Sunday, February 24, 2013

2/25

Warm-up:  Take a handout from the stool.  DO NOT write on it.  In your notebook, answer the questions and make notes about which words you know or don’t know.  Jot down definitions as we go over the warm-up.

Classwork:  share satires, turn in satire homework, go over independent reading checkpoints (posted in classroom docs) and the assignments, get together with reading groups to discuss and begin reading.

Homework:  1.  Actively read your book.  While your annotations will not be checked, you should always annotate and take notes to aid your comprehension and preparation for testing.  Be prepared for a quiz or assessment at each checkpoint.

2.  For each checkpoint, you will be creating your own synthesis question.   You will write the introduction and assignment and gather 2-3 documents related to the topic.  The topic must be an idea central to the part of your independent book that you just read, and the related documents can be visuals (pictures, cartoons, ads) or written texts (articles, blogs entries, editorials, passages from books, websites, magazines or journals).   Remember that the ideas in the supporting documents do not all have to have the same viewpoint and they can be loosely related to your topic (the way the rating charts for debates are only loosely related to whether television is good or bad.) 

Here is one sample of a synthesis question introduction and assignment.  Of course there are MANY more examples on apcentral.collegeboard.com.  

Introduction
Mass public schooling has traditionally proclaimed among its goals the following:  (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. These two goals—one aimed at the betterment of individuals and the other aimed at the betterment of society—might seem at odds with one another. At the very least, these two goals are a cause of much tension within schools at every level:  schools want students to be allowed or encouraged to think for themselves and pursue their own interests, but schools also believe that it is right in some circumstances to encourage conformity in order to socialize students.

Assignment
Read the sources that follow (including the introductory information) carefully. Then choose an issue related to the tension in schools between individuality and conformity. You might choose an issue such as dress codes, mandatory classes, or the structure of the school day. You do not have to choose an issue that you have experienced personally. Then, write an essay in which you use this issue to argue the extent to which schools should support individuality or conformity. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.   

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