I know why the caged bird didn't read...

The essay was 10 pages long!
Your homework is to complete the Questions on Rhetoric and Style on page 100 of TLC.
Though we began them in class, you should all post all 10 questions on your blogs. Remember that these questions help train you in what to look for when examining a text. Creating habits of mind is what we're after here. In past years, it's been the students who thoughtfully engaged with this practice who improved the most and did the best on the AP test.

Addendum: If reading is assigned for the next day, please do the reading before class. Typically it means that the class activities that day depend on you having done the reading.

I know why the Caged Bird Can't Read...uh, it's a bird.

Finish reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Can't Read that we began in class today. Please read it with a dictionary handy (experiment: can a high school student use dictionary.com without also stopping to use facebook/spotify/tumblr/twitter/etc?); Prose's prose is rich and varied and can be either a delight or a difficulty depending on your reading vocabulary and fluency. Do your best to understand her argument and the moves she makes in that argument.

I know I told 4th period there would be questions, and there will be, but tonight I want you to just read and do your best to understand the essay and her language. Tomorrow we will discuss the essay and work in groups on the questions. Whatever isn't finished in class, will be homework. For Monday, please have blogged all assigned questions.

See the calendar. In order to make time for this and give you a bit more time to prep for the quiz, I'm moving the SAT Vocab 3 quiz to Monday.

TW Score Defense

Please score your timed write and provide a defense for that score on your blog. The released information is shared with you via Google Docs should you wish to reference it again (log into your Google Docs and you will see 3 documents there). Remember that this is practice in evaluating your own writing. Be honest. The grade doesn't count this time, so you have nothing to lose. Shoot for a clear understanding of where you stand at this point in time.

Many of you in class today thought that one or more of the essays were overrated. Be careful of that. It does not mean you have higher standards than AP; it more likely means you don't have a clear understanding yet of what they are looking for. For instance, compare what the 7 does with the "Let us" clause to what the 9 does with it. The two are worlds apart. Also, any summary does not equal a 2, rather all summary without accompanying analysis equals a 2.

Don't forget the previous homework in the post below.

Toxophilus Unleashed

Roger Ascham

Read pages 38-48 in the TLC book and apply one of the techniques enumerated therein to the Toxophilus excerpt from this book written by Roger Ascham in 1545 and dedicated to King Henry VIII (the assignment is on page 48).

I've linked the Toxophilus excerpt in a Google Docs version so you can copy the text into your Google Docs or Word if you wish. Using tables, you can do the dialectical journal or graphic organizer on Google Docs and you can annotate using comments. You may wish to bring something in done by hand, though. Not sure if you can circle and draw arrows in the way you may wish to in a Google Doc. I do encourage you to try your hand at the dialectical journal or the graphic organizer.

Since a number of people will wish to turn this in as a physical document, please print out your electronic efforts if that's the direction you take so that I receive all of the assignments in the same medium. Thank you!

Enjoy your trip back into the scientific observations and practical concerns of the mid-Sixteenth Century England!

Due Thursday (9/29) in class.

Turning in your papers on Google Docs

Please adhere to the following procedures copied from the Google Account Guidelines tab on this blog:

• Name your Google Documents (process papers) this way:
• Per# Last First Assignment Title
• If the assignment is called "JFK Paper", my document title would look like this:
  Per1 Giddings Andrew JFK Paper
• Share it with me (agiddings) using the Share link in the upper right of the document window. Allow me to edit and I can leave comments for you.
• Share one file. Google maintains a revision history for everything done to a file. You do not need to submit a rough draft as it is incorporated into the file. Please submit only one file per paper.

Failing to follow these procedures makes my life harder and will result in your paper being ignored.

Ever Procrastinate?

This is the most interesting thing I've ever read about procrastination. I am most definitely an incubator and I've worked hard to increase the time I start before something is due. Anyway, you might find this interesting. And it might help some of you with your Metacognition papers.

Because what they do about this will affect you...

Check out this article. It's not very long and raises some interesting issues. It was written by the former governor of New York.

For 4th period

So the question was asked, "What happens if I can't figure out how I think?" Immediately this song came to mind. You asked if I could post it, and so here it is. ;)

Disclaimer: Do not, under any circumstances, believe this to be true of you or your paper. It's just a song. That said, this one comes to mind too. ;)

Metacognition Essay

We'll set a due date next week.

Start thinking about the process you use in your thinking this weekend. Here is the assignment in case you misplaced yours. Have a great weekend.
Using the Golding essay Thinking as a Hobby as a starting point, write an essay examining your own thinking at the current time. Unlike Golding, do not seek to trace your thinking over time, but deeply examine the state of your thinking now. Analyze how you deal with pressure, stress, difficult intellectual problems, writing, etc. in order to get at how you think. You do not need to use Golding’s classifications, though you may if you find them helpful.

Word Limit: 900 words +/- 10%

Due: September 27, 2011

Before you begin to write, consider the following:

• Your rhetorical situation: Speaker, Subject, Audience relationships; context; and purpose 
• A proposed overall arrangement (of course you can use multiple arrangements if needed) 

Points: 40

Grading will focus holistically on the following elements:

• Depth of analysis 
• Organization 
• Sentence structure 
• Diction/Voice 
• Conventions

Who's Lady Di?

Lady Diana

Though most of you likely don't remember Lady Diana, our book does. In the TLC book, do the assignment that begins on page 28. You'll be reading 4 pieces and noting the following:

1. the purpose of each text
2. how the interaction of speaker, audience, and subject affects the text
3. the effectiveness of each text in accomplishing its purpose

Due: Thursday, Sept 15

Arrangement

The cat can't get to the blog...

As we work through our introduction to rhetoric, please read the section of TLC (The Language of Composition -- the white book) entitled Arrangement that runs from page 13-25 and blog the assignment on page 26. It may seem longish, but it is simply explanation with example, rinse and repeat.
Tomorrow, we will present our posters, take the rhetorical vocab quiz, and run out of time for the rest of it, putting it off until Monday.

"Labor" Day

the last fling of summer...

I hope you enjoy this weekend and get out in that 80 degree bliss. On Tuesday we'll set up our Google accounts and Blogger blogs. Your first assignment on the blog will be in the TLC book. Read pages 10-11 and post the assignment at the top of page 12.

Take a look at the calendar as I've filled in some dates for next week (you're welcome, Lauren). I'll collect summer assignments on the 6th and
we'll be starting our SAT vocab soon after we have our rhetorical vocab quiz (see calendar).

Have a great weekend!

Einstein Letter

Read up through page 10 in the Language of Composition  and do the assignment that begins on page 9 for tomorrow.