AP Language and Composition “It’s a ‘Try-it-Out’ Tuesday! March 31, 2009 Mr. Houghteling

AGENDA Bellringer—Writing an effective lead based on an argumentative / persuasive prompt. Analyze student writing—examine the presence of rhetorical appeals and the rhetorical triangle within sample student essays. Use a scoring guide—applying the ACT essay score guide to sample student essays. Identify the correlation between successful writing—using the rhetorical appeals and rhetorical triangle—and the ACT score guide.

Bellringer On a separate sheet of paper, you will practice with timing and prewriting on an ACT-related essay prompt. You have 10 minutes total to complete the following: -Prewriting – T-Chart, Venn diagram, Cluster diagram, your choice. 4 minutes suggested. -Drafting your lead – experiment using an effective lead in order to build into your thesis and argument. 6 minutes suggested.

The Prompt Educators debate extending high school to five years because of increasing demands on students from employers and colleges to participate in extracurricular activities and community service in addition to having high grades. Some educators support extending high school to five years because they think students need more time to achieve all that is expected of them. Other educators do not support extending high school to five years because they think students would lose interest in school and attendance would drop in the fifth year.

The Question Take a position about the following statement: American high schools should be extended to five years in order to encourage all students to participate in extracurricular activities, community service, and extended academic pursuits. Create an argumentative essay in which you support, reject, or qualify the statement above. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

Analyzing Student Writing In groups of four, read two student essays (Batman / Hawkgirl) or (The Flash / Green Lantern). Analyze the writing, identifying the writer’s use of rhetorical appeals or rhetorical triangle. Then, read the ACT Scoring Guide carefully. Assign a score to the essays you’ve read. Discuss your findings with your group.

HOMEWORK Using your analysis, defend your score of one student’s writing: Batman, The Flash, The Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. Your analysis may be between one and two pages and should include specific references from the student writing as examples.