28 September - End of the Week

AP Language

Today was a great day in AP Language as we explored Mario Cuomo and the process of writing a precis. The precis is a compact writing task in which each paragraph has a key purpose. There's overlap between each sentence and clear alignment. Be sure as you review the task, you identify these points and exploit them. View the instructions as a checklist. Sentences three and four are definitely difficult, with practice you'll get there.

For tonight, engage in review of our unit. Look through the slides and the recordings. What have you enjoyed so far? Not enjoyed? Build connections between authors and be prepared for some review as we begin to close out the unit. Be sure that any final projects are turned in so that I can get grading and feedback back to you. Can't wait for next week! Enjoy the weekend.

26 September - Substitute Day - Jury Duty

AP Language

Sorry to be away from all of you today serving my civic duty to serve on a jury. It's my first time, so we'll see how it goes. I had a heck of a time figuring out where to park and how to walk over here, but I made it to court. I hope that you all enjoyed the day with each other to collaborate and communicate. Apply feedback to your projects and make your finishing touches. Please submit your projects to Schoology so that I can review them and get you feedback. 

We'll be looking at our last reading of this unit next class; it's Mario Cuomo's 1984 Democratic Convention Speech. On Schoology there's a link to a recording of the speech and you should have a handout copy from the substitute. Read, annotate, apply a strategy, and consider connections between this text and the others we've studied so far.

Our next unit will be focused on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'll give you a school copy, but if you like to write in your books, you'll want to purchase your own. It's a great text. I'm excited to share it with you all.

See you next time, I hope!

21 September - Going into Yom Kippur Weekend

AP Language

A pretty solid day today as we engaged with a difficult text written a bit above the high school level. Remember that this is going to be a regular occurrence. We are a college level class, so we'll read college level texts. You made the choice to accept this challenge when you signed up for this class. We discussed several strategies to deal with difficult texts - I'm a big fan of using the structures the texts provides, especially sections, to navigate difficult waters.

Our conversation and work on Anzaldua was especially rich. I enjoyed seeing your focus on language, identity, legitimacy, and the power of politics to determine worth. You may find it helpful to review the recording as we had a very deep conversation. Fantastic work!

Our next class is going to be our gallery walk for our projects. I've been focusing a lot of people to use evidence in their slides to support their claims. Also remember the way in which audience determines purpose and message -- determine your two audiences for the text and focus the analysis on them. If you'd like to get ahead on reading then you'll want Cuomo. The link to his speech is posted in Materials; we'll have a handout for you next week. Remember that it's a speech, so you may want to watch the video from 1984 before reading. 

I hope to see you next week - I've been called for jury duty, so I hope to get excused so that I can be with you.

19 September - James Baldwin's Letter

AP Language

Today was a great day in class because we spent time with James Baldwin, one of my favorite authors. Today in class we really focused on our Reading Interpretation skills as we discussed alternative perspectives, lines of reasoning, compare/contrast, and the creation of a message for a particular audience. I loved seeing the engagement in the text and with the ideas we discussed today in class. I hope that all of you are seeing the connection between the work that we're doing in class and your first project, What's the Situation, remember that we're asking you to determine and explain elements of PEWCAM. Follow the rubric as you create your slides and remember, audience drives purpose and message!

We'll have some more time on Thursday to continue working on projects. For tonight, read Gloria Anzaldua's "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" -- it's a complicated text, so try to derive what you can as you read. I would recommend reading and analyzing the sections. Try to determine a main idea or argument for each section and bring questions for our work on Thursday! The PDF is posted in Materials.

15 September - Fun Friday

AP Language

Happy Fun Friday! Today is the day that we really start our journey in earnest because today was the day that you got your first examination feedback. I know that this can be really difficult for a lot of you, and it's okay to feel upset, but we have to do something with those feelings to pay it forward and be better. Now we start the process of learning, growing, and improving as writers and readers. Today you got your feedback (Rules for Good Reading/Writing) and some information on how to read AP Classroom to understand your skills and needs moving forward.

Remember that all of these scores will be replaced as we keep doing new assignments to assess these skills. Your first project - What's the Situation - will replace your two reading grades. The rubric is posted to guide your work and decisions. It is important that you spend some time on this project this weekend; we'll have time to work on it next class, and it will be due soon. If you have questions, let me know and we can work together at Lion Time or after school next week.

13 September - Wacky Wednesday!

AP Language

Today was one of our first days to do a few things - let's outline them here. First, we got into our new vocabulary books. We worked with List One and began to organize the words by their apparent tone. We discussed the fact that some words are ambiemotional (they can be positive or negative based on the context). From there, we did a quick practice with SPACE CAT and applied some of the structures that we have been learning and practicing with in the classroom.

We ended our day with a project workshop. Over the weekend and these evenings, you'll want to keep working on this project to keep meeting your goals. Remember that you'll want to start with audience(s) and let that drive the rest of the project. Collect information for citations and we'll take care of those next week. Next class will be feedback from the Benchmark Exam, the Reading Inventory, and Picture Day! Be ready for all of those things ahead of us!

11 September

AP Language

Fantastic day in AP Language land today as we kick off a three day week. Today we looked at two genres - speeches and letters - from three historic Americans: John and Abigail Adams and Abraham Lincoln. Today's class focused on understanding and applying elements of PEWCAM/Rhetorical Situation and the ways in which tone is created and shifts within a text. I was so happy to see all of the engagement today and the collaboration with each other. 

Apologies for not having your essays scored yet; time gets away from me sometimes - there are also a few make-up assessments out there. I promise that you'll be receiving feedback this week. If you are interested in reassessing for your earlier scores on the tone analysis quiz, let me know. 

At this point you should have decided on a text for your project called What's the Situation? Consider if you need additional resources to study the text and understand its Rhetorical Situation/PEWCAM. You'll want to create a Google Slide presentation with one slide for each element (you may need a few slides for a few - hint, hint) and a space for Works Cited. We'll work through this project this week in class.

7 September - End of the Week

AP Language

Welcome to Unit 2! Throughout this unit we will focus on analyzing different definitions of America. We started to do this today in class as we worked through Thomas Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" and applied reading structures to enhance our understanding. I was very happy with the engagement in the room and the attention to detail that we brought to our task today. Keep in mind that audience is one of the most important factors when analyzing a text. The audience, and remember there can be many, is for whom the author creates a text, so it's important to see how choices are made for them.

We got our first feedback today on the tone quiz. Remember that you'll get multiple grades for assessments based on how many skills are being assessed at the time. Also, keep in mind that there are routes to reassess on your skills to show growth and development toward mastery. Here are your routes:

• Reading Comprehension: Complete a DIDLS annotation of your selected text for What's the Situation? You'll need to analyze at least two paragraphs of text.
• Reading Interpretation: Complete a tone analysis of the opening of your selected text for What's the Situation? You'll need to define the tone and then write an analysis of how the author conveys that tone in the text. Use the sentence structures from today's class and our feedback to help you do this. 

Next class we will be taking our FCPS Reading Inventory test. Please have your computers, remember it doesn't count for a grade, it's just a way to see where you are at the beginning of the year. We'll also get into feedback on our Benchmark Examination. If you are missing part of the Benchmark, please see me to schedule a make-up time.

5 September - I'm 39!

AP Language

Today was the end of our Benchmark Examination. We completed another simulated exam activity - the multiple choice. In this part of the examination you'll have five passages with questions. Some questions assess your reading skills and others assess your writing skills. Once you submit, you'll get your raw score - you want to be tracking at around 50% or better. Next week when we do feedback, you'll see your grade broken out by the different skills - this is the more important information.

If you've missed part of your Benchmark Exam, please schedule a time to sit for your assessment. I'm here after school on Wednesday and Thursday; we also have Lion Time transitions this week.

One of the best things to do right now is to review the idea of PEWCAM and the rhetorical situation in preparation for your first project. You'll need to select a text that is rich enough to undergo analysis, consider speeches and significant photographs as a place to start. We'll start into our first real unit of the year next class looking at some important American writers and their ideas about what America is to them. Enjoy the evening!