Jude's English Blog

Prompt:  After reviewing the feedback on your argument essay, identify one thing you did well and one area you need to improve. Explain what you will do differently the next time you write an AP Lang argument essay. Prompt Response: One thing I did well was use strong personal evidence. One area I need to improve is sophistication. I could earn the sophistication point by including the implications or limitations of my argument. I could do this by providing the counterclaim of potential opponents and then addressing it. Next time I write an AP Lang argument essay I will spend some time making a specific plan to earn the sophistication point. Summary: Today in class we went over our AP Lang argument essay scores and started writing our own poems. Reflection: Simply spitting words out onto a piece of paper to make a poem is easy, but making a good poem will take a lot of time and be much more difficult.

Prompt:  Write about a conversation that changed you. Prompt Response: I recently had a conversation with my Dad that changed me. I'm not going to go into much detail as to what it was about because it was very personal. My Dad told me about his brothers life, who is my uncle I've never met, and it got me to change directions in my life. Summary: Today in class we completed our analysis worksheet of the poem "Constantly Risking Absurdity." Reflection: In order to understand a poem I have to read it multiple times.

Prompt:  Talk about a time when you had to write a poem, whether it was for an assignment, event, or special occasion. What was the writing process like for you, and were you proud of the finished product? Prompt Response : I had to write a haiku once for a school assignment. The writing process consisted of figuring out what a haiku was and then trying to find words with the right amount of syllables. I didn't care how the poem turned out, because I was only doing it for a grade. When I was done I wasn't very proud of the finished product because it didn't have any real meaning behind it. Summary: Today in class we learned how to analyze a poem. Reflection : Analyzing poems and figuring out the meaning behind them is difficult for me because they use so much figurative language.

Prompt:  Today, we learned how to use clustering as a brainstorming strategy before responding to any writing prompt. Think about today’s practice. How did clustering help you generate ideas, examples, etc for the prompt? What part of the clustering process was most useful to you, and do you think you would use this strategy when planning an AP Lang essay? Explain. Prompt Response: Clustering helped me generate ideas by breaking down a large topic into subsections and then into details. It helped me organize my thoughts and remember them. The subtopic part of the clustering process was must useful to me because these are what I'd turn into claims in my body paragraphs. I would definitely use this strategy when planning an AP Lang essay. Summary: Today in class we learned about the writing process and clustering. Reflection: Clustering will be super helpful for me when writing essays.

Prompt:  Yesterday, you constructed a full AP Language argument essay. Think about the experience from beginning to end. What part of writing the essay was easiest for you, and what part was the most challenging? Why? What is one thing you would do differently on your next argument essay? Prompt Response: The part about writing the essay that was easiest for me was the conclusion. The most challenging part of writing the essay was evidence and commentary on my first body paragraph. I didn't have trouble brainstorming, but had trouble putting my thoughts into words. Once I got started and wrote a few paragraphs, my ideas were flowing freely so that made my conclusion easy to write. One thing I would do differently on my next argument essay is spend a longer time planning and write my thoughts down. Summary: Today in class we wrote our argument essay. Reflection:  I should spend a little bit longer planning next time I write an argument essay.

Prompt:  In “Missing Your People,” Tracy Brower explains the importance of belonging. Describe a time when you felt like you truly belonged. What created that feeling? Prompt Response: A time when I felt like I truly belonged was playing lacrosse for Lakeside my freshman year. I played on the team in 8th grade, so I already knew a lot of the upperclassmen and most of the players in my grade were my friends. Additionally my brother was a senior on the team and he took me to practice and all the meals after the games. I made varsity that year and we won a playoff game. I felt like I truly belonged because I was succeeding in something I put a lot of effort into while being surrounded by people I was close to. Summary: In class today, we read and answered question in CommonLit about an article which stressed the importance of belonging. Reflection: I agree with the author, a sense of belonging is very important to the well-being of people.

Prompt:  Select the vocabulary word from today that you think will be most useful to you in the future. Explain what the word means in your own words and describe a situation in which you could realistically use it. Prompt Response : I think the word "contemptuous" will be the most useful to me in the future. The word means to have distaste for something. A situation in which I could realistically use it is to describe a person who already doesn't like a politician because of their political party without knowing anything about the politician. Summary: Today in class, we learned 15 vocabulary words and did some exercises with them. Reflection: I already knew about half of the vocabulary words' meanings.

Prompt:  Think about your practice with the “So What?” method today. What is one thing you understand about commentary now that you did not fully understand before? How will you apply it when writing your next AP Lang argument? Prompt Response: One thing I understand about commentary now that I did not fully understand before, is that I have to explain why the evidence is significant and not just what it means. The meaning of a piece of evidence doesn't matter if that evidence has no value. I learned how to deduce the value of evidence and further meanings of it from context clues. I will apply this when writing my next AP Lang assignment by explaining to the reader why my reasons are important. If the reader thinks my findings are important then they will think my argument is stronger than it might actually be. Summary: In class today we practiced the "So What?' part of commentary. Reflection: I need to take a little bit of time to plan out my commentary before I start wr...

Prompt:  After reviewing and scoring other AP Language argument essays, identify two important takeaways that you can apply to your own writing. Explain what you learned about claims, evidence, commentary, the “so what?” explanation, or the AP rubric. Use specific observations from the essays you reviewed. Write one complete paragraph.    Prompt Response: Two important takeaways from scoring the other AP Language essays that I can apply to my own writing, are that it is easy to get a 6/6 and that the points made in the essay don't have to be entirely correct. Writing a claim is not complicated, it consists of an argument and a reason why. When I am writing my overrated argument essay, selecting evidence will be easy because I have an abundance of experiences with my topic. As for commentary, I learned that it should demonstrate the meaning/significance of the evidence and explain how it is relevant/connects to the claim. Earlier, I mentioned that essays which scored 6/6 d...

Prompt:  Some students look at a rubric only after receiving their grade, while others use it as a guide while completing the assignment. Which approach do you usually take? After reviewing the AP Lang Argument Essay rubric today, explain how you could use the rubric as a roadmap to improve your argument writing. Prompt Response: I take neither of these approaches, I usually don't look at the rubric of an assignment. I could use the rubric as a roadmap to improve my argument writing by looking at specific ways to get points of my AP Lang Argument Essay. I'll plan my essay for about five minutes, and then write a three sentence introduction as to not waste time. I'll make sure that I follow the paragraph format with a claim, two pieces of evidence, and commentary. I'll try to get the sophistication point, but that will be the hardest point. I'm going to focus on getting the easy points. Summary: Today in class, we made a claim and evidence chart to help us write our ...

Prompt:  Think about a time when you completed an assignment without fully understanding what the teacher was looking for. How might knowing the “ins and outs” of a rubric change the way you approach an assignment? Connect your experience to what you learned today about the AP Lang Argument Essay rubric. Prompt Response: A time when I completed an assignment without fully understanding what the teacher was looking for was my individual written argument in AP Seminar. It was a 2,000 word defensible essay that would be written over the course of months, and I was too lazy to fully overview the rubric. I looked at it some, but never did a deep dive. I ended up getting a three on AP Seminar, but don't know what I got on my written argument. If I had known the "ins and outs" of the rubric I would've changed the way I approached this assignment by writing it to get specific points, such as sophistication. By learning the AP Lang Argument Essay rubric I discovered that I ca...

Prompt Response: A major event that has happened during my own lifetime that affected my country was the protests and riots that happened after the death of George Floyd. The death of George Floyd sparked a greater movement about police brutality in the United States. Many protests started around the country that turned into riots with people looting and burning stores. People all across the country were worried about police brutality but were also worried about their cities being destroyed. Although the panic caused by the George Floyd riots was probably not as great as what was caused by 9/11 it gave me a sense of the mental state of Americans following it. Summary: Today in class we read our classmates feedback on our paragraph, but my group didn't make any revisions. Reflection: Our group didn't change anything about our paragraph because although it was a little repetitive, it nailed in our point.

Prompt:  Think of a time when you or someone you know used informal language in a situation where formal language may have been more appropriate. What happened? Looking back, what could have been said differently, and what did the situation teach you about choosing your words carefully? Prompt Response: A time when someone I know used informal language in a situation where formal language may have been more appropriate was when my friend and I got in trouble with our teacher in middle school. Our teacher asked for our help moving old computer monitors out of the computer lab, and we thought it would be funny to hide them in random lockers for a little while. We intended to tell her in a little bit, of course; however, after some time had passed, our teacher found the monitors in a locker and started to question my friend and me. I realized how much trouble we could be in and spoke to our teacher in formal language, while my friend continued to joke around and speak to her in inform...

Prompt:  Working with others can expose you to ideas or perspectives you may not have considered on your own. What is one idea, suggestion, or approach from a group member that improved your paragraph or changed the way you thought about the argument? Explain how it helped you. Prompt Response: One idea from a group member that improved our paragraph was when Jocelyn proposed that we argue why uninformed voters voting was bad for the collective. This strengthened our claim because it provided a reason why uniformed voters should not have the same voting power as those who are informed. Using this reason we were able to derive pieces of evidence. It helped me recall times when letting an ignorant member of my group make a decision harmed the whole group. It also helped me remember why my coaches brush off inexperienced players. Summary: In class today, we finished writing our group paragraphs about an unpopular opinion, Reflection: Working in a group can be useful when the members...

Prompt:  Write about something you’ve always been curious about. Prompt Response: I've always been curious about what life is like for people who don't have internal dialogues and a mind's eye. Whenever I think of something I can hear a voice in my hand saying it and either the letters of the words or an image of it. It helps me to think clearly. Not having these traits seems so alien to me and it's shocking that some people don't have them. I can't imagine a way to know what it's like to not have them without not having them. Summary: Today in class we learned how to form a line of reasoning. Reflection: My group has so many ideas for our line of reasoning that it could actually be counterproductive. It might be better if we had less options for how to phrase things or evidence because we wouldn't spend as much time choosing.

Prompt:  Today, we learned how writers create a clear line of reasoning by connecting a claim, evidence, commentary, and conclusion. Which part of building an argument is most challenging for you, and why? Prompt Response: Evidence is the most challenging part of building an argument for me. I can usually think of something that I can use as evidence but have trouble putting it into words or finding a specific example. If I don't have many experiences or observations finding evidence can be difficult. I can think of readings but typically can't cite where they're from. I should probably read more and watch the news so I have recent readings I can remember. Summary: In class today, we went over why our writable assignments got low scores and how we can change that. Reflection: I can improve my writing by making a stronger conclusion that is not just a restatement of my claim.

Prompt:  Write about a fear you have overcome. Prompt Response: A fear that I have overcome is bugs. When I was really young I used to be scared of some of them like cockroaches and spiders. The most important factor in getting over my fear was just getting older. However, I've also had to kill or pick up many dead bugs. They're not very scary anymore because they're so small and they're not disgusting anymore.