30 August - End of the Month and Week

AP Language

Not the most exciting day today as we begin our benchmark examination. Today we conquered the writing portion, next class we'll take care of the multiple choice. Remember, this is a simulated exam activity. We're already starting to take our exam and prepare for the final assessment; we actually do this all the time. I'm excited to read your first essays and begin our journey to improve as writers, readers, and thinkers.

Over the weekend, a great idea is to decide on your text for your first project - What's the Situation? Explore American Rhetoric, significant photographs, your history textbook could also be a good resource. Remember that it needs to be rich enough to undergo analysis and support a PEWCAM. We'll take more time to explore and begin this project later next week.

Enjoy the long weekend! See you for my birthday on Tuesday!

28 August - Assessments Begin!

AP Language

Our first assessment today in AP Language as we did a quick check on some vocabulary and reading skills to begin the year. Remember that if you are not satisfied with your score, there is a resubmission opportunity. We can discuss that next week when you get your results. If you had a difficult time, begin studying and learning your tone words sheet.

We focused on learning a major concept today, the rhetorical situation. We learned an acronym called PEWCAM and applied it to a famous photograph and a magazine cover from The New Yorker. Great analysis all around! Remember that we'll continue to use and practice and apply this strategy throughout the year.

At the very end of class I discussed your first major project - What's the Situation. You'll pick a "text" to analyze and research in order to show its rhetorical situation. We'll work through this in phases and steps. A great place to start is to check out American Rhetoric (link posted in Materials) and check out some speeches that you may be interested in. Speeches are especially great because of the focused exigence and ability to detect tone.

Next class we'll have our benchmark essay. Be ready with your computers, because we'll be writing! Also, you'll need to be in AP Classroom, so be sure that you've joined! Codes are in previous posts.

24 August - Happy Weekend!

AP Language

A lovely experience today in A132 as we explored tone and its importance for our class. Remember that tone is one of the most meaningful devices because of how connected it is to the author and their feelings. You got a great handout today, the Tone Word Bank. Be sure to keep this and reference it often as you work on analyzing and interpreting tone. We dipped our toes into some practice today related to opening passages and got to some great outcomes related to providing a claim about a text and using evidence to support the claim.

If you haven't yet joined AP Classroom or gotten your notebook, be sure that you do over the weekend! Next class we're going to focus on learning about the rhetorical situation and do a bit of a quiz on tone. Study and review. See the recording and the posted slides in the Materials Folder.

Welcome to AP Language with Mr. Miller

AP Language

Great day in AP Language land. It was so lovely to meet you and to start to get to know you. I'm so excited to be part of your reading and writing journey. Today we did some vocabulary (which you already knew a bit of) and discussed a bit about grading and the examination for this course. We'll spend more time next class learning about the rhetorical situation and understanding some ways to approach this important concept.

For tonight you should take care of a few business items:

1. Get your two-subject notebook. This can also be a binder, but you'll need a place for notes, returned work, and to track your progress in class. Remember, it'll stay in class.

2. Join AP Classroom. Go to AP Classroom, log in with your College Board account or make one, and use our code to join - it's posted on Schoology under Updates.

Be ready for Thursday. We'll start to do a bit of reading and thinking next class.