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Preparing for the beginning weeks of the fall semester (using your assigned summer reading)

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 analysis.  This means you should have identified at least eight different points about each chapter.  Be sure to include textual evidence that is documented, using MLA format.  It is imperative that you learn to go back into the text, something else you will hear me say many times over the course of next year, to support your points about what you read.  Also, as you will hear throughout the year, don't be afraid of taking risks.

You may also want to include examples of the different rhetorical appeals, again with documented textual evidence.  You already have heard the terms before for at least the last couple years: ethos, logos, and pathos.  However, if you choose to provide examples for these, you must also include their function/effect on the text.  This may relate back to the author's purpose for writing, something else you should become accustomed to identifying.

You may also want to identify any particular examples of rhetorical terms, in particular, figurative language (including imagery, simile, irony, etc.), but just as with the examples of rhetorical appeals, you try to identify their rhetorical function/effect.

You will be discussing all that you have found in Socratic Seminar once school begins, most likely in the support class during the 2nd week of the fall semester.  As you will hear throughout the year, don't be afraid of taking risks.

If you are stuck, and don't know what to say for some of these elements, write down the questions you have, or make note of what you may be having trouble identifying.  Doing so provides you with information about your trouble in responding to a particular point that you might want to ask others when you discuss the book.   

If you have any questions, email me.  This is something else you need to learn to do, especially if you're not in the habit of asking questions when you don't understand something.  Remember, if you don't ask questions, then it appears to me that you understand what I am asking of you. 

I look forward to listening to your engaging discussion with your peers!  Finally, if you'd like to test the waters, you can respond to this post here as well as to others that others in your class may make.

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