The Final & Holiday Break

At this point, you have all completed the final - the Sandy prompt that I know was a popular one last year and a toolbox quiz checking to see if you remember all those strategies that filled our semester with their own brand of joy.

I hope that you all enjoy your holiday break and that I will see you in 2019, which will be a year of adventure for all of us - in some fashion or another.

Second semester AP Lang becomes a hodgepodge of modes of discourse (remember the 11 of those?), allusions (time for you to have ethos on Biblical, mythological, literary, pop culture, and historical references for understanding texts and crafting some examples for hooks and argumentation), multiple choice (don't be scared of MC - you want to attack the readings and not cower to them - for instance, I was quite nervous about taking the AP Lit MC final this morning and decided to just go for it; while not my best ever, I missed only 5 of them - and most correct answers were my second choice)  argumentation (time to show off all of your knowledge and background ethos), creative tone work (a chance to show off your voice and do something "outside of the box"), and synthesis (perfecting the usage of given evidence and citations). We will definitely have a variety of activities and assignments to help stretch your writing abilities and prepare you for the AP test in May. And while rhetorical analysis will not be at the forefront of our third quarter studies, you still need those abilities, terms, and writing techniques for later use.

Last Lucy Day

As AP Lit students still seem to bring her up (even though some still maintain that they are not fans), Lucy Grealy has made an indelible mark on your education. Alas, today is the last in-class day that she will be the featured with your argumentative essay. As assigned, you have until Wednesday at 3 p.m. to turn in your essay, the last grade of the quarter. For those of you on the bubble between 2 grades, this may increase your chances of achieving the better of those 2 grades.

Wednesday's class will be a review for the final - which is centered around rhetorical strategies and analysis, or what we have spent most of first semester covering. Knowing the terms that we have studied and identified will, of course, help you in both facets. Remember our looks at syntax and its many types from the basic "fourth grade" types to the "big kid" clause types? Or the fun of repetition with anadiplosis, anaphora, and epistrophe? Or the play of words with malapropisms, euphemisms, epithets, and zeugmas? Or the comparisons of similes, metaphors, motifs, and allusions? Or the world of conjunctions with the verbose polysyndeton and the straight to the point asyndeton? Or the symbolic metonymy and synecdoche? There are, of course, other strategies as well, so make sure that you are familiar with your terms and ready to identify such examples on the prompt portion and the toolbox quiz portion (no toolbox this time).

Lucy Claims

Today was our first official work day for the Lucy Argument, which will feature your response to the following prompt: Who is the real Lucy Grealy? As noted in class and through examples, you want a claim that has a plethora of evidence from multiple sources, a counterclaim that can have its own evidence, and a rebuttal that returns the focus on the argument's original position. You will have Tuesday as a second work day, but you are more than welcome to work on this essay at home or during study hall opportunities. The final time to turn in this essay is 3 p.m. on Wednesday - in hard copy form. 

Meanwhile, we will review for the final on Wednesday by returning to a rhetorical analysis prompt and strategies. If you have not committed these to memory over the past 4 months, this would be an excellent time to do so! The final is just two parts this year, rhetorical analysis and a toolbox quiz without the aid of your toolbox, so this is an assessment reflecting exactly what we have done this semester. 

The Lucy Argument

After weeks of reading about Lucy, it's time for you to write about her! Starting on Monday and finishing (hopefully) during Tuesday's classes, you will be writing your Lucy argument essay and incorporating  a claim (hint - may want to use a different verb than "is"), evidence from multiple texts (you have 3 to choose from), warrants (to connect each evidence example to your claim regarding Lucy), a counterclaim (a second valid position on Lucy's character) with evidence, a rebuttal (back to that original characterization), and a conclusion. We haven't discussed it in class yet, but since you will be writing about multiple authors, your citations should include author and page number (if given). For example, (Grealy 24).

For first and third hours, make sure to read the "Hijacked by Grief" article to have another portrait of Lucy - from her sister this time. And, brainstorm a list of claims that you could make regarding "Who is the real Lucy Grealy?" Star the claim you would like to use and put a CC next to the one that will act as the counterclaim.

Fifth hour, you have started the process of writing, so that will continue next week.

The Next Phase of Argumentation

It's been quite a hodgepodge of a day, so this will be a blog of brevity.

1 & 3: You had the remainder of the hour to complete your Educator/Employee of the Year argument. Since I did not have a chance to meet with all of you directly, you were assigned to share your argument with me by the end of the day so that you can have feedback and credit for your work. We'll be looking at counterclaims and rebuttals tomorrow.

5: We had a holiday theme to our team claim, warrant, counterclaim, and rebuttal (which sure featured alliteration). As noted, the counterclaim is a second position on the topic that is just as relevant and has supporting evidence. The rebuttal references the counterclaim and then returns to the original claim to validate why this original position is just that much better. At the end of the hour, you read a third, yes, third perspective of Lucy:  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/07/biography.features, which we will have a brief chat about tomorrow and that you may use when you write your upcoming argument on the "real Lucy Grealy." Our class will be dedicated to setting up the argument, which you will (mostly) be completing in class.

Educator/Employee of the Year

In first and third hour, we completed our review and informal practice regarding claim, evidence, and warrant to recap the importance of these steps in the organization of an argumentative essay. All of those aforementioned steps came in handy as you started your argument for a staff member to be Educator or Employee of the Year. Remember, you are required to complete a first draft and receive feedback from me. It is up to you whether you turn in this for the official nomination by December 14. I hope you all do :) You have had extraordinary teachers here at FZN in the past and present (and future too), and you should let those teachers know their impact on you and your classmates. You will have time in class to work on this first draft on Thursday. However, you will not have the entire 50 minutes. If you need more time, make sure to work on the draft over the next couple of days.

In fifth hour, you had until the end of class to complete your first draft for feedback and participation points. I've read some moving examples of why my colleagues are personable, intelligent, and giving members of FZN. (Plus, some really awesome hooks.) We will be working with counterclaims and rebuttals next time!

The Argument

Our last regular week of the semester will feature the phases of argumentation (not persuasion, as so clearly different in intention), and all hours are firmly rooted around claim, evidence, and warrant to start. Don't worry - the other parts of the argument will make appearances on Thursday and Friday for your second argument. With the calendar winding down, we have 4 items on the docket: the Educator/Employee of the Year Essay, the Lucy argument essay (more to come at the end of the week), the final review, and the final itself, which will consist of a rhetorical analysis prompt and a rhetorical toolbox quiz - without the use of your toolbox. Since our schedule precluded us from reaching multiple choice, this will be the shortest final AP Lang has ever had. Hence, you need to have an understanding of strategies and how to write a rhetorical analysis prompt, two items that have been covered from the start of the semester. 

1: We wrapped up our brief unit of fallacies by sharing your findings regarding the Republican debate, which had its fair share of dogmatism, faulty analogy, appeal to pity, straw man, and red herring. After this reminder of what not to do, we entered the land of argument by reviewing the characteristics of a strong claim, evidence, and warrants. We will practice these stages during tomorrow's class, and then move into our first argument for Educator or Employee of the Year. 

3: We spent the hour focusing on the initial phases of argument: claim, evidence, warrant. With that knowledge reviewed, we started our first practice argument with brainstorming possible school schedules. During next class, we will work in groups to create claims, evidence, and warrants for the varying schedules and then move into the Educator/Employee of the Year argument. 

5: After sharing some of our spectacular claims, evidence, and super warrants, we spent the rest of the class receiving background for the Educator/Employee of the Year argument, looking at ways to construct this real world essay to its best advantage (3-4 paragraphs with 1 paragraph clarifying a personal connection and 1 paragraph looking at the full school community), and starting the essay. You will have time to write your first draft during the majority (not all) of class tomorrow. So, you are more than welcome to work on this over night in order to fine tune tomorrow. Absentees, if you are not comfortable writing the first draft yet, you should definitely have selected your nominee and brainstormed evidence in order to write during class.