Author: Mr. Eure

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Regents Prep: 5 to Go

  By English Regents Prep (2017-2018)

P1 Update

You are scheduled to meet five more times before the end of the year. You fall into one of the following three groups.

Juniors taking the exam on June 12

You are most likely preparing for this exam in your core English class. You should, therefore, coordinate with me to make sure we reinforce that work with appropriate elements from the practice exam assigned in mid-May. You should also read the following post:

Gamesmanship: Regents Exam (CC ELA)

The weird picture is of a blobfish. It’s part of an equally weird metaphor about the pressure of high-stakes tests. Anyway, the post crunches the numbers for the Regents Exam, offering you a look at what you’d need on each section to pass or score distinction.

Seniors taking the exam on June 12

You need to complete the practice exam assigned to you as soon as possible. We’ll review your performance as you go. Like the juniors, you might benefit from reading that post on gamesmanship. You might have different goals in terms of the score, but you all need to pass.

Students not taking the English Regents Exam

You stayed on the roster to prepare for another exam. Use the next five meetings to do practice tests through Castle Learning, seek tutoring, which I will help you set up; or to quiz yourself, if the exam is content driven. I’ll be here to help.

Ask any questions about the exam below.

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Until We Get It Right

  By English 11 Regents (2017-2018)

For Students in Regents English 11

You were assigned a practice Regents Exam on April 30. The instructional post was up on April 29.

The deadline for Part 1 was May 4. Part 2 and Part 3 were due a week later, on May 11. You had ten days to finish a three-hour exam, revise 1.5 essays1, and write two paragraphs of metacognitive analysis.

On May 11, you got this post, which gave you more time to finish. On May 14, you were given another extension.

Last week’s terrible storm disrupted our in-class plans, but for this exam-related work, it just meant another extension of the deadline. Friday and Monday were given over not to what we’d planned, but to completing these revisions, etc., and you had, as you always have, the option to do the work in almost any way you chose:

  1. You could handwrite all of it, including the revisions.
  2. You could type the revisions and metacognitive responses in Google Docs and share them.
  3. You could copy your writing into the Google Forms provided in that April 29 post.

#3 was encouraged, because it’s the easiest way for your two teachers to organize small-group instruction. You’ll remember that we discussed that in class, and our discussion was archived as part of this post on May 14. You always have a choice, though.

Here is a copy of what we wrote on the board on Tuesday, May 22, after dedicating another class period to these practice Regents Exams:

You can suss out what that tells us. Here is the profile for a GAP score of 5+, for reference:

“Overall, however, their successes outnumber their flaws.” After three weeks, only three students could argue that claim, and only one could argue for a profile above a 5+.

Until We Get It Right

Why did this systemic lapse happen? Well, Regents Exam prep is boring. It’s repetitive. Given the choice between gossip and an essay on algae, most of us will gossip. If the choice is between social media and literary analysis, even someone like me is going to install Instagram2.

It’s understandable, if not justifiable, that so many of you have dragged your feet like a victim of the Wendigo. You need self-control and focus, though, to make it beyond this year, and this is now an opportunity to develop some of that.

That’s the motivation: Do it until it’s right, and then we’re done. For some of you, that’ll require the Castle Learning practice exam that was outlined earlier this week, but even that will be quasi-optional. We won’t know until you finish what was assigned on April 29.

And the remarkable thing is that some of you will still see an 80 or higher, despite missing the only assignments posted over the last three weeks, because the work needs to be done. There is extraordinary flexibility built into grade abatement. And, again, the only way for us to run the triage outlined in this post about the end of the year is to see what you can do.

Which means that if you do this work, in full, with a complete revision and a significantly developed metacognitive response, we will bend space and time and say that this somehow counts for the GAP period between April 30 and May 18. It will count for the score you receive for Q4B.

Now, it only counts if your metacognitive analysis is longer than a sentence or two, and you must either copy the essay by hand in its entirely or type it through Google Drive or Google Forms (or both). Give your teachers a chance to give you feedback. Let us work out what you need to do next.

Ask questions below, too, if you have any. For now, Infinite Campus won’t have anything for Q4B. Very soon, that will change. It’s up to you what that change will be.

  1. Remember, this is the exam that stipulates, in Part 3, a response of two or three paragraphs, not an entire essay. ↩

  2. I’m not going to install Instagram. ↩

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Gamesmanship: AP English Lang. & Comp. Exam

  By AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018)

Gaming the AP Exam, Part ∞

We’ve talked a lot this year about how to approach your AP exam — the first full post on the matter was five months ago — and you’ve now had an extra week to prep. You should be generating plenty of evidence of your preparations. The last thing to add might be this: a bit of number-crunching à la today’s post on the Regents Exam.

You have copies of the scoring rubrics, worksheets, etc., from the work that started on April 29. You also have had access to this site:

http://appass.com/calculators/englishlanguage

That site runs the numbers for you. It makes gamesmanship far easier. What I’d like to do is give you advice about how to massage your confidence and troubleshoot your last-minute preparations through that site and the other scoring materials you have.

By the Numbers

This the benchmark I’d use:

Why use a 5? Because it’s actually not that far off from the middle of the bell curve:

Any student with a bit of natural ability who works hard all year in our course is capable of this. It’s at the high end of that middle part of the curve, but you have to think of it in qualitative terms: You’re getting about three-fourths of the multiple-choice correct, and you’re writing three adequate essays. That’s what the rubric tells you: 6 means an adequate response.

What we’ll look at here is how the scoring composite shifts if you average other scores across your three essays, and how many multiple-choice answers you’d need correct to cross the threshold for a 3, 4, or 5.

All 6s

Set the number of correct answers on Section I as the first variable, X, and the final AP exam score as the second variable, Y. If you average a 6 across all three essays, Section I breaks down like this:

  • When X ≥ 16, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 31, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 42, Y = 5

What’s remarkable, then, about pulling together three adequate responses is that you will pass with just 30% correct on Section I. If you write two adequate responses, but the third is a 7, then the thresholds drop by two points each:

  • When X ≥ 14, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 29, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 40, Y = 5
All 5s

It’s more likely that you’ll write at least one uneven response — one that has flaws, but manages to answer the prompt to some extent. You are capable of more, but time and the vagaries of the testing environment might conspire against you. (You might not have prepared as much as you could have this year, too, but that’s a self-imposed handicap.) If you average a 5 across all three essays, Section I breaks down like this:

  • When X ≥ 24, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 39, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 50, Y = 5

50+ on Section I is hard to predict, even for the strongest among you. What’s more helpful is that 75% of you were scoring at or above 39 as we practiced Section I, so 75% of you could set your goal at a 4 overall. And what might be most helpful is that you can miss half of the multiple-choice and still look to pass, if your essays are at the level of a 5 or higher.

if you manage one adequate response with two 5s, the thresholds drop by three points:

  • When X ≥ 21, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 36, Y ≥ 4
  • When X ≥ 47, Y = 5
All 4s

Essays at this level, as you know, fail to answer the prompt adequately. Each and every student reading this right now is capable of a timed essay better than a 4, but it’s also likely and fine that some of you will write a response at this level on the actual exam. Time, pressure, anxiety, etc., all warp the performance. Even if you averaged a 4 on all three essays, however, you’d have a good chance to pass. Section I would break down like this:

  • When X ≥ 31, Y ≥ 3
  • When X ≥ 46, Y = 4

You can’t earn a 5 if your essays are all 4s, but getting 56% of the multiple-choice correct would be enough for you to pass. That’s reassuring, or at least should be, because every single one of you who recorded your practice Section I data were at 32 or higher.

All 3s

You know that essays at this tier are highly flawed. If you’ve done your work this year, you’re unlikely to write a 3, even under time constraints; even if you’ve neglected a lot of the prep, you’d need to make a series of mistakes and miscalculations to end up here.

With all 3s, it’s still possible to pass. You’d need 40+ correct on Section I. You could get a 4, if you were perfect or nearly perfect (53+), but it matters most that you know a 3 is possible.

As you settle in on the day of the exam to work your way through Section I and Section II, keep all this in mind. You have the scoring guidelines for the 2017 exam (and might be able to access a copy of them through this link at the College Board’s website), so you should already have studied what constitutes the different levels of each essay’s rubric.

More importantly, you’ve been using our course’s scoring mechanisms all year. You know that a 6 is adequate, but not at all flawless; you know that 5s are limited, but have some strengths; you know that 4s fail to meet some basic requirements of the task. There’s a logic to this kind of scale. You can predict, therefore, what your score on Section I needs to be for you to hit your target goals, based on what you are likely to do Section II.

Ask any questions below. We’ll workshop the released free-response questions from last week’s exam tomorrow in class.

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Gamesmanship: Regents Exam (CC ELA)

  By All Junior Classes (2017-2018), AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018), English 11 Regents (2017-2018)

TL;DR

The rest of this post delves into the scoring mechanics of the Regents Exam, but I want to try something else:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F05%2Fela-exam-matrix-01.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=500px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

I put together a scoring matrix that lines up total points for Parts 2-3 and total points for Part 1 and indicates the final exam score. No weighted raw scores here, and no breakdown of the math — just a look at how many multiple-choice answers need to be correct for a combined writing score to get you over a particular threshold.

The green section indicates distinction, or 85+; the yellow is for passing scores below 85; and the red covers a group of scores that are within striking range of 65.

For reference, here is a similar matrix for the writing sections:

This shows the weighted raw scores for the writing portions of the test. The numbers in the matrix form the left column of the final exam score PDF.

Gaming the Regents Exam

As we enter the last three weeks of the year, our test prep shifts into a kind of endgame. Here, that means crunching the numbers to see what points you can afford to lose on each part of the Regents Exam. You each have a target goal. Whatever that goal is, the multiple-choice section — the three reading passages and 24 questions on Part 1 — will most directly determine whether you succeed or not.

First, though: It takes close reading, critical thinking, and effective writing to do well on any high-stakes English exam. It is rarely, if ever, a test of content. The preparation for these tests starts, therefore, years before you sit to take them. Every essay, text, and discussion contributes to your prep. Skills are built over time, and a comprehensive test of those skills requires that time to tell us anything meaningful. There’s a reason this is the only Regents Exam that is not technically attached to a course (i.e., it has been taken in the past by sophomores, is sometimes taken by seniors, and could theoretically be taken by very advanced freshmen).

What we’re doing here is separating the gamesmanship of all high-stakes tests from the skill-building required. Like all tests, the Regents Exam is about gaining as many points as possible. You’ve prepped for the skills part of the test since you were in middle school. It helps now to consider the numbers game.

Click for an essay on high-stakes test and grade-abated gamesmanship.

Case Study: January 2018

Almost all of this is available online:

What we need from that site is the equation for generating what is called a weighted raw score, which will then be converted by the state into a score out of 100 points. Let’s call the weighted raw score X.

There are three parts to the Regents Exam. Each one generates a raw score, based either on the number of questions answered correctly (Part 1) or the scores given according to a rubric (Part 2 and Part 3). We can give each of those scores a variable, too:

  • Part 1: Total MC Score = A
  • Part 2: Essay Score = B
  • Part 3: Short Response Score = C

The formula for determining a student’s weighted raw score: A + 4B + 2C = X. Here is the chart for converting that weighted raw score to a scale score out of 100 points:

We can call the 100-point score Y. What we can do now is determine what you’d need, given a particular score on Part 1, to hit the more meaningful thresholds:

  • When X ≥ 31, Y ≥ 65
  • When X ≥ 38, Y ≥ 80
  • When X ≥ 45, Y ≥ 90

This lets us run some interesting scenarios. Perfect scores on the writing would yield a score of 66 without Part 1, for instance, which means a student could get zero points there and still pass. That speaks to the importance of the writing sections. It’s the multiple-choice, however, that allows the most gamesmanship. Consider:

  • You can practice the multiple-choice on your own, because the answers are available online; no one needs to score your work for you.
  • When multiple-choice is assigned through Castle Learning, you get explanations automatically, which means you can focus on metacognition and repetition.
  • It is often difficult to improve an essay from a 4 to a 5; the bell curve puts most responses in the 3-4 range.
  • It is similarly difficult to improve the Part 3 response from a 3 to a 4; the bell curve puts most responses in the 2-3 range.

It is much easier to practice more multiple-choice, work metacognitively through that practice, and pick up a few more points on Part 1. And with that in mind, we can work off of middle scores on the writing section to determine what you’d need on Part 1 to earn a target score.

By the Numbers

Part 2: 3 | Part 3: 2

Together, those writing responses would earn the student 16 points. We need another 15 points to pass, which means the student could miss nine (9) multiple-choice questions and still get there. The rest of the numbers, where A is still the total multiple-choice score for Part 1 and Y is the overall converted score:

  • When A ≥ 15, Y ≥ 65
  • When A ≥ 22, Y ≥ 80

The student would need to miss only two questions on Part 1 to eke out an 80, but 15+ correct is more than possible. The questions are unevenly distributed, so that only four or five will ever be attached to the poem, whereas most exams have ten each per longer prose passage.

More importantly, writing responses that earn a 3 and 2, respectively, would be considered failing. See the rubrics here and here. This is, for most students, the starting point for writing, and many students can expect to do slightly better. For proof, consider the sample essay from Part 2 embedded below. According to the state’s scoring guides, this essay “us[es] some language that is inappropriate or imprecise,” “exhibit[s] frequent errors” that “make comprehension difficult.”

In other words, this sample essay is riddled with errors, and it still gives the student a chance to pass with only 15+ correct responses on Part 1.

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F05%2FELA-Part-2-Level-3C.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=500px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

Part 2: 3.5 | Part 3: 2.5

What happens if the student’s two writing responses go up by just 0.5 points each? That barely brings the writing halfway up the rubric, but it earns the student 19 points for Part 1. Now we need only 12 more points to pass, which means the student could get 50% of the multiple-choice section incorrect and still get there. The rest of the numbers, where A is again the total multiple-choice score for Part 1 and Y is the overall converted score:

  • When A ≥ 12, Y ≥ 65
  • When A ≥ 19, Y ≥ 80
  • When A ≥ 22, Y ≥ 85

Again, this is with much weaker responses for Part 2 and Part 3. Getting 15 right on Part 1 would now yield a 72, well above passing. 19 correct is a relatively high bar, but it’s more than possible, and it starts yielding overall scores in the 80s.

Part 2: 4 | Part 3: 3

These writing scores are in the upper-half of the rubrics. They reflect adequate work — nothing stylish or particularly well developed, just adequate. Now, the student earns 22 points for Part 1, which means we need only nine more points to pass. The student could miss 15 multiple-choice questions and still get there. The rest of the numbers, where A is still the total multiple-choice score for Part 1 and Y is the overall converted score:

  • When A ≥ 12, Y ≥ 70
  • When A ≥ 16, Y ≥ 80
  • When A ≥ 19, Y ≥ 85
  • When A ≥ 23, Y ≥ 90

Yes, it would take a nearly perfect score to inch above a 90 overall, but a 90 is not everyone’s goal. An 80 requires this student to get only half of the questions right on Part 1. That’s well within reach. And more effective writing boosts the overall score quickly, as you’d expect.

Part 2: 5 | Part 3: 3

For instance, one more point on Part 2 earns the student 26 points for both writing sections. It takes only five more points to pass, with the following numbers now possible:

  • When A ≥ 12, Y ≥ 80
  • When A ≥ 19, Y ≥ 90
  • When A ≥ 23, Y ≥ 95

It takes skill and focus to earn a high score, which is only natural. The encouraging thing ought to be that there are many paths to success, and each of you can use these last few weeks to practice until you are confident of your path.

Ask questions in the comment section.

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Final Triptych

  By All Junior Classes (2017-2018), AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018), English 11 Regents (2017-2018)

Triptych, 1976 by Francis Bacon

Something to keep in mind: We are always, even on the last day of the year, still making the makerspace, not just using it. We can always learn more about how to use the Humanities to build a better version of ourselves. There will always be meaningful problems to solve and new ways to learn.

On the course calendar, this was the shape of the next and final part of the school year:

That remains a helpful framework — red for collective test prep, green for autonomous makerspace work, and yellow for your Pareto Projects. But you could also set your own schedule. This is not just the last panel of this quarter’s triptych of studies, but a triptych itself, split unevenly between three focuses.

Pareto Projects

From September, when we started these Pareto Projects:

Pareto Project Guide (2017-2018)

This year, you’ve used 20% of your time to work on a project of your choosing. You have set (and often reset) the goals, schedule, parameters, etc., with time in class every week or so to work.

It’s time to showcase what you’ve accomplished. We’ll partner with the high school’s Media Specialist, Mr. Breen, to share some of your work online and in the iLC. We’ll fill the walls and shelves of our classroom. If we can, we’ll spread into other areas of the building. It’s up to you.

In fact, figuring out how to showcase your project is part of the project — a problem to solve, as we would any other problem, through collaboration and experimentation. This moment is about you and what you have created.

There won’t be a Google Classroom assignment for these projects. They are part of your final profile score, though.

Writing Life Retrospective

Meanwhile, you are encouraged to create a writing life retrospective, which is exactly what it says on the tin: a look back at your writing life. The scope and sequence of this retrospective are up to you. The form is up to you. It could be a portfolio of essays and other writings from this year, but I’d encourage you to think bigger.

Whatever your exploration looks like, you need to pull together an essay that bills itself as a retrospective answer to a question about your writing life. That will be the assignment on Google Classroom, available from May 21 on.

The essay should follow Paul Graham’s idea of “err[ing] on the side of the river,” or mining for insight and interesting perspectives. You’ll want to think creatively. Scour old folders in Google Drive, boxes of work your parents have kept, the corners of old Internet haunts — wherever you might gather unique details and meaning.

And think of your writing life as much more than just essays written in school. Your writing includes anything written, from essays to poetry to online posts to the occasional bit of bathroom graffiti. Use it all.

We’ll shape this work as we explore it, same as we will for the Pareto Project showcases. Keep Piet Hein’s idea in mind: “Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.”

Regents Exam Triage

On the other end of the educational spectrum is the Regents Exam, for those of you who must take it on June 12. There is no art to test prep, at least not as Hein or any other creative person would define it. Think of it as triage — self-directed, teacher-assisted triage.

Castle Learning has also been set up for each of you. You’ll need your login information, which I’ll provide in class. Here is the main site:

I’ll help you through the registration process, if you need help. Once you’re registered, you’ll find these five assignments:

  • 8/16 Practice: Part 1 – Passage A
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 1 – Passage B
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 1 – Passage C
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 2
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 3

This practice all comes from the ELA Common Core Regents Exam given in August of 2016. Follow the directions carefully. For each assignment, there is a CR — constructed response — that asks you to be metacognitive about your choices and performance.

These metacognitive constructed responses are essential. They turn cursory work into meaningful work, and they force you to take the test seriously, even if you are burned out on tests.

For each reading passage, the metacognitive prompt in Castle Learning is this:

Use teacher feedback, your peers, and the correct answers that are provided by Castle Learning to engineer an understanding of how these questions and answer choices work. Write metacognitively about the passage, the questions, and your problem-solving efforts.

And for both writing responses, the metacognitive prompt in Castle Learning is this:

Identify and analyze several writing choices you made in this response. You can focus on your use of detail, your arrangement, your central meaning, or your rhetorical manipulation of grammar and style.

All five assignments will be open until June 11 at 11:59 PM. Your overall diligence and effort in preparing will be part of your final profile score, so try not to wait too long to do this.

If you are in P1 English Regents Prep

You have these five assignments already. Your role is that of a proxy teacher: Use your experience and our work in P1 to help your peers. That’s the kind of collaborative work that boosts your profile score, and it’s the best way to continue to improve your own skills.

If you are in AP English Language & Composition

You also have access to the most recent Regents Exam, which was prepared for you here:

Test Prep: Endgame

This one is not on Castle Learning. Copies are in our classroom. You can choose between the two versions of the exam. Both will force you to learn the format of the test, so it’s more a matter of personal preference.

You should also keep in mind that the Common Core ELA Regents Exam is a lot like the AP exam you take. If you’ve prepared well for the latter, the former will feel far easier. Avoid overconfidence, and you’ll be fine.

 

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AP11: Silver Linings…

  By AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018)

So close…

…From (Literally) Dark Clouds

Well, that was unexpected. Where I live, the storm tore up the trees and knocked out the power for a day, but everyone is safe; I hope you can all say the same.

To Twitter for an update on your AP exam:

May 23 is next Wednesday. Here is the silver lining: You have another week to prepare. You also have another weekend to do the assigned test prep, which is a lucky thing for some of you.

I will adjust the deadlines for anything that posted recently to Google Classroom, so if you see a Friday or weekend deadline, expect that to change. I’ll make sure you all have time in class for GAP reports, since some folks are without power right now.

The TL;DR here, however, is that anyone who didn’t do any part of the assigned test prep over the last two weeks is now expected to make up that work by next Tuesday. That’s a practice test requiring three hours and fifteen minutes, plus data entry, writing revisions, and a bit of metacognition.

About two dozen of you never input your multiple-choice answers. Many of you, whether you wrote responses to the free-response questions or not, never got to the revisions and metacognition.

That’s obviously a poor way to prepare for a high-stakes exam, but it’s also a poor way to build evidence for any sort of profile. Here’s what I have on my end for the GAP period that ends tomorrow, May 18:

That’s lifted from Google Sheets. As always, there’s in-class focus and individualized work to consider, but this is pretty much it: AP exam prep, a couple of quasi-optional responses1, and your end-of-panel GAP reports.

Start by visiting the post from April 29:

Test Prep: Endgame

That is the first thing you see on the main instructional page of this website, and an entire bookshelf in Room 210 was overtaken, like so much Southern kudzu, by physical copies of this stuff. For a couple of weeks now, you have had one goal: Prepare to take down the AP exam on May 16.

So you need to do this prep. You’ve been given another chance, and that will make it much more damning if you do nothing. Here are the other two posts you need to consider, including the one from May 15:

AP11: Penultimate Shifts

Eve of the Exam: Focusing Feedback

Q4B GAP scores will be run for students in AP at some point early next week. Q4A scores will be up tonight. If you are missing any part of the test prep assigned on April 29, you have three or four days to get it done.

About Q4A

Most of you got a massive extension on the start of Q4, because it all had a purpose tied to the exam and the end of the year. Consider:

  • 4x Onomatopoeia Quizzes on Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
  • GARAS Review
  • GARAS: Final Analysis

All of the grammar work was collaborative, open-note, etc., and built to boost your writing and reading on the exam, plus every other exam you take as juniors. Absolutely essential stuff.

  • Pareto Project: Final Goals

This is what we’ll use to set up the last three weeks of the year. Pretty essential, considering it’s been a project since September.

  • GAP Evidence and Formal Self-Assessment

This, too, was essential: An in-class, incremental look at your learning profile for the start of Q4. The form was much more substantial, so that finishing it would almost automatically produce the metacognition and reflection you need.

If you see a GAP score you don’t like, you didn’t do some of that. Make sure you do a little detective work on your own before asking about a profile score.

If you have questions about the rescheduled exam, the test prep, or anything else expected over the next few days, you can ask here or in the comment section of the appropriate post. Hopefully, we’ll see each other tomorrow to talk in person.

Meanwhile:

  1. And that exam debriefing is going to need to be truncated considerably. By the time you get back to class from the AP exam, it will be only three weeks before the end of the year. ↩

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Eve of the Exam: Focusing Feedback

  By AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018)

As the last post strongly suggests, the best ways to spend the night before our AP exam are

  1. reading through selections in The Language of Composition (our sometimes textbook);
  2. reading through the glossary of terms provided from The Language of Composition; and/or
  3. reading through feedback like the feedback posted below.

Your skills can’t be sharpened overnight. You can sharpen your focus, however. Read on. If you have any last-minute questions, leave them here or send an email; I’ll do my best to get back to you this evening.

Section I

To sharpen your focus for Section I, consider just these three multiple-choice questions: 5, 39, and 53.

Question 5 asks about lines 19-25 of the passage (“Men do not . . . the kitchen”), which supports a claim by comparing work-related activities. Most of you chose the distractor, which was answer choice C. The key here is which verb each answer choice uses. C is the distractor because its verb (“evaluates”) is not quite as accurate as the correct answer choice, E, which uses a more appropriate verb (“supports”). Watch the verbs. That’s one reason we did the GARAS exercise on that part of speech; the rest of these answer choices are almost identical, but the verbs are not.

Question 39 has a distractor, but your answer choices were all over the place. The correct response is choice A, because “as it were” indicates a pun. This is a phrase you might not have seen before, but in context, it ought to be clear that the author is saying “go out of my way” both figuratively and literally — hence the play on words. You should be able to eliminate choices C, D, and E here, and B is incorrect because it’s not underscoring a main point; it’s a pun that contributes to tone and style more than anything else.

Question 53 saw you split most evenly between choice A and choice D. E is the correct answer choice, and what I’d like you to keep in mind for tomorrow morning is Occam’s razor: Sometimes it’s the most straightforward answer that fits. Choice E is the most direct result of the author coping with “the distortions of memory,” and it’s the simplest: He made it part of his novel.

Section II

To sharpen your focus for Section II, read the feedback below. This was transferred over from a Google Doc. One of you asked for direct feedback on the typed versions of all three timed responses; I went through and added feedback that could, if given by proxy, help more than just him.

In lieu of the Google Form, this was probably the best way to go about it, and I was able to knock together feedback that might help all of you. Read the essays, of course; that’s part of what will help you.

Note that my comments became footnotes when converted to HTML. Clicking the superscript letters should work; if it doesn’t, scroll back and forth.

Essay 1

With the emergence of the Internet age, more and more people can access information and knowledge from their homes, so they may no longer have the need to go to public libraries. However, public libraries should be kept because they are still centers of education, providing the foundations of democracy, bringing communities together, and supplying resources for learning[a].

Many critics of public libraries argue that since “the connected world has.. Infinitely more information than can be found in even the largest library (Source E)[b],” libraries no longer have a role in society. It is true that anyone with a computer can access information on the Internet, but that doesn’t mean libraries have to go. Library science researcher Michael Crandall writes that for many people, libraries are their “only access point for digital information and services.” In fact, 22% of library computer users relied on libraries as “their only source for access to computers and the Internet (Source C).” Without libraries and their supply of computers, these already-underprivileged students would be at an even greater educational disadvantage than their peers. Furthermore, former American Library Association president Nance Kranich believes education serves as the foundation of democracy (Source A). It is necessary to have “an informed citizenry” to maintain a successful, reliable democracy. With that being said,[c] it would be best to keep public libraries in the future in order to give access to online information to as many people as possible.

Additionally, public libraries are constantly evolving and adapting to the rapidly-changing age of technology. Libraries are proving wrong the common believe that more technology equates to the decline of libraries. In reality, they are always “finding creative ways to meet demand (Source C).” They have recreated the “bookmobile,” for example, that take “computers and Internet access to parts of their communities where there are no library buildings.” Some libraries also provide homework help, access to e-reading materials, and lessons in how to use these devices. For example, an Illinois public library hosts lessons on Microsoft Excel (Source B). To many students, the library is one of their most useful resources.

Libraries are not only the traditional “quiet place to study (Source E),” they are also hubs for community activities. People of all ages — toddlers, grade-school children, adults, seniors — can come together[d] for events at public libraries. Examples include “Terrific Tales for Toddlers,” “Nursing Home Visits,” and “Writer’s Group for Adults (Source B).”

Public libraries should still be kept in the future, even with the advancement of technology, because they are centers of education and community activities[e].

Essay 2

Clare Boothe Luce gave a speech at the Women’s National Press Club in 1960 in front of an audience of journalists. In her speech, her goal was to criticize the journalists’ tendency to write sensationalist, rather than accurate, stories. She prepares the audience for the upcoming criticism by building her ethos through parallel structure, anaphora, and diction[f].

In the first paragraph, Luce says to the audience, “I am less happy than you might think and more challenged than you could know.” This line utilizes the power of parallel structure, juxtaposing her presumed emotions and her real feelings. It emphasizes that this speech that she would be giving to the journalists will be different than most they have encountered before. Luce is here to “throw rocks” at the American press, something that it is not used to hearing. Luce admits that she is “flattered to be a guest of honor,” but in the first half of her parallel line — “I am less happy than you might think” — she quickly explains to the audience that just because they invited her, doesn’t mean that she will say only positive things about them, preparing them for the inevitable criticism. The latter half of the lin — “more challenged than you could know” — builds Luce’s ethos by portraying herself as a sympathetic and understanding speakers. She does not want to tear down the audience just for the fun of it, but rather reminds the audience that they asked for it, wanting the criticism, by inviting her to speak[g].

Luce also utilizes appropriate[h] syntax through anaphora. In the fourth paragraph, Luce repeats “It is the effort” at the beginning of three consecutive sentences. Following this phrase in each sentence, Luce describes all the positive aspects about journalism. By complimenting and heaping praise onto her audience, Luce is able to show that she is unbiased and objective. She puts things into perspective, recognizing that the reporters are indeed good in many ways, demonstrating that she isn’t going to blindly insult them. Luce’s compliments culminate in her saying that “[good journalism] is the pursuit of and the effort to state the truth.” Luce acknowledges that the journalists obviously do their best to write an accurate story, that they don’t have any deceitful malintentions. This statement is directly relevant to the main topic of Luce’s argument, so it well-prepares the audience for Luce’s criticism. It means that Luce isn’t trying to take anything away from the journalists’ hard work, but it just giving a valid opinion.

Lastly, Luce incorporates specific phrases to boost her ethos. In the last two paragraphs of her opening, Luce says that there is much “right with [the American press]” and that it is “the best press in the world.” These phrases further prove that Luce is a reliable, rational speaker, making it more likely for the audience to pay attention to whatever criticism Luce has to say about them. Again, she is complimenting the press to show that she knows not everything is bad about the press and will only be condemning on particular aspect of it[i].

Essay 3

I do agree that having a good outer image is essential, but it doesn’t always have to be artificial[j].

With the current prevalence of social media in today’s age of technology, celebrities are constantly scrutinized, so having the ability to project a good image of themselves is important. But just because they “appear to have these qualities,” doesn’t mean they are faking it — they could genuinely be good people. For example, NBA superstar LeBron James is one of the most scrutinized athletes ever by media, so naturally, he must portray himself as a good person otherwise he would receive even more criticism. However, he backs up his image through his actions. He is a generous philanthropist, donating millions to charity; he uses his Instagram Stories as a platform for other people to share their own inspirational journeys; he is seen in multiple videos as having great relationships with his family and fans[k].

In some cases, the image is, in fact, artificial, [l]but the artifice is necessary to avoid discomfort of conflict. For example, in “The Catcher in the Rye,” the main character, Holden, is talking to one of his classmate’s mother on the train. She asks him how her son is doing, and Holden lies to her, embellishing and fabricating her son’s “achievements.” He does this to comfort the mother because he doesn’t want her to be concerned or worried about her son’s experience and performance at school. Holden’s interaction with the mother supports this “phoniness” being an essential skill in life.

It is also important to make a good impression of oneself in order to make it in the real world. An example of this is in interviews, whether for a job or for college. It is essential for the prospect to bring out the best in him or herself to obtain the desired role. It is true that he or she may spin some negative characteristics into positive ones for the sake of making a good pitch, but this does not necessarily imply artifice since it is still one of his or her traits[m][n].

[a]Exactly the kind of thesis you want for this essay.

[b]Put the source citations after the quotation. The blending you’ve done is great — placing the quot. within your own sentence.

[c]The essay’s strong enough that I’d focus on memorizing a couple of techniques for the future, like avoiding successive sentences that have the same sort of structure. You can drop this transitional phrase; the next paragraph starts similarly enough to want a different sort of rhythm here.

[d]This is where you’d develop the idea, if you had more time — explicating what it means for a community to come together, offering details about the examples you give in the next sentence, etc., to flesh things out. Time is the issue, I know.

[e]This is still a 6 or 7 essay, despite the underdeveloped ending, because of the strength of the earlier writing. I’d lean toward a 7; that might be overvaluing the style and control you have, but those elements are particularly strong.

[f]That’s exactly how to use precise verbs to set up this kind of analysis — “prepares” and “building” instead of some variation of “uses.” That’s the proxy feedback to give any peers who are listening: Use the best verb, and the task gets easier.

[g]Stellar paragraph.

[h]That adjective doesn’t convey enough meaning. It’s not an issue, though; the way you go on to analyze what this does (“complimenting and heaping praise”) is more than enough. Try to find consistently precise adjectives, though, and you’ll be in range of a 9.

[i]I’d edge toward an 8 on this one, although the lack of even a perfunctory conclusion might lead some graders to hold you to a 7. I think the sentential adverbs (“Lastly,” “Again”) set this up as a culminating bit of analysis. Better to squeeze in a recap, though, even if you are parroting the first paragraph’s ideas.

[j]This is a bit too short an introduction to be effective. That second paragraph is strong; this first one needs at least some context and background, even if it’s just a boilerplate reference to the prompt that sets up the real work of the essay.

[k]Effective use of parallelism here. James is a recognizable example, too, that lets you draw the contrast you want.

[l]You’re adept at varying syntax, and this is a prime example of that. If you are able to offer last-minute proxy feedback to your peers, encouraging them to find a place to introduce this way of emphasizing through this kind of language — the use of “in fact” n the middle of a sentence — is likely to boost the writing.

[m]Through this point, your reasoning is cogent and your examples are illustrative. Time is the issue. You could see a 7 or 8 here with even a perfunctory ending. I’d lean toward a 6 for what you have on the page; your style and meaning are so strong that anything less would be nit-picking.

[n]So that’s a 7, 8, 6 from me for what you have on the page, with a margin of error putting you no lower than a 6, 7, 6. Great work. And thank you for always doing more than just what is required. It never goes unnoticed, and it is always appreciated.

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Regents Prep: 30 to Go

  By English Regents Prep (2017-2018)

Exam Date: June 12, 2018

You are just about 30 days from the Regents Exam.  Castle Learning now has five new prep assignments:

  • 8/16 Practice: Part 1 – Passage A
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 1 – Passage B
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 1 – Passage C
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 2
  • 8/16 Practice: Part 3

This practice all comes from the exam given in August of 2016. Follow the directions carefully. For each assignment, there is now also a CR — constructed response — asking you to be metacognitive about your choices and performance.

Here is the set of five assignments with multiple-choice count and constructed-response count indicated:

These new metacognitive constructed responses are essential. They allow us to apply your performance over the next 30 days to the actual Regents Exam, regardless of your efforts up to now.

For each reading passage, the metacognitive prompt in Castle Learning is this:

Use teacher feedback, your peers, and the correct answers that are provided by Castle Learning to engineer an understanding of how these questions and answer choices work. Write metacognitively about the passage, the questions, and your problem-solving efforts.

And for both writing responses, the metacognitive prompt in Castle Learning is this:

Identify and analyze several writing choices you made in this response. You can focus on your use of detail, your arrangement, your central meaning, or your rhetorical manipulation of grammar and style.

All five assignments will be open from May 14 at 7:00 AM until June 11 at 11:59 PM. Castle Learning will track your time spent on task using 180 seconds as the timeout period, and I will use class time to conference with you about your progress.

Any work previously assigned that was not completed by last week’s deadlines may be completed at your discretion. The list:

  • Part 1: June ’15 Exam (Castle Learning)
  • Required Analysis: June ’15 Exam, Part 1 (Google Classroom)
  • Part 1: June ’14 Exam (Castle Learning)
  • Required Analysis: June ’14 Exam, Part 1 (Google Classroom)
  • Part 2: June ’14 Exam (Castle Learning)
  • Part 3: June ’14 Exam (Castle Learning)

Finishing a missing assignment will also obviously help you prepare for the Regents Exam. Only the assignments assigned on May 14, however, will further contribute to whether or not you pass or fail this course.

Ask questions in class or in the comment section of this post.

Click for the full strip.

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RE11: Mid-May Updates

  By English 11 Regents (2017-2018)

Carefully read the updates below. Ask questions in the comment section.

Regents Exam Prep

The most recent Regents Exam available from the state was assigned to you, in full, on April 29. It has been prioritized in class since then. As of May 14, all of you have finished Part 1 and entered your multiple-choice answers in the appropriate Google Form. You should be finishing your responses for Part 2 and Part 3.

Here are the instructions, pulled directly from the instructional post:

JAN. ’18 ELA EXAM: PART 2

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 2 | https://goo.gl/forms/Qd96mHQacYBieUy73

This is the source-based argument. You’ll need to type your handwritten response, and then you have some metacognitive analysis to complete.

JAN. ’18 ELA EXAM: PART 3

Jan. ’18 ELA Exam: Part 3 | https://goo.gl/forms/V61DNFuFN4wdQdei2

This is the text-based analysis. You’ll need to type your handwritten response — remember, it’s not a full essay — and then complete a bit of metacognition.

Get these writing responses done immediately. You have had two weeks; you’ll have only two hours or so on the day of the exam, once you finish Part 1.

We will use the data you generate to design lessons on particularly difficult questions. That’s why you are entering your responses. For Part 1, for instance, it leads to a spreadsheet:

That’s a randomized sample from all classes. You can see that certain questions, like Question 23, had more incorrect answers. (Green indicates correct responses.) That shapes what we focus on in class.

The same thing is possible with the essays and short responses, but you first need to write them, revise them, and post them to Google Forms.

GAP Scoring

The last three weeks have seen a couple of deaths in my extended family, a move to another state, and a bit more of the most disruptive stuff life has to offer. That’s why GAP scores aren’t yet finalized for Q4A. Q4B ends Friday, so you’ll receive both scores around the same time.

Changes to the GAP report:

  • There will be an offline version available. Here it is as a PDF.
  • The online version no longer requires any analytical writing.

You are still strongly encouraged to do the now-optional analytical writing (It is the only way to justify high profiles and one of the best ways to improve low ones. I’m making it optional to speed up the reporting process: If you neglect these paragraphs, that’s evidence enough of a lower profile.))

If (when) you sit down to analyze your progress, do it having studied the form in advance. Here it is again in offline form:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F05%2FGAP-Report-Offline-Template-Google-Forms.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=500px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

The online version will be posted to Google Classroom on Thursday.

End-of-Year Work

By the end of this week, you will shift your focus away from test prep and onto a couple of end-of-year assignments. This is the good stuff. We will circle back to the Regents Exam, but not in class; instead, you’ll do a kind of triage through Castle Learning. In class, you’ll be splitting your time two ways.

First, we will finalize this year’s work on your Pareto Projects. We’ll talk details in person. I’ll also post more directions toward the end of the week. It looks very much like we’ll be able to use the iLC and some space online to showcase your accomplishments.

Second, we will look back on your writing. This will be a bit like compiling a writing portfolio, but you will be encouraged to stretch your focus beyond this year. The simple goal will be to write reflectively and metacognitively about your growth as a writer; the more complicated goal will be to make sense of the last decade, give or take a few formative years, of your writing life.

Start thinking about how you will spend the three weeks from May 21 through June 11 in those terms:

  1. You’ll finish up this year’s work on your Pareto Project.
  2. You’ll complete a writing life retrospective.

This is why it is so essential that you complete the practice Regents Exam, including the revision and reflection work, as soon as possible. That will free us for more authentic learning.

If you have any immediate questions, ask them below. We will be fine-tuning these plans all week, though, so there is no rush.

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AP11: Penultimate Shifts

  By AP English Language & Composition (2017-2018)

Another potential metaphor for us: The blobfish, when removed from the pressure to which it is accustomed, explodes a little bit. This is the much-less-horrifying plush version.

Your AP Exam

48 hours from now, you’ll be on the other side of the hadal pressure of the AP exam. Very few of you have typed up the free-response practice assigned a while back, which means I had little to give feedback to this weekend. That shifts your focus for these next 48 hours, because

  1. it might not be all that helpful to write three essays, revise three essays, and then write another three essays1; and
  2. it will be a bit harder for me to give you much individual feedback on those essays once we’re inside 24 hours until the exam.

Instead of writing and revising, focus on decoding the prompts and brainstorming approaches. Do outlines. Only write and revise responses if you know that will help you.

Doing the multiple-choice is still valuable, if you haven’t done it yet. Find an hour. Otherwise, study the glossary of terms and review the format of the test. Here’s the glossary work again:

Copies are in Room 210. They actually have some utility beyond the exam, but not much. As the last post suggested, you might also benefit from reading over the summer reading:

That folder contains other review material, too. Reading now helps. Writing, less so.

About the Multiple-Choice

The 2017 exam was assigned on April 29. It was due on May 4. Then it was prioritized in class from May 4 through May 11. As of May 14, however,

  • only 16 of 29 students in P2 had entered their Section I answers; and
  • only 14 of 26 students in P9 had entered their Section I answers.

Some of that is due to apathy and poor self-control; much of it is due to anxiety, pressure, and burnout. Whatever the cause, 45% of you didn’t enter the data necessary for us to work together2

I’m going to send you notes on the nine most pressing questions from Section I, based on the 55% of you who did the work:

  • Most critical: 5, 39, 53
  • Others: 18, 19, 35, 36, 37, 47

That will be posted tomorrow, when there are no other AP exams but this one in front of you.

GAP Scoring

The last three weeks have seen a couple of deaths in my extended family, a move to another state, and a bit more of the most disruptive stuff life has to offer. That’s why GAP scores aren’t yet finalized for Q4A. Q4B ends Friday, so you’ll receive both scores around the same time.

Changes to the GAP report:

  • There will be an offline version available. Here it is as a PDF.
  • The online version no longer requires any analytical writing.

You are still strongly encouraged to do the now-optional analytical writing (It is the only way to justify high profiles and one of the best ways to improve low ones. I’m making it optional to speed up the reporting process: If you neglect these paragraphs, that’s evidence enough of a lower profile.))

If (when) you sit down to analyze your progress, do it having studied the form in advance. Here it is again in offline form:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F05%2FGAP-Report-Offline-Template-Google-Forms.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=500px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

The online version will be posted to Google Classroom on Thursday.

The Good Stuff

By the end of this week, you will shift your focus away from test prep and onto a couple of end-of-year assignments. This is the good stuff. We will circle back to the Regents Exam (in all its ignominious glory), but not in class; instead, you’ll do a kind of triage through an online practice test.

First, we will finalize this year’s work on your Pareto Projects. We’ll talk details in person. I’ll also post more directions toward the end of the week. It looks very much like we’ll be able to use the iLC and some space online to showcase your accomplishments.

Second, we will look back on your writing. This will be a bit like compiling a writing portfolio, but you will be encouraged to stretch your focus beyond this year. The simple goal will be to write reflectively and metacognitively about your growth as a writer; the more complicated goal will be to make sense of the last decade, give or take a few formative years, of your writing life.

Start thinking about how you will spend the three weeks from May 21 through June 11 in those terms:

  1. You’ll finish up this year’s work on your Pareto Project.
  2. You’ll complete a writing life retrospective.

Add a footnote about Regents Exam triage, too, but focus on three weeks or so of authentic, makerspace-infused work.

If you have any immediate questions, ask them below. We will be fine-tuning these plans all week, though, so there is no rush.

  1. The lesson, as always, is about organization: The more organized and prepared you are, the better you’ll do. Procrastinating only works when the process isn’t all that important. That’s often the case, unfortunately, but not when it comes to test prep in a course like ours. Spamming a lot of prep work in the hours before the exam will just exhaust you. ↩

  2. This is why we started the year with a focus on self-control and akrasia, talked frankly about blame, and continue to emphasize accountability and self-efficacy. 45% of you didn’t meet expectations. For the free-response section, the time required to write and then to revise might pose a problem, even across two weeks of steady in-class focus; there really isn’t an excuse for this multiple-choice work to go unfinished. You know the metaphor about shooting oneself in the foot? You’ve murdered your feet like they are Rasputin and you’re his assassins. It’s brutal. ↩