AP English Language and Composition Syllabus

ADVANCED PLACEMENT ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
Introduction to Course and Course Overview
AP English Language and Composition (School for Advanced Studies) offers students a year of intense training in reading and writing to prepare them for success on the AP Language and Composition Examination, to ready them for skills necessary for college-level studies and enable them to become contributing members of their communities as lifelong learners. This rigorous and demanding class focuses on the rhetorical analysis of fiction and non-fiction, and works of American literature. Students learn to identify an author’s purpose and strategies and examine the ways people think about and use language. Students read and analyze models of good writing and write compositions of various lengths and complexity, participating in peer response and rigorous revision. Students are introduced to analytical tools designed to develop levels of questioning at the factual, inferential, and analytical tiers of knowledge, which ultimately provide them with mastery of the highest forms of analysis and synthesis, necessary for participation in class discussions and note taking. They are able to write effective prose at first year college level. Students are expected to complete outside reading on time and, independently, produce class discussion notes using the Cornell method. In this course, the rhetorical interpretation of text primarily focuses on the Classical, Rogerian, and Toulmin models which demand that claims, taken with the writer’s purpose, the intended audience, and speaker’s persona, will lead to argument for persuasion using both a thesis and opposite thesis, necessary skills for successful academic writing. Students in AP English Language and Composition read difficult nonfiction text with speed, annotating and outlining as they recognize shifts of perspective and tone. They quote with authority and precision, discern the writer’s purpose and interpret responses elicited from audiences, and synthesize how authors manipulate readers to prove theses in various modes of written discourse.

Rigor skills taught during this year-long course include Bloom’s Taxonomy and Bloom’s Affective Taxonomy to provide students with a way to measure ongoing learning, the five Language Registers (Frozen, Formal, Consultative, Casual, and Intimate) and students are able to perfect the middle language register by choosing a nationally syndicated op/ed columnist, follow that writer’s column bi-monthly, and construct responses using strategies that address the ethos (ethics), pathos (emotions), and logos (logic) of nonfiction and current events’ columns; Levels of Questioning, which includes level one (factual), level two (interpretative), and level three (evaluative); the Cornell Note taking method, outlining and journaling; the Rhetorical Square approach to unpacking nonfiction pieces (Audience, Purpose, Persona, Argument); Sentence Mimicking and Pivoting Text; the grammar of irony and the grammar of paradox; the classical, Rogerian, and Toulmin argumentations models; rhetorical modes of discourse; student-teaching conferencing, including rubrics, revisions, and rewrites.*
**GLAAPSI, July 2005 Marcy Bowman AP Packet

Reading
Students are encouraged to read widely, and through exposure to various genres, voices, and ideas, students’ reading tastes are broadened as their levels of appreciation and enjoyment and critical faculties are heightened.

Close reading is a critical skill that is ideally developed over many years and this course builds on these skills by providing frequent instruction and opportunities for students to dissect passages and texts. Two overarching elements, the understanding of which serves students well, are diction and syntax. Students need to be word savvy. Recognizing the power of diction—individual words as well as word patterns—is a primary focus. Vocabulary lists are used; class discussions include studies of the nuances of words’ meaning and words’ connotative and denotative meanings are reviewed.

Syntax is taught so that writers manage to achieve syntactical variety in their own writing despite any difficulties in analyzing the element. Students consider the power of the individual simple, compound, complex, compound-complex sentences and their juxtaposition within structured writing; they look carefully at subordination, coordination, and the author’s tone as it relates to the use of the declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences.

Repetition, parallelism, rhetorical questions, tone, and transitions are devices students are familiar with and figurative language, including metaphorical devices such as apostrophe, simile, metaphors, hyperbole, irony, paradox, and sarcasm become part of the strategies used to grasp overall meaning of text through close reading.

Writing
In this course, students develop clearly articulated departmental expectations, including exchanging essays in triads to ascertain voice, making suggestions, revisions, and suggestions to classmates, and participating in both student-teacher as well as student-student feedback. Departments also share student writing at professional developments with teachers of other disciplines to gain insight as to how students approach writing assignments in other common core subjects.

The writing process, including brainstorming, planning, prewriting, drafting, revising, and rewriting is another component students use to achieve excellence in their final draft of un-timed compositions.

According to the Advanced Placement Course Description in English “stylistic development” is nurtured by emphasizing the following:
• A wide ranging vocabulary used appropriately and effectively
• A variety of sentence structures, including appropriate use of subordination and coordination
• A logical organization, enhanced by specific techniques to increase coherence, such as repetition, transitions, and emphasis
• A balance of generalization and specific illustrative details, and
• An effective use of rhetoric, including controlling tone, establishing and maintaining voice, and achieving appropriate emphasis through diction and sentence structure.

Topics for writing are limitless, and the greater the variety, the greater the opportunity for the student to develop style and a sharp sense of audience. Composition may include some research components, particularly in the Junior Defense of Thesis where the process of collecting and organizing information is used to perfect a thesis that is proven both in written prose and oral discourse.

Timed writing is vital as well. This kind of assignment is valid for two reasons; it replicates the students’ writing experience on the AP Exam where they are, in a time frame of about forty minutes, asked to read a prompt, usually including a passage, and write an effective essay response. Second, this product-oriented writing is a reality. Students in colleges, as with many professionals, are regularly faced with such demands for which rapid assimilation of information and immediate responses are critical to the quality of their work.

The holistic scoring of essays is used throughout this course since this type of scoring allows essays to be read quickly and carefully by the instructor, who then judges it against scoring guides and rubrics developed in response to the nature of the composition question and the desired response to the prompt.

This course also provides ample opportunities for students to take sample multiple-choice question exams. These multiple-choice questions are demanding, with possible answers frequently separated by subtle distinctions and the more opportunities for practice, the further chance of perfecting the skills to choose the correct answer from a group of distractors.

Writing and Reading Text Credit: Teacher’s Guide Advanced Placement Program, AP English Language and Composition; College Entrance Examination Board and Educational Testing Service ©1998

Grammar
Students cover an immense amount of grammar, particularly in the areas of parts of speech, agreement, sentence structure, subordination and coordination, and conventions of grammar usage and mechanics. Grammar is often taught in isolation but that does not negate the requirement that students are held responsible on both timed and untimed writing assignments to utilize skills learned to perfect documents on the first draft so that many revisions are not needed for succeeding drafts.

Late Work Policy
It is the policy of this class that students who are absent and provide an acceptable excuse may make up assignments or tests the day following their return to class; the assignment or test will be scored and returned to students. Students must mark on the assignment or test the following information: the specific date of absence, the day they first returned to class, the assignment number and date the assignment is actually submitted. If an assignment or test is not completed on the day following the return to class, the assignment or test will be scored as “credit” and not receive a letter grade. That “credit” neither raises nor lowers the students’ overall grade average. Verified truancies and unexcused absences from class will result in no credit received for work submitted.

Assigned vocabulary work must be received by due dates; five points will be deducted from test scores for work not received when due and ten points will be deducted from test scores for no work received.

Summer assignments that are not submitted by due date will be scored as “0,” which may negatively affect a student’s overall course score and earned class grade point average. Assignments that are completed and submitted late will receive only a “credit,” and not earn a letter grade; in this case a student must complete the work to avoid receiving a “0” but will still earn no letter grade for work that was completed. It is in the student’s best interest to meet deadlines and submit work of the highest quality by due dates.
*This policy supersedes all previous late work policy information.


Material Covered: September 3-December 19, 2008
Week One:
Students begin fall semester with a summer reading selection assessed by submission of an Advanced Placement Long Form, based on a novel that was assigned as independent reading off-track. This assignment is their first paper for this course and is used as an immediate way to measure students’ analysis of an author's use of rhetorical strategies, offering critical reading practice, and in particular close reading of important and difficult text that students will encounter throughout the semester.

Students also choose an Op/Ed Columnist at the beginning of the semester and follow that writer on a regular basis, practicing the consultative/formal language register by responding to the writers’ arguments.

Levels of Questioning are introduced at the beginning of the school year and students are given practice this strategy by condensing and summarizing Cornell Notes taken both in class and out-of-class on selected readings. Level One Questions are questions that students can write that can be explicitly answered by facts contained in the text or information accessible in other resources. Level Two Questions are textually implicit, requiring analysis and interpretation of specific parts of the text. Level Three Questions are much more open-ended and go beyond the text and are intended to provoke a discussion of an abstract idea or issue. Credit for the levels of questions explanation are from an AP Workshop at California State University where the Great Books Foundation was discussed.

Week Two:
Timed Writing #1: An AP Exam Prompt using a short prose passage titled “Hunger of Memory,” from author Richard Rodriguez is used to introduce students to a sample writing task they might face on the actual Spring AP English Language Exam.

The Colonial Period up to 1790 is also covered at the start of this semester. Puritans and American Beginnings (Scott-Foresman Publishing; Literature and Integrated Studies) introduces students to the writings of William Bradford in “Of Plymouth Plantation,” and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards’ masterful sermon that sets the stage for class discussion of literary terms such as tone, syntax, diction, including specific syntactical devices such as rhetorical questions and the mimicking of loose, periodic, balanced, and interrupted sentences.

Week Three:
Students spend time analyzing compositions they have written for the Rodriguez AP Prompt, specifically in preparation for a class discussion on tone. The Rhetorical Square, which addresses subject (and speaker), occasion, audience, and purpose is reviewed, since it will provide a solid foundation for future essay prompts that are generally written on a weekly basis.

Timed Writing #2: AP Exam Prompt, featuring a short passage titled “Moments of Being,” by Virginia Woolf

Novel #1: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is read independently with talking points recorded chapter by chapter as students record entries in a journal format; class discussions are held weekly with each student contributing orally to ascertain author’s purpose, characters’ motivations, and the overall theme of the work. This novel is an ongoing assignment throughout the semester.

Week Four:
Students are introduced to the New Republic, Spirit of Independence and America (Scott-Foresman; Literature and Integrated Studies) with literature selections that cover a time period of 1790-1820. Highlights of this unit are the study of Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis,” and “Speech in the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry.

Week Five:
Timed Writing #3: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural AP Prompt; students are able to use a nine-point generic rubric to self-evaluate their essays and the essays of classmates; students may also engage in discussion with the teacher on a weekly basis and challenge the scores received on essays, using the wording of the rubric to provide evidence that the essay may perhaps have deserved a higher score.

Reading and Writing Strategies such as sentence mimicking and text pivoting are further practiced at this point, providing students with additional skills in checking for comprehension about material covered in class and assures their understanding of the complexities of crafting interesting and varied sentences, connecting the use of proper diction with syntax, and incorporating sentence variety by using subordinate clauses and subordinating conjunctions. Sentence mimicking in particular demonstrates insightful and well-constructed patterns of adapted writing that form the initial building blocks of the paragraph, and therefore, the thought-on-paper processes that will eventually lead to the effective paragraph composition for essays of argument that prove theses.

Week Six:
Vocabulary Workshop (Sadlier, Oxford) is used on a weekly basis; units specifically designed for challenging vocabulary are introduced as students become responsible for identifying the meanings, the connotations, the diacritical markings, and the pronunciation of twenty words weekly; tests are given on a regular basis to confirm understanding and mastery of new vocabulary; students are reminded that vocabulary is important when it is used in real-world contexts, both in written compositions and oral discourse, and are encouraged to remember that, “One does not own a word until it is used, not just memorized.” The American Heritage Dictionary’s 100 Words High School Students Should Know is also utilized and ten new words are introduced weekly, as students are also tested on each set of ten.

Text from “The Declaration of Independence” and the short anthology biography of Thomas Jefferson closes the Spirit of Independence unit of study.

Timed Writing #4: Frederick Douglass Essay from Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass is composed and submitted; syntax and figurative language are the essence of this assignment, as students are provided with supplementary materials such as a four-page narrative on Douglass’ autobiography and read and annotate an additional Douglass prose selection, “What The Black Man Wants.”

Week Seven:
American Romanticism and the Transcendentalists includes the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman from the anthology (Scott-Foresman; Literature and Integrated Studies) and is begun at this point in the semester and covers the literature period of 1820-1865.

Week Eight:
Emerson’s “Self Reliance,” Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience,” and an excerpt from Thoreau’s Walden are covered during this period.

Timed Writing #5: James Baldwin’s 1979 Essay on Language (a 1995 AP prompt)

Multiple-choice exam practice from the Cliff’s AP Preparation Guide is begun, and bi-weekly essays are written as in-class timed writing assignments, using selected prompts from that same book.

Introduction to the Argumentative Essay and Argument Comprehensive Review is introduced as students learn to identify the pathos, ethos, and logos strategies used by writers to achieve their varied purposes for writing.

Week Nine:
The Continental Nation (1865-1900) period is covered using selections such as Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and Robert E. Lee’s “Farewell Order to the Army of Northern Virginia.”

Timed Writing #6: Crevecoeur’s “Letter to an American Farmer”

Weeks Ten-Fifteen:
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is introduced and journaled talking points are recorded chapter by chapter as students engage in weekly class discussions. This novel is an ongoing assignment throughout the semester.

Vocabulary Workshop and “100 Words High School Students Should Know” continues during this period. Readings for these five weeks also include “Roman Fever,” by Edith Wharton, “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather, William Faukner’s “Barn Burning”, Anne Sexton’s poem “Her Kind”, the poems of Langston Hughes and Sylvia Plath, and Richard Wright’s “Big Back Good Man.” Each selection includes questions about meaning, language, theme, and purpose so students may perfect their understanding and analysis of short passages of fiction. Additional nonfiction selections from Bedford Reader, the heart of any AP English Language Course, are introduced in the second semester of studies.

Textbooks used in this course include The Bedford Reader, Cliffs AP Preparation Guide, Vocabulary Workshop Level “F”, and Glencoe Writer’s Choice. Various nonfiction pieces are used from composition rhetorics and readers, as are newspaper editorials, opinion-editorial pieces written by individual columnists, and storyboards, photographs, and newspaper editorial cartoons.

Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron, The
Bedford Reader. Boston: Bedford Books of St.
Martin’s Press, 1997.
Cliffs AP English Language and Composition (2nd Edition) Swovelin ©2001

Vocabulary Workshop Level “F” Shostak (Sadlier-Oxford Publishing) 2005
Anthology: Writer’s Choice Grammar and Composition; Glencoe ©2005
Anthology: Literature and Integrated Studies; Scott-Foresman Publishing ©1997


Useful Web Sites
Online Writing Lab
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Composition formatting
MLA Style Citations
http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html
Research Paper Works Cited formatting
Oxford English Dictionary
http://www.oed.com/
Vocabulary for the AP student
Strunk and White
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/
Rules of style for written prose
Teacher Web log
http://www.hollywoodhighschool.net
Weekly blog postings of assignments due
Apex Learning
http://www.apex.com
AP diagnostic tests; literary terms; study strategies
Go My Access/Vantage Learning
http://www.gomyaccess.com
Intellimetric prompts and rubric-scored writing
Exercise Central http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/exercisecentral
Online quizzes for each reading selection
College Board Online
http://www.collegeboard.org/ap

Grading System (Marks Thresholds)
Marks on individual assignments are based on the following scale:
A 92.5 % or better
B 82.5 % or better
C 72.5 % or better
D 62.5 % or better

Midterm and final examinations are administered; other quizzes are given throughout the course and include tests on meaning, language, and writing strategies from texts, tests on vocabulary, the connotative and denotative meanings of words, and tests on literary terms necessary for success on the multiple-choice and essays portions of the AP Language Exam.

Grade Eleven AP English Language Summer Work

Here is a clarification on the assignment due September 3.

E-mail a brief introduction of yourself and in a second paragraph, write about your interests, talents and hobbies and describe a significant writing experience, which may include a description of an award received for writing, a major paper written, and/or published pieces of writing. The assignment's length will depend on your specific experience but in no case should it be less than two paragraphs, perhaps one for the introduction and one for the description.

When formatting the AP Long Form, you may refer to my previous blogs. Long forms should cover in detail every single component listed.

STUDYPATH June 23-27, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Semester reflection prewriting continues; portfolios organized by assignments
2. Classroom textbook returns are complete; return any textbooks on your own to textbook room and obtain a receipt

Tuesday
1. FINALS SCHEDULE-PERIODS ONE AND FOUR DO NOT MEET TODAY
2. Return any textbooks on your own to textbook room and obtain a receipt

Wednesday
1. FINALS SCHEDULE-PERIOD FOUR MEETS IN VANTAGE WRITING LAB (ROOM 701) FOR SEMESTER REFLECTION ESSAY
2. Return any textbooks on your own to textbook room and obtain a receipt

Thursday
1. FINALS SCHEDULE-PERIOD ONE MEETS IN VANTAGE LAB (ROOM 701) FOR SEMESTER REFLECTION ESSAY
2. Return any textbooks on your own to textbook room and obtain a receipt

Friday-Last Day of School
1. Portfolio organization
2. Summer work discussion

STUDYPATH June 16-20, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Research papers are due today; papers must be paper clipped, cover page attached, outline page is attached behind cover page, first page of prose is paginated as page one with works cited paginated as page fifteen, works cited page must be one page, end blank page follows works cited page, twelve point type, double spaced following all format margins set by MLA style (see OWL website-check school library page for web address)
2. Invisible Man AP Long Form due today
3. Return Bedford Reader and Invisible Man novels to counter for return to textbook room
4. Bring vocabulary book today for final mastery test in class

Tuesday
1. Final mastery test in class today (not open book)
2. Return all books to counter for return to textbook room

Wednesday
1. Organize portfolios and prewrite semester reflection essay for final exam
2. Writer's Choice assignment in class
3. Ellison biography documentary

Thursday
1. Organize portfolios and prewrite semester reflection essay for final exam
2. Writer's Choice assignment in class

Friday
1. Finals schedules for Period One: Thursday, June 26; Period Four: Wednesday, June 25
2. Weekend assignments to be announced

STUDYPATH June 9-13, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Return Invisible Man novels
2. Triad defenses must be complete by today
3. Meet in Library on Wednesday morning prior to field trip
4. Writer's Choice assignment
5. Vocabulary book due in class for Units Thirteen-Fifteen review

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Writer's Choice assignment
2. Appropriate dress requested for tomorrow's field trip
3. Research Papers final draft due no later than Friday

Wednesday
1. Field Trip-Metropolitan Water District; appropriate dress requested; meet in Library at 7:30 A.M.
2. Pre-trip and post-trip activities

Thursday
1. Writer's Choice assignment
2. Research Paper final draft due tomorrow; paper clip documents
3. AP Long Form for Invisible Man due Monday; paper clip documents

Friday
1. Research Paper final draft due today; paper clip all documents
2. AP Long form for Invisible Man due Monday; paper clip all documents
3. Weekend homework to be announced

STUDYPATH June 2-6, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Final AP Long Form components due Friday, June 6; AP Long Form final draft due 6/12
2. Bedford Reader textbook due in class all week
3. Field Trip slips issued for MWD trip; all trip slips due no later than Friday 6/6
4. Vocabulary book required in class for Unit Fifteen, which will be completed in class

Tuesday
1. Vocabulary Unit Fifteen test scheduled for Wednesday; attach proof of work
2. Bedford Reader textbook due in class all week
3. Triad defenses of thesis must be finished by Friday, June 6

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader textbook due in class all week
2. Triad defenses of thesis in class
3. Writer's Choice and tone assignment in class

Thursday
1. Bedford Reader textbook due in class all week
2. Triad defenses of thesis in class

Friday
1. Field trip slips due no later than today
2. Bedford Reader textbook due in class all week
3. Invisible Man novels returned to class so they can be returned to textbook room
4. Weekend homework to be announced
5. Triad defenses of thesis must be completed by today

AP Long Form Next Components

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE: Comment on the book’s title. What message does the author want to convey with the title? Does the meaning of the title change for the reader from pre to post reading?

MEMORABLE QUOTES: (about five to eight) passages, sentences, fragments that capture the essence of story and style. Discuss significance to work.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Did you enjoy the novel? Strength, weaknesses, lingering questions? Does it relate to other books you have read? Any insight from critical reviews? Any insights into human folly or triumph? Do you expect any lasting effects on you? (Don’t underestimate the importance of this last section!)

Credit: (see previous blog entry)

STUDYPATH May 26-30, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Period Four takes Bedford Reader final five terms test
2. Water Cases Nine and Ten assigned; due Thursday
3. Unit Fifteen Vocabulary answers in class on Monday
4. Triads present oral defenses in preparation for field trip
5. Lunch tickets for field trip due no later than today (no exceptions)
6. See addendum about research paper due today (see separate blog)

Wednesday
1. Junior Defense of Thesis Research Paper Rubric issued in class today
2. Triads present oral defenses in preparation for field trip
3. Bedford Reader class discussion on Huntington, Naylor, and Daum
4. Bedford Reader Wenke selection due on Thursday

Thursday
1. Triads present oral defenses in preparation for field trip
2. Precis instructions issued for research paper; due Monday
3. Bedford Reader class discussion on Huntington, Naylor, and Daum continues
4. Water Case Four class discussion and activity scheduled for tomorrow

Friday
1. Triads present oral defenses in preparation for field trip
2. Class discussion and activity for Water Case Four
3. Weekend homework to be announced

Research Paper Adjustment of Assignment

An adjustment was made on Friday for the research paper. Five pages minimum (instead of fifteen) are due on Tuesday.

STUDYPATH May 19-23, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

CST TESTING MONDAY-THURSDAY; CLASS SCHEDULES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Monday: Periods One, Four, Five and Six
Tuesday: Periods One, Two, and Three
Wednesday: Periods One, Two, and Three
Thursday: Periods One, Four, Five and Six
Friday: Periods One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six

Weekly assigned work TBA in class with these exceptions:

Bring Vocabulary textbook on Monday for in-class work on Unit Fourteen
Invisible Man essay is due on Thursday
Research Paper outline is due on Thursday
Water Cases Six, Seven, and Eight will be completed in class
Bedford Reader Literary Terms (last five) test TBA; bring textbook to class Monday
Tone assignment to be completed in class
Research Paper first draft is due on Tuesday, May 27 (no exceptions)

JUNE 11 FIELD TRIP LUNCH TICKETS, IDENTIFICATION AND TRIP SLIP INFORMATION:

Lunch tickets must be received by May 28
IDs will be checked in class as time permits
Field trip slips will be issued on June 2, and must be completed by Friday, June 6
Appropriate business attire is requested for this trip
Junior Defense of Thesis Participants: Amir, Fahiya, Michael, Kenneth, Leslie, Norberto, Mynor
Triads will begin seven minute theses' defenses week of May 27-30

STUDYPATH May 12-16, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Op-Ed due on Thursday
2. AP Long Form Components due today
3. Water Cases Three, Four, Five due today; Cases Six and Seven assigned
4. Unit Fourteen Vocabulary due MONDAY, MAY 19
5. Tone assignment continues in preparation for AP English Exam

Tuesday
1. AP English Language Exam strategies continue; exam administered tomorrow
2. Meghan Daum and Gloria Naylor Bedford Reader selections due today
3. Footnotes and citation multiple-choice practice in preparation for AP English Exam

Wednesday
1. Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Examination

Thursday
1. Op-Ed due today; new op-ed assigned
2. Invisible Man final essay due Monday, May 19
3. Outline for research paper due Monday, May 19
4. Library research tomorrow; meet at library

Friday
1. Meet at library for research
2. Dates for lunch tickets, identification cards, trip slips, and triad presentations announced for June 11 Metropolitan Water District field trip
3. Weekend homework to be announced

AP Long Form Next Components

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (TROPES): Language that is not literal. Metaphorical devices link meaning; most common are METAPHOR, SIMILE, PERSONIFICATION, AND ALLUSION. Point out examples (direct quotes) and discuss how used and how often used.

IRONIC DEVICES: Irony adds extra dimensions to meaning, stets up special understanding between writer and reader. Most common include VERBAL, SITUATIONAL, or DRAMATIC IRONY, PARADOX, OXYMORON, EUPHEMISM, HYPERBOLE, and UNDERSTATEMENT. Point out examples; how used, how often?

TONE: Author’s attitude toward subject, characters, and reader. Could be playful, serious, angry, ironic, formal, somber, satiric, and combinations of many more. Discuss the author’s tone and observe how the author creates it through plot, diction, syntax, imagery, figurative devices. Use direct quotations from text to support observations.

THEME: The theme refers to the book’s controlling idea or central insight. Identify the book’s central theme. Express as a statement with subject and predicate, not as a word or phrase (i.e. Wrong: “loyalty”, or “loyalty to country”; Right: “Envy is futile.”) Discuss author’s intention.

STUDYPATH May 5-9, 2007

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Unit Thirteen Vocabulary in class; books are required and test to be scheduled
2. Op-Ed due today
3. Bedford Terms test in class today; Huntington discussion in class
4. AP Long Form next components due on Monday, May 12 (see accompanying blog for details)
5. Water Cases One and Two talking points due today; Water Cases Three, Four, Five are due Monday

Tuesday
1. Bedford Reader Argument outlines due in class; books are required in class
2. Next two Bedford selections are due Friday; complete questions on meaning, writing strategy, and language for "Safe-Sex Lies" by Megan Daum and "The Meanings of a Word" by Gloria Naylor
3. Invisible Man essay due dates: May 15 for Period Four and May 16 for Period One

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader new set of ten literary terms
2. In-class essay scheduled for Thursday
3. Writer's Choice Phrases Unit completed; test scored
4. Unit Thirteen Vocabulary Test

Thursday
1. In-class timed essay
2. Multiple-choice sixty minute simulated exam scheduled for Friday
3. Op-Ed scheduled and due on Monday

Friday
1. Multiple-choice sixty minute simulated exam
2. Weekend homework to be announced, including assignment on tone

STUDYPATH April 28-May 2

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Units Ten-Twelve and Cumulative III Vocabulary in class; books are required
2. Bedford Reader literary terms and Huntington assignment due
3. Invisible Man essay due May 15
4. Op-Ed piece due today for Period Four; due Thursday for Period One

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Period One Invisible Man talking points due Friday for Chapters 21-25 and Epilogue
2. Bedford Reader literary terms and reading assignment
3. Timed essay scheduled for Thursday

Wednesday
1. Writer's Choice grammar and research paper
2. Bedford Reader literary terms test TBA

Thursday
1. Timed essay in class
2. Research Paper due dates announced

Friday
1. Period One: Talking points for Invisible Man Chapters 21-25 and Epilogue due for class discussion
2. Op-Ed assigned for all classes; due date announced
3. Unit Thirteen Vocabulary in class on Monday; books are required

STUDYPATH April 21-25, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Unit Twelve Vocabulary in-class assignment; book is required
2. Bedford Reader text due only today this week; Bedford Terms
3. Writer's Choice grammar
4. Multiple-choice practice tomorrow (sixty minute simulated AP Test)

Tuesday
1. Sixty minute simulated AP Test
2. Bedford Reader text not required until next Monday; complete "The Crisis of National Identity" by Samuel P. Huntington paying particular attention to unfamiliar vocabulary; due Monday

Wednesday
1. In-class essay (essay is forty-minute timed essay to simulate AP Test)
2. Vantage Lab scheduled for tomorrow for Global Warming rewrite

Thursday
1. Vantage Lab rewrite for Global Warming essay
2. Talking points for Chapters Sixteen-Twenty for Period One due tomorrow for Invisible Man; motif essay prewriting assigned for Period Four

Friday
1. Invisible Man Chapters Sixteen-Twenty for Period One; motif essay prewriting for Period Four
2. Huntington piece from Bedford Reader due Monday; see Tuesday for specific assignment
3. Unit Thirteen will be completed in class Monday; vocabulary books are required

AP Long Form

Next components are due Monday, April 21, 2008

SYNTAX: (sentence structure) Analysis of sentence and phrase patterns._

1. Make some general observations: Are the sentence predominately simple or complex. Long or short? Level of formality? Any fragments? How does the author use syntax to create rhythm and flow of the language? Is there much variety to the sentence pattern? Are sentences loose, periodic, inverted, convoluted?

2. Using one of the same passages above, focus on the author’s syntax choices. What effect is he/she creating? Comment on how these choices help define character, set tone, or further theme.

IMAGERY: Words or phrases that appeal to the five senses—most commonly visual. Look for recurrent images. What function does the imagery seem to serve? Use direct quotations from text to support observations.

SYMBOLISM: When an image is used to suggest complex or multiple meanings (hawk for war, dove for peace, swan for stately beauty), it becomes a symbol. Is the novel highly symbolic? Allegorical? Point out images used as symbols. What function does the symbolism seem to serve? Use direct quotations from text to support observations.

STUDYPATH April 14-18, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
Most of this class will be on a field trip today; assignments are due before students board buses
1. Unit Eleven Vocabulary answers due today; test Tuesday
2. Writer's Choice grammar assignments; phrases unit
3. Index cards due for research paper
4. Bedford Reader literary terms test rescheduled to Tuesday

Tuesday
1. Unit Eleven Vocabulary test today
2. Bedford Reader two selections due "Orientation" by Daniel Orozco and "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid
3. Writer's Choice grammar assignment

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader due in class for Orozco/Kincaid discussion
2. Vantage Lab date announced for Global Warming rewrite
3. Writer's Choice grammar assignment

Thursday
1. Next components of AP Long Form due on Monday
2. Multiple-choice practice
3. Invisible Man Chapters Eleven-Fifteen due tomorrow for Period One; Chapters Twenty-One to Twenty Five and Epilogue due tomorrow for Period Four


Friday
1. Invisible Man class discussion; see Thursday for chapters
2. Weekend homework to be announced
3. Meet at library for first twenty minutes of period for Book Fair
4. UNIT TWELVE WILL BE DONE IN CLASS ON MONDAY; BOOK IS REQUIRED FOR CLASSWORK

AP English Long Form Credit

All AP English Long Form Credit use on this blog is credited to Chris Baldwin, PHHS, who created this form.

STUDYPATH April 7-11, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

CHECK SUNDAY NIGHTS FOR UPDATE TO BLOG.

Monday
1. Unit Ten Vocabulary answers due today; test tomorrow
2. Writer's Choice Research Paper and Grammar assignments including Unit Twelve Phrases
3. Invisible Man talking points five per chapter due Friday for class discussion; Chapters Six-Ten for Period One and Sixteen-Twenty for Period Four
4. Bedford Reader "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker due Tuesday; literary terms

Tuesday
1. Vocabulary Unit Ten test
2. Writer's Choice assignments
3. "Everyday Use" due today
4. Literary terms

Wednesday
1. Writer's Choice assignments
2. Multiple-choice in-class practice
3. Literary terms

Thursday
1. Writer's Choice assignments
2. Vocabulary books due in class tomorrow; talking points due tomorrow

Friday
1. Vocabulary books due in class today
2. Class discussion of Invisible Man; see Monday for chapters
3. Two index cards due for research paper sources

Invisible Man Long Form

These components are due Monday, April 14 for Period One and Monday, April 21 for Period Four.

SETTING: Where and when does this novel occur? How is the environment described? Any symbolic meanings in the settings? How does the author use setting? What ATMOSPHERE is created by the setting? How important is setting to the novel?

DICTION: Analyze the author’s word choices. First discuss the work in general: is the language informal, formal, neutral? Explain and give an example. Does the author use much imagery? Metaphoric and/or ironic devices? Is the language plain? Flowery? Concise? Strong? Does diction indicate social status, education, region? Are the sounds cacophonous (“plosives”: b, d, g, k, p, t) or euphonious (“liquids”: l, m, n, r, soft v and f, th and wh)? Does it seem patterned or random? How much dialogue is used? How different is the dialogue from character to character?

SELECT THREE PASSAGES (minimum: approximately one-half page) featuring three different plot segments. Copy or Xerox them. Referring to the passages, discuss specific diction choices. Comment on how diction choices help define character, set tone, or further theme.

Invisible Man Long Form

Next components of Long Form are due on Friday, April 4 for Period Four, and Friday, April 11 for Period One

POINT OF VIEW (NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE): Is the novel written from the first person (“I”), second person (“you,” very rare), or third person (he/she)? Is it a reminiscence or recent perspective, written in the present tense or the past tense? If in the first person, is he/she the protagonist or an observer? If in the third, is he/she omniscient (knowing everything), limited omniscient (knowing one character most often) or objective (no subjective commentary by the narrator, but limited omniscient)?

CHARACTER: General comments: Flat/round? Static/dynamic? Believable? How are they revealed? How complex? How many? Protagonist/antagonist? Role of minor characters? Then describe four-six central characters: name, age, three descriptive adjectives, appearance, personality, function in novel, significance of name, a quote that reveals character with an explanation of what the quote reveals.

STUDYPATH March 31-April 4, 2008

CHECK BLOG SUNDAY NIGHTS FOR ANY UPDATES

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. APEX diagnostic tests due today
2. Research paper strategies; grammar Unit Thirteen test
3. Bedford Reader textbook days revised to Monday-Wednesday; Bedford literary terms continued
4. Multiple-choice practice
5. Invisible Man class discussion continues from Friday (bring novel to class)
6. Answers Unit 7-9 and Cumulative II due in class today

Tuesday
2. Invisible Man Period One: Chapters 1-5 talking points due Friday; Period Four: Chapters 11-15 talking points due Friday
2. Bedford terms continued
3. "Homeless" by Anna Quindlen due in class today
4. Synthesis essay scheduled for Thursday
5. Los Angeles Times Op-Ed assignment

Wednesday
1. Unit Ten Vocabulary Workshop answers due Monday in class
2. Research paper strategies
3. Bedford terms test in class today
4. Multiple-choice practice

Thursday
1. In-class synthesis essay
2. Invisible Man class discussion tomorrow

Friday
1. Invisible Man class discussion (see Tuesday for chapter assignments)
2. Vocabulary Workshop due in class today for Unit Ten assignment

STUDYPATH March 24-28, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR


In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Writer's Choice is due in class M-W
2. Bedford Reader is due in class Thursday; complete two assignments before this Thursday "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (122) and questions on meaning, writing strategy, and language and "Silent Dancing" by Judith Ortiz Cofer (162) and questions on meaning, writing strategy and language
3. Multiple-Choice practice
4. Unit Nine vocabulary answers due today; test tomorrow

Tuesday
1. Unit Nine vocabulary test today
2. Writer's Choice grammar
3. Research paper strategies
4. APEX diagnostic tests due by Friday

Wednesday
1. Writer's Choice grammar
2. Invisible Man Chapters Six-Ten due Friday for class discussion (five talking points per chapter)

Thursday
1. Multiple-choice practice in class
2. Hazlitt multiple-choice review
3. Vocabulary book due in class tomorrow
4. Cofer and Jackson pieces from Bedford Reader due today

Friday
1. Unit Seven-Nine and Cumulative Review II vocabulary answers due on Monday
2. Class discussion of Invisible Man Chapters Six-Ten; five talking points per chapter due
3. Weekend homework to be announced

Practicing Consulative Language

Several AP students have decided to address the op-ed columnists by using a questioning strategy instead of crafting a letter response. Here is the format for the questioning strategy as requested by AP students:

Practicing Consultative/Formal Registers Outside the School Day:

Look through several newspapers and magazines to find an editorial writer you would be willing to read regularly. Choose someone who makes you think—either in agreement or in disagreement.

For each editorial, do the following:

1. What is the writer’s argument? Summarize the editorial’s argument in a sentence of no more than eighteen words.

2. How does the writer prove it? What evidence does the writer give?

3. How does the writer explain the evidence? What does the writer explain about the evidence that shows how or why it proves the argument?

4. Do you agree with the argument? Why or why not?

5. Write down three things you would like to say to this writer.

6. Find three ways this editorial relates to something you have studied or learned about in school. Write an explanation of how the editorial relates to your class work.

c.Marcy Bowman, 2005 California State University AP Seminar and writingback.org

STUDYPATH March 17-21, 2007

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday, March 17
1. Writer's Choice due in class; research paper strategies from textbook begin today
2. Op-Ed due today; see "Practicing Consultative Language" if you wish to use the questioning method rather than the letter response method for the op-ed response
3. Synthesis essays graded and returned to students during this week (revisions and rewrites due Friday)
4. Unit Eight Vocabulary due today in class; test to be scheduled
5. Research Paper Topic due today (in writing-format distributed in class last week)
6. F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited" talking points due today for Period One class only

Tuesday
1. Timed write essay in class today
2. Writer's Choice not due in class today; bring Writer's Choice Wednesday and Thursday this week
3. Bedford Reader texts distributed and assignment made

Wednesday
1. Writer's Choice due in class today and tomorrow for research paper and grammar assignments
2. Vocabulary Workshop texts due in class Friday
3. Multiple-Choice strategies continue with review of Hazlitt piece, Housman poem, and student-created multiple-choice questions
4. Bedford Reader assignments made

Thursday
1. Invisible Man Chapters One-Five talking points due Friday for class discussion (five talking points per chapter)
2. Since Period One received Invisible Man later than Period Four, the introduction, prologue and Chapters One-Five talking points are due Friday for class discussion (five talking points for prologue, introduction and five talking points per chapter)
3. Synthesis essay rewrites are due tomorrow
4. Vocabulary Workshop textbooks are due in class on Fridays
6. Writer's Choice textbook due as research paper and grammar assignments continue
2. Op-Ed assignment

Friday
1. Invisible Man class discussion; books and talking points required
2. Unit Nine vocabulary assigned; books required in class

STUDYPATH March 10-14, 2007

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. DCQ Synthesis essay due today for Period One; due Tuesday for Period Four
2. Cornell Notes for Bloom's Taxonomy
3. Writer's Choice anthologies due in class today
4. Los Angeles Times editorial responses due today

Tuesday
1. Writer's Choice anthologies due in class today
2. Invisible Man books assigned; talking points due Friday for class discussion
3. Junior Defense of Thesis topic due today

Wednesday
1. Writer's Choice anthologies due in class today
2. Bedford Reader books assigned; Bedford Terms and "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
3. Research Paper strategies

Thursday
1. Los Angeles Times editorial assignment
2. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (continued)
3. Bedford Terms test today (postponed)
4. Five talking points for both the introduction and the prologue for Invisible Man due by Friday


Friday
1. Invisible Man talking points for Chapters One-Five due today for class discussion (modified: see Thursday for assignment)
2. Vocabulary Workshop Unit Eight due Monday
3. Weekend homework to be announced, including revisions and rewrites for DCQ Synthesis essays
4. Research Paper topics are due today! Choose a natural disaster that is connected to water conservation.

Syllabi Inquiry

Paper Standards
First Name Last Name
Period, Subject
Expanded Date


Instructions: Review the online syllabus for your course: AP English Language and Composition, Honors Contemporary Composition, or Grade Ten Honors English, and answer the following questions on your own paper. Write neatly and respond succinctly. Make certain your answers are original.

1. What is the purpose of a syllabus?


2. How does the second semester syllabus differ from the first?


3. What do you suppose will be one significant strategy the teacher will use to teach reading this semester?

4. What is the approach to grammar instruction in this class? Briefly describe.


5. Briefly detail Bloom’s Taxonomy and explain how it can affect student achievement as learners move from Level Three to Level One.

6. How does the breakdown of marks (grades) in this class differ from the traditional method of awarding marks of A, B, C, D, and FAIL?


7. How can the posting of the syllabus on the teacher’s web log aid the student in understanding and completing assignments during the semester?


8. What is the function of Cornell Notes and how do they assist students in improving comprehension in daily coursework?


9. Briefly explain the revised late work policy in your own words.


10. Which of the useful websites featured in the syllabus is most convenient to students? Why?

Late Work Policy

It is the policy of this class that students who are absent and provide an acceptable excuse may make up assignments or tests the day following their return to class; the assignment or test will be scored and returned to students. Students must mark the specific date of absence and assignment number on the assignment or test. If an assignment or test is not completed on the day following the return to class, the assignment or test will be scored as “credit” and not receive a letter grade. That “credit” neither raises nor lowers the students’ overall grade average. Verified truancies and unexcused absences from class will result in no credit received for work submitted.

Vocabulary assignments must be received by due dates; five points will be deducted from test scores for work not received when due and ten points will be deducted from test scores for no work submitted. Off-track assignments must be submitted on time since no credit is provided for late assignments.

STUDYPATH March 3-7, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.


Monday
1. Semester Reflections
2. Syllabus Inquiry
3. Accelerated Reader Journals/Tests
4. Late Work Policy
5. Textbook Days: Bedford Reader MTW; Writer's Choice MTW; Vocabulary Workshop M; Invisible Man F

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. "On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth" William Hazlitt
2. Reviewing Multiple-Choice Questions
3. Constructing Multiple-Choice Questions

Wednesday
1. Bloom's Taxonomy Review
2. Noskin's Research Process Using Sources (2007-2008 Professional Development Workshop Materials) and Topic, Thesis Statement, Outline, Precis/Abstract and Rubric
3. Synthesis Free-Response Question: Violent Images
4. Ralph Ellison Biography-AP Long Form
5. Due: Syllabus Inquiry March 5

Thursday
1. Graphic: Narration in an advertisement
2. Los Angeles Times Op-Ed
3. Bedford Terms
4. Due: Ellison biography March 7; Synthesis Essay March 7; Accelerated Reader Score and Journals March 7

Friday
1. Writer's Choice Troubleshooter (382), Clauses/Sentence Structure (534) and Sentence Diagramming (564)
2. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson
3. Due: Ellison biography; Synthesis Essay; Accelerated Reader Score and Journals
4. Weekend homework to be announced

Semester B Syllabus (Under Construction)

Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Syllabus 2007-2008

Instructional Dates/Material To Be Covered/Semester "B"

Year Long Rigor Tools
Bloom's Taxonomy and Bloom's Affective Taxonomy

Consultative Language and Language Registers: Frozen, Formal, Consultative, Casual, Intimate

Levels of Questioning: Level One-Factual; Level Two-Interpretative; Level Three-Evaluative
The Rhetorical Square-Audience, Purpose, Persona, Argument and SOAPS: Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker

Cornell Note-Taking, Outlining, and Journaling

Sentence Mimicking and Pivoting TextGrammar of Irony and Grammar of Paradox

Classical, Rogerian, and Toulmin Argumentation Models

Rhetorical Modes of Discourse

Student-Teacher Conferencing: Rubrics, Revisions, and Rewrites
GLAAPSI, July 2005 Marcy Bowman AP Packet

The Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Examination is administered by the College Board during the latter part of this semester.

In this semester, students continue to hone their responses to nonfiction pieces by accomplishing precise, thorough, insightful, and thoughtful responses through original drafts and various stages of rewrites. The second semester also includes weekly selections from the Bedford Reader, highlighted below, that address the meaning, writing strategy and language authors use to accomplish their purposes for writing; students may use these questioning tools (including levels of questioning) to analyze what they have read and determine, as the Bedford Reader states, how “good writers write.”

There is a fair amount of concentration in this semester on response to visual literacy. Of the seventeen visual works included in the Bedford Reader, students experience a sampling of these offerings to learn how to make meaning of images, advertising, and photographs, learning to use the sensory details of tactile images evoked by figurative language that appeals to one or more of the five senses. See examples and justifications in the matrix provided below.

Specific methods of achieving purposes in writing are used throughout the course scope and sequence as well since students are asked to read and write in various modes of discourse. A sampling of the Semester B sequence follows:

Literature Assignments and Methods for Achieving Your Purpose in Writing*

Week One
Narration: To tell a story about your subject, possibly to enlighten readers or to try to explain something to them
Visual Literacy: “How Joe’s Body Brought Him Fame Instead of Shame” (advertisement)
(analysis of a narrative cartoon to ascertain chronology and message used to lure customers)
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (122)
First appeared in The New Yorker in 1948
Theme: Manners and Morals

Week Two
Description: To help readers understand your subject through the evidence of their senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste
“Silent Dancing" by Judith Ortiz Cofer
First appeared in The Georgia Review
Theme: Cultural Diversity

Week Three
Example: To explain your subject with instances that show readers its nature or character
Visual Literacy: “Cellular Phones of the Future” (cartoon)
(interpreting drawings with text to determine artist’s opinion)
Anna Quindlen from her collection Living Out Loud in Mother Jones Magazine
Theme: Homelessness

Week Four
Comparison and Contrast: Setting Things Side by Side
To explain or evaluate your subject by helping readers see the similarities between it and another subject
“Everyday Use” published in 1973 and appeared in Harper’s magazine
Alice Walker
Theme: Community

Week Five
Process Analysis: Explaining Step by Step
To inform readers how to do something or how something works—how a sequence of actions leads to a particular result
"Orientation" Daniel Orozco first published in Seattle Review in 1994 and appeared in the Best American Short Stories 1995
Visual Literacy: “Workers Making Dolls” (photograph) Photographer Wally McNamee
(single image used to portray several steps in the doll-making process) 324
Theme: Humor and Satire

Week Six
Division or Analysis: Slicing Into Parts (335)
To explain a conclusion about your subject by showing readers the subject’s parts of elements “Girl”
From the collection At the Bottom of the River Jamaica Kincaid
Theme: Other Peoples, Other Cultures

Week Seven
Classification: Sorting Into Kinds
To help readers see order in your subject by understanding the kinds or groups it can be sorted into
Visual Literacy: “What Everyone Should Know About the Movie Rating System” (chart)
Motion Picture Association of America mpaa.org
(graphic organizer sorting films into groups of appropriateness)
“The Crisis of National Identity” by Samuel P. Huntington
Opening pages from Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s Identity
Theme: Community

Week Eight
Cause and Effect: Asking Why
To tell readers the reasons for or consequences of one's subject, explaining why or what if “Safe-Sex Lies” by Meghan Daum
Essay published in The New York Times Magazine January 1996
Theme: Sexuality

Week Nine
Definition: Tracing a Boundary
To show readers the meaning of your subject—its boundaries and its distinctions from other subjects
“The Meanings of a Word” by Gloria Naylor
Essay published in The New York Times
Theme: Communication

Week Ten
Argument and Persuasion: Stating Opinions and Proposals
To have readers consider your opinion about a subject or a proposal for it
Visual Literacy: “Corporate America Flag” (media image) Adbusters Media Foundation
(image adaptation of a familiar symbol to achieve effect)
“Too Much Pressure” by Colleen Wenke published in Fresh Ink: Essays from Boston's College's First-Year Writing Seminar
Theme: Manners and Morals

Ongoing
Useful Terms Abstract/Concrete to Warrant
*The Bedford Reader Ninth Edition 2006

Juniors are encouraged to contact College Counselor Ms. Campbell regarding college entrance examination procedures, college financial assistance forms, and college application and admission information.

The Advanced Placement Examinations, California High School Exit Examinations, and California Achievement Test Examinations are scheduled this semester.

Students who feel essay rewrite scores should be higher must write a request, using the specific language of the generic or tailored rubric, to justify why the essay should be re-read and re-scored.

Weeks Eleven-Sixteen

Research

In the spring semester students complete a fifteen-page research paper for the topic “Water Conservation tied to a U.S. Natural Disaster.” Students are required to use a works cited list and embedded citations using Modern Language Association protocol as a guide line for their finished product. This paper is coordinated with the social studies AP instructor. A “Junior Defense of Thesis” is prepared as students are required to orally defend their theses to the teacher, to their triad members, and finally to the entire class of students. Students are chosen to also defend their theses to the board members of the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles. An abstract of the “Junior Defense of Thesis” follows:

JUNIOR DEFENSE OF THESIS 2008

Students will develop a Personal Action Plan that will link the environment (water conservation) and citizenship (call for action) themes from 9th or 10th grade with a culminating research-based and oral defense project paper.

Sample Standards:
Writing 1.6 Research and Technology: develop presentations by using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies (e.g., field studies, oral histories, interviews, experiments, electronic sources)

Writing 1.4 Organization and Focus: enhance meanings by employing rhetorical devices, including the extended use of parallelism, repetition, and analogy; the incorporation of visual aids (e.g., graphs, tables, pictures); and the issuance of a call for action

Multimedia presentation or print media presentation; judges use 10-point checklist and rubric to score students’ oral defense; teacher scores research papers, which require summaries, paraphrases, and direct quotations, attributive tags, and MLA formats for in-text citations and works cited list

Three projected outcomes:

These are proposed outcomes of the Junior Defense of Thesis and the objectives noted are not indicative that approval has been granted.

Thirty-second CBS Television Network broadcast quality storyboarded public service announcement (possibly produced by students on video)

Thirty-second KNX CBS owned and operation Radio public service announcement ad copy with agreement to run spot free of charge from educational institution (spot possibly produced by students on audio)

Eighth to quarter-page display print ad public service announcement to run in USA Today (purchase of ad space may be made with grant funds) (possibly produced camera-ready by students using multimedia resources)

Textbooks

Textbooks used in this course include The Bedford Reader, Cliffs AP Preparation Guide, Vocabulary Workshop Level “F”, and Glencoe Writer’s Choice. Various nonfiction pieces are used from composition rhetorics and readers, as are newspaper editorials, opinion-editorial pieces written by individual columnists, and storyboards, photographs, and newspaper editorial cartoons.

Kennedy, X.J., Dorothy Kennedy, and Jane E. Aaron, The
Bedford Reader. Boston: Bedford Books of St.
Martin’s Press, 1997.

Cliffs AP English Language and Composition (2nd Edition) Swovelin ©2001

Vocabulary Workshop Level “F” Shostak (Sadlier-Oxford Publishing) 2005

Anthology: Writer’s Choice Grammar and Composition; Glencoe ©2005

Anthology: Literature and Integrated Studies; Scott-Foresman Publishing ©1997

Useful Web Sites

Online Writing Labs http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Composition formatting

Oxford English Dictionary http://www.oed.com/
Vocabulary for the AP student

Strunk and White http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/
Rules of style for written prose

Teacher Web Log http://www.hollywoodhighschool.net
Weekly blog postings of assignments due

Apex Learning http://www.apexvs.com/
AP diagnostic tests; literary terms; study strategies

Go My Access/Vantage Learning http://www.gomyaccess.com
Intellimetric prompts and rubric-scored writing

Exercise Central http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/exercisecentral
Online quizzes for each reading selection

College Board Online http://www.collegeboard.org/ap

Grading System
Marks on individual assignments are based on the following scale:
A 92.5 % or better
B 82.5 % or better
C 72.5 % or better
D 62.5 % or better

Midterm and final examinations are administered; other quizzes are given throughout the course and include tests on meaning, language, and writing strategies from texts, tests on vocabulary, the connotative and denotative meanings of words, and tests on literary terms necessary for success on the multiple-choice and essays portions of the AP Language Exam.

Semester B Information

Information about curriculum for Semester B, including course syllabus, will be posted on blog in mid-February. For off-track assigned work, direct questions to jcarmicl@lausd.net and inquiries will be addressed.

Off-Track Assignment

December 10, 2007


Dear Parents of AP English Language, Honors Contemporary Composition, and Honors Tenth Grade English Classes:

I am writing to inform you of the off-track work that students are expected to complete and submit by March 7, 2008 for the second semester of this 2007-2008 school year. Work or test scores submitted after that date will not be scored and may negatively affect a student’s grade.

AP English Language and Honors Contemporary Composition students will read two novels or plays chosen from the list on the reverse side of this letter. These students will keep a dialectical journal (see format below) and take the Accelerated Reader test by March 7, 2008. The AR test scores should be submitted along with the dialectical journals; no late scores will be accepted.

Honors Tenth Grade students will read two novels chosen from the list on the reverse side of this letter. These students will take the Accelerated Reader test for both novels upon their return and submit the test scores by March 7, 2008; no late scores will be accepted.

Thank you.

Sample Dialectical Journal

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Type or use ruled binder paper to create your journal. You must include at least one journal entry per chapter with the following information:

1. Page number of quote/summary
2. A direct quote or summary of chosen event
3. Your response as to the significance of the chosen quote/summary to the development of Janie’s character or other key themes or motifs in the novel. A response may include key questions, interpretations, and/or evaluations of the text
©Ms. Tobenkin’s Web Log 2006 (used with permission)

Students chose titles before going off-track.

December 17-21, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Their Eyes Were Watching God film screened
2. Return any textbooks to counter for return to textbook room

Tuesday
1. Period Four Only: Final Examination in Vantage Lab: Their Eyes Were Watching God multiple-choice and semester reflection essay
2. Return any textbooks in class

Wednesday
CLASS DOES NOT MEET TODAY

Thursday
1. Period One Only: Final Examination in Vantage Lab: Their Eyes Were Watching God multiple-choice and semester reflection essay

Friday
1. Last day of school
2. Off-Track homework reviewed and due March 7

December 10-14, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Anthologies due for Douglass' "What The Black Man Wants"; anthologies to be returned to textbook room Tuesday
2. Their Eyes Were Watching God (TEWWG) Chapters Sixteen/Twenty (five talking points per chapter) due Thursday for class discussion
2. TEWWG film shown Friday and Monday; return parent letter permission slip
3. Selection Tests for Lincoln/Douglass in class
4. 100 Words High School Students Should Know final test today
5. Op-Ed letter, SOAPS, or Consultative Writing due on Thursday

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Prose passage multiple-choice practice
2. Levels of Questioning newspaper article response
3. Anthologies returned to textbook room
4. Bedford Reader due in class today and Wednesday

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader Khan answers due by end of class; Bedford Reader textbooks returned to textbook room
2. Controversy Essay assigned in class; due date to be announced
3. TEWWG talking points due tomorrow, Thursday for class discussion
4. Final Exam Bloom's Taxonomy semester reflection essay instructions announced; final in Vantage Lab (TEWWG multiple-choice and essay)

Thursday
1. TEWWG talking points due today for class discussion
2. TEWWG film show Friday-Monday in class; parent permission letters due no later than today
3. Portfolios organized for final exam

Friday
1. TEWWG film today in class
2. Weekend homework and off-track journals and AR tests instructions issued

December 3-7, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Anthologies due in class Monday-Tuesday for Whitman-Dickinson selection tests and Lincoln/Douglass nonfiction
2. Bedford Reader due in class Wednesday-Thursday-Friday for Khan, et al. nonfiction pieces
3. TEWWG (Their Eyes Were Watching God) Chapters 6-15 (five talking points per chapters) due on Friday for class discussion

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Grammar assignment in class
2. Prose passage multiple-choice practice
3. Lincoln-Douglass nonfiction selections assignment

Wednesday
1. Reminder: TEWWG talking points due Friday
2. Bedford Reader nonfiction selections in class
3. Grammar assignment

Thursday
1. Bedford Reader nonfiction selections in class
2. Grammar assignment

Friday
1. TEWWG class discussion (talking points due)
2. Final Examination tentative plans announced

November 26-30, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Vocabulary Level F Unit Seven answers due in class today; test scheduled for Tuesday
2. 100 Words High School Students Should Know test in class today
3. Three-page handout on rhetorical analysis, elements of literary style, and multiple-choice test taking strategies
4. Anthologies due in class for Dickinson-Whitman poetry
5. PERIOD FOUR ONLY-Their Eyes Were Watching God Chapters One-Five Talking Points (ten per chapter) due today

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Vocabulary Unit Seven Exam in class today
2. Anthologies due in class for Dickinson-Whitman poetry
3. NEW IN-CLASS DAYS FOR BEDFORD READER--WEDNESDAYS, THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS (Vocabulary continues next semester)

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader due in class today
2. Bedford Reader literary terms continued in class-test to be scheduled
3. Rogerian and Toulmin argument models handouts issued to students
4. Multiple-choice practice

Thursday
1. Bedford Reader due in class today
2. Rogerian and Toulmin argument models continued
3. Bedford Reader literary terms continued in class-test to be scheduled
4. 100 Words High School Students Should Know (next ten terms due on Monday)
5. Class discussion for Their Eyes Were Watching God all period tomorrow

Friday
1. Class discussion for Their Eyes Were Watching God all period
2. Weekend homework to be announced

November 19-23, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Plasma-Sanguine 100 Words High School Students Should Know test in class today
2. Anthologies due in class for Transcendentalists Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman poetry
3. Op-Ed scheduled as homework; due Monday, November 26
4. Grammar assignment in class
5. Multiple-Choice practice
6. PERIOD ONE ONLY: Their Eyes Were Watching God read foreword and record ten talking points per chapter for Chapters One-Five; this assignment is due Monday, November 26 for PERIOD FOUR

Tuesday
1. Multiple-Choice practice
2. Grammar assignment in class
3. In-class timed writing essay tomorrow, Wednesday
4. Dickinson and Whitman poetry continued

Wednesday
1. Unit Seven Vocabulary Level F due on Monday, November 26
2. In-class timed writing essay

Thursday
HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Friday
THANKSGIVING DAY HOLIDAY

November 12-16, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Tuesday Shortened Day
1. "Detail" Winston Churchill assignment
2. Answers for Vocabulary Units One-Six due in class today; test to be scheduled
3. Anthologies due in class for "Civil Disobedience" essay by Thoreau
4. Vantage Writing Lab scheduled for tomorrow; prewriting for Gatsby essay due today
5. Op-Ed assignment
6. Oligarchy-Plagiarize Words High School Students Should Know test today

Wednesday
1. Vantage Writing Lab for Gatsby essay (timed essay); Gatsby novels to be turned in at end of class
2. Homework to be announced

Thursday
1. Op-Ed assignment
2. Units One-Six Cumulative test in class today
3. Their Eyes Were Watching God books distributed in class; assignment to be announced
4. Words 71-80 Words High School Students Should Know assigned in class today

Friday
1. Weekend homework to be announced
2. Multiple-Choice practice in class
3. In-class timed essay

November 12-16, 2007

Blog will be updated Monday, November 12, which is a legal holiday and school is not in session.

Tuesday, November 13 is a shortened day.
Wednesday, November 14 is a scheduled computer lab day for AP students.

November 5-9, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Anthology due in class for Emerson and Thoreau
2. Vocabulary Units One-Six Review answers due next Tuesday
3. Grammar assigned as homework
4. Great Gatsby essay prewriting assigned; essay in Vantage Lab to be set

Tuesday
1. Anthology due in class for Emerson and Thoreau
2. Grammar assigned as homework
3. Prose passage multiple-choice practice

Wednesday
1. AP Essay timed essay in class
2. Grammar assigned as homework

Thursday
1. Great Gatsby Part One shown in class
2. Vocabulary Units One-Six Review answers due Tuesday

Friday
1. Great Gatsby Part Two shown in class
2. Weekend homework to be announced

October 29-November 2, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

REMINDER: If students feel essay rewrite scores should be higher, they must write a request, using the specific language of the generic (or tailored) rubric, to justify why the essay should be re-read and re-scored.

Monday
1. Meet in Hollywood High School Library for STAR Reading Level testing; anthologies and Great Gatsby novels are due in class today
2. Unit Six Vocabulary Level F answers are due today; test Tuesday
3. Thursday, November 1 is a Minimum Day for PHBAO Night in Cafeteria
4. Grammar continues all week in class
5. Los Angeles Times op-ed assignment in class today; due Thursday
6. Words High School Students Should Know test in class today

Tuesday
1. Anthologies due in class today for Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau selections
2. Unit Six Vocabulary Level F test today in class
3. In-class timed writing essay on Thursday (Periods One-Four)
4. Units One-Six Cumulative Level F Vocabulary answers are due in class Monday, November 5
5. The Great Gatsby Chapter Nine talking points (ten per chapter) are due on Friday in class for discussion
6. Bedford Reader due in class on Thursday and Friday; next set of ten terms assigned; test to be scheduled

Wednesday
1. Great Gatsby class discussion on Friday
2. Grammar assignments continue all week in class
3. Prose Passages Seven and Eight for multiple-choice practice
4. Timed writing essay in class tomorrow (Thursday)
5. Vocabulary Workshop books due in class; Units One-Six reviewed and answers due Monday

Thursday (Minimum Day)
1. Minimum Day (PHBAO Night); invite parents to cafeteria tonight to receive midterm progress report grade
2. Timed essay in class
3. SOAPS handout issued
4. Bedford Reader due in class; next set of terms reviewed
5. Op-Ed assignment due in class today

Friday
1. Bedford Reader due in class; next ten terms reviewed; test scheduled
2. Activity Two: Sentence Mimicking due Monday
3. Chapter Nine talking points due in class today; Great Gatsby discussion nearly all period

October 22-26, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

REMINDER: If students feel essay rewrite scores should be higher, they must write a request, using the specific language of the generic (or tailored) rubric, to justify why the essay should be re-read and re-scored.

Monday
PERIOD ONE DOES NOT MEET UNTIL WEDNESDAY
PERIOD FOUR MEETS TODAY
1. Op-Ed is due today, Monday (Period Four Op-Ed was Jane Harman piece)
2. Unit Five Vocabulary Level F answers due today; test on Thursday
3. "American Crisis/Speech in the Virginia Convention" nonfiction selection test
4. Portfolio checklist issued for midterm portfolio organization
5. Unit Six Vocabulary due Monday, October 29
6. Prose passage multiple-choice practice in class
7. Grammar-Linking Verbs and Adjectives
8. Words High School Students Should Know test today in class
9. In-class essay scheduled for Thursday
10.The Great Gatsby talking points for Chapters 7/8 due on Friday
11.Thomas Jefferson and the "Declaration of Independence" anthology selection today
12.SOAPS handout issue in class

Tuesday
PERIODS ONE AND FOUR DO NOT MEET TODAY

Wednesday
PERIOD ONE MEETS TODAY
PERIOD FOUR DOES NOT MEET TODAY
1. Op-Ed is due today, Wednesday (Period One Op-Ed was LA Times editorial piece)
2. Unit Five Vocabulary Level F answers due today; test on Thursday
3. "American Crisis/Speech in the Virginia Convention" nonfiction selection test
4. Portfolio checklist issued for midterm portfolio organization
5. Unit Six Vocabulary due Monday, October 29
6. Prose passage multiple-choice practice in class
7. Grammar-Linking Verbs and Adjectives
8. Words High School Students Should Know test today in class
9. In-class essay scheduled for Thursday
10.The Great Gatsby talking points for Chapters 7/8 due on Friday
11.Thomas Jefferson and the "Declaration of Independence" anthology selection today
12.SOAPS handout issue in class

Thursday
PERIODS ONE AND FOUR SCHEDULES RETURN TO NORMAL TODAY AND TOMORROW
1. Unit Five Vocabulary test in class today
2. Great Gatsby Chapters 7/8 talking points due in class tomorrow, Thursday
3. In-class timed writing AP essay
4. Bedford Reader due in class today; literary terms assigned

Friday
1. Great Gatsby class discussion on Chapters 7/8 of the novel
2. Unit Six Vocabulary due in class on Monday
3. Check web log on Sunday evening for additional assignments/updates

October 15-19, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

Monday
1. Woolf syntax assignment due today
2. Anthologies and Great Gatsby due in class today
3. Great Gatsby discussion
4. Paine and Henry class discussion, including persuasive rhetorical devices and persuasion academic vocabulary
5. Next set of ten Words High School Students Should Know assigned
6. Unit Four Vocabulary due today; test Tuesday

Tuesday
1. Anthologies due in class today; Paine and Henry class discussion continued
2. Benjamin Franklin "tone" timed essay in class tomorrow, Wednesday
3. Unit Four Vocabulary test in class today
4. Grammar assignment

Wednesday
1. Benjamin Franklin "tone" timed essay in class; use Cornell Notes for syntactical variety
2. Vocabulary book due in class today for assignment
3. Prose passages multiple-choice practice continue this week

Thursday
1. Prose passage multiple-choice practice
2. Bedford Reader due in class today; literary terms continued and argument assignment
3. SOAPS handout assigned
4. Great Gatsby Chapters 5-6 assigned; ten talking points per chapter due tomorrow

Friday
1. Great Gatsby Chapters 5-6 class discussion
3. Grammar homework
4. Test on Words High School Students Should Know
5. Bedford Reader Literary Terms Test

October 8-12, 2007

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

REMINDER: If students feel essay rewrite scores should be higher, they must write a request, using the specific language of the generic (or tailored) rubric, to justify why the essay should be re-read and re-scored.

Monday
1. Anthologies due in class; Franklin Selection Test and "tone" essay scheduled either as in-class essay or homework; Introduction to Thomas Paine's "American Crisis" and Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
2. Words High School Students Should Know gauche-incontrovertible matching quiz; next ten words introduced
3. Units One-Three Cumulative Level "F" Vocabulary answers are due in class today; test on Tuesday
4. Grammar: Pronouns
5. The Great Gatsby Chapter Two-Four talking points (ten per chapter) are due on Friday in class for discussion
6. Wednesday Vantage Lab prompt issued; prewriting due on Tuesday; reading assignment from Bedford Reader due on Wednesday in Vantage Lab

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Substitute will administer the Units One-Three Cumulative Level "F" Vocabulary Test (I am attending a one-day Periodic Assessment Training in Glendale)
2. Prose Passage Multiple Choice Practice #4 (Period Four); Passage #5 (Period One)
3. Anthologies due in class for reading assignment
4. Los Angeles Times Rodriguez Op/Ed assignment due today

Wednesday
1. Vantage Lab for argument essay
2. Unit Four Level "F" Vocabulary introduced and due on Monday; vocabulary books required in class
3. Period One: Cornell Notes on sentences and sentence assignment homework

Thursday
1. Woolf "syntax" assignment due on Friday in class
2. Op/Ed assigned from Los Angeles Times; due on Monday
3. SOAPS strategies handout provided in class
4. Franklin "tone" essay either in class or as homework
5. Bedford Reader due in class; next ten terms reviewed

Friday
1. Bedford Reader due in class; next ten terms assigned
2. Activity Two: Sentence Mimicking
3. AP Language prose passage multiple-choice and/or essay in class textbook assignment

October 1-5, 2007

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS UPDATES TRUMP PUBLISHED BLOGS


Monday
1. Words High School Students Should Know will resume this week; test next week
2. Textbook Weekly Schedule: Anthology M-T; Vocabulary W; Bedford Th-F
3. Level “F” Vocabulary Unit Three answers due in class today
4. Grammar “Pronouns” lesson on Thursday; Weekly AP Prompt Essay Friday, instead of Thursday because of Minimum Day Schedule
5. Vantage Lab scheduled for Tuesday, October 2
6. Bedford Reader “The Death of the Moth” papers recollected for scoring
7. Cornell Notes for AP Test Two (to be scheduled): Twelve types of sentences, AP Exam Format; Writers’ Attitudes; Levels of Questioning; Woolf Tone, Syntax, and Diction; Conjunctive Adverbs and Transitional Phrases
8. Franklin Tone essay assigned, possibly as Friday in-class timed writing (#4)
9. Period Four—Great Gatsby homework assignment due today; read Chapter One and record ten talking points; Period One—Gatsby book and Chapter One homework assigned
10. Anthology due in class for reading assignment
11. Period One-- Bedford Reader in-class assignment; “The Death of the Moth” (695) due today

Tuesday
MEET IN VANTAGE LAB TODAY
1. AP Rhetorical Tool: Balanced, Interrupted, Periodic and Loose Sentences
2. 100 Words High School Students Should Know: Next ten words assigned
3. Cornell Notes (see #7 from Monday) continued in class today
4. Vocabulary Unit Three Level “F” Examination
5. AP Prose Passage Multiple Choice Practice in class
6. Bedford Reader Terms 1-10 Test in class today
7. Period One--Great Gatsby books assigned to students; homework assignment due today; read Chapter One and record ten talking points

Wednesday
1. Back to School Night tomorrow night; 6:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M. in Room 120
2. Levels of Questioning and SOAPS Strategies; Cornell Notes continued
3. Level “F” Unit Four assigned in class; vocabulary books due in class
4. Benjamin Franklin Tone in-class essay on Friday
5. Grammar assigned as homework

Thursday (Minimum Day) BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT
1. Bedford Reader due in class today
2. Bedford Reader Next Ten Terms introduced in class today
3. Consultative Writing Assignment—Los Angeles Times editorial columnist; due Monday

Friday
1. Weekend homework to be announced
2. Benjamin Franklin Tone in-class essay
3. Bedford Reader Literary Next Ten Terms due on Tuesday
4. Check blog Sunday evening for updated assignments and announcements

September 24-28, 2007

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS UPDATES TRUMP PUBLISHED BLOGS


Monday
1. Test on Words 21-30 (Words High School Students Should Know)
2. Textbook Weekly Schedule: Anthology M-T; Vocabulary W; Bedford Reader Th-F
3. Level “F” Vocabulary Unit Two answers due in class today
4. Grammar “Pronouns” due in class today
5. Vantage Lab scheduled for September 26
6. Bedford Reader “The Death of the Moth” answers due Thursday
7. Cornell Notes for AP Test Two (to be scheduled): Twelve types of sentences, AP Exam Format; Writers’ Attitudes; Levels of Questioning; Woolf Tone, Syntax, and Diction; Conjunctive Adverbs and Transitional Phrases
8. Plymouth-Offer-Sinners Multiple-Choice Exam in class
9. Woolf tailored rubric provided for student rewrites; rewrites due Friday

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. AP Rhetorical Tool: Balanced, Interrupted, Periodic and Loose Sentences
2. 100 Words High School Students Should Know: Words 31-40 assigned
3. Cornell Notes (see #7 from Monday) continued in class today
4. Vocabulary Unit Two Level “F” Examination
5. AP Prose Passage Multiple Choice Practice in class
6. Bedford Reader Terms 1-10 Test on Thursday (P. 1 only)
7. Great Gatsby books assigned to students; homework assignment due Friday

Wednesday
1. Tone-“Dear Ms. Manners” homework assignment
2. Levels of Questioning and SOAPS Strategies; Cornell Notes continued
3. Level “F” Unit Three assigned in class; vocabulary books due in class
4. Richard Rodriguez “Hunger of Memory” in class timed essay tomorrow
5. Grammar assigned as homework
6. MEET IN VANTAGE LAB TODAY

Thursday
1. Richard Rodriguez “Hunger of Memory” in class timed essay; fifty-point score
2. Bedford Reader Literary Terms Test (Terms 1-10) for P. 1 only
3. Bedford Reader in-class assignment; “The Death of the Moth” (695) due today
4. Bedford Reader Terms 11-20 introduced in class today
5. Consultative Writing Assignment—Los Angeles Times editorial columnist

Friday
1. Weekend homework to be announced
2. AP Prose Passage Multiple Choice Practice (timed)
3. Bedford Reader Literary Terms 11-20 Test on Monday in class

September 17-21, 2007

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS UPDATES TRUMP PUBLISHED BLOGS


Monday
1. Test on Words 11-20 (Words High School Students Should Know)
2. Test on Cornell Notes (Bloom’s Taxonomy-Language Registers)
3. Textbook Weekly Schedule: Anthology M-T; Vocabulary W; Bedford Th-F
4. Level “F” Vocabulary Unit One answers due in class today
5. Grammar “Nouns” due in class today
6. Anthologies due in class today

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Vantage Lab scheduled for September 26-AP Prompt and Essay
2. AP Rhetorical Tool: Balanced, Interrupted, Periodic and Loose Sentences
3. Plymouth-Offer-Sinners assignment due Friday, September 21
4. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Sermon
5. “Diary of Samuel Sewall” excerpt reading selection
6. Sinners-Diary Selection Test
7. Plymouth-Offer-Sinners Multiple-Choice Exam
8. Vocabulary Unit One Level “F” Examination
9. Anthologies due in class today
Some assignments carry over to Wednesday

Wednesday
1. Tone-“Dear Ms. Manners”
2. Levels of Questioning and SOAPS Strategies
3. Level “F” Unit Two assigned in class; vocabulary books in class
4. Virginia Woolf “Moments of Being” in class timed essay tomorrow
5. Grammar assigned as homework
UPDATE FOR PERIOD FOUR: Vocabulary Level "F" Unit One Test postponed to today

Thursday
1. Virginia Woolf “Moments of Being” in class timed essay; fifty-point score
2. Bedford Reader Literary Terms Test (Terms 1-10); test tomorrow
3. Bedford Reader in-class assignment; “The Death of the Moth” (695)

Friday
1. Weekend homework to be announced. Including grammar
2. AP Prose Passage Multiple Choice Practice (timed)
3. Great Gatsby assigned as homework; due Monday
4. Bedford Reader Literary Terms Test

September 10-14, 2007

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS UPDATES TRUMP PUBLISHED BLOGS

MONDAY
1. Meet in Vantage Lab, Room 701 today and Tuesday for Question One from the 2007 AP Exam (Synthesis Question); informational writing rubric overview and prewriting
2. Question Two essay from the 2007 AP Exam essay is due today; late essays will NOT receive a score but a credit instead
3. Abjure-Chicanery "Words High School Students Should Know" scored and returned
4. Bedford Reader textbooks due in class on Wednesday; literary terms continued
5. AP Exam Multiple-Choice practice precedes Question One prewriting/essay
6. Updated marks report available for students

Tuesday
1. Meet in Vantage Lab, Room 701 for Question One essay from the 2007 AP Exam (Synthesis Question)
2. Words 11-20 "Words High School Students Should Know" assigned in class; due Friday and tested Friday; definitions, parts of speech, diacritical markings, and syllables
3. Meet in Room 120 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; Bedford Reader textbook in class

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader literary terms test on Friday; additional terms reviewed in class
2. Cornell Notes on Bloom's Taxonomy and Bloom's Affective Taxonomy, Levels of Questioning, Language Registers, and SOAPS strategies continue in class; exam to be scheduled
3. Grammar work to be assigned
4. Literature and Integrated Studies textbooks to be assigned

Thursday
1. Bedford Reader literary terms
2. Literature and Integrated Studies in-class assignment
3. Cornell Notes continued
4. LA Times Op/Ed assignment

Friday
1. Weekend homework to be assigned
2. Cornell Notes continued
3. Words 11-20 "Words High School Students Should Know" test in class today
2. Bedford Reader Literary Terms test in class today

September 4-7, 2007

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS AND CLASS UPDATES TRUMP PUBLISHED BLOGS

Tuesday
1. Collect 2007 AP Exam Question Number Three Essay; prompt and evidence of prewriting must be stapled behind essay; triads share thesis statements and introductory paragraphs
2. Passage Two from Sample AP Multiple-Choice Exam (timed); post-it notes for unfamiliar vocabulary
3. Distribute PSAT booklets to students
4. Course Work Survey assignments returned to students
5. 100 Words High School Students Should Know (Words One-Ten); syllables, definitions, parts of speech, and diacritical markings due Friday; test on words Friday in class
6. Literature and Integrated Studies anthologies assigned to students; due in class Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays

Wednesday
1. Cornell Notes on Bloom's Taxonomy, Bloom's Affective Taxonomy, Levels of Questioning, Language Registers and SOAPS Strategy; test on Friday
2. Grammar-Diagramming Sentences and Parts of Speech
3. Track A Orientation
4. Homework assignment to be announced
5. Bedford Reader books assigned to students

Thursday
1. Question Two from the 2007 AP Exam (in class timed writing) using generic rubric
2. Homework assignment to be announced: Bedford Reader-one full handwritten page on how book is organized, how selections were chosen, and how the prompts, questions, and writing topics sections are designed to help students (pages one-six)

Friday
1. Test on Cornell Notes from Wednesday
2. Test on Abjure-Chicanery (100 Words High School Students Should Know)
3. Weekend homework to be announced

September 2, 2007

Course Work Surveys are being scored and will be returned to students on Tuesday.

This week's assignments will be posted Monday evening on this blog.

Friday August 31, 2007

1. Check blog on Sunday evening for next week's assignments
2. AP 2007 Exam Free Response Essay in class
3. AP 2007 Exam Free Response Essay assigned as weekend homework and due Tuesday
4. AP Long Forms are due
5. Questions on online syllabi assigned and due on Tuesday
6. Labor Day Holiday on Monday
7. Parent Letter and Academic/Behavior Standards documents due today, Friday

Thursday August 30, 2007

1. Coursework survey due in class today
2. Parent Letter/Academic and Behavior Standards due Friday
3. Collect AP Long Forms
4. Multiple-Choice Component of AP Exam administered as diagnostic in class Thursday
5. Great job today, Wednesday for the first day!

Opening Day August 29, 2007

1. Coursework Survey
2. Parent Letter/Academic and Behavior Standards
3. Course Authorization
4. Collect AP Long Forms

Opening Days Academic and Behavior Standards

Students follow classroom, academic and behavioral standards so that instruction proceeds in an organized manner creating a learning environment conducive for all learners. These standards include, but are not limited to, obeying rules set by the school as well as by the classroom teacher. Student progress is demonstrated on periodic reports to parents with marks of excellent, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory in academics, cooperation, and work habits.


Classroom Standards
1. No student sound-emitting devices or cell phones of any type are to be displayed or used during any portion of classroom instruction including homeroom. Headwear policy is stated in the school’s memorandum.
2. School tardy policy requires students who are tardy to be marked so when arriving late to any class. A student is considered tardy when not seated before the bell rings at beginning of classes.
3. Profane language and ethnic slurs are not permitted in classes since both respect and tolerance is expected of students and teachers.
4. Defiance of authority and failure to follow rules will result in a warning to student and subsequently, calls to parents, referrals to counselors, track coordinator, and track administrator.
5. Students are encouraged to enthusiastically participate in class work, including discussions and assignments, and to bring required textbooks to class daily, unless otherwise noted by teacher. Textbooks are loaned to you and must be returned in the same condition as they were issued; if they are lost or damaged, you will be financially responsible.
6. Sleeping in class and inattentiveness is discouraged.


Academic and Behavior Standards
1. Bring notebook, pen, completed assignments,
textbook, and other necessary materials to class.
2. Hand in class work and homework on time.
3. Start assignment promptly; work diligently
without disturbing others.
4. Follow instructions and be courteous at all times.
Name-calling is not permitted.
5. Enjoy food or drinks during nutrition or lunch, not
in class.
6. Leave the class only after the teacher dismisses
students. The bell does not necessarily signify the
dismissal of students.

Assignment and Composition Format
1. Use notebook paper with holes on the left. Torn and/or ragged-edged papers from spiral notebooks are not accepted.
2. The three-line heading written in the upper right hand corner (above the lines) must include first and last name, class and/or period identification (e.g. Period 2, English 10), and the date. No abbreviations are to be used in the heading.
3. Choose an appropriate title for all assigned work. Center and correctly capitalize it on the top line.
4. Skip one line between the title and the body.
5. Most assignments may be typed or completed in neat, legible manuscript or cursive. Avoid work in pencil; use blue or black non-smear ink. Students must run spell and grammar check on typed documents before submission.
6. Use paragraph form. Indent, and observe left and right paper margins.

Grades, Points, and Marks
1. Use the following points/percentages for interpreting scores and marks earned on your assignments. Most will carry a weight of either 10, 25, or 50 points.
A+=100; A>=97.5; A->=92.5; B+>=88.5; B>=86; B->=82.5; C+>=78.5; C>=76; C->=72.5; D+>=68.5; D>=66; D->=62.5; FAIL>=0
2. Assignments and grades include, but are not limited to, homework, tests, quizzes, projects, journals, dispatches, compositions, summaries, listening and speaking activities, research reports, and portfolio entries. Late or missing assignments will adversely affect your overall grade.
3. Work Habits and Cooperation Marks. E-Excellent; S-Satisfactory; U-Unsatisfactory. For a complete explanation of these marks, ask for the Criteria For Marks handout.
4. Ask Three, Then Me. Handouts and class notes missed due to absences should be obtained from fellow classmates the day following the absence. You are responsible for making up any assignments that are due. (See other side for late work policy.)

Welcome to Fall Term, 2007-2008. I wish you success as you begin your endeavor to complete the coursework necessary to earn a high school diploma and satisfy post-secondary educational goals and requirements.

Fall 2007 Letter to Parents

August 15, 2007

Welcome to the Fall Semester 2007-2008. Parents are encouraged to take an active role in students’ educational goals and to assist them in making certain that all outside reading and homework assignments, note taking activities, test preparation requirements, and individual or group project work is independently completed on time and submitted by the due date. Periodic grade reports will be issued to students who should apprise parents of how they are progressing in their coursework. This periodic assessment can help to identify the emotional and intellectual maturity of the student and signal instructional intervention strategies that may be necessary to avert poor academic performance. Students should expect rigorous studies as they undertake the challenges of demanding Advanced Placement English Language, Honors Ten English and Grade Eleven American Literature and Contemporary Composition curriculums. If parents wish to contact me, I can be reached by e-mail at jcarmicl@lausd.net or on school voice mail, which I check frequently during the semester, at 323-461-3891 Extension 419. Homework and other necessary communication is posted on my web log at hollywoodhighschool.net and is updated frequently.

Late Work Policy

It is the policy of this class that students who are absent and provide an acceptable excuse may make up any assignment or test the day following their return to class; the assignment or test will be scored and returned to students. Students must mark “absent” on the assignment or test. If an assignment or test is not completed on the day following the return to class, the assignment or test will be scored as “credit” only and not receive a letter grade. A “credit” will replace the “0” the test or assignment would have received. That “credit” neither raises nor lowers the students’ overall grade average. Verified truancies and unexcused absences from class are exempted from earning make up work credit; students will receive no credit for any make up work submitted.

Off-track assignments such as AP Long Forms and Dialectical Journals must be submitted on time and will receive a “credit” only and not a letter grade if received past due dates, that is “by the end of the first week of instruction” for the semester.

Academic and Behavior Standards are explained on the reverse side of this letter. This document will be printed and sent home with students the first week of the new semester. Students should review these rules with you, print their names, and ask you to sign and return this document signifying your understanding and acceptance of these classroom directives. If you have questions or concerns, contact me at the voice mail number or e-mail address provided; I will contact you as soon as possible.

Please plan to attend two important school events in the next several weeks. Back-To-School Night and PHBAO Parent Conference Night are both excellent opportunities for you to learn more about what is being taught in the classroom and how your son or daughter is progressing in their coursework.

Respectfully yours,




James B. Carmicle
School For Advanced Studies
Hollywood High School
August 2007

Contact Information for Questions

You may contact me at jcarmicl@lausd.net for questions about this blog.