40 Days: AP English Language & Composition

April 22 is the beginning of the fourth and last quarter of the year. 40 days remain. Let’s start with a review of the basic resources available to students and all stakeholders:

If you are a parent or guardian and haven’t already done so, bookmark the course website and sign up for Google Classroom email summaries.


Course Specifics: AP English Language & Composition


We’ve just finished all of our in-class exam prep, having workshopped Section I and written the three essays for Section II:

AP Exam: Section II — Workshop

The AP Exam is on May 15. We won’t be doing only exam prep, of course; we’ll also finish our look at classification and division through this essay due on April 25, in addition to a study of George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.”

For the last quarter of the year, students will be given a choice of novel, with a push for The Catcher in the Rye or The Great Gatsby. In addition to the usual approach to literary analysis and discussion, we will learn to write a reader-response essay:

Writing Process: Reader’s Response

As an AP Language course with a prescribed limitation on canonical literature, we will discuss atypical possibilities for this final reader’s response. The focus, as always, will be a discussion of literary merit and the purpose reading in the Humanities.

We’ll write college essays after the AP Exam, and in June, we’ll share and present Pareto Projects, also known as 20-Time or 20% Projects. For a recap of what that entails:

There is no final exam in class for juniors taking AP English Language. Seniors will be asked to complete a Senior Talk according to the requirements laid out by the high school. That information will be posted separately to Google Classroom for anyone it affects.

Finally, there is the New York State Regents Examination in English Language Arts. The single essay on this exam is nearly identical to the synthesis essay on the AP, and all of our multiple-choice practice will have prepared AP students well for Part 1 of the Regents Exam. We will practice all three parts through Castle Learning, using those data to put everyone in the best position to succeed.

Ask any questions about our scheduled work below, and pay careful attention to any changes announced through Google Classroom. As always, assignments will be formally posted there; this site will be used for instruction, general feedback, and planning purposes; and individual feedback will be given interstitially through our usual methods.

40 Days: English 11 Regents

April 22 is the beginning of the fourth and last quarter of the year. 40 days remain. Let’s start with a review of the basic resources available to students and all stakeholders:

If you are a parent or guardian and haven’t already done so, bookmark the course website and sign up for Google Classroom email summaries.


Course Specifics: English 11


We’ll finish our study of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which we began on March 3, with the last of our in-class writing prompts:

Cuckoo’s Nest: Weekly Assignments

We’ll then write a reader’s response to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest through the following writing process:

Writing Process: Reader’s Response

For the last novel of the year, students will be given a choice between The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby. We will base the choice on a discussion of literary merit. We’ll work our way toward another reader-response essay that grapples with the chosen novel, in addition to the usual approach to literary analysis and discussion.

For our nonfiction, we’ll read “The Ways We Lie,” an essay of classification and division. We will read the text, discuss it, and then answer some of a series of questions on rhetorical and stylistic strategies. That analysis will then lead to student-driven classification and division. Here are the resources that will be posted:

Pareto Projects, also known as 20-Time or 20% Projects, will be presented in June. For a recap of what that entails:

There is no final exam in class for English 11 students. Instead, there is the New York State Regents Examination in English Language Arts. We will continue our work on the Part 2 essay in April:

CC ELA Regents Exam: Part 2 Prep

We will practice Part 3 after that, with a mock score ready for each student by mid-May. In June, we will troubleshoot each section of the exam in order to put everyone in the best position to succeed.

Ask any questions about our scheduled work below, and pay careful attention to any changes announced through Google Classroom. As always, assignments will be formally posted there; this site will be used for instruction, general feedback, and planning purposes; and individual feedback will be given interstitially through our usual methods.

40 Days: English 10 Regents

April 22 is the beginning of the fourth and last quarter of the year. 40 days remain. Let’s start with a review of the basic resources available to students and all stakeholders:

If you are a parent or guardian and haven’t already done so, bookmark the course website and sign up for Google Classroom email summaries.


Course Specifics: English 10


We’ll start with Macbeth, which we’ll read and watch in class:

Reading Macbeth

We’ll then write a reader’s response to Macbeth, using the following writing process:

Writing Process: Reader’s Response

For the last novel of the year, students will be given a choice. We’ll work our way toward another reader-response essay, in addition to the usual approach to literary analysis and discussion.

We’ll also study persuasive writing, a mode of discourse that lets us learn about research, synthesis, and citation. Students will write a persuasive essay in May.

Pareto Projects, also known as 20-Time or 20% Projects, will be presented in June. For a recap of what that entails:

The final exam will be taken in class during the week of June 10. It will be based on the essay-writing portion of the New York State Regents Examination in English Language Arts.

Ask any questions about our scheduled work below, and pay careful attention to any changes announced through Google Classroom. As always, assignments will be formally posted there; this site will be used for instruction, general feedback, and planning purposes; and individual feedback will be given interstitially through our usual methods.