It’s time for your third persuasive essay, this time on high school sports.
The essay prompt is available for download here.
The essay is due Friday in class if you hand in a printed copy and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. if you submit using Google Drive. Make sure that you correctly submit, convert, and share the document if you write it in Word.
Your revision of the mandatory voting essay will be due Thursday by class time.
Resources
In its series about Banned Books, the New York Public Library is highlighting the subversive work of Dr. Seuss:
Dr. Seuss himself admitted that as an author he was “subversive as hell,” and did not want to write stories about modeling good behavior for children. His books encouraged standing up to authority while comically illustrating the consequences of fear-based thinking—bold ideas that have made a Grinch out of those opposed to instilling such attitudes in children.
One of the items we’ll focus on this year in AP Language is broadening your background knowledge on a variety of subjects, from classic literature to current events. For now, I will be providing some of that information every class day on the Daily Wisdom site, which you can access here.
Each day, look for a great sentence, interesting quote, delightful poem, interesting article, or more.
Later in the year, you will be providing this information for the rest of us.
On the test day, you can choose between one of two tests. In one, you will have one section of matching the author to his/her quote and four paragraphs. In the other, you will need to write five paragraph responses.
The paragraph questions will come from this list:
- A number of the environmental pieces refer to an instinctual connection/attraction to nature. Using at least two examples, discuss the ways in which our authors suggest that we connect to nature on an instinctual level.
- In “Man’s Place in the Universe,” John Muir articulates a vision for how human beings should view their place in nature. What does he believe? Use example from the text.
- Using at least three sources, make an argument for what should be done to the national parks.
- Defend, refute, or qualify Rachel Carson’s call for the elimination of DDT.
- Chief Seattle asked, “what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night?” and Emerson argues that the solitude of nature is essential for the soul. Using these and at least one more source, discuss the argument that nature is necessary for a healthy soul.
- A number of the pieces refer to the concept of time and its relationship to environmentalism. Analyze this argument, using at least three pieces.
- Using at least three authors, one of whom should be Emerson, discuss how the power of nature serves to put human life and troubles in perspective.
- Which of the philosophers and authors that we studied were best embodied by the life of Alexander Super Tramp. Use at least two and explain in detail how these philosophers inspired him.
- One of the major critiques of environmentalists is that we have redefined progress/success in a damaging way. Using at least three authors, discuss this critique of “progress.”
- Compare and contrast Henry David Thoreau and Wallace Stegner’s arguments for the preservation of wild spaces.
We will have our third vocab quiz on Monday.
The four topics for the gun control debate:
- Should the government restrict the sale of assault weapons?
- Should stronger background checks be in place for all gun sales?
- Should schools permit/encourage armed teachers for student safety?
- Does gun ownership increase safety and protect lives?
Some of you have expressed a desire to read and learn more about Chris McCandless after reading Into the Wild. These links are some of the most interesting pieces/resources I have come across.
- The Cult of Chris McCandless
- Once More to the Bus
- The Chris McCandless Example, 20 Years Later
- Into the Wild Debunked
- New Yorker article on McCandless
- The False Being Within
- A Man Made Cold by the Universe
And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head…” –Primo Levi
