AP Language and Composition Current Events Blog for Week of November 9

Read the following opinion article:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/11/05/kids-technology-addiction/

Answer the following questions related to the article:

1. Why does the author begin the article by describing his own use of portable technology?
2. Describe how the narrator's son became "addicted" to the iPad.
3. Describe how the narrator discovered that the son's use of technology was a problem.
4. Who is Mr. Vernon?  (hint: he is a character from an 80s movie.)  What is it called when an author makes a reference to another work?  (hint: the term starts with an "a")
5. Why would the narrator reference Mr. Vernon?
6. Is the narrator appealing to pathos, logos, or ethos when the he says," As a parent, I know I'm not perfect.  I know we're all just trying to do our best, but it broke my heart to see my young son so preoccupied with technology that he couldn't enjoy life around him."  EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER.
7. What is the narrator's claim about a parent's responsibility when it comes to children and technology?
8. As a teenager, how involved do you believe that YOUR parents should be with YOUR use of technology?

Pre-AP English 9 Current Events Blog for Week of November 9-13

Read the following news article:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EGYPT_RUSSIAN_PLANE_CRASH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-11-06-10-40-47

Answer the following questions related to the article:

1. What happened to the Russian airliner that caused this situation in the first place?
2. What decision did Russia's government make that has caused outrage among tourists in Egypt?
3. Why is Egypt decrying Russia's actions?
4. Since Russia made the decision to take this action, does that mean the country believes that the plane crash was an act of terrorism?
5. Why is there wreckage from the plane in Moscow?
6. Why is Magdy Salim talking about a donkey being in the Cairo airport?
7. What organization is claiming responsibility for the plane crash?
8. What has France done response to the crash?
9. According to the article, Britain and the United States have been pressuring Russia to label the crash as a terrorist act.  Should these countries interfere with the situation, since the majority of the plane's occupants were Russian?

Friday, November 6

AP Language and Composition
Students worked on the outline of their next essay in class today.

Homework:  Students need to read The Metamorphosis by Monday, November 16.

Pre-AP English 9
Students worked on the introductory paragraph and body outline of their prejudice essays in class today.

Homework:  Students need to finish their prejudice essays by Monday, November 9.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students continued studying the life of Moses and the genesis of the Jewish nation in class today.

Thursday, November 5

AP Language and Composition
Students continued discussing adversity in class today in preparation for writing about adversity.

Homework:  Students need to read The Metamorphosis by Monday, November 16.

Pre-AP English 9
Students continued to discuss prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird in class today, and they practiced further with the correct use of subject-verb agreement.

Homework:  Students need to finish their reading assignment in TKaM before class begins tomorrow.  They also need to be working on their prejudice essays, which are due on Monday, November 9.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students took a test on Exodus 1-12 in class today.

Wednesday, November 4

AP Language and Composition
Students debated the practicality and ethics of educating prisoners in class today.

Homework:  Students need to read The Metamorphosis by Friday, November 13.

Pre-AP English 9
Students discussed the trial of Tom Robinson in class today before finishing the lesson on subject-verb agreement.

Homework: Students need to finish their TKAM reading before class begins tomorrow.  They should also be working on their theme essays, which are due on Monday, November 9.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students began to look at different perspectives and characterizations of Moses in class today.

Tuesday, November 3

AP Language and Composition
Students continued working on the structure and organization of their body paragraphs in class today.

Homework:  Students need to read Kafka's Metamorphosis by Friday, November 13.

Pre-AP English 9
Students took time in class today to peer-edit their annotated bibliographies before continuing their lesson on subject-verb agreement.

Homework:  Students need to revise their annotated bibliographies tonight and have them ready to turn back in tomorrow.  They also need to finish their reading assignment in To Kill a Mockingbird before class begins on Wednesday.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students continued studying the exodus of the Jewish people in class today.

Monday, November 2

AP Language and Composition
Students worked on the structure of their argumentative body paragraphs in class today.

Homework:  Students need to read The Metamorphosis by Friday, November 13.

Students can access a free copy of the text by clicking here.

Pre-AP English 9
Students learned about subject-verb agreement in class today.

Homework:  Students need to complete their reading assignment for To Kill a Mockingbird before class begins tomorrow.  They also need to be working on their prejudice essays, which are due on Monday, November 9.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students continued studying the life of Moses and the plagues of Egypt in class today.

AP Language and Composition Current Events Blog for Week of November 2

Read the following article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/11/01/michigan-high-school-cash-for-grades/75003438/

Answer the following questions about the article:

1. How much will Brandon Allen for his senior year if his grades substantially improve?
2. How can students who need no grade improvement still earn their money?
3. How have the school's academics changed since the program was introduced?
4. Who is Michele Harmala?
5. What standard must students meet in order to receive the stimulus money?
6. Is it fair for teachers to have to sign on as mentors for this program?
7. Lou Przybylski claims that some people may believe that the program is a form of bribery for the students.  Do you agree that this is what the program is?  Why or why not?

Pre-AP English 9 Current Events Blog for Week of November 2

No current events blog this week!!  Work on your essays!

Friday, October 30

Happy Halloween to everyone!  Stay safe, and have a fun holiday!

AP Language and Composition
Students read and analyzed an article written by Alfred Hitchcock in class today.

Homework:  Students need to purchase their copy of The Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
We continued a discussion that carried over from last week about southern folklore and the Southern Gothic genre.

Homework:  Students need to finish their reading selection from To Kill a Mockingbird before class on Monday.  They should also begin getting sources together for their essay and annotated bibliography.

Reading the Bible as Literature
We focused on studying about the Ten Plagues of Egypt in class today and correlating them to the Egyptian deity of the day.

Thursday, October 29

AP Language and Composition
Students had the opportunity to work on their essay revisions in class today.

Homework:  Students need to finish their essay revisions so that they can turn in their censorship essays in class tomorrow.  They also need to purchase their copy of The Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students discussed the power of vernacular in today's class.  They also reviewed the specifics of MLA formatting in preparation for turning in their revised bibliographies tomorrow.

Homework:  Students need to complete their reading assignments in To Kill a Mockingbird before class begins tomorrow.  In addition to this, they also need to complete their bibliography revisions so that they can submit their completed bibliographies in class tomorrow.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students continued studying the life of Moses in class today, focusing specifically on the rhetoric of the Ten Plagues.

Wednesday, October 28

AP Language and Composition
Students worked on essay organization in today's class.

Homework:  Students need to purchase their copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students traveled to Shelton State today to work with a freshmen English class there.  The classes studied and analyzed Lee's characterization of Atticus Finch.

Homework:  Students need to finish their reading selection from To Kill a Mockingbird tonight.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students continued studying the life of Moses in today's class.

Tuesday, October 27

AP Language and Composition
In today's class, students read through more articles featuring stories about adversity.  They also practiced identifying the claims and creating counter-claims.

Homework:  Students need to purchase their copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students discussed traditional gender characteristics in class today and related them back to To Kill a Mockingbird.

Homework:  Students should try to get a head start on their reading assignment in To Kill a Mockingbird for Thursday's class.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students continued to study the story of Moses and the exodus of the Israelites in today's class.

Monday, October 26

AP Language and Composition
Students spent time debating whether or not everyone can escape the adversity of poverty.

Homework: Students need to purchase their copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
In preparation for their study of To Kill a Mockingbird, students discussed different types of prejudices that are present in the novel.

Homework: Students need to finish their reading assignment from TKAM tonight.  They also need to revise their research bibliographies by Friday, October 30.

Reading the Bible as Literature
Students began to study the book of Exodus in today's class.

AP Language and Composition Current Events Blog for Week of October 26

Read the following article:

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/25/451141406/with-switch-from-pencils-to-computers-ged-gets-tougher-for-inmates

Answer the following questions based on the article:

1. Explain why national graduation rates across the board have been decreasing recently.
2. Who is Greg Warden?  Why is his name situationally ironic?
3. Why does Kimberly Haug say that they made sure to find a way to continue the GED program at her facility?
4. Explain the idea of "sentencing people to school."
5. What is this article's claim about the effect that education has on an inmate's rehabilitation?
6. Do you believe that prisons should put emphasis on educating their inmates?  Or is this type of education program a waste of money?  Explain your answer.

Pre-AP Current Events Blog for Week of October 26

No Current Events Blog this week!

Monday, October 19

AP Language and Composition
Students took their final 1984 test in class today.

Homework:  Students need to purchase their copy of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis.  They need to have it by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students continued presenting their research findings in class today.

Homework: Students need to read chapters 1-4 in To Kill a Mockingbird by Friday, October 23.

Reading the Bible as Literature
We continued studying the life of Joseph in class today.

Pre-AP English 9 Current Events Blog for Week of October 19

This week's current events blog is a little different.

Instead of you reading a blog and answering questions about it, you will, instead, find a blog and write questions about it.  Here are the guidelines:

1. Find an online article that relates a story about a person or a group of people who have been oppressed and who have overcome that oppression.
2. In the comments section of this post, write a paragraph-long summary of the story.
3. Come up with five questions that you could ask someone about the story.  These should be both "recall" questions (Who said this?  Who is this person? etc.) and "debatable" questions (questions with no clear-cut answer).  Type out these questions underneath your summary.

AP Language and Composition Current Events Blog for Week of October 19

This week's current events blog is a little different.

Instead of you reading a blog and answering questions about it, you will, instead, find a blog and write questions about it.  Here are the guidelines:

1. Find an online article that relates a story about someone who had to overcome adversity.
2. In the comments section of this post, write a paragraph-long summary of the story.
3. Come up with five questions that you could ask someone about the story.  These should be both "recall" questions (Who said this?  Who is this person? etc.) and "debatable" questions (questions with no clear-cut answer).  Type out these questions underneath your summary.

Friday, October 16

AP Language and Composition
Students wrote an argumentative essay in class today about the dangers of comedic censorship.

Homework:  Students need to finish 1984 this weekend.  They also need to buy their copy of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students began their research presentations in class today.

Reading the Bible as Literature
We continued our study of the Patriarchs in class today.

Thursday, October 15

AP Language and Composition
We continued our discussion of artistic censorship in today's class, reading letters and works from The Atlantic, The Late Show, and others, and from authors such as Harper Lee and Salman Rushdie.

Homework:  Students need to finish reading 1984 by Monday.  They also need to purchase their copy of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students continued their folklore research in the library today.

Homework:  All students, regardless of whether or not they will be present in class tomorrow, need to finish their bibliographies and research presentations by the time their class starts tomorrow.

Reading the Bible as Literature
We began studying the life of Joseph in class today.

Wednesday, October 14

AP Language and Composition
We started what will become a series of discussion about free speech and media censorship in class today.

Homework:  Students need to finish reading 1984 by Monday, October 19 and buy their copy of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students continued researching their research topics during class today.

Homework: Students need to finish their research projects and printed bibliographies by Friday, October 16.

Reading the Bible as Literature
We finished our discussion of the sacrifice of Isaac in class before students began an enrichment activity to help them more fully appreciate the emotion of the story.

Tuesday, October 13

AP Language and Composition
Students spent time in class today reviewing their nine weeks' exam questions.  We then began a discussion about censorship in the media.

Homework:  Students need to finish reading 1984 by Monday, October 19.  Additionally, they need to purchase their copy of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis by Monday, November 2.

Pre-AP English 9
Students began researching in the library today in preparation for their research presentations, which will begin on Friday, October 16.

Homework:  Students need to finish their research projects, including a printed bibliography page, which will be due on Friday, October 16.

Reading the Bible as Literature
In today's class, students discussed in more detail the sacrifice of Isaac from the end of Genesis.

Homework:  Students need to finish their enrichment project by tomorrow's class.

AP Language and Composition Current Events Blog for Week of October 12

MAKE SURE TO READ THIS WEEK'S DIRECTIONS VERY CAREFULLY!  DUE TO THE MORE WORK-INTENSIVE NATURE OF THIS WEEK'S BLOG, THE GRADE ASSIGNED TO THIS WORK WILL BE MORE THAN DOUBLE THE NORMAL AMOUNT (FIFTY POINTS INSTEAD OF TWENTY).

This week's current events blog is a little different.  Instead of simply reading a news article and then debating its ethics, you are going to read an ongoing ethics debate and join the conversation.  The following link contains three opinions regarding the news coverage of mass shootings.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/10/09/how-should-the-news-media-cover-mass-shooters

To receive credit for this week's blog, complete the following:

1. Set the rhetorical scene for the debate. In other words, give a short synopsis of what the debatable topic is.
2. Read each of the three debaters' points of view.  Then, give a warrant and the claim from EACH of the debater's writings. ADDITIONALLY, decide what avenue of argumentation each claim best fits in.
3. Give a rebuttal for each of those warrants/claims.
4. Add your own warrant and claim to the discussion.  In other words, choose an avenue of argumentation and add your opinion to those that should be considered in this debate.

Pre-AP English 9 Current Events Blog for Week of October 12

Read the following article:

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/06/30/326929138/facebook-manipulates-our-moods-for-science-and-commerce-a-roundup

Answer the following questions related to the article:

1. Explain what "emotional contagion" is.
2. How did Facebook try to test emotional contagion by altering its homepage?
3. Were Facebook's actions legal or illegal?  Explain.
4. What does Laurie Penny say is the "point" about this whole situation?
5. Explain why each side of the debate believes that it is right.  In other words, why do some people believe that Facebook's experiment was outrageous, and why do some believe that the experiment wasn't that "big of a deal"?
6. What are your thoughts on the issue?  Is Facebook's experiment worth the debate?  Explain.

Tuesday, October 6

AP Language and Composition
Students wrote their first argumentative essay in class today.

Pre-AP English 9
In class today, we discussed a bioethical conundrum known as "Ashley's Treatment;" students then debated the ethics behind this story.

Homework: Students need to study for their nine weeks' exam!

Reading the Bible as Literature
In today's class, we studied about the Jewish patriarchs, all the way through the life of Jacob.

Homework:  Students need to study for their nine weeks' exam!

AP Language and Composition Current Events Blog for Week of October 5

Read the following article:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fae49518b1d24b89a4bc7a6a2255a2ec/execution-would-be-oklahomas-first-ruling-drugs

Answer the following questions related to the article:

1. According to the article, why did Governor Fallin postpone Glossip's execution?  What drugs are involved in the execution?  What did the executioners receive?  Why was the stay of the execution last-minute?
2. Who is Dale Baich?  Why does he believe that there needs to be more public transparency in the execution process?
3. Who is Justin Sneed?
4. With what information does the reporter end the article?  What is the effect of this information on the reader?
5. In your opinion, should Glossip's execution have been stayed for the reasons that it was stayed?
6. What is your overall opinion about the death penalty?

Pre-AP English 9 Current Events Blog for Week of October 5

Read the following article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/02/usa-execution-virginia-idUSL1N1220K320151002

Answer the following questions related to the article:

1. In what state did the execution take place?
2. For what was Prieto convicted and sentenced?
3. On what grounds did Prieto's attorneys try to stay the execution?  (There are two main complaints.)
4. What are your opinions about these issues as impetus to stay the execution?  Are they valid reasons to postpone the carrying out of Prieto's sentence?
5. The end of the article mentions that Virginia has put to death 111 inmates since the penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976.  Explain the effect of this statistic on the reader of the article.
6. What are your opinions on the death penalty as a punishment for a crime?

Friday, October 2

AP Language and Composition
Students reviewed the structure of argumentative essays in class today before practicing with an argumentative prompt and sample essays.

Pre-AP English 9
We read through and analyzed Books XIII-XVIII in The Odyssey in class today.

Reading the Bible as Literature
RBL didn't meet today due to the Homecoming pep rally.

Wednesday, October 1

AP Language and Composition
Students spent today's class discussing the correct structure of an AP-style argumentative essay.

Pre-AP English 9
After finishing our class debate, students spent time reviewing and writing an introductory paragraph for an essay about the Syrian civil crisis.

Reading the Bible as Literature
We read and analyzed Genesis 11-13 in today's class.