Week of Feb 26 - March 5

We have read the two letters between an executive of the Coca-Cola company and a representative of the Grove Press. In your blackboard discussions this week, please analyze the rhetorical strategies each writer uses to achieve his purpose and evaluate which letter offers the more persuasive case. In your evaluations, be certain to point out why you think one letter is more persuasive than the other - based on strategies the writer employs. Remember to limit your posts to 4 - 5 sentences so it is easier for others to respond to your comments. These posts are worth 10 points.

February 14 - February 22

We're going to take a different approach to the blackboard discussion this week. As we work on our AP Exam preparations, I think it will be helpful if we read, discuss and analyze the practice essays. This week's essay "The Company Man", by syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, is a fairly easy piece to begin with. You've already done a couple of these in your summer portfolio, and we're going to go back to those after we've practiced with a few new ones. I hope you will see a noticeable improvement in your analytical skills when we review the essays you wrote last summer and compare them to the work we're doing now.

For this week, read the Goodman piece and discuss your ideas for analysis. Remember that it is to your advantage to follow the assignment guidelines to the letter - they will usually tell you exactly what the AP test writers want you to focus on in your discussion. Remember, too, that it is important to be able to identify the writer's rhetorical mode(s) - narrative, use of examples or illustrations, cause-effect; comparison-contrast; argumentation-persuasion; description; categorization; definition; etc.

I'd like to see everyone post at least 4 times this week - they don't have to be long - 3 - 4 sentences each, featuring your observations and questions.

These AP essay discussions will be worth 10 points each week beginning with this one.