For once, on this 223rd birthday of Keats, all classes are working with his letters in some form or fashion. First hour has the close read of the first letter for tomorrow's class, third hour has the last letter to present, and fifth hour, most likely, is wrapping up their essays this evening. Today, I found out that there is a John Keats Bicentenary that reviews letters he wrote on the corresponding date! I can't believe I didn't know about this, follow it, and worship it on daily basis!
And, while I was "researching" online, I found the Anaphora Dress and the Anaphora Boutique! That then stimulated a search for other AP Lang terms such as zeugma (it's a furniture design company). All of this is the study of AP Lang!
And, all of our tone texts are already on a previous blog for your perusal and preparation. Fifth hour is in the midst of tone, third hour will most likely start tomorrow, and first hour will be centered on attitude starting Friday.
1: We read "Ode on a Grecian Urn," identified it purpose and diction and crafted a polished thesis statement to represent the aforementioned items that you would need to cover in your introductory paragraph. Afterwards, you found out more about Keats and his life - especially regarding his relationship to Fanny, the addressee of his letters, which we will analyze for diction and purpose tomorrow.
3: After our vocab quiz, I modeled for you how to analyze and present Keats' letters (adjective, evidence, analysis, repeat until finished, purposes). Then, you did the same for your own assigned letter. Alas, we were short one, which means the last letter will be tomorrow.
5: While Keats may be part of your homework (tomorrow is the deadline), we spent our hour working with tone - how to identify five different tones, how to craft conversations to show the slightest tone shifts. Tomorrow, we will then transfer those shifts into poems. Remember, all the links were on a previous blog for you to use in preparation.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Monday, October 29, 2018
Monday's Recap
As noted in the previous blog, you have the titles and links of the poems that will center our upcoming tone unit. Fifth hour will start tone on Tuesday, third hour on Thursday, and first hour (maybe?) on Thursday as well. As part of a college-level class, preparation and participation are key to comprehension and the application of skills to a plethora of texts and writings. Taking the time to preview work, clarify any vocabulary or allusions that may not be in your ethos, is the way to make our classes spend more time on the analysis (i.e. what you need for the test) rather than the paraphrase/summary portion (i.e. what you should be able to do on your own).
1: After vocab experts, we spent the class analyzing Gray's "The Favourite Cat" and Shelley's "Ozymandias," which coincidentally happen to share a similar purpose. While the diction may be different in each poem, both, as you concluded, acted as a warning to dissuade selfishness in society. (Of course, we did revise our class thesis statement for more "d" words as your class has now adopted the very solid, strong "d" sounds in verbs, adjectives, and purposes. Tomorrow will be "Ode on a Grecian Urn," one more opportunity to analyze diction and practice writing thesis statements.
3: After our vocab review, you had the chance to hear (and visualize) more about Keats and his life in preparation of our analysis of his letters to his beloved Fanny Brawne. At the end of the hour, you close read his first letter, which I will present to your class tomorrow as a model for how you will accomplish the same activity. Overall, it will involve multiple forms of diction, the adjectives to describe them, the evidence to support it, and the analysis of it.
5: We completed the vocab quiz for unit 15, which means any absentees will need to make up the assignment. For part two of class, we finished up the Keats' letters and ended with a summation of the diction and purposes that progress throughout the text and "chronicle" (thanks, CS for that purpose word) his life and affections.
To finish up our diction work, you have the following take home prompt to complete: Analyze how John Keats' diction reflects his mentality and purpose in his letters to Fanny Brawne. As clarified in class, you may handwrite or type the essay. A hard copy is due by 2:35 p.m. on Thursday. If you are absent for part of the day, you still need to turn this in by the deadline. If you are absent the entire day, you will need to e-mail, share, or send me a picture of your work and turn in the hard copy the next class session. I hope you enjoy writing about my Keatsy - just don't compare him to a girl waiting for a prom date (yes, real hook from several years ago).
To end the hour, we completed our second rhetorical toolbox quiz, which will be need to be made up by any absent students. See you tomorrow for all of our tone work - including the ever-fun, at least to me, tone mapping - with a reminder to preview some of the poems for tomorrow's class.
1: After vocab experts, we spent the class analyzing Gray's "The Favourite Cat" and Shelley's "Ozymandias," which coincidentally happen to share a similar purpose. While the diction may be different in each poem, both, as you concluded, acted as a warning to dissuade selfishness in society. (Of course, we did revise our class thesis statement for more "d" words as your class has now adopted the very solid, strong "d" sounds in verbs, adjectives, and purposes. Tomorrow will be "Ode on a Grecian Urn," one more opportunity to analyze diction and practice writing thesis statements.
3: After our vocab review, you had the chance to hear (and visualize) more about Keats and his life in preparation of our analysis of his letters to his beloved Fanny Brawne. At the end of the hour, you close read his first letter, which I will present to your class tomorrow as a model for how you will accomplish the same activity. Overall, it will involve multiple forms of diction, the adjectives to describe them, the evidence to support it, and the analysis of it.
5: We completed the vocab quiz for unit 15, which means any absentees will need to make up the assignment. For part two of class, we finished up the Keats' letters and ended with a summation of the diction and purposes that progress throughout the text and "chronicle" (thanks, CS for that purpose word) his life and affections.
To finish up our diction work, you have the following take home prompt to complete: Analyze how John Keats' diction reflects his mentality and purpose in his letters to Fanny Brawne. As clarified in class, you may handwrite or type the essay. A hard copy is due by 2:35 p.m. on Thursday. If you are absent for part of the day, you still need to turn this in by the deadline. If you are absent the entire day, you will need to e-mail, share, or send me a picture of your work and turn in the hard copy the next class session. I hope you enjoy writing about my Keatsy - just don't compare him to a girl waiting for a prom date (yes, real hook from several years ago).
To end the hour, we completed our second rhetorical toolbox quiz, which will be need to be made up by any absent students. See you tomorrow for all of our tone work - including the ever-fun, at least to me, tone mapping - with a reminder to preview some of the poems for tomorrow's class.
Poetry Readings for the Tone Unit
Later on today, I will be updating the blog with our hourly agenda. In the meantime, our upcoming tone unit will feature a plethora of poems. The following will be links to these readings. If these links do not work on your device, you can always google the title and find it on your own.
The idea behind providing you with these readings in advance stems from you understanding the plot and ideas in the poem. You do not have to analyze strategies - we will do that in class together. Feel free to take notes for plot or to print out the passages (that really aided last year's students) and have them in the upcoming days. We will be analyzing these poems in the order given, so I would go sequentially. Remember, this is for plot/idea/word/allusion understanding.
"Chicago" by Carl Sandburg
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago
"The Children's Hour" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44628/the-childrens-hour-56d223ca55069
"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson (I affectionately refer to him as EAR.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44982/richard-cory
"Miniver Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44978/miniver-cheevy
"To a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (My nickname for him is definitely not affectionate.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45146/to-a-skylark
"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale
The idea behind providing you with these readings in advance stems from you understanding the plot and ideas in the poem. You do not have to analyze strategies - we will do that in class together. Feel free to take notes for plot or to print out the passages (that really aided last year's students) and have them in the upcoming days. We will be analyzing these poems in the order given, so I would go sequentially. Remember, this is for plot/idea/word/allusion understanding.
"Chicago" by Carl Sandburg
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago
"The Children's Hour" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44628/the-childrens-hour-56d223ca55069
"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson (I affectionately refer to him as EAR.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44982/richard-cory
"Miniver Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44978/miniver-cheevy
"To a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley (My nickname for him is definitely not affectionate.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45146/to-a-skylark
"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale
Friday, October 26, 2018
More Keats Converts
I have been fortunate to find some like-minded students in these past few days who seem to find Keats, his complexities, his emotional turmoil, and his penchant for incredible analogies stemming from everyday accidents, quite a fascinating figure to analyze, whether it be his poems or his letters. Whether you are a fan or not, at least you know of his life and his tragic end.
1: We spent the hour looking at our Autumn Diction analysis by emphasizing evidence to support diction adjectives, purposes, and thesis statements. For next class, we will be looking at Gray's "Favourite Cat," Shelley's "Ozymandias," and Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and it would behoove you to read these poems to make sure you know what all the words mean or what all of the allusions reference. You can find these poems online through a search, or you can find them through links on earlier blogs from the past week or so - under the classes.
3: When we put our heads together, we certainly can craft one heck of a thesis statement: Gray elucidates naive, karmic diction whilst Shelley epitomizes desolate, tyrannical diction to warn against acting on materialistic, selfish desires. Pretty impressive! After marrying our cat and pharaoh, we spent the rest of class looking at my Keatsy's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and recognizing that the true conception of beauty, the juxtaposition of joy and love to pain and sacrifice, is the only way to understand the truth of the scene or circumstance. We still have a thesis statement to compose for this poem, and then we will be in Keats' world for the next couple of days.
5: We reviewed vocab for the quiz on Monday. Then, we spent the rest of the hour analyzing my Keatsy's words in his letters to Fanny, identifying his multi-layered purposes as the letters move from young love, carefree and tumultuous, to tragic end, pained, impassioned, loss. Amidst this transition throughout the letters, you have the best concept of all: purplue! Oh, Keats! To take something so mundane, the dripping of ink and its variegated shades, and make it into the concept of togetherness, a union of the two, is pure brilliance of a writer's mind. We will finish up the letters on Monday - with his last letter to Fanny - and then you will see what you will be up to with all of your notes with these letters. In the near future, you will have another toolbox quiz, and you will dive into the world of tone, its shifts, and its maps --- yes, maps!
1: We spent the hour looking at our Autumn Diction analysis by emphasizing evidence to support diction adjectives, purposes, and thesis statements. For next class, we will be looking at Gray's "Favourite Cat," Shelley's "Ozymandias," and Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and it would behoove you to read these poems to make sure you know what all the words mean or what all of the allusions reference. You can find these poems online through a search, or you can find them through links on earlier blogs from the past week or so - under the classes.
3: When we put our heads together, we certainly can craft one heck of a thesis statement: Gray elucidates naive, karmic diction whilst Shelley epitomizes desolate, tyrannical diction to warn against acting on materialistic, selfish desires. Pretty impressive! After marrying our cat and pharaoh, we spent the rest of class looking at my Keatsy's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and recognizing that the true conception of beauty, the juxtaposition of joy and love to pain and sacrifice, is the only way to understand the truth of the scene or circumstance. We still have a thesis statement to compose for this poem, and then we will be in Keats' world for the next couple of days.
5: We reviewed vocab for the quiz on Monday. Then, we spent the rest of the hour analyzing my Keatsy's words in his letters to Fanny, identifying his multi-layered purposes as the letters move from young love, carefree and tumultuous, to tragic end, pained, impassioned, loss. Amidst this transition throughout the letters, you have the best concept of all: purplue! Oh, Keats! To take something so mundane, the dripping of ink and its variegated shades, and make it into the concept of togetherness, a union of the two, is pure brilliance of a writer's mind. We will finish up the letters on Monday - with his last letter to Fanny - and then you will see what you will be up to with all of your notes with these letters. In the near future, you will have another toolbox quiz, and you will dive into the world of tone, its shifts, and its maps --- yes, maps!
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Lucy is Here
In all classes, you were assigned the Lucy Grealy memoirs and the attached log that you will be completing for each chapter of each text between now and December 6 (as noted in class, I have already included a 3 day extension for this due date). At this point, you have your first memoir in your possession, and you should have some plan for breaking up the reading and work to pace yourself - and, ideally, not procrastinate - throughout the whole process. If absent, you will need the assignment sheet and text to begin the process as soon as possible.
Meanwhile in the world of diction...
1: We continued working with thesis statements with you working in groups to analyze diction in a passage and create a strong, engaging, mature, collegiate-sounding thesis statement. You will be "teaching" your passage to the class tomorrow.
3: We didn't go too far today, but we did read Shelley's "Ozymandias." Tomorrow, we will work on "marrying" two poems together and creating a dual thesis statement, analyzing "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and finding out more about my beloved Keats. All of the aforementioned poems can be found online or in past blogs via links. You are expected to know "Ode on a Grecian Urn's" vocabulary and allusions so that we have a successful discussion of this influential poem.
5: I modeled for you how to present diction analysis for the Keats' letters, which included utilizing adjectives and devices to identify and explain ALL forms and patterns of diction in the common text. Then, you worked in groups to do the same with one of the letters. We will be wrapping this up tomorrow. Absentees, depending on the situation tomorrow, will either be placed in a group with few minutes to prepare or will be responsible for a summative wrap-up of all diction and purposes. In either circumstance, you should do a light close read of all the letters, so that you do have contribution points tomorrow.
Meanwhile in the world of diction...
1: We continued working with thesis statements with you working in groups to analyze diction in a passage and create a strong, engaging, mature, collegiate-sounding thesis statement. You will be "teaching" your passage to the class tomorrow.
3: We didn't go too far today, but we did read Shelley's "Ozymandias." Tomorrow, we will work on "marrying" two poems together and creating a dual thesis statement, analyzing "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and finding out more about my beloved Keats. All of the aforementioned poems can be found online or in past blogs via links. You are expected to know "Ode on a Grecian Urn's" vocabulary and allusions so that we have a successful discussion of this influential poem.
5: I modeled for you how to present diction analysis for the Keats' letters, which included utilizing adjectives and devices to identify and explain ALL forms and patterns of diction in the common text. Then, you worked in groups to do the same with one of the letters. We will be wrapping this up tomorrow. Absentees, depending on the situation tomorrow, will either be placed in a group with few minutes to prepare or will be responsible for a summative wrap-up of all diction and purposes. In either circumstance, you should do a light close read of all the letters, so that you do have contribution points tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
A Little Team Promotion
As you may know, I am the coach of the Scholar Quiz team,
our competitive trivia team that travels to schools across St. Charles County.
We have been fortunate to win the Holt Invitational, win Districts for the past
two years, and have competitive Sectional matches. Since the Scholar Quiz team
is an extracurricular, I do not want to hijack the class or try to “sell” it to
any of you or make it seem that being part of the team will influence your AP
class standing whatsoever. However, some of you may not know about our team and
would like a little background information.
So, if you are looking to add something to your college
resume, improve your knowledge for a multitude of AP classes, work with a
supportive team, compete with other schools, meet many other students from our
area, and earn a letter, stick around for a bit more details regarding the
team.
On the other hand, if you have a packed schedule and do not
have interest in joining our extracurricular, thank you for taking the time to
read the introductory paragraphs and considering any involvement.
The Scholar Quiz team is currently looking for team members
to join Varsity, JV, and Novice levels. Those who join the team can have
strengths in academia (literature, science, math, history), current events, pop
culture, sports, or fun facts. Even if you are not an “expert,” you can become
one by working with the Scholar Quiz team.
The time commitment is quite manageable for whatever your
commitment would be to the team. So if you want to be a full time member or
part time member, there are opportunities to be part of our competitive team.
During a regular week, we have Trivia Lunches on C/D days (1/2 hour) and
practice on Fridays (approx. 1 hour). We also have additional chances to prep
and practice for competition in what I call “Random Acts of Trivia” that occur
after school in ½ hour increments from time to time. For those thoroughly
committed to the team, we do have bonus practices prior to big competitions.
Competitions run from late November until April. There are 6
competitions on Tuesdays (2 hours for 2 matches for players of all ability) and
a minimum of 5 Saturday matches (full day and for the strongest players). If
you sign up, you will communicate with the team your full availability – as in
all – or if you will have a partial schedule.
If you are interested, stop by any of our trivia lunches or
practices to check out the Scholar Quiz team. And if you would like to be an
official teammate, pick up an availability form (it is a grandiose RSVP form)
to clarify your availability for our upcoming competitions.
If you have any questions, please do ask me, our Captain
Emily Sigmund, our Captain of Representative Leadership Lorraine Linson, or any
team members. And, thank you for reading about our Scholar Quiz team. This is
my tenth year coaching, and it has been the most rewarding experience for me to
be part of such a close team (we still have our alumni showing up during the
year) and to learn so much random facts like the Defenestration of Prague, the
Great Emu War, or the Great Molasses Flood.
The Hour of "Poses"
1: After copying down our next unit of vocab, we worked on reading works for diction, picking up patterns of diction, noting shifts of diction, and describing diction with mature, collegiate, variegated adjectives. This was quite an adventure through "A Birthday" and celebrity quotes as your class clearly likes words ending with "pose" such as expose, juxtapose, compose, and I'm sure there will be more in the future! We will continue forward with all of this "posing" next time, so be ready to further show off your own diction!
3: After our vocab work today, we settled right back into the world of diction by practicing our thesis statements in full class and in groups. If absent, you are to take this following quote by Ray Bradbury and do the close read and thesis statement: "He had never liked October. Ever since he had first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother's house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him. It always went away with spring. But, it was a little different tonight. There was a feeling of autumn coming to last a million years. There would be no spring." Either print out the quote for your close reading, or write it out on notebook paper to complete the close reading. At the end of class, we read the ever-fascinating Thomas Gray's Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat for its diction, and we will return to this work next time around. As a preview, we will also be looking at Percy Shelley's Ozymandias and my beloved John Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn. I highly suggest that all of you read these poems and know what all the words and allusions mean for a stronger interpretation during class.
5: After our vocab work, we spent the hour with the best man in the world, my Keats, my poor, beloved Keats and his work "Ode on a Grecian Urn," which is linked above. After creating a strong thesis statement (I think you are getting the drift regarding the expectations), we moved onto the background of my Keats in order for you to have context of his letters, which will be the main focus of our diction analysis. During class, you had time to close read the first letter for next time around. If absent, I highly recommend picking up a packet on Wednesday so that you do not fall behind with the readings.
Monday, October 22, 2018
The Emphasis of E & F Words
1: We finished up the sharing of the team close read, which absentees will need to turn in their work to garner the participation for this assignment. Tomorrow, we will have the Orenstein prompts, new vocab, and diction week commence (diction is quite shorter in duration than syntax). As noted, diction is not just noticing shifts in a text; it's also using your own diction to offer the most collegiate, mature, engaging thesis statements as possible.
3: The hour of the E. After starting with vocab, we moved into analyzing diction and the best way to describe it (minus redundancies) and construct incredible thesis statements substantiating adjectives for diction, active verbs for the action, and clarity of purpose to finalize the sentence. Other than the challenging penchant for having almost all the verbs and purposes have "e" words, it looks like the concept of stretching your own diction has made its point and will now find expression in all of your future writing employments. We will do more with quotes and poems tomorrow!
5: It was not as purposeful as third hour's "E" work, but fifth hour did wrap up their work today with a focus on "F" alliteration. Continuing forward with thesis creation, we read Thomas Gray's Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat and Percy Shelley's Ozymandias to construct individual thesis statements and then join the poems together with a hybrid one too! (As noted in the case of multiple texts, you most likely will bring in specific adjectives for each author's diction and then combine the purposes together). While this was all in-class practice work, absentees should still read the poems and practice the analysis of diction. Once we read something in class, I will be referencing it in the future! Oh, it's time for my Keats tomorrow, and we shall start with one of his poems to look at its diction. Make sure you preview the poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn, know what all words and allusions mean, so that we may have a tad more participation tomorrow.
3: The hour of the E. After starting with vocab, we moved into analyzing diction and the best way to describe it (minus redundancies) and construct incredible thesis statements substantiating adjectives for diction, active verbs for the action, and clarity of purpose to finalize the sentence. Other than the challenging penchant for having almost all the verbs and purposes have "e" words, it looks like the concept of stretching your own diction has made its point and will now find expression in all of your future writing employments. We will do more with quotes and poems tomorrow!
5: It was not as purposeful as third hour's "E" work, but fifth hour did wrap up their work today with a focus on "F" alliteration. Continuing forward with thesis creation, we read Thomas Gray's Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat and Percy Shelley's Ozymandias to construct individual thesis statements and then join the poems together with a hybrid one too! (As noted in the case of multiple texts, you most likely will bring in specific adjectives for each author's diction and then combine the purposes together). While this was all in-class practice work, absentees should still read the poems and practice the analysis of diction. Once we read something in class, I will be referencing it in the future! Oh, it's time for my Keats tomorrow, and we shall start with one of his poems to look at its diction. Make sure you preview the poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn, know what all words and allusions mean, so that we may have a tad more participation tomorrow.
Friday, October 19, 2018
Autumn
It's becoming more difficult to title AP Lang blogs since each class happens to be working on different parts of syntax, transitional rhetorical analysis, and diction.
1: We finished phase one of the Alcott team close read and moved into phase 2. Absentees, you are already aware that you need to have the close read completed, a thesis statement, and one body paragraph for Monday's class. All else have a body paragraph to complete with the rhetorical strategy between you and your colleagues. As noted in class - and always encouraged - use the weekend to craft a superior body paragraph. You want to excel beyond the basics, the minimum, and move into the collegiate presentation.
3: We finished up our Alcott group readings with a flourish! Following our contextual Civil War writings, you received your Orenstein prompts back and copied down the next unit of vocab for Monday. As we were in the awkward time remaining phase between starting diction in a rush or not finishing the first textual example in its entirety, we will be saving all our diction work for Monday.
5: After starting vocab experts, we close read a Jefferson quote and composed a thesis statement to remind you the importance of active verbs, specific adjectives, and mature purposes to set up your analysis. In groups, you each received one of five quotes regarding autumn and proceeded to close read, thesis write, and analyze to the class. And, what an experience of upper-level verbs, diction, and purposes did we hear today! ALL groups presented incredibly descriptive, thoughtful thesis statements and supported their ideas with all of the evidence from the poem. I'm impressed (and I would say looking forward to what you will come up with next time).
For band students, each one of you will be assigned one of the autumn quotes. For your quote, you will circle all the key words and then compose a thesis statement using our formula and showing off all of your own vocabulary to do so. Here are your poems: Jake = Yoko Ono; Madison = Rainbow Rowell; Rhyen = George Eliot; Madelyn = Shauna Niequist. Have that ready to give me - if you want the participation points from today.
If you were absent and NOT a band student (which means you do not have a packet), you are to take this following quote by Ray Bradbury and do the close read and thesis statement: "He had never liked October. Ever since he had first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother's house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him. It always went away with spring. But, it was a little different tonight. There was a feeling of autumn coming to last a million years. There would be no spring." Either print out the quote for your close reading, or write it out on notebook paper to complete the close reading.
1: We finished phase one of the Alcott team close read and moved into phase 2. Absentees, you are already aware that you need to have the close read completed, a thesis statement, and one body paragraph for Monday's class. All else have a body paragraph to complete with the rhetorical strategy between you and your colleagues. As noted in class - and always encouraged - use the weekend to craft a superior body paragraph. You want to excel beyond the basics, the minimum, and move into the collegiate presentation.
3: We finished up our Alcott group readings with a flourish! Following our contextual Civil War writings, you received your Orenstein prompts back and copied down the next unit of vocab for Monday. As we were in the awkward time remaining phase between starting diction in a rush or not finishing the first textual example in its entirety, we will be saving all our diction work for Monday.
5: After starting vocab experts, we close read a Jefferson quote and composed a thesis statement to remind you the importance of active verbs, specific adjectives, and mature purposes to set up your analysis. In groups, you each received one of five quotes regarding autumn and proceeded to close read, thesis write, and analyze to the class. And, what an experience of upper-level verbs, diction, and purposes did we hear today! ALL groups presented incredibly descriptive, thoughtful thesis statements and supported their ideas with all of the evidence from the poem. I'm impressed (and I would say looking forward to what you will come up with next time).
For band students, each one of you will be assigned one of the autumn quotes. For your quote, you will circle all the key words and then compose a thesis statement using our formula and showing off all of your own vocabulary to do so. Here are your poems: Jake = Yoko Ono; Madison = Rainbow Rowell; Rhyen = George Eliot; Madelyn = Shauna Niequist. Have that ready to give me - if you want the participation points from today.
If you were absent and NOT a band student (which means you do not have a packet), you are to take this following quote by Ray Bradbury and do the close read and thesis statement: "He had never liked October. Ever since he had first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother's house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees. It had made him cry, without a reason. And a little of that sadness returned each year to him. It always went away with spring. But, it was a little different tonight. There was a feeling of autumn coming to last a million years. There would be no spring." Either print out the quote for your close reading, or write it out on notebook paper to complete the close reading.
Thursday, October 18, 2018
The Search for Adjectives
As we merge into diction analysis, the big push is for you to aggrandize your adjectives, verbs, and infinitives to better describe the diction, activate your verb usage, and mature your purpose statement. Say goodbye to vague words like bad, good, positive, negative, optimistic, pessimistic, and the like. The best way to analyze diction is to exhibit your own mastery of the vernacular!
1: We commenced phase one of the team close read, breaking down Alcott's passage and noting so much already - syntax, dialogue, mood, pathos, diction, tone, alliteration, simile, metaphor, and even zeugma! As you may have noted in class, you need to evolve past the quick surface interpretation and delve beneath the surface to the "bigger picture" that the text conveys. We will finish this phase tomorrow, and then move to phase two.
3: We spent the majority of class finishing up the team close read of Capote by peer reviewing the body paragraphs and constructing a group conclusion to wrap up the team essay, recap the essay's content, and revert back to the hook. Then, you shared your intro, one body paragraph, and concluding paragraphs for instant feedback and to provide some samples for your classmates. With our variegated introductions, there were many a hook to exhibit all the possibilities of gaining the reader's attention: crafting a mood-inducing context, showing off mature diction, providing Civil War context from the soldier's realm and the nurse's realm. We will finish our last group tomorrow and then transfer to our diction study.
5: Diction, diction, diction! After copying down our new set of vocab words, we spent the hour talking diction and the significance of adopting specific, mature adjectives to craft a true understanding of a text's diction and show off your own diction for the reader's inspection. Through "A Birthday" and celebrity quotes, we identified the best adjectives for diction, the best infinitives for purpose, and the best active verbs for verbs. Referencing back to the thesis formula (author + active verb + specific rhetorical strategies + mature purpose), we created carefully crafted examples of exemplary thesis statements - such as the first one - CR paints compassionate, fruitful diction to announce excitement of motherhood. More of the same tomorrow!
1: We commenced phase one of the team close read, breaking down Alcott's passage and noting so much already - syntax, dialogue, mood, pathos, diction, tone, alliteration, simile, metaphor, and even zeugma! As you may have noted in class, you need to evolve past the quick surface interpretation and delve beneath the surface to the "bigger picture" that the text conveys. We will finish this phase tomorrow, and then move to phase two.
3: We spent the majority of class finishing up the team close read of Capote by peer reviewing the body paragraphs and constructing a group conclusion to wrap up the team essay, recap the essay's content, and revert back to the hook. Then, you shared your intro, one body paragraph, and concluding paragraphs for instant feedback and to provide some samples for your classmates. With our variegated introductions, there were many a hook to exhibit all the possibilities of gaining the reader's attention: crafting a mood-inducing context, showing off mature diction, providing Civil War context from the soldier's realm and the nurse's realm. We will finish our last group tomorrow and then transfer to our diction study.
5: Diction, diction, diction! After copying down our new set of vocab words, we spent the hour talking diction and the significance of adopting specific, mature adjectives to craft a true understanding of a text's diction and show off your own diction for the reader's inspection. Through "A Birthday" and celebrity quotes, we identified the best adjectives for diction, the best infinitives for purpose, and the best active verbs for verbs. Referencing back to the thesis formula (author + active verb + specific rhetorical strategies + mature purpose), we created carefully crafted examples of exemplary thesis statements - such as the first one - CR paints compassionate, fruitful diction to announce excitement of motherhood. More of the same tomorrow!
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
The Transition to Diction
1: If you were absent today, you missed 2 quizzes - the vocab and the syntax quiz - which actually counted under first quarter (like the other AP Lang classes). As with any missed quizzes, you have 48 hours to either take the quizzes or schedule an appointed time to do so. Tomorrow will be a chance for you to show off your close reading skills with our first team close read!
3: We finished phase one of our team close read and moved onto phase two. By tomorrow' class, you will have a team introduction and the individual body paragraphs completed. We will finish up, in theory, tomorrow.
5: To complete our Alcott Team Close Read, your groups gave readings of the intro, one body paragraph, and the conclusion. To wrap up class, we looked at your Cindy Syntax prompts - o.k. technically the Orenstein prompt - and discussed the importance of syntactical purpose and how correct apostrophes can help your overall presentation. Tomorrow will be the move into diction - with a little anaphora to merge syntax too.
3: We finished phase one of our team close read and moved onto phase two. By tomorrow' class, you will have a team introduction and the individual body paragraphs completed. We will finish up, in theory, tomorrow.
5: To complete our Alcott Team Close Read, your groups gave readings of the intro, one body paragraph, and the conclusion. To wrap up class, we looked at your Cindy Syntax prompts - o.k. technically the Orenstein prompt - and discussed the importance of syntactical purpose and how correct apostrophes can help your overall presentation. Tomorrow will be the move into diction - with a little anaphora to merge syntax too.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Teaming
As our second quarter begins, so does the variance of AP Lang classes! Make sure that all of you read the parenthetical note that I left for first hour. It is for all of you - I just, obviously, started with their class while I was typing this up today.
1: We spent the hour looking at the syntax prompt by summarizing the ideas in the passage, identifying shifts throughout, identifying syntax and its patterns, and writing out team thesis statements and charts covering the various forms of syntax influencing the passage. We will be sharing a few sample of these tomorrow to recap the assignment. Vocab quiz will then follow as will the syntax quiz to wrap up this unit.
(As a note, make sure that you keep pushing yourself to look at WHY sentences are used and not WHAT the sentences mean. A lot of the Cindy Syntax prompts would just paraphrase the meaning of the sentence and possibly go on a tangent about gender roles in society instead of WHY various forms of syntax function in the text and HOW they connect back to the audience and the bigger picture of parenting. If you stuck with just analyzing Orenstein, you limited your analysis to a certain point. In addition, upper-level syntax will add to your score more so than sticking with the standard variations. A great many of you - with creative spellings, alas, at times - attached hypophora, asyndeton, and anaphora to your cause, which does create a higher level of difficulty and the possibility of greater rewards. For those of you who utilized class time, group work, and outside of class preparations, the dividends were in your score. For those of you who rushed through the syntax identification and analysis and did not use the syntactically ethos-filled resource right in front of you - that would be me - the essays often lacked focus and correct identification of syntax.)
3: We started our team close read today with the Capote prompt. You were a little hesitant at first, but I think you know now to really go for the close read and fully develop your analysis into something resembling rhetorical strategies. Or, at least, I hope you will read this and realize to keep going for the full meaning of a text and build from the basic to something that constitutes the bigger picture of the writing. We will finish this first phase of the team close read with the last two sections of the prompt up for analysis. Phase two will involve the writing side of the equation, but I'm getting way ahead of what you need to do at this point. Consider this ending a preview of sorts.
5: Hello, the class with the highest average on the Cindy Syntax Prompt. As expected today, we continued with the team close read and the evaluation of your body paragraphs and the construction of the introduction and concluding paragraphs. If you were absent today, make sure you have your body paragraph from the weekend with you because you will be adding it to the group work tomorrow. Speaking of Wednesday, we will have some readings of your team close reads with instantaneous feedback from me. Then, we will be onto the world of diction (with a little stop for anaphora along the way).
1: We spent the hour looking at the syntax prompt by summarizing the ideas in the passage, identifying shifts throughout, identifying syntax and its patterns, and writing out team thesis statements and charts covering the various forms of syntax influencing the passage. We will be sharing a few sample of these tomorrow to recap the assignment. Vocab quiz will then follow as will the syntax quiz to wrap up this unit.
(As a note, make sure that you keep pushing yourself to look at WHY sentences are used and not WHAT the sentences mean. A lot of the Cindy Syntax prompts would just paraphrase the meaning of the sentence and possibly go on a tangent about gender roles in society instead of WHY various forms of syntax function in the text and HOW they connect back to the audience and the bigger picture of parenting. If you stuck with just analyzing Orenstein, you limited your analysis to a certain point. In addition, upper-level syntax will add to your score more so than sticking with the standard variations. A great many of you - with creative spellings, alas, at times - attached hypophora, asyndeton, and anaphora to your cause, which does create a higher level of difficulty and the possibility of greater rewards. For those of you who utilized class time, group work, and outside of class preparations, the dividends were in your score. For those of you who rushed through the syntax identification and analysis and did not use the syntactically ethos-filled resource right in front of you - that would be me - the essays often lacked focus and correct identification of syntax.)
3: We started our team close read today with the Capote prompt. You were a little hesitant at first, but I think you know now to really go for the close read and fully develop your analysis into something resembling rhetorical strategies. Or, at least, I hope you will read this and realize to keep going for the full meaning of a text and build from the basic to something that constitutes the bigger picture of the writing. We will finish this first phase of the team close read with the last two sections of the prompt up for analysis. Phase two will involve the writing side of the equation, but I'm getting way ahead of what you need to do at this point. Consider this ending a preview of sorts.
5: Hello, the class with the highest average on the Cindy Syntax Prompt. As expected today, we continued with the team close read and the evaluation of your body paragraphs and the construction of the introduction and concluding paragraphs. If you were absent today, make sure you have your body paragraph from the weekend with you because you will be adding it to the group work tomorrow. Speaking of Wednesday, we will have some readings of your team close reads with instantaneous feedback from me. Then, we will be onto the world of diction (with a little stop for anaphora along the way).
Friday, October 12, 2018
The Reader, The Quizzes, The Alcott
We continue to move at different phases in the AP Lang world, but everything related back to rhetorical analysis in some fashion. With second quarter commencing next week, we will continue with rhetorical analysis and diction, tone, and pathos before looking at fallacies and argumentation.
1: After vocab experts, we continued to identify and analyze syntax via two sample passages: The Reader and an AP prompt. At this point, you have close read the latter passage for syntax, and we will incorporate your findings in class on Tuesday. Make sure to reread the passage for next class, so that you have a fresh understanding after the three-day weekend.
3: Due to time constraints, our class was quizzy today with the vocab quiz for unit 14 and the grading of your syntax quiz from last class. Next week will be our transition into diction.
5: After our vocab 14 quiz, we graded our syntax quiz and then completed the team close read - or at least phase one of the team close read. Now that we have a close reading completed, you worked in your number groups to compose a team thesis statement having all of those main requirements of author, active verb, specific strategies, and mature purpose. For homework, you each have one of the strategies from your thesis statement, and you will write an incredibly strong body paragraph. If absent today, you will need to write your own thesis statement and choose one of the strategies from the thesis to write one body paragraph.
1: After vocab experts, we continued to identify and analyze syntax via two sample passages: The Reader and an AP prompt. At this point, you have close read the latter passage for syntax, and we will incorporate your findings in class on Tuesday. Make sure to reread the passage for next class, so that you have a fresh understanding after the three-day weekend.
3: Due to time constraints, our class was quizzy today with the vocab quiz for unit 14 and the grading of your syntax quiz from last class. Next week will be our transition into diction.
5: After our vocab 14 quiz, we graded our syntax quiz and then completed the team close read - or at least phase one of the team close read. Now that we have a close reading completed, you worked in your number groups to compose a team thesis statement having all of those main requirements of author, active verb, specific strategies, and mature purpose. For homework, you each have one of the strategies from your thesis statement, and you will write an incredibly strong body paragraph. If absent today, you will need to write your own thesis statement and choose one of the strategies from the thesis to write one body paragraph.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
An Agenda for Every Hour
While I assume that as some point all of the classes will be have the same agenda for the day, we are currently at different points of the syntax realm and the transition into the diction universe that will be our next unit. While syntax may be in the rear mirror, that doesn't mean you can't analyze those 6 sentence types, forms of parallelism, and those fun syndetons.
1: We may have been distracted by thoughts on height, but we still managed to add 4 more words to our vernacular and go over the third hour syntax handout (and realize that prepositional phrases make sentence identification awkward at times). What's up for your class? Well, I'm sure you have been noticing on the board for the other hours that we will be looking at a couple syntax passages and then completing the syntax quiz, which features all of your creative sentence types.
3: We did a little bit of everything today, and, fortunately, that concludes are syntax week and its focus on the big 6 and its cohorts of parallelism and syndetons. Specifically today, we reviewed vocab, which means the quiz will be tomorrow; we finished the syntactical analysis of the AP prompt, which means that is the last time we will concentrate on just syntax; and you completed the syntax quiz, which means that absentees have something to do next class. Hopefully, we will have the chance to start the team close read tomorrow, a really entertaining activity that forces you to close read, analyze, and connect to a prompt. Fifth hour started this today, and, as with all my previous classes, did not disappoint with their circling and underlining skills and explanation of ideas. Diction week will follow this transitory team close read.
5: Such fun today as you almost finished the team close read! As you may have noted, this is an opportunity to practice identifying patterns of words, connecting these patterns to strategies, and explaining the purpose of the whole thing! Our last group will complete the first phrase of the team close read tomorrow, and then you will be working on some team activities to tie the close read and prompt together! Prior to our team close read, we did review our vocab for tomorrow's quiz, which will feature a little bit of everything. Tomorrow is the last day of the quarter, which means our next quarter will start off with diction!
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Conjunctions & Syntax & The End of Syntax Week(s)
1: Due to our truncated first hour, we spent the first portion of class working with vocab experts and then looking at how polysyndeton and asyndeton work in various samples We will have more of the syndetons next time plus go over third hour syntax to make sure you still have your syntax-identification skills.
3: After finishing up our 15 vocab words for unit 14, we looked at how polysyndeton and asyndeton work in regards to purpose via some various film, literary, and historical examples. To keep up with looking at syntax, we looked at a sample passage and identified the changes of syntax and how polysyndeton enters and exits the fray. At the end of class, we looked at an AP prompt to practice close reading for syntax and then worked in groups to construct a thesis statement and analyze 2 syntax structures. We will be finishing that up tomorrow before you have your syntax quiz (the last item on the syntax schedule).
5: After finishing up our 15 vocab words, we worked with the AP prompt - in groups - to summarize the text, look at shifts in the text as the focus changes from influential person to influential person in Welty's childhood and reading life, determine what are the main types of syntax and how they may change or stay the same over the course of the passage, construct a strong thesis statement, and then make charts to analyze each form of syntax with evidence and analysis. Afterwards, we completed the syntax quiz, which means if you were absent, you will have something to do next class while we grade it. Syntax is over, but don't worry, you still can identify forms of syntax in rhetorical analysis for future prompts!
3: After finishing up our 15 vocab words for unit 14, we looked at how polysyndeton and asyndeton work in regards to purpose via some various film, literary, and historical examples. To keep up with looking at syntax, we looked at a sample passage and identified the changes of syntax and how polysyndeton enters and exits the fray. At the end of class, we looked at an AP prompt to practice close reading for syntax and then worked in groups to construct a thesis statement and analyze 2 syntax structures. We will be finishing that up tomorrow before you have your syntax quiz (the last item on the syntax schedule).
5: After finishing up our 15 vocab words, we worked with the AP prompt - in groups - to summarize the text, look at shifts in the text as the focus changes from influential person to influential person in Welty's childhood and reading life, determine what are the main types of syntax and how they may change or stay the same over the course of the passage, construct a strong thesis statement, and then make charts to analyze each form of syntax with evidence and analysis. Afterwards, we completed the syntax quiz, which means if you were absent, you will have something to do next class while we grade it. Syntax is over, but don't worry, you still can identify forms of syntax in rhetorical analysis for future prompts!
Monday, October 8, 2018
Prompting & Polysyndeton
If memory serves, Cindy syntax makes usage of polysyndeton at some point, so the title of this blog is appropriate for all hours involved.
1: You had the Cindy Syntax prompt for the entirety of the hour and third hour's syntax handout for homework - due Thursday. Tomorrow's class will be truncated due to a junior-only assembly, which means we will have vocab and a little bit of this and that since you have an approximate call time.
3: You had the Cindy syntax prompt today, which means any absentees have 48 hours to complete the prompt or schedule a time to do so. We will be back to vocab and syntax on Tuesday. In theory, we will not miss any class time as a result of the assembly tomorrow, but if we do miss a minimal amount, we still have plenty to keep busy!
5: I'm typing this in advance of class, so we shall see if all of the following occurs: vocab experts, a look at the syndetons and how they can be presented in a text, and a sample AP practice prompt to break down for tomorrow's class (if we don't get to this, we will do so on the block day). Don't forget that we have finished all of our practice/reviews of syntax identification, which means a quiz - for actual points - is on the horizon.
1: You had the Cindy Syntax prompt for the entirety of the hour and third hour's syntax handout for homework - due Thursday. Tomorrow's class will be truncated due to a junior-only assembly, which means we will have vocab and a little bit of this and that since you have an approximate call time.
3: You had the Cindy syntax prompt today, which means any absentees have 48 hours to complete the prompt or schedule a time to do so. We will be back to vocab and syntax on Tuesday. In theory, we will not miss any class time as a result of the assembly tomorrow, but if we do miss a minimal amount, we still have plenty to keep busy!
5: I'm typing this in advance of class, so we shall see if all of the following occurs: vocab experts, a look at the syndetons and how they can be presented in a text, and a sample AP practice prompt to break down for tomorrow's class (if we don't get to this, we will do so on the block day). Don't forget that we have finished all of our practice/reviews of syntax identification, which means a quiz - for actual points - is on the horizon.
Friday, October 5, 2018
Third Hour Syntax
1: With 40 minutes, we accomplished a lot: sharing syntax types with your Cindy Syntax group, hearing about the other section of the passage and its syntax, and pondering on the main forms of syntax and the overall purpose of the passage. Make sure to bring Cindy back to class on Monday.
3: We continued forward with vocab experts, tallying 12 words from unit 14 thus far. Then, we spent the rest of the hour drawing lines under clauses and identifying syntax using your hour's creative sentences. Lots of trickery on these with a plethora of prepositional phrases bamboozling us to believe a dependent clause was present. Cindy Syntax is back on Monday, so make sure you have all of your syntactical notes ready to go.
5: A relaxing hour (or at least it seemed to me) with further vocab experts, groups underlining clauses and identifying third hour's syntax, and playing full class card game to see how we are doing with all of those strategies and modes of discourse. Monday will be all about the syndetons!
3: We continued forward with vocab experts, tallying 12 words from unit 14 thus far. Then, we spent the rest of the hour drawing lines under clauses and identifying syntax using your hour's creative sentences. Lots of trickery on these with a plethora of prepositional phrases bamboozling us to believe a dependent clause was present. Cindy Syntax is back on Monday, so make sure you have all of your syntactical notes ready to go.
5: A relaxing hour (or at least it seemed to me) with further vocab experts, groups underlining clauses and identifying third hour's syntax, and playing full class card game to see how we are doing with all of those strategies and modes of discourse. Monday will be all about the syndetons!
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Cindy Syntax & All of Her Phases
1: After resuming our vocab experts, we returned to the world of syntax by reviewing our big 6 plus all those other syntactical stylings such as anaphora, hypophora, the syndetons, and other forms of parallelism, inversion, and basic sentence identifiers. With that solidly in our minds, we read Cinderella Ate My Daughter, indicating the purposes throughout the text - and even noting a pattern of juxtaposing purpose (thank you, Aiden) recycling throughout the entire passage. Moving into syntax identification, each of you - via your groups - have been assigned one sentence type (or "other" syntactical strategies) to highlight throughout the text. You will be sharing your findings with your own group and teaching someone else regarding the passage, so make sure you have thoroughly scavenged your directed pages.
3: After a quick foray into vocab experts (more attention to our diction acquisition tomorrow), you resumed your Cindy Syntax groups to share your finding regarding your individual assignments. Following group work, you joined 2 members of the other groups to share, note, and discuss what syntax flows throughout the entire passage. Back to your original groups, you looked at what syntactical patterns existed and what the overall purpose of the text happens to be. Make sure to keep this for Monday's class - you will definitely need it. For tomorrow, you have your hour's syntax samples to highlight and identify.
5: We started off with our Cindy Syntax prompt, which means any absentees have 48 hours to take or schedule. With little time left afterwards, we shelved vocab experts for tomorrow, and you received third hour's syntax handout to highlight and identify.
3: After a quick foray into vocab experts (more attention to our diction acquisition tomorrow), you resumed your Cindy Syntax groups to share your finding regarding your individual assignments. Following group work, you joined 2 members of the other groups to share, note, and discuss what syntax flows throughout the entire passage. Back to your original groups, you looked at what syntactical patterns existed and what the overall purpose of the text happens to be. Make sure to keep this for Monday's class - you will definitely need it. For tomorrow, you have your hour's syntax samples to highlight and identify.
5: We started off with our Cindy Syntax prompt, which means any absentees have 48 hours to take or schedule. With little time left afterwards, we shelved vocab experts for tomorrow, and you received third hour's syntax handout to highlight and identify.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
It's Still About Syntax
1: We copied down the next unit of vocab to start on Thursday. We then reviewed Syntax Part I and completed Syntax Part II to practice identifying those 6 sentence types. Between those handouts, we discussed other forms of syntax that you could analyze, how to break down cumulative and periodic sentences to uncover the purposes of the respective clauses, and how to incorporate evidence into a paragraph. For our next class, we will take all the aforementioned components of syntax and bring them into a text.
3: After vocab experts we looked at how you can incorporate syntactical evidence into paragraphs - without dumping long sentences that would distract your reader and possibly cause you hand cramps in the process. We then checked Syntax Part II as we continue to identify the 6 main forms of syntax. Last, we read the opening chapter of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, identified all the purposes throughout the text, and then worked in groups to highlight sentence types. On Thursday, we will rejoin back into those groups to check on the highlighting and the syntax patterns.
5: We were a focused group on Tuesday - vocab experts, identifying the remaining purposes of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, broke into groups to highlight varying forms of syntax and shared that info with classmates, and discussed patterns of syntax and the overall purposes of the text - for some reason or another :)
3: After vocab experts we looked at how you can incorporate syntactical evidence into paragraphs - without dumping long sentences that would distract your reader and possibly cause you hand cramps in the process. We then checked Syntax Part II as we continue to identify the 6 main forms of syntax. Last, we read the opening chapter of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, identified all the purposes throughout the text, and then worked in groups to highlight sentence types. On Thursday, we will rejoin back into those groups to check on the highlighting and the syntax patterns.
5: We were a focused group on Tuesday - vocab experts, identifying the remaining purposes of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, broke into groups to highlight varying forms of syntax and shared that info with classmates, and discussed patterns of syntax and the overall purposes of the text - for some reason or another :)
Monday, October 1, 2018
More of 5th Hour Syntax
1: After collecting your 12 syntax examples, we returned back to the world of punctuation rules via a practice activity and to the world of 6 syntax types via highlighting clauses and identifying the respective syntax. For homework, finish Fifth Hour Syntax Part I - make sure you do highlight the clauses to help you recognize the syntax.
3: After copying down our next unit of vocab - yes, unit 14 and not unit 4, we looked over Fifth Hour Syntax Part I, noting the different types of clauses to help us identify the respective syntax. Next up, we looked at sample sentences in the textbook to identify the purposes of independent and dependent clauses. Last, you were reminded that even though syntax is all about those 6 types, you may still bring in sentence types, length, intention, and parallelism as well. For homework, complete Fifth Hour Syntax Part II with all of the highlighting included.
5: After copying down unit 14 vocab, we looked at other forms of syntax that can be found in texts for analysis and how to incorporate syntactical evidence into paragraphs. As noted in the examples, it's all about taking simple sentences and compounding or complexing your own writing; it's all about breaking down complicated cumulative sentences by clauses and purposes. At the end of the hour, we started reading a chapter from Cinderella Ate My Daughter, which allowed us to indicate the purposes present in the text. Finish reading the text and identifying the purposes for sharing tomorrow.
3: After copying down our next unit of vocab - yes, unit 14 and not unit 4, we looked over Fifth Hour Syntax Part I, noting the different types of clauses to help us identify the respective syntax. Next up, we looked at sample sentences in the textbook to identify the purposes of independent and dependent clauses. Last, you were reminded that even though syntax is all about those 6 types, you may still bring in sentence types, length, intention, and parallelism as well. For homework, complete Fifth Hour Syntax Part II with all of the highlighting included.
5: After copying down unit 14 vocab, we looked at other forms of syntax that can be found in texts for analysis and how to incorporate syntactical evidence into paragraphs. As noted in the examples, it's all about taking simple sentences and compounding or complexing your own writing; it's all about breaking down complicated cumulative sentences by clauses and purposes. At the end of the hour, we started reading a chapter from Cinderella Ate My Daughter, which allowed us to indicate the purposes present in the text. Finish reading the text and identifying the purposes for sharing tomorrow.
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