Reminder: Independent Reading Quotation Responses Due Today

Here is a link to the assignment.

Share a Google document or print out your responses.
(Guidelines are the same as for the summer readings, except with a particular focus on developing insightful and specific rhetorical analyses of the passages you select.)

AP Eng Lang Exam Reminders

Final preparation ideas
Review strategies (below)
Review rhetorical analysis vocabulary (here).
Review previous essay of your own or from previous exams (here).
Review previous multiple choice sessions you've completed.
Calculate good day/bad day scores (link below).
Visualize yourself practicing strategies and effectively completing each part of the exam.
Rest. Eat. Pack a snack, favorite pencils, and favorite pens. Get to school on time. Conquer the exam.

In C-block we didn't have enough time to calculate "good day" and "bad day" scores. I was going to post a formula but instead here's the link that Everest and Cody found to AP Pass. Look back over your work. Let's say on your AP multiple choice packets you got 28, 32, and 36 correct. Let's say that on your Consumerism and Commodification essay you got a 5, on rhetorical analysis essays you got as low as a 4 and as high as a 7, and on your most recent argument essay you got a six. Put the low numbers into AP pass. AP pass calculates a 3. Put the high numbers in AP pass calculates a 4. Remember these scores are approximate, but they'll likely help alleviate some stress and give you something to aim for.

Tips for Maximizing your Score on the Multiple Choice Section

Test-Taking Strategies

·         Remember that you have approximately one minute to spend per question. Monitor your progress and stay on pace.

·         Choose the best answer! Sometimes several options are mostly correct or debatable; sometimes none of the options are completely satisfying. Examine all the choices. Read carefully If any part of a choice is not accurate eliminate the choice. Then choose the best of the remaining options.

·         Understand that you need to get approximately half of the multiple-choice questions correct to have possibility of a 3 or better. (60% correct puts you in good shape for a 3 or better.)

·         The questions are of a varied level of difficulty, and they are mixed together—not in order of complexity. Don’t dwell too long on difficult questions. Move to other questions which in some cases will help you answer the move difficult ones.

·         Tackle the easier questions first. Skip any questions that befuddle you, mark them in the margin, return to them after answering the other questions in the section, eliminate as many obviously wrong answers as possible, and make a choice before starting the next reading.

·         Be careful bubbling your answer sheet. Be especially cognizant of skipped numbers and erase changed answers completely.

Reading Strategies

·         Many students benefit from reading the questions (but not the choices) first. You’ll be a more effective reader if you are reading with purpose.

·         Read footnotes and any additional information. Take advantage of all the help the test preparers have given you.

·         After you’ve read the questions and the passage, annotate the reading passage. A blank passage won’t help you to analyze the necessary elements in detail.

Self-Reflection

·         Analyze your answering and guessing techniques. Reflect on how effective you are when you change answers and when you guess from narrowed-down choices.

·         Reflect on what strategies have been most effective during the practice exams.

Adapted by Mr. Cook from Lisa Boyd, Salem High School (GA)

**********************

AP English Language Exam Writing Reminders

concept by Elizabeth Johnson Tsang, adapted for AP EngLang by Mr. James Cook

Pre-Writing

Read the synthesis prompt before reading the synthesis sources. Annotate the sources with the prompt in mind.

Remember the heart of the synthesis essay (Question 1) is the ability to use multiple sources (at least three) to develop your own response to the prompt.

Underline the key directions words in the question: what exactly are you to do and how are you to do it. (If the question says “such rhetorical elements as tone, etc.” then you may choose. If it says “tone,” then you must discuss tone.)

Remember the heart of rhetorical analysis (usually Question 2) is “what is the argument and how does the author use rhetorical strategies and techniques to achieve that purpose?” Use may use SOAPSTone to annotate. The mnemonic device will help you think of elements to analyze and help you avoid merely summarizing and paraphrasing.

Remember the heart of the argument essay (usually Question 3) is stating your position and using well-organized reasoning and evidence to support and develop that position.

Jot down a plan! Don’t start writing until:

·        you have something to say (bold, insightful assertion)

·        you know how you’re going to develop your assertion with specific support

Write the synthesis essay first but you can do the other two essays in any order.

Writing

Be bold and insightful in the introduction.

• The intro must contain a clear statement of your main insight.
• If necessary, leave a space of several lines, then go back and fill with a clear statement of your main insight or a precise word for that insight. (Some of you are better able to write a strong thesis statement after writing the body paragraphs of a rhetorical analysis. Know yourself.)

Q2 organization. (1) Break the reading into sections. Analyze section by section, beginning to end. (2) Create a body paragraph for each strategy. Make sure you capture a sense of the passage as a whole.

Remember that the AP Exam is asking students to recognize and create rhetorical complexity and nuance.

Q1 and Q2. Don’t describe or summarize unless you analyze.

(Don’t describe a technique or summarize a passage unless you analyze how it contributes to your main insight about the meaning.)

Q1 and Q2. The AP rubrics prefer direct quotations to paraphrase. If possible weave the quotations into your sentences.

• Avoid leaving quotations dangling on their own.
• If possible cite the line number of the quotations.
• Remember for Q2: “quote like this” (line 12). & for Q1: “quote like this” (Source A).  (Notice the period after the parenthetical citation.) Or if you embed the citation in your writing: in line 12 the speaker says “quote like this.” (The period goes inside the last quotation mark if you’re citing the line within the text instead of within parentheses.

The conclusion is of lesser importance if you have a strong, insightful introduction and have developed supporting evidence from the poem. But if you have time to offer a strong, insightful, unifying conclusion then do it that indicates the significance of the point you have made; leave the reader with a good impression. [Avoid repeating the introduction. For closure, ask yourself “so what?” – “what’s the big idea I’m asserting in this essay and why does it matter? – and conclude something.]

Try to write to the third page.

Understand the holistic grading rubric:

·        Does the student’s response show an understanding of the prompt’s purpose?

o       Q1 Did the student synthesize at least three sources into a well-developed response to the prompt?

o       Q2 Did the student develop an understanding of how the rhetorical techniques and features contribute to the argument in the passage?

o       Q3 Did the student understand the issue presented in the prompt and develop a well-organized argument on the issue using convincing support?

• Did the student answer (all the parts of) the question asked?
• How well-written and well-organized is the essay?

Miscellaneous Reminders

Put the titles of shorter pieces, like poems, speeches, articles, political cartoons, chapter titles, and essays within quotation marks: “A Modest Proposal,” “Old Father, Old Artificer,” “”On Seeing England for the First Time,” etc. Underline the title of longer works like novels, plays, documentaries, book-length memoirs, book-length arguments: Nickel and Dimed, All Souls, Hamlet, Lord of the Flies, Grendel, The Merchants of Cool, etc.

Errors: strike out neatly with one lime line.

Write with a black (or dark blue) pen.

 

AP English Language and Composition Exam Preparation

AP English Language and Composition Exam Multiple Choice (practice)
1. 1996 "Queen Elizabeth" (take home)
2. 2001 "I am a woman" (take home)
3. 2013 "Ellen Terry" (in class)
4. 2007 "With imagination" (take home) [Due Tuesday, May 6]

Q3 (Argument) AP English Language and Composition Free Response
1. By Thursday, May 1 complete a Q3 (argument). (Here is a link to details.)
2. In class on Thursday (May 1) review several Q3 argument (and SAT argument) strategies, including creating clear, nuanced positions and developing specific, persuasive support.
3. In class on Monday May 5 for C-block and Tuesday May 6 for F-block, review feedback from Mr. James Cook.

Q2 (Rhetorical Analysis) AP English Language and Composition Free Response
1. On Monday, May 5, bring in two passages from your independent that are rhetorically interesting. Be prepared to talk about the argument that the passage contributes to and how the way the passage contributes to the argument is interesting and, perhaps, effective. How do the strategies contribute to the argument? 

READ THIS: Think about what argument the passages are making and how they make the argument. Think about diction, syntax, voice, style, tone (attitude), organization, suggestive detail, supporting detail, use of research, use of observation, use of experience, appeal to reason (logos), appeal to character/trustworthiness/credibility (ethos), appeal to emotions (pathos), or anything else that makes the passage's way of making an argument interesting. 

2. On Monday, May 5, make sure you have access to your Hamlet Q2 (an analysis of a passage that you chose) and your "On Seeing England for the First Time" Q2 (an analysis of how Jamaica Kincaid uses rhetorical strategies to suggest her attitude toward England). We'll use these essays to remind us about Q2 strategies.

3. By class time on Tuesday, May 6, you should have written or selected a prompt, and you should have looked at examples of Q2s that you have written and/or that are posted on here. You also might want to review rhetorical strategies here.

4.  By Wednesday, May 7, complete a Q2 either by writing your own prompt for a passage from your independent reading book or by completing a Q2 from the past (find them here). Bring it to class. 

Q1 (Synthesis) AP English Language and Composition Free Response
1. On Wednesday, May 7, make a plan (map/outline) in response to a Q1 (synthesis) from the past.
2. On Thursday, May 8, make sure you have access to you Consumerism/Commodification Q1 and your research-based argument. We'll use these to remind us about Q1 strategies.

On Thursday, May 8, in class we'll have a confidence boosting, anxiety alleviating general review of AP Exam strategies. (To prepare to this review rhetorical strategies vocabulary found here.)

On Friday, May 9, you'll be in room 2210 by 7:30 with sharpened pencils, black pens, and a snack for intermission. Then, you and your peers will teach the College Board to fear the intellectual power of Gloucester High School Fishermen.  

Question 3: Argument Essay Preparation

Choose a Q3 free-response question to respond to. (You'll find the free-response questions here.)

Plan and write your response in 40 minutes.

Plan* your response: Create a clear and (if possible) nuanced position. Then, search your memory for appropriate, specific, and (if possible) engaging supporting evidence** from your studies, your experiences, and/or your observations.

Write*** your response. Introduction. You might want to begin with a conceptual opening that deals with your understanding of the concepts in the question. Or, you might want to begin with a narrative opening that dramatizes your position on the question. Then, you'll transition into a statement of your position. Body paragraphs. Develop your position by explaining how relevant, specific, and engaging evidence supports the position. (An unsupported claim is an opinion but is not an argument.) Organize the support so that the examples and explanations build on each other toward a logical and compelling conclusion. Conclusion: Conclude not by merely restating the introductory thesis but by summarizing your position and argument in a way that is convincing and compelling. (One way to make the conclusion compelling is by stating how your position is significant or why it matters.)

Additional Q3 Notes

* Note on planning:

Jot down a plan! Don’t start writing until: 

·         you have taken time to understand the prompt (especially key words in the prompt)

·         you have something to say in response to the prompt (a bold, insightful position/claim/thesis/assertion) 
·        you know how you’re going to develop your position with specific support from your learning, reading, experience, and/or observations

**Note on evidence: 

The College Board prefers a combination of what they call "proximal" evidence--evidence closely related to the experiences, observations, and knowledge of the average high school student--and what they call "distal" evidence--evidence beyond the average high school knowledge base. For example, in responses to the 2013 ownership prompt, essays scored higher when they dealt with ownership issues related to Communism and Capitalism than when they only dealt with owning clothes, cars, and cellphones.

*** General note on composing arguments on the AP English Language and Composition Exam

Try to write to the third page.

Errors: strike out neatly with one lime line.

Write with a black (or dark blue) pen.

Remember the heart of the argument essay (usually Question 3) is stating your position and using persuasive, well-organized reasoning and evidence to support and develop that position.

Understand the holistic scoring rubric:

o       Q3 Did the student understand the issue presented in the prompt and develop a well-organized, well-supported, nuanced argument on the issue using relevant and detailed support?  

 

After the Researched Argument...

1. Annotate and answer 2001 AP English Language Arts Exam multiple choice questions 1-54. Due Monday, April 28.

2. Complete five grammar tutorials, quizzes, and reflections. Due Friday, May 2. (Most of you should be working on quizzes in the "Structural Flaws" (67-79) and "Stylistic Considerations" (111-124) categories.)

3. Read a book from the list of researched arguments (and a few speculative fiction arguments). Analyze the rhetoric in ten substantial passages. Due Monday, May 12. (Remember to post your book choice in the comment box here. If you need any help getting a particular book please let me know.)

Independent Reading

Choose a book to read on your own while we're practicing for the AP exam.
Use it to practice rhetorical analysis.

Book-length Researched Argument
Gloucester
The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky
Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town by Elyssa East

Food and Environment
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Slow Food Nation by Carlo Petrini

Technology and Culture
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier

Economy and Commerce 
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naoimi Klein 
Power, Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government--and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead by David Rothkopf

Sports and Culture
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
How Soccer Explains the World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer
   
Other researched nonfiction of interest to previous students
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain [Here's a link to an interview with Cain about how teachers can better engage introverts.]
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking by Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander

Speculative Fiction Critiquing Aspects of Modern Culture
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Oryx and Crake or The Haidmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
any fiction by George Saunders

Quotation response journal (10+ entries) will be due the Monday after the AP exam (May 12).
In the comment box let me know when you have selected a text.

Social Issue Project: Argument Phase: Writing a Research-based Argument about a Social Issue

Writing a Thesis Statement about a Social Issue

Day 1.
Narrow your large topic to a topic-within-the-topic.
(The narrowed topic should be something you care about deeply, something you want to understand more fully, and something you want to present an opinion on.)

Then make a clear, insightful, meaningful, debatable, supportable claim (also called a thesis, an assertion, a statement) about the topic.
(In other words state a carefully thought out opinion you have about the topic that you could support with some of the research you've conducted and perhaps some more research you will do.)

Go to Purdue's OWL for help creating a thesis statement, including specific help creating different types of thesis statements (also known as claims).

Go to Purdue's OWL for more about evaluating and strengthening different types of claims (also known as thesis statements).

You can model your thesis on strong examples from OWL, or you could set out on your own.

Day 2
* Write your claim (thesis) in a Google Doc called something like "Researched Argument about [your topic]".

* Write down what type of claim (thesis) it is? Cause and effect? Proposal? Evaluation? Interpretation? Definition? Rebuttal? Relative importance (i.e. "the most important aspects are...")? Remember that many arguments use more than one of these modes.

* Use the guide below to assess your thesis. Then, have at least one peer assess it too.

Researched argument thesis

Metacognitive Self-Assessment

What is your topic-within-the-topic? How does the thesis suggest something significant about your topic? Discuss with a peer (or peers).

Our school-wide rubric for writing says that students should write thesis statements that are clear, supportable, debatable, insightful, and meaningful. I want to add that the thesis statements

CLEAR: Presumably, the thesis is clear to you but double check. Try to look at it with new eyes. Imagine you are someone who has not researched the topic and who has not yet thought much about the topic. Is the thesis still clear? Is every word precise? Is the sentence structure logical?

SUPPORTABLE: Could you support the thesis using the research you have already gathered or using research that you think is available with a bit more digging? Discuss with a peer (or peers) the kind of supporting evidence you plan to use to support your thesis.

DEBATABLE: Does the thesis need to be developed, explained, argued for, and supported? (Or is the thesis too obvious or too easily proven?) To test if the thesis is debatable imagine a person disagreeing with your thesis. If that is possible then the thesis is debatable.

INSIGHTFUL: Does the thesis offer an insight into some specific aspect of the larger topic: an idea, an interpretation, an analysis, an evaluation, a diagnosis, a complex definition, a causal relationship, a rebuttal?  (Often times a thesis can be made more debatable, insightful, and meaningful by adding a “because” clause: “Education in America stymies creativity” becomes “Education in America stymies creativity because artificial boundaries between subject areas get in the way of students synthesizing information from different subject areas to create new understandings.”) Discuss with a peer (or peers) what you believe to be the insight (the essential understanding of the issue that comes in your thesis.

MEANINGFUL: Does the thesis address something about the topic that is vital, crucial, significant, maybe even essential. Explain to a peer why your thesis (your insight, idea, interpretation, analysis) matters!

Give your thesis to a peer to get some feedback.   

Peer-Assessment

* Is the thesis clear? Restate your peer's thesis back to her or him in your own words. Were you able to do this successfully. If not the thesis may need editing. The thesis (claim) is the heart of the argument so make sure it is precise and powerful.

* Is the thesis supportable? What kind of supporting evidence will you expect to see in the body of the paper? Tell your peer. If not the writer doesn't have access to the necessary support the thesis needs editing or writer needs to do more research.

* Is the thesis debatable, insightful, and meaningful or when you read it do you think “so what”? Try to explain the meaningful significance of the thesis back to the writer. Also, talk about what makes the thesis debatable. How does the thesis enter a controversy or attempt to explain an uncertainty? If the thesis is too obvious, too vague, or too easy to "prove" then it might need editing.

***

The next step will be taking a look at the sources you and your group members have already gathered, summarized, and evaluated. What there might be useful to you for developing and supporting your argument?

& what other sort of additional support will you need in order to develop your thesis into a convincing argument?

***

Then make a plan (a plan geared to the kind of argument you will be making)

Day 3 we will work on making a plan (an outline or map) with...

a central claim (thesis)>>>>supporting claims (mini-theses)>>>>supporting sources for each claim

[This is similar to the map of issues>>>>implications>>>>sources we made before writing the consumerism and commodification synthesis paper.]

But before we create our own plans we will (1) read examples of researched arguments with different types of claims (theses): cause and effect, evaluation, proposal, definition, rebuttal. (2) Understand the process that went into making each type and the structure that underlies each type.

***
Day 4-7
Turn your plan and your research into a well-developed and well-supported argument using MLA in-text citations and works cited page (1500-3000) words. Don't forget the MLA heading and an engaging, informative title.

Applying previous lessons about introductions.
* Write a narrative or thematic opening to engage the reader in the central issue of your argument. (Or, try another engaging opening.)
* Connect the opening to the central claim (thesis). Often this is done by offering context for the central claim (thesis).
* Include the clear, bold, insightful, meaningful, debatable, and supportable central claim (thesis).

Applying previous lessons about body paragraphs.
* Make sure each body paragraph is focused on developing a particular aspect of the overall argument. (Is this focus clear near the beginning of the paragraph and is it returned to at the end of the paragraph?)
* Use relevant, specific information and focused quotations (phrases and/or sentences) to support and develop the claim. (In argument analysis this is sometimes called "data".)
* Effectively introduce the information and quotations and explain how the information and quotations support and develop a claim. (In argument analysis this is sometimes called "warrant" and "backing".)
* Thoughtfully, logically, meaningfully sequence paragraphs in a particular order with skillful transitions between paragraphs

New ideas about body paragraphs.
* Perhaps try a new way of organizing an argument based on the example(s) you studied on day 3.
* Incorporate counterargument, rebuttal, and concession.
* Perhaps incorporate appeals to pathos and ethos along with appeals to logos.

Applying previous lessons about conclusions.
* Return to the central claim(s).
* Make sure the reader understands why the argument matters

Applying previous lessons about style and conventions.
* Above all else be clear.
* Use standard educated (or formal academic) diction.
* Use apt and vivid word choices. Don't use approximately the write word; use exactly the write word.
* Vary your sentence structures for rhetorical effect. (A complex-compound sentence explaining a multi-layered idea can often be followed effectively by simple sentence that drives home the point.)
* Apply what you've been learning about usage, grammar, and conventions. Aim for no frequently confused word errors, no apostrophe errors, no run-on sentence errors, no punctuating quotation errors, no pronoun antecedent errors, no subject-verb agreement errors, no parallelism errors (mixed constructions). Aim to create a publishable draft.
* Follow MLA format, in-text citation, and works cited page conventions.

***
Day 8 through end
Self-assess and peer-assess.
The final draft of your researched argument (1500-3000 words with MLA format, in-text citations, and works cited page) is due Friday, April 18 (7:30 am).