Intro and Body Paragraph due Tuesday

This might take a bit longer than I thought, so I'm making it due Tuesday. Please, however, do not try to do it all Monday night.

This should be hand written.

Step 1:

Please watch the slideshow available here. Much of this will be review, but it's important review.


Step 2:

Please read the following synthesis essay documents available here. Two of the documents could not be posted on the AP site for copyright reasons. One is available if you follow this link. (This is an external site, so I do not endorse any ads or content you might encounter.) The other is excerpted and available here.

Step 3:

After reading the articles, please write an introduction and one body paragraph in response to the topic. Your focus should be on creating an argumentative tone, so you may need to refer to the slides that you just watched AND to trying some more sophisticated elaboration of evidence.

Reading due Wednesday 4/17

Please read the "Cowboy" Conversation in your white book (pages 1023-1056). Yes, this is a long section of reading, so get started and plan your time well.

You will be turning in notes that you took in your preferred format that address the following questions:

To what extent are the depictions of the American Cowboy grounded in fact or fiction?
To what extent is the concept of the American Cowboy a defining part of American identity?
To what extent is the concept of the American Cowboy a harmfulinfluence on American culture?

Reading due Friday

For Friday (4/5) please read the essay, "How it Feels to be Colored Me" by Zora Neale Hurston (white book 1117-1120). As you do your reading, please practice your analytical skills by thinking about her complex purposes as well as the various devices she uses to accomplish them. If you forget your book, a version of the text is available here.

For Tuesday of next week, we will be working with the document set about the Harlem Renaissance available here. Please consider beginning your study of these texts over the weekend. You should read and carefully mark each document, and outline how you think you may respond to the prompt, but you are not required to write the essay.

Device practice prompt

Analysis practice prompt

Charity Introduction

For those of you who did not realize you missed the charity introduction activity, slides are available here to make up that assignment.

Happy Spring Break Homework!

First, please make sure you have finished reading Gatsby.

Then, you will be writing an "in-class essay" on TWO of the three prompts available here. You will be writing on question 1 which is the synthesis prompt. Please set your timer for 50 minutes for reading and essay writing time. At the end of this time, you must stop work. Then, you will be writing on question 3 which is the argument prompt. Please set your timer for 40 minutes for writing time. At the end of this time, you must stop work. Both essays must be written by hand in ink.

If you would like extra practice for the AP test, please write the essays back-to-back. This is, after all, how it will happen on the day of the actual test.

Please note again that we are skipping question 2 which is the analysis question. Do not write on question 2.

These essays will be scored on completion, so there is no sense in working longer than the allotted time or using outside resources to write a "better essay." All this will do is undermine the learning process for you.

Hopefully, you will only have 90 minutes of AP Lang homework, which all things considered is not too shabby!

Rough Draft Update and Gatsby Schedule

Your Research Paper rough draft deadline will be on Friday, March 15th instead of Thursday. This will hopefully give you a bit more time to work on it as well as provide you with another day to ask any questions after school.

Your Gatsby reading schedule will be:

Due Thursday, 3/14: Chapters 4, 5, 6

Due Wednesday, 3/20: Chapters 7,8,9

Yes, I know that Wednesday deadline is the same as your research paper, but we will need something to talk about once you hand them in! Make sure to plan ahead with your reading time over the weekend to have the book finished by Wednesday.