TOW Post #30- Letter to a New APELC Student

Tuesday June 5, 2014

        Dear New APELC Student,

                  Welcome to the hardest year of high school, and one of the hardest classes in the school! Nah I'm just kidding, although not about Junior year being pretty difficult...but don't worry, I'll at least be able to give you a few tips about APELC. Oh, let me just get this out of the way. I had many APUSH friends this year who were not taking AP English and would call this course "APENG" as in Advanced Placement English. It makes sense, yeah, but we don't call it that. It's actually called APELC, standing for Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition (the APUSH kids don't know any better). But anyway, say goodbye to fiction everything; you will be reading non-fiction 99.99% of the time during this course, even your IRB will need to be non-fiction. To tell you the truth I hated non-fiction books ever since elementary school, but now that I was older I got to explore more books of my interest, and I actually fell in love with reading non-fiction; that's all I read now! Not only will you be reading non-fiction, you will be reading a lot in general. I'm talking about pages of non-fiction pieces, sometimes they are boring but sometimes they aren't. The key thing here is to not wait until the last minute to read these assignments...because you won't be able to do it! Everyone says, "Oh AP English is so hard and just an unmanageable amount of work is given, I'm not taking that!" Whoever says that is wrong, and obviously you are not one of those people because you are here now reading my letter! But actually Mr. Yost gives you three meetings sometimes more (depending on the length) to read these assignments, so please break up the assignment into sections, leaving an extra day to re-read the assignment. Yes, RE-READ the assignment. Although this is not a requirement but it's a very important skill and suggestion. Considering that not all of the readings will be easy to get on the first read, you should re-read it so you have a better understanding and can contribute to class discussions. Also take meaningful notes. For everything you read, besides your IRB, you are going to be note-making. Note-making can be consisted of highlighting, underlining, and writing important things that come to mind while reading, such as the Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone....that's going to be your most important acronym and is the backbone throughout this course. You can also note-make on rhetorical devices. It was funny because in other classes whenever I was reading something I was note-making even though it wasn't a requirement; it becomes a very helpful skill.

                  Besides reading, you will be doing a lot of writing! If you don't like writing you better get used to it. On the APELC Exam you will be writing three essays: Analysis, Argument, and Synthesis. If you have no idea on how one of these or any of these essays work, don't fret Mr. Yost will be teaching a whole marking period for each kind of essay, and you do a lot of practices. Oh by the way these are timed essays; you must finish in 40 minutes! Honestly when I heard about these timed essay that we were going to do, I was so nervous. But after the third one it's a breeze, you will be well prepared and have had a lot of practice before the exam. Sometimes your timed essays will be graded; although it made me really nervous, Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko give back great advice! Mr. Yost even has office hours (just like college professor) if you want to talk about your essay or any other classwork. And when Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko tell you that they are available to talk about and make some suggestions about your T.H.E (Take Home Essay..self explanatory) do not hesitate nor waste time!!! I wish I took advantage of that I opportunity much more. Also another thing about hesitation... you will often have a lot of class discussion where you can raise your hand to participate...don't be the person to never raise your hand, because they will call on you eventually. Don't be afraid to share your thought or answer, the nice thing is that Mr. Yost is not like a lot of teachers where if you are wrong they will say a blunt "No." Mr. Yost will let you down easy and try to swerve you in the right direction or even sometimes tie in your answer... somehow. So don't be afraid!

                 So this letter was one of our last assignments for this class; a TOW Post writing a letter to next year's APELC student. TOW stands for Text Of the Week, and this is something you will be doing every week and needs to be up on your blog by Sunday night at 11:59pm. These post may seem like a drag, because they were often annoying throughout the year, but they allow you to practice your rhetorical analysis skills through out the year, so you wouldn't have lost that skill by the time the APELC Exam, considering Analysis is what you most likely will be focusing on now/beginning of the year. Since I have referred to it a couple of times I'll tell you a little about it. The APELC Exam is going to be in May and you will be answering about 50-60 isn questions on reading passages and then write three timed essays. That's it. It may seem like a lot but what prepares you the most for that day is this entire course and the MOCK Exam...what's that? Well it's what it sounds like. This exam "mocks" or copies the APELC Exam format, accept it is accounted towards your grade. I was more nervous for the MOCK than for the actual APELC Exam. It will be referenced to throughout this entire course and it will be here before you know it, yet both of them fly by pretty fast. 

                  Grades grades grades. I'm sure grades are, well have been, the most important thing to you especially if you are a student taking an advanced class. I will tell you this, on the first unit test you take, do not be upset if you get a C or even a low B. It's okay. I am sure you will end up with a B for the marking period because that test is one of the many grades that will be put into sapphire. I will be honest this is a challenging course, but as long as you are organized, manage your time will, and (this should even be a problem but..) complete your work, your grades will be fine! Two more things...projects and grammar. At the end of each unit you will be assigned a group project. And this is not your ordinary group project, you most likely will be analyzing and SOAPStoning a piece of writing as a group. Then you are responsible for presenting to the class with a powerpoint presentation on what you have read and analyzed. These are not so bad they have to be around 8 to 10 minute long, this will get easier as the year goes on. Lastly you will be doing grammar. Ms. Pronko is in charge of this. She will come to do grammar about every block day and you will have homework, but it won't be do until the next block day. That pretty much sums up this course. The most import things to remember is: manage your time, go for help when needed and when offered, re- read, everything you do in class is going to help you for the exam (it's not just busy work), and in the end your grade will be an A or a B...if you listened to all of what I just told you. I wish you luck, not only for this course, but for your junior year overall...you are almost done!!! Don't give up!

Sincerely Your Experienced Ex- APELC Student,

Jessica Thelemaque

TOW Post #29- Documentary Rhetorical Analysis

            There are many problems in the world today, including hunger, the middle class, debt, and many other problems. Yet luckily the United States is not suffering with many of these problems unlike third world countries. So one might think that the United States doesn't have many or close to any problems. Yet there is one problem that is lurking under the American soil, and this happens to be educations. It may seem like our education system is perfect, yet truth be told it certainly is not.  In the documentary Waiting for Superman the director explains just this problem; the education system in America is not the best that it can be. Hence the title "Waiting for Superman" it is as if the children and students of America are waiting for a hero and or a solution to fixing this education system, thus ultimately leading to graduating successful and prosperous students. The argument that the American education school system needs to be fixed is precise considering the many problems that have came up in the news, data shown in the documentary, and personal experience.
              On the news unfortunately, finding good new is rare, most of the time the news is bad or sad and just plain upsetting. Recently on the news there was a school where teachers were caught cheating. The were four female teachers that had changed many answers to many students tests and had kept this among themselves. the Education system regarding the hiring, needs to reevaluate how teachers are chosen and what should be looked for. Because these teachers were clearly not acceptable as a teacher, affected many students grades and perhaps even their process and confidence in learning. Teachers like those women need to be weeded out of schools in order for the students to receive and honest and quality education.
              Shocking data was used to support the director of the documentary's argument that the education system in America needs to be fixed. When talking about the actually benefits of charter schools and public schools they mentioned that “only 17% of charter schools have better test scores than traditional public schools, 46% had gains that were no different than their district counterparts, and 37% were significantly worse.” The fact that this statistic exists, it is ashamed. Not only is our education not broken up for what makes sense, many students are getting cheated. This can be the cause of lack of effort by an employee/teacher, not equal attention, and lack of supplies. Also the documentary brings to light that many of the children who go through “dropout factories” are more likely to drop out and head to a prison than graduate form high school. 

               Unfortunately I have experienced one of the flaws in the American education. No where near some of the bigger problems but it sure a contribution. In high school, one of the most critical stage of the education track before college, every class counts and every grade counts, especially if one wants to get in to a good college. I have witnessed some teachers though out my high school years who  do not care enough when they are teaching. In some cases teachers only care about those who are on track and give up on the one who might need an extra push. Teachers who don't go the extra mile is small problem in the system yet can lead to bad affects down the road, such as students going through the "dropout factory."

                Data has shown that America has begun to fall behind in the education process. Many countries are ahead of many of the students in America, one country being China. I such a competitive world that we live in today, where education is one of the most important keys to success, America needs to reevaluate and take the appropriate actions to fixing the education system.

TOW Post #28- Documentary Rhetorical Analysis

           

             The documentary that I watched is called Waiting for Superman. One might think that this documentary must be about either a love story about a women waiting for the man of her dreams, or a spin off of one of the greatest superhero movies Superman. Yet this documentary is actually about education. In today's world wide society, education has grown to be one of the most important aspect of life; it is the key to a successful life. In this documentary the speaker is a professor and also retired superintendent. Throughout the documentary the speaker changes often from this superintendent to a narrative voice of the documentary creator, to families included in the documentary. This documentary touches base on many issues today in the education system. Some of the issues discussed are bad schools because of bad low income neighbor hoods or vice versa, schools not being able to advance because of bad teachers, and the struggle of families trying to get their children into the best school near them, such as charter schools. After watching this documentary the creator of this documentary was bel to open my eyes about the flaws in the education system.

            One key strategy that the filmmaker included in order to make this film more interesting instead of a two hour talk about education was what the filmmakers decide to show when ever they were stating data. Throughout the entire documentary they used the same type of animation style to not only make the statistics more interesting but also to give a great illustration and picture of the actually statistic itself, using symbols and graphs. This strategy was clever and stands out from other documentaries considering it's a huge contrast to the rest of the documentary which is real and not cartoon style. By using this strategy, the filmmakers made the documentary more eye-catching, thus allowing them to directly expose that the education in hindsight needs to be reevaluated and changed for the better.

            To strengthen and improve the filmmakers purpose, the follow the struggles of four families slowly yet progressively throughout the documentary. The filmmakers were able to smoothly tie in these stories of the four families and their struggles and relate it back to the data they is often presented. This weaving in of the families stories is able to bring some life to these statistics and adda sentimental factor throughout the documentary. Unfortunately these families were the percents of the data that were bad and unfortunate, such as only 6% percent of a high school class in LA would graduate; thus one of students in one of family would be borderline of this 6%. In the end of the documentary most of the families being documented were not selected for their child to make it into a charter school, therefore certainly not supporting the assumption that the educations system over all is successful. 

            Unfortunately we as a nation especially have not reached our goals of providing the best education. Maybe we have for a small percentage of students in America but not for every student. Education should be everyone's first and major priority considering the fact that we students are the future of the United Sates. Although the audience of this documentary could be students like myself, teachers and families who are also struggle, the real audience might just be those who have the power to change the education system and make a difference.

TOW Post #27- TOW Reflection

           

            Through out the year of AP English, I have adjusted to the ongoing Text of the Week Posts that we had to do every week. At first I thought that having to do a blog post on a reading every week was a waste of time and not going to be beneficial for me in regards to the AP English Exam. I thought to myself, how is doing the same thing repetitively for months going to help me do well on the exam, since its not exactly how the exam will be like? But I have come to realized that the TOW posts have made me read many readings in a different and more analytical way. Also these TOWs help me strengthen a work on writing skills that I needed more practice with.
            Beginning with the first marking period there was a major difference between my second marking period posts and especially my third marking period posts. One of the characteristics of my first marking period trends seemed to be that I used new articles, in stead of writing that is easier to analyze rhetorically, such as opinionated essays. This trend quickly ended with in the next marking period. Besides the type of writing pieces I chose, another trend and difference compared to the other marking period posts was that I used a lot of quotes in my posts. This showed that I really didn't analyze much of the writing piece, instead I was just re-staing things in the writing piece. One last thing with in marking period one trends was that I did not have conclusion paragraphs, leaving my TOW post with no ending and just open. As the second marking period came around, my TOW post introductions were coming along, yet my posts seemed like lists when coming to explaining the rhetorical devices that were used. But as time passed i slowly began to integrate my rhetorical devices and connection them together, making a smoother TOW post. The third marking period posts are more detailed and began to get better with the "so what" aspect regarding the author's purpose. From the first marking period to the third marking period, my TOW post have changed for the better.
            Although I have made progress with my TOW posts, i believe there are still some things that I need to work on improving; one of them being the ultimate message of the author purpose. In other words the "so what" is a key aspect in writing that I need more practice with. But I have made progress considering I did not attempt to address a so what with my earlier TOW post. I also need to improve on connecting my rhetorical devices/reasonings a little bit more. Yet I do believe that I have mastered introductions. Coming into AP English writing introductions was a concern of mine, and shown through the TOW post, I have gotten a lot better with them.
           The TOW posts initially sounded like a bunch of work, just to keep us AP students busy, but I benefited from these TOW assignments each week, even though they might have been a bit of an annoyance. When the AP Exam came around last two weeks ago, I do believe that being prepared for the writing (and also reading) part of the exam was partially because of these TOW assignments. Not only have the TOWs may have helped me with my AP Exam, they have also allowed me to look at readings more analytically and become more interested in non-fiction reading.

TOW Post #26- Visual Text: "Cigarette Advertisment"

           Years ago when the first cigaret came out on the market four the public, it was a big hit. There many poster and television ads that advertised the new product. Celebrities anreven doctors were used as strategies to get the public to buy cigarettes. But many years down the road doctors began to discover how unhealthy and dangerous that cigarettes can be. Today there are barely any advertisements for the use of cigarettes, but there are now advertisements for the stopping of smoking cigarettes. In the advertisement above, the author of the image is clearly trying to advertise that smoking is overall a poor choice that needs to be stopped. The author is able to achieve his purpose through the use of color and symbolism.
             Color is known to represent and have an effect many things; yet in the advertisement above the color plays a key role into creating a certain feeling and mood. In oder to convey the message that smoking is bad, the author used dull and dark colors such as grey and black. Usually when something or someone is colorless it indicates a negative mood. By creating a negative tone and mood through these colors the advertisement is  affecting the viewers; the viewers realizing the negativeness of smoking and how serious the situation is.
            Communicating with the viewers of the advertisement is key to successfully convey the message and purpose of the advertisement. Symbolism is a great tool used to communicate a message. In the advertisement above the ashes from the cigarette symbolizes the person who is smoke the cigarette, and how its bringing them down. Cigarettes are health hazardous and can count one's life short: slowly bringing the person down.
           The creator of this advertisement successfully conveyed his message on the fact that smoking is bad and should be minimized and ultimately stopped. By incorporating rhetorical devices into the advertisement the creator is not only to get out his message but also to guide people in the right direction, saving more lives.

TOW# 25- Article: "The Pointlessness of Unplugging"

Reading Goal: Interesting, can take part in

Writing Goal: Finding the author's purpose/deeper meaning

            In today's world technology has become a huge part of our everyday life. From our daily routine to even our social aspect of life, technology has tied itself into these things. although technology has been a good and huge advancement in society, has it become too much? It clearly has been concluded as too much considering there is a National Day of Unplugging, where one does not use any type of technology for and entire twenty-four hours. 

            In the March issue of The New Yorker, author Casey N. Cep wrote an article about the National Day of Unplugging and how technology has made us rely on it. Cep studied at Yale University and has written many articles in the The New York Times and the Boston Globe. Cep discusses how many people participate in the N.D.U. (National Day of Unplugging) and their reasons for it. The slogan or theme sentence for this day is "I unplug to _______" and participators would fill in the blank with what they are doing instead of using technology. by simply unplugging for a day, it allows people to "to reset, to spend more time with family, to bring back the beauty of life," etc.  Cep's purpose in writing this article is to see if the N.D.U. is actually beneficial. She brings forth her purpose through examples and irony.

              Throughout her entire article Cep incorporates quotes and examples of people that help her achieve her purpose and help the reader conclude to a so what at the end of her article. For example she use how she was surprised that Pope Benedict XVI used twitter to reach out to his followers, showing how technology is in everyone's lives, eve those of high ranking. Also she used quotes from people who participated in the N.D.U., saying their reason for unplugging was "so [their] eye will stop twitching" and "to be in the moment"and also "to be more connected"; showing the various reasons why people participate. With all of these benefits of this day you would think it's good. Irony comes into play when Cep makes concussion. She states that when we go twenty-four hours with out our technology, it only makes us crave the use of technology even more. In conclusion, although this day is beneficial for twenty-four hours, it technically worsens our addictions, thus making this day pointless; Cep successfully achieving her purpose.

IRB Intro Post: Marking Period 4

            The book that I decided to read for the fourth marking period is Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother written by Amy Chua. Chua is a mom of two daughters trying to raise them in the mists of American culture and Chinese culture at the same time. She  recalls ho she was raised under strict Chinese culture by her own parents. Yet she is not so sure that she is raising her kids the right way. I chose to read this book because i am able to connect with Chua, being raised by parents who are from a different country other than America. Also I chose this book, because  from reading reviews, Chua incorporates some humor into her book, which I makes her telling g of her experiences more interesting and fun.