APELC Class Notes
Juniors and seniors, as I thanked the freshmen, so I thank you for your patience with my absence. This appears to be my annual respiratory viral infection, which, since it came early, I’d not planned on being out three days―I’ll be out tomorrow, Wednesday, too. (This usually hits me in the second week of December.) This has, fortuitously, allowed me time to catch up on papers and planning as I convalesce in bed between sleeping and watching news and the History Channel.
Please check your class page for homework details. And while I have your eyes, lemme offer a few content and formatting ideas of what I’d like to see in your short essays you’re completing for each reading that may help you. First, avoid a meandering introduction; give me one clear and specific thesis sentence. Then give me three or four focused PIE paragraphs. You’ve practiced the PIE, you know the terminology, and it reflects perfectly the levels of critical thinking:
- Evaluation or argument or claim is your point (theses, topic sentences, syntheses within the body of the paragraph)
- Observation or evidence or data is your illustration/information; and
- Analysis or inference or warrant is your explanation.
Neat, no? Further, leave the concluding sentence. No need for it. Limit your work to two pages (no more, no less). This’ll give you enough room to develop three, maybe four ideas, but limit you so you’ll have to sharpen your analyses.
Use the title of the piece you’re writng about for the title of your own paper. Remember that short fiction and non-fiction text titles are surrounded by quotation marks and long works’ (novella length and beyond) titles are italicized (not underlined).
If you’re writing about multiple pieces, as you do with the Connections essays, merely title your with the authors surnames and the subject about which they wrote, eg., Angelou and Tan on Cultural Pride, Ericsson and Lutz on Lies and Doublespeak, and Ascher and Quindlen on Homelessness. Note these titles are not enclosed in quotation marks.
We’ll continue to work on systematizing this approach. It may all seem uniform, rigid, or formulaic, but I don’t mind.
The writing conference sign-up sheet will be posted Thursday during fifth with appointments beginning Monday. Note that if you do not have your essay highlighted, or you’re lacking any or all of the rubric, “How to Prepare” protocol (with your own notes for steps 4 or 5), or essay prompt, I’ll not confer with you.
See you in Thursday and Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth juniors and seniors, you completed timed-writing 5 as your third period colleagues did but then you commenced with peer responses you were unable to attend on Monday.
Have a fine weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: APELCers wrote a rhetorical analysis.
Third period, you completed timed-writing 5 today, the last of this type until next semester. You will complete three timed-writings in rapid succession near the end of the semester as part of exam prep, but I’ll not be grading those. Rather, you’ll be scoring yourselves and writing a self-assessment of your progress. More on that later, though.
I had a couple of lines of investigation to propose to you after the timed-writing, but somehow we got into a rather heated and valuable discussion of the merit of Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight novels. Since all were present, there’s no need to summarize, but it was interesting, in light of the recent assertion by some there exist no ultimate referents or objective standards by which we can measure our judgments, the ire that several students expressed toward the author and her “books” and the tastes of her audience.
I love it.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth juniors and seniors, you processed Lutz as your colleagues did Monday, but, since our day was short, you didn’t have time to respond to your peers’ description drafts. You’ll attend that on Friday after timed-writing 5.
Until next class.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: Students 1) processed an argumentative text, and 2) responded to peers’ description drafts.
Period 4, after tackling Lutz you began reviewing your colleagues’ description papers.
I pointed out to you again that implicit in Lutz’s piece, as in Ericsson (and Didion and Tan and Colson and Lincoln and Vowell and everything we’ve read this semester), is a standard of truth, morality, and reality. Their definitions will continue to plague you as we proceed.
See you Thursday.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth juniors and seniors, we completed Bob Roberts as your colleagues did yesterday and you had time to begin reviewing your note set. Remember that I’ll be collecting a review Wednesday since Monday’s a Tuesday schedule.
Have a nice weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Objective: AEPLCers processed a satirical film.
We finished viewing Bob Roberts today. I continued to point out fallacies and elements of satire, particularly stereotyping. I encouraged you to consider the competing truth claims by various actors in the film and to consider yourselves how we arrive at truth if it is indeed possible.
The homework that was due today I asked you to hold until Monday, by which time I believe I’ll have been able to work my way out from the quagmire of papers I’ve yet to score. Thanks for you patience.
Have a good weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Juniors and seniors, we discussed the election and Mad Dog’s presentation before jumping into a heated discussion about truth, which some argued was relative while others argued was absolute. This, as well as the discussion your peers engaged in yesterday, proceeded from your reading of the Ericsson piece in which she offered sharp criticism of the lies we engage in in our relationships. By classifying different “lies” we communicate, she seemed to imply some objective truth exists that can be used as a standard to measure falsehood.
Ericsson also seemed to imply the existence of some objective moral standard by which we can measure “good” and “bad” when she railed against our acceptance of the the “cancer” that is lies.
As I mentioned in last night’s notes, the ways we express ourselves in a culutre point back to our need to answer ultimate questions of reality and truth, add to that now the question morality. Do we contruct our own realities, operate according to our own truths, and live in accordance with our own moralities, or are there objective standards by which we measure these and conduct ourselves?
Fun stuff. Check your class page homework details, and I’ll see you on Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers processed texts from multiple genres.
We began by looking at “lies” in the Ericsson piece, and Taylor offered the idea of relativity in truth, that truth is perspectival, based on one’s own perception of reality and many students seemed to agree. Then I offered the following idea from theologian and philosopher Ravi Zacharias (which caused Megan’ brain, she admitted, to begin to melt):
When someone says that all truth is relative, he or she is making either a relative statement or an absolute one. If it is a relative statement, then that statement, by definition, is not always true. On the other hand, if the belief that all truth is relative is absolute, then the very statement itself must be denied, because it denies absolutes.
Understand that this isn’t necessarily a theological concept, but, rather, it’s a philosophical one, and has roots in the law of non-contradiction. But what is truth then? Aristotle attempts a definition in his Metaphysics that I failed to give in class but offer now:
To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true; so that he who says of anything that is, or that it is not, will say either what is true or what is false; but neither what is nor what is not is said to be or not to be.
Whaddya think about them apples? Of course, this isn’t the last we’ll discuss this. Indeed, the ideas of objective truth and objective reality are the ultimate problems of existence and are the impetus behind all forms and products of artificial human expression.
We continued processing Bob Roberts and will continue to do so next class.
Check your class page for homework, and if you’re not watching or listening to the news tonight, try any one of these: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX, the NewsHour, or NPR.
See you next class.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth period juniors and seniors, we did the same today as your peers yesterday. I enjoyed watching the perplexed looks on your faces as we discussed morality and relativism and belief and truth and right.
Have a safe Halloween. If you want to see some neat holiday text check out these jack-o-lanterns. Implied essential, existential questions?
See you next month, kids.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: Students processed texts from multiple genres.
Period 3 juniors and seniors, you began processing the Didion text by determining and examining the essential, existential questions implicit in it, and then you turned your attention to the several questions post-text. We discussed your ideas.
We spent the last portion of the class examining former Senator Mike Gravel’s 2007 introductory campaign video to the current presidential race when he contended for the Democratic party nomination.
For those of you interested in verifying your interpretations you might check out Mr. gravel’s explanation.
Please check your class page for homework and remember to bring your permission forms Monday so we can enjoy processing the political humor of Bob Roberts as we enter a history changing week.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth juniors and seniors, in my absence you were to process the MSNBC and Lahiri pieces as your peers did yesterday. I trust all went well.
See you Friday.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers processed texts from multiple genres.
Third juniors and seniors, we began with something that I thought might be more controversial: “New Va. pharmacy won’t sell any contraceptives”. We still generated a little heat, but I think we had more fun when we attacked the Lahiri piece. Foo and food rituals is always good times.
Check your class page for homework details, and please return the movie-viewing permission form as soon as you can before Monday.
See you next class.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers responded to peers’ description drafts.
Once again, periods 3 and 4, you impressed me with your dedication to your colleagues’ success. Recall that the second draft of your description isn’t due for another two weeks, as we’ll be taking time to examine political history and all of the rhetoric involved next week.
Check your class page for the timed-writing 4 due date and details.
APELC Class Notes
Even with nine students out for various functions, the nine remaining students were able to make things happen in class. Again, stark differences between third and fourth period became apparent: you, the latter, were less sympathetic to Emily’s position and her argument, while your colleagues from the other class were more critical of her opponent yesterday. You took on Sarah Vowell and the existential questions implied in her piece.
Please check the class page for homework details (recall that I’ll be collecting a note set and review on Monday), and have a good weekend.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: Students processed texts from multiple genres.
Third juniors and seniors, we began today by highlighting two opinions from last year’s Palantir about second language learning requirements in high school and then proceeded to the Vowell text. I asked you again to determine the essential, existential questions implied in the latter and we discussed possible answers to several of the interpretive questions presented after the text. Plenty of good, thoughtful discussion today.
Recall the first drafts of your descriptive piece is due Monday, and you have a reading and essay due after that. Find details on your class page.
Also remember, I’ll be collecting a note set and review on Monday; be prepared to turn any note set (Manning and Vowell, Palantir Opinion, the Carter photograph and description practices) from this week I ask for, so please make sure you’ve reviewed each according to the protocol.
Best thoughts for success to the Academic Decathletes in both APELC periods who’re off to Texas to scrimmage this weekend.
See you all next week.
APELC Class Notes
Fourth APELCers, same as your peers yesterday in third. Different interpretations of the Manning piece, though. Some of you did argue that this piece was indeed gender and relationship specific to young men and their fathers, although most argued also that any child in a relationship with a parent might connect with the author and his situation at a different level.
Good job. See you next time.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: APELCers 1) practiced writing a brief description, and 2) processed a descriptive-narrative text.
Third juniors and seniors, you began by writing objective and subjective descriptions of a person of your choosing which several of you shared before we began processing the Manning text. To enter the latter, I asked you, instead of answering the journal prompt at the end of the piece, to determine two or three of the essential, existential questions implied in the text, how the speaker attempts to answer them, and you might try to answer the same. You also answered several of the “Meaning”, “Strategy”, and “Language” questions in pairs. We used both of these efforts to enter discussion and analysis of the piece.
You finished the period highlighting your most recent timed-writing papers and preparing for conferences.
Check your class page for homework details, and I’ll see you Thursday.
APELC Class Notes
Objectives: Students 1) processed a photograph, and 2) practiced invention strategies to develop ideas for a description.
Juniors and seniors, we opened class processing Kevin Carter’s “A vulture watches a starving child in southern Sudan, March 1, 1993″. (Find out more about the piece and the photographer at NPR and TIME.)
You were asked to describe the piece in detail in writing, state your reactions, and discern the essential, existential questions implied in the text. We discussed the speaker’s calculations, his attempts to establish common ground with his audience, and how anticipated and manipulated his audience’s emotional reactions and needs. I challenged you to think about what to do with the ideas after our discussion.
Then you used the invention exercise from before to begin to develop ideas for your next extended paper, a description, which I’ll post details about tomorrow.
Check your class page for homework details, and remember to bring your prompt, “AP Rubric and Its Connection Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy”, “How to Prepare for a Revision Conference”, and highlighters next class.
See you then.
APELC Class Notes
Period 4 juniors and seniors, after your timed-writing Ben and Andrew told us tales of mistaken identity and fowl discharges.
Have a great break. Maybe you’ll see me at Tucson Meet Yourself. (But I hope not because I don’t know if my wallet can take it.)
Attend your homework.