For Thursday, May 1, and Friday, May 2

In The Language of Composition, please review "Analyzing a Visual Text," pp. 49-51.

Study James Crawford's table, "Census Data on Language Use in the United States," LOC, p. 576, and answer Exploring the Text questions 1, 2, 3, and  5, on p. 578.

We will address tables, political cartoons, ad photography, and other visual texts tomorrow to support success on the AP Synthesis essay.

Also, let us try to finalize Lit Circle groups.  I think we will need extra copies of Yann Martel's Life of Pi.  Does your family have a copy our class can borrow for a month this May?

FRIDAY, MAY 2:  In-Class AP Synthesis Essay #4.

For Tuesday, April 29

If you haven't done so already, please complete the questions about the Orwell essay.  Also, please use tonight to wrap up missing assignments:  Practice 1-2-3, Colonial Imperialism, Thoreau.

On Tuesday we will look closely at the Lit Circle choices, listening to segments from audiobooks, and reading passages aloud.  Again, the books are The Scarlet Letter, The Bluest Eye, A Farewell to Arms, What is the What, Life of Pi, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Glass Menagerie (play), Fahrenheit 451, and The Catcher in the Rye.  There is abundant information about these texts online.

For Monday, April 28

Please read George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language," pp. 529-539, in The Language of Composition.  We'll discuss this in connection with "Mother Tongue," so please keep Amy Tan's essay on the front burner as well.

NOTE:  It appears to me that there are still many AP English Lang and Comp juniors who have not submitted Sentences Imitations (Practice exercises 1-2-3), the Colonial Imperialism essay (LOC, pp. 995-996), or the two paragraphs of rhetorical analysis of Thoreau's "Where I Lived, and What I Lived for" (see LOC and this blog, April 22-23).

For Friday, April 25

1.  Please read the AP Scoring Guidelines for the 2013 Synthesis essay on monuments and memorials.  Also, please review the three student anchor papers:  an 8, a 5, and a 2.

2.  In The Language of Composition, please read (or reread) Amy Tan's short essay "Mother Tongue."

We will take another AP Multiple-Choice review quiz on Friday, and we will score I-CE #3.

For Thursday, April 24

For Thursday’s AP English class, please read the 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Prompt and prewrite the essay you would write in response.

To find this Rhetorical Analysis prompt, click on this link and SCROLL DOWN to Question 2.

The AP assignment for Wednesday, April 23, includes a Brief Essay

Clearly, Henry David Thoreau did not approve of the fast pace of life in 1847.  He thought Americans worked too hard – that they were workaholic slaves to bank mortgages and other debts.  And he felt that there was too much technology (e.g., trains, telegraphs, measuring devices). 

He conducted his experiment in deliberate living – his two and a half year hermitage on Walden Pond – not simply as an isolationist retreat (yes, his Concord neighbors visited him periodically, and yes, his mother did his laundry!), but instead as a symbolic statement about living simply.  In effect, he tried to become a living, breathing counterargument to what he saw as American addiction to work and technology.

As you review “Where I Lived, and What I Lived for” tonight (LOC, pp. 256-261), please write two paragraphs – hypothetical body paragraphs in a hypothetical AP essay of rhetorical analysis – in which you specifically and eloquently show how at least two of Thoreau’s rhetorical strategies support his argument in challenging Americans to “Simplify!”

As you write, please remember that rhetorical strategies are not limited to the items in the Glossary of LOC.  Humor is a rhetorical strategy.  Repetition is a rhetorical strategy.  Insistence is a rhetorical strategy.  Irony and sarcasm are rhetorical strategies.  How do Thoreau’s rhetorical strategies support his argument in challenging mid-19^th-century Americans to “Simplify!”? 

TYPE & PRINT THESE PARAGRAPHS, AND BRING THEM TO CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23.  ALSO, PLEASE SUBMIT THESE PARAGRAHS ON TURNITIN.COM.  I'VE CREATED AN ASSIGNMENT CALLED 'THOREAU ASSIGNMENT' ON TURNITIN.COM.

For Monday's and Tuesday's Classes, on April 21 & 22

Please read Henry David Thoreau's essay, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived for."  It's in LOC, pp. 276-281.  The essay is actually an excerpt from Thoreau's larger book, Walden (1854), an account of the two and a half years Thoreau spent living in a small cabin on Walden Pond, outside Concord, MA.

This essay is also published in many places online.  Google on 'Thoreau' 'Walden' and 'Chapter 2' and you will find it.

Here's a link:  http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/walden/hdt02.html    Scroll down to about the half-way point, where he writes, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."  Start reading at that point and finish the document.

Also, just to say:  it might help to SparkNote this (i.e., Walden, Ch. 2).  The notes will tell you, in brief, what he's talking about.  Then, however, please read it.

We'll write I-CE #3 on Tuesday and return to Walden on Wednesday.

Deadline Change for the Colonial Imperialism essay

With Prom, the ACT, and the upcoming MCAs, I've asked a lot of you by demanding that you finish an essay by Monday/Tuesday.  Let me therefore extend this deadline to Thursday at class time:  hard copy.  Enjoy Prom!  (And please RT this tweet.)   P.S.  It's still fine to hand it in on Tuesday.

Missing Work

See the grading portal.  Many of you have small missing assignments.  These should be easy to make up this weekend.  If I've overlooked something, please refresh my memory on Monday.

Calendar of Assignments Going Forward

Homework:  In LOC, review "Shooting an Elephant" (979-984) and read pp. 985-995 (Achebe, Eavan Boland poem, Christiansted brochure, magazine ad for a swanky chair).  On Friday we'll use these five pieces to construct a synthesis essay on colonial imperialism.  Also, please read the AP Student Sample essays on the Curator essay -- 2007 (Form B), Question #1.  We'll score I-CE #1 during Friday's class.

Friday, April 10

In class:  Pre-write Synth. Essays on colonial imperialism.  Score I-CE #1.

Weekend homework:  

Please read the Instructions under “Entering the Conversation” (p. 995).  Then read the five prompts on pages 995-996 of LOC and select one prompt to respond to in a short essay that you’ll begin today and finish over the weekend.  As the Instructions suggest, you should treat this like an AP Synthesis Essay, citing at least three of the sources in the Conversation pieces (Source 1 for Orwell, Source 2 for Achebe, Source 3 for Eavan Boland, Source 4 for Christiansted engraving, Source 5 for the luxury chair ad) to support the assertions you make.   This essay will be due on Monday at midnight (Turnitin.com) and on Tuesday at class-time (hard copy).  Your printed essay should be neatly typed – double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and a 12-point type font.  Give your essay a title.  No requirement for a Works Cited page.

I expect you to make progress on this in class today:  with enough focus and determination, you might finish 75% of this essay as you prewrite and draft in Friday's class.  If you have questions about this, you can send me an email over the weekend; and I should be there to answer questions on Monday.  But don't linger over which of the five prompts to write about:  make a choice and go for it!

LENGTH:  This essay should be at least 2-3 typed pages -- maximum of 5.

Monday, April 14

We'll address this Colonial Imperialism essay and score I-CE #1.

Tuesday afternoon, April 15 (MCA testing day)

You will write still another AP Synthesis essay:  I-CE #2.

Homework for Thursday, April 17:  TBA.

[Wednesday, April 16 - no class (MCA testing).]

Thursday

We resume.

Friday, April 18

We'll score I-CE #2.

Monday night, April 7

Prepare for Tuesday's I-CE by (1) adopting a position on the curatorial criteria you will discuss in your synthesis essay; (2) coming up with a rational basis for each criterion (i.e., your reason(s)!!); and (3) selecting the passages you will quote.

You can and should write this stuff down!  In other words, you can and should elaborately pre-write this essay at home, creating a thesis statement, an outline for your body paragraphs, and a series of evidentiary quotations you'll be likely to use on Tuesday.

Here is a link to the 2007 Form B synthesis prompt:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap07_englang_formb_frq.pdf

For Monday, April 7

1.  Read THEY SAY / I SAY (Handout, pp. 55-76 - "I Say").

2.  In LOC, read pp. 592-593 ("Concise Diction"), and complete Exercise #1 (1-15).

3.  Enroll in TurnItIn.com and re-submit your Debate based Research Paper online.

To enroll, go to TurnItIn.com and create a Student Account.  Then enroll in our class by entering the appropriate Class ID # (4th Period:  7899520 // 5th Period:  7900007) and the relevant Class Enrollment Password (4th Period:  analogy4th // 5th Period:  allusion5th).

Once you have created your account and enrolled, you will see the "Debate based Research Paper" assignment.  It's the only option on TurnItIn.com for this submittal.

4.  Vocabulary Quiz - ten highly accessible words.  (See RH corner of this blog.)

Writing Day on Thursday, April 3

Please remember to have access to a draft of your research paper at class-time on Thursday.  You'll be able to work on a school computer -- or, if you can bring one, your own laptop -- during English class.