For Thursday, Friday, and Monday

For THURS., Feb. 6:

We'll work on Prose Style issues, so please bring your white LOC books to class.  Strategy for the Argument Essay (next I-CE on Monday, Feb. 8).  (5th Period:  we'll score the de Botton essay in humorists.)  In class:  pp. 698-700, writing out Exercise 1 on pp. 703-704.

HOMEWORK:  Read pp. 700-704 in LOC, and do Exercises 2 and 4 (704-705).  In order to succeed at Exercise 4, you'll need to copy each paragraph in full -- by hand, or by typing it as a Word document, or by scanning and printing out the .PDF -- and then annotating at least three (3) examples of coordination in each paragraph:  three for Eiseley and three for Birkerts.  As the instructions say at the bottom of p. 704, "(i)dentify the examples of coordination... and explain their rhetorical effects."  Write your explanations in the margins or at the bottom of the page.  Bring your results to class on Friday.

For FRIDAY, Feb. 7

Continue working on Prose Style challenges (LOC).  More strategy for the next Argument Essay.  Weekend homework TBA.  Grammar Challenges.

For MONDAY, Feb. 10

Read exemplary argument essays:

"Is It Immoral to Watch the Superbowl?" (NY Times, Jan. 24, 2014) 

and others, TBA.

Vonnegut's Eight Tips for Writers and the AP Argumentative essay.

Perhaps for Monday's I-CE and definitely for Wednesday's test on The Things They Carried, hear author Tim O'Brien "go public" with talks on his methodology for writing war stories.  He explains The Blur he tried to achieve -- the cross-over between reality and fiction -- in The Things They Carried.

Lecture at a Library Conference (Arlington, MA).  (2011)

Lecture at Brown University.  "Writing Vietnam" (2010).

On MONDAY, Feb. 10

I-CE #3.

For Wednesday's class, February 5

Read pages 155 - 179:  "In the Field," "Good Form," and "Field Trip."

For Tuesday's class:

For Tuesday, February 4:

Please read and contemplate the next two stories in The Things They Carried:

     "SPEAKING OF COURAGE" and "NOTES."

     Again, please note that the full text of Tim O'Brien's book is free & available online:

     Here is a link to the full text of the book online.

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