Moving to AP Lit

For those of you going into AP Lit next year (which you should if you want to be part of an upper-level book club that continues to build your discussion and writing prowess and a feeling of community through creative thought, expression, and performance - I had to plug the class since you can still become a part of it) or for those of you who just want some incredible literary masterpieces, modern works of fiction, and cultural texts to read over the summer for fun (I'm trying to do that right now and all I do is note all the polysyndeton and asyndeton in Colm Toibin's The Master), head over to my blog for AP Lit with its surprising address: http://fznaplit.blogspot.com/.

As our school district is moving over to Canvas next school year, my blogs will be officially replaced by that medium, which should offer a lot of new tech features (fingers crossed).

The Shoe Vote Concludes

The voting for Lit & Lang was very similar this year with both groups liking Italian, very expensive shoes, wedges, and butterflies.

Here are the top vote-getters:

1: Dolce & Gabbana Jewel Keira Sandals had the most votes. This black with red rose version wins for AP Lang, and the pink and green version won for AP Lit. Alas, these are on the expensive side, so another shoe will be ultimately purchased.

A 3-way tie for second place:

2: Sophia Webster Cassia Wedge will actually be the shoe purchased this year for AP Lang. Sophia Webster has her sale going on - yes! There are 2 heights to these wedges (90 vs. 140), and since I already have a pair of high white wedges, the lower heel one has been selected! And, fun fact, AP Lit had a Sophia Webster Wedge too! I do love Sophia Webster - she has such clever, fun designs, and I actually met her at Saks when she visited as a "new" designer. She even signed my heels!

2: Aquazzura Papillon Sandal in Green - this was also voted highly by AP Lit. While I do love the green, I didn't realize it came in other colors as well!

2: Dolce & Gabbana Cut Out Flower Pump - I would nickname this one "Cinderella" for obvious reasons, and it is sold out just about everywhere now. I do wonder how comfortable it would be on  daily basis.

The Kings & Queens of Chalk

As promised, here are my artistic renderings of our 6 kings and queens - with some bonus commentary and added visual references - in chalk.

Class Shirts

The results of the poll find that the majority of Langers are interested in a class shirt this year! To begin the first phase of shirts, we need designs to vote upon to represent AP Lang as a whole (not shirts by hour). Submit your designs (can be one side or two sides) in the Shared Drive in the T-Shirt folder. Currently, Zoe's submission resides there. Do not worry about shirt color as we will eventually vote on that element later. The most important considerations are images and words at this point. Submissions will be accepted through Tuesday, so my artists and my digital designers, here is your opportunity to create!

P.S. The shoe vote for AP Lang will begin next week! A tradition that you can read more about in the Shared Drive under Shoe Voting Updates! While this is completely optional, just like the shirts, it's a fun activity to balance out all of the rhetorical analysis and discussion.

Shoe Voting Is Almost Here

If we were in Room 404 now, there would be a colorful display of shoes lining my board, and you would be voting each day for the pairs you would want me to purchase to represent AP Lang. This fun activity, not required, but definitely a little levity in a time of end-of-year assignments and AP tests, allows you to do something completely free from rhetorical analysis, argumentation (unless you want to convince other classmates on their voting choices), and synthesis!

Obviously, we're not in Room 404, so the vote has gone digital. In the upcoming days, you will receive a form for voting. You have the chance to vote for a maximum of 5 pairs of day. You are able to submit a form once a day until May 20, so those passionate about AP Lang shoes will have their choices counted. 

In the meanwhile, all of the past shoes and the current 88 candidates can be found in the Shared Drive in the Shoe Voting Updates Folder. 

This is an AP Lang & Lit tradition, so do participate if you have the time and inclination :) 

Timed Digital Prompts

We enter new territory in AP Lang this week with a complete timed digital prompt on AP Classroom. Last week, you tried a close reading and reflected on the process, hopefully garnering some ideas of how to approach your next prompt and prepare for the writing portion of this task. This week, you have a full essay to do, and it is the main assignment this week for AP Lang as I want you to designate time to complete this assignment and give it your full attention. 

Normally, we would have this in class, hard copy, with my eyes watching the clock for you. Now, you have this at home, digital, your own timer. 

I want to reinforce that the directions I am giving you for this prompt, clearly outlined in the lesson plans, is the best means of ascertaining your abilities not just in writing rhetorical analysis but also in the ability to write a digital prompt in the specified time frame. 

Ergo, this is not just a prompt to be evaluated (which I will be doing); this is also a prompt to help you build strategies for the next one. If you do not follow the guidelines/rules/instructions, you may have stronger feedback, but you may not have the base to form strategies for improvement. 

Reminders, observations, and thoughts to read PRIOR to writing the essay: 

• I want to remind you how important it is to be honest with your work, especially with timing situations, while you are digitally on the clock. 
• Whether you are taking the test or not, the ability to respond to a timed prompt is a skill for the AP curriculum, college curriculum, and course curriculum. The justification "I'm not taking the AP exam" is not valid here as this is an assignment for all of you.
• With the fact that you are not receiving a percentage grade, this is the opportunity to test out what you are able to produce in a timed situation and prepare for future activities and actual exams online.
• This prompt has a time limit of 45 minutes, which will be the same for the AP exam. This includes close reading and writing the essay. You then have 5 minutes of time for submitting the exam. 
• You are to take this prompt in one sitting - not look at the prompt, think about it, and come back another day. I am trusting you to do this. 
• If you wifi goes down, stop your timer and then resume with the same time remaining. Do not work on the prompt during this down time. This is why I'm not presetting the timer for the prompt myself (yes, I can do that) as I know tech issues might occur. 
• Yes, do your best, but be prepared to make sacrifices with your close reading and writing to finish on time. And, if something goes wrong, bring that into your strategy for next time.
• As many of you are noting in your reflections, close reading for 3 strategies and writing the essay probably won't be as successful as when in hard copy. Close reading for 2 umbrella strategies and/or shifts is probably the way to go here.
• During close reading, jot down minimal notes to help set up your essay. Do not write out full thesis statements and detailed outlines. Notes could include the strategies you note, references to evidence you may use. 
• If you are given line or paragraph numbers, use those for citations. If you are not given anything for citation, don't worry about it. Yes, I wrote that down. Digital rules.
• The biggest points are for evidence, i.e. the body paragraphs, so that is where you should spend the majority of your time. Don't waste time on writing a long introduction. Set up the context, have a fast analogy, but get into that thesis and the body paragraphs. You can always go back and add more if time permits. 
• If you need to review how to write a rhetorical analysis essay and what to do in timed situations, your classmates did a superior job on our April 7 meeting. 
• As AP has noted, they cannot stop people from "open notes" on these tests. For AP Lang, the only "open notes" could be a thesaurus/dictionary/rhetorical toolbox list. You don't have time to constantly be looking up words, so use this sparingly as to not take away from your writing. 
• We will have one more full timed prompt in a couple weeks, so that you can take this experience and feedback and do better the next time around. 
• We worked on rhetorical analysis almost all of first semester and have been highlighting it during our fourth quarter work. You know how to do this. Put yourself in the writing mental space, welcome the paper fairies into your mind and fingers, and do your best.

Once again, the expectation is you take this prompt as you would in class. Find a quiet place, a timer, and the best connection to wifi and write it. Submit the work, receive the feedback, garner what you can from your experience to better strategize the next time. 

The Tudors

Having historical context of our kings and queens can only help you as you delve into their speeches from centuries ago. There are countless films, television series, and plays that deal with our Tudor father-daughter combo of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I highly recommend The Private Life of Henry VIII starring Charles Laughton. It probably created the stereotypical picture of the turkey leg chomping monarch, and it gives some humor to the cycle of wives in which Henry attempted to produce an heir and substantiate his legacy. The whole movie is on Youtube even. For Elizabeth I, my favorite portrayal is Cate Blanchett in 1998's Elizabeth (the sequel isn't bad either). The film further sets the context of Elizabeth's adjustment from "illegitimate" daughter to mighty ruler and further exhibits why Cate should have won an Oscar for that role. While each film probably plays with historical accuracy - as does every historical film - I always find I learn a great deal of historical figures from films. Happy watching if you have the time and inclination!

Digital Week 4/14

Our meetings went so well last week with the review of how to write a rhetorical analysis essay, how to create scintillating hooks, thesis statements, and body paragraphs, and how to analyze the purpose of rhetorical devices composed by your own brains that this week will further our review of this essay style.

I hate to be redundant, but everything is in the lesson plans that you need to do! Go there and prosper in your rhetorical analysis! I apologize for the corniness - coffee drinking big time!

Before I continue on, I just wanted to offer a little math for those of you so inclined. In normal circumstances, physically present in Room 404, you would have had 8 full essay prompts (including 2 full timed tests) and 2 mini essay prompts this quarter. With our circumstances and the AP test shortened and focused, we will have 3 full essay prompts and (maybe?) 2 mini essay prompts this quarter. All right, mathematicians, that is quite the difference in essay writing! To make up for that, we will be composing thesis statements and/or body paragraphs to keep up with the skill and not overwhelm you with so much rhetorical analysis!

This week will feature the 2 areas of focus, which can be found in the lesson plans that are posted on the shared drive and linked in Google Classroom: Kings & Queens speeches for rhetorical analysis and a team essay rhetorical analysis.

The Kings & Queens speeches were actually part of a multi-draft synthesis essay that AP Langers normally do, but not this year :( However, those speeches, and their difficult syntax and tone and spelling (no orthography rules back then) are perfect for rhetorical analysis and practicing writing body paragraphs! Hence, you have 5 speeches from King Henry VIII and Elizabeth I to peruse and take light notes on those purposes and strategies. Those speeches are also the basis of our Webex meetings this week: Tuesday will be the biography days for our two speakers (we need to get to know them and their milieu to further understand how they present themselves, their tones, and their purposes), Wednesday will be Henry VII speech analysis day, and Thursday will be all Elizabeth. While you are responsible for what you sign up for (biographical or body paragraph device rhetorical analysis), I still expect you to read through all of the sources. We are going to tie all of those speeches together at some point! And, of course, you can also take notes during meetings to help you pinpoint those devices and purposes.

The second area of focus is the team rhetorical analysis essay. I would love to say we will have this finished this week, but we that will not be happening - start this week, end next week is the plan. By Thursday, make sure to sign up for what passage you would like (maximum 3 per passage). If you don't sign up, guess who will sign up for you? Yep, me! After you claim a passage, you will individually close read the passage and take notes regarding purpose and strategies (you can make a chart if that helps you). Then, hold. Wait for Thursday afternoon's instructions that will break down the team essay and the expectations. While you can probably guess how it will work, don't collaborate until the all clear has passed.

Well, that was verbose. Keep up the work, Langers. I'll tell you those meetings last week were something else with quality of thought and engagement. Those of you who are putting in the effort are noticed and will continue to be so :)

Digital Week 4/7 (yes, we don't start until Tuesday, but it is a Sunday tradition!)

As said in Mystic Pizza, "you don't monkey with tradition"! Ergo (it's becoming a problem with that transition, I'll tell you), I'm dropping the weekly plans on Sunday so that you know what is up for the rest of the week. The same info has already been announced on Google Classroom, and I will be sending you an e-mail too. That's 3 places for you to go for the same information! Plus, the shared drive is still available with just about everything too!

The work week starts on Tuesday, April 7, but I highly recommend claiming your date and topic for the verbal meetings a.s.a.p. so you have your spot (of course), and you will know what work you have to do this week (that's right - lots of individual choices at your fingertips!).

Copied and pasted so font change:

This week’s work will involve a lot of the previous work you have done first semester, prior to spring break, and the past two optional weeks.

Ergo, if you have been keeping up with notes, assignments, and practices for the entire class, you won’t have too much additional work to do this week. However, if you have not put as much effort into the course prior to this week, don’t worry! You have this week to do the same stuff and it’s for credit!

As noted by the district, your third quarter grade is currently a place marker for what your semester grade MAY be. The “may” is an important caveat as students are expected to maintain their level of effort and participation to have the same grade at the end of this quarter. I will be noting the completion of your activities and giving feedback with AP scores (1-6) on essays and specific writing assignments to make sure you are improving with your essays. Do your job, you will keep your grade. Don’t do your job, your grade is subject to drop.

I have also been told that students who show the effort and participation beyond what they did third quarter can have their grade bumped up.

*By the way, and this is for a small number of you, if you have extenuating circumstances that preclude you from technological completion, result from health or familial reasons, or other issues that may occur, communicate with me! There are always ways to maintain your involvement J

A little adjustment to my work hours: regular office hours will be 1-3; dedicated work hours will remain the same beyond that: TWR 10-4; M,F,Sun sporadic.

Also, the district has requested we use WEBEX instead of Zoom for meetings, so you will receive new invitations to join those meetings. Check the sign-up sheet for more info and times (only one meeting time has been adjusted).

And one more area – it does not matter if you are taking this course for the AP Lang test, college credit courses, high school credit, or a hybrid of the aforementioned reasons. All of those curriculums involve rhetorical analysis, argumentation, and synthesis. Ergo, I might be turning into Abby W. with that transition, and all of these assignments are for all of you and not just those taking the AP exam J

OVERALL WEEK’S ASSIGNMENTS FOR 4/7:

1.     PHASE 2 RA PREPARATIONS, #4, WEBEX MEETINGS PLUS RHETORICAL ANALYSIS REVIEW & RHETORICAL ANALYSIS PARAGRAPHS (AS DETERMINED BY YOU) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N2rmBLxhLYDTl2doPHxXnLuXeGzrIEdZRLzAStEX25o

2.     PHASE 1 SYNTHESIS, #5/6 (if you already did it, you don’t have to do it again!)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pCcMXOSW6BDtzzlOeyDuAUfb9jiEsZIPg0Y2HfPm9uI

Suggested Daily:

·        Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday

o   Sign up for your WEBEX meeting/topic

o   Prepare notes, answers, reflections, and/or paragraphs for your participation in WEBEX Meeting

o   Verbally participate in at least one meeting

o   Fill out completion/absentee form on Google Classroom – this will not be available until Tuesday, and you shouldn’t fill it out until after your meeting or after all meetings have occurred

·        Friday

o   Write synthesis essay in AP Classroom if not already completed

Digital 404 Week 3/30

Langers, I think we had a successful week of digital 404 last week, albeit with a few hiccups as we figure out how we will maintain our drive, vehemence, and erudition during these upcoming weeks.

As a reminder, last week's activities were to keep you involved with exemplification via adding to our hourly allusion chart. As noted on a few occasions, this is your opportunity to share with the class examples from your own ethos base and not ones assigned to you. Hence, we have had a plethora of examples that could make their way into an argumentative essay, under the right circumstances, of course. Additionally, you checked over your multiple choice passages from your hour's assigned chapter to see how you did and how you could improve in the future. You also have the book of passages for additional practice, which would behoove those of you needing review of rhetorical analysis. Next, you were introduced to synthesis writing through 3 prewriting activities: a full prewrite, a 15 minute timed prewrite, and a 10 minute timed prewrite. Last, you hopefully took part in one of our 4 zoom meetings last week. If you didn't, I highly recommend doing so as it certainly allows you to interact with other Langers - and Langers from different hours! The zoom meetings were free form last week.

For the week of 3/30, here are the activities for you to work on: 

• Phase 2 of lesson plans regarding rhetorical analysis review, steps 1-3, which involves an AP Lang rhetorical device chart, 5 rhetorical analysis charts for the 5 passages from Ch. 6 of the multiple choice book, and zoom meeting participation (this requires advanced sign-up for your topic)
• Phase 1 of lesson plans involving synthesis, step 5, which involves an AP classroom prompt. If you haven't played around on AP classroom yet, here is your chance. Take a look around and figure out its features before you start the prompt. The prompt must be completed on classroom in the given box. 
• Continuous allusions - you are now required to add 1 per week to your class compendium.

As always, the lesson plans on the shared drive give you detailed instructions. I have also sent an e-mail with the above knowledge and a day-by-day optional schedule if you need the organizational focus. Additionally, as noted in this week's activities, you must sign up for your topic for the zoom meetings this week. Make sure you have your chosen passage and related chart completed so you can educate your classmates about the device, purpose, evidence, and overall understanding. This is the best way to review rhetorical analysis, and it is exactly what we would be doing in a physical classroom. 

I will looking over full class and individual portfolio folder assignments in the upcoming days, noting participation, and providing feedback as warranted. 

Best of health and love to all of you, my Langers. I know some of you have been selective with your digital involvement last week. I highly recommend that if you are physically and wifi capable to complete all the activities sent to you. You would be doing all of this in class right now as I have attempted to keep everything virtually the same. The only difference is you have more freedom and time to complete these activities as you would have in the classroom environment. 

Recapping and Reminding Week of 3/23 Assignments

Langers this week have been working on their shared drive assignments and contributing to Zoom meetings to maintain our communication with each other, share allusions that you have been researching, and positing questions and observations regarding the AP exam, school, and current events. I'm so happy to see and hear many of you retain your commitment to AP Lang.

You have received a plethora of e-mails and reminders of what you should be working on this week, which involves allusions, multiple choice, meetings, and synthesis. This is one more recap/reminder.

Specific instructions are in the lesson plan folder, which is divided into unit.

Continuous 1 Allusions: You are adding a minimum of 2 self-chosen allusions to your hour's allusion list.
Continuous 2 Multiple Choice: You are completing the 5 MC passages from your class's chapter packet. This was assigned before spring break. Using the digital copy of the book, grade yourself and figure out why you missed any. Copy MC chart, add to your portfolio, highlight what you have completed. You are welcome to do more passages from the selected chapters on the chart.
Continuous 3 Zoom: Sign up for zoom meetings, which you have 4 options. Absentee form available for those not able to participate.
Phase 1 Synthesis: Steps 1 -4: the scoring guide, tips, first impression, second impression, third impression. All of this is to aid in your introduction to this kind of prompt and improve your speed and comprehension for skimming and prewriting purposes. I will find your charts in your portfolio.

New assignments will be prescribed on Sunday, and all of these activities are to maintain your skills for the upcoming AP exam, end of course, or future English classes. 

Lesson Plan Folder

Hi, Langers. I have received many questions regarding how to do assignments. I am here to help answer those questions. However, if you check the lesson plan folder on the shared drive, you will find each unit that we are working on this week (allusions, multiple choice, zoom meetings, and synthesis) with step by step directions, documents, and links. Ergo, go there first. If you need clarifications, you have 2 means: your portfolio folder questions and observations or direct e-mail.

AP Lit had our first Zoom meeting this morning, and I think we had a great time! Ergo, make sure to sign up for your chance to see your fellow classmates and talk about AP Lang matters. There are 4 options for these meetings, so one should be able to fit your schedule. Miss chatting with all of you in person!

Digital Room 404 Week 1

I have recently sent you the overview of digital AP Lang, the shared drive, and the suggested assignments and pacing for this first week. We will be working together and individually to continue our quest for AP Lang glory - whatever the connotation of that word means to you!

I hope that you have continued to bolster your knowledge of new subjects, whether that be in history, literature, current events, biology, science, chemistry, math, pop culture, mythology, Bible, psychology, or any other category that may work here.

I hope that you still have the passion for learning and working on your close reading and writing. It does not matter if you are taking this course for the exam, college credit, or just to finish the semester. Every assignment that we do will make you a better communicator - and that is a quality that all of you will need, no matter what your future kismet may be!

I hope you don't mind having a lot of stuff come your way! I know we're not going to get to all the fun activities and serious practices for the AP exam. I'm sad that you will not have the same experiences that your predecessors did. However, I'm going to try to send you everything anyway. Even if you don't actually complete all the multiple choice or write all the essays in the long run, I want you to have all the resources available.

To end this blog, here is the suggested work and pacing for this week. I look forward to meeting with all of you at some point as there are 4 possible meeting times. I think it will be quite fun to have you interact with other students from the other hours!

Overall this is the expected items to complete during this week. You can definitely work at your own pace, but make sure you have items prepped for full classroom meetings.

1.      Your Portfolio Folder with Questions & Observations  (instructions on previous e-mail)

2.      Use Your New Allusion Chart (minimum 2 per week)

3.      MC Practices (complete spring break homework and complete extra practices)

4.      Zoom Meeting 1 Sign Up

5.      Synthesis Phase 1 Steps 1-4

A possible schedule for the assignments with the first half of the week a little lighter than the second half: 

Today/Monday

Your Portfolio Folder with Questions/Observations

All Week – Preferably before Zoom Meeting

New Allusion Chart

All Week

MC Practices

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday

Sign up for meeting

Be part of zoom meeting discussion

Synthesis Scoring Guide Background

Getting to Know You Synthesis, First Impression

Friday

Getting to Know You Synthesis, Second Impression

Saturday/Sunday

Getting to Know You Synthesis, Third Impression

P.S. If you want to read us your tone paragraph during the Zoom meeting, please do!

Our Next Weeks

Hello, Langers. We have been given the official go-ahead to start planning, prepping, and assigning you work, so I will be adapting our curriculum to take an online leap starting next week. To be honest, I'm not changing much around from what we would be doing in class. It will just be up to you to maintain the standards of AP-level study and be honest, keep to a clock, and be part of our AP Lang community.

Yes, community. We will have a shared team drive in the very near future, so that you will not just be communicating with me, you will be communicating with your class, and, possibly, all of the AP Langers.

Our topics of study and typed discussion? A continuation of allusions - except you will be sharing what you have been learning about in the past week and future weeks (that's right - all the "rabbit holes" you fall into online will now payoff as you show off your ethos in history, pop culture, politics, science, literature, mythology, whatever can constitute as fascinating and school appropriate; for instance, I have been reading up a lot on the Spanish Flu). A getting to know you of the synthesis prompt with step by step pre-writing suggestions and charts! (Many of you have probably seen the preview of synthesis 2 blogs ago, so you have the gist of what you will need to be doing. We'll even use that scoring sheet and prompt for the first "official meeting" with synthesis.) There will be more MC - I'm going to give you the entire book with answers for practice! I have other plans too, dependent on the time frame, so keep an eye on the blog and on your e-mail for more details this weekend.

All of you have put in a considerable amount of time with AP Lang thus far and have improved your diction, writing, timed experiences, multiple choice, and overall abilities, so just remember you can handle any of these assignments or anything leading up to the completion of the class and the AP exam.

Honestly, we all are having a myriad of ambivalent emotions right now, so if you need extra help or have questions or need to vent, you know how to reach me.

Uh?

First off, I'm a little peeved right now regarding how things are handled, but that's a whole other story that does not need a forum here. Over the next day or so, I'm assuming that teachers will receive some notification regarding what the plans are for the next 2 weeks of non-school time and what you will be doing as well. Or, not. We're just in the dark as you are.

In the meantime, the last post, which I just published one minute before I received word that we will not having school, is completely accurate with what you need to know for synthesis writing, and your next assignments will deal with that and multiple choice.
'
I hope all of you look at this time as one of personal study, mediation, and care for your loved ones and friends, and remember that you are out of school to help protect a virus from decimating the population. Any flippancy or lack of care would be an insult to all those people who have to go through illness, whether large or small, or watch their loved ones go through such harrowing times.

Fourth Quarter, Or Something Like That

Hello, AP Langers, much has changed in our world since we last had AP Lang class, and you were writing about humanity's greatest flaw. As a result, I'm sure tomorrow's classes will be a little different in tone and experience, depending on decisions and recommendations that are out of our control. Ergo, I would like to preview Monday's class with some of the content that will be happening as it involves the last writing style on the AP Lang exam: synthesis.

Some of my former students have called synthesis writing a hybrid of Lang argument and World History FRQ such as this Synthesis Sample on pages 2-9 of the pdf. By the way, we're not writing to this one, so don't get too excited.

You will note that the synthesis prompt gives you background on the topic in case your ethos level is low, it provides an argumentative prompt to focus your writing, and it includes usually 6 sources that you must incorporate 3 into your writing. The trick for this essay is being able to craft your own argument while transitioning evidence and citing evidence correctly. You also have to be able to skim and scan texts to find the ones that will be your friend and those that will steal your time.

Here is the scoring rubric for the synthesis essay, which does overlap with argument: One Page Rubrics.

Some quick notes on the scoring:

• The claim/thesis is just like argument.
• A 4 on evidence means that you have at least 3 sources included, are bringing in multiple examples of evidence per paragraph that is mixed and matched from the sources (i.e. a paragraph has sources A & D quoted and cited, showing the connection between more than one source) with fully developed sub-claims and warrants. 
• A 3 on evidence means that you have at least 3 sources included, are bringing in multiple examples of evidence per paragraph from the same sources (i.e. a paragraph has 2 examples both from source A) with semi-developed sub-claims and warrants.
• A 2 on evidence means you have the 3 sources and probably one example per paragraph with lacking sub-claims and warrants.
• A 1 on evidence means 2 sources (so shove that third source in there if the time is running out to avoid this score) and summary-like explanation. This occurs when you base paragraphs around the evidence and sources instead of your own argument. If you find yourself starting a paragraph (or a sentence for that matter) with "In Source B," you are about to summarize. 
• A 0 means 1 source or none.
• CITE IN PARENTHETICALS FOR CLEANLINESS AND EASE OF READER. AND USE THE SOURCE LETTERS TO AVOID ANY ISSUES WITH AUTHORS' NAMES. For example, The U.S. Post Office is an integral part of Americana, stemming from Benjamin Franklin's role of postmaster to the current blue shorted uniforms of the mail carriers, and fully indicated by the small town post office raising its flag to welcome its patrons (Source G). SERIOUSLY, JUST DO IT THIS WAY FOR ALL OF US!
• A strong sophistication score will have personalization to the argument. What do I mean by that? Well, the sources are still the most important part of the equation. But, what is you could have an original hook to introduce the concept via anecdote or exemplification? Or, what if you name-drop an example (like I did with good old Ben Franklin in my evidence example), craft an analogy, or bring in extra knowledge to further the argument? Yep, that's sophistication. I want to clarify that you are not writing a full exemplification-style essay like in argument, so don't try to shove in every allusion you learned this year. 
• Strong sophistication also could include the name-dropping of a counterclaim, bringing in your own analogies and rhetorical syntactical strategies, having mature diction, and maintaining argumentative voice through the whole essay. 

More to come, I'm sure, but this the starter point for tomorrow and the week. If all goes well, our week will bring diagnostic exams in synthesis and multiple choice to see how you respond to these prompts and their times. Remember, you are highly capable to complete timed tests. If I have confidence in all that you can do, I hope you will too! 

And, don't forget those tone paragraphs and MC passages for class. You've had plenty of time to complete those!

Prompts, Passages, and Tests, or the Rest of AP Lang

Third quarter was all about cramming our brains with examples and strategies to write and complete MC passages with greater accuracy. The last week has put that into fruition as we have had not one but two argumentative prompts with certainty/doubt and human flaw. With this almost back-to-back nature, you are moving into the testing phase, hopefully with more confidence, writing acumen, and overall ability than you had six months ago.

Today's class was the human flaw writing prompt for all hours. If you were not here today, you will be making that up immediately after spring break.

Homework was noted on the previous blog, but I will recap briefly.

1: Tone paragraph on McDonalds ice cream machines, MC passages 4C, 4D, 4E, each timed 12 minutes.

3: Tone paragraph on the beast under the bed, MC passages 3B, 3C, 3D, each timed 12 minutes.

4: Tone paragraph on coffee, MC passages 5B, 5C, 5D, each timed 12 minutes.

7: MC passage 10E, timed 12 minutes.

Make sure to complete all of these activities throughout your break to keep you focused and prepared for writing and MC as we move into fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter will begin with recapping MC passages, introducing the synthesis prompt - this will involve a diagnostic writing first - a full diagnostic MC test, and a synthesis unit involving Kings & Queens speeches, and the "other" MC-style questions on the exam, the rhetorical ones. Once that is over, we will have a full test with all four parts of the exam, which will help center our remaining weeks' content. Keep ti up, Langers! You've reached the walking stage at this point, and the next month will transition into confident running!

The End of Third Quarter Approaches

Our third quarter has been a busy one, and you have learned a great deal of information: allusions, tone words, vocabulary, argumentative writing in non-timed and timed scenarios, multiple choice strategies, amongst all the other daily discussions of passages, minutia, and random facts that seem to populate the Langer classroom. As we end this quarter, we look to the fourth quarter with the other half of multiple choice (the rhetorical passages) and synthesis writing for arguments.

Where we are: all hours have completed the human flaw chart in preparation for the prompt tomorrow.

Third, fourth, and seventh hours have selected their latest round of tone topics and tones for writing their paragraphs. Third hour's topic is the beast under the bed, fourth's coffee, and seventh's the end of the world. First hour will pick the topic and tone after the prompt tomorrow. If you happened to be absent during today's drawing of tone card, make sure to do so before you head out to spring break activities.
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In the MC packets (some hours have not received a packet yet, so no need to fret), first hour has completed 2 passages, third and fourth 1 passage, and seventh 4.

Spring Break homework will be as follows:

1: Tone Paragraph  & MC Passages C, D, E which you will time 12 minutes each.
3: Tone Paragraph & MC Passages B, C, D which you will time 12 minutes each.
4: Tone Paragraph & MC Passages B, C, D which you will time 12 minutes each.
7: MC Passage 3 which you will time 12 minutes.

7th Hour Tone Words, Round 4

We're not having an official quiz on this round of tone words. Actually, we won't be having any official quizzes on tone words in the future. However, all of these tone words like to show up in your multiple choice passages from time to time, and you can utilize these words for your own identification of shifts and general writing, so it would behoove you to retain all of these for later work.

• Aloof
• Ambivalent
• Apprehensive
• Bantering
• Callous
• Caustic
• Cautionary
• Choleric
• Choleric
• Clichéd
• Colloquial
• Concrete
• Dejected
• Derisive
• Didactic
• Earnest
• Enervating
• Eulogize
• Fatuous
• Formal
• Insolent
• Irreverent
• Kowtowing
• Malicious
• Nihilistic
• Nostalgic
• Pedantic
• Polemical
• Resigned
• Reticent
• Supercilious
• Vituperative

The Intersection of Tone, Multiple Choice, and Argument

Those tone words, three rounds worth (four for seventh hour), are more than just lessons in improving your vocabulary for tone shift identification. They are also aids in answering multiple choice questions with accuracy (tone and style questions often feature a myriad of our vernacular) and in further crafting your argument with mature diction. Ergo, it only makes sense that tone, multiple choice, and argument are populating Lang this week.

All hours have a common assignment for next class: a brainstorming chart for our next prompt, which is "What is humanity's greatest flaw?" The chart has the following 7 boxes to complete (so absentees you can make your own facsimile of the handout; if you are making your own copy, make sure each of the following steps are in actual boxes to mimic a chart).

Box 1 = Brainstorm a list of all possible flaws in humanity
Box 2 = Select the flaw you would like to utilize for the prompt
Box 3 = Select the counterflaw (your second greatest flaw)
Box 4 = Write your working claim
Box 5 = Brainstorm all the the possible examples (different subjects preferred) for your flaw
Box 6 = Select the 4 examples that you will use and put them in your desired range
Box 7 = If time permits, what example would you use for your counterflaw?

And before, we go into more specifics per hour, absentees who have not completed the certainty/doubt prompt and the big vocab 18/tone quest, we have 3 days in the quarter left for you to do these two performance events, whether than be in another scheduled time or during class.

During the classes today,

1 & 3: Completed the vocab 18/tone quest and reviewed the multiple choice questions from passage 1. Homework as noted above for all classes.

4: Completed the vocab 18/tone quest and completed the first multiple choice practice; we will analyze those questions during next class. Homework noted above.

7: Reviewed tone words round 4 with the expectation of quiz over these 8 words on Friday, returned c/d argumentative prompts with a new chart and meetings, completed mc passage 3 and will analyze next time. Homework noted above.

Argument Prompting, Amongst Other Things

1,3,4: It was argumentative prompt writing day! If you missed this prompt, you will need to schedule a make-up as soon as possible. Tomorrow is the Vocab 18/Tone Quest, so make sure you have ethos on all of those words!

7: We started off with MC passage 2, which if you spent a little time in the close reading department, probably helped you to score fairly well on this one. Afterwards, we shared our tone paragraphs on ice cream and started our studying of our latest 8 tone words. For this round of tone words, our eventual quiz will consist of only these 8 - well, maybe a couple old ones thrown in for good measure.

Those Rangefinders

As noted in all classes, those rangefinders sure did not exhibit the best and the brightest essays. Ergo, it's time for all of you to make a 6-worthy attempt. Monday will be the timed prompt for certainty and doubt, so make sure to have your chart with you in first, third, and fourth hours. Seventh hour completed the prompt today!

Otherwise, first and third hour completed a MC passage with scoring, and we will go over the answers on Tuesday. Plus the vocab/tone quest will occur on Tuesday for 1,3, and 4.

Certainty and Doubt

1 & 3: After checking out the new scoring rubric for argumentative writing, which is much more conducive to comprehension in a one page format, you received feedback for your team jingoism or team identity essays. Big lessons from these readings is to go immediately into your example for the hook, have a solid transition that moves from the hook's example to the eventual claim idea/abstract noun, and a claim that ends that first paragraph. For those body paragraphs, you need a sub-claim/set-up of the example, warrants throughout to connect the understanding of the concept to the example, and a superwarrant clarifying the big idea at the end. For the counterclaim, complex sentences work the best, which is also the same advice I would give you for setting up the rebuttal as well. Following those meetings, we looked at a philosophical argument prompt on certainty and doubt, and you completed the pre-writing chart for this prompt. Overall, I read a great deal of original examples and a few twists on the counterclaims that convey a great deal of sophistication! Lastly, you began scoring the rangefinders for those prompts with 1-6. As noted in class, absolutely none of these essays warrants a 6, so judge each essay as an individual and not as one number that fits in with others. Make sure to score the essays (skip the last one) for next class so we may further discuss the importance of specificity, organization, and overall argumentative skills.

7: We haven't had class yet, so I'm figuring it will go something like this: first, you have your charts for the certainty and doubt prompt prepped, and I will be meeting with you to take a looksee at your examples and plan; second, we will then analyze the rangefinders for this prompt, which obviously are not up to the standard we would like them to be; third, you know that you will be writing to this prompt next class, so make sure you bring back your chart; fourth, we selected our new topic for tone, which is ice cream flavors. The paragraph for this tone cycle will be due on Monday as you will be busy writing in class on Friday. Emma, your tone word for this topic is derisive.

Fourth Hour Tone Words, Round 3

Since you are working on your philosophical prompt via a pre-writing chart and checking out the rangefinders as well, you may want to take a glance at all of our tone words since class will be focusing on writing arguments for the next few days.

• Abstract
• Apprehensive
• Apprehensive
• Archaic
• Audacious
• Bantering
• Bellicose
• Bellicose
• Biting
• Callous
• Candid
• Caustic
• Churlish
• Clichéd
• Clichéd
• Clinical
• Colloquial
• Contemptuous
• Dejected
• Demoralized
• Demoralized
• Derisive
• Earnest
• Earnest
• Effusive
• Empathetic
• Erudite
• Facetious
• Facetious
• Fatuous
• Flippant
• Idyllic
• Incensed
• Incensed
• Informal
• Insolent
• Jejune
• Jejune
• Laissez-faire
• Laissez-faire
• Omnipotent
• Omnipotent
• Patronizing
• Patronizing
• Pedantic
• Pedantic
• Poignant
• Poignant
• Polemical
• Polemical
• Pompous
• Pretentious
• Quizzical
• Reticent
• Reverent
• Ribald
• Ribald
• Sardonic
• Scathing
• Sentimental
• Simple
• Supercilious
• Trite
• Trite
• Vituperative
• Whimsical

Third Hour Tone Words, Round 3

Here are all of the tone words, which will appear on your vocab 18/tone quest next week. We are obviously taking a little hiatus from reviewing these words in class to focus on writing arguments, so studying is up to you.

• Abstract
• Ambivalent
• Apprehensive
• Archaic
• Audacious
• Bantering
• Bellicose
• Biting
• Callous
• Clinical
• Clinical
• Colloquial
• Contemptuous
• Cynical
• Derisive
• Diffident
• Disdainful
• Disdainful
• Effusive
• Empathetic
• Enervating
• Enervating
• Erudite
• Eulogize
• Facetious
• Fatuous
• Flippant
• Flippant
• Forthright
• Gauche
• Gauche
• Hubristic
• Hubristic
• Idyllic
• Impartial
• Incensed
• Incredulous
• Informal
• Insolent
• Irreverent
• Jingoistic
• Jovial
• Jovial
• Laissez-faire
• Laudatory
• Laudatory
• Obsequious
• Omnipotent
• Pompous
• Pretentious
• Quizzical
• Reverent
• Ribald
• Sardonic
• Scathing
• Seductive
• Simple
• Supercilious
• Supercilious
• Unctuous
• Urbane
• Urbane
• Vituperative
• Volatile
• Volatile
• Whimsical
• Wistful

First Hour Tone Words, Round 3

Here are all of them for preparations for your vocab/tone quest next week:

First Hour:
• Aloof
• Apathetic
• Archaic
• Audacious
• Callous
• Candid
• Caustic
• Churlish
• Clinical
• Concrete
• Contemptuous
• Cynical
• Cynical
• Demoralized
• Derisive
• Didactic
• Diffident
• Disdainful
• Earnest
• Effusive
• Elegiac
• Elegiac
• Empathetic
• Erudite
• Formal
• Forthright
• Gothic
• Gothic
• Idyllic
• Impartial
• Incredulous
• Irreverent
• Jejune
• Jingoistic
• Lugubrious
• Lugubrious
• Macabre
• Malicious
• Nihilistic
• Nihilistic
• Nostalgic
• Obsequious
• Partisan
• Partisan
• Patronizing
• Poignant
• Pretentious
• Provocative
• Reverent
• Scathing
• Seductive
• Sentimental
• Sentimental
• Trite
• Unctuous
• Vehement
• Vehement
• Vituperative
• Whimsical
• Wistful

Fourth Hour Brainstorming

We started off by sharing our brainstorms for empathy, faith, and guilt and then moved into a group activity for further brainstorming and utilization of exemplification and argumentation or writing. If absent, you will need to complete the following steps:
1. Open and share a Google doc with me. You can title it whatever you would like - as long as it's school appropriate.
2. Time yourself 3 minutes and brainstorm all examples for the abstract noun "identity," remembering to not self-edit and attempt to bring in examples from multiple subjects.
3. Time yourself 3 minutes and brainstorm for your next abstract noun "jingoism," just as above.
4. Choose one of your brainstorms or the writing.
5. Write a claim for your definition of your abstract noun.
6. Select one of your brainstorm examples and writing a supporting body paragraph to that claim.

Afterwards, we looked at the new scoring rubric for argumentation. The expectations are much the same as the 1-9 CDQ rangefinders from last week: a claim that is proven through evidence through the entirety of the essay, evidence from relevant, specific, multiple examples that are explained through warrants and set up by sub-claims, and the sophistication from multiple subject examples, connecting ideas under an umbrella claim, a counterclaim, syntactic style, transitions, strong diction, and argumentative voice that is not kidnapped by any persuasive intentions. All of the aforementioned will lead you to a 6. Anything lacking will decrease the score in some manner.

With the new scoring rubric in mind, you then received the philosophical prompt, the first one the AP introduced after the CDQ-style ones, and a chart to help break down this prompt and prepare for writing. The rest of the class was dedicated to working on this chart and running it by me (if time permitted) and having the rangefinders for this prompt to score. Anything not finished was or homework as all of this needs to come in to class on Friday ready or meetings/feedback and analysis of essays.

By the way, vocab and tone have not disappeared. We will still have a quest over 18 and all of your tone words coming up next week. We are taking a little detour to go back to writing and assess everything you learned this quarter. The same goes or multiple choice passages - we will be having a series of 5 coming up soon too as we will have our first full MC test after spring break.

More Brainstorming!

1 & 3: We finished up vocab and reviewed tone prior to sharing our brainstorms for dishonor, empathy, faith, and guilt, which continued our work towards original, mature examples that stem from variegated subjects. Then, we broke into groups with each group brainstorming for the abstract nouns of "identity" and "jingoism," then choosing to be either team identity or team jingoism, and then splitting up examples to create a team essay. Each group member will be writing one paragraph (which you decided in class) for the start of our next class. Be ready to analyze and have feedback since we will be completing more writing, brainstorming, and evaluating of arguments.

4: After vocab and tone, we spent the hour brainstorming abstract nouns in 3 minute increments. Words included in our brainstorming included achievement (riding a bike, Blues Stanley Cup, Mongols, Nobel Peach Prize), absurdity (Groundhog's Day, Salem Witch Trials, Dahmer, Lord of the Flies), dishonor, empathy, faith, and guilt. Tomorrow, we will be sharing brainstorms for the last 3 abstract nouns listed, so if you were absent, you are expected to have brainstorms completed and your four favorite choices for each one determined.

7: Today was all about brainstorming, writing, and evaluating in the name of team identity or team jingoism and then writing a team argumentative essay for the team's selected topic. After the writing process, you received direct feedback to help you with your future argumentative writings.

Brainstorming!

As I have heard from a few of you, our brainstorming activities for abstract nouns is a challenge and a fun experience as you are able to mine your brain for all of its knowledge and share some of your own ethos with the rest of the class. Yes, all of this brainstorming, exemplification, and argument are leading to writing timed prompts, so be ready, my Langers, to put all of your knowledge and skills to the test.

Before the agenda takes over the blog today, I would like to announce that the next vocab/tone quiz will not be a quiz but a quest and a performance grade as it covers all of those tone words thus far. This will be the last overall quiz/quest over tone words as we will be looking them as individual rounds and not accumulating ones.

1: Vocab/tone around the circle plus graded Modest Proposal MC followed by the differences between non-timed and timed arguments and then ending with brainstorming of abstract nouns. For each abstract noun, we timed or 3 minutes with the last 30 seconds designated for selecting your 4 best choices. We made it through achievement (Hierarchy of Needs, Space Race, The Olympics, MLK,Jr.) and Absurdity (Blood Lake, Reality T.V., Alice in Wonderland, Zeus and "his relationships"). For homework, time yourself regarding dishonor, empathy, faith, and guilt and be ready to share examples.

3: Almost identical to first hour, with the exception that we had a chance to do the brainstorm for dishonor in class, making empathy, faith, and guilt your timed brainstorming abstract nouns for over night.

4: Vocab/tone around the circle plus the CDQ rangefinders, which gave us lessons in how to organize an argument essay and the importance of exemplification and explanation, and then ending with the differences between non-timed and timed prompts.

7: First, our vocab and tone quest followed by sharing our last three brainstorming for abstract nouns, and hopefully beginning our team abstract noun essays.

7th Hour Round 3 Tone Words

Here are all of the tone words from our first 3 rounds. All will be included on your tone quest.

• ·         Aloof
• ·         Ambivalent
• ·         Bantering
• ·         Caustic
• ·         Cautionary
• ·         Choleric
• ·         Clichéd
• ·         Colloquial
• ·         Concrete
• ·         Dejected
• ·         Didactic
• ·         Eulogize
• ·         Fatuous
• ·         Formal
• ·         Insolent
• ·         Irreverent
• ·         Kowtowing
• ·         Malicious
• ·         Nihilistic
• ·         Nostalgic
• ·         Pedantic
• ·         Polemical
• ·         Resigned
• ·         Reticent

The Unexpected Example

You be surprised all of the "stuff" that resides in your brain. You have examples of history, current events, science, math, literature, pop culture, music, art, and more that the average high school student probably does not have in their ethos file. With that in mind, the more original examples that you can incorporate into your essay, the better chance that you will captivate the graders and earn a higher evidence and sophistication score. Next week, all classes will be mining their brains for this ethos and trying to accomplish the coalescing of multiple subjects into one solidified argument. And, as we have spent so much time this quarter prepping for exemplification and argumentation, it's time to put that into writing! You will have many writing assignments to exemplify and argue in the next 2 weeks, so be prepared to do your best.

1 & 3: Vocab experts, tone work, rangefinders on C,D,Q, which furthered the components of specific exemplification, sub-claims and organization of argument, and the necessity of having an example first thing in the hook to set up evidence and the claim.

4: Same as third hour, but you are scoring the rangefinders for the C,D,Q for homework for Monday's class.

7: After reviewing vocab and tone, we spent time talking about arguments in a timed scenario and brainstorming examples for abstract nouns. The brainstorming allowed us to discuss the best examples, the range of the examples, and what examples we may want to avoid for a mature argument. In class, our abstract nouns were achievement, absurdity, and dishonor. Our agreed examples for achievement included Elon Musk as our hook, Abraham and Ada Lovelace for our body paragraph examples, and Jefferson/Founding Fathers for rebuttal. For absurdity, the class choices were flat earthers, Aztec traditions, Irish Potato Famine, and Dem/Rep Politics. 'To keep you practicing your brainstorming, you will time yourself 3 minutes for each of the following words, brainstorming as many examples as possible and then choosing your 4 best examples. The words for the weekend are empathy, faith, and guilt.

Argument, Carpe Diem Style

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1: After vocab experts, we did our speed learning with this third round of tone words, followed by a review of argument and its claim, evidence, warrants, counterclaim, rebuttal, and conclusion. To make this an intriguing endeavor, we read "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell and looked at his Carpe Diem speaker's argument components. To further review argument tomorrow, this poem will be referenced, so it would behoove any absentees to break down the poem for its argument.

3: Same as first hour, but we also discussed the phrasing of challenge, defend, and qualify, or the former phrasing involved in AP argument. Challenging calls the original prompt into question, defending adds support to the prompt, and qualifying can either land in the middle of looking at the prompt's accuracy and inaccuracy or adjust the argument to add another position.

4: We completed the Modest Proposal MC questions and then started off our new vocab unit.

7: After vocab experts and tone work, we completed another MC, this one timed at 12 minutes and requiring you to rely on close reading and process of elimination to add your accuracy. Then, we began brainstorming activities on abstract nouns with the emphasis on selecting the best examples from a plethora of subjects and ranging these examples appropriately and effectively. We will be continuing with MC and brainstorming to set up your first of two argumentative essays coming up.