For those of you struggling with this first assignment, trying to wrap your brain around how to get started, I’ve created a tutorial in the slideshow below. I hope it helps!

| View | Upload your own

Don’t forget: you must post your evaluation (one post) of the three blogs by next Friday: June 20. If you need further help, leave a comment here or send me an e-mail.

         These tests have become important gatekeepers for entry
          into meritocratic, middle-class society. They’ve created an
          SAT-ocracy–a regime in which access to the good life
          depends on the ability to reason logically, sequentially, and
          speedily. (29)

If Pink’s argument–that future success will require both L-Directed and R-Directed thinking–is correct, the main vehicle, the SAT and ACT tests, to pay for students’ college tuition tests only one type of thinking and may not necessarily be a true indicator of future success.

Is this fair? Should tax dollars primarily reward students who are good test-takers, who are good L-Directed thinkers?

Source: Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. 

Choose one suggested tool or exercise, and follow his suggestion. Leave a comment, summarizing what you did. Do you think it was a worthwhile undertaking? Explain.

If you’re feeling adventurous–you might even snap a photo recording your experiment, write a blog post explaining what you did, and embed the photo in your post. You can include a link to your post in your comment.

Source: Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. 

     To survive in this age, individuals and organizations must examine what
     they’re doing to earn a living and ask themselves three questions:

       1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
       2. Can a computer do it faster?
       3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance? (51)

In the Afterword, Pink claims “these three questions will mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who gets left behind” (246).

Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

Respond by leaving a comment below. Be sure to use your first name and last initial in the comment box so that I can credit you with your comment.

When responding to others, direct your comments to a specific person (like this: @Susie:) so that we can easily follow the conversation.

Source:    Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.
 

Purchasing your own copy allows you to mark up the text, and this text is full of rhetorical devices you’ve been learning in pre-AP.  As you read, notice the author’s style–his choice of words, his syntax, his devices, his organizational structure.

Also, note the arguments he makes. How does he support his claim(s)? With what types of information? From what sources? Does he build logical, compelling arguments? Do you agree with him? How would you respond to his arguments?

As you read, I encourage you to mark up the text (if it’s your copy). Highlight interesting passages. Write questions, connections, comments in the margins. Note rhetorical devices. 

Reading Response Journal

Also, keep a reading journal as you read. The journal may be hand-written or typed (whichever you prefer) and must include the following:

1. A list of books Pink recommends that you might like to read in the future.
2. At least ten two-column entries: in the left-hand column, select a bit of text, and in the right-hand column, comment on the text. The commentary should be thoughtful, and well-developed: 

• Pose questions.
• Agree or disagree with Pink’s position.
• Comment on particular rhetorical or stylistic devices and why–for what purpose or effect–you think he uses them.
• Make connections to other works you’ve read, current issues/events,  or personal experiences.

Check out the sample reading response journal and the journal rubric.  Be sure to e-mail (if typed) your journal to me no later than August 8. If you’ve hand-written it, you may turn it in at the BHS main office.

Online Discussion

As you read and journal, I also want you to connect with your classmates, and discuss the text online. For the discussion to be successful, you must enter into conversation–not merely post a response to the prompts. The idea is to talk–back and forth–with each other about the book, to challenge one another’s thinking. So, you’ll need to post your responses, and read and comment on what others have written. If everyone waits until the deadline date, we obviously can’t have a quality discussion. Ideally, you will begin discussing early on, and continue until school starts. You don’t have to have finished reading the entire book or have completed your journal to begin talking about the text!

Post a response to the three discussion starters, and, for each, respond to at least one of your classmates.   The discussion rubric  will help you understand the expectations of an online discussion and will hopefully improve the quality of the discussion. Please read it before entering the conversation.

Prompt 1          Prompt 2            Prompt 3

Be sure to bring your copy of the book with you to class the first day of school.

At the core of the AP English Language class is argumentation. To understand the qualities that make a strong argument and the strategies writers use, we must immerse ourselves in reading arguments. One of the best places to find such writing is via editorials and opinion pieces.

Where Do I Find 3 Quality RSS Feeds?

There are a number of newspapers, blogs, and websites that host opinion/editorials. As you explore the sites below, allow yourself time to dig around the sites, browse several particular author’s works, skim several columns. Rather than randomly selecting the first three feeds you find, dig a bit to discover a few quality writers or sources–sources you can learn from, sources that add content regularly, sources that write about topics that interest you.  Newspapers, as well many other websites, offer content specific RSS feeds. You might want to subscribe to several feeds from one source. For example, from the LA Times, you may choose to subscribe to Top News, Music Reviews, and Rosa Brooks (an opinion columnist).  If you have trouble finding the RSS feeds from a site, try typing RSS Feeds in the search box.  For the LA Times, an RSS Feed search yielded a page of their feeds, the one displayed in the picture above (if you click the pic, you can see a bigger version).

Check out these other sites for possible feeds:   

I’ve Added 3 Feeds. Now What?

After subscribing to the feeds in your Reader, the next step is to begin reading! Since you’ve organized your iGoogle page with all your favorite widgets–including your Reader–you have a digital desk that makes scanning new content from your feeds a snap. Get in the habit of spending 15-30 minutes a day–or at least three days a week–reading.

Read to keep pace with current events. Read to analyze the strategies opinion writers use. Read to build a stockpile of topics for your own writing. Read to grow as a reader and thinker.

I’ve Been Reading and Thinking. Now, What Do I Write?

After you’ve spent time reading (allow yourself a few weeks of reading time), now it’s time to write. For each feed, write a post that summarizes your reading experience and evaluates the feed:

• How often did you read?
• Did you skim and scan headings in your Reader, reading–in detail–only the pieces that peaked your interest, or did you read every piece?
• Did you like the content in the feed?
• How did you feel about the amount of content produced by the feed? Not enough? Too much? Just right?
• Did you like the writer(s) style (is he/she using any rhetorical devices), topic choices?
• Is this a feed you’d like to keep in your Reader or delete? Why?
• What, if anything, did you learn about how (what particular strategies) the author(s) frames his/her arguments?
• How, if at all, do you think reading this feed regularly would help you grow as a reader, writer, and thinker?

These questions are only thought-starters. Don’t write as if you’re answering the questions. It’s your job to synthesize the ideas, decide on a organizational format, and present your ideas in a way that makes sense and that responds thoroughly to the prompt:

• For each subscription, write a post (this means you’ll write a total of three posts) that summarizes your reading of the feed over several weeks and evaluates the content of the feed.  Be sure to include specific examples and explanations that provide a thorough response.

Where Do I Publish My Responses?

Publish your three blog posts (one for each feed) on your blog. Assign them to the Summer Reading category.

Check out the rubric (coming soon!).

| View | Upload your own

Pretty awesome, huh, that this IBM employee is encouraging co-workers to read, write, and react. Sounds like typical English class behavior, which is exactly why blogging–when done right–can be a powerful tool to make us grow as readers, thinkers, and writers.

So, how do we do blogging right? What does it mean to become a blogger?

Step One

One of the best ways to understand blogging is to check out other blogs–to evaluate their organization, visual appeal, content, writing style.

• How do they utilize pages and posts?
• How do they organize information?
• What widgets do they use?
• About what do they write?
• How do they cite sources–including images?
• What multimedia elements do they use?
• How do they cite sources of text, images–anything taken from somewhere else?
• How many comments do they get? Do they encourage conversations by responding to comments readers leave? If so, how do they respond–with a particular format?

You need to locate some quality blogs to evaluate. Preferably, you’ll find blogs written by students your age; however, since we learn from masters, feel free to evaluate adult bloggers. Check out the sites below to find three blogs. Avoid simply picking the first three you see. Instead, allow yourself time to explore, to locate three solid blogs from which you can learn and find inspiration.

• AP English blogs from 2007
• Nate Stearns’ student blogs (another AP English teacher)
• The Eddies: an annual blog awards by Edublogs–this is a great way to find quality blogs.
• Class Blogs: These are AP Lit students–groups of kids created blogs

You’re certainly not limited to blogs discovered from these pages. If you find a quality blog via another search route, go with it!

Step Two

Spend some time exploring the three blogs you’ve selected. Read their current and archived posts. Consider the questions posted above. Here’s more ideas for analyzing the blogs:

• How long has the blog been in existence?
• How often does the blogger post?
• Does the blog seem to have a niche–a certain topic or theme? Are topics random?
• Does it appear the blogger is carefully crafting his pieces, or do they seem more haphazardly–almost on the fly like a first draft–written?
• Is the writing interesting?
• Does anything about the blog inspire you–give you ideas for your own blog?

Again, these questions are only thought-starters. You may brainstorm other criteria by which you’d like to evaluate the blogs.

Step Three

Now, you’re ready to begin drafting. Write a 600-800 word (which is roughly 3-4 pages) evaluation of the three blogs. Remember the basics of good writing:

• Begin with a compelling introduction that includes an attention-getter and a thesis sentence.
• Use an organizational strategy that makes sense and that allows your ideas to flow smoothly from one to another throughout the essay.
• Take note of your diction: Use strong verbs and precise words.
• Include concrete details–specific examples–for every claim you make.
• Include ample commentary to explain thoroughly your ideas.
• Include a concluding paragraph that brings closure and ideally, ties with your attention-getting strategy.
• Revise and edit carefully to avoid mechanical, usage, and grammatical errors.

Since you are evaluating, this is a persuasive piece: You are making judgments–claims–about the value of these blogs. Be clear in your claims:

• What–exactly–are you saying about each blog?
• Why–what specific reasons–do you make these claims?
• What evidence–specific examples–can you give to support your claims?
• Are you building a clear, logical argument–one that makes sense and is likely to convince your reader?
• Are your arguments thoughtful, taking into consideration the quality (in your opinion) of the blog–its visual appeal, its ease of navigation, its functionality, its quality of writing (and any other aspects you wish to judge)?

Be sure to link to the blogs as well as to any other online material (including images) you use. Should you reference any print materials, include a list of those sources in MLA format.

This slideshow might help you get started crafting your argument:

| View | Upload your own

With a wealth of multimedia elements at your fingertips, are there any visuals you might include to enhance your argument?

Check out the rubric. It should serve as a writer’s checklist.

Publish Your Evaluation

When you’re satisfied that you’ve crafted a compelling evaluation of the three blogs, publish the piece (as a post) to your blog.  You must publish it no later than midnight Friday, June 27. Create a “Summer Assignment” category, and assign the post to this category. Make certain your categories are displaying in your sidebar (or bottom of page–depending on your theme choice) so that readers can easily locate your post.

If you need help with the technical aspects of your blog, check out the Edublog tutorial page. They provide a forum, tutorial videos, and frequently asked questions. If you’re still having problems–and can’t troubleshoot and solve them on your own or with the help of a classmate–e-mail me.