Dear future APELC student,
Welcome to your first AP english course. If you're in this course you've probably gotten an easy A in your past english courses. I am here to tell you that is no the case in this course. This course is hard and challenging in ways I did not expect. With some papers, you will be extremely pleased with your work and hand it in expecting an 8 or 9 back. For the first couple of papers you may even receive a 5. But DO NOT lose hope. This course is rough but it DOES get better. Throughout the year, my writing has improved dramatically and I have Mr Yost and Mrs Pronko to thank for that. My biggest piece of advice: Talk to them. Conference with them before and during your writing process for take-home essays. It's the only way to know how they think you can improve your writing. Once I started doing this, I found my writing getting better as well as my essay scores improving.
Do the reading Yost assigns. One day you might now read an essay he has assigned and he could give you a quiz on it. Don't worry - the reading are not particularly difficult but they do require attention. So read the material he gives you because if you don't, it will hurt your grade.
Finally, just relax. accepting a B in this class is NOT a failure. This is a college-level english class and Yost and Pronko treat it as such. They are tough graders- do not take it personally is they give you your first C on a paper. Just accept it and try to improve.
Have an amazing year with the best teachers.
Sincerely,
Shayna.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
TOW #28- Documentary Analysis: GasLand
Debuting in 2010, the critically acclaimed documentary GasLand follows the growing shale gas industry. The film begins in the filmmaker, Fox's, home in northeastern Pennsylvania. He is offered $100,000 for drilling rights to his property. Fox deeply explores the method used by these drillers called "hydrofracking" - which is potentially harming and polluting near by water supplies. The documentary - shot through vivid and almost frightening filters - is a clear and passionate attack on the shale gas industry. Fox suggests these companies are working with federal and state regulators to hide the true environmental damage their trade causes. The movie, appearing on HBO, is a source of controversy among everyone from critics to shale executives. Throughout the film (from an ignorant viewer's perspective), it appears that Fox is exaggerating the process and effects of hydrofracking. In fact, after the movie premiered Fox was hit with the claim that he took liberties with the true facts of the fracking industry.
Fox uses the "shock" method to expose fracking companies. In a town called Dimock, GasLand shows how the tap water can actually catch fire. This, he claims, is a result of the drilling going on near by.Fox profiles different people in Dimock as well as other places to see their reactions and how drilling has affected their lives. One Dimock resident is clearly amused by the fire-water and enjoys holding a lighter up to the faucet. Another cowboy-like man growls at the thoughts of the gas company because they do not stay true to their word.
While Fox's view of the gas companies portrayed in GasLand is somewhat apocalyptic and the gas companies are described heroes, the truth lies somewhere in between. Gas companies are not completely bad. They provide jobs and money to hardworking people. However, this comes at a cost and GasLand shows that it is up to the individual to create their own idea of the gas companies. Despite Fox's complete contempt.
Fox uses the "shock" method to expose fracking companies. In a town called Dimock, GasLand shows how the tap water can actually catch fire. This, he claims, is a result of the drilling going on near by.Fox profiles different people in Dimock as well as other places to see their reactions and how drilling has affected their lives. One Dimock resident is clearly amused by the fire-water and enjoys holding a lighter up to the faucet. Another cowboy-like man growls at the thoughts of the gas company because they do not stay true to their word.
While Fox's view of the gas companies portrayed in GasLand is somewhat apocalyptic and the gas companies are described heroes, the truth lies somewhere in between. Gas companies are not completely bad. They provide jobs and money to hardworking people. However, this comes at a cost and GasLand shows that it is up to the individual to create their own idea of the gas companies. Despite Fox's complete contempt.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
TOW #27 - TOW Reflection
Throughout my past TOWs, particularly one from each marking period I notice a significant change in style of writing between them. In the first TOW, I am very disorganized and the entire essay is just one paragraph. It is obvious that I didn't know how to effectively organize and split up the points I wanted to make. However, in the second and especially third TOW the organizational skills steadily increase. I started to create a solid thesis statement and then create paragraphs based on it. By the last TOW, my organizational skills had greatly improved.
This TOW experience has helped me master thesis statements and the ability to write about the effect of rhetorical devices. Prior to writing TOWs, my thesis statements were flimsy and did not provide enough structure to help develop solid paragraphs. However, as I wrote more TOWs I realized the importance of a strong thesis statement and I worked to ensure I had one in every TOW. I also mastered the art of analyzing rhetorical devices (not completely but I started out totally lost). Before writing TOWs this year, I found it extremely difficult to write about the effect of rhetorical devices because the concept seemed very foreign. However, as the year progressed, I became more comfortable and even confident in writing my TOWs.
I still strive to improve my knowledge of rhetorical devices and ability to stay focused throughout an entire TOW. I only know of names of rhetorical devices and find it difficult to phrase the device or strategy an author uses to achieve his purpose. Also, I have a tendency to write my TOWs without prewriting and this affects my ability to remain on topic throughout a TOW.
I greatly benefitted from these assignments because it helped me write analysis essays with great confidence and ease. These TOWs are a really great practice for the analysis essay. However, TOWs would be more helpful (to me) if instead of only analysis every other cycle or so we did a mini-synthesis and argument, just to keep all three essay styles fresh in the students minds and make them more comfortable with these styles.
This TOW experience has helped me master thesis statements and the ability to write about the effect of rhetorical devices. Prior to writing TOWs, my thesis statements were flimsy and did not provide enough structure to help develop solid paragraphs. However, as I wrote more TOWs I realized the importance of a strong thesis statement and I worked to ensure I had one in every TOW. I also mastered the art of analyzing rhetorical devices (not completely but I started out totally lost). Before writing TOWs this year, I found it extremely difficult to write about the effect of rhetorical devices because the concept seemed very foreign. However, as the year progressed, I became more comfortable and even confident in writing my TOWs.
I still strive to improve my knowledge of rhetorical devices and ability to stay focused throughout an entire TOW. I only know of names of rhetorical devices and find it difficult to phrase the device or strategy an author uses to achieve his purpose. Also, I have a tendency to write my TOWs without prewriting and this affects my ability to remain on topic throughout a TOW.
I greatly benefitted from these assignments because it helped me write analysis essays with great confidence and ease. These TOWs are a really great practice for the analysis essay. However, TOWs would be more helpful (to me) if instead of only analysis every other cycle or so we did a mini-synthesis and argument, just to keep all three essay styles fresh in the students minds and make them more comfortable with these styles.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
TOW #26- Article "Happiness is a Glass Half Empty" by Oliver Burkeman
Goals: My writing and reading goals for this TOW are to successfully identify rhetorical strategies and devices that the author uses to achieve his purpose. Also, I want to choose a particularly challenging, possibly lengthy, piece of text to construct my TOW from.
In a world in which success is equated to happiness, author Oliver Burkeman hypothesizes that happiness is a result of learning to be content with losing: " Failure is everywhere. It's just that most of the time we'd rather avoid confronting that fact." In Ann Arbor, Michigan lays a museum of failed products. Products that met the market and almost immediately went under like: caffeinated beer, self-heating soup cans, and microwavable scrambled eggs. The museum was started by a man who wanted to accumulate all the products that recently went on the market starting in 1960. However, years later he realized that most of the products he had purchased had gone under. "According to some estimates, the failure rate is as high as 90%. Simply by collecting new products indiscriminately, McMath had ensured that his hoard would come to consist overwhelmingly of unsuccessful ones." Burkeman begins to cite modern philosophy's belief that success is the act of something going right. However, he acknowledges that Greek and Roman philosophy believed in the opposite: Our relentless struggle to achieve success, or the perpetuated idea of happiness, is exactly what is making us unhappy. Burkeman brings up Greek and Roman philosophers to bring other theories to light and suggest another path to happiness. "This involves learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity and becoming familiar with failure. In order to be truly happy, it turns out, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions – or, at the very least, to stop running quite so hard from them." Burkeman uses the pronoun "we" to draw his audience in and involve them in the conversation. Unhappiness is guaranteed at some point in life and Burkeman is drawing on this shared experience. He's rallying the audience to accept failure as opposed to dreading it; learning instead of running. Burkeman simply wanted to change the way his audience thinks of failure through different theories of success.
In a world in which success is equated to happiness, author Oliver Burkeman hypothesizes that happiness is a result of learning to be content with losing: " Failure is everywhere. It's just that most of the time we'd rather avoid confronting that fact." In Ann Arbor, Michigan lays a museum of failed products. Products that met the market and almost immediately went under like: caffeinated beer, self-heating soup cans, and microwavable scrambled eggs. The museum was started by a man who wanted to accumulate all the products that recently went on the market starting in 1960. However, years later he realized that most of the products he had purchased had gone under. "According to some estimates, the failure rate is as high as 90%. Simply by collecting new products indiscriminately, McMath had ensured that his hoard would come to consist overwhelmingly of unsuccessful ones." Burkeman begins to cite modern philosophy's belief that success is the act of something going right. However, he acknowledges that Greek and Roman philosophy believed in the opposite: Our relentless struggle to achieve success, or the perpetuated idea of happiness, is exactly what is making us unhappy. Burkeman brings up Greek and Roman philosophers to bring other theories to light and suggest another path to happiness. "This involves learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity and becoming familiar with failure. In order to be truly happy, it turns out, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions – or, at the very least, to stop running quite so hard from them." Burkeman uses the pronoun "we" to draw his audience in and involve them in the conversation. Unhappiness is guaranteed at some point in life and Burkeman is drawing on this shared experience. He's rallying the audience to accept failure as opposed to dreading it; learning instead of running. Burkeman simply wanted to change the way his audience thinks of failure through different theories of success.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
IRB Intro #4: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
For the fourth marking period Independent Reading Book I will be reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. This is an autobiographical book about Kaling's journey from the obedient child of Indian immigrants to the hilarious star of the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project.
TOW #25 -Visual Text: Serena Willams Tampax Ad
This advertisement is about Serena Williams "shutting out" mother nature when it comes to her menstrual cycle. This, of course, if a reference to the Tennis term a "shut-out" or a win. The ad appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine; A magazine catered to women and designed to show women how to be beautiful. This ad shows a famous athlete in an accomplished success in "shut(t
ing) out mother nature's monthly gift." The bottom right hand corner shows you the product and obviously refers to a woman's menstrual cycle. The athlete, Serena Williams, is wearing white to show how there are no leaks (as depicted next to the image of the product). She's also wearing jewelry to show that women can still feel beautiful. The tennis court setting is in a sense Serena's daily lifestyle. With that being the set, it also portrays that women can go about their normal routines and tasks they come across day by day. In the background, it show's a woman being carried out by two security officers. The words "Serena shuts out mother nature's monthly gift" are purposely placed across mother nature so the reader implies that the woman is "mother nature", the pink present is the menstrual cycle, and the "shutting out" with the officers is the tampon. It's nothing but similes in this ad! The three people in the background are not in focus, so the reader's focus is on Serena and her accomplishment. The fact that they're not in focus also implies that a woman's period is in a way, no longer important (in the background) and if they buy the product, they no longer have to worry about it anymore (hence the security). They place some words in pink because females are associated with that color. the words "Outsmart Mother Nature" are in a different font so as to bring attention to it. The other text tells the reader that so-and-so trusts this products and like it, so you should to! It also give a minor illustration and bolded text as to WHY the product is better.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
TOW #24 - Article: "Now We are Five" by David Sedaris (New York Times)
Reading Goal: Read a text outside of current news and politics that is still challenging and thought provoking.
David Sedaris’s sister, Tiffany, committed suicide when she was 49 years old. While this was not the first time Sedaris had to deal with death, Sedaris chose to write about his sister because it was the first time he realized his group of six siblings was no longer. No matter how distant in geography or in their relationship he had become with his siblings, to him they were always the group of six, and with the death of his sister, he realized he had lost the identity he had worn for most of his life. The use of an anecdote as the formation of the essay helps to keep the reader engaged along the path of Sedaris's coping. Sedaris retells the events that went from first learning of his sister's death to eventually accepting it, which acts as the perfect guide for displaying and transitioning from each stage. By using a personal anecdote he is able to show how these stages play a role and exemplify how effective they are in helping a person heal.
Sedaris uses humor to explain a specific stage when he dealt with a loss. Sedaris describes his sister as she, “Laughed and rolled over onto her stomach. He implies that although they all knew their sister had fallen out and distanced herself from the family past years before, the family spoke of their sister only in a humorous, uplifting way to remember the good times instead of the bad. Sedaris displays the five different stages of coping and shows that eventually was able to accept his sister’s death. He states that this acceptance at the end of the essay when he talks with a rental agent and she remarks at the enormity of his family. “’Then you’ve got your brother,’ she observed. ‘That makes five—wow! Now, that’s a big family.’ I looked at the sunbaked cars we would soon be climbing into, furnaces every one of them, and said, ‘Yes. It certainly is.’ David Sedaris uses personal anecdotes and humorous diction to show that although coping with a death can be hard for some, it is possible to find closure.
David Sedaris’s sister, Tiffany, committed suicide when she was 49 years old. While this was not the first time Sedaris had to deal with death, Sedaris chose to write about his sister because it was the first time he realized his group of six siblings was no longer. No matter how distant in geography or in their relationship he had become with his siblings, to him they were always the group of six, and with the death of his sister, he realized he had lost the identity he had worn for most of his life. The use of an anecdote as the formation of the essay helps to keep the reader engaged along the path of Sedaris's coping. Sedaris retells the events that went from first learning of his sister's death to eventually accepting it, which acts as the perfect guide for displaying and transitioning from each stage. By using a personal anecdote he is able to show how these stages play a role and exemplify how effective they are in helping a person heal.
Sedaris uses humor to explain a specific stage when he dealt with a loss. Sedaris describes his sister as she, “Laughed and rolled over onto her stomach. He implies that although they all knew their sister had fallen out and distanced herself from the family past years before, the family spoke of their sister only in a humorous, uplifting way to remember the good times instead of the bad. Sedaris displays the five different stages of coping and shows that eventually was able to accept his sister’s death. He states that this acceptance at the end of the essay when he talks with a rental agent and she remarks at the enormity of his family. “’Then you’ve got your brother,’ she observed. ‘That makes five—wow! Now, that’s a big family.’ I looked at the sunbaked cars we would soon be climbing into, furnaces every one of them, and said, ‘Yes. It certainly is.’ David Sedaris uses personal anecdotes and humorous diction to show that although coping with a death can be hard for some, it is possible to find closure.
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