Not everyone was entirely impressed with Waiting for Superman, the documentary we watched today. This video is a response to some of its claims.

We have two essays ahead for the month of November, one argumentative piece and one research paper about education reform. You can download both of them here.

  • The Tiresias argument piece is due on Sunday, 11/17 at 1:00 p.m. and should be submitted using Google Drive.
  • The Education Reform research paper is due on Wednesday, November 27 at 11:59 p.m. and can be submitted via e-mail or Google Drive.

Don’t wait to get started on these major assignments.

We’ll being having our third test of the year on Thursday, covering the elements of persuasion. The topics for the test include:

  • Logos
  • Pathos
  • Ethos
  • Kairos
  • SOAPS Model
  • Tone/WILDS Model
  • The Toulmin Model
  • Warrants

All of the notes are (or will be) online before the exam.

Your fourth AP Language essay is available for download here.

American author Edward Abbey wrote the following personal critique of patriotism in his book  Confessions of a Barbarian:

“My loyalties will not be bound by national borders, or confined in time by one nation’s history, or limited in the spiritual dimension by one language and culture. I pledge my allegiance to the damned human race, and my everlasting love to the green hills of Earth, and my intimations of glory to the singing stars, to the very end of space and time.”

In a well-developed essay, defend, refute, or qualify Abbey’s argument that we should rethink our loyalty to a particular nation and refocus it on broader love to humanity, nature, and/or something else.