AP English Language & Composition

Distance Learning Fall 2020:

Welcome! If you don't already have it, here is the assigned summer work for this course. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me!

Please click here to connect to our Teams page.

Distance Learning Spring 2020:

Finals Week: June 1-4

Week of May 25-29

  • Assignments:

    1. Tuesday: Pick one of the short stories below, and read and annotate it. For your annotations, I recommend focusing on these elements of literature: characterization, tension/suspense, tone, details, and themes.

    2. Thursday: Engage in discussion on the Padlet below for whichever story you read and annotated. I've posted three discussion questions to get you started. You can respond to those questions, or add new discussion questions. Make sure you are logged in so that you are not posting anonymously!

    3. Friday: For your final exam, you'll write an essay about your chosen short story in response to the prompt below. Your response should be approximately 500-750 words, in MLA format, and free of plagiarism. You may use the Padlet discussions for inspiration. The deadline is Thursday, June 4 at 12:00pm. Here is the AP Lit Rubric that you should use to guide your writing.

        • "Everything that Rises Must Converge" Prompt: Carefully read the short story "Everything that Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Connor (1965). Then, in a well-constructed essay, analyze how the author portrays the relationship between Julian and his mother as being representative of societal change. You may wish to consider such literary elements as point of view, style, and selection of detail.

        • "There Will Come Soft Rains" Prompt: Carefully read the short story "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury (1950). Then, in a well-constructed essay, analyze how the author portrays the setting of the story, and the implicit message it provides. You may wish to consider such literary elements as style, imagery, and selection of detail.

        • "The Lottery" Prompt: Carefully read the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (1948). Then, in a well-constructed essay, analyze how the author portrays the values of conformity and tradition. You may wish to consider such literary elements as style, dialogue, and selection of detail.

        • "Lamb to the Slaughter" Prompt: Carefully read the short story "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl (1953). Then, in a well-constructed essay, analyze how the author portrays Mary Maloney and her mental state. You may wish to consider such literary elements as point of view, tone, and selection of detail.

  • Notes:

    1. Friday, May 22 and Monday, May 25 are district holidays, so I will not be posting any new assignments on those days.

    2. Here's this week's news quiz (this is the last one they'll make for the school year).

Week of May 18-22

Week of May 11-15

Week of May 4-8

  • Watch:

    1. Enhancing Fluidity in Sentence and Paragraphs in Student Writing

    2. Incorporating Precise Language and Sentence Variety in Student Writing

  • Assignments:

    1. Monday: Use the AP demo site to practice logging in and submitting your exam!

    2. Tuesday: Read and annotate these four short speeches. Write a thesis for each in response to this prompt: what strategies does the author use to achieve his/her purpose? (Note: for tomorrow's assignment, we will be practicing to enhance your writing about ethos, pathos, and logos, so I would recommend including each of those at least one in your four thesis statements.) No need to turn these in today; we will build on this tomorrow.

    3. Wednesday: In connection with the thesis statements you wrote on the four speeches yesterday, write three body paragraphs (on whichever speech(es) you want), one each on ethos, pathos, and logos. However, you may not use the words ethos, pathos, and logos in your writing! Use this helpful document to write about these appeals without specifically stating their names. When writing about the appeals, really go deep into how these appeals are impacting the audience, and make sure to fully develop your body paragraphs; always connect back to the speaker's purpose! When finished, please turn in your four thesis statements and three body paragraphs by tomorrow. If you would like feedback, please specify that when sending me your work!

    4. Thursday: If you haven't yet, make sure to send me your work on the four speeches: your four thesis statements, and your three body paragraphs on ethos, pathos, and logos without using those words! For today, I'm giving you the option to watch one or both of the two videos posted above from the AP YouTube channel and complete the activities. Both of these videos/activities are really great for enhancing the sophistication of your writing.

    5. Friday: Complete a timed write on this prompt. Turn it in by Monday if you would like feedback! It is open notes and resources, but for the best practice, treat it like the actual AP Exam: time yourself to 45 minutes total, including reading, annotating, and writing the essay, and make sure your essay is all your original work.

  • Notes:

    1. Here's this week's news quiz.

Week of April 27-May 1

  • Watch:

    1. Wednesday: Explanation of what should have already been completed on the Barry/2008 prompt and how to complete the essay.

    2. Incorporating Commentary in Rhetorical Analysis Essays

    3. Constructing Sophisticated Conclusions for a Rhetorical Analysis Essay

  • Assignments:

    1. Monday: Post one of your 2008/Barry topic sentences that you developed on Friday on this Padlet by tomorrow. (Select one of your three that you think you could use help improving.) Please make sure to not post anonymously! Then, you'll have two other tasks to complete by Wednesday. First, you will rate others' topic sentences out of five stars and offer comments to help them improve their topic sentences (see example on Padlet; you should rate at least five peoples' topic sentences and comment on at least two). Second, you will complete one body paragraph in response to the Barry prompt that begins with what you feel is your strongest topic sentence. Make sure this is a fully developed, in-depth body paragraph. Again, we will continue to build on these Barry assignments this week, so as long as you are active on the Padlet, you don't need to send me anything (yet).

    2. Tuesday: See Monday.

    3. Wednesday: Complete a full essay on the Barry/2008 prompt by Friday. Choose to focus on either elevating or commentary or adding your sophistication. Please watch my video above, and at least one of the two College Board videos to help you. I will be scoring your essays and giving you feedback by Monday!

    4. Thursday: See Wednesday.

    5. Friday: See Wednesday.

  • Notes:

    1. Here's this week's news quiz!

    2. If you're taking the AP Exam, please watch this video for your directions!

    3. Here's the Rhetorical Analysis Rubric.

Week of April 20-24

  • Watch:

    1. Tuesday: Explanation of redo requirements for MagnaSoles assignment; how to recognize a satirical text.

    2. Thursday: Explanation of Barry prompt first assignment: SOAPSTone and thesis.

  • Assignments:

    1. Monday: Go back over your annotations and assignment on the MagnaSoles Prompt (2005) that you completed for Friday. Then, read the Q&A on Question 2 with the Chief Reader here (starts at the bottom of the second page with Question 2). Pay attention to what the Chief Reader listed as the most common errors on this question. Then, read and take notes on the three sample essays for this prompt here (pages 9-15; samples 2A, 2B, and 2C). You will be turning in your notes; you should include what each essay does well in its analysis and how each essay could be improved. Scoring them is optional. You may also annotate them on Xodo or another platform if that works better for you, and turn in your annotations. Notes or annotations on the sample essays are due tomorrow.

    2. Tuesday: Today's assignment is only necessary for those of you who did not complete the assignment due Friday on the 2005 prompt (MagnaSoles), AND for those of you who did it incorrectly. Obviously, if you haven't done the assignment yet, please complete it as soon as you're able to. However, many of you who did complete it did not analyze the text as satirical, which is a huge error! So, I'm asking you to redo your assignment if you missed the satirical tone of the text. I will be messaging you directly if you are required to redo your work. Make sure to watch today's video for further explanation.

    3. Wednesday: Review rhetorical devices/strategies/techniques on quizlet. Tomorrow, we will be applying these terms to a new prompt; be ready!

    4. Thursday: Read and annotate the 2008 Rhetorical Analysis Prompt. (See note 3 below for my recommendation on annotating, but you can annotate however works for you!) Complete a SOAPSTone and develop your thesis, which should include at least three strategies/choices that Barry makes that you would analyze in a full essay. Should be completed by tomorrow; however, we will be building on this prompt and assignment over the next few days, so no need to turn anything in yet (unless you want feedback; please message/email me directly asking for feedback if you do)!

    5. Friday: Develop three strong topic sentences that follow from your thesis that you developed in response to yesterday's prompt. Your topic sentences should introduce a strategy Barry used, a brief description of the strategy, and lead into providing textual evidence. Below you'll see some examples of weak topic sentences and strong topic sentences. Again, you don't need to turn these in today (unless you want feedback!). We will continue to build on this assignment next week.

Weak topic sentence: Barry talks about certainty and uncertainty, which is good diction.

Strong topic sentence: Barry begins by contrasting the strength and conviction of certainty with the weakness and fear of uncertainty to better define the term uncertainty, which is how he introduces his characterization of scientific research as uncertain.

Weak topic sentence: Barry uses rhetorical questions to make the reader think.

Strong topic sentence: In the fifth paragraph, Barry employs a series of short rhetorical questions that simulate the mind of a scientist bouncing from one question to another quickly and randomly, echoing the idea of science's inherent uncertainty.

  • Notes:

    1. Here's this week's news quiz!

    2. Satire resources: LitCharts and video.

    3. I've recently learned that on the online AP test, you will not have the ability to annotate the prompt or the text. Therefore, it may be useful for you to practice taking notes on the prompt by hand on a separate piece of paper. Here's a helpful video that includes some recommended methods.

    4. The district has decided to pay for your AP exam fees this year! Here's the official notice in English and Spanish. You'll be refunded whatever you paid.

    5. If you still need to pick your classes for next year, here are some helpful documents! Here are the directions, the course request form, and the AP Contract (only required if you're taking AP classes). Contact your counselor with questions!

    6. If you want your ACT score, contact me and I'll send it to you. Here's a video explaining what the different parts of your score mean.

Week of April 13-17

Week of April 6-10

Guiding questions for annotating:

      • What social issue is Swift describing? (Hint: read the subtitle)

      • What is the speaker's proposed solution (which is satirical!)? What details does he include to make this solution seem logical?

      • What are some actual solutions that Swift seemingly disputes that could realistically fix the societal problems?

3. Wednesday: Write a paragraph that discusses the aspects of SOAPSTone in "A Modest Proposal." Turn in via email or Remind.

4. Thursday: Write (or create a video of) your own social satire. Follow Jonathan Swift's structure: describe the social issue, propose a "solution" that is outlandish or horrific in some way and explain why it would solve the problem, and then explain why actual solutions would not work. Turn in by Tuesday, April 14.

  • Notes:

    1. Be ready for the image study project next week (starting Wednesday)!

    2. Friday, April 10 and Monday, April 13 are school holidays. You can still contact me and I will respond, but there will be no official assignments those days.

    3. Optional weekly news quiz: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/07/learning/07News-Quiz-for-Students.html

    4. Below, you will find a letter from the district in regards to AP Exams in both English and Spanish.