Monday 25 April: Begin AP Daily Videos; Scoring the AP Essays: Revising your work; finish watching this video for homework, and work on your essay revision; students who did not take the practice exam can find the prompt here and are obligated to produce a solid essay (beyond a first draft, but not necessarily with distinct drafts) by the due date
Tuesday 26 April: Workshopping synthesis thesis statements; HW is AILD project Wednesday 27 April: Workshopping LOR prominence in synthesis essay; HW is essay revision Thursday 28 April: Rhetorical Terms #5 Test; Workshopping the argument-evidence-commentary sequence; finish synthesis rewrite Friday 29 April: Synthesis rewrite due; Workshopping rhetorical analysis thesis and LOR prominence; HW is AILD project Monday 2 May: Workshopping argument thesis statements and concrete evidence; HW is essay rewrite Tuesday 3 May: MC reading review; HW is AILD Wednesday 4 May: AILD explication and project due; HW is essay rewrite Thursday 5 May: MC writing review; rhetorical analysis OR argument rewrite due Friday 6 May: No class; First Friday Mass (also, AP USH exam today) Here are review materials: Spend ~2 hours total reviewing the concepts of They Say/I Say. Look at the transition appendix as well as the other appendices. Here is the famous UMD essay that deploys transitions with especial skill. Here is the famously difficult Hazlitt Rhetorical Analysis passage from a past exam; look at question 2, of course, not the business about flamingos except as a piece of AP Lang lore (the AP Lang iconic flamingo). Here are some position papers for you to peruse as you think about how to use anecdote and how to handle counterarguments. Use the online tests from 5 Steps to a 5 to find sample passages for the multiple choice. Choose anything from the 1800s or earlier, as the non-fiction will be more challenging. Here is my 2020 Rhetorical analysis review: rhetorical analysis #1, rhetorical analysis #2. Here is the old rhetorical analysis assignment sheet. Here is an AP Lang cheat sheet from a colleague. Here is the scoring worksheet for the practice test you took. Monday 9 May: Last day of classes for seniors (also, AP Calc Exam, AP Italian Exam) Tuesday 10 May: AP Lang Exam!! Wednesday 11 May: Begin Othello in class (also, AP Bio Exam) Keep an eye on April 9 sample AP Lang test 9:45–2. Lunch provided, with Emily Dickinson's Black Bread for dessert. Event will take place at the Parsonage.
Thursday 10 March: Begin As I Lay Dying in class Friday 11 March: AILD, pp. 10-20 Monday 14 March: AILD through p. 34; Small portfolio assigned Tuesday 15 March: AILD pp. 35–57; Rhetorical Terms #3 Test Wednesday 16 March: AILD pp. 58–81; go over Rhetorical Terms #4 Thursday 17 March: AILD pp. 82–102; hot seat appointments begin Friday 18 March: Faulkner catch-up; more about the last reading Monday 21 March: Workday for the small portfolio Tuesday 22 March: AILD pp. 103–127 Wednesday 23 March: Small portfolio due (two pieces + reflective memo) Thursday 24 March: Sonnet practice; AILD pp. 128–149 Friday 25 March: Emergency sonnet practice; Rhetorical Terms #4 Test Monday 28 March: AILD pp. 150–176 Tuesday 29 March: AILD pp. 177–197 Wednesday 30 March: AILD pp. 198–217 Thursday 31 March: AILD pp. 218–238; hot seat closes for the short story/recitation assignment Friday 1 April: No class; First Friday Mass Monday 4 April: Recitations/Short story assignment due Tuesday 5 April: AILD: pp. 239–end; AILD assignment available Wednesday 6 April: Discuss Rhetorical Terms #5; AILD discussion and culminating activity Thursday 7 April: Faulkner's Nobel Speech Friday 8 April: No class; Jane Austen Day April 9: AP Lang Practice Test and luncheon; review video for rhetorical analysis; another video Monday 11 April: Discussion of Practice Test results; passage choice and creative project proposal due Here is the MC answer explanation Here is the old rhetorical analysis assignment sheet Tuesday 12 April: In-Class Writing: Faulkner's Nobel Speech Rhetorical Analysis Wednesday 13 April: Darl's Cubistic Vision due Easter Break! Rhetorical Terms #5 Test, Thursday, April 28 As I Lay Dying Explication and Creative Project due Wednesday, May 4 Here and here are sample sourced arguments for you to look at "foregrounding the argument"; here is a sample piece that shows excellent transitions (though it is an argument of inquiry, not a position paper)
Also, here is that checklist for the sourced argument. Friday 25 February: Proto-Modernism: Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio; "The Book of the Grotesque"; "Hands" Monday 28 February: "Hands," "Tandy" due Tuesday 1 March: "The Strength of God" due Wednesday 2 March: Hot seat closes for the Sourced Argument paper; more activities with "The Strength of God" Thursday 3 March: Sourced Argument paper due; Eliot: "Prufrock" in class Friday 4 March: No class; First Friday Mass Monday 7 March: Hemingway's "Soldier's Home" due Tuesday 8 March: ""Big Two-Hearted River," Part I, due Wednesday 9 March: "Big Two-Hearted River," Part II, due; short story assignment made. For Anderson, choose "Paper Pills," "The Teacher," or "Sophistication"; For Hemingway, choose "Battler," "The End of Something," or "The Three-Day Blow"; alternative assignment is to memorize "Prufrock" in full Thursday 10 March: Begin As I Lay Dying in class Friday 11 March: Rhetorical Terms #3 Test Wednesday, March 23: Small Portfolio due (2 pieces + reflective memo) Please complete one full sample test from 5 Steps to a 5 (on paper) and hand in your work by the end of March. Please take this sample test in one sitting--you will need to schedule it on your family calendar so you have the full three hours to complete this assignment. If desired, I can make an evening or a Saturday session. Welcome to Q3!
Reassertion of late policies; Rhetorical terms (a very AP form of vocab) Monday 24 January: Go over Rhetorical terms #1; Introduction to the Sourced Argument Paper; Two approaches: Causal argument; Proposal argument; HW: Brainstorm what you would like to argue; reacquaint with sources Tuesday 25 January: Causal arguments: causal chain activity; HW: Brainstorm causal arguments for your topic; handout 1, handout 2; here is the handout for classical structure Wednesday 26 January: Discuss possible causal arguments; Proposal arguments; group proposal argument activity Thursday 27 January: Finish group proposal arguments; HW: TS/IS Chapter 7 Friday 28 January: TS/IS Chapter 7 quiz and discussion; Midterm discussion Monday 31 January: Mrs. Walsh's Famous Emily Dickinson lecture; Dickinson presentation assigned; Dickinson poems chosen; "There Came a Day at Summer's Full" copy text is HW Tuesday 1 February: "There Came a Day" copy text discussion; work on own copy text Wednesday 2 February: Sourced Argument Informal outline due for conference; workday for Emily Dickinson presentation Thursday 3 February: Quiz on Rhetorical Terms #1; Workday for Emily Dickinson presentation/paper Friday 4 February: No class; First Friday Mass Monday 7 February: Go over Rhetorical Terms #2; Questions on Emily Dickinson presentation/paper; teacher sample presentation in class Tuesday 8 February: Emily Dickinson presentation due (work on sourced argument at home) Wednesday 9 February: Emily Dickinson presentation Thursday 10 February: Emily Dickinson presentation; hot seat for the sourced argument opens Friday 11 February: Emily Dickinson presentation Monday 14 February: Headmaster's holiday; no classes Tuesday 15 February: Sourced Argument Review; Emily Dickinson questions Wednesday 16 February: Hand in Emily Dickinson paper; In-class Argument: Emily Dickinson; HW: Reading 1 of "Bartleby the Scrivener" Thursday 17 February: "Bartleby" Reading 1 (pp. 1–top of 12) due Friday 18 February: "Bartleby" Reading 2 (pp. 12–top of 22) due Monday 21 February: Presidents' Day; No classes Tuesday 22 February: Rhetorical Terms #2 Quiz (but cumulative); "Bartleby" Reading 3 (22–end) due Wednesday 23 February: "Bartleby" Reading 3 SQs Thursday 24 February: "Bartleby" In-Class Writing Hot seat for the Sourced Argument closes March 2. Monday 3 January: Snow Day! Work on rhetorical analysis; hot seat for rhetorical analysis opens; see sign-up sheet or email me to Zoom
Tuesday 4 January: Snow Day Wednesday 5 January: Snow Half Day Thursday 6 January: Allison gives a presentation on "The Custom House"; Approaches to The Scarlet Letter in-class exercise; for your reference, here is the winter reading guide distributed in December Friday 7 January: Approaches write-up due; No class: first Friday Mass Monday 10 January: Scarlet Letter In-Class Writing; Materials for midterm synthesis and rhetorical analysis distributed: excerpts from "Self Reliance" and "Nature," "Thanatopsis," excerpt from Walden; HW: prepare for Harkness (graded) on materials, including role of nature in The Scarlet Letter; here is packet Tuesday 11 January: Midterm overview (synthesis and rhetorical analysis); Harkness to get the ball rolling on ideas for midterm prompts Wednesday 12 January: AP-style Synthesis practice in class Here are some student samples of rhetorical analysis; some are for assignments different from ours, so these are not models, per se, but for inspiration: here (Adichie) and here (Bloom) and here (sugar). Here is a screencast from 2020 (when I was making screencasts to prep students for the exam, at the end of the course) that goes over rhetorical analysis; it's appropriate as you prep for the midterm. This second one provides nice review of the assignment sheet as you finalize your own rhetorical analysis essay this week. Thursday 13 January: Hot seat for rhetorical analysis closes; AP-style Synthesis practice in class; here is synthesis rubric Friday 14 January: Rhetorical Analysis paper due; AP-style Rhetorical analysis practice in class Midterms Tuesday 2 November: Introduction to the Gatsby paper sequence; HW: Work on Portfolio; here are the AP Lang rubrics for the essays; use the argument rubric for the Allusion Essay
Here is the link to sign up for the AP Language Exam. Wednesday 3 November: Stasis Theory in class; "Kids, Put Down Those Sodas"; HW: Work on Portfolio Thursday 4 November: Stasis Theory for topic development; field trip problems discussed (grrrrr) Friday 5 November: Portfolio due; Hand in before class time in a pocket folder (provided). Have finals on one side along with Reflective Memo, and draft work and process on the other side, also clearly labeled. No class; First Friday Mass; HW: Initial read of Tompkins' "'Indians': Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History" for a beginning understanding Monday 8 November: First round of discussion; HW: How is this contradiction possible? What is Tompkins' solution to the apparent problem? Tuesday 9 November: Second round of discussion; HW: Consider the Academic Summary (sample) Wednesday 10 November: Academic Summary assigned in earnest Thursday 11 November: Brainstorming topics for the research sequence; HW: Three-topic memo Friday 12 November: Three-topic memo work in class Monday 15 November: Three-topic memo catch-up Tuesday 16 November: Scholarly and popular sources; credible sources; MLA review (purpose of in-text citations); hot seat opens for the Academic Summary Class today is what you need after basic instruction: teacher circulates and approves memos; students do fundamental research on their questions; students work on Academic Summary Wednesday 17 November: Research methods Thursday 18 November: Students amass list of 8–10 desired, reasonably available sources Friday 19 November: Turn in before class: Your best try at a preliminary list of sources, according to this assignment sheet; Turn in at the end of class: Another version of that list, revised according to classroom discussion and in-class work. Thanksgiving Break The Winter Reading book, The Scarlet Letter, is due right after Christmas Break. You are not assigned to read the essay at the front of the book, "The Custom House," but you may read it and give a short presentation on it for extra credit. If you are interested in doing this, please approach me for details about the presentation. I will be available on Tuesday 23 November for Zoom meetings or other kinds of hot-seat activities. Please email me to request. As you receive your sources, begin reading and taking notes while thinking in terms of the stases Monday 29 November: Annotated Bibliography and Stasis Grid assigned (for 5 best sources) Materials: assignment sheet for annotated bibliography checklist for annotated bibliography assignment sheet for stasis grid a grid you can use for the stasis grid in Word; as a pdf (This grid has spots for 10 articles; you only need to do 5 articles.) link to Popplet student example stasis grids: Popplet 1, Grid 1, Grid 2, and here is another Popplet that sees the stases in a slightly different way and uses popular sources, but you can get the idea. I like the use of the leftmost box for an author credential--it makes the credential easy to remember and forces you to be concise. Tuesday 30 November: Hot seat closes for Academic Summary Wednesday 1 December: Hand in Academic Summary; Poetry OutLoud classroom competition; TS/IS Chapter 5 in class Thursday 2 December: Workday for Annotated Bib and Stasis Grid; bring paper copies of your sources so as to be able to use time effectively. You will not be able to summarize if you cannot annotate... Friday 3 December: First Friday Mass Monday 6 December: 2 Annotated Bib entries and 2 Stasis Grid entries due for workshop (use the same sources); print out before class so you can workshop (you may print in my office, main office, etc., if needed) Tuesday 7 December: In class: Informal Fallacies; HW: Read sources, write Annotated Bib entries Wednesday 8 December: RA practice in class; HW: Read sources, write Annotated Bib entries Thursday 9 December: Thesis statements for RA HW: Finish Annotated Bib and Stasis Grid Friday 10 December: Annotated Bib and Stasis Grid due (no hot seat) (5 sources, at least 4 scholarly); Rhetorical Analysis assigned (lesson: Fannie Lou Hamer) Monday 13 December: RA piece chosen; Thesis statements Fannie Lou Hamer; RA packet Reagan/JFK Tuesday 14 December: TS/IS Chapter 6 due; RA student samples Wednesday 15 December: Mrs. Walsh not in class; workday for RA Thursday 16 December: Student samples of three-page RA Friday 17 December: Scarlet Letter Intro (Rhetorical Analysis hot seat opens Monday 3 January) OMonday 27 September: SQ essay due; have read Introduction to TS/IS well enough to discuss
Tuesday 28 September: Chapter 1 due; in-class Harkness discussion to heighten tech talk Wednesday 29 September: Chapter 2 due; Modernism; In-class activity on imagism Thursday 30 September: More about modernism, imagism, and artistic context; HW prompt (notes only): At the end of Chapter 2, what is happening? What stylistic choices does Fitzgerald make to shape and execute the scene? What are the effects of these stylistic choices? Friday 1 October: No class; First Friday Mass; AP Classroom homework due: https://apclassroom.collegeboard.org/12/assessments/assignments/40179634/ Monday 4 October: Chapter 3 due Tuesday 5 October: They Say/I Say Chapter 1 due Wednesday 6 October: Gatsby Chapter 4 due Thursday 7 October: No classes; Our Lady of the Rosary Friday 8 October: They Say/I Say Chapter 2 due; academic summary assigned Monday 11 October: No school! Columbus Day Tuesday 12 October: Gatsby Chapter 5 due Wednesday 13 October: No classes for upper school: PSAT or SAT; deadline for seniors to have the stamp; if you are not taking the SAT, I can meet with you to finalize essay if desired Thursday 14 October: Summary assignment due; turn in your college essay. In class we'll go over the summary assignment and give students a chance to ask about SQ essays Friday 15 October: Gatsby Chapter 6 due Monday 18 October: They Say/I Say Chapter 3 due Tuesday 19 October: Gatsby Chapter 7 due Wednesday 20 October: They Say/I Say Chapter 4 due Thursday 21 October: Gatsby Chapter 8 due Friday 22 October: Gatsby Chapter 9 due; Reflective Memo introduced Monday 25 October: Workday for portfolio elements Tuesday 26 October: More Chapter 8 and 9 activities; HW: Prep 25-30 min for in-class writing using your well read, well annotated book and class handouts Wednesday 27 October: In-class writing: Gatsby, Franklin, and Columbus; HW: Work on portfolio Thursday 28 October: Discussion of in-class writing in light of the novel and also principles of TS/IS, review of major themes in and approaches to Gatsby; here are some old SQs to help you tune up to what kinds of things I ask in AP Lang. Friday 29 October: No school! Monday 1 November: Gatsby test; HW: Work on portfolio Tuesday 2 November: Introduction of paper sequence, but HW: finish portfolio Wednesday 3 November: Jane Tompkins: "'Indians': Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History" in class Thursday 4 November: Discussion of Tompkins and academic summary assignment made Friday 5 November: Portfolio due; No class; First Friday Mass (HW: Three-topic memo) Portfolio items; Portfolio due Friday, November 5 Turn in old, marked copy, any additional process, and new copy: 1. Giannone Rhetorical Analysis 2. O'Connor SQ Essay 3. In-class writing on allusion in Gatsby 4. Q1 Reflective Memo Orientation: Policy Sheet
Here is the famous Unlucky 13 handout Thursday 1 September: Intro to course, the rhetorical triangle (cartoons in class), "One Art" poem recitations Friday 2 September: Check in before Mass to make sure you have a plan for recitation before 1:30, knowing that other students are in the same boat...HW: Join AP Classroom (see Jupiter message from me); Take SPACECAT notes on Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" (see handout received at our check in) Monday 6 September: No school; Labor Day Tuesday 7 September: "One Art" discussion; SPACECAT and cartoons; Elizabeth Bishop SPACECAT discussion; HW: Review the Introduction to Flannery O'Connor: Spiritual Writings Wednesday 8 September: Flannery O'Connor SQs, SPACECAT and the Introduction Thursday 9 September: SPACECAT, continued; here is the rhetorical analysis prompt from 2021; here is a sheet to help with thesis statement development Friday 10 September: In-Class Writing: SPACECAT and the Introduction *********** Monday 13 September: Personal Progress Check 1 due online: Assignment: Unit 1 Progress Check: MCQ Available as of: 9/10/2021 9:31 AM EDT; Due: 9/13/2021 9:15 AM EDT Link for students to take test: https://apclassroom.collegeboard.org/12/assessments/assignments/40179643 Tuesday 14 September: Workday for the Flannery O'Connor SQs; Story assignments made: "Good Country People" (Hulga): Maggie, Abigail, Yahfyah, Isis "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" (Mr. Shiflet/Lucynell): Elise, Rachel, Molly "The Lame Shall Enter First" (Sheppard): Ella S., Elif, Grace, Lucia "The Enduring Chill" (Asbury): Lilly, Becky, Bella "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (the Misfit): Allison, Cara, Benedetta, Sofia "Everything That Rises Must Converge" (Julian): Anna, Cristina, Lupe "Parker's Back": Isha, Kyra, Ella B. Wednesday 15 September: Flannery O'Connor SQs due (8 questions total, per the assignment) Thursday 16 September: Have read your assigned story; group discussions of the story in a general way, highlighting SPACECAT elements Friday 17 September: Workday for presentation; here's the assignment Monday 20 September: Discuss in-class writing; Rhetorical analysis rubric; Re-write assignment; Work on presentation Tuesday 21 September: Work on presentation Wednesday 22 September: Short story presentation day 1 Thursday 23 September: Short story presentation day 2; hw: work on SQ essay Friday 24 September: Short story presentation day 3; hw: work on SQ essay; They Say/I Say distributed (Read introduction to help with SQ essay and Rhetorical Analysis rewrite) This summer, in addition to reading for your summer reading group, you must read Flannery O'Connor: Spiritual Writings, ed. by Robert Ellsberg. I have copies to distribute to students.
In addition, as you read, please be guided by these study questions. You are not required over the summer to write anything about the book, but you should note questions you don't understand or can't answer mentally. Once school is back in session, you'll be assigned to write in response to a certain number of questions and then to expand some answers. The summer poem for this course is Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art." You will remember that the poem really is due on the first or second day of school because the assembly is on the Friday of that first week. New students: You need to memorize the poem so that you can recite it by yourself in front of the class. If you are a senior, you are required to have a full (first) draft of your college essay. Here is the All-School Summer Reading List, which contains the Common App prompts for 2021. Some students like to meet with me over the summer to work on the essay, to get it out of the way before school. This is a fine idea. Please email or text me if you would like to meet. This course is an exploration of rhetoric through American Literature. Feel free to read around in the archives, and look for updates in September 2021.
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