AP Language HW page
HOMEWORK week of 3/15-3/19/10:
Monday 3/15: Read Rachel Carson’s excerpt from “Silent Spring” in TLC p. 798 (I scanned it in below for those without books). This is both a Description AND a Cause and Effect essay; write out her claim as a cause & effect statement, and write a SOAPSTone as well.
Tuesday 3/16: Read Emerson’s excerpt from “Nature” in TLC p. 807 (will be scanned onto blog). Write a SOAPSTone and a Toulmin sentence.
Thursday 3/18: TBA
NO SCHOOL FRIDAY 3/19
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HOMEWORK FRIDAY 3/12: Read chapters 1 & 2 of John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman in the following PDF files (forgive my markings; it’s a much-beloved old copy):
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HW week of 3/8-3/12/10:
Monday 3/8: Read Desmond Morris’s “Territorial Behaviour” and do a SOAPSTone on it, then write a Toulmin sentence for it. I have the files here as PDF files (six pages):
Territorial Morris 87 , Territorial Morris 88 89 , Territorial Morris 90 91 , Territorial Morris 92 93 , Territorial Morris 94 95 , Territorial Morris 96
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HW week of 3/1-3/5/10 NOTE: I have posted the link to Illuminated Texts on sidebar under “Lang Resources.”
Monday 3/1: Read “How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle” (TLC or handout). Do a SOAPSTone and write a Toulmin sentence for her claim.
Tuesday 3/2: TBA
Wednesday 3/3: Print & read the excerpt from E.B. White’s “Here is New York.” Do a written SOAPSTone. What is White’s claim? Write it as a Toulmin sentence. Here is the excerpt: AP Lang classification E B White NY
Thursday 3/4: Choose your Classification or Division essay topic from my list of topics (or come up with your own): Classification_topics_list Write out a draft Toulmin sentence for your essay. This may change, but it’s important to have the claim in mind as you start writing. The definitions of Classification and Division are on this PowerPoint: Classification Division II
Friday 3/5: Write your Classification or Division essay, due Monday. NOTE: You are making an argument using classification or division! Make sure you argue a clear claim. ****************************************************************************************************************************
Writing your Process Analysis essay: You must do two things: one, make a claim and two, describe how to do something (OR how something happened). Your PA essay should be more than a how-to; it’s an argument.
How to do that:
- you can describe a process and assert that yours is the only right way to do X (ex: How to Make a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich)
- you can contradict a widely-shared belief about how something must be done (ex: How to Get Ready For Your Own Wedding in Three Minutes)
- you can declare one step the most critical in a process (ex: Successful Brownies: the Eggs Must Be at Room Temperature)
- you can write a satire on how-not-to-do something (ex: How to Ruin Your Love Life)
- you can criticize the way something is currently done or was done (ex: How to Get a Bill Through Congress)
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HW week of 2/22-2/26:
Monday 2/22: Read excerpt from Coventry Patmore’s poem “The Angel in the House” here . Then read Virginia Woolf’s essay “Professions for Women” in TLC p. 356 OR find it here (print a copy if you use the online text). NOTE: Your Process Analysis essay, written at home, is due Friday 2/26.
Tuesday 2/23: Choose 3 processes you know well (my own ex: cooking a fast dinner from scratch, grading a stack of essays, choosing books to teach my juniors), jot them down, and draft a claim for EACH to show me.
Wednesday 2/24: Your PA essay, written at home, is due Friday.
Thursday 2/25: Your PA essay is due tomorrow.
Friday 2/26: I’m hoping to have your next book ready for you today so you can begin reading it this weekend. That should be Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (if I can locate it in our bookroom).
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HW week of 2/8-12/10:
Mon: NONE
Tues: Read the Process Analysis section in Readings for Writers or Twenty Questions for the Writer (section may be called “How to Write a P.A.” OR “How is X made or done?”). Next, read a Process Analysis essay in the same text.
Wed: TBA
Thurs: Read “Dumpster Diving” in 50 Essays. Answer Discussion Question #2 in writing. Bring the book to class Friday.
Fri: Using the “Guilt” piece with eight rhetorical modes as your model AND choosing your own subject, write about ONE topic (concrete OR abstract) in eight modes. Single-spaced, no more than two pages total please. You are simply giving me a sample and working some new muscles here.
NOTE: For Process Analysis topic ideas: 50 suggested topics for Process Analysis essay
A classic Process Analysis essay: Ben Franklin’s directions for pleasant dreams: http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/pleasantdreams.htm
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HW week of 2/1-2/5/10:
Monday 2/1: You asked for the following detailed explanation! Write your own argument (typed, ½ to 1 page to hand in)addressing our Big Question: “Does our school (or district) serve the goals of a true education?” You need FIRST to DEFINE a true education, drawing if you wish upon Holt (foster a love of learning & reading), Mori (give constructive criticism and make instruction congruent with assessments), Prose (read for great language and style, NOT for moral instruction or popularity), Emerson (inspire inner desire to learn, in each according to his own inclination), Kidder (awaken the individual potential in every student), and Lockhart (teach for an expansion, for a love of learning, not for “skills”) for your definition. NEXT, make your claim and argue a position about whether or not our school (or our district) meets the goals of a true education as you have defined it. NOTE: tomorrow, bring Among Schoolchildren to class. NOTE: First Q3 Editorial Analysis will be due Thursday; you are ALL to do a Close Reading Analysis with annotations this time.
Tuesday 2/2: Revise your response & post to blog: “To what extent does our school/district serve the goals of a true education?” NOTE: tomorrow, bring Among Schoolchildren to class. NOTE: First Q3 Editorial Analysis will be due Thursday; you are ALL to do a Close Reading Analysis with annotations this time.
Wednesday 2/3: First of Q3 Editorial Analyses will be due Thursday.
Thursday 2/4: Finish & type the classical argument you began in class (12 pt Times New Roman, double-spaced). Do NOT sign it! We will comment on them anonymously in class.
Friday 2/5: Revise your classical argument essay to hand in Monday WITH today’s original!
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HW week of 1/19-1/22/10:
Tuesday 1/19: NONE! Wednesday we will discuss Kiva.org and Haiti.
Wednesday 1/20: Keep reading Kidder’s Among Schoolchildren, to be completed 1/29.
Thursday 1/21: TBA
Friday 1/22: TBA
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HW week of 1/11-1/15/10:
Monday: Read Emerson excerpt from Education in TLC on p. 102. Do SOAPSTone. Answer in writing the Rhetoric & Style questions on Emerson (p. 108-9 in TLC).
Tuesday 1/12: None.
Wednesday 1/13: Prepare yourself for tomorrow’s panel discussion by reviewing all four essays (Prose, Holt, Mori, Emerson) & Kidder’s book Among School Children. You know which writer you will role-play (we’ll take turns in both asking & answering roles). Prepare answers for the questions your group came up with.
Thursday 1/14: Continue reading Among Schoolchilren.
Friday 1/15: Continue reading Among Schoolchilren.
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HW week of 1/4-1/8/10: OK, folks, I’ve had to revise this, as follows:
Monday 1/4: 1. Write an Introduction and a single PEAS paragraph from C/C chart on the two passages, using chunking or sequencing. 2. Please bring Blood Done Sign My Name to class Tuesday (you’ve finished it, of course). 3. NOTE: New York Times Editorial Analysis #3 will be due Wednesday 1/6.
Tuesday 1/5: You’ve guessed it: select your own passage from BDSMN & write a Text Analysis PEAS paragraph on voice, tone, or attitude as revealed by specific rhetorical devices. Evidence must cite passage specifics!
Wednesday 1/6: Not until next week. Read Emerson excerpt from Education in TLC on p. 102. Do SOAPSTone. Continue reading Kidder’s Among Schoolchildren.
Thursday 1/7: Not until next week. Answer in writing the Rhetoric & Style questions on Emerson (p. 108-9 in TLC).
Friday 1/8: We have not yet begun Emerson, so INSTEAD for Monday select a language-rich passage from Blood Done Sign My Name and write a Text Analysis paragraph (include all PEAS elements) describing the effect of Tyson’s voice on his narrative and the rhetorical/style devices he employs to create that voice. If you have a copy of Among Schoolchildren, keep reading.
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HW week of 12/21-12/09:
Monday 12/21: Go to my TED post, read it, then cruise TED.com and look for a Ted Talk you find gripping and important. In your comment (or new post), supply the link to your chosen talk and present a paragraph-long persuasive argument explaining why YOUR TED Talk is the one to watch. Be as convincing as possible (Logos, Pathos, Ethos, or a combination)!
Tuesday 12/22: (1) Go back and read all of the TED Talk comments and posts. Decide which are your top 3 (most compelling, second most, third most); we will vote anonymously in class on Wednesday. (You may revise your own after reading those written by others, but do it early enough that we read your revised, not your original version.) (2) Go to our class wiki, find Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” text, and add your findings (analysis & evaluation) after the essay text.
Wednesday 12/23: (1) Over the break, finish reading Tim Tyson’s Blood Done Sign My Name. (2) Get a copy of Tracy Kidder’s Among Schoolchildren and begin reading it. Finish it by January 29th 2010. (3) Your third Q2 NYTimes Editorial Analysis will be due on Wednesday Jan. 6th if you want to get started on it.
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HW week of 12/14-18/09
Monday 12/14: Using new wiki space (see blog for link or Here is the link ) upload your group’s analysis and evaluation of MLK’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Make sure you insert it directly after your section!
Tuesday 12/15: Write your own 1 to 2 Modest Proposal in which you propose an extreme solution to a pressing social problem. Imitate Swift’s tone to the best of your ability. We may post them to the blog as well.
Wednesday 12/16: Read Synthesis sources handout for in-class essay Thursday.
Thursday 12/17: Visit blog and follow link to TED website. Troll around and find a talk on a topic you find interesting. We’ll post these on the blog over the weekend.
Friday 12/18: REVISED: Using the completed peer-edit for your Modest Proposal, revise & print to hand in on Monday. Hand in only final copy, not peer-edit sheet nor original.
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HW week of 12/7-12/11/09
Monday 12/7: Type up King “Letter” analyses & evaluations for cut & pasting into one document with the essay.
Tuesday 12/8: In TLC, read Swift’s classic essay “A Modest Proposal.” Do SOAPSTone & answer Discussion questions #2,4, & 6. This essay ROCKS; read it carefully!
Wednesday 12/9: After reading a few examples, choose a topic and write a prompt for your own Synthesis argument prompt packet. Begin reading BDSMN.
Thursday 12/10: REVISION: No HW. Have your Synthesis essay prompt ready to show me.
Friday 12/11: REVISION: Find & type up seven sources for your Synthesis essay prompt. These should be presented in exam format (see model), with MLA citations and one source per page. You must include at least two sources for each side of your claim plus at least two neutral or balanced sources. One to two of the seven sources should be a visual (cartoon, photograph, chart, graph, table, etc). Please do look at the model–presentation counts! This is a graded assignment worth 15 points.
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HW week of 11/30-12/4/09
Tuesday 12/1: Listen to & watch President Obama’s speech about Afghanistan tonight (8 PM or stream it later). Then write out a Toulmin sentence & SOAPSTone for the speech. NOTE: Your second NYTimes piece is due Friday.
Wednesday 12/2: Read the commentary on King’s “Letter” in your Critical Thinking packet. NOTE: Get a copy of Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson by Wednesday Dec. 9; it’s available at libraries & from bookstores. NOTE: Your second NYTimes piece is due Friday.
Thursday 12/3: Your second NYTimes piece is due Friday.
Friday 12/4: Go to the new blog page (on sidebar) “Synthesis essay/Lang exam.” Read the essay description (follow the link) then click through to the Synthesis essay at the bottom of the page & print it plus the seven sources document (PDF). Have a friend make an extra set if need be, but DO NOT come empty-handed to class Monday.
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HW week of 11/23-11/25/09: Thanksgiving week
Monday 11/23: Review Boswell’s London Journal 1762-1763 for Text Analysis style assessment Tuesday.
Tuesday 11/24: HW: (over the break) Write your own C/C essays. Begin reading Blood Done Sign My Name, finishing by January 4 2010.
Wednesday 11/25: (over the break) Write your own C/C essays. Begin reading Blood Done Sign My Name, finishing by January 4 2010.
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HW week of 11/16-11/20/09:
Monday 11/16: Read “Grant and Lee at Appomattox” (handout). Do SOAPSTone.
Tuesday 11/17: With “Grant and Lee,” decide if essay is mostly Chunking or Sequencing. Why is that organizing principle best here? Explain, giving writer’s purpose and audience in one paragraph.
Wednesday 11/18: In TLC, read & do a SOAPSTone for Mori’s essay “School.” Then go through “School” paragraph by paragraph, analyzing for and labeling each “chunking” or “sequencing.” Which does she use most? Do you find any pattern? How do her C/C organization choices support and strengthen her claim?Explain in 1-3 sentences.
Thursday 11/19: Write up a one-paragraph C/C essay proposal for an argument of your choice using C/C organizing method. What will you prove? How will C/C work with your claim? Do you plan to employ mostly chunking or sequencing? Why?
Friday 11/20: Find, rip, and bring in a print advertisement for any product that pictures a visual C/C relationship. Write out the claim as a Toulmin sentence, then jot down your thoughts about how the comparison/contrast visually conveys the claim.
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HW week of 11/9-11/13/09:
Monday 11/9: Q2’s first NYTimes Editorial Analysis due Thursday! Finish reading Boswell by 11/23.
Tuesday 11/10: Add a thoughtful comment to blog post on “How to Make Children Love Reading.” Include (for instance) good experiences with specific books, book-related class activities you’ve enjoyed, etc. Keep reading Boswell.
Wednesday 11/11: NO SCHOOL
Thursday 11/12: Read “Grant and Lee at Appomattox” in TLC or 50 Essays. Do SOAPSTone & decide if essay is organized using Chunking or Sequencing. Why is his organizing principle best here?
Friday 11/13: In TLC, read & annotate Mori’s essay “School.” Then go through “School” paragraph by paragraph, analyzing for chunking or sequencing. Which does she use most? Do you find any pattern? How does her C/C organization bolster her claim?
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HW week of 11/2-11/6/09:
Monday: Read John Holt’s essay “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” and print/annotate it if possible. In either case, answer the following questions in writing (not on blog):
- Mark the anecdotes that Holt uses and describe how he orders them in time and by theme. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of his organizing this essay to reflect his own learning.
- “For most children,” Holt observes, “school was a place of danger, and their main business in school was staying out of danger as much as possible” (parag 12). Locate instances in which he makes this point explicit and instances in which he implies it.
- Holt’s “Composition Derby” and Hayakawa’s “Non-Stop” are now usually called free writing. Have your teachers used free writing? In what grades? In your experience, how much has the teaching of writing changed since 1967, when Holt wrote this essay?
- Holt begins this essay by describing the “game of wits” played by teachers and students alike: teachers ask students what teachers want students to know and students ask teachers for clues about what teachers want (parag 1). Do you recognize this game? Do you remember learning to play it? Do you think you lay it well? Do you like playing it? Write a paragraph that answers these questions. Try to include anecdotes from your own experience (exclude teacher names, please).
Wednesday 11/5: NO HW.
Thursday 11/6: FYI: I will be doing Peer Tutor training upstairs in the Writing Center periods 5-8; if you have a sub, I have an activity for you! If not, you will be dismissed to lunch again. In either case, no HW.
Friday 11/7: We need time to catch up in class discussion of both Prose and Holt, so this weekend just read your Boswell. DO NOT put him off til the last few days, folks. As you know, I adore Bozzy, but he is not a fast read!
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HW week of 10/26-30/09:
Monday 10/26: Choose, print, read, and annotate a recently published political speech by any candidate (nothing earlier than the last Presidential campaign) OR do the same with published article of the last 20 years from any academic field.
Tuesday 10/27: Sign on as user of my blog; read “Blog Rules” and post a comment. Read, do a SOAPSTone, and annotate Francine Prose’s essay “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read.”
Wednesday 10/28: In the post “Blog your bad Boswellian self” read my sample then compose your own entry describing a moment or event in your life in Boswell’s eighteenth-century English. That includes his diction and his syntax. Have fun!
Thursday 10/29: Choose one Prose point to which to respond. Agree and explain why, or disagree and explain why.
Friday 10/30: Read John Holt’s essay “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading;” & answer Questions #1 and 4; do SOAPSTone, using for Purpose Holt’s claim (it may be implicit not explicit).
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HW week of 10/5-10/9/09:
Monday 10/5: Two parts: 1. Write a journal piece about the connections—both thematic and stylistic—you find between Kincaid’s “On Seeing England” and Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant.” Not a formal PEAS; just keep describing what you find & explaining what you think about it. One to two pages. 2. Watch & listen to the photo/audio montage (link below) titled “The Places We Live.” It’s a collection of video, photographs, and audio recordings from urban slums in various cities of the world. Watch at least one family’s story (pick a city, not Caracas, then pick a family in that city). Next, write a journal piece describing your thoughts & feelings about what you saw and heard (one page). Finally, decide what argument the photo-essayist is making here. Write a Toulmin sentence for that argument.
Tuesday 10/6: NO CLASS.
Wednesday 10/7: Revisit “The Places We Live” and listen to one Caracas family’s story. Next, read about Venezuela’s El Sistema on Wikipedia (link below). Then listen to Gustavo Dudamel’s 17-minute El Sistema concert (link below). Both “TPWL/Caracas” and Dudamel’s concert are arguments. Write down BOTH Toulmin claims: one for the photo essay and one for the concert.
Thursday 10/8: Bring in a political cartoon whose argument you understand; write a Toulmin for it on a separate sheet; we’ll do Toulmins with them Friday in class.
Friday 10/9: Read and annotate Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” in TLC.
http://www.theplaceswelive.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Sistema
http://www.ted.com/talks/astonishing_performance_by_a_venezuelan_youth_orchestra_1.html
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HW week of 9/29-10/2/09:
Tuesday 9/29: Editorial Analysis due Wednesday. Summer Reading assignment follows.
Wednesday 9/30: Read, do SOAPSTone, & annotate “Shooting an Elephant” by Orwell in 50 Essays.
Thursday 10/1: Write a PEAS paragraph that argues one Orwell point and one rhetorical/style device.
Friday 10/2: Read, do SOAPSTone, & annotate Jamaica Kincaid’s essay “On Seeing England for the First Time.” It’s in TLC.
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HW week of 9/21-25/09:
Monday 9/21:
No HW. Darn it. Again.
Tuesday 9/22:
Read & annotate this 19th-century letter handout by Mrs. Lewes (AKA George Eliot): Lewes letter
Wednesday 9/23:
Using one passage from a letter we’ve read, write a TA paragraph with a clear thesis, specific details (quotes), and explain how the strategies produce the effect you find.
Thursday 9/24:
Your first NYTimes/Atlantic/Salon.com editorial analysis of Q1 will be due Tuesday 9/29.
Friday 9/25:
Begin reading The Glass Castle. Finish it for in-class assessment Monday Oct. 19th.
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HW week of 9/14-18/09:
Monday: No HW. Darn it.
Tuesday: Read (& annotate using SOAPSTone) Nancy Mairs’ “On Being a Cripple” in 50 Essays.
Wednesday: Write a Toulmin sentence for Mairs’ essay, and annotate her essay again (paragraph by paragraph) for Logos, Pathos, & Ethos.
Thursday: Read the definitions & examples for the 12-15 most common rhetorical terms I’ve highlighted on screen. Memorize them; I want you to recognize & name them in class Friday. For credit.
Friday: Read “My Wood” by E.M. Forster in 50 Essays. Annotate for SOAPSTone and rhetorical techniques. This essay is a satire, but what is his point? Write a Toulmin sentence for Forster’s underlying argument.
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HW week of 9/8-9/11/09:
Tuesday 9/11: Read chapter One, TLC (The Language of Composition). Be prepared to explain any paragraph I ask you about.
Wednesday 9/12: If possible, watch and listen to President Obama’s address to Congress on health care reform. Whether or not you do: after the speech search for, pull up, and PRINT the full text online. Bring it to class Thursday.
Thursday 9/13: Go to my blog (http://blogs.ccsd.edu/phalen/ ) and click on “AP Lang class blog” link. Go to the sidebar on right, click “Toulmin Method” (under Resources). Read each set of slides for Data, Claim, Warrant, Backing, Reservation, and Qualifier. Then, click on “Toulmin Project Home Page” link, click on “Application” and administer the self-test. Write down answers and bring in your answer sheet!
Friday 9/14: Read Nancy Mairs’ essay “On Being a Cripple” in 50 Essays. Next, print out the Virtual Salt Rhetorical terms handbook: http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm (If you can’t open this link, google “virtual salt rhetorical terms”)
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