Check your school gmail tomorrow afternoon ...

A few lucky students will receive an invite to an AP Lang google classroom. Will one of them be you? Keep your fingers crossed!

April is National Poetry Month!

Hello, writers!

April, as the blog post says, is National Poetry Month. Somebody - I'm not sure who - has challenged us to write a poem a day every day in the month of April. I've done it before; it's both incredibly fun and surprisingly exhausting.

I'm giving it a shot again this year. If you want to join me, I'll post a prompt to the blog each day. You can ignore the prompt, of course, and write whatever you're inspired to write. 

You can share it with me or you can keep it private. Either way, happy April!

Prompt 1: Write a poem of any length that uses the following words (in any place in the poem). You may change the form of the word in any way that pleases you.

Bark
Nails
Buckle
Harbor
Bruise

Special bonus challenge: use the words more than once, playing with their multiple meanings.

Enjoy!

Things I know ...

Here is a short list of everything I know about AP Lang and your future:

1. It sure seems like we're headed towards online classes for the foreseeable future. Teachers will be receiving some training next week, and we're scheduled for a "soft start" next Thursday. 
2. It looks like the AP Lang exam will be administered online. Right now, they're telling us that it will be a 45 minute free-response question ("free-response question" means "timed write"). It's actually much easier to prepare for the timed writes than for the multiple choice questions, and y'all will be well prepared.
3. It also looks like you can cancel your test if you don't feel prepared. They won't charge you for the test or the cancellation fee. I'm not entirely clear about the process for this.
4. Everything I just told you could be wrong - or, more accurately, it could be correct right now and wrong ten minutes from now.

These things I know for certain:

1. MC Monday, 3/24 has been posted AP Classroom. I can send you a .pdf if you want a hard copy.
2. I miss you. It's weird that it's still spring break but it feels like we've been out of school forever. I sure hope we get to return to face-to-face education this year.
   
   

MC Monday(ish)

Apparently, I've already lost track of what day it is ...
 
MC Monday, 3/16 has been posted AP Classroom. I can send you a .pdf if you want a hard copy.
This is for practice rather than points. Enjoy!

Enjoy your break!

Several of you have checked in about the paper Mr. Schafer assigned. Unless it's a subject you need to write about right now, you can let that paper sit until we return to school. You'll have between five days and a week to turn your outline into a final draft.

If you're really looking for something AP Langish to do, I'll keep posting multiple choice practice sections on Monday. You'll definitely be able to see your score, and I think you should be able to see why the correct answers are correct. I've also posted a bunch of vocabulary words for you to play around with on Quizlet. The multiple choice section of the Lang exam is really nothing but a giant vocabulary quiz, so the more words you know the better you're likely to do. Both of those activities - the MC Monday and the vocabulary practice - are just things to do when you realize you're bored out of your mind. Rather than scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, you can scroll mindlessly through vocab instead!

Most importantly, you've been given a remarkable gift: roughly three weeks when you aren't trapped in uncomfortable gray chairs for seven hours a day. You are a group of really smart people who like learning things, and you suddenly have time to go out and study subjects you're interested in. 

Go forth! Make art! Make music! Read a book for pleasure! Write a poem! Use this time to follow your own curiosity instead of the curiosity of a bunch of teachers.

Have fun. Send me an email if you need me for anything. See you in April (I hope)!

Optional Vocabulary Practice

Since I haven't been teaching, I've had the opportunity to make a few quizlets. All of the vocabulary words below are words that students found on AP Lang practice exams, so they might show up on the test you'll take in May. Even if they don't, there are some pretty cool words here.

It was kind of a pain to paste 13 links, so I haven't checked them. Send me an email if any seem problematic.

Vocab Won
Vocab Too
Vocab Tree
Vocab Fur
Vocab Hive
Vocab Styx
Vocab Heaven
Vocab Ate
Vocab? Nein!
Vocab Den
Vocab Leavened
Vocab Dwelt
Vocab the 13th

Agenda, March 12

Music, when soft voices die,

    Vibrates in the memory—
 Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
 Live within the sense they quicken.

 Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
 Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
 And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
 Love itself shall slumber on.

            -Percy Bysshe Shelley

• Info on the Final: Link

Today's Agenda:

1. Write an outline for an essay that uses one of the four rhetorical modes we have discussed in class. 
2. Outline is due by the end of class

Agenda, March 10

• Due Now: The other essays in the Cause and Effect packet:  "When Music Heals Body and Soul" and "Retreat into the iWorld"
• Info on the Final: Link

Today's Agenda:

1. "When Music Heals Body and Soul" and "Retreat into the iWorld" activities and discussion

Multiple Choice Monday

MC Monday, 3/9 has been posted AP Classroom. Let me know if you want a hard copy.

This is for practice rather than points. Enjoy!

Agenda, March 09

• Due now: "On Using Cause and Effect" and "Tiffany Stephenson--An Apology"
• Due Tuesday: The other essays in the Cause and Effect packet:  "When Music Heals Body and Soul" and "Retreat into the iWorld"
• Info on the Final: Link

Today's Agenda:

1. "On Using Cause and Effect" and "Tiffany Stephenson--An Apology" activities and discussion

Final Info

                                                Finals, March 12

For the final, you will be required to turn in an outline for an essay using one of the four rhetorical modes we have discussed in class. For those who will be missing, the outline needs to be turned in one way or another by Thursday, no later, so have a friend turn it in or share it with Mr. Schafer at sammyschafer@gmail.com.

The only thing we are doing on finals day is making the outline and turning it in.
Later, you will use your outline to write an essay that is due the following Thursday.

The essay will be 750-1000 words, at least four body paragraphs, and must use at least one of the four rhetorical modes. Your essay can be based on a brainstorm we have done in class or on a new idea you want to pursue.

The outline format below is the minimum requirement for the outline due on the final.

Audience(s):

Purpose(s):

Claim:

1. Topic Sentence:
    a. first example/piece of evidence
    b. second example/piece of evidence

2. Topic Sentence:
    a. first example/piece of evidence
    b. second example/piece of evidence

3. Topic Sentence:
    a. first example/piece of evidence
    b. second example/piece of evidence

4. Topic Sentence:
    a. first example/piece of evidence
    b. second example/piece of evidence

Agenda, March 06

• Due now: Environmental essay
• Due now: From the Process packet: "Independence Day" by Dave Barry and "A Woman's Place" by Naomi Wolf  
• Bibliography Info: link
• Prompts 1, 2, and 3: link

Today's Agenda:

1. "Independence Day" by Dave Barry and "A Woman's Place" by Naomi Wolf, activities and discussion

Agenda, March 05

• Due Thursday: From the new rhetorical mode packet: "On Using Process" and "Runner" 
• Due Friday: Environmental essay
• Bibliography Info: link
• Prompts 1, 2, and 3: link

Today's Agenda:

1. Discuss "The Raven"
2. "On Using Process" and "Runner" activities and discussion

Agenda, March 04

• The Return of Multiple Choice Monday!

  If you're feeling a burning desire to practice for the multiple choice portion of the AP Lang Exam, I'll start posting a new practice to the AP Classroom every Monday. You should be able to see your scores as you finish. This week's quiz is called MC Monday 3/2.
  I will also have hard copies available; if you want one, let me know.
  This is for practice rather than points. Enjoy!

• Due Wednesday: The rest of the "Compare and Contrast" packet. Take good notes.
• Due Thursday: From the new rhetorical mode packet, "On Using Process" and "Runner" 
• Due Friday: Environmental essay
• Bibliography Info: link
• Prompts 1, 2, and 3: link

Today's Agenda:

1. "Compare and Contrast" packet activities and discussion

Agenda, March 03

• The Return of Multiple Choice Monday!

  If you're feeling a burning desire to practice for the multiple choice portion of the AP Lang Exam, I'll start posting a new practice to the AP Classroom every Monday. You should be able to see your scores as you finish. This week's quiz is called MC Monday 3/2.
  
  I will also have hard copies available; if you want one, let me know.
  
  This is for practice rather than points. Enjoy!

• Due Wednesday: The rest of the "Compare and Contrast" packet. Take good notes.
• Due Friday: Environmental essay
• Bibliography Info: link
• Prompts 1, 2, and 3: link

Today's Agenda:

1. Lab Day

The Return of Multiple Choice Monday!

If you're feeling a burning desire to practice for the multiple choice portion of the AP Lang Exam, I'll start posting a new practice to the AP Classroom every Monday. You should be able to see your scores as you finish. This week's quiz is called MC Monday 3/2.

I will also have hard copies available; if you want one, let me know.

This is for practice rather than points. Enjoy!