After finishing up our new vocab words - 2 or 3 depending on the hour - you were assigned the partner/small group rhetorical analysis presentation. In briefest terms, you selected one of ten letters or essays to complete a rhetorical analysis of purpose and strategy. With your partner or partners, you will construct a verbal essay - hook, thesis, strategy sections with analysis, evidence, & citations, conclusion - to share with your classmates. On Wednesday, you will be informally presenting your findings, in which you may use your notes and passage to assist your presentation. (As mentioned in class, you are not to type an essay and read verbatim.) As I strongly reminded you, all group members will need to participate and be here for the presentation. For our absentees, you will be in a partnership/group with other absentees. While you may not have today's class period to work on this, you will have almost the entire class period to do so tomorrow and Tuesday evening homework to finalize your preparations.
As stated in the previous post, if you missed the diagnostic prompt on Friday, you have 3 options to make up this prompt by the end of Tuesday: 1. study hall 2. after school on Tuesday 3. during class time on Tuesday. If you choose not to take the prompt during this time - or you have not contacted me with a request for an appointed time to do so - you will receive a zero on this assignment.
Monday, September 11, 2017
Friday, September 8, 2017
The Nameless
I'm putting in vocab quiz grades today, and about 10 people throughout my classes neglected to put their names on their work. So if you are seeing a zero in the gradebook and you completed the quiz, I would suggest looking through the quizzes and identifying which one is yours to receive credit.
Diagnostic Prompt #2
Today's classes were on the quiet side as you constructed your second diagnostic essay. If absent, you will need to make up this prompt in one of three manners by Tuesday: 1. during a study hall (preferred) 2. after school on Tuesday 3. during class on Monday or Tuesday (this is the last option so you do not miss class unless the other two are not feasible in your schedule).
Next week, we will have more rhetorical analysis. I know you are shocked by that declarative sentence. To make it interesting for all of us, the rhetorical analysis will be a partner/small group dynamic with different texts per group and presentations of what strategies and information are garnered in your analysis.
Don't forget to have your toolbox with your during class. There may just be a surprise quiz in your near future, and you may want to have that with you.
Next week, we will have more rhetorical analysis. I know you are shocked by that declarative sentence. To make it interesting for all of us, the rhetorical analysis will be a partner/small group dynamic with different texts per group and presentations of what strategies and information are garnered in your analysis.
Don't forget to have your toolbox with your during class. There may just be a surprise quiz in your near future, and you may want to have that with you.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Still Overachieving
All the classes are at different spots today, but we are all ending with the knowledge that tomorrow is your diagnostic cold read prompts. Be here. Be on time. Have your paper and writing instrument ready to go. Writing begins at the bell.
1: After our normal vocabulary commencement, we recapped Julie's overachieving introduction and how the author constructed her role and audience understanding. Following that moment, the class was divided in half with one half analyzing Audrey and one half analyzing AP Frank. If you were absent, you will need to select one of these personages - your choice - and jot down notes regarding organization and rhetorical strategies. This will need to be shown to me for participation points. At the end of class, we tied together the three overachievers to formulate an overall purpose.
3: First was a fire drill. Then, we resumed our vocabulary instruction with four more words. Following this, you looked at a few examples from The Overachievers and The Year of Living Biblically as a reminder of how to find a strategy and how to look for patterns. Last up, we returned to playing cards, in which your class scored a record high of 66% for third hour.
4: So, we - I - skipped vocab and dived right into samples from The Year of Living Biblically to look at a few more strategies and patterns in writing. Then, you played cards - not only played cards but completed 14 rounds of strategies and definition with 100% accuracy. After 3 weeks in Lang, you are starting to realize that those pesky strategies are imprinting themselves on your mind! To end class, we returned to vocab - with the addition of malapropism, zeugma, and anadiplosis examples.
7: For the first time, seventh hour completed the cards with 100% accuracy! It must be a result of all the stealth overachievers that we have in class! Prior to this impressive display, we added to our vocabulary, met in groups to learn and analyze Audrey and AP Frank's passages, and looked at a few samples of allusions and how they may interconnect in a text. If absent, you will need to show me your notes for your Audrey or AP Frank section to earn your participation points for today.
That is all from the world of AP Lang today. I am ready to go home and celebrate Tango's fourth birthday with some pretzels, banana crumb muffins, and lots of seed (that's for him).
1: After our normal vocabulary commencement, we recapped Julie's overachieving introduction and how the author constructed her role and audience understanding. Following that moment, the class was divided in half with one half analyzing Audrey and one half analyzing AP Frank. If you were absent, you will need to select one of these personages - your choice - and jot down notes regarding organization and rhetorical strategies. This will need to be shown to me for participation points. At the end of class, we tied together the three overachievers to formulate an overall purpose.
3: First was a fire drill. Then, we resumed our vocabulary instruction with four more words. Following this, you looked at a few examples from The Overachievers and The Year of Living Biblically as a reminder of how to find a strategy and how to look for patterns. Last up, we returned to playing cards, in which your class scored a record high of 66% for third hour.
4: So, we - I - skipped vocab and dived right into samples from The Year of Living Biblically to look at a few more strategies and patterns in writing. Then, you played cards - not only played cards but completed 14 rounds of strategies and definition with 100% accuracy. After 3 weeks in Lang, you are starting to realize that those pesky strategies are imprinting themselves on your mind! To end class, we returned to vocab - with the addition of malapropism, zeugma, and anadiplosis examples.
7: For the first time, seventh hour completed the cards with 100% accuracy! It must be a result of all the stealth overachievers that we have in class! Prior to this impressive display, we added to our vocabulary, met in groups to learn and analyze Audrey and AP Frank's passages, and looked at a few samples of allusions and how they may interconnect in a text. If absent, you will need to show me your notes for your Audrey or AP Frank section to earn your participation points for today.
That is all from the world of AP Lang today. I am ready to go home and celebrate Tango's fourth birthday with some pretzels, banana crumb muffins, and lots of seed (that's for him).
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Overachieving
Let's just put the date on this diagnostic prompt: Friday, September 8. On Friday, you will walk into the room and prepare your notebook paper and pen/pencil for this timed writing. I will be passing out the prompt - face down, of course - prior to the bell. When the bell rings, you will begin the prompt, which makes your promptness particularly meaningful for Friday's class. At the 40 minute mark (which is the standard timed essay amount), I will have you draw a line on your essay to show your progress. You will then have until the bell rings to finish the prompt. If you finish early, you will not be able to work on anything else. Since we have been working on rhetorical analysis for the past two weeks, make sure to apply all the information, examples, tricks, and tips that you have learned and write a strong essay.
As for the Overachievers Audrey/Frank analysis and discussion, if you were absent for that activity (whether it was today or tomorrow according to our class agenda), then you will need to show me your notes for the passage when you return to class to achieve your participation points.
As for today...
1: We continued vocab experts - with a minor tangent on hurricanes and hegiras - and then moved into rhetorical analysis via snippets from The Outliers, which had a very specific pattern of starting with a broad analogy, moving into a group circumstance, isolating a specific person, and finalizing with a well-known figure. And through all that, you spotted anaphora, enumeration, polysyndeton, and other strategies that work within many of this cause and effect discourse. All of the above is rhetorical analysis. While in the future you will be analyzing one passage, this should provide a model of how to look at a passage as a whole and find strategies that exist multiple times within its content. Next, we started The Overachievers and analyzed how the author introduced Julie, the Superstar. Through surface reputation to internal reality to brief anecdotes to Vera and her outsider point of view, the author purposely set up Julie in this fashion for the reader to find out her true personality. For homework, you are to finish reading the Julie section, noting what other techniques and strategies filter through her introduction. If absent, here are the opening pages from Amazon (click on "Look Inside" for the text); make sure you read the Julie section and no further: https://www.amazon.com/Overachievers-Secret-Lives-Driven-Kids/dp/140130902X.
3: After vocab experts, we returned to Julie's introduction and looked at how the author uses first person point of view to allow Julie's words to speak for her and how the author injects herself into the text, creating greater voice, a sympathy with Julie, and a greater ethos. Then, the class was divided into 2 with each half taking one of our remaining Overachievers: Audrey or AP Frank. After reading and noting strategies and structure, you met up with like analysts and discussed your Audrey or AP Frank perspective. Then, we mixed and mingled with Audreys and Franks meeting in the middle to teach one another about these Overachievers. At the end, we identified the purpose of this whole section since that is what rhetorical analysis should be.
4: After another round of vocab experts, we finished our discussion of Julie and how the author becomes part of the text via her observations of Julie, her empathy for Julie, and her perspective of Ms. Von Helsinger. Then, you had the opportunity to share your analysis of strategies and organization with your fellow Audreys and Franks. Eventually, this then merged into a partner activity in which the Audreys and Franks met with each other and taught each other about the passages. Once you were back in your original locale, we talked purpose of this passage as purpose is our passion in AP Lang. Last, we looked at all of the Overachievers, and you selected which one best represents your overachieving style.
7: We finally had the first vocab quiz! Since it was quite brief, I hope you did well -- no crying at my desk after school! As with all vocab quizzes, absentees will have a 48 hour window to either take the quiz or schedule a make up time. Afterwards, we resumed vocab unit 2 - which also included a presentation on malapropisms, zeugma, and anadiplosis, or three toolbox terms that you can use for strategy identification. After this, we returned to our overachieving Julie, looking at how the author continues to explore her personality via first person journal and author injection into the storyline. For homework, you are to analyze either Audrey or AP Frank for structure, strategy, and author organization. A, since you were absent, you will need to prep AP Frank for tomorrow's class.
As for the Overachievers Audrey/Frank analysis and discussion, if you were absent for that activity (whether it was today or tomorrow according to our class agenda), then you will need to show me your notes for the passage when you return to class to achieve your participation points.
As for today...
1: We continued vocab experts - with a minor tangent on hurricanes and hegiras - and then moved into rhetorical analysis via snippets from The Outliers, which had a very specific pattern of starting with a broad analogy, moving into a group circumstance, isolating a specific person, and finalizing with a well-known figure. And through all that, you spotted anaphora, enumeration, polysyndeton, and other strategies that work within many of this cause and effect discourse. All of the above is rhetorical analysis. While in the future you will be analyzing one passage, this should provide a model of how to look at a passage as a whole and find strategies that exist multiple times within its content. Next, we started The Overachievers and analyzed how the author introduced Julie, the Superstar. Through surface reputation to internal reality to brief anecdotes to Vera and her outsider point of view, the author purposely set up Julie in this fashion for the reader to find out her true personality. For homework, you are to finish reading the Julie section, noting what other techniques and strategies filter through her introduction. If absent, here are the opening pages from Amazon (click on "Look Inside" for the text); make sure you read the Julie section and no further: https://www.amazon.com/Overachievers-Secret-Lives-Driven-Kids/dp/140130902X.
3: After vocab experts, we returned to Julie's introduction and looked at how the author uses first person point of view to allow Julie's words to speak for her and how the author injects herself into the text, creating greater voice, a sympathy with Julie, and a greater ethos. Then, the class was divided into 2 with each half taking one of our remaining Overachievers: Audrey or AP Frank. After reading and noting strategies and structure, you met up with like analysts and discussed your Audrey or AP Frank perspective. Then, we mixed and mingled with Audreys and Franks meeting in the middle to teach one another about these Overachievers. At the end, we identified the purpose of this whole section since that is what rhetorical analysis should be.
4: After another round of vocab experts, we finished our discussion of Julie and how the author becomes part of the text via her observations of Julie, her empathy for Julie, and her perspective of Ms. Von Helsinger. Then, you had the opportunity to share your analysis of strategies and organization with your fellow Audreys and Franks. Eventually, this then merged into a partner activity in which the Audreys and Franks met with each other and taught each other about the passages. Once you were back in your original locale, we talked purpose of this passage as purpose is our passion in AP Lang. Last, we looked at all of the Overachievers, and you selected which one best represents your overachieving style.
7: We finally had the first vocab quiz! Since it was quite brief, I hope you did well -- no crying at my desk after school! As with all vocab quizzes, absentees will have a 48 hour window to either take the quiz or schedule a make up time. Afterwards, we resumed vocab unit 2 - which also included a presentation on malapropisms, zeugma, and anadiplosis, or three toolbox terms that you can use for strategy identification. After this, we returned to our overachieving Julie, looking at how the author continues to explore her personality via first person journal and author injection into the storyline. For homework, you are to analyze either Audrey or AP Frank for structure, strategy, and author organization. A, since you were absent, you will need to prep AP Frank for tomorrow's class.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Snippets
In exciting news, the document camera, the mouse, and the printer are now in working order! I hope I didn't just jinx all of that by mentioning it here. Oh, well, we will still be working on rhetorical analysis in the upcoming days, which will eventually lead us to your second diagnostic prompt later this week.
1: First hour was all about the meetings for you essay with a dash of vocabulary thrown in during the last five minutes. Tomorrow, we will be back in the work of rhetorical analysis, so I would advise reviewing your toolbox to help prepare you.
3: After vocab today, we looked (well, listened) at passages from The Outliers to indicate the various types of strategies and the author's purpose in using these to establish an understanding with the audience. As noted in class, a pattern began to develop throughout the passages, which exhibits how you can pull a strategy from across a text. To finish up the hour, we started reading about Julie, better known by the epithet Superstar, and how the author introduces us to her via multiple ways. Notice I'm dodging the specificity as to not influence other classes who will be reading the text tomorrow. For homework, you will need to finish reading the Julie section and note how she is continued to be introduced and what strategies you are noting. If absent, here are the opening pages from Amazon (click on "Look Inside" for the text); make sure you read the Julie section and no further: https://www.amazon.com/Overachievers-Secret-Lives-Driven-Kids/dp/140130902X
4: Ditto for above, but you will also have the task of analyzing either the Audrey or the AP Frank passage for how each person is introduced and what strategies the author decides to use for that particular section. If you were absent, choose either Audrey or the AP Frank sections to analyze for class. The link above will take you to the beginning of the text.
7: Read the third hour synopsis for our agenda and homework today. In addition, it looks like we still have take vocab quiz 1 - those pesky meetings distracted us (me) from giving that to you on Friday. As a result, we will take the vocab quiz tomorrow.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
In all classes, you copied down the latest round of vocabulary words for vocab experts, which will begin on Tuesday. During that time, I started, resumed, or finished meetings with your classes. On Tuesday, we will have meetings (if any are remaining), practice identifying rhetorical strategies through sample passages, and work on analyzing a longer passage for its techniques. Enjoy your weekend!
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