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.
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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.