23 October - Party at Gatsby's!

AP Language

Great times today in AP Language as we experienced our first party at Gatsby's house. I was glad to see the way in which you were able to discern the meaning of key details to see the messages that Fitzgerald is providing about the world and people of the 1920's. Keep paying attention to patterns. Consider what cars and characters are really symbolizing. 

If you've fallen behind, take today as an opportunity to get caught up. Next class we'll be having a day to pull ideas together and focus on skills. No reading is assigned for next class. Focus on revising your What's the Situation projects based on today's feedback session. Remember to focus on purpose and message as you guide your revisions. If you would like to conference, please reach out! As always, I'm here to support you.

19 October - End of HoCo Week

AP Language

Wowza! What a day in AP Language as we discussed Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby. I loved the depth of your analysis and your reading and the way in which you reflected that in your discussion. Keep in mind that everything we're doing right now is about strengthening your analytical reading and writing skills. This is the key work to do in order to improve the skills assessed in your rhetorical analysis - FRQ 2. This is also a great skill that will apply in your other classes; remember, it's always about close reading and deriving patterns. Apply our reading strategies as you read on your own to deepen annotations and remember more of what you read. Annotating is making your thinking visible, so do it!

Over the weekend, read Chapter 3. You're going to get into your first party at Gatsby's house. Look at who comes and what happens. Pay attention to the imagery, the words, and the choices. Keep developing your list of big ideas in the back of the book and see how these ideas are developed in the body of the narrative.

If you're struggling with analytical writing, come in to Lion Time next week. I'm here to support you and provide more practice and feedback with your skills. We'll discuss more feedback and reassessment options next week!

17 October - Away at a Conference

AP Language

Sorry to be "away" today, but learning calls! I'm spending the first part of the week at an Instructional Coaching conference. It's been a good opportunity to work really closely with Mrs. Hanson and to get more into the learning part of my new role in the school. I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday in class and to see the fruits of your labors from today.

Today's class is focused on Chapter 1. You're working totally focused on Chapter 1 today in order to understand the structure of the chapter, the way in which tones fluctuate, and key elements of the narrative like conflicts, setting, and character. At the end of class, you're focused on analysis of a Chapter 1 Key Passage. As we go through this book, we'll be doing a lot of analysis of key passages. Focus on using the given sentence starters and the earlier conversations to put together a deep and focused analysis. Use the sentence starters I've given you! You're struggling with depth of commentary, and these will help get you there.

If you missed the timed writing, please schedule a make-up. I'll be hosting a session on Wednesday after school. As always, reach out with any questions or concerns. Enjoy Chapter 2 for Thursday's class!

13 October - Spooky Friday

AP Language

Great day in AP Language! It was so long since I'd seen you last, that we had a lot of stored up energy for today's work. Today we began Unit 3 and looked at WEB DuBois's From the Souls of Black Folk. This is one of our main texts for the next few units - it's foundational. We'll keep coming back to it and focus on ideas related to identity and perception and self-perception. The conversation we had and ideas we derived were quite rich. Go back to the recording or collaborative slides to review.

We ended class by looking at a video related to the social context for the novel we're studying, The Great Gatsby. Over the weekend, read Chapter 1. Focus on big ideas, characters, and the patterns that you're noticing in the literature. Annotate with post-it notes or on paper to track your findings. Consider how this book is a reaction to the moment of the culture of the 1920's.

See you on Tuesday! If you missed the timed write, we can make it up next week.

6 October - FRQ Friday!

AP Language

FRQ Friday in AP Language land today. We looked at "America Needs its Nerds" by Leonid Fridman (distant cousin to Mr. Friedman, perhaps?) and wrote an analysis of Fridman's argument. I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts and first analyses. I hope that you found space for a little cat as you wrote and that it brought you a feeling of success and not allergies, as cats often bring me. 

Next week is strange because of the PSAT on Wednesday. It falls on a grey day, so I won't see you for class. Our next class will be on Friday. For Friday, please have read and annotated WEB DuBois Chapter 1 from From the Souls of Black Folk. It's a great bridge piece into our work related to The Great Gatsby. I posted a video in Materials to help you with the reading - it's a discussion between me and Mr. Friedman about this reading. You may find it helpful to watch before or after you read to process.

You may also want to secure The Great Gatsby if you want your own copy. I'll issue school copies in about two weeks. Once we get back on normal schedule, we'll have feedback from projects and essays!

Enjoy the long weekend. See you very soon!

4 October - Timed Writing on Deck!

AP Language

Today was a filled day in AP Language land as we wrapped up Unit 2 and prepared for Friday's timed writing. You'll be writing an FRQ 2 which requires you to read and then write an analysis of a text. How does the author convey their argument to an audience? The process we've worked through in class - from SPACECAT to PRECIS to ESSAY - is the one we'll employ on Friday.

Remember how you'll be scored and what the requirements are. I'm looking forward to seeing your first attempt at this type of essay. Review previous recordings and the resources we've reviewed. Prepare by doing and engage in meaningful review. Remember if you're missing anything from the unit, to complete it by the end of the weekend. I should have projects ready for you next week!

2 October - Happy Fall!

AP Language

Great work today in class everyone, we are engaging in some great skill building and review to prepare for our timed writing on Friday. Today's class looked at a few important concepts. First, we discussed grading on timed writings - we looked at the scoring guidelines, sample essays, and a prompt to understand not only the task but how we'll be assessed on it. After understanding the task and the requirements, we went back to the precis. The precis is the key to writing that introduction/thesis to FRQ 2 and starting off well. Keep practicing with the precis to prepare for Friday's timed writing. 

I would recommend that you continue to write precis and review our readings through this unit as a means to practice, study, and prepare for Friday. All of the readings are posted in Schoology as well as all of our slides. Don't forget the recordings too. Looking forward to Wednesday and the last class of Unit 2.

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!

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.