AP Language & Composition
AP Language & Composition
A great way to become better at rhetorical analysis is to go through the list of FRQs doing the following:
---Get the FRQ.
---Annotate prompts for rhetorical situation.
---Annotate the passage for both rhetorical devices and rhetorical strategies.
---Take that annotation, and plan an essay--write up an essay outline, with a thesis for your essay, topic sentences for your body graphs, and at least one piece of evidence to use in each body graph.
--Now--look at the released student essays for that FRQ. The first released student response is always the best one.
--See if you found as many strategies as the student who wrote the top essay.
--Reflect on what strategies you missed.
--Repeat process six times--there are three years of released essays on the link, and for each year, there are two sets. Six FRQs in total.
SSR List #2: List of other books you can read for SSR. Don't Read Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, The Giver, or To Kill A Mockingbird for SSR. Note, though, that some of these books won't count since they are textbooks. If you choose from this list, check with me before you begin reading so that you are certain you'll get credit.
AP Central: Go here for Information about this course and the Exam.
Mark Twain Quotations. (Want to be witty? Want a pithy line at the ready? Want a good hook?)
Facts on File: (username: avhslibrary) (password: godons!) Choose "Facts on File," then "issues and controversies."
Tonal Variety Activity--Assignment
Works Cited Slide Deck. Slides 11-12 show how to format "hanging indent" in Google Docs.
Simple, popular media list of key traits of good speaking (it's actually things to avoid)
Body Language and public Speaking--short and playful. 4 min.
Stanford Business School on body language. (this is a grad-school, student presentation)
Want to see Steve Jobs experiencing public speaking anxiety?
Semester I:
Word-Within-The-Word lists 1-10: Friday afternoon tests starting on Friday of the fifth week.
Word-Within-The-Word list 11 (This is the last vocabulary test of the first semester)
Semester II:
Latin Phrases Vocab List. (Test on 1/17)
Post-Argument-Essay Notes. 2/24/25
Post-Synthesis Essay notes: 3/27
Final Exam/A.P. Exam Review Deck.
Scoring Spreadsheet for Lang/Comp Exam
YouTube video about best practices on theDigital Lang-Comp Exam.
Info from College Board on new digital exam.
More on Tics & TikTok
The Mystery of 18 Twitching Teenagers in Le Roy - The New York Times
The Psychology of Scapegoating
Inoculate Yourself Against Social Contagion
The Asch Conformity Experiment
The Milgram obedience Experiment
Miller and Context of the play
Interesting experimental video with life tips--reflects some of our class discussions.
On popular online platforms, predatory groups coerce children into self-harm. Washington Post, Wired, Der Spiegel
TikTok feeds teens a diet of darkness. Wall Street Journal.
Meta knows it causes depression among teen girls. Wall Street Journal.
"Social media associated with a surge in cognitive distortions." PNAS.org.
Social media use causes youth to lose up to one night of sleep weekly. Business Insider.
Social media break improves mental health. journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking
Higher screen time is associated with higher odds of suicidal behaviors. ScienceDirect.
TikTok use is associated with increased body dissatisfaction. PsyPost.
It's bad for democracy The Atlantic.
Social Media Effects: Hijacking Democracy & Civility in Civic Engagement. National Library of Medicine.
It's bad for democracy--University of Birmingham
Russia and China Actively infiltrate Social Media communities to undermine Civic discourse in the US. MIT Technology Review
Foreign Governments Actively use American Social Media to Sow Discord and Weaken American Cohesiveness. Associated Press.
Social media undermines democracy by polarizing its users --NPR
Social Media Platforms used to Sell and Distribute Fentanyl. Science Direct.
Fentanyl Tainted Pills Bought on Social Media Cause Youth Drug Deaths to Soar. NY Times.
Social Media Algorithms exploit the human Brain's attraction to divisiveness. PNAS.
Social media feeds the sense that "everything is going haywire." The Atlantic.
Meta used to incite genocides. NY Times.
Meta knows its platform is used to incite genocides. Forbes.
Meta dissolved team that discovers "potential harms to society" of its own products. Endgadget.
Facbook/Meta knows that foreign hostile governments use their platforms to facilitate disinformation campaings targeted at Americans. Washington Post.
You're being manipulated. "Algorithms...have an out-sized impact on shaping individuals’ experience. Wired.
The Truth About Algorithms--they work for big tech, not for you. Cathy O'Neil
Some notable articles and studies for students in this particular moment:
You Need to be Bored. Harvard Business Review
The Economics of Political Correctness--reasons you should debate/think out loud.
How to Find Balance in the Age of Indulgence. Stanford psychiatry professor Anna Lembke
Jonathan Haidt on post-1995 Fragility Jonathan Haidt is a psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business.
Antifragility. Why be fragile? Video based on the writing of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s writing.
The Algebra of Happiness. Scott Galloway. Professor at NYU Stern School of Business.
Trigger Warnings Fail to help, and may even harm. Association for psychological Science.
Rest isn't best: Getting kids back to school sooner after a concussion can mean a faster recovery