers the entire passage, the juxtaposition of oppression and freedom courtesy of diction and tone shifts, the ethos of outside texts influencing the audience's perspective and rationality. As a result, yes, close reading plays a significant role in the prompt writing process, which should better yield non-redundant, original analysis.

For homework, you have the Banneker prompt rangefinders, which you will be scoring 1-9 according to the content, analysis, evidence, and mechanical prowess of each essay. You are graders now, so use your powers fairly! We will go over the scores tomorrow and analyze these and then move into one of two courses, depending on circumstances.

3: After vocab today, we had our first rhetorical toolbox quiz, which means if you missed the quiz, you need to either make it up or schedule a time to do so in the next 48 hours. Due to the nature of the quiz, this cannot be made up during class time.

In addition, we ended class discussing and practicing the necessary component of close reading - which includes the prompt AND the passage. The prompt conveys so much information, including author, purpose, audience in this case, background milieu, that aids in constructing the argument and the analyst's comprehension of it. Through the prompt close read, we saw how a skim could give you the wrong audience, the wrong background of the author, or an ill-conceived analysis. Hence, always close read! To further this encouraging method of text analysis, we close read the first 2 paragraphs of the passage, finding opening examples of juxtaposition, analogy, tone and diction shifts, ethos, and probably another couple of strategies anchoring the argument.

For homework, finish the close read for the last 2 paragraphs of the passage and be ready to share those circled/underlined/random geometric shaped items of note. Tomorrow, you will be introduced to the rangefinders process and then have meetings regarding your own prompts.

Card Play

As our rhetorical analysis ethos grows, the best way to check for growth is to play with cards, of course!

1 & 5: After starting off with vocab experts, we played card rounds with 100% accuracy and a great deal of confidence and speed in completion. Then, you had your first rhetorical toolbox quiz, which helps convey your ability to notice a strategy and identify its proper terminology. If absent for this quiz, you have 48 hours to make up or schedule a time. Due to the nature of the quiz, it must be taken before or after school. Lots of close reading practice next week - with our diagnostic prompt and a new passage!

3: We finished our rhetorical analysis presentation with the evolution of the nerd. Then, you completed your vocab quiz 12, which will be need to be made up or scheduled in 48 hours. To end the hour, we worked with the cards, indicating with 100% accuracy that you have much more ethos on rhetoric than you had 4 weeks ago! Close reading practices and the commencement of our unit 13 vocab will be just 2 items of our docket for next week.

Cold Reading

Today was all about our first timed cold read prompt, which featured a very important figure in the history of our country. I had never heard of our author before teaching this class; since then, I have gained much more ethos, so much so that we will actually celebrate this author's day in November (so stay tuned on the blog for more details on that).

Currently typing this during third hour, all of you look quite intent on writing, which is a wonderful sign that you are involved with the text and creating the best analysis - all while the measurement of time exists in the background.

*Do remember that you are not to talk about this prompt with other classes as to avoid giving future writers an unfair advantage over your work.

Friday will be a bit of a hodgepodge day, according to where you class left off on the block day. Some hours are ready to start vocab; others are taking the quiz over the last unit. Some hours have finished the presentations; third hour still has one remaining. Whatever the case, if you are not bringing you rhetorical toolbox to class with you on a daily basis, you may want to start the habit.

If you missed today's prompt, you most likely will be making that up during class tomorrow due to the fact that we will eventually review the passage - together - in the very near future.

Silent Spring, Ground Zero, & Abigail Adams

Congratulations to our class favorite presentations: first hour's Silent Spring with a haunting look at the result of toxic fertilizer on the land, third hour's somber reminder of 9/11 starting with looking at a clock and returning back to what happened just moments later, fifth hour's historical context of the men creating the Articles of Confederation and how Abigail Adams wanted parity. Bravo!

First and fifth hour completed the vocab quiz, which means if you were absent, you have 48 hours to make up or schedule a time for completion.

Third hour, we still have one presentation left to go (on nerds!) and then the vocab quiz on Friday.

Thursday will be your timed cold read diagnostic prompt. This is a bell-to-bell prompt, which means you have those 50 minutes to close read and write.

From the Nerds to Cowboys

First and fifth hour showed off their rhetorical analysis ethos today by presentations ranging from nerds, Abigail Adams, Ground Zero, the mighty Mississippi, Silent Spring, Chief Seattle, and cowboy culture (looks like we'll have to wait for Mr. Adams and his reply). Thus far, we have heard some pathos-building, historical context-creating hooks to set up the author's text and overall purpose. We have heard hypohora, anaphora, diction and tone shifts, paradoxes, enumeration, and other strategies combining to create that overall "why" the author argues, describes, exemplifies, or delineates. Overall, we have had a range of 4-8, and those 8 scores stem from the thorough and mature expression of the what and the why.

We will be finishing up the presentations tomorrow, and you will have your vocab quiz following our work. If time permits, we will go over tips for timed cold read prompts - which will be led by you and your past experiences/theories. If any time remains, we will play cards.

Don't forget that Thursday will be our timed cold read diagnostic. It will be bell to bell, as it was last time. However, at the 40 minute mark, I will have you draw a line to show your progress. After these last few weeks, you should feel much more confident in the rhetorical analysis arena.

Twas the Weekend Before the Presentations

All hours are in the midst of preparations for your verbal rhetorical analysis presentations, and from what I've heard, there's a great deal of strategies, purpose, and possible creative hooks abounding in Room 404.

As a "teacherly" reminder, barring an emergency, you need to be in class for any remaining preparations, the actual presentations, and as an audience member while your classmates share their perspectives. Putting off an assignment only makes it more difficult and less "pizzazzy" than it would be in the first place.

1: We had an all hour prep today, which means vocab and any other matters were tabled for you to have time with your partner. On Monday, we will start class with figuring out the presentation order (which means you will have a few minutes to confer with your partner) and then presentations will begin. Most likely, these presentations will move into Tuesday's class. Tuesday will also offer the vocab review and the vocab quiz.

3: After another drill, we finished up our vocab words to stands at 15 for unit 2, groups were formed and passages selected for the verbal rhetorical analysis, and you had some quality time to start prepping your strategies, purposes, and plots for presenting. On Monday, we will have a vocab review, the determination of presentation order, and then the last in-class day of preparation. Tuesday will be dedicated to your presentations. I am hoping that all of these will be finished Tuesday - or we may have to adjust the schedule slightly. If we finish presentation on Tuesday, then we will also have the vocab quiz as well.

5: After our vocab review - with a few rhetorical strategies and modes of discourse thrown in for good measure - we determined our order of presentation, with the hope of finishing the majority on Monday and leaving extras for Tuesday. The remainder of the time was for prepping, so your hour should have a strong grasp on your plot for your verbal rhetorical analysis. Vocab quiz will be Tuesday after the presentations have been completed.

And, for everyone involved, as noted on the board, after notes on your first diagnostic prompt and all the samples and practices in class, it is time to see how you do with a timed diagnostic prompt, or exactly what you will face on the AP exam. This will, if all goes as planned, on Thursday for all classes.

Preppin' Time

Our transition from a practice rhetorical analysis, in the form of Audrey/AP Frank, to your own verbal rhetorical analysis essay is in various metamorphic stages.

1: You have the assignment and your text; your job is to prep the passage for tomorrow's all hour prep day. As soon as you enter the classroom, you may start your preparations. Presentations are allotted for Monday's class time with Tuesday handling any leftover verbal essays. Due to vocab taking a brief moratorium, we will have your review and quiz on the same day, Tuesday, so keep that in mind for any studying outside of class.

3: You have the assignment, but that is all. That means tomorrow we will determine groups, texts, and start the preparation process. Currently, presentations for you class will occur on Tuesday, the block day.

5: Your class leads the way in this assignment, with all of you having your passages and beginning the preparation cycle today with our remaining time. Tomorrow's class will feature a vocab review, our determination of presentation order, and remaining time for preparation of Monday and Tuesday presentations.

When Audrey Met Frank...

We're all in different spots, but all hours were involved with Julie, Audrey, and AP Frank in some fashion.

1: After vocab continued forward, we finished up looking at how Julie is presented in the text and the various strategies that create the perception of the Superstar. Then, you had reading time, in which each of you had one Overachiever passage to close read (Marie, you will close read Audrey's passage) and then met with your other Audreys and Franks to discuss the organization and strategies. Tomorrow, you will be meeting one-on-one with another Overachiever, so make sure you have all your notes ready to go.

3: After our vocab experts today, we looked at Julie's passage, noting the presentation of our protagonist via perception, reality, anecdotes of various people, first person journal entry, and author's ethos. In addition, many of you piped in with notes of diction, syntax, and tone shifts, enumeration, juxtaposition, paradox, and other elements creating her classification. At the end of the hour, you had time to close read one of the remaining two Overachievers, prepping for tomorrow's class. Olivia, you will be in charge of Audrey's passage; Kayla, you will be working with AP Frank.

5: Speaking of overachievers, what an impressive class, group, and partner discussion today. While there was some summary involved, it was very intermittent as you jumped on how Audrey and AP Frank are classified and what strategies (time chronology, syntax, diction, allusions, so much more) filter through each of these perspectives. Whatever you noted, you are now working in a rhetorical analysis mode and, hopefully, it is becoming much easier for you! At the end of the hour, you received the verbal rhetorical analysis assignment, which we will be finishing up tomorrow and giving you preparation time. As of 3 p.m. today, the plan will be as follows: Thursday will be vocab, group forming, passage selecting, prep time; Friday will be vocab review, presentation order, prep time; Monday will be dedicated to presentations; Tuesday will be any remaining presentations, Vocab Quiz 2; Thursday will be the diagnostic timed prompt. Hoping that will remain the plan - now I just need to see how first and third hour will play out.

Overachieving

Technically, only 2 classes are in the analysis portion of The Overachievers, but one will be doing so tomorrow!

We started off class today with a little competition to test your memory of modes of discourse and rhetorical strategies with varying results. For those of you had a significant amount for both competitions, keep going and adding to your knowledge. For those of you with little items on your lists, this is the time to start taking more initiative with learning your terms. You may have noticed that many a mode and many a strategy keep coming up in a lot of our texts, so there are ample opportunities to practice identifying author's devices. And since the next big ticket item on the docket is a partner/small group verbal presentation of a passage, it's time for everyone to participate with their rhetorical analysis.

1: At this point, we are halfway through the journey of Julie and looking at how the author introduces her to us. So far, you have noted the perception of the Superstar, the internal reality of the Superstar, and the anecdotes from outside opinions to add to the Superstar's stress levels. We will finish up with the last 3 sections of the text tomorrow - very quickly, so be ready to exhibit your knowledge of the text, its organization, and its strategies. We had much more participation today, but there are still a few of you - that have plenty of ethos to share - that are remaining on the quiet side.

3: To add to our vocabulary and rhetorical strategy knowledge, we looked at samples of malapropism, zuegma, and anadiplosis to make sure there was no confusion with these three terms. We will work with Julie and how she is presented via organization and strategies tomorrow.

5: We finished up our Julie look-see, and for homework, you either have Audrey or Frank to close read for organization and strategies. Blake, since we have an odd number of students, you choose one of these to complete for tomorrow.

Labor Day Updates

Some of you may be working as I am today (procrastinators? overachievers? playing catch up? some combination of all 3?) or you may be enjoying some quality relaxation, fun in the sun, and family bonding experiences.

Our first three weeks has been a preview and general overview of rhetorical analysis, which means a slow and steady practice of the what and the why. Starting this week, it is all about applying your knowledge of the what and the why in quick samples (The Outliers), a passage (The Overachievers), and a text for a team close read and verbal rhetorical analysis (more to come in the upcoming days).

For those of you with a strong background in the what or those of you who quickly pick up the terminology to identify the what, you are ready to go for this week's work. For those of you new to the procedure regarding the what or those of you who need more study and review to retain the what, it is up to you to spend quality time learning the strategies' names and definitions, especially those of common purpose in the texts we have had thus far like anaphora, polysyndeton, the persuasive appeals, enumeration, juxtaposition, diction, tone, syntax (and its may forms). As we go along, we do have mini units on some of the aforementioned strategies. However, some of these (I'm thinking in the family of enumeration and common rhetorical strategies of comparison) are self-explanatory and just need memorization to maintain. All of this is leading to our second diagnostic prompt, most likely next week, so you can improve upon your first one in structure, content, and original analysis.

As you may have noticed we have not had a great deal of homework outside of class in order to give you time to work on your toolboxes and start retaining strategy knowledge. I know that when I'm learning something - be it AP Lang 8 years ago or a new topic for Scholar Quiz - I spend a little time each day until I have the information down to memory.

To start off our classes tomorrow, we are going to have a little friendly competition to see who can name the most modes of discourse and rhetorical strategies with victors claiming tally marks for the vocab champion crown. Hence, if you have not acquainted yourself with the modes of discourse, these are necessary styles of writing that you will need to be able to identify; if you cannot automatically list off a string of rhetorical strategies, you will want to remind yourself of the vast range of strategies.

In final observations, I have heard a few people say that they were concerned because they didn't learn rhetorical analysis last year or that they ended the previous year with a certain writing level. While your past experiences construct who you are as a writer and thinker when you enter this class, those experiences are in the past and not in your present. Your present is becoming a college-level writer, be it immediately, weeks away, or months away. Work on what you have now, improve on what you have now, and stay focused on the present and what you need to do for this course.

And one more item of note...

After all has been graded and updated in the grade book, there are many zeroes recorded due to the fact that several of your neglected to put your name on the quiz. If that is your situation, I highly suggest finding your quiz (they will be hanging up via a clip on the board starting tomorrow morning) and turning it in so you may received the credit you deserve.