Assignment for Tuesday, October 20

Read and annotate Ch. 3 of Taibbi's Griftopia (pp. 78-123). This chapter is very important and may be more difficult to read than the previous chapter because it is more dense with information. The tone shifts in this chapter and Taibbi employs a greater variety of rhetorical strategies than he does in the Greenspan chapter. You have nothing to write, but you will have another quiz. This one will be a mixture of short answer and multiple choice.

Also, please bring The Craft of Research again. We will start class with that book to make sure we get to it, then you'll take the quiz, then we'll get into Ch. 3.

Lastly, if you did not bring in your Mentor Commitment Letter, please bring it in.

Have a great weekend.

Assignment for Friday, October 16

Read and annotate Ch. 2 of Taibbi's Griftopia (pp. 35-77) and write one well-composed and well-developed paragraph in response to the following prompt: Does Taibbi persuade you that Alan Greenspan does indeed fulfill his description in the title of Chapter 2? Be specific about Taibbi's rhetorical strategies that succeed or fail in persuading you.

Also, bring in your copy of The Craft of Research. We will use it during class.

Lastly, bring in your signed Mentor Commitment Letter. If you misplaced the form or did not receive one in class, you can pick one up in my classroom, or you can print it out from the link on the right.

Assignment for Wednesday, October 14

Read and annotate pp. 3-34 of Matt Taibbi's Griftopia. You do not have anything to write, but you will have questions to answer in class.

Also, if you did not get the STP mentor commitment letter and guidelines, please print them out, give your mentor the guidelines, and return the signed commitment letter to me by Friday, October 16.

Assignment for Monday, Oct. 5, Wednesday, Oct. 7, and Friday, Oct. 9

Monday, October 5: During most of this class, you will have time to work on the narrative essay that is due on Wednesday, so bring a flash drive, a tablet, a laptop to class. You could also email it to yourself or work on it in Google Docs; laptops from the cart will be available.

Wednesday, October 7: Re-read pp. 91-101 in Gornick's The Situation and the Story. Write a narrative about something you experienced or witnessed. It can be of any length, and it is due on Wednesday, Oct. 7. It should be double-spaced in font no bigger than 12-point Times New Roman. (You don't have to use this font, but whatever you use should be no bigger than this font.)

Friday, October 9: Student's choice. Bring something of intellectual interest to you to share with the class. It may be something to read (in which case you should give it to me to photocopy ahead of class), view, or listen to.

Assignment for Tuesday, September 29

Read and annotate James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" and answer one of the two questions posted below. If you did not get the essay in class, a PDF is posted below. As I mentioned in class, if you did the creative assignment for the Biss reading, I'd like you to try the analytical assignment, and vice versa.

Creative: Write two paragraphs: The first should describe, in some detail, an important person in your life. The second paragraph should explain something about our society in light of your observations about this important person.

Analytical: Write two paragraphs: The first should analyze Baldwin's narrative persona in this essay; the second should explain whether that narrative persona helps advance the argument he makes in this essay.

James Baldwin, "Notes of a Native Son" 

Assignment for Friday, September 25

Read and annotate the Prologue and Chapter 1 of The Craft of Research (pp. 3-15). Be prepared to discuss specifically the authors' understanding of research, the reasons for research, and the reasons for putting one's research in writing.

Also, read and annotate Eula Biss's "Notes from No Man's Land" (handout). Choose one of the options below to respond to this reading.

Creative: Write two paragraphs: The first should be about a book, movie, play, or some other cultural text you have experienced. The second should connect that cultural text to an experience that might seem unrelated to that cultural text.

Analytical: Write two paragraphs: The first should analyze Biss's narrative persona in this essay; the second should explain whether that narrative persona is helps advance the argument she makes in this essay.

Assignment for Tuesday, September 22

Print and review the AP Contract posted to the right, and return it to me with your signature and that of a parent.

Read and annotate the essays distributed in class, M. F. K. Fisher's "The Measure of My Powers, 1919-1927" and E. B. White's "Once More to the Lake." Respond to one of the following prompts in one double-spaced page of writing. Please have your response printed before class.

1. Creative: Write or begin a short narrative modeled on the writing style or structure of either the Fisher or White essay.

2. Analytical: Explain how the structure of the Fisher and White essays contribute to their purpose. That is, given the purpose of each essay, explain how the structure helps the speaker achieve that purpose.

Assignment for Friday, September 18

Read and annotate the essays in the handout distributed in class. While reading, pay attention to the rhetorical strategies the authors use to bring a character (including themselves) to life. You may focus on one character per essay. You do not need to print a written response; simply record your observations on the handout or in a notebook.

Homework for Wednesday, September 16

Prepare for the in-class essay on your selected summer reading book by reviewing the rhetorical triangles, SOAPSTone, and DIDLS in relation to your book. You won't be able to write about all of these rhetorical features, so select those that are most relevant to your book. You will have one hour to write the essay by hand. You will be able to use your book, but if you do so, I will expect you to quote from it.

The topic you'll write about will be something like this: What is the text's purpose, and does the author accomplish that purpose? Support your position with specific reference to the rhetorical features we have discussed in class.

Also, read the David Sedaris essay "Me Talk Pretty One Day" that was handed out in class. Use the rhetorical features discussed in class to make sense of his writing strategies. (You should annotate it, but you don't have to write a response to it.) We will discuss this essay after you write the in-class essay.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Revisions to your STP Research Paper

For most of you, revisions to your STP research paper are due by Friday, May 22. For those of you who received the paper this week, you have until Tuesday, May 26 (preferably) or Wednesday, May 28 (if absolutely necessary). You must return the original version to me so I can compare it to the revision. You may email the revision to me, but if you do, be sure you get a confirmation email from me. If you do not get a confirmation email from me, then I do not have your paper. Also, even if you email it to me, you must return the original version to me. If I don't have the original version, I can't assure you that your revision will improve the original grade. As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me.

Class Work for Monday, May 4

Make an outline for each of the three FRQ's from the 2013 AP Lang exam that is linked below.

http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/apcentral/ap13_frq_english_language.pdf

Each outline must have a thesis, and it should focus on your analysis or argument. Your outline should have three or four supporting points, and each supporting point must have evidence. For the synthesis essay, that evidence will come from the sources; for the rhetorical analysis essay, that evidence will come from the passage; and for the argumentative essay, that evidence will come from your knowledge of the world.

In each of the next few classes, you will write one essay, whether we have class first block or not. Prior to writing it, we will go over that particular kind of essay. This Wednesday, you will write an argumentative essay.

Sample outline:
Prompt: Who is more powerful, Yoda or Dumbledore?
Thesis: Yoda is more powerful than Dumbledore, but Dumbledore is a better wizard than Yoda is a Jedi.
Point 1. Yoda's connection to the force binds him to the most powerful source of positive energy in the universe, while Dumbledore studied spells in school.
Evidence: The force is a pre-existing factor in the universe that the Jedi must access; wizards are simply born and must learn spells and such.
Evidence: Yoda was never tempted by the dark side as Dumbledore was by the power of the elder wand, which means he has a more profound connection to the force than Dumbledore has to magic.
Point 2: Yoda's mastery of the force has allowed him to defeat numerous Sith Lords for centuries, while Dumbledore used magic to confront two nemeses, Grindelwald and Riddle/Voldemort.
Evidence: Yoda refers obliquely and modestly to previous battles, which makes Dumbledore duels seem like play fighing.
Point 3: Although Yoda is more powerful than Dumbledore, Dumbledore is superior to other wizards in ways Yoda is not superior to other Jedi and Sith Lords.
Evidence: Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, forced Voldemort to flee. Yoda could defeat neither Count Dookoo nor Darth Sidious.

Assignment for Thursday, April 16

Work on your STP presentation; the guidelines handed out in class are posted to the right. If you want to view more TED talks, see the links in the previous post just below this one. You will have time to work on it during class on Thursday and, as always, if you have any questions before then, don't hesitate to ask me.

Model TED Talks for the Presentation

Click here for a playlist of eleven TED talks that exemplify that strategies we've discussed (or will discuss, if you did the multiple-choice questions during first block on Thursday) in class. The talk we viewed is titled "The Power of Vulnerability." If you have a scientific topic, you might want to view "Underwater Astonishments" and "The New Bionics That Let Us Run, Climb, and Dance." If you don't find those helpful, go to this page for more TED talks that focus on science.