Category: 2016-2017

Parent category for posts from the 2016-2017 school year.

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Lights and Tunnels: RE10, Part 2

  By English 10 Regents (2016-2017)

Part 2 of a two-part series that probably isn’t going to be renewed for another season. Low ratings, naturally.

RE10 Final Exam Work

The final exam for this course will be given on Monday, June 19, at 8AM. (You can see the rest of the final exam schedule by clicking here.) It is a two-hour exam. Room assignments will be made closer to the exam date; we will post locations in class and on Google Classroom as soon as they’re available. The exam itself will have two parts: timed multiple-choice questions and a timed essay.

Each of the subsections below is a required assignment that will prepare you for the exam. We will also tie that test-centered work to metacognition, collaboration, organization, and most other GAP skills and traits. You will need to read directions closely, work steadily, and ask questions as you go. Your final two GAP scores depend on this work, as does your final exam score.

When you practice, you will need to take Part 1 silently and individually, using your computer only to enter your answers when you get to the step that requires Google Forms. We have to invoke the cemetery rows of traditional testing in order to get the most accurate data.

You will also need to take Part 2 silently and individually, writing by hand first, and then using your computer only as necessary to access backup copies of materials, including any required GARAS lessons. Note that these GARAS lessons are hyperlinked below, but the link goes to a scanned copy of the textbook; the printed, collated packet is much easier to use, so you will be asked to work offline whenever possible.

This instructional post is a checklist, too, when it is printed. Each of the Unicode boxes next to a bolded term or phrase is meant to be checked off as you complete a section of the exam prep. Monitor Google Classroom for deadlines and submission requirements.

☐ Part 1: August ’14

This is the multiple-choice section of the August ’14 ELA Regents Exam. There are three passages and 24 multiple-choice questions. Here is the section in full, followed by the required steps you must take:

 

☐ Practice the Multiple-Choice

  1. Read and annotate ☐ Passage A.
  2. Answer the multiple-choice questions for ☐ Passage A, circling your answer in the exam packet.
  3. Repeat Steps 1-2 for ☐ Passage B and ☐ Passage C.
  4. Enter your answers for all 24 questions in the Google Form below.

☐ Complete the Google Form

☐ Complete the Metacognition

  1. Get the correct answers for all 24 questions from the Google Form.
  2. For ☐ Passage A, write a metacognitive breakdown of your work, including both correct and incorrect answers.
  3. Work with peers and your teachers to ☐ develop that metacognitive breakdown into an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses on this type of passage.
  4. Repeat Step 2-3 for ☐ Passage B and ☐ Passage C.
☐ Part 2: August ’14

This is the source-based argument prompt from the August ’14 ELA Regents Exam. Here is the section in full, followed by the required steps you must take:

 

☐ Practice the Source-Based Essay

  1. Read and annotate the ☐ Directions, ☐ Topic, ☐ Task, and ☐ Guidelines.
  2. Read and annotate each of the four sources: ☐ Text 1, ☐ Text 2, ☐ Text 3, and ☐ Text 4.
  3. Write an ☐ essay response to this prompt in the provided Regents booklet.

☐ Copy the Exemplar Essay

  1. Read and annotate the ☐ rubric for Part 2, which can be downloaded by clicking here.
  2. Copy by hand the entirety of ☐ Anchor Paper – Part 2 – Level 6 – A, which can be downloaded by clicking here.
  3. Read and annotate the ☐ state’s scoring explanation for Anchor Level 6A, which immediately follows the model paper itself.
  4. Repeat Steps 2-3 with ☐ Anchor Paper – Part 2 – Level 6 – B and the ☐ state’s scoring explanation, both of which can be downloaded by clicking here.

☐ Grammar as Rhetoric and Style

  1. Identify ☐ examples of the GARAS lessons in your own essay by annotating and analyzing the effect of any or all of the following:
  2. Identify ☐ examples of grammar as rhetoric and style in either of the anchor papers (6A or 6B) by annotating and analyzing the effect of any or all of the following:

☐ Complete the Metacognition

  1. Outline a ☐ metacognitive analysis of your own essay, using details from the rubric for Part 2, the two anchor papers, your understanding of the four GARAS exercises, and the state’s scoring explanation for both anchor papers.
  2. Work with peers and your teachers to develop that metacognitive outline into a ☐ response that explores your strengths and weaknesses on this type of essay.
☐ Part 1: August ’16

Note: You will complete Part 1 of the Aug. ’16 exam when you finish Part 1 and Part 2 of the Aug. ’14 exam. Depending on how long the Aug. ’14 exam takes and your own needs, you may skip Part 1 of the Aug. ’16 exam to practice Part 2.

This is the multiple-choice section of the August ’16 ELA Regents Exam. There are three passages and 24 multiple-choice questions. We will complete this practice on an individual basis or if it is otherwise necessary for us to complete it. Here is the section in full, followed by the required steps you must take (which are identical to the steps for Part 1 of the August ’14 exam):

 

☐ Practice the Multiple-Choice

  1. Read and annotate ☐ Passage A.
  2. Answer the multiple-choice questions for ☐ Passage A, circling your answer in the exam packet.
  3. Repeat Steps 1-2 for ☐ Passage B and ☐ Passage C.
  4. Enter your answers for all 24 questions in the Google Form below.

☐ Complete the Google Form

☐ Complete the Metacognition

  1. Get the correct answers for all 24 questions from the Google Form.
  2. For ☐ Passage A, write a metacognitive breakdown of your work, including both correct and incorrect answers.
  3. Work with peers and your teachers to ☐ develop that metacognitive breakdown into an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses on this type of passage.
  4. Repeat Step 2-3 for ☐ Passage B and ☐ Passage C.
☐ Part 2: August ’16

Note: You will complete Part 2 of the Aug. ’16 exam when you finish Part 1 and Part 2 of the Aug. ’14 exam. Depending on how long the Aug. ’14 exam takes and your own needs, you may skip directly to this essay practice.

This is the source-based argument prompt from the August ’16 ELA Regents Exam. Here is the section in full, followed by the required steps you must take:

 

☐ Practice the Source-Based Essay

  1. Read and annotate the ☐ Directions, ☐ Topic, ☐ Task, and ☐ Guidelines.
  2. Read and annotate each of the four sources: ☐ Text 1, ☐ Text 2, ☐ Text 3, and ☐ Text 4.
  3. Write an ☐ essay response to this prompt in the provided Regents booklet.

☐ Copy the Exemplar Essay

  1. Read and annotate the ☐ rubric for Part 2, which can be downloaded by clicking here.
  2. Copy by hand the entirety of ☐ Anchor Paper – Part 2 – Level 6 – A, which can be downloaded by clicking here.
  3. Read and annotate the ☐ state’s scoring explanation for Anchor Level 6A, which immediately follows the model paper itself.
  4. Repeat Steps 2-3 with ☐ Anchor Paper – Part 2 – Level 6 – B and the ☐ state’s scoring explanation, both of which can be downloaded by clicking here.
  1. Identify ☐ examples of the GARAS lessons in your own essay by annotating and analyzing the effect of any or all of the following:
  2. Identify ☐ examples of grammar as rhetoric and style in either of the anchor papers (6A or 6B) by annotating and analyzing the effect of any or all of the following:

☐ Complete the Metacognition

  1. Outline a ☐ metacognitive analysis of your own essay, using details from the rubric for Part 2, the two anchor papers, your understanding of the four GARAS exercises, and the state’s scoring explanation for both anchor papers.
  2. Work with peers and your teachers to develop that metacognitive outline into a ☐ response that explores your strengths and weaknesses on this type of essay

Pre-AP Work: AP11 Summer Reading

Note: This is the required summer reading for students moving into AP11 next year. If you are not taking AP English Language and Composition as a junior, you can ignore this part of the post entirely.

The Reading

The summer reading for AP11 is taken from the beginning of a college-level textbook on reading, writing, and rhetoric. This textbook, The Language of Composition, gives the background necessary for the work we’ll do next year.

Each of the first four chapters has been scanned and archived below on the BHS server. You can only access these chapters through your Brewster account, just like you can only access hard copies of the textbook in our classroom. Photocopies of these chapters will be made available, and you can sign out a copy of the textbook for a few days at a time. If you’d like your own copy, here is the link to buy it on Amazon.

Note: The glossary is also being included this year.

The Thinking and Writing

As you read, take notes. Make observations. Connect what you learn to yourself and your environment as often and as authentically as possible. The terms you will encounter are important, but always less important than the ideas. To quote another introduction to rhetoric:

Don’t be scared of the intimidating detail suggested by the odd Greek and Latin terms. After all, you can enjoy the simple beauty of a birch tree without knowing it is Betula alba and make use of the shade of a weeping willow without knowing it is in fact Salix babylonica. The same is possible with rhetoric. The names aid categorization and are more or less conventional, but I encourage you to get past the sesquipedalian labels and observe the examples and the sample criticism (rhetoric in practice). It is beyond the definitions that the power of rhetoric is made apparent.

That is from the Forest of Rhetoric, a site that could teach you nearly as much as The Language of Composition, if you allowed yourself to spend some time studying its many branches. You could also learn nearly as much by reading the excellent Thank You for Arguing, by Jay Heinrichs, which is on Amazon here. Heinrichs’ book used to be the required AP summer reading. There are certainly many other introductions out there.

The point of that last paragraph is that the basics of rhetoric and argument and logic are timeless. These are the bones of discourse and understanding in life. You never stop learning them, but you need some sort of substructure before you can experiment, build, and iterate, which are the goals of the Humanities makerspace in Room 210.

As always, I’m your expert and mentor, so you should ask questions and seek advice as you get going. You’ll notice that you have nothing due — no journals, no impending tests, no deadlines. The most I will ask you to do is to register for the course through Google Classroom. The work is due, in the sense that anything is due, on the first day of school, but the work will continue through the last day. Everything matters, not just those soritical moments of summative assessment.

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The End of The Long Walk

  By All Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 10 Regents (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

Makerspace Calendar

Refer to this calendar for the overall structure of the last month:

We will spend most of our time before the end of school making things. The course expectations for focus and productivity haven’t changed, but you will have more autonomy. Note that any end-of-year test prep or individual GAP improvements will take precedence over unstructured makerspace activity. It’s not exactly a feast-or-famine framework, but it’s similar.

Pareto Projects

Review the expectations for the Pareto Project, including the last updates for juniors or sophomores, and then complete the following Google Form:

Note that the last question on the form requires you to write at least 1500 characters. This is a substantial amount of analysis, and it should be taken seriously. You are strongly encouraged to write your response separately, because Forms does not save in-progress work. The form will not accept anything less than 1500 characters. There is a visual approximation of what that looks like embedded in the form itself.

You can use Monday’s class period to work on this form and the response required at the end of it.

Exams

Refer to the following calendar for the schedule for final and Regents exams in all subjects:

RE10 Specifics

Sophomores will spend the next month prepping as necessary for their final exam, which has two components:

  1. A reading passage with multiple-choice questions, modeled after the passages on Part 1 of the Regents Examination in English Language Arts
  2. A timed essay modeled after Part 2 of the Regents Examination in English Language Arts

For the multiple-choice practice, we will use old Regents Exams, Google Forms, and metacognition. For the timed essay, we will use old exam prompts, metacognition, and the Grammar as Rhetoric and Style work you’ve just completed.

We will begin our prep on Monday. A separate instructional post will be uploaded and photocopied then with digital archives of all the materials you’ll receive in class. We’ll review the protocol then, so if you’re reading this before class, all you need to prepare for is a shift to much more separate and individualized work — no groups, and computers and devices only if they aren’t a distraction.

AP11 + RE11 Specifics

All juniors must take the Regents Examination in English Language Arts. You have already been given access to every resource you need to prepare for it, and we will use whatever class time you require to practice and review. Refer to this post for all the required information:

Printed copies of every single element in that post will be available in our classroom for the rest of the year. If you are an AP student, start the period on Monday by emptying your test-prep folder of all AP materials. Then use Google Classroom to organize yourself by deadline. RE11 students can focus on the Pareto update and any other instructional posts.

The final exam for juniors is a more complicated subject. Read the following paragraphs carefully.

If you are in danger of failing English for the year, then you are required to take a separate final exam. This exam will be an essay-driven assessment designed to give you, if you are in danger of failing for the year, an opportunity to pass. You will be informed if this applies to you after Q4B GAP scores are determined on May 19.

If you are required to take a separate final exam in English, your final average will be determined by five scores, including that final exam score. The ELA Regents Exam does not count as part of your GPA, regardless of your overall average.

If you are not in danger of failing English for the year, you will not be asked to take a separate final exam.Your final average will be determined by your four quarterly grades only.

If you have questions about any of this, ask those questions below or in the comment section of the individual course posts, where I can clarify for everyone or forward things along to the folks who make these decisions.

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GAP Q4A: Pillars of Salt

  By All Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 10 Regents (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

I’ve kept your GAP Q4A scores and this feedback until this morning to sidestep the AP English Language Exam, which is taking place as this post goes live. After plague symptoms swept through my house last week, delaying grade abatement by four or five days, I determined that we were too close to AP exams to release scores. It would have created distraction and added frustration at a time when those 70 students could not afford either.

I predict some frustration because of the significant discrepancy between self-reported GAP scores and the actual body of work for the 4A frame. Many of you indicated a profile that is not supported by the evidence. It is often frustrating to be called out on that sort of mistake, but the most important principle here is accuracy.

As always, I did this clinically. The titular irony1 is that none of this is “salty,” as you might say. You have a static post with all the most recent materials for grade abatement — from way back in February — and you should be making your way through an instructional post on feedback that revisits what is expected of you day by day. There’s some intentional warmth and humor in that last post, and it’s otherwise a straightforward deconstruction of how to learn successfully. Even the disappointment is deliberate and clinical, in the same way that your car’s engine light doesn’t flash on to be rude. The light means only that something isn’t working.

Part of this post’s clinical deconstruction is a reminder that our class period is as important as anything else. This fact has not changed since the first day of school. Neither has the expectation that you archive evidence for virtually every formal assignment through Google Classroom, or else that you arrange a clear and explicit alternative. GAP work isn’t guesswork, and if you must constantly justify a lack of focus or a lack of evidence, that itself is evidence of a problem.

The other problem, as always, is the Dunning-Kruger reasoning that one is exempt from in-class requirements and/or exempt from creating written evidence of learning. You have really intricate guides and breakdowns for all this, but it’s just as often Occam’s razor: The “consistent and reliable” language in the profile of a GAP 6 requires consistent evidence and a reliable in-class focus.

So take a look at what you didn’t hand in on Google classroom. Take honest account of how focused you are in class. If you feel that the final GAP score is still incorrect, pull up the evidence and reflective thinking you submitted alongside the GAP 4A form. Was there any? If not, but you have evidence, the question is obvious: Where was it when it was required? That’s the idea of a body of evidence, a “rhinoceros” test, and a thorough self-reporting process. I work with what you give me.

That’s the other thing, though, and the more important one: Anytime it ends up being about me, not you and your learning, we need to refocus on what the course provides you. Try to take advantage of this opportunity. You’ll always have another turn in a Skinner box.

Carrots and Sticks

Now for some feedback that you should imagine is being read through an emotionless text-to-speech program:

First, if you believe that we need to meet about evidence and profiles, let me know. We’ll determine together if you’re right, and we’ll fold any conferences into the current collective refocus on radial and proxy feedback.

By that same logic, those of you doing good work need to work harder on helping your peers. You should broaden your circle of influence before the end of the year. As your ability to choose what to do opens up, you should revisit Google+ as a means of collaboration, and I would like to test Google Groups, too.

All of you should focus on each choice, each day. Make the best choice for learning. If you’re in doubt, enlist peers to help you make the best choice, or ask me for some guidance.

AP students who do not alter alter poor decision-making tendencies will see those GAP scores drop quickly. Post-exam work is more important to us, actually, and we fight the inevitable post-exam letdown through increased student choice. I’m not going to intervene to tell you that the way you’re spending a class period is unacceptable, though, or that you ought to hand in evidence of your work, except in the idle way I might comment on the weather we’re having.

If you’re an AP student who is not advocating and accounting for yourself, that’s fine — in that it’s a bad decision, and one that will inculcate self-defeating traits in you, and one that will absolutely and inexorably and ultimately hurt you; it’s not, however, a decision that will be wrestled away from you. Your choice to challenge yourself by taking an AP course also gives you the freedom to fail.

RE11 and RE10 students who don’t find a new gear and a new focus immediately will be isolated in class and required to attend study sessions during a free period, lunch, or after-school session, which means I’ll coordinate with your parents or guardians and Guidance to get you the help that you need. That probably means focused Regents Exam or final exam prep, respectively, but it could easily be a session on assiduousness, amenability, self-awareness, collegiality, or any of the other meaningful skills and traits we use to determine GAP scores.

You’re also looking at the likely end of student-choice seating in P4, P5, and P9. Some groups will be allowed to stay together, and probation is a possibility for a few others. Most of you would benefit immediately from the lack of distraction, however, and from an explicit directive to focus and get work done. That costs you choice in your learning, and it prevents in-class collaboration, but it buys us the time to get you the help that you need.

As always, you are encouraged to ask questions about this feedback and its application below. Use that space. You are not Lot’s wife, running from destruction and certain to die if you look back. You should look back. The more you reflect, the easier it is to move forward.

  1. The salt in the post title, which refers to saltiness as much as Lot’s poor wife. I actually like “salty” as slang; its origins are interesting, at least. The problem is that it treats criticism and emotion as an overreaction. It is sometimes appropriate to be disappointed or frustrated. ↩

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Autodidacticism vs. Autodefenestration

  By AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017)

As of tonight, you will have finished your first full foray into Section I of the AP Exam. I’ll sort those data on my end; you will spend the next four days continuing to produce data, starting with the second free-response essay. Budget 10-15 minutes per night to complete the succinct self-analysis outlined today.

Oh, and you should know that I’m away at a conference for the rest of the week. If you need my help, use one of the interstitial mechanisms available to you — email, Classroom, Google+, or this site. (The comment section might be dusty, but it still works.) Remember that a post like this is quite literally me teaching you. Go slowly, take notes, ask questions, etc. Bad habits will begin to do real damage at this point.

The Final Free-Response Essay

We practiced the general argument essay on this exam back when you were first introduced to the AP, which is a moment worth revisiting:

Advanced Placement Ownership

There is a lot of information in that post. It’s possible that you didn’t internalize all of it when you first read it, but we’ll get back to that in a moment. For now, I bring it up to show you that you’ve written a timed general argument as well as the synthesis essay from the 2016 exam. Now you have only one essay left to practice in this interminable spiral: the rhetorical analysis response.

We’ve saved this essay for now for a few reasons. It’s the most test-specific of the writing you’ll do, which makes it relatively useless to you after May 10; Section I of the exam helps to build your ability to read passages and deconstruct them quickly; it’s the quickest essay to write, for most students; and most importantly, it’s the kind of writing you’ve practiced most often this year, although we call it emulation-through-analysis or ETA work. In all your English classes, in fact, rhetorical (or literary) analysis has been what you’ve practiced most often. The rhythms of it are familiar to you, and the multiple-choice work you’ve finished should have you in the right frame of mind for this specific version.

To prepare for this part of the exam, you should

  1. read this preparatory guide (or one like it);
  2. take 40 minutes to write your own response to the 2016 FR2 prompt; and then
  3. analyze the College Board’s scoring guide and sample responses.

That means that your assignment, starting on April 25, is to write a response to the rhetorical analysis prompt from the 2016 practice exam. By the time you finish, there will be a follow-up assignment related to the scoring guides and exemplars. Your real focus, once you’ve finished the last sentence of that response, is this:

An Autodidactic Sprint

When that Cthulhu-inspired post was given to you on January 31, it kicked off the second semester’s growing focus on the AP Exam. Diligent students will have noticed that we’ve been increasing the speed and frequency of our practice, with plenty of explanations and guides and Lovecraftian metaphors thrown in along the way.

Writing the rhetorical analysis gives you all the data you need to set your own schedule for the next two weeks. Two days ago, you were also given the final resources:

Rabbit and Loopholes

That post is clear enough, but I’ll reiterate its two most important links:

These folders have also been placed at the top of the right menu on this site and on the “About” page of Google Classroom. Note: The links are locked to Brewster accounts, which means you’ll need to sign into Google to access them. The explanation for that is with Alice in the post from April 23.

You should already be delving into those folders, because you should already have read the post asking you to do that. Regardless, those are your resources for the last two weeks before the exam.

In the “Practice” folder, you’ll find complete exams from 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, with 2016 materials carefully separated out and labeled; additionally, you’ll find practice free-response prompts for each type of question from 2007-2014. (I haven’t updated those yet with the essays from 2015 and 2016, because there’s no need.)

In the “Guides” folder, you’ll find the exam overview I compiled for you, plus separate guides I wrote for each of the free-response questions. The subfolder labeled “Language of Composition (Textbook)” contains, as you might guess, helpful excerpts from the AP textbook we’ve used before. More on that folder in a moment.

The idea here is obvious, but bear with me: You have everything you need to practice what you need to practice before May 10, and that makes the lessons and feedback loops and discussions and so on your call. All I will do is serve as the expert on the skills, traits, and knowledge required.

My only blanket suggestion is that you read the guides carefully, including the excerpts scanned in the textbook folder. Reading through the textbook — and you’ve already seen a lot of what’s in there — is the most straightforward way to set yourself up to work with me and your peers next week, when the pace picks up even more.

One more note: Photocopies of a lot of this stuff will be available starting on April 25. Next to my desk, you’ll find excerpts from The Language of Composition, although I should tell you that I scanned my copy, which is more recent than those paper copies. Check above the surge protector. On the bookshelf by the door, you’ll find any remaining copies of our 2016 practice. I’ve asked one of your peers to pick up copies of a few of the multiple-choice sections from downstairs, too, and she will put those somewhere visible.

Now let’s go over your week again, assuming that you’re caught up through tonight’s Section I work:

  1. Write your rhetorical analysis response.
  2. Go through the Google Drive exam folders.
  3. Start your individual exam prep.

Keep up with the nightly self-analysis, too, and expect to spend part of Friday’s period completing a GAP report for the first triptych panel of Q4. I’ll post any other information, updates, and instruction here and on Google Classroom. Ask questions! I will do my best to get back to you as quickly as I can, and I’d like to see if we can test the interstitial capabilities of our course over the next four days.

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Regents Prep: A Day’s Wait

  By English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

In an effort to limit the amount of class time dedicated to explicit Regents Exam prep, we’re going to finish writing the practice exam this week. You should already have Part 1 and Part 2 in your folders. By Friday, finish Part 3, recording your response in the same essay booklet you used for Part 2. If you haven’t written Part 2 yet, do that, too. Printed copies of everything you need are available in our classroom, most likely on the bookshelves by the door.

Part 3: Text-Analysis Response

Part 3 of the exam is an abbreviated kind of analysis. The directions are clear enough, so you should be able to build the necessary writing out of the task and guidelines provided by the state. For reference, here are those expectations, which are the same on each exam:

Your Task: Closely read the text provided on pages 19 through 21 and write a well-developed, text-based response of two to three paragraphs. In your response, identify a central idea in the text and analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Use strong and thorough evidence from the text to support your analysis. Do not simply summarize the text. You may use the margins to take notes as you read and scrap paper to plan your response. Write your response in the spaces provided on pages 7 through 9 of your essay booklet.

Guidelines:

Be sure to:
• Identify a central idea in the text
• Analyze how the author’s use of one writing strategy (literary element or literary technique or rhetorical device) develops this central idea. Examples include: characterization, conflict, denotation/connotation, metaphor, simile, irony, language use, point-of-view, setting, structure, symbolism, theme, tone, etc.
• Use strong and thorough evidence from the text to support your analysi
• Organize your ideas in a cohesive and coherent manner
• Maintain a formal style of writing
• Follow the conventions of standard written English

Write your response in the appropriate section of the essay booklet. You should eventually have a booklet with Part 2 and Part 3 in it; if you need to stitch this together by separating and stapling pages, be sure to do that. Finish Part 3 by Friday. You’ll see why in a moment.

Assignment: Transcription and Revision

Your next assignment, due Monday the 1st, is to type both responses from this practice Regents. You can edit the text as you go or keep it as-is. If you make edits and revisions, you will be able to account for those when you complete the required metacognition and reflection next week; if you copy your writing verbatim, you will be able to talk about possible revisions when you delve into the scoring guides next week.

Typing this handwritten work invites you to grapple with your choices in a different way from our usual metacognitive approach. That will benefit our test prep, and it also creates critical evidence for GAP scoring. My intention is to see if Hunter S. Thompson’s idea about copying writing down works on ourselves. If it doesn’t, we might try typing up the exemplar essays.

Regardless, you are being asked to complete two separate tasks by Monday:

  1. Type up your handwritten essay response for Part 2 of the practice exam.
  2. Type up your handwritten analysis response for Part 3 of the practice exam.

Attach those typed versions to the appropriate Google Classroom assignment. I suggest making a copy of them, first, so that you keep one for the metacognitive work we’ll be doing next week.

Ask any clarifying questions about this below.

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Succinct Self-Analysis

  By All Classes (2016-2017), AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017), English 10 Regents (2016-2017), English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

The first panel of your Q4 GAP triptych ends on Friday, April 28. You will receive the usual data- and evidence-gathering assignment that morning. On Friday, you will also need to submit the “Succinct Self-Analysis” assignment that was post to Google Classroom during P1 on April 24. The assigned template looks like this:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2FQ4ASelf-Analysis.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=400px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

A copy will be sent to you through Google Classroom, and you will see that it’s been organized already. Keep the layout as it is. At some point after class on Monday, in the box labeled for that day, you must answer the following questions:

  1. What did you accomplish in class today?
  2. What did you learn in class today?
  3. What’s next?

Look to spend 10-15 minutes on this. You can write more, of course, and the boxes in your document will expand as you type. Blend your responses into paragraphs, not bulleted lists. You are focused on being succinct. Read the definition here, and notice that it’s not about length; it’s about avoiding unnecessary words. Short and perfunctory (read that definition here) is useless for our purposes.

At some point after class on Tuesday, in the box labeled for that day, answer those three questions again, blending your responses into succinct paragraphs. Repeat this process on Wednesday, and then again on Thursday.

Evidence: Revision History

If you click on the File menu in Google Docs, you’ll see an option to check revision history. When you select that option, every change you’ve made to the document is called up for review. Read more about this process here.

On Friday, selecting this option should pull up evidence that you’ve worked on this assignment once a day for four days. It is straightforward enough to check this, because each timestamp shows, down to the minute, what you’ve changed:

This is from a guide to bishop composition I’m putting together for you.

If you aren’t diligent about writing each day, it will be obvious. Budget 10-15 minutes, or plan to use 10-15 minutes of class time to do this — not the best plan, but certainly one that would work in a pinch. See what this sort of ongoing and embedded metacognition does to encourage you to use your class time more effectively and deliberately.

This daily, succinct self-analysis is a requirement for all Tier 4 GAP scores. Done well, it might also be enough to pull those of you who’ve perhaps made poor decisions so far this quarter up into a higher tier. This assignment will create evidence of almost every skill or trait we value.

If you have any questions about this work, ask them in the comments below.

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Rabbit and Loopholes

  By AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017)

Head over to Google Classroom, click on the “About” tab at the top of the page, and find these links1:

These folders will open for you in Google Drive only if you are using your Brewster account. They are otherwise locked to protect the copyrighted materials within. We are permitted to use these materials within our classroom under the doctrine of “fair use” — read about it here, if you’re curious — and that includes our digital classroom, so long as only students can access it.

Anyway, with AP exam week slithering toward us like so many eldritch terrors, what you care about at this moment are the resources available to you, not the law. As you’d guess, you have a folder of practice materials and one of guides and other readings, all centered around the exam you’ll take on May 10. I’ve compiled some of it; other materials are taken directly from the College Board; a few textbook selections have been scanned; and there are links buried in most documents that you’ll want to click on. You have most, but not all, of this in hard copy already.

Your job over the next two days, after you’ve completed the data-driven and metacognitive work for Monday, April 24, is to delve into these folders to see what they offer you. I’ll post suggested reading assignments and a kind of order-of-operation breakdown on Monday or Tuesday; you don’t need me, though, to make sense of clearly labeled resources. What you need me to do, I think, is to remind you that

  1. we’ve been prepping for this all year, so the next two weeks are only the act of focusing your inculcated strengths on a bit of high-stakes gamesmanship;
  2. if you focus on efficacy and efficiency, you’ll figure out what resources you need and which ones are redundant.

Expect to have a focused writing prompt toward the end of the week that will ask you to account for your efforts and choices with these two folders. I’ll keep updating things as I can, including another shot at rewriting the more class-specific feedback in that “Press Your Luck” essay. Use the resources stacked around Room 210, as well, including your peers. Remember that we’re all trying our best to be fine, and it helps to reach out for help.

Ask questions below.

  1. You’ll also notice that I got rid of everything except these exam prep folders and a link to Sisyphean High. I realized that everything you could possibly want, from the syllabus to the most recent GAP guides and scores, is on that main page. ↩

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Lights and Tunnels: RE10, Part 1

  By English 10 Regents (2016-2017)

Here is a blank copy of the calendar for Q4, which is already in progress:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2FRE10-Calendar-Q4.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

The end of the year starts on April 19, when we return from spring break. We won’t see another day off until the end of May, and you’ll have final exams a week later.

This calendar is meant to be printed and filled in according to your needs. Note the dates of each panel of your Q4 GAP triptych, as well as the Fridays you’ll be in the iLC. All other assignments, instructions, and feedback will be posted here and on Google Classroom, as always, and we will spend April 19-20 setting things up1. I’ll share a copy of the calendar through Google Classroom, too.

The Non-Denominational Evil Spirit in the Details

You’ve gone over a month without an instructional post here, and not just because of the two weeks we’ve had off for spring break. We’ve been using offline resources to work on grammar, and we won’t be posting copies of those resources to the website. Instead, you’ll continue to work on the “Grammar as Rhetoric and Style” sections that were photocopied from The Language of Composition, the textbook kept on the bookshelf in our classroom. As necessary, I’ll scan those assignments and post them on Google Classroom, where they’re permitted2.

What we’re going to do with these GARAS exercises is apply them. Here’s a slightly edited copy of the assignment given through Google Classroom on April 7:

Grammar as Rhetoric and Style: Week 1

The goal is understanding and application. You should learn by doing, and you should also ask for redirection and feedback from your teachers. Take your time in class to study the lessons, complete the exercises, and receive feedback from your teachers about your understanding and application. Do not rush.

Part 1: Direct, Precise, and Active Verbs | Read the explanation of direct, precise, and active verbs in the photocopied packet distributed in class. Take notes that help you to internalize the concepts and terminology. Then complete Exercises 1-3 in their entirety. You may write the answers by hand or type them online, and you may work alone or in groups. If you choose to work in a group, work in a shared Google Doc, so we can track through your revision history each member’s contributions.

Part 2: Concise Diction | Read the explanation of concise diction in the photocopied packet distributed in class. Take notes that help you to internalize the concepts and terminology. Then complete Exercises 1-3 in their entirety. You may write the answers by hand or type them online, and you may work alone or in groups. If you choose to work in a group, work in a shared Google Doc, so we can track through your revision history each member’s contributions.

If you didn’t finish those exercises, that’s your job this week. We’ll pause on Friday to talk about your Pareto Projects in the iLC, but by that point, we’ll already have moved on to the your next writing assignment, and your efforts from April 3-7 are part of this quarter’s first GAP score. You might already need to make up a lot of lost ground.

Regardless, you’re going to write creatively in order to practice these two lessons. You’ll select a prompt, write a response by hand, and then type up a revision that employs what you learned from Part 1 (direct, precise, and active verbs) and Part 2 (concise diction). You’ll have to identify where and how you’re using grammar as rhetoric and style.

That self-analysis and metacognition will be formalized later. For now, you can start writing whenever you’re done with the GARAS exercises from before break. Head over to the site we used on March 27 to start this focus on grammar:

http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts

Choose any prompt from there that you haven’t chosen before. Keep in mind that your goal is to gain more control of grammar in context in order to be a more effective writer overall. Let us know what you’re working on, and we’ll help you as you go. Ask questions here, in the comment section, as necessary.

  1. This includes finalizing Q3 GAP scores and reorganizing our physical space. We’ve had almost two weeks to atrophy, so we’re going to need two days to start moving again. ↩

  2. One of the authors, Larry Scanlon, was a teacher in Brewster for three decades, by the way, which is a cool thing to note. ↩

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Lights and Tunnels: RE11, Part 1

  By English 11 Regents (2016-2017)

Here is a blank copy of the calendar for Q4, which is already in progress:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2FRE11-Calendar-Q4.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

The end of the year starts on April 19, when we return from spring break. We won’t see another day off until the end of May, and you’ll have final exams a week later.

This calendar is meant to be printed and filled in according to your needs. Note the dates of each panel of your Q4 GAP triptych, as well as the Fridays you’ll be in the iLC. All other assignments, instructions, and feedback will be posted here and on Google Classroom, as always, and we will spend April 19-20 setting things up1. I’ll share a copy of the calendar through Google Classroom, too.

The Non-Denominational Evil Spirit in the Details

For the next two weeks, you are going to work on the practice Regents Exam you began before break. You should already have Part 2 finished, but you’ll now get a few days to correct any lapses there. Next up is Part 1, which asks you to read passages and answer multiple-choice questions, and Part 3, which requires a couple of paragraphs of rhetorical or literary analysis2.

You have until Monday, April 24, to finish Part 1. Copies of the practice exam are available in our classroom, and you’ll remember that our goal is to understand the test, not just take it. You will use the rest of the week to answer all of the multiple-choice questions, and then you’ll record your answers. In fact, I’ll prepare a Google Form that will require you to record how you answered each question. You’ll have the correct answers provided in class, which we’ll use to start hacking and reverse-engineering the logic of the test. The Google Form assignment will let us plan out group work and individual feedback going into next week.

One other note: On Friday, you’ll have time in the iLC to revisit your Pareto Projects. Remember that those projects are built for 20% of your time, with the other 80% dedicated to test prep — until May, at least, when we’ll reorganize ourselves around something else. You need to use your time in class effectively, which means working on this Regents Exam for a few days.

  1. This includes finalizing Q3 GAP scores and reorganizing our physical space. We’ve had almost two weeks to atrophy, so we’re going to need two days to start moving again. ↩

  2. Brief, perfunctory analysis, at that. The real difficulty of the exam lies in the essay, which you’ve now ostensibly deconstructed, and the multiple-choice section. ↩

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Lights and Tunnels: AP11, Part 1

  By AP English Language & Composition (2016-2017)

Here is a blank copy of the calendar for Q4, which is already in progress:

[pdfjs-viewer url=”http%3A%2F%2Fsisypheanhigh.com%2Fmalachite%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2FAP11-Calendar-Q4.pdf” viewer_width=100% viewer_height=600px fullscreen=true download=true print=true]

 

The end of the year starts on April 19, when we return from spring break. We won’t see another day off until the end of May, and you’ll have final exams a week later.

This calendar is meant to be printed and filled in according to your needs. Note the dates of each panel of your Q4 GAP triptych, as well as the Fridays you’ll be in the iLC. All other assignments, instructions, and feedback will be posted here and on Google Classroom, as always, and we will spend April 19-20 setting things up1. I’ll share a copy of the calendar through Google Classroom, too.

The Non-Denominational Evil Spirit in the Details

We’ll start with the multiple-choice section of the AP Exam. You have until Monday morning to finish Section I of the 2016 exam, which has been photocopied for use in the classroom. I’ll prepare a Google Form that will require you to record how you answered each question. You’ll have the correct answers provided in class, of course, in order to start hacking and reverse-engineering the logic of the test; the Google Form assignment will be given so I can plan out group work and individual feedback going into the week of April 24.

You will be given 60 minutes for this part of the exam when the real thing tentacles its way into our lives on May 10. You can break those 60 minutes into 15-minute chunks, one per passage, or attempt the entire hour in one go. If you need more than 60 minutes to finish, take it, and then mark down how long you needed past the allotted time. We’ll work on speed as necessary.

Next week, you’ll write Section I metacognition and process analysis. I’ll work with you on breaking down the logic of each passage, question, and answer choice. Meanwhile, you’ll answer the rest of the free-response questions from Section II, and I’ll give you more tools for deconstructing and analyzing the kind of thinking, reading, and writing the exam demands of you.

Remember that you’ve already read a guide from me pointing out the overlap between these test skills and our universal skills. It was part of a post you were required to read way back on January 312:

Advanced Placement Ownership

 

I’ll post an update to the free-response guides and this essay on high-stakes gamesmanship before April 24, too. There’s no need to overwhelm you this week; as the footnote earlier says, we all need a few days to get back into fighting shape. Use Wednesday to reorganize and refocus, Thursday to do what you do best in the classroom, and Friday to figure out how you’re going to schedule in your Pareto Projects over the next three weeks.

Oh Yeah, Those Pareto Projects

Scroll through the instructional posts from before break, and remind yourself that we’ve already revisited/rebooted/retooled/etc these projects. Your job now is to figure out what 20% of your time looks like before AP exams. I’m going to suggest that you skim the writing you did back on March 2, after you’d read this post:

Pareto Projects: Soft Reboot

How does the project look now, nearly two months later? More importantly, how can I help you on Friday to position yourself so that you can best continue the project over the next two months?

  1. This includes finalizing Q3 GAP scores, revisiting the BHS/China makerspace exchange, and reorganizing our physical space. We’ve had almost two weeks to atrophy, so we’re going to need two days to start moving again. ↩

  2. This is a not-so-subtle reminder that (1) you have been preparing for the exam since September, and (2) your comfort at this moment depends in large part on how much of this reading you did back at the start of Q3. There are no surprises in here, except for the surprise that I am going to spend three weeks doing more or less nothing but test prep, with Pareto Projects folded in to keep me from getting lost in gamesmanship. ↩