For Those of You Interested in an Advertising Career

Watching all of you take the final is bittersweet: I see stronger writers cognizant of active verb choice, clever hooks, and modes of discourse, or the culmination of eighteen weeks of effort; I also see that I will not have the opportunity to read your words anymore or to discuss essays, articles, current events, or random behavior of students in the hallway.

I wish all of you the best as you journey to your final semester of your high school career or to your entrance to the collegiate environment. As I said in class, you are always welcome to contact me for advisement or assistance. You may not be physically in my class, but you will always be my students.

Before you do begin second semester, I do want to add one more item regarding this course, which involves one more way to earn points for your semester grade.

As many of you may recall from last year, I visit classrooms in January to help pique interest in Advanced Composition and let students know all the options available to them junior and senior year.

Another way to call attention to Adv. Comp. is to create a poster that grabs the eye and provides key words that would attract a student to the course. And in the past years, our department chair has blown up this poster into a mega-poster that is on the English department bulletin board second semester.

If you would like to make a poster for Adv. Comp, and perhaps earn 10-20 extra credit points (dependent on effort), create one advertisement and share/e-mail it to me by 7:00 a.m. on January 4. This will need to be in digital format.

You will find below some facts about the course that you may want to include; however, you can also bring in stuff you have learned or liked this semester to encourage a student to take the course. Remember, this is an advertisement and prospective students walking down the hall will not stop to read full sentence explanations. The winning poster will be selected by another teacher or staff member and will receive an additional 10 extra credit points.

Advanced Composition Fun Facts:

• Junior and seniors
• Semester classes with objectives to prepare the literary analysis and writing skills needed for college advancement
• College credit is paid in advance and earned from the class grade
• Advanced Composition curriculum focuses on composition, rhetoric, and argument in order to write college-level products
• Written products will include extensive analysis, argumentation, and research essays in addition to multiple styles of writing
• Emphasis on essay writing skills, mechanics, and vocabulary
• Texts include professional and student work to gauge rhetorical comprehension and proficiency
• No summer reading 

Our Last Advanced Composition Class

While technically our last class is Thursday, our real last class where we could interact with each other was today. For the majority of the class, we reviewed all the parts of the final. Remember, you  may come in starting at 7:10 a.m. on Thursday to start your final early.

I returned your essays to you, which cover tips for improvement. If you have any questions in the next few days, ask!

Good luck on all your finals!

P.S. You may want to check the blog during holiday break.

Cocoa & Cram on Monday! Plus More!

I will be participating in the Cocoa and Cram study sessions on Monday between 5-8 p.m. and all of my students are welcome to join me for review.

To give you a sense of what that would involve, I will be offering assistance for three classes at once.

For AP Lang, we will focus on rhetorical analysis prompts and multiple choice passages. I will have sample rhetorical analysis prompts, which we will close read, select strategies, and create mock outlines to review essay structure for this purpose. I will have multiple choice passages, which we will use to practice close reading skills and accuracy of answer. I will also have my rhetorical toolbox cards if you would like to play memory games. While you do not need to know every definition for the final (though, I would be happy if you did), it helps to have the main rhetorical strategies and modes of discourse ready for application on the exam.

For AP Lit, we will focus on multiple choice passages, which will allow us an opportunity to practice close reading skills and accuracy. The passages will be a hybrid of prose, poetry, and drama since your final will be a full AP Lit MC test. I will also have the poetry cards and the literary toolbox list to review the terms.

For Advanced Composition, we can review the styles of writing, grammar and punctuation rules, and tips for the final. We will be going over all of the above during class on Monday, so if you have any remaining questions about the final, we can work together during the cram session.

And, since I will be at school between seventh hour and the cram session, I will have my room open during that time for student use.

So, what exactly is student use? Since all of my students are working on some type of essay, you are welcome to use the computers starting at 2:30 p.m. until around 4:50 p.m. when I will need to close up the room for the Cocoa & Cram study sessions. I will be prepping and grading and dealing with textbooks (have you turned in all of your novels yet?) and possibly running errands here and there, but I will be available to answer any questions you have regarding the essay.

And, starting at 4 p.m., any AP Lang and AP Lit students are welcome to come and play with the AP Lang and Lit Cards to help prep for the final. I will even bring my AP flashcards to help you study. This will primarily be student-led review, but I will be in the background for any clarifications or questions that you may have.

Remember, all essays for all of my classes have a deadline of 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 22. The essay must be in hard copy and must be delivered by this time or the grade will be a zero -- no exceptions.

In all circumstances, I hope the aforementioned opportunities will help you with the finals and your last essays of the semester!

Cocoa & Cram on Monday! Plus More!

I will be participating in the Cocoa and Cram study sessions on Monday between 5-8 p.m. and all of my students are welcome to join me for review.

To give you a sense of what that would involve, I will be offering assistance for three classes at once.

For AP Lang, we will focus on rhetorical analysis prompts and multiple choice passages. I will have sample rhetorical analysis prompts, which we will close read, select strategies, and create mock outlines to review essay structure for this purpose. I will have multiple choice passages, which we will use to practice close reading skills and accuracy of answer. I will also have my rhetorical toolbox cards if you would like to play memory games. While you do not need to know every definition for the final (though, I would be happy if you did), it helps to have the main rhetorical strategies and modes of discourse ready for application on the exam.

For AP Lit, we will focus on multiple choice passages, which will allow us an opportunity to practice close reading skills and accuracy. The passages will be a hybrid of prose, poetry, and drama since your final will be a full AP Lit MC test. I will also have the poetry cards and the literary toolbox list to review the terms.

For Advanced Composition, we can review the styles of writing, grammar and punctuation rules, and tips for the final. We will be going over all of the above during class on Monday, so if you have any remaining questions about the final, we can work together during the cram session.

And, since I will be at school between seventh hour and the cram session, I will have my room open during that time for student use.

So, what exactly is student use? Since all of my students are working on some type of essay, you are welcome to use the computers starting at 2:30 p.m. until around 4:50 p.m. when I will need to close up the room for the Cocoa & Cram study sessions. I will be prepping and grading and dealing with textbooks (have you turned in all of your novels yet?) and possibly running errands here and there, but I will be available to answer any questions you have regarding the essay.

And, starting at 4 p.m., any AP Lang and AP Lit students are welcome to come and play with the AP Lang and Lit Cards to help prep for the final. I will even bring my AP flashcards to help you study. This will primarily be student-led review, but I will be in the background for any clarifications or questions that you may have.

Remember, all essays for all of my classes have a deadline of 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 22. The essay must be in hard copy and must be delivered by this time or the grade will be a zero -- no exceptions.

In all circumstances, I hope the aforementioned opportunities will help you with the finals and your last essays of the semester!

Self-Eval Day

I just realized that I posted an AP Lang blog under your class, so I hope you weren't too confused regarding another essay to write. Don't worry -- you just have the argumentative research essay left to go. During today's class, you received a lengthy self-evaluation handout that asked you specific questions regarding the organization, idea, voice, and mechanics of your argument. Take the time to go through each question and adjust your essay as necessary for Friday.

Peer edit day will be Friday!

Research Day 5

Today's class was our last in the library, and the deadline for the outline covering your argument's claim, evidence, warrants, counterclaim, rebuttal, and conclusions.

For tomorrow's class, you will need the first draft of your essay completed at 11:45 when we resume after lunch. I have a specific self-evaluation handout for you that should help you fine tune your writing prior to peer evaluation day on Friday.

As a reminder, on your assignment sheet, it clarifies that if you are absent tomorrow, you will need to share or e-mail your essay to me by the given time. I will then reply back with the self-evaluation sheet.

Research Day 4

Final deadlines for the claim and source pages 5-8 were today during fifth hour's class time. Tomorrow is the deadline for the outline. As a reminder, this assignment is worth more than 300 points, and you have a little over a week to complete the essay.

We will be in the library tomorrow and back in the classroom on Wednesday for the self-evaluation day. As announced in class, the first draft on Wednesday is due at 11:45 a.m. after we return from lunch.

Research Day 3

Today's deadline was 12:30 p.m. for four sources. If you did not turn these in by that time -- whether in person or, if absent, via digital means, you may still receive half credit on Monday.

We will be back in the library on Monday and Tuesday!

Survey Link

Do the district a favor and take this technology survey at some point today: http://survey.fzsd.us

Research Day 2

We resumed research time in the library. The first deadline, for sources 1-4, is 12:30 p.m. on Friday. If absent, you are still required to share/e-mail/photograph materials by this deadline for credit. See you on Friday!

Research Day 1

As evidenced by the post subject, we started researching in the library today. While you do have class time to research, that does not excuse you from working on this assignment outside of class. Make sure you are staying up to date with your work as your first due date is this Friday.

The Last Paper Assignment

After wrapping up our sample argumentation on Women in the Military topic, you were assigned your last paper, the Argumentative Research essay. For tomorrow's class, we will be in the library so you may start the research process. Make sure each source has a source page or a notebook page to keep all of your evidence separate and understandable.

The Counterclaim & The Rebuttal

After finishing up your warrant for the Honey Boo Boo claims, we read your work to the whole class for further exemplification of argumentative claims, evidence, and warrants.

An argument does not end there! Once your claim has its footing, you will need to introduce a counterclaim. A counterclaim is not the opposite of the claim; it is another position that could be a strong, evidence-based claim. Following the counterclaim, you have the rebuttal. A rebuttal is not the trashing of the counterclaim; it recognizes the counterclaim's validity and then adds supporting justification for the first claim's strength. You created counterclaim and rebuttal statements for the Boo Boo argument, and you shared these with the class.

For the rest of class, we utilized the women in the military topic by working in groups to craft the steps of argumentation writing. Thus far, we are through the brainstorming of claims, the selection of the best claim, and the accumulation of evidence. We will resume with this on Monday.