Watch Your Language

Hey!  More words!  This week's adventure in AP Lang brings the LAST AP Prompt response--lucky #13!  We'll take some more time sharpening those skills for next week's official exam, writing a final personal essay (about words, of course), and discussing some language-specific ideas and issues.  Keep track of your grades in Student Assistant; everything should be in now.  Let's go APers!

MONDAY, 4/30
AP Prompt #12
• returned
• reviewed
Mother Tongue
• reading check
• response
READ How Much Wallop Can a Simple Word Pack? for TUESDAY

TUESDAY, 4/31
How Much Wallop?
• discussion
• response
Words on Words
• directions and expectations

WEDNESDAY, 5/1
Cultural Literacy!
TED

THURSDAY, 5/2
In Plain English:  Let's Make It Official
• read
• analyze
• respond:  discussion

FRIDAY, 5/3
AP Prompt #LAST! (Synthesis)

Words and Testing and Writing and Fun!

Well, this should be fun.  We're brewing up a STORM of a week with ACT and the Mr. Thunder pageant, but we still need to keep plowing toward that AP Test (and glory, duh).  So, you'll want to eat your Wheaties, get a good night's sleep, and be all that you can be.  Later you can sit on the couch, eat Cheetos, and wait for the lightning.  We have just one reading this week, but lots of writing and, of course, fun.  Ready?

MONDAY, 4/22
AP Prompt #11
• general discussion
• writing groups:  revise
Read Mother Tongue

TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, 4/23-24
**NB:  Because of Tuesday's ACT, periods 1&2 will meet Tuesday
and periods 3-7 will meet Wednesday.  The schedule is for both days.
Politics and the English Language
• identifying Orwell's ideas
• applying Orwell's ideas

THURSDAY, 4/25
AP Prompt #12

FRIDAY, 4/26
Mother Tongue
• reading check
• response

Words, words, words

"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?" E.M. Forster's question suggests something about the nature of language and thought.  Indeed, the very word for "word" in Greek--logos--has come to mean logic or thought in our modern world.  So, can we think without words?  If so, how do we express those thoughts?  In this week's readings and writings and discussions we'll consider some of the ways language defines, directs, and determines our thoughts and lives.  Also, be aware:  we'll be in boot camp mode until the AP exam--AP Strong!

MONDAY, 4/15
AP Prompt #10
• review
• return
• revise
Read "Arguing About Language" for TUESDAY
Read Politics and the English Language for WEDNESDAY

TUESDAY, 4/16
AP Boot Camp:  Sentence combining
"Arguing About Language"
• discussion
• response

WEDNESDAY, 4/17
Politics and the English Language
• reading check
• response/discussion

THURSDAY, 4/18
AP Prompt #11

FRIDAY, 4/19
"Mother Tongue"
• read
• respond

Boys Will Be Girls?

While we're considering our own experiences of "being a girl or boy," let's take a look at the way our culture reinforces, challenges, guides, and opposes various gender expectations.  Two short readings (Do 'em!) and LOTS of talk/writing this week.  Wednesday is a 1/2 day because IT'S THE END OF THE QUARTER!! OMG!  There's only one quarter to go!  So, keep your eyes on the prize (summer) and your nose to the grindstone. 

MONDAY, 4/8
Writing exercise:  parallel construction, hyperbole, effective fragments
• information
• Arbus photo writing response
What Does It Mean to Be a Boy/Girl?  DUE
Read: Gender-Based Toy Marketing and Transgender Dispute for FRIDAY

TUESDAY, 4/9
Writing exercise:  transitions and quotations
• Kingsolver response: analysis
• revision

WEDNESDAY, 4/10
TED:  Is Anatomy Destiny?

THURSDAY, 4/11
AP Prompt #10

FRIDAY, 4/12
Gender-Based Toy Marketing/ Transgender Dispute
• discussion
• writing response