Friday and Monday

FOR FRIDAY, JAN. 31:

DRAFT YOUR RESPONSE TO YOUR ASSIGNED QUESTION AND BRING IT TO FRIDAY'S CLASS.

Responses should be two paragraphs long; they should include excerpts from The Things They Carried.  (If you weren't in school on Thursday, call someone from your MLK group to find out what your question is.  Here's a link to the questions on The Things They Carried -- they're on ClassJump, under Course Downloads.)

In Friday's class we'll peer-edit these responses and type them up.

WEEKEND READING:  "Stockings," "Church," "The Man I Killed," "Ambush," and "Style."  (pp. 111-130). 

FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3:

We'll start with a Reader's Quiz ("Stockings" through "Style"), so please be prepared.  Discussion and AP Writing Exercises to follow the quiz.

For Thursday's class, View Documentary Background on the War in Vietnam

BE SURE YOU ARE CAUGHT UP IN THE THINGS THEY CARRIED (i.e., through "Song Tra Bong"), and... Watch 30 min. + 15 min. + 15 min., as follows:

To better understand the political and military build-up to the war in Vietnam, watch the first 30 minutes of   "Run through the Jungle," the Vietnam War (1964-1976).

For a foot-soldier's perspective, see National Geographic Documentary:  "On Soldiering."  ((The first 15 minutes of "On Soldiering" feature author Tim O'Brien, who calls the Vietnam War "monotony punctuated by moments of sheer terror.")

For a vivid sense of Vietnam veterans' perspectives, intermixed with footage from the war itself, see the first 15 minutes of Public Broadcast System (PBS) "Vietnam Stories" documentary.  (2011)

The Vietnam War was the first war to be heavily covered by American television news.  Although it's heavily edited, some of this footage does show the tragic and gory aftermath of battles.  Although the documentaries do not show people getting killed in action, many of the scenes are action-packed, and it becomes easy to imagine how bad it was on the ground.

Sadly, as you will see -- just as we see in The Things They Carried -- many American soldiers were  seriously involved with drugs during the Vietnam War.  One high-ranking U.S. general in the National Geographic documentary estimates that "at least 40%" of the (500,000) men in Vietnam "experimented with, or got heavily involved with," drugs.  Heroin and marijuana were tragic, costly aspects of the jungle war in Southeast Asia.

UPDATED Weather-Flexible Assignment, complete with a Glossary of Military Terms, Slang, & Acronyms from the War in Vietnam (1964-1976)

NO MATTER WHICH DAY WE RETURN, HERE'S WHAT WE'LL DO THAT DAY:

1.  Vocabulary Quiz.  (See the words in the upper RH corner of this blog.)

2.  Hear all remaining MLK presentations.

3.  Begin our discussion of Tim O'Brien and The Things They Carried.

If WE RETURN THIS TUESDAY, JAN. 28:

I'll expect you to be very familiar with the first sixty-one pages of The Things They Carried (pp. 1-61) (through and including "On the Rainy River").

IF WE RETURN THIS WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29:

I'll expect you to be very familiar with the first one hundred ten pages of The Things They Carried (pp. 1-110 (or 118, depending on your edition), through and including "The Story of Song Tra Bong."

Didn't stop at the Media Center for your copy of The Things They Carried?  Here is a link to the full text of the book online.

VIETNAM WAR GLOSSARY.

P.S.  Following is a stellar, articulate argument essay -- a "9" -- dateline:  January 24, 2014, the New York Times:

Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?   Whether your answer is yes or no, you will learn something about rigorous argument if you read this artful piece by Boston author -- and devoted sports fan -- Steve Almond.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Almond

Tomorrow Is Not Just Another Day, and Neither Is Today!

Cold Temperatures keep trying to set us back!!!

Therefore, I urge you to reclaim lost time in English today:  Thursday, January 23.  Stay on track, or get ahead.

Step One:  Do your best to finish your presentations on Martin Luther King's "Letter" today, so you can present them in class tomorrow:  Friday, January 24.  With technological resources at your fingertips, you can easily learn the phone numbers or email addresses of your partners in the MLK talks and make the necessary connections this morning or this afternoon.  And you all have access to King's "Letter" -- it's in LOC, but it's also online.   .Link to the full text of King's "Letter."  [Forgot who your partners are?  I'll re-post the partner groups this morning in the RH column of this blog.]

Step Two:  Assemble your presentations via email, sending back-and-forth drafts of your PowerPoint as email attachments.  Use Skype or FaceTime to rehearse.  Meet at Caribou!  Meet early on Friday morning.  And if at all possible, walk into class this Friday with a presentable talk. 

PRESENTATIONS THAT GO FORWARD ON FRIDAY WILL RECEIVE A 10-POINT EXTRA-CREDIT BONUS:  They'll be scored on a 30-point basis, with an automatic 10-point "foundation." (Presentations that go forward on Monday will be scored on the regular 20-point basis.)

The 20-point scoring rubric for the MLK, Jr. Presentations follows immediately:

5 points:  Convincing, sure-footed use of examples from King's "Letter"  (Groups 1-6).
               [For Group 7:  convincing use of documentary footage, photography, news articles.]

5 points:  Engaging response to your group's prompt, with thoughtful analysis of King's "Letter" and its impact.

5 points:  Clear evidence of full-group participation:  in preparation; in presentation. Everybody talks!

5 points:  Clarity and cohesiveness in presentation.  Supportive, well-organized PowerPoint.

[Plus, a 10-point bonus/foundation.  Groups that present on Friday will receive a 10-point bonus before they even start talking.  They will then build the aforestated 20 points on top of the bonus 10.]

There is no penalty in this scheme for groups that wait until Monday.  Some may be forced to wait because of communication challenges on Thursday.  There's no penalty for waiting -- only the advantage if you go forward.

Monday groups won't be penalized; however, we are moving forward.  There will be a fresh Vocabulary Quiz this Monday.  The 12 words are posted in the upper RH corner of this blog.  We will take the Vocabulary Quiz on Monday before starting any MLK, Jr. presentations.

OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY?  New assignments are going onto this blog for the days and weeks ahead.  Furthermore, you have, by now, an AP Practice booklet from the Princeton Review or McGraw-Hill.  WORK ON PROBLEMS IN THESE.

Wait!  You don't have an AP English practice booklet yet?  Then, (a) order one today!! and (b) use free resources online, starting with the FREE MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUIZ that's posted near the top of our AP Central Exam page.  Has anyone taken this M-C Quiz yet??  The Quiz is sitting right there, and the answers are on the last page of the .PDF file, at the back of the questions.

STILL HAVEN'T TURNED IN A "BUY-NOTHING DAY" ESSAY?  It's the 2010 (Form B) AP argument prompt -- Free Response Question #3.

I urge you to get going.   ~   PB

PowerPoint Presentations on Dr. King's "Letter"

In a five-minute presentation this Friday, stand together at the front of the class and give your Group’s response to your assigned question.  Use PowerPoint slides to show relevant information or text, highlighting figurative language, rhetorical strategies, and other answers to your question.

GROUP 1.  “How does King balance the twin appeals to religion and patriotism throughout ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’?  Do you think he puts more emphasis on religion or patriotism?  Why do you think he makes that choice?” (Discussion Question 3, p. 274).  Make an argument:  religion or patriotism.   Cite language from the “Letter” in your PowerPoint to support your views.  (P.S.  If there is disagreement in your group, MAKE TWO SEPARATE PRESENTATIONS, forming a mini-debate about King’s priorities.)

GROUP 2.  “In the long sentence in paragraph 14 (pp. 264-265), why does King arrange the “when” clauses in the order that he does?  Try repositioning them, and then discuss the difference in effect.”  (Rhetoric & Style Question 5, p. 274).  Begin by showing  a slide of the original paragraph, and read it out loud and make general comments on the “when” clauses.  Then show your “repositioned version” of the ‘when’ clauses.  How does the “repositioned” sequence disrupt King’s original purposes.  Finally, return to King’s original language, and talk about the effect King achieves with the original sequence of “when” clauses.

GROUP 3.  “What rhetorical strategies are used in paragraph 25?  Identify at least four.”  (Rhetoric and Style Question 6, p. 274).  Explain the effects MLK achieves with these rhetorical strategies.  Show the original paragraph first, and read it out loud.  Then, for each rhetorical strategy, “light up” the specific words you intend to discuss for each rhetorical strategy.  (Consider using contrasting colors for the texts of your respective rhetorical strategies.)

GROUP 4.  “What are the chief rhetorical strategies used in paragraph 31?  Identify at least five.”  (Rhetoric and Style Question 8, p. 275).  Explain the effects MLK achieves with these rhetorical strategies.  Show the original paragraph first, and read it out loud.  Then, for each rhetorical strategy, “light up” the specific words you intend to discuss for each rhetorical strategy.  (Consider using contrasting colors for the texts of your respective rhetorical strategies.)

GROUP 5.  “Trace one of the following patterns of figurative language throughout King’s letter:  darkness and light, high and low, sickness and health.”  (Rhetoric and Style Question 10, p. 275)  For the imagery you choose to trace, make PowerPoint slides of at least four passages from the “Letter.”  Use PowerPoint color to “light up” specific instances of imagery.  Talk about why you think King decided to dwell on this pattern of language so persistently.  What does he achieve over the course of the whole letter?

GROUP 6.  “Considering the final three paragraphs as King’s conclusion, discuss whether you believe it to be rhetorically effective.”  (Rhetoric and Style Question 12, p. 275)   Make a PowerPoint slide of the three concluding paragraphs on pp. 273-274.  Talk about the persuasive effects King achieves within these paragraphs, highlighting phrases, clauses, or sentences with PowerPoint color.  Make another slide that helps you explain the overarching effect of the conclusion:  how well – or how poorly – does this conclusion work in relation to the preceding 10-12 pages of the letter?  Explain your thinking.  If there are debates within your group (i.e., if some think the conclusion is strong and others think it’s weak), then have those debates as part of your presentation:  expose your disagreement in a wee debate!

GROUP 7.  Occasion – What is the broader occasion of MLK, Jr.’s speech?  Why did King and the SCLC choose Birmingham in the first place?  What made Birmingham an ideal location for King’s direct-action campaign?  Who was the governor of Alabama at the time?  Was Birmingham an integrated city or a segregated city?   What was the symbolic importance of the year 1963 in relation to the emancipation of southern slaves during the Civil War? (See, especially, the Stanford.edu web explanations of the wider context of the demonstrations in Birmingham in 1963.)  For your PowerPoint, it’s fine to include news footage, music, newspaper photographs, and other documentary evidence.  Your job is to set the stage for the controversial social and political context of Dr. King’s “Letter.”  THIS GROUP WILL GO FIRST ON FRIDAY.

For Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 21 and 22

For this weekend's homework, you'll need your copy of LOC.  Please read the first half of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- p. 260 to the top of p. 267 (stop at "...I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws").  There will be a brief reader's quiz on the first half of King's "Letter" -- open-notes basis for handwritten notes -- at the beginning of Tuesday's class.  (In case you missed school on Friday & left your LOC at school, here's a Link to the full text of King's "Letter.")

For Tuesday night's homework, please finish reading King's "Letter" and review the Scoring Commentary & Student Essays for the 2010 de Botton AP Argumentative essay on the role of humor.

On Wednesday, we'll discuss MLK, Jr.'s classic rhetoric and score I-CE #2 on the role of humor.

DON'T FORGET THAT COURSE-SELECTION CARDS -- your course choices for 2014-'15 -- ARE DUE, PRINTED OUT, IN ENGLISH CLASS THIS THURSDAY.

For Friday's class, on January 17

1.  Bring your completed AP argument essay on "Buy Nothing Day."  Score your essay (0-9) based on your reading of the three student essays and the AP Scoring Commentary from the 2010 (Form B) exam results online.

2.  We'll write I-CE #2.

For Thursday's class, begin to draft a "Buy-Nothing Day" essay.

Plan an AP Argumentative essay in response to the 2010 (Form B) Argument prompt about a Buy-Nothing Day:

Question 3

(Suggested time—40 minutes. This question counts for one-third of the total essay section score.)

The first Buy Nothing Day—a day on which people are urged to purchase no goods—was organized in Canada in 1992 as a way to increase awareness of excessive consumerism. A Buy Nothing Day has been held yearly since then in many nations. An online article, “Buy Nothing Day: 2006 Press Release,” urged worldwide acceptance of taking a “24-hour consumer detox as part of the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day” in order to “expose the environmental and ethical consequences of overconsumption” (“Buy Nothing Day,” courtesy Adbusters,www.adbusters.org).

Consider the implications of a day on which no goods are purchased. Then write an essay in which you develop a position on the establishment of an annual Buy Nothing Day. Support your argument with appropriate evidence.

Begin to develop a position in response to this prompt.  List several items of appropriate evidence:  examples that would support your claim.  As you list possible examples, think about the Toulmin warrants -- the assumptions -- that would link each of your examples to your thesis.

Write the lead paragraph of this hypothetical essay:  type it up, print it out, and bring it to class on Thursday.  Also, please bring your list of prospective examples.  We'll finish writing this essay in Thursday's class.

Mon.-Tues.-Wed., Jan. 13-14-15

For Monday -- a Practice Vocabulary Quiz.  See the words in the upper RH corner of this blog -->.

Also for Monday, please be ready to discuss pp. 125-140 in the new, revised Chapter Three of LOC -- Toulmin logic and Visual Argument (see handout or ClassJump).

For Tuesday's class:  Please complete the eight items in the ACTIVITY on page 128 of the new LOC Chapter 3 (ClassJump or printed version).  I'll collect these at the end of Tuesday's class.

For Wednesday's class, Jan. 15:  A reader's quiz on the new chapter 3 of LOC.

A 3-Day Week as the Arctic Blast Subsides...

POETRY OUT LOUD
We will run the Poetry contest this Wed.-Thurs.-Fri., effectively postponing speakers originally scheduled for Tues.-Wed.-Thurs. by just one day.  Thus, 4th Pd.'s Wednesday poetry declaimers are now Grace*, Christina*, Lauren R.*, Justin*, Abdi*, Gus*, Michael*, Lily*, Kathy*, and Donovan*; and 5th Pd.'s Wednesday poetry declaimers will now be Ashley S., Tara, Anna H., John L., Keoni, Ellen, Tanner, Nate J., Albert, and Ben.  

We will continue through Thursday and Friday with this adjusted schedule.  Students originally scheduled to speak on Wednesday will now speak on Thursday.  Those originally slated to speak on Thursday will now declaim their poems on Friday.

In the blog post below (Mon., Jan. 6), you can see the judges and poems for Wednesday, Jan. 8.  We will go forward on Wednesday, so please be prepared.  In view of the time off you've had, I expect to hear beautiful readings this week, including impeccably memorized shorter poems and thoughtfully delivered poems of all lengths!

MONDAY and TUESDAY, Jan. 12 & 13
I've postponed the Vocabulary #6 Quiz to Monday, Jan. 12.  Immediately after Monday's Vocabulary Quiz, we'll discuss Toulmin logic and Visual Argument (new, revised LOC, pp. 125-140 -- it's on ClassJump in case you didn't get one of the printed copies), and we'll take the reader's quiz on Toulmin and Visual Arg. on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Thus, in the grand scheme, all performances, assignments, and quizzes in our AP English class have moved forward by one day (not two!).

Stay warm!  I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday.  

Mr. Bratnober

Poetry Out Loud selections for Judges to Preview before we resume school THIS WEDNESDAY

4th Pd.
Wednesday’s Poems, 1/8 (originally, "Tuesday's") are listed below:  The original Tuesday speakers will  declaim their poems when we return on Wednesday.  The original Wednesday speakers will now judge on Wednesday:   that is, Lauren V.*, Tara*, Courtney*, Carter*, Ellen A.*, Gozie*, Jill*, Ben*, Brian*, Jake*, Neve.  Judges, please look over the poems in advance of Wednesday's AP English class.

SHORTER POEMS

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” by William Wordsworth

“The Donkey,” by G.K. Chesterton

“Old Ironsides,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Across the Bay,” (the site will tell you the poet’s name)

“The Way It Sometimes Is,” by Henry Taylor

“The Arrow and the Song,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“A Thank-You Note,” by Michael Ryan

“Heavenly City,” by Stevie Smith

LONGER POEMS

“It Isn’t Me,” by James Lasdun

“Floating Island,” by Dorothy Wordsworth

“Becoming a Redwood,” by Dana Gioia

“The Tables Turned,” (the site will tell you the poet’s name)

“Revenge,” by Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“On Quitting,” by Edgar Albert Guest

“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by James Weldon Johnson

“Ah! Why, Because the Dazzling Sun, by Emily Bronte

5^th Period:

Wednesday’s Poems, 1/8 (originally, "Tuesday's") are listed below:  The original Tuesday speakers will  declaim these poems when we return on Wednesday.  The original Wednesday speakers will now judge on Wednesday:   that is, Ashley S., Tara, Anna H., John L., Keoni, Ellen, Tanner, Nate J., Albert, and Ben.  Judges, please look over the poems in advance of Wednesday's AP English class.

SHORTER POEMS

“The Arrow and the Song,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Ways of Talking,” by Ha Jin

“Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley

“Alone,” by Edgar Allen Poe

“Epitaph,” by Katherine Philips

“When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be,” by John Keats

“The Cities Inside Us,” by Alberto Rios

“The Star,” by Ann Taylor

LONGER POEMS

“Candies,” by Carl Denis

“Thoughtless Cruelty,” by Charles Lamb

“The Brook,” by Edward Thomas

“After Working Sixty Hours Again for What Reason,” by Bob Hicock

“Epitaph,” by Katherine Philips

“A History Without Suffering,” by E.A. Markham

“Lift Every Voice and Sing,” by James Weldon Johnson

“And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” by Dylan Thomas

“Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight,” by Vachel Lindsay

“Cartoon Physics, Part 1,” by Nick Flynn