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For Wednesday, read Suburban Nation, Chs. 8 and 9. If your CliffNotes AP Lang book is at home, bring it to school; we will go over closely one passage in the book. 

For Friday, write the two practice essays posted to the right (Suburban Nation FRQ I and Suburban Nation FRQ II). Try to do them in one sitting, giving yourself no more than eighty minutes to complete both. If you can't do them in one sitting, be sure to give yourself no more than forty minutes for each essay. 

We are having a review session on Saturday, May 9, from 1:00 to 3:00 in my classroom.  If you have it at home, bring the CliffNotes AP book with you to this review. 

Homework for 4/22, Day 4

For Wednesday, 22 April, read Suburban Nation, ch. 2. 

Homework for Monday, April 6

Read the introduction to and first chapter of Suburban Nation. If you have a chance, check out this site; we'll use it pretty heavily while reading Suburban Nation. Keep in mind your profile is due on Wednesday, April 8. 

Homage to Catalonia Essay

In his introduction to Homage to Catalonia, Lionel Trilling describes Orwell's capacity for honesty--for reporting just what he sees. Write an essay that analyzes how Orwell rhetorically accomplishes that honesty with three examples from the book--one from chapters I-V, another from chapters VI-X, and a third from chapters XI-XIV. Supplement your analysis with at least one illustration from both The Visual Front: Posters of the Spanish Civil War and the UK History Channel's web site on the Spanish Civil War (click on "Gallery"), and explain their relationship to Orwell's honesty. (You should print out the illustration and include it with your essay.) This essay is due on Wednesday, March 25.

For Juniors, for Friday, 3/6/09

In addition to reading pp. 72-120 in Homage to Catalonia, remember to bring a revision of the paragraph you wrote in class on Monday. Focus on sharpening the language, making it more concise, using more specific words, and conveying your subject's relationship to something larger than himself or herself. Also, as I mentioned in class on Wednesday, I would like you to bring in something that you read recently that you enjoyed. It shouldn't be more than a few pages long; an excerpt of a book is fine.

Links for the Spanish Civil War

Here are links to the pages I showed in class today:

Posters for the Spanish Civil War (click on "Chronology of the War," too, for clarifications and additional information).

UK History Channel site on the Spanish Civil War (click on "Gallery").

As I mentioned, you will need to use one illustration from each of these sites to supplement the essay you will write about Homage to Catalonia. You will receive the essay topics on Monday; the essay will be due Tuesday, March 17.

Assignments

Note that your assignments for the third quarter are posted to the right under "AP Lang Assignments." For Thursday, in addition to reading and annotating Lionel Trilling's introduction to Homage to Catalonia, read Emerson's "Self-Reliance," which was handed out today in class. If you were absent from class, you can find the PDF of Emerson's essay here, and see me for a copy of your book.

Assignments for Wednesday, 2/11, and Friday, 2/13

Clarification: Complete the writing component of these assignments within forty minutes. This means you should write a full response within this allotted time. Do not "do as much as you can" within that time; strive to complete it within that time. 

For Wednesday, read Alice Walker, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self," in 50 Essays, pp. 441-449.  Write a coherent and cohesive response to question 4.

For Friday, read Sarah Vowell, "Shooting Dad," in 50 Essays, pp. 433-440. Write a response to question 4. With this response, you do not need to compose an essay; you may list the humorous moments and explain them, and then include your hypothesis at the end. 

Assignment for Monday, 2/9

Read Mike Rose, "I Just Wanna Be Average," in 50 Essays, pp. 350-363. As you read the essay, keep in mind our discussion of ethos as a rhetorical appeal. Also, give yourself forty minutes to write a coherent essay in response to the following topic:

In paragraphs 26-31 (pp. 359-361), Rose describes an influential high school teacher. Write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies, including stylistic choices, that he uses to convey the powerful impact of this experience on him.

Assignment for Thursday, 2/5 (Day 6)

For Thursday, read Advanced Composition Skills (the orange book) pp. 88-91. Complete the writing assignment on p. 90, but be sure to read the guidelines for writing it on pp. 90-91. Be sure to give yourself only forty minutes to complete it. You may write it by hand or type it.

9/11 Essay Topics

Select one of the topics below for a two- to four-page essay due Tuesday, Feb. 3 (Day 2).

1. How do The 9/11 Commission Report and Loose Change speak to each other? What do you think is the truth of the events of September 11, 2001? That is, what do you think is clear? What do you think is ambiguous? What questions remain to be answered? 

2. In light of The 9/11 Commission Report and Loose Change, has the federal government offered an appropriate or even adequate response to the events of September 11, 2001? If so, what has worked, and why? If not, what did not work, and what remains to be done?

3. Compare and contrast the rhetorical strategies of The 9/11 Commission Report and Loose Change. You may wish to consider the rhetorical strengths and limitations of their respective media as you consider the strategies they employ. 

Assignment for Monday, 1/26

Read to p. 138 in The 9/11 Commission Report.

Also, prepare your report (1-2 pages) on Loose Change. Below are the group assignments, but you should each prepare an individual report.

Rhetorical fallacies and appeals: Mike, Jake, and Mitch.

Evidence: Anna, Brigid, Kate, and Katie.

Visual and sound elements: David, Mark, Morgan, and Steve.

Narrative elements: Arthur, Kendra, and Zach.

Interviews: Chris, Elena, and Maya.

Assignment for Tuesday, 1/20

Read and annotate to p. 104 in the 9/11 Commission Report. As usual, pay close attention to the authors' rhetorical strategies.

Remember, too, that I will show the rest of the 9/11 documentary about the firefighters inside the World Trade Center on Monday night at 7:00 in my classroom. If you can't get in, just knock on my classroom window and someone will come around to let you in.

Slideshow Essay

See the Monday, December 15, post for the slideshow essay's complete instructions.

9/11 Commission Report

Here is a link for the 9/11 Commission web site, where you can find the Commission's full report:

http://9-11commission.gov

Here is the web site for Loose Change:

http://www.loosechange911.com/finalcut