Just Mine Now

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...