On Tuesday, August 19 we met to review AP English Language concepts and to discuss The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Thank you to everyone who attend. Although I was a bit disoriented while dealing with "swimmer's ear," your focus and attention to the tasks at hand helped make the morning very productive. We were able to analyze more rhetorical choices made by Pollan than any previous AP English Language class. Well done.
If you weren't able to make the session, the work you need to complete is in bold.
Part 1: Entry Ticket--connecting the previous seminars to this one
We started with entry ticket questions about concepts covered in the previous seminars.
1. Rhetorical analysis is at the heart of AP English Language and Composition. What is rhetorical analysis?
2. Aristotle wrote about three ways of appealing to an audience: logos, pathos, ethos. What does each Greek word mean?
If you weren't able to make the Tuesday, August 19 session create a Google Doc called "The Omnivore's Dilemma Seminar," share the document with me, and answer the entry ticket questions.
We then shared our answers and edited our answers based on what we heard from others.
Part 2: The AP English Language Exam--what skills are most important this year?
Then, to give you a better understanding of how important rhetorical analysis is in AP English Language, I talked a little bit about the AP English Language Exam.
Rhetorical Analysis
45% of your score will come from 55 rhetorical analysis questions that you will answer in 60 minutes.
55% of your score will come from three (3) essay questions that you will have 120 minutes to answer (40 minutes each). One of the three essay questions asks for rhetorical analysis of a passage. That means sixty-three and a third percent of your AP score will be based on rhetorical analysis. That's why we're spending so much time on it this summer and why we'll focus on rhetorical analysis at the beginning of the school year.
Argument
One of the other essays (eighteen and a third percent of your score) asks you to make an argument using your studies, your experiences, and/or your observations. The SAT will also ask that you write an argument. This summer we practiced this once, when I asked you about the extent to which community pride affects Gloucester.
Today, we made several short arguments when we digressed from analyzing the rhetoric Pollan used to make his argument. Some of you made short arguments about when it is and is not appropriate to kill another living creature. Two of us present arguments in response to the Market Basket situation.
If you weren't able to make the seminar, take five minutes to respond to this prompt in your Google Doc: To what extent should we change how we produce and consume food in America today?
Synthesis
The final essay on the AP Exam requires that you read multiple sources on a topic and then use those sources to develop your own ideas about the topic. I mentioned that although we will not be writing this kind of essay during the early part of the AP English Language course, we should understand how Michael Pollan and Rebecca Solnit both weave together many, many sources to develop their ideas.
We then examined the "Sources" pages at the back of The Omnivore's Dilemma in an attempt to grasp the range of sources Pollan wove together to create the book.
Part Three: Rhetorical Analysis of The Omnivore's Dilemma
In the next part of class we explored the overall argument of Pollan's book, the argument Pollan makes in each section, and the ways he developed the argument in each section.
If you weren't able to make the seminar, respond to these prompts in the Google Doc:
* What overall argument does Pollan make in The Omnivore's Dilemma? Try to capture the complexity of the position he develops.
* What argument does he make in each of the three main sections (Industrial: Corn, Pastoral: Grass, Personal: the Forrest)? How does the argument presented in each section contribute to the overall argument?
* Briefly discuss three specific ways he supports and develops the argument presented in each section. (To clarify: I'm looking for three ways he supports and develops his argument about food in the "Industrial" section, three ways he supports and develops his argument about food in the "Pastoral" section, and three ways he supports and develops his argument about food in the "Personal" section.)
This will take fifteen minutes to a half hour.
Part Four: the Gloucester High School Greenhouse and Food Garden
We then took a break to visit our greenhouse and raised-bed garden out back behind culinary. The goal of the garden initiative is reap some of the benefits of local produced food (as explained in section two of The Omnivore's Dilemma).
I also mentioned our local farmers market (hosted on Thursdays in the summer months at Stage Fort Park) as another alternative to industrial food sources. As an aside, Cape Ann Farmers Market was recently named one of the 101 best farmers market in the country (coming in at 85).
After the tour of the raised-beds and greenhouse we returned to our rhetorical analysis of each of the three sections in The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Part Five: What's next?
Before September 4 finish all of the summer work (pre-seminar work and during-the-seminar work) that you haven't gotten to yet. Share Google Docs with me or, if you absolutely have to, turn in hard copies on September 4.
Also, I'll be posting directions for the rhetorical analysis web project, which you can either get started on over the summer or wait until the school year starts. More on that soon.
Please email me with questions.
