AP Language Class Notes
APELC, today we talked over your relfection on 18 weeks of rhetoric and critical thinking and we briefly reviewed some questions a few of you had over the finals. I have every faith that you’ll all do the best you’re able to do if you really take the time to prepare well.
I won’t post any more now; as with the freshmen, I’ll save the wrap-up until the end of the week, and I have to get to bed anyway so I can be up early to keep on grading your papers.
Keep it together kids. No stress. Make yourselves proud.
Girard
English 9 Class Notes
Freshmen, today you reflected on your semester progress and we discussed the details of your finals. Please bring with you to our next class:
- Your notebook;
- Your textbook and Of Mice and Men;
- One 3 Chunk, 11 Sentence Expository paragraph template.
I’ll post a semester wap-up for you at the end of the week; just focus on preparing for your finals now.
Best on those exams,
Girard
AP Language Class Notes
APELC 2, another wonderful job going over the texts in class today. Check yesterday’s notes I left for your fifth period peers for objectives and details.
Don’t waste time getting ready for your final―attend your preparation posthaste, and have a productive weekend.
English 9 Class Notes
Period 4, you worked on the same writing assignment as your third and first period peers yesterday. Please check their notes for objectives and details.
Have a safe weekend. See you Monday.
AP Language Class Notes
Objective(s): APELC students 1) analyzed two writers’ rhetorical strategies, and 2) revised their peers’ personal narrative drafts.
Fifth juniors and seniors, you began by comparing James Baldwin’s open letter, titled “My dungeon shook” in the McDougal text, and Malcolm X’s open letter to friends, family, and press from his autobiography. I gave a brief review of the expanded concepts of logos, ethos, and pathos, and then you had time to revise each other’s personal narrative drafts.
Details for the final are posted on your class page. Please review them and get preparing for your assessment next week. Have a good weekend.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective(s): English 9 students 1) read independently for a sustained period of time and journaled critically, and 2) analyzed literary concepts in a novella.
First and third freshmen, you turned in your Independent Reading Rubrics and read your books and journaled. Then I guided you in writing a paragraph about possible themes in Of Mice and Men. Lots of you worked very hard and I think you did plenty well. I’ll see as I get to grading your work.
Remember that your only homework is to review the stories that we’ve studied since the beginning of the year in preparation for your guided final next week, that and you need to make sure you have the right paragraph template (3 Chunk, 11 Sentence Expository Paragraph template).
AP Language Class Notes
Nothing different, second juniors and seniors, from your fifth colleagues yesterday. Check their notes for details and objectives.
A quick note for all APELCers: As some of you are puzzling over the standing extra-credit opportunity and, in doing so, (hopefully) clarifying your thinking about first principles and the three classical laws of logic, check out Nigel Warburton’s latest podcast about thought experiments. You may find it interesting.
English 9 Class Notes
Period 4, check your peers’ objectives and notes from yesterday. Good work on staying with me thorugh our dicsussion of motif and theme.
AP Language Class Notes
Obejctive(s): APELC students 1) analyzed changes in a speaker’s rhetorical approach, and 2) mimicked an author’s style.
Fifth period, we discussed several passages from The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the significance of Malcolm’s change in perspective, his alternate facility and inability with language in certain contexts, and, as usual, possible arguments presentented in his text and appeals he uses to reach his audience.
See to your work. See you soon.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective(s): English 9 students 1) read independently for a sustained period of time and journaled critically, and 2) analyzed literary concepts in a novella.
First and third freshmen, after reading and journaling today, we began to discuss motif and theme, and I offered the following alternative idea of what the latter is and is not:
A theme is not an individual word or a phrase, and it is not a moral or a lesson. Rather, a theme is the motivating idea or ideas that drive a story, a text’s primary insight into the natures of humanity and existence. A theme is expressed as an independent clause in highly connotative language, and never includes explicit reference to the text under investigation, that is, it’s absent of specific characters, plot elements, et cetera.
Whoa. Heavy. Maybe too heavy for freshmen? Nope. An earnest analysis and intelligent discussion of theme in all types of text (novels, poems, songs, movies, paintings―you name it) allows us to explore our lives beyond our immediate, individual loci in the universe. It encourages us to consider deeper things than why New York sent Punk packing instead of Buddha, or if Heidi and Spencer can work things out. It helps us see, if we’re willing to put forth the effort, that Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel, for example, is more than a few coats of paint on the ceiling and walls, or that Stonehenge is more than a pile of rocks.
Wild, no? It seems hard, but don’t give up. Stick with me and we’ll be get all the pieces of your blown minds back together before the end of the year.
Dig?
AP Language Class Notes
Objective(s): APELC students 1) compared and contrasted two different presentations of similar historical events in different media, and 2) analyzed speakers’ arguments in the same media.
Juniors and seniors, today you had the opportunity to digest your viewing of the American Experience film Malcolm X: Make It Plain (follow the link to take a look at the site for more context), and you compared the former rhetorical text to Malcolm X’s autobiography so far. In particular, you looked at the arguments presented in each text, which you discovered were different but weren’t without their points of congruence. We’ll pick up on more of this next class.
I handed out grade reports and we talked over the final, details for which I’ll post no later than Wednesday evening. Please check your class page for new and updated homework details.
See you next class.
English 9 Class Notes
Objective(s): English 9 students 1) compared and contrasted the text of a novella and its film version, and 2) analyzed literary concepts in the same.
Freshmen, today you began by looking over the differences and similarities between the film and text versions of Of Mice and Men. I dug that Ashley A. started a Venn trend that lasted through the day. We talked over some of the literary concepts you’ve been internalizing and how they were represented in each version of the story, and your overall impressions of the film. We then began to examine ideas of literary theme, the full definition of which I was able o hand over to fourth period, but that I’ll offer to third and first tomorrow.
I handed out grade reports for you to consider and we talked very briefly about the final.
Please attend your obligations for next class. See you then.
News from Girard
Freshmen, juniors, and seniors, thanks for being patient with me in my absence. Here’re a few notes.
English 9: All of your text analyses should be completed and in the basket now. We’ll finish our study of Of Mice and Men when I return; the paragraph we were to have completed in class this week we’ll do the next. I’ll modify the execution of the final in your favor since we’ve missed some practice time. I’ll have updated grade reports for you when I return.
APELC: Students with whom I missed timed-writing revision conferences Monday and Tuesday afternoon, I’ll meet Monday and Tuesday next week at the same times we were scheduled this week. Those with whom I’ve already conferenced, you may email me your completed revisions and cover sheets beginning this Friday, or, if you still have questions, I’ll make myself available to help you find answers to them when I return. Of course, I always encourage you to confer with your peers as I have the utmost faith in your abilities. I’ll accept timed-writing 3 revisions and cover sheets until Thursday, December 13. That gives everyone a chance to get their conferences completed and their papers done.
Further, your second personal narratives will be due Monday, December 17. Most of you are probably already finished with them, as we were scheduled to complete second revisions this week. One APELCer asked if I could extend the word count to 350 even 400 words because the length is limiting, however, this isn’t only an exercise in writing narrative but writing within a constrained space. This is to encourage you to exercise precise control over your material. Many college and scholarship application essays place limits on length, so this is good practice. Please stay within five to ten words of the limit, no more.
I’ll also discuss the details of the final when I return. Be ready to continue our discussion of Malcolm X, in which we’ll also touch upon the Baldwin piece and the video.
To all my excellent students, I sincerely apologize for my absence. We will see the semester completed successfully. See you soon.