Tuesday, Sept. 3
Welcome and Introductions. Seating order. This blog. Friday's vocabulary. 2T & 1L.
P.M. Familiarize yourself with this blog. Get to know the vocabulary words. (See the Writer's Blog for extra help with Friday's vocabulary words.) Invite your parents to Thursday's Open House!
Wednesday, Sept. 4
Copies of LOC. Get acquainted with Rhetorical Analysis. Grading system for AP Lang & Comp.
P.M. Read pp. 1-12 in LOC. Continue to review vocabulary words.
Thurs., Sept. 5
Discussion of Rhetorical Analysis (RA): Aristotle's Triangle; appeals to ethos, logos, & pathos; discussions about a speaker's or writer's purpose, effectiveness, and context (occasion/time/place).
P.M. Read pp. 12-17 in
The Language of Composition (Sandra Day O'Connor section). Reminder about tomorrow's Vocabulary Quiz #1.
Fri., Sept. 6
Vocabulary Quiz #1 (closed book / closed notes). More about grades and grading in this course. Discuss the Classic Essay (e.g., Sandra Day O'Connor's piece). Honor Code. Magic Extravaganza: 1/32.
Weekend Reading: Finish reading Ch. 1: pp. 17-26 ("Patterns of Development" section). Begin to review all of Ch. 1 for a Reader's Quiz this Tuesday, Sept. 10.
And please, if you are seeing this late-breaking addition, bring a marbled notebook to class -- preferably on Monday, but if not, then on Tuesday. Here is a link to this widely available product:
CLICK HERE FOR THE IMAGE OF A MARBLED NOTEBOOK.
Mon. Sept. 9
Practice Quiz on Patterns of Development. Discuss Lady Diana news coverage (pp. 26-34). Review for Tuesday's Chapter 1 quiz.
P.M. Review for Tuesday's Reader's Quiz on Chapter 1.
Tues., Sept. 10
Reader's Quiz on Ch. 1. Mr. Bratnober explains more about Grades in AP Lang & Comp.
P.M. In
The Language of Composition (LOC), carefully read pp. 37-48. Warning: this is a lot! (If we have a Reader's Quiz on Wed., it will be on an Open-Notes basis.)
Also, Wednesday is THE DEADLINE for bringing in your Marbled notebook.
Wed., Sept. 11 -- Commemoration & acknowledgement of an important day in U.S. history.
Free-Write (FW) in Marbled notebooks. If we have a Reader's Quiz on the first segment of Ch. 2, it will be given on an Open Notes basis. Discussion of close reading analysis. Discussions about tone and style.
P.M. Read pp. 48-59 in Chapter 2 of
LOC. Outline a prospective essay of rhetorical analysis on JFK's speech (i.e., bullet points, not complete sentences; try to shape your outline in a way that re-enacts the experience of reading or hearing Kennedy's speech -- think about Speaker / Audience / Subject! Context! Purpose! Appeals!)
Thurs., Sept. 12
We will build essays of rhetorical analysis based on JFK's inaugural address. Introduction to the AP Central website.
P.M. See ClassJump for the prompt & text for an AP practice essay of rhetorical analysis. TIME YOURSELF FOR
50 MINUTES AND WRITE THIS ESSAY. (On the May Exam you will have something closer to 40 minutes!!) Be sure to bring your essay to class on Friday.
Fri., Sept. 13
The Comparatorium!! We will trade essays and begin to give scores using the AP scoring rubric for essays of Rhetorical Analysis. These scores will be "indicator scores," not grades that count. :)
Weekend: Review Chapters 1 and 2 in LOC. Think about what we did with the JFK essays (see, especially, the Glossary on pp. 58-59).
Study successful student essays of rhetorical analysis on AP Central. (See Question 2 under "Free-Response Questions.") All these activities will help you prepare for
Monday's In-Class Essay, our first I-CE!
If you
DID NOT WRITE THE RACHEL CARSON ESSAY for Friday's class. You can still submit one. Please write this over the weekend (
see Mr. Bratnober's ClassJump page, under Course Downloads, for the prompt and the Carson article), and either (a) email your paper as an attachment to Mr. Bratnober (see RH column of this blog for PB's email), or (b) bring it to Rm. 201 by 8:20 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 16.
Also, please note the Vocabulary words (RH column) for
Wednesday's Vocabulary Quiz.
Mon., Sept. 16
If there is a Mad Scramble on Monday -- i.e., because schedules are switched & some students are moving around -- we
may need to postpone the Rhetorical Analysis I-CE until Tuesday.
Hopefully this will not happen!! [But if a mad scramble
does does happen, we will devote Monday to further work with the AP Scoring Guidelines for the R.A. Essay.]
Whenever we go forward with this essay -- including the intended scenario of a Monday essay -- you will have approximately fifty (50) minutes in which to compose an essay of rhetorical analysis based on a well written essay, speech, or letter.
P.M. Continue to review for
tomorrow's In-Class Essay, the first of our five AP essays of rhetorical analysis. For successful examples, see AP Central, including the solid essay in response to the Rachel Carson prompt -- Free-Response Question 1, 2004 Form B exam. For further guidance, see LOC, chapters 1 & 2. See Mr. Bratnober's essay on Einstein's letter. Also, see your practice booklet for the AP exam -- Princeton Review, Five Ways to a 5, et al.
Tues., Sept. 17
Write the first I-CE of rhetorical analysis. 50 minutes, using a prompt from a past AP exam.
P.M. Study the Vocabulary. See the upper RH corner of this blog; see, also, the handy definitions and examples on our Writer's Resource blog.
Wednesday, Sept. 18
Further study of this week's Vocabulary words: FW sentences in marbled notebooks. More information regarding GRADES in AP Lang & Comp (including return to you of many past assignments). Essay study in LOC: Jamaica Kincaid (pp. 904-913 in LOC).
P.M. Finish reading "On Seeing England for the First Time," by J. Kincaid (pp. 904-913 in
LOC). Continue to review for Thursday's Vocabulary Test (see upper RH corner of the blog).
Thurs., Sept. 19
In class: Vocabulary Quiz on the ten words. Discussion // Process re. Jamaica Kincaid.
P.M. Review Kincaid and get ready to present on your Question on Rhetoric & Style (pp. 912-913).
ALSO, because we will score the AP essays on Barry, you would do well to review the broad AP scoring criteria for the Rhetorical Analysis essay, along with
the AP Scoring Guidelines, the three sample student essays (a 9, a 6, and a 4), plus the AP Commentary they issued in 2008 ("Form A" - Question 2) for the Barry essay.
Fri., Sept. 20
Presentations on Rhetoric and Style in Jamaica Kincaid. Launch Jonathan Swift.
Barry essays: Holistic AP Scores; Essays Back to You, and then to your class portfolios.
Weekend Reading: "A Modest Proposal," by Jonathan Swift. (LOC, pp. 914-921). Think about the questions at the end and jot down your responses -- we'll discuss these questions in class on Monday.
Mon., Sept. 23
FW: Address a writing issue that arose in your Barry essays. Discussion process for "A Modest Proposal."
P.M. Tune up your reading of "A Modest Proposal." Think about Swift's rhetorical moves -- his appeals, his choices in diction and syntax. Who is in Swift's audience, and what does Swift hope to persuade his audience to do? Be prepared to discuss specific instances of Swift's irony and satire.
Tues., Sept. 24
In class: Pronouns and their Antecedents. "A Modest Proposal."
P.M. (A) Jot down notes -- i.e., bullet points -- in which you identify at least three or four "breaks" in the essay: places where Swift's own voice breaks through, revealing his true attitude about poverty and overpopulation in Ireland (see Question 1 under "Suggestions for Writing," on p. 921); and (B) in a paragraph or two that you write in full, make your own Modest Proposal. Choose a question of policy, law, or administration where a "proposal" like Swift's would be pertinent, ironic, and/or persuasive today. As you write your proposal, consider
the relationship between humor and outrage: in your proposal; in Swift's.
Please type & print both parts of this assignment; both will be collected at the end of class on Wednesday.
Wed., Sept. 25
Collect "Modest Proposals." Discuss Swift and satire.
P.M. Read Chris Hedges's "Destruction of Culture," in LOC.
Thurs., Sept. 26
Discuss the "Destruction of Culture," as a consequence of war. Discuss war and rules of engagement. See and contemplate of Declaration of Independence, by Thos. Jefferson and others.
P.M. Reread "The Destruction of Culture." Think about the structure -- the grand architecture -- of the Declaration of Independence.
Friday, Sept. 27
High stanards -- for debate; for our class. Further discussion of Chris Hedges. Magic extravaganza: #4 in a series of 32.
Weekend reading: Read Oliver Goldsmith's "National Prejudices," and
outline an essay in which you would discuss the rhetorical strategies (irony & analogy, metaphor, and rhetorical questions, e.g.) that Goldsmith uses to reinforce his argument with respect to national pride and prejudice. Also, please think about Goldsmith in relation to Christopher Hedges and the destruction of culture.
Please keep in mind that we'll write in-class essay #2 (I-CE #2) this Tuesday, in class. If you still feel baffled by, or uncertain about, the essay of rhetorical analysis, you would do well to read the Free-Response Questions and corresponding student essays online, especially the AP Scoring Commentary. (See Class Blog link to AP Central.)
Mon., Sept. 30
Use our outlines to construct one or more essays of rhetorical analysis based on Goldsmith.
P.M. Review essays of Rhetorical Analysis in anticipation of tomorrow's I-CE #2.
One of the Rhetorical Analysis essays on AP Central -- a Free-Response Question #2 -- will be the subject of Tuesday's essay, and you are not only welcome, you are encouraged!, to look. Don't forget that there is help online for students who may wish to study Antecedent-and-Pronoun agreement: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/exercisecentral/Exercises. There is a one-time sign-on ritual. Once you are on the site, browse the tables of contents (LH column) for quiz topics, and go to Pronoun-Antecedent quizzes.)
Remember that a good essay of rhetorical analysis traces the shape -- and hence, the persuasive power -- of the writer's argument, highlighting moments when artful writing supports key points in the essay, speech, or letter. Keep in mind that the original writer or speaker had an
audience! The relationship between the speaker and his or her audience -- that is, the setting in time, place, and shared political exigencies -- was the context in which the piece first appeared. We try to measure effectiveness in relation to
that audience, in that context. Some students make the mistake of trying to measure a speech's effectiveness in relation to the expectations of a modern audience; our mission includes remembering context, seeking ways to measure the effects of a piece in its original setting.
FINAL NOTE: If you go to ClassJump and scroll
way down, to the category called "HOW THEY SCORE THE AP ENGLISH EXAM," you will see a document with the fifteen scoring guidelines they use for these essays. These are the guidelines the College Board distributes to all the Readers -- English professors & teachers -- who score the AP English Lang & Comp essays.
Tues., Oct. 1
I-CE #2.
P.M. Read "Thoughts of Peace in an Air Raid," by Virginia Woolf. Do any and all research you require in order to understand Woolf's context: the German air raids over London at the beginning of World War II.
To see the AP Target Papers for the Florence Kelley essay, see the first item currently under General Downloads on ClassJump.
Wed., Oct 2
Discuss Virginia Woolf. Form. Patterns of Development. Rhetorical strategies.
P.M. To successfully and accurately score your Florence Kelley essay in class on Thursday, Oct. 3, please consult -- at the very least -- the AP Scoring Guidelines, the three sample essays (High, Medium, Low), and the AP Scoring Commentary on these three essays. To accomplish this, follow this link to
AP Central and scroll down to 2011 (Form A), and read everything about Free-Response Question 2, including the AP Scoring Commentary on the three essays.
Also, please consult ClassJump. Somewhere, near the
bottom of the Downloads, you should find three highly relevant segments: (1) FLORENCE KELLEY'S SPEECH ON CHILD LABOR (includes three documents); (2) HOW THEY SCORE THE AP ENGLISH; and (3) under
General Downloads, and (3) THE COLLEGE BOARD'S TARGET PAPERS FOR THE FLORENCE KELLEY PROMPT. The College Board's Target papers offer one student essay on F.K. for each score: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [But... are the first two essays the 9 and the 8, respectively; or does the sequence begin with the 8 and the 9, out of order??]
Thurs., Oct. 3
Score the Florence Kelley essay (I-CE #2), consulting past student AP essays and guidelines to help us score accurately.
P.M. Read p. 939 (introduction to Thoreau), and all of pp. 940-941-942 of "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" (1849).
Jonathan Swift and Henry David Thoreau shared a streak of iconoclasm: both distrusted the ruling class, preferring enlightened liberty to mule-like obedience. Here Thoreau's disobedience is directed toward an American government that would send its army into Mexico to win new slave-holding territory. An avowed abolitionist, Thoreau objected to slavery, and thus, to any campaign designed to expand slavery in America. When asked to pay a tax to support the U.S. Army in Mexico, Thoreau chose jail over paying the tax. In his essay -- originally entitled "Resistance to Civil Government" -- Thoreau sets forth his case for resisting the law.
