June 1 - 5

With all of the civil unrest in the country right now, I assuage my own grief and anger by thinking about my experiences with you in the classroom. You are the future, and you give me hope that we'll heal and become stronger and more just than we have in the past.   

The last full week of school

This week, we'll begin typing rough drafts of the college essay. We'll be reading successful samples, all different kinds, for inspiration.

Remember, Wednesday, June 3 is the last day to turn in late work for partial credit.

 
MONDAY: Online, Zoom class. How to avoid writing the same college essay that everyone else writes: be specific, add imagery and details. Read actual college essay samples and critique them together as a class. On a volunteer basis, discuss any specific challenges matching essay topics to prompts, or about prompt selection.

Due: Go through the admissions pages of the colleges and universities where you plan to apply, and see which essay prompts they require. Bearing in mind the strategies we discussed in class, choose the prompt(s) you'll write for the final assignment for English class, and begin the process of matching your stories with a specific prompt (or two, if you choose the UC prompts). 

Homework: Do a free write where you completely answer a prompt and just get all of your thoughts down. Don't pay attention to word count, pacing, order, making sense, or any other restrictions, just let it flow. You are writing the crappy version, including any associations and tangents that come to mind in answering the prompt. Once it's all out on paper, we'll work on editing it during the next couple of classes. (If you prefer, you are piling up all of the clay onto the worktable; we will sculpt it into something polished, unique, and interesting once it's all there.)

WEDNESDAY: Offline, work independently. Make sure you have an extremely rough "outpouring" of all of your ideas about how a personal story of yours matches one (or, for the UC prompts, two) of the prompts for next class. DO NOT CENSOR OR JUDGE YOURSELF at this point.

Read this really long, but very important and interesting article. There is some adult language included, but the perspective and message are thought-provoking and worth a read about how we make choices about career paths and life decisions.

Due: n/a

Homework: (same as Monday)

FRIDAY: Discuss the article, discuss the very rough draft you have. Look at editing reference sheets. Go over the two most important issues in working with the very rough draft: pacing and specific details/imagery. Make sure the draft is about YOU, not someone else. Go over more sample essays as a class and evaluate them.

Due: Do a free write where you completely answer a prompt and just get all of your thoughts down. Don't pay attention to word count or any other restrictions, just let it flow. We will work on editing during the next couple of classes.

Read this really long, but very important and interesting article. There is some adult language included, but the perspective and message are thought-provoking and worth a read about how we make choices about career paths and life decisions.

Homework: Go through your draft again with the editing sheet. Graph out the pacing, and replace generalities with specific, vivid details on the page. It's coming along nicely, now! Have this still-very-rough draft ready for the last class on Tuesday of next week, June 9 for our last class session together.

May 25 - 29

On Tuesday, we're beginning the last unit of the year: the college essay. The final assignment (which is the Final with a capital "F") is a good draft of the college essay. If you already have a draft going, consider using the time to write other prompts and get a jump on the summer/fall semester of senior year. If you don't need a college essay, I have an alternate, short paper you can write about a job title of your choice: the official and unofficial requirements, salary and benefits, and trends in the industry.

NOTE: Last day to turn in make-up work for partial credit: Wednesday, June 3!

TUESDAY: Online, live Zoom class (see sidebar for class times and codes). Pull up a copy of the Brainstorming Sheet. Answer questions in small groups, typing in your own responses, in different arrangements. 

Due: n/a

Homework: Finish typing the answers in your Brainstorming Sheet. Don't censor yourself of try to write what you think a college would want to hear, just let it flow.

THURSDAY: Online, live Zoom class (see sidebar for class times and codes). Go over UC prompts, Common Application prompts, Coalition prompts, and the alternate assignment. Discuss strategies for selecting prompts, the subtext of your personal stories. Think about your answers on the Brainstorming Sheet and how they might match up with your own unique strengths and personality, as well as any "holes" in your overall application. Read and evaluate the first real college essay sample as a class, and discuss why it was successful. 
 
Due: Finish typing the answers in your Brainstorming Sheet. Don't censor yourself of try to write what you think a college would want to hear, just let it flow.

Homework: Go through the admissions pages of the colleges and universities where you plan to apply, and see which essay prompts they require. Bearing in mind the strategies we discussed in class, choose the prompt(s) you'll write for the final assignment for English class, and begin the process of matching your stories with a specific prompt (or two, if you choose the UC prompts).  

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Just to be clear, for the final assignment, students will upload one of the following to Turnitin.com before noon on Tuesday, June 9, the last class of the year:

1. A good draft (unique details, close to word count restrictions, proofread) responding to one Common Application prompt. 
2. Good drafted (unique details, close to word count restrictions, proofread) responses to two of the four required UC prompts.

3. A good draft (unique details, close to word count restrictions, proofread) responding to one Coalition prompt

4. A good draft (unique details, close to word count restrictions, proofread) responding to a specific prompt not listed above for a university, art school, or vocational tech school. Please include the prompt and a URL at the top of the submission. 

5. One polished, well written job title research paper.

 

You did it!

Congratulations, AP Lang! 
I've heard from a few of you already, and I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow for the "debrief." 

I had to include this....I was working, but did get distracted and checked Twitter a "few" times.

May 18 - 22

It's finally here! The AP exam is this Wednesday. I think the classes are in pretty good shape, and it'll be great to have an opportunity to show off your skills. The College Board readers understand it's a best first draft -- they are asked to reward writers for what they do well, keep that in mind.

Note: due to reported issues last week with some of the submissions, the College Board released the following update on Sunday, May 17. This is great news for us:

	Beginning Monday, May 18, and continuing through the makeup window, there will be a backup email submission process for browser-based exams.
•	This option will only be available for students who were not able to submit in the standard process—and they must then email their responses immediately following their exam.
•	These students will see instructions about how to email their response on the page that says, "We Did Not Receive Your Response." The email address that appears on this page will be unique to each student.
•	Any student testing between May 18–22 who can't successfully upload their response through the exam platform or send it to us by email, will need to request a makeup exam.

PRINTING THE PROMPT:  

Here are some suggestions I found from hearing from teacher contacts whose students took the AP Lit exam last week:

 

Student 1: I pressed file and then print on my laptop

Student 2: I went to the “share” option on the top right of safari, then the print option.

Student 3: I wasn't sure how I was supposed to go about printing, so I quickly just copy and pasted the text into a word doc and printed it out.

Student 4: Ctrl +P, but it cut off a few lines

• • My Lit/Gov students - ctrl-P (or go to the three dots in Chrome and choose Print). Hide the timer first so it won’t cut off the bottom.

From what I gather, a person can print directly from their browser when they access the exam. I'd suggest some trial printing directly from your default browser to see what the process is, and make sure it's smooth. I might even create a post-it about the process and stick it on the computer itself. 

Here's the agenda for the week: 

TUESDAY: Live on Zoom: in groups, come up with dos and don'ts for the exam. Check to make sure you received and/or can access your ticket to the exam. Go over last-minute information and any questions. (See the bottom of this entry for additional AP info.)

WEDNESDAY: The day of the AP exam. Log in at 10:30 a.m. to take the exam. Take the submission time seriously and begin the submission immediately after the 45 minutes.

THURSDAY: Live on Zoom: debrief after the exam, celebrate.

Have a marvelous Memorial Day weekend!
We will begin the college essay (or short research paper) after the three-day holiday. 

Additional info for the AP exam: 

1. If you are most comfortable typing in a Google Doc, you will want to 
choose the paste option for submitting. Some districts which have issued
devices block downloads/conversions of Google Docs for attachment purposes.

2. You have a limited time to enter your info at the beginning before the exam 
question appears. Have handy your 8-character AP ID and email address which
you use for MyAP.

3. If you choose copy/paste, some of the formatting does not seem to transfer
such as indentations for new paragraphs. Instead, double space to show paragraph
breaks. Once you paste into the provided text box, you can't edit your response and 
have to click on "clear field," revise on your original, and re-paste.

4. You can't have any browser add-ins like Grammarly on the browser you use to
access the exam, but you CAN have Grammarly in a different company's browser
and copy/paste your text back and forth. Be sure to budget time for going back and
forth before the five-minute submission time.

5. If you choose the photo upload or attachment upload, prepare your paper/doc
before exam day. For photos, you should write your AP ID, initials, and page numbers
at the top of at least 5 pages of paper (I'm encouraging my students to write in black ink).
For attachments, set up a header with your AP ID and initials on a doc and then save the
doc so that it's ready to go! 
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If you're nervous about the exam, read the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

May 11 - 15

Welcome to the first week of AP testing! Our AP Lang exam is next week, and we'll continue to gear up for it this week and early next. I won't be assigning much in the way of additional work outside of the time that's set aside for this class due to all of the testing.

Also, just a reminder, the last day to turn in late work for partial credit this semester is Wednesday, June 3. 

MONDAY: OPTIONAL Zoom session, in-class essay for those that aren't in AP exams and want the practice and feedback. This will not affect your grade negatively in any way if you don't log in today, and if you don't write it. Log in at the regular times, and I'll share a rhetorical analysis prompt and time you for 45 minutes. For those that do log in, I'll grade it and give you feedback.

Due: n/a

Homework: n/a

WEDNESDAY: Offline, work independently. Please watch the College Board AP video "Identifying and Analyzing Relationships Between Elements in a Text." This video covers repetition, parallelism, and other syntactical features in texts and is an excellent review.

FRIDAY: Login at the regular Zoom time for a live class. We will walk through a rhetorical analysis prompt as a whole class, reviewing all of the steps. Look at an optional reference sheet you may want to use that's been on the class website.

Please click here and scroll to page 47 to find the rhetorical analysis prompt: a letter to Napoleon by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Due: n/a

Homework: n/a

Announcement: Monday's AP "in-class essay" will be optional

After looking over the AP schedule again, and receiving several emails from students who will be testing that day and several others next week, I've decided to make Monday's Zoom AP essay optional. I will still hold it for those who have the time and desire to write another one for practice, but it will not affect your grade if you don't log in on Monday. 

I'll post the regular weekly agenda on Sunday as usual, but thought I'd announce this early in addition to changing the "Homework" for the Thursday, May 7 agenda.

AP Exam Demo Link - Click & Try It Out!

Test out your at-home setup with the College Board's AP Exam Demo by clicking here.

Please take a couple minutes to go through this step now and ensure your system setup is going to work with this year's online exam process.

May 4 - 8

It's May, an exciting month! Hopefully, some of the shelter-in-place conditions will lift safely in the coming weeks. It's also the last full month of school. Last but not least, you'll finally have the opportunity to write the AP Lang exam.

I have been lenient with due dates this far, but in order to prevent an unmanageable amount of work coming in at the end of the semester, please upload any late work by Sunday, May 10 if you're behind at all. I will take late points after that. Don't wait until the last minute! It'll be much harder to catch up. Please note that the final due date for all work (except for the writing assignment for the final, after the AP exam) is Wednesday night, June 3 at 11:59 p.m. PST. To be fair to all students, and to allow myself enough time for grading, I can't accept any regular work later than that. 

This week, we'll get more practice with rhetorical analysis prompts and work on ensuring that the technical aspects of the exam process are running smoothly for you. 

TUESDAY: AP updates: double check that everyone received the College Board e-mail from May 4 and can login to their College Board accounts. Discuss AP simulation link. SOAPS and analyze the Queen Elizabeth prompt together.

Due: Please read and annotate Queen Elizabeth's address to Great Britain on April 5, 2020  For next class, find three important rhetorical strategies and complete a quick SOAPS from this selection and have them ready for discussion. (You don't need to write the essay.)

Please double check your College Board account, so you're ready for the May 4 test e-mail:

1. Sign into your College Board account.Make sure the login is current, the password is working, etc.
2. Click “Update Account Information” or click their name in the top right hand corner and select “View/Edit My Profile”
3. Next to “Contact Information,” click “Edit” or click “manage your email communication preferences” at the bottom.
4. If it's not already selected, click to check the box next to “Yes, please send me updates and information about College Board and College Board deadlines, dates, and related programs and services.” Click “Submit changes.” Sign out and then back in and check account information to make sure the change has been saved.
5. Be on the lookout for a test e-mail you'll receive on May 4 from the College Board. 

Homework:  Read the actual College Board essay samples of the Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis prompt and score them with the updated rubric. Be ready to share your scoring and a rationale for the score on Thursday.

Please read the Performance Q & A for Question 1, which is overall comments about how the students in 2002 performed when they wrote the Abraham Lincoln question for the AP exam.

THURSDAY: Notes: pros and cons of each type of genre, for example: letters, books, speeches, etc. and some of the vocabulary/terminology that go with the different genre types. Post the scoring for the three College Board samples. View your own score and comments in both sections on Turnitin.com (in the essay text and in the Comment sidebar). Discuss overall results from Essay #2: Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Read and analyze the prompt in detail with the rubric.

Due: Read the actual College Board essay samples of the Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address Rhetorical Analysis prompt and score them with the updated rubric. Be ready to answer with a score and a rationale for the score on Thursday.

Please read the Performance Q & A for Question 1, which is overall comments about how the students in 2002 performed when they wrote this question for the AP exam.

Homework: IF you want the OPTIONAL practice, prepare for another "in-class essay" on Monday, May 11. It will not affect your grade at all if you don't login to Monday's Zoom in-class essay.

You will type the words "AP ID#" and your initials at the top of the electronic document or handwritten papers -- you can do this ahead of time before Monday's class. (You won't have an actual AP ID #, but I'd like you to put those items at the top of the papers anyway to get into the habit.)

If you have time, please watch the AP Lang videos produced by the College Board, beginning with 4/8 when the topics shift to rhetorical analysis.  (Pro tip: watch them on 1.5 or 2x speed if that works for you.)