STUDYPATH* September 29-October 3, 2008

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

*POTENTIAL, THOUGHT, ACHIEVEMENT, HONOR

Monday
1. Cornell Notes this week on Bloom's Taxonomy, Language Registers, Levels of Questioning, and Type of Sentences
2. Baldwin essay prewriting due in class today; in-class timed writing to be announced
3. Tuesday is Unassigned Day (classes not in session)
4. Multiple-Choice practice for the AP Exam

Tuesday
1. Unassigned Day (classes not in session)
2. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday assignments will be posted Tuesday evening; check blog

Wednesday
1. The Great Gatsby Chapters Three-Four talking points due Friday for class discussion
2. Words High School Students Should Know (equinox-gamete) due Friday; test Monday
3. Vocabulary Workshop Unit Two answers due Monday; test Tuesday
4. Baldwin AP essay timed writing in class tomorrow
5. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" Bedford Reader answers due today in class

Thursday
1. Baldwin AP essay in class timed writing
2. See Wednesday for Friday/Monday due dates for assignments

Friday
1. The Great Gatsby Chapters Three-Four talking points due today and class discussion
2. Weekend homework to be announced

STUDYPATH* September 22-26, 2008

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

*POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

Monday
1. Bedford Reader textbooks due in class on Wednesday and Thursday for next Bedford selection
2. Words High School Students Should Know (WHSSSK) 11-20 (chromosome-epiphany) assigned; syllabication, part of speech, diacritical markings, and definitions due Thursday with test scheduled Friday
3. Vocabulary Workshop Unit One answers due in class tomorrow; bring textbooks
4. Virginia Woolf timed essay in class; prewriting returned to students
5. STAR Reading Level documents signed by parents due today
6. Cornell Notes quiz scheduled this week for Bloom's Taxonomy, Language Registers, and Levels of Questioning
7. Diction assignment homework due today

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Vocabulary Workshop Unit One test; Unit Two vocabulary assigned; books due in class
2. Complete Literature and Integrated Studies homework by downloading grade eleven link "Homework 1" at hollywoodhighschool.net; due date September 26
3. Multiple-Choice practice for the AP Exam

Wednesday
1. Bedford Reader textbooks due in class for assignment
2. The Great Gatsby class discussion on Chapters One and Two scheduled for Friday; talking points will be scored and returned to students for continuation of discussion
3. Vocabulary Workshop Unit One test in class today
4. Diction assignment homework
5. Grammar assignment from Language of Composition
6. James Baldwin essay prewriting assigned

Thursday
1. Bedford Reader due in class for assignment
2. Baldwin essay prewriting discussion; essay next week as timed writing assignment
3. Great Gatsby books due in class tomorrow
for discussion

Friday
1. The Great Gatsby Chapters One and Two class discussion (continued)
2. Weekend homework to be announced

STUDYPATH* September 15-19, 2008

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

*POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

Monday
1. Bedford Reader textbooks due in class for Woolf's "The Death of the Moth"
2. Literature and Integrated Studies textbooks issued to students; complete homework by downloading grade eleven link "Homework 1" at hollywoodhighschool.net; due date September 26
3. 100 Words High School Students Should Know (WHSSSK) abjure-chicanery due on Friday; parts of speech, syllabication, diacritical markings, definitions
4. Rodriguez essays returned to students; rubric and scores discussion

Tuesday (Shortened Day)
1. Virginia Woolf AP prompt assigned; prewriting due Friday for in-class timed essay to be scheduled
2. Multiple-Choice practice for the AP Exam
3. STAR Reading Level administered Friday in Hollywood High School Library

Wednesday
1. Cornell Notes recopied and submitted for grade on Thursday
2. The Great Gatsby novels issued; five talking points each Chapters One and Two due Thursday for class discussion

Thursday
1. Class discussion of The Great Gatsby Chapters One and Two; talking points due in class
2. Hollywood High School Library scheduled for tomorrow; meet in library

Friday
1. Meet in Hollywood High School Library
2. Weekend homework to be assigned

STUDYPATH* for September 8-12, 2008

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

*POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

Monday
1. One-page summary of syllabus due Tuesday: purpose of syllabus, marks threshold, late work policy, and academic useful web site links to be included in summary
2. Rodriguez prompt work continues; bring prompt to class
3. Diction homework scored and returned to students
4. Cornell Notes continued on tone, diction, and syntax

Tuesday
1. Multiple-Choice practice for the AP Exam
2. Rodriguez essay due in class today
3. Syllabus one-page summary due in class today (see Monday for instructions)

Wednesday
1. Multiple-Choice practice for the AP Exam
2. Cornell Notes-diction, syntax, tone, unity, coherence (continued)

Thursday-Friday
1. Cornell Notes continued
2. Multiple-Choice practice continued
3. Weekend homework to be announced

Day Three September 5, 2008

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

Friday
1. "Voice" lesson on diction (continued)
2. Rodriguez essay prompt (continued)
3. Cornell Notes (continued)
4. Check blog Sunday evening for next week's assignments and daily agendas

Day Two September 4, 2008

In-class assignments and class updates trump published blogs.

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

Thursday
1. "Voice" Lessons-Diction (Kingsolver)
2. Cornell Notes for Skills Workbook
3. Richard Rodriguez essay prompt

Class Orientation

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

POTENTIAL, ACHIEVEMENT, THOUGHT, HONOR

Bell Schedule
Honors Standards
Late Work Policy
Web Log, Class Log, and Tardy Log
Summer Work Assignment
Cornell Notes

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