Greetings:
Hi, there! How are you? I look forward to seeing you and your "shining morning face" next Tuesday!
Keep the Faith:
I sincerely hope that no one drops the class because he or she hasn't kept up with all of the blogs. It's just one assignment, and there will plenty more assignments coming up throughout the trimester. In the long run of life, it's a beneficial character trait to continually challenge yourself. Of course, there are always moments in life where we need to ease up, but the people who continually find ways to challenge themselves tend to continue to grow and develop skills that come in very handy down the line. The foresight to look down the road and know that the skills that you will develop in an AP class will benefit you personally even though it will mean some more work in the present is a valuable perspective. Finally, I think that in June when it's all said and done, I believe that you will say it's a worthwhile experience.
Oh, come one, give it a try. You can do it!!!
Purpose:
"What is the purpose of this assignment?" you may wonder as you slog through another long article. First of all, the unsatisfying answer is that a summer reading and writing requirement is standard protocol for all AP classes across the United States. However, in addition, here are a few of my goals for each of you this summer:
Navigation: Where are those old blogs?
To access the earliest blogs, you need to scroll all the way down to the very bottom left-hand corner of the page, and then select "Previous." This will give you access to any of the older blog posts.
Evaluation:
As stated on the very first blog, "Evaluation for the AP Summer Blog is on a four-point scale with four points awarded for college-level responses that answer the question and satisfy the requirements of the assignment completely. In terms of a time frame, do them when you can."
The more that you demonstrate that you have read and understood the piece of writing, the better that you will do. That being said, my perspective on the summer blog is that if you do what I would consider to be reasonable best effort, you will do fine. I'm not interesting in taking off points for this or that; it's more about participation at this point of the year.
If you don't get them all done by midnight tonight, please keep going and try to get them all done before school starts. If I'm feeling the love, I might only deduct one-half a point for any really, really, really quality entries submitted between September 1 and September 5th by 8 pm.
Deadline:
This also was posted and discussed at the meeting in June: "For full credit, you must be done by midnight on Wednesday, August 31. After that, there's a one-point deduction for any entries you submit in September." You can definitely still turn entries in and receive up to three points of credit until the end of September. After that date, if there are extenuating circumstances, you and I can discuss and work something out.
Hi, there! How are you? I look forward to seeing you and your "shining morning face" next Tuesday!
Keep the Faith:
I sincerely hope that no one drops the class because he or she hasn't kept up with all of the blogs. It's just one assignment, and there will plenty more assignments coming up throughout the trimester. In the long run of life, it's a beneficial character trait to continually challenge yourself. Of course, there are always moments in life where we need to ease up, but the people who continually find ways to challenge themselves tend to continue to grow and develop skills that come in very handy down the line. The foresight to look down the road and know that the skills that you will develop in an AP class will benefit you personally even though it will mean some more work in the present is a valuable perspective. Finally, I think that in June when it's all said and done, I believe that you will say it's a worthwhile experience.
Oh, come one, give it a try. You can do it!!!
Purpose:
"What is the purpose of this assignment?" you may wonder as you slog through another long article. First of all, the unsatisfying answer is that a summer reading and writing requirement is standard protocol for all AP classes across the United States. However, in addition, here are a few of my goals for each of you this summer:
- The overall selection of pieces should challenge you to a certain extent in terms of subject matter, length, and complexity;
- You continue to develop and expand your ability to comprehend and write well about literary non-fiction writing that is more about ideas than simply plot details;
- You continue to develop and expand your ability to handle writing that is more sophisticated in topic and/or tone;
- You develop and foster a growing awareness (and hopefully appreciation or even love!) for some of the debates that are part of the intellectual life of the United States or the world;
- You continue to develop your rhetorical analysis skills by analyzing how a speaker or writer builds an argument to persuade a specific audience.
Navigation: Where are those old blogs?
To access the earliest blogs, you need to scroll all the way down to the very bottom left-hand corner of the page, and then select "Previous." This will give you access to any of the older blog posts.
Evaluation:
As stated on the very first blog, "Evaluation for the AP Summer Blog is on a four-point scale with four points awarded for college-level responses that answer the question and satisfy the requirements of the assignment completely. In terms of a time frame, do them when you can."
The more that you demonstrate that you have read and understood the piece of writing, the better that you will do. That being said, my perspective on the summer blog is that if you do what I would consider to be reasonable best effort, you will do fine. I'm not interesting in taking off points for this or that; it's more about participation at this point of the year.
If you don't get them all done by midnight tonight, please keep going and try to get them all done before school starts. If I'm feeling the love, I might only deduct one-half a point for any really, really, really quality entries submitted between September 1 and September 5th by 8 pm.
Deadline:
This also was posted and discussed at the meeting in June: "For full credit, you must be done by midnight on Wednesday, August 31. After that, there's a one-point deduction for any entries you submit in September." You can definitely still turn entries in and receive up to three points of credit until the end of September. After that date, if there are extenuating circumstances, you and I can discuss and work something out.