Stearns

Hola, we’re close to the halfway point. Did I mention that English teachers have the highest SAT scores of all teachers, well, sorta…Did you know that babies named Ava caused the US housing crisis? It’s true (and by true I mean not true at all).

Let’s get started learning stuff! Ok, we’ve read Emerson’s Nature and for HW you went through JCO’s Against Nature. I’m going to ask you to do some comparing. Create a t-chart with left side as Emerson and the right side JCO. Choose competing quotes from Emerson and JCO and put them on each side of the t-chart and be ready to contrast the writers’ opinions about Nature.

Next, we’ll talk Multiple Choice on the AP. I’ll go through some aspect of the MC part of the test and then we’ll take a practice run with QuestionPress!

Then, I want to show you this site which gives you good ideas for multiple choice stems. Let’s use it in our…

HW: Read “Citizen Philosophers” and write 8 MC questions using the stems provided above.

First, Newt!

watch?v=4c1-22w2G7M

We’ll continue with the HW: AP class credit yea or nea! We’ll be talking about nea today. The entire article has 14 paragraphs (I think! I did get a 4 on my AP Calculus test. Did I mention this yet?). For each paragraph, I created a short description of the function of the paragraph, meaning I’ve described how I think the paragraph works in constructing the argument rather that by paraphrasing the content. Your job–in pairs–is to figure out the correct order of the following function descriptions. Let’s do it!

1. Providing rhetorical questions that also establish the main thesis.
2. Giving an analogy that emphasizes the absurdity of the opposing argument.
3. Establishing writer’s credibility as knowledgeable about both science and humanity courses.
4. Giving background on AP credit and relating particularly to science courses.
5. Explaining the problem that the writer is trying to solve.
6. Explaining the end result of how AP courses hurt top students with specific hypothetical detail.
7. Giving the opposing argument for AP credit.
8. Explaining how the AP credit problem is part of a larger societal problem.
9. Offering a frame that compares the College Board to a bureaucratic, Orwellian entity.
10. Stating the writer’s answer to the AP problem.
11. Suggesting advice as to what college’s should be doing.
12. Explaining what AP science students miss when they skip intro classes.
13. Offering a qualification to the thesis.
14. Giving a later voice to the counter-argument.

Phew!

If we have time, and/or brain cells.  I want to take a look at Emerson’s Nature. Here, I think, we should focus on simple paraphrase. We might even just go paragraph by paragraph trying to get a handle on the argument.

Also, let’s see the Nonfiction Semester Project assignment.

HW: Read Against Nature by Joyce Carol Oates. Compare and contrast with Emerson’s Nature. Which side do you fall on and why? 200-300 words.