Just Mine Now

Visit this link to prepare for the EAP.  You will be taking the essay portion in February.  We will complete several essays responding to EAP prompts in class.  An earlier link on this blog will take you to practice questions.  Search EAP Practice.

Here you'll find a couple other links to related articles should you desire to keep on reading: "In Praise of Fancy Words" "The Folly of the SAT Writing Section"

If you are interested in learning more about Edwidge Danticat, there's a Ted Talk where she speaks in detail about her homeland, Haiti. She also mentions others whose names you may recognize.  The video takes about an hour to watch in its entirety.  If there's a problem with the video, try reloading the page.   One last comment: you should be able to understand better why the essay we read in class today fits in our current unit.  See what added information can aid in your connection.

Please read the following: " The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation ." Analyze the satire present.  Don't forget to include its function.  Be sure to make specific reference, either explicitly or implicitly, to the presentation, also noting its effectiveness.  If you choose to do this, I expect your best effort, not something thrown together at the last minute.  To begin you might want to interact with your peers making comments about what you're reading and your take on it.   And to conclude, here's a link to a brief rhetorical analysis of Lincoln's speech.

Because this statement found at the end of the article, "Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed," I cannot make copies for you.  However, I can provide you with a link so that you can read the article then study the sample Commonplace Book entry, so that you can have an idea of how yours should look next week.  Click here for the article.  Should you have any questions, please ask. 

After listening to the responses regarding Lincoln's First Inaugural Address today, I thought that providing this link would help equip you better to respond to this speech.  This link provides his inaugural address with internal links that show you his support for particular points made in his speech.  I may add more here as I see necessary.   Since not all the links work above (they've disappeared), here are some others that might be helpful: Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural A Federal Republic: Lincoln's First Inaugural   Abraham Lincoln: First Inaugural Address Sentence Analysis  Dr. David Zarefsky: An Analysis of Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Speech  

In an effort to continue to as green as possible, I'm offering this resource through this blog while we study Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail."  What you will find here is access to a Word document where the different rhetorical appeals are identified throughout the letter; they are color-coded.  Perhaps this will aid you in your analysis.  This document can be found here .

Watch the video below, then consider why I've said that it is worth watching.  Why do you think I've said that?  How can you apply it to your lives?

Everything you needed to know about argument - Here I'm presenting you with another idea to prepare you for the school year. Watch/analyze the argument present in the Monty Python Argument Clinic   YouTube video. ;)

Interesting article in The Atlantic where you can view a video of how Van Gogh's self portrait becomes like a photograph.  It might also give you some insight into this style of paining to a small degree.  Scroll down towards the bottom of the page.  Enjoy! 

Next year you will learn that there is no one writing process that works for everyone, and/or for every writing situation.  Instead through trial and error, you will find out what makes this process easier for you, and that's what you will run with when writing essays for just about any class, including this one, and still meet the requirements of the writing assignment.  Granted you might find this explanation a bit simplistic.  Granted some ways are more accessible than others when dealing with particular situations like timed writings, and making sure you have responded to what you've been asked.  However, this article is a good read, so should you be so moved to do so, do read it.  You can find it here: Q & A: The writing process .

It's time to begin thinking about prepping yourself for the beginning weeks in AP English Language and Composition.  So I'm going to begin making suggestions of what I'd like you to complete before school starts in August. In preparation for one of the major types of analysis you will be studying in this course, you must learn to identify the rhetorical situation in what you read.  So, I'm asking you to think deeply about what you have read in Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President .    In order to do this, visit Rhetorica .  This web site provides an accessible explanation of what I'm asking you to do.  I suggest that you write down the questions for each of the elements listed, so that you have them readily accessible when analyzing texts in class later in the semester.  Then, address each element listed, answering the questions for each chapter as specifically as you possibly can.  Please include the epilogue in your a...

Because analyzing visuals is a part of AP English Language and Composition, this video called "The Anatomy of a New Yorker Cartoon" might be a starting place for you to begin to see the kinds of things you might want to look at when analyzing cartoons from other sources as well.  It's a little over 20 minutes long.

I may have been in error, inviting all of you to explore Beston's The Outtermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod with me.  Usually when I have read about recommendations for reading from other AP teachers, their choices have been good ones.  This one doesn't seem to be.  I'm afraid that many of you might find the text dry (even I did in parts), filled with descriptions which may or may not interest you.  It appears geared more toward an older, adult audience.  It even reminds me of something Audubon would write about birds, a bit stiff in parts.  But there are some interesting parts.  I read the entire book on my flight back to CA after the AP Reading and visiting afterwards.  I thought of some exercises you might want to try.  In reference to the waves chapter, his description of the sound and voice of waves breaking are quite different from what you'll find in Southern California.  Perhaps you'd like to try taki...

I'm now finishing other texts I've started reading this summer.  So once I finish reading them (I invite you to read them as well should you be interested), I'll begin the other text that I've invited you to explore with me as I read it for the first time.   For now I'll just be finishing In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, something that has been called a nonfiction novel (yes, I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms).  Many other AP Language students across the country read this text, some for their summer reading assignment.  And, yes, I've never read it before now (imagine there being books an Engish teacher hasn't read!) I'm a little better than half way through.  For some it might take some time to get into it at the beginning, but then it starts moving faster, and becomes more interesting.  It's based on the murder of four family members in Kansas, the two men responsible, and the investigation that follows.  Some say parts of this ...

You might want to check this blog fairly often to see what visuals are posted on the right.  Analysis of visuals is a part of what you will encounter in this course this year.  Maybe you'd like to try analyzing some of them.   One other thing that you might want to consider doing is responding to the quote underneath the paintings.  Think about what it means.  How does it relate to society?  Completing these will help you later in dealing with the quotations that often accompany question 3 of the exam.

New APers!   Now that I have finished scoring Question 1 for this year's AP English Language Exam in Louisville, KY it's time I turn my attention to welcoming all of you.  Yes, it has been a very long week of scoring essays; still it's time for me to turn to your summer assignment Have you begun your summer reading?  I've finished rereading your required summer reading, and have some ideas to bounce around, just a few anyway.  Remember, you should be identifying each person's purpose for writing their letters.  You should have some opinions about the letters written as well, including Obama's response to them.   One particular letter (Hailey's letter), which you can find on pp. 176-178, did you notice the anaphora he uses? The definition for anaphora can be found here as well as several examples if you aren't familiar with this term.  What do you think its function is?  What about the many rhetorical questions that can be found in one p...

Here's the video I wanted to show today.  How about responding here in terms of why you think I wanted you to watch it, and any connections to make to what we've been studying lately. The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes , Indecision Political Humor , Video Archive

This website gives an excellent description of what is contained in argument essays, including the focus, thesis, topic sentences, body paragraphs, and common conclusions.  Note what he describes as important elements in the thesis: SIRV.  You might want to bookmark this page so that you can refer back to it as you complete this course.   You might want to check out other links at the site , all dealing with some kind of writing and grammar.   This is an online Frosh English website.

Make sure that you alphabetize all your sources together just like you would be completing a Works Cited page.  Do not separate them by the kind of source each is.  Remember, these annotated bibliographies are due tomorrow.

Watch the video, The Price of Carbon , and identify the argument.  What is the main claim?  How does the video support it?  What evidence is provided?  How well does it do what it sets out to do?  Explain?  Just a little practice in analyzing argument. 

In an effort to cut down on paper, I'm posting this link here.  It may be helpful to add to your toolbox that we've been filling all year.  It's called Language Registers , which, in essence, describe different styles of writing, something that you might want to consider when working on writing rhetorical analysis, or even when writing your own creative nonfiction pieces such as the current one assigned that we will visit tomorrow: the rage essay. 

With grades due this week (I still have a way to go and must finish the essays at least), there will be no tutoring session after school on Monday, 3/11.  Tutoring will resume again next week. I plan to give a full multiple choice section this Tuesday after lunch while the 10th graders take the CAHSEE.  Please let your advisory teachers know in the morning.  If necessary, I will create a list of those of you who attend to give your advisory teachers. 

I'm still seeing problems with your journals.  The easiest fix needed is identifying each part specifically.  Also, there's no need for a separate page for your source ID.   What I'm still noticing in the analysis section is you are writing your own argument, pulling on information from the article you have chosen.  That is not the assignment.  That is what you will be doing when you write your researched argument.  You know, that long paper I've assigned? You're supposed to be looking at your chosen sources carefully; after doing so you should be writing an analysis of the argument presented in the source.  Begin with the author's main claim.  Think about whether or not it is supported well.  Look at the kinds of evidence used.  Are there any fallacies found in this evidence?  Is the evidence credible?  Does it support the main argument?  These are the kinds of things you should be using for your focus in this p...

Here's a link to that article I mentioned in class today should you want to read.  You might find it interesting - " The Country That Stopped Reading " which was posted in The New York Times today.   Maybe you'd like to share what you think about what is said. 

Here's a link to that wheel I showed in class today plus a few others.

Put in some extra practice at home.  Two tests can be found here online, each with two sections, reading skills and composing skills (multiple choice).  Granted they're identified as EPT (English Placement Test) but are comparable to the same types of questions for the EAP.  Try them out!

You might need to set your paragraphs aside for a day before going back to revise.  If you have any questions about any of the comments on your draft, please ask.  Just make sure that I receive your new revisions by the end of the week. 

This article popped up recently.  Maybe it'll give you some insight into what is acceptable with grammar.  It's called " Most of What You Think You Know About Grammar is Wrong ."  Imagine an English teacher reading this! 

Nothing is due for "The Myth of the Latin Woman" Tuesday.  We'll start again with it then. The only thing due is the paragraph analyzing rhetorical strategies of the letter you received Friday.

A video worth watching:  Democracy Now , Rosa Parks describing what happened when she refused to give up her seat on the bus on Dec. 1, 1955, plus an interview with the author of a new book, who discusses Parks' life.  This one I'll be adding to my list to read once I finish what I am reading now ( Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn): The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis.  How do I choose the books I read?  From recommendations of others or finding out about them like I have this one about Rosa Parks.

For next week, I've decided to institute some changes in your reading schedule for A Room of One's Own .  Chapter 4 needs to be read by Friday of next week, Jan. 25 instead of by Tuesday.  Some questions will accompany it to help direct your reading.  Here are a few of them below, some borrowed from a British Lit course: What is the general focus of chapter 4? What criticisms does Woolf make of Lady Winchelsea's poetry?  What is her purpose here? How does Woolf trace the history of women's writing from the eighteenth century onwards? Why was the novel the main genre for female writers in that period? What contrast between Jane Austen / Emily Bronte and Charlotte Bronte does Woolf make? What limitations did Austin and Emily Bronte reject that Charlotte Bronte was unable to reject? Woolf discusses the "newness" of the novel, its suitability for women writers. To what extent does Woolf...

My College QuickStart - described in this manner: "Personalized feedback, practice and college planning based on your PSAT/NMSQT results." It's never too early to be gin planning.

An article appeared recently discussing Virginia Woolf, calling her "The Quiet Revolutionary."  Perhaps you might want to read the article to learn more about her .

Here's the link as promised in class: http://crf-usa.org/youth-internship-program/apply.html . If you have any questions, email: Nancy Sanchez - nancy@crf-usa.org.

Here's the link to the comics at the Washington Post to make things a bit easier, and Go Comics .  Also, should you tend toward political cartoons, which might be your best bet, try either Cagles .   I may post some other resources here over the weekend.

I know many of you think I'm going overboard on this topic.  However, I'm not.  Here's the example of another consequence related to plagiarism that I briefly mentioned in class today.  The reason I'm posting this?  It's a very real problem, not just in the high school or college classroom.