REGISTER ASAP FOR AP EXAMS!

2015 AP Exam Registration flyer

Quick link to Vikings Web Store to purchase exams via credit card (note that a $7 processing fee applies)

Make sure you register for AP English Language and Composition :-) before 2/27 so you can avoid the $10 per exam late fee!

See Pust for help or questions; see Ms. Chew in M House office, H106, as soon as possible to register in person or if you need financial assistance.

AGENDA 2/2

AP Exam registration information
Senior electives information

Groups of 4-6: Share out your thoughtful questions and annotations from Malcolm X's "Learning to Read" and then discuss questions from PPT

HW: Read Ch 3 "Ma" from The Pact; annotate and be prepared to discuss.

AGENDA 1/30

Guest Speaker Debrief--compare notes and discuss what we observe in classmates' notes and how to improve our own next time

Peer Revision of critical annotation assignment--make comments on a peer's paper and then return to them for revision. Resubmit new copy with this version stapled to it in class next Wednesday.

Trip to textbook room

HW: Read "Introduction," "Dreaming Big," and "Home" chapters of The Pact and be prepared to discuss alongside excerpt from Malcolm X's "Learning to Read" on Monday. As you read The Pact, you are expected to take notes (post-it, separate reading journal, in a notes app like Evernote on your phone, etc.) regarding significant quotations, questions, responses and comments.

AGENDA 1/29

Guest Speaker: Virginia Hyatt, SMMUSD Purchasing Director and Sustainability Coordinator
vhyatt@smmusd.org 310-450-8338, ext. 70-249

blank guest speaker notes sheet
Pust's notes from Ms. Hyatt's presentations

HW: Review Malcolm X's "Learning to Read" for discussion tomorrow. Bring your 5 thoughtful questions and your annotated reading, and bring your ID card to class tomorrow

AGENDA 1/28

Answer questions about critical annotation of part of City of Santa Monica's website
Share topics ideas
Guest speaker notes - format and expectations
Reading----- "Learning to Read" by Malcolm X; annotate, use funneling technique, generate 5 thoughtful questions:
1. One question about "big ideas " or connections to Frederick Douglass or recent videos (Bales, Robinson)
2. One question about specific language or style review

Take aways
1. Prepare to ask thoughtful questions for the guest speakers--think about constructive, helpful ways to manage yourself in the event the topic isn't perfectly relevant to you and your life (manage your boredom nicely!)
2. Persistence can help one be different and also help to achieve goals. For example, Malcolm X was persistent in educating himself, and in the end he achieved much and inspired others

HW: Critical annotation, typed due Thursday. Bring hard copies to class

AGENDA 1/26

Video - Sir Ken Robinson: "Changing Education Paradigms"

RSA Animate of TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson on Changing Education Paradigms

Reading - Malcolm X: "Learning to Read"

- funneling (paragraph, sentence, word)

annotation

Then, generate 5 thoughtful questions: (you can add this to the bottom of your notes about the Robinson video)

- 1 about "big ideas" or connections to Frederick Douglass or the Ken Robinson video

- 1 about specific language or style choice (like our "Why Styrofoam?" or "why stratagems?" questions from last week

HW: Generate a list of 15 school or local community issues you would be interested in researching or solving.

Takeaways from the video:

The American education system teaches in an antiquated way. Schools teach laterally or convergently instead of divergently, which is a way of thinking that promotes creativity by accepting innovative answers to old questions. Drugs like Ritalin and Adderall are falsely prescribed, when oftentimes children are simply adapting to all the sensory overload in the 21st century. Building a generation of geniuses to lead the new century has to start with educational reform.

AGENDA 1/16

Agenda:
- One Word Vocabulary quiz
- Writing synthesis body paragraphs
NOTE: I revised my body paragraph claim to make it more narrow and give you all more

HW:
- Write the rest of the synthesis essay:
•Intro:

1. hook (consider a personal anecdote--a great time at a museum or a bad time at a museum)
2. transition/context (link between hook and actual topic/thesis)
3. thesis/claim (which factors matter most)

•Your own body paragraph that contains evidence from 2 sources--Source A is required, then any source EXCEPT Source D. Keep in mind that while it should not contradict anything in Pust's sample paragraph, you can expand the argument or build on it as you see fit.
•Brief conclusion - For example, try answering the question "Why do museums matter in today's society?"

Take-aways of today:
1. We know our vocab words that we had questions about, including ascendancy (position of influence/control) and utilitarian (made for practicality rather than vanity).

2. How to write a Counterargument Thesis and how to use it to make a stronger claim in a synthesis essay:
- establish the counterargument in your thesis even if you can't fully refute it in your body paragraphs. This way you acknowledge the complexity of the issue.