Preface: What is Pre-AP?

Pre-AP is a registered College Board trademark. It encompasses strategies, activities, and

curriculum alignment aimed at preparing students for the rigorous challenges in an AP English
course and for success on one of the two the AP English exams.
Pre-AP is based on the following two important premises. The first is the expectation that all
students can perform well at rigorous academic levels. This expectation should be reflected in
curriculum and instruction throughout the school such that all students are consistently being
challenged to expand their knowledge and skills to the next level.
The second important premise of Pre-AP is the belief that we can prepare every student for
higher intellectual engagement by starting the development of skills and acquisition of
knowledge as early as possible. Addressed effectively, the middle and high school years can
provide a powerful opportunity to help all students acquire the knowledge, concepts, and skills
needed to engage in a higher level of learning.
One of the most appealing aspects of Pre-AP as opposed to other curriculum models is that each
school can mold its Pre-AP program to fit its local needs while at the same time giving teachers
and administrators a rigorous goal through the AP exam. This particular PreAP workshop is
designed with Chinese teachers and students in mind. It aims to take into consideration the
special needs for second language learners.

Pre-AP versus Vertical Teams

Oftentimes people are confused about the differences between Pre-AP and Vertical Teams.
Vertical Teams are part of the Pre-AP program. Vertical Teams are comprised of groups of
teachers who work to align curriculum around the skills and content needed for success on the
AP exams. They work to ensure that each grade level represented by the team has appropriate
age and skill level material that will build from year to year. Pre-AP programs include this
vertical articulation, but also give teachers strategies and activities that are effective in preparing
students for success on AP exams.
For this Pre-AP workshop participants will engage in both Vertical Team Alignment activities
and will also practice strategies and activities that promote critical thinking and skill
development.

Special Considerations for Chinese Teachers and Students

One of the biggest challenges on the AP English exam for second language
learners of any language is attaining language fluency. Proficiency in a second
language takes time and practice. For these students a strong Pre-AP program is
more important than it is for native English speakers. Teachers in the Pre-AP years
can offer students opportunities to speak, listen, read, and write in English. They

can also start to build some cultural literacy about western customs that will help
unlock complicated texts they will encounter on the AP English exam.
One advantage Chinese students have over other second language learners is a
strong foundation in English grammar. If Pre-AP teachers develop lessons that
apply that knowledge to speaking, listening, and writing activities students will
develop language fluency more quickly. This workshop will offer some models of
how to extend grammar instruction to help students become more proficient in
English. Pre-AP teachers are encouraged to develop other lessons based on these
models.
Vocabulary acquisition is another area in which Pre-AP teachers can help build
language fluency. As with grammar instruction, it is important that students be
engaged in activities that allow them to speak, listen, and write.
In conclusion, the Pre-AP English teacher is critical in providing opportunities for
students to develop language skills. This is true for native speakers, but even more
important for second language learners.

Section I Overview of the AP English Language and Literature Exams

The College Board offers two exams in English, the English Language and the English Literature
Exams. For Chinese teachers beginning a Pre-AP Vertical Team, the AP English Language and
Composition Exam should be the basis of the initial alignment. The AP English Literature Exam
requires more knowledge of western history and culture and will provide an additional challenge
for Chinese students. As the PreAP Vertical Team becomes more entrenched in the school
culture, teachers might consider adding the AP Literature and Composition Exam. The following
chart outlines the similarities and differences in the two exams. The Pre-AP Vertical Team can
get ideas for genres and skill development from the chart.
Comparison of AP Literature and Composition and AP Language and Composition
Courses
AP English Literature
AP English Language
Genres
Genres
Fiction: novels, plays, poetry
Non-fiction: speeches, essays, editorials,
visuals, letters, memoirs, biographies
Students Must Know
Students Must Know
Literary Elements for All Genres: figurative
Rhetorical Purposes: relationship among
language, symbols, irony, characterization,
speaker/audience/message
setting, plot structure, point of view, tone,
Rhetorical Strategies to Achieve Purpose:
theme
diction, imagery, syntax, structure, irony, satire,
Specific to Poetry (Prosody): Rhythm and
details, omissions, tropes, and schemes,
basic meters, sound devices, images, stanza
Specific to Satire: direct and indirect
forms, repetition
Specific to Argument: appeals, fallacies,
Specific to Prose (including drama):
Toulmin, Rogerian
rhetorical strategies, syntax, diction, speaker,
Specific to Synthesis: blending sources,
audience, purpose
attribution, reading visual images
Exam Structure
Multiple Choice: Either four or five passages
balanced among poetry and prose, pre and post
20th century works. Students have one hour to
read the passages and answer approximately
55 questions. 45% of total score.
Essays: 2 hours 65% of total score
1 on a poem(s) Usually the poem is not
commonly taught. Students must make their
own meanings. In some years students have
been asked to compare and contrast two
poems. In such cases the poems may be more
familiar.
1 on prose A short snippet for a play, short

Exam Structure
Multiple Choice: Approximately four
passages. While in recent years the multiple
choice has had more post 19th century prose
than pre 20th century, that could shift. Students
should read both modern and older texts. They
should also be prepared for a few writing
convention questions. Approximately 54-55
questions. One hour. 45% of total score.
Essays: 2 hours and 15 minutes- 65% of
total score
1 Synthesis Essay Students are given 15 extra
minutes to read the 5 to 7 sources related to the
topic in the prompt. After the 15 minutes of
reading time, students have two hours to write
three essays. The synthesis essay can ask

story, or novel. This essay task has the most

direct connection to the Language exam.
1 on a novel or play of students choice
Students choose a longer work to apply to the
given prompt.

students to form an opinion (argument) or

evaluate the sources. In either case they must
embed the opinions of others with theirs. They
must also cite their references to the sources.
1 or 2 argument essays
1 or 2 analysis essays
In recent years students have written one
synthesis, analysis, and argument. The test
development committee can, however, decide
to have students write two arguments or two
analyses. The synthesis question is the only
guarantee.

Representative Authors
The following author suggestions are taken from the AP English Language Course Description
Guide. The full Course Description Guide can be found on AP Central (
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Controller.jpf). The guide make is clear that the list in
merely a suggestion and that other authors can be used.
For the purposes of this workshop the list is offered to start a conversation on texts that might be
used in a Pre-AP Vertical Team curriculum. Since the test contains text selections from Pre-20th
century, it is important to expose students to some early writings. Many of these are available on
the internet and do not have copyright issues. Students also need Post-20th century texts. These
might be more difficult to acquire as many are copyrighted.

Pre-20th Century
Joseph Addison, Matthew Arnold, Francis Bacon, James Boswell, Thomas Carlyle, Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, Jean de Crvecoeur, Charles Darwin, Thomas De Quincey, Frederick
Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Fuller, Edward Gibbon,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, William Hazlitt, Thomas Hobbes, Harriet Jacobs (Linda Brent),
Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Johnson, Charles Lamb, John Locke,
Thomas Macaulay, Niccol Machiavelli, John Stuart Mill, John Milton, Michel de Montaigne,
Thomas More, Thomas Paine, Francis Parkman, Walter Pater, Samuel Pepys, John Ruskin,
George Bernard Shaw, Richard Steele, Jonathan Swift, Henry David Thoreau, Alexis de
Tocqueville, Oscar Wilde, Mary Wollstonecraft
20th Century to the Present
Edward Abbey, Diane Ackerman, James Agee, Paula Gunn Allen, Roger Angell, Natalie Angier,
Gloria Anzalda, Hannah Arendt, Michael Arlen, Margaret Atwood, James Baldwin, Dave Barry,
Melba Patillo Beals, Simone de Beauvoir, Lerone Bennett Jr., Wendell Berry, Sven Birkerts,
Susan Bordo, Jacob Bronowski, David Brooks, William F. Buckley, Judith Butler, Rachel
Carson, G. K. Chesterton, Winston Churchill, Kenneth Clark, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Jill Ker
Conway, Arlene Croce, Richard Dawkins, Vine Deloria Jr., Daniel Dennett, Jared Diamond, Joan

Didion, Annie Dillard, Maureen Dowd, Elizabeth Drew, W. E. B. Du Bois, Leon Edel, Gretel
Ehrlich, Loren Eiseley, Richard Ellmann, Nora Ephron, Niall Ferguson, Timothy
Ferris, M. F. K. Fisher, Frances Fitzgerald, Janet Flanner (Gent), Tim Flannery, Shelby Foote,
Richard Fortey, John Hope Franklin, Antonia Fraser, Thomas L. Friedman, Paul Fussell, John
Kenneth Galbraith, Mavis Gallant, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Atul Gawande, Ellen Goodman,
Nadine Gordimer, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, David Halberstam, Elizabeth
Hardwick, Elva Trevino Hart, Chris Hedges, John Hersey, Christopher Hitchens, Edward
Hoagland, Richard Holmes, bell hooks, Zora Neale Hurston, Pauline Kael, Evelyn Fox Keller,
Helen Keller, George Kennan, Jamaica Kincaid, Martin Luther King Jr., Barbara Kingsolver,
Maxine Hong Kingston, Naomi Klein, Paul Krugman, Alex Kuczynski, Lewis H. Lapham, T. E.
Lawrence, Aldo Leopold, Gerda Lerner, Andy Logan, Philip Lopate, Barry Lopez, Norman
Mailer, Nancy Mairs, Peter Matthiessen, Mary McCarthy, Frank McCourt, Bill McKibben, John
McPhee, Margaret Mead, H. L. Mencken, Jessica Mitford, N. Scott Momaday, Jan Morris, John
Muir, Donald M. Murray, V. S. Naipaul, Geoffrey Nunberg, Joyce Carol Oates, Barack Obama,
Tillie Olsen, Susan Orlean, George Orwell, Cynthia Ozick, Steven Pinker, Francine Prose, David
Quammen, Arnold Rampersad, Ishmael Reed, Rick Reilly, David Remnick, Adrienne Rich,
Mordecai Richler, Richard Rodriguez, Sharman Apt Russell, Carl Sagan, Edward Said, Scott
Russell Sanders, George Santayana, Simon Schama, Arthur M. Schlesinger, David Sedaris,
Richard Selzer, Leslie Marmon Silko, Barbara Smith, Red Smith, Susan Sontag, Shelby Steele,
Lincoln Steffens, Ronald Takaki, Paul Theroux, Lewis Thomas, George Trevelyan, Calvin
Trillin, Barbara Tuchman, Cynthia Tucker, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, John Updike, Gore Vidal,
Alice Walker,Jonathan Weiner, Eudora Welty, Cornel West, E. B. White, George Will, Terry
Tempest Williams, Garry Wills, E. O. Wilson, Edmund Wilson, Tom Wolfe, Virginia Woolf,
Richard Wright, Malcolm X, Anzia Yezierska

Vertical Alignment of Reading Selections:

The following chart contains authors for the Representative list above as well as Amy Tan and
Amy Chua. Those works and authors listed as Foundational would be the most easily
accessible for students, the Intermediate texts more challenging, and Advanced the most
difficult.
Members of a Pre-AP Vertical Team should decide on works that are appropriate for each grade
level and then teach them using the strategies found in this workshop.
Foundational Authors and Texts
Ben Franklin Autobiography and
collections of his proverbs
Amy Tan - The Opposite of Fate
Barbara Kingslover Any of her
short stories or essays from High
Tide in Tucson
Intermediate Authors and Texts
Amy Chua The Battle Hymn of
the Tiger Mother
Maxine Hong Kingston China
Men and Woman Warrior
Barbara Kingslover The Bean
Trees
Amy Tan The Joy Luck Club
Jamaica Kincaid Girl
Martin Luther King- I Have a
Dream
Zora Neale Hurston How It Feels
to Be Colored Me
Advanced Authors and Texts
Amy Tan The Bonesetters
Daughter
Jamaica Kincaid On First Seeing
England
Francis Bacon Of Studies
Martin Luther King A Letter
from Birmingham Jail
James Baldwin If Black English
Isnt English Then Tell Me What
Is
George Orwell Shooting an
Elephant
Abraham Lincolns 1st and 2nd
Inaugural Addresses

Section 2: Close Reading

While the following reading standards are from the PSAT and SAT exams, they are useful for
Pre-AP programs. If Pre-AP Vertical Teams align to these standards, they will be preparing
students for the AP exam.
Examine the standards and place a plus sign (+) by those that are currently strong in your
curriculum and a negative sign (-) by those that need attention.

Critical Reading Standards from the PSAT and SAT

Determining the Meaning of Words
Understanding of vocabulary and sentence structure Student determines the meaning of a
word in a sentence or a section of text by using context clues, knowledge of the meaning of
words, knowledge of root words and affixes, and understanding of how the different parts of a
sentence fit together.
Authors Craft
Understanding of an authors use of language and devices Student understands an authors
purpose in a text. Student recognizes that authors use word choice, literary devices and rhetorical
devices to achieve certain effects.
Reasoning and Inferencing
Use of reasoning and critical thinking to extend or elaborate on a text Student uses reasoning
to connect ideas within a text or across short texts and to draw conclusions about a text or texts.
Student makes inferences and recognizes implications in a text.
Organization and Ideas
Understanding of ideas and recognition of a texts organization Student understands, connects
and compares ideas within a text or across short texts. Student understands how a text is
organized and recognizes the functions of different parts of a text

Understanding Literary Elements (This standard applies more to the AP Literature

Exam than to the English Language Exam.)
Use of knowledge of literary elements Student uses understanding of setting, plot,
characterization, theme and narrative perspective (point of view) when analyzing a literary text.

Critical Reading Activity 1: Levels of Questions

If we want students to improve their thinking skills, we must teach them to ask interesting
questions that will lead to critical thinking. This requires that teachers refrain from doing the
thinking for them. It is more important to teach the students to ASK questions than it is for the
students to answer questions we ask them. Furthermore, teaching them to ask questions helps
them approach a text from their point of interest. This will encourage deeper critical thinking.
Below is an essay prompt from the AP Literature Exam. It emphasizes the need for students to
have the skill of questioning.
2004 AP Essay Prompt Critic Roland Barthes has said, Literature is the question minus the
answer. Choose a novel or play and, considering Barthes observation, write an essay in which
you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers.
Explain how the authors treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a
whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
The following strategy called Levels of Questions provides students with a system to form
good questions.
Level One Questions: These questions can be answered definitely with facts found in the text or
by information readily available in outside sources.
Example: Name the feuding families in Romeo and Juliet.
Example: Where in Italy is Verona located?
Example: What is an apothecary?
Notice that level one questions have one correct answer and lend themselves to matching,
multiple choice, or fill-in[-the-blank tests. They are important because they require the student
to read the work and provide support for levels two and three questions. Students do need to be
attentive to details.
Level Two Questions: The answers to these questions are implied rather than stated directly in
the text. Asking these types of questions requires students to draw inferences based on specific
information they can cite to back up their conclusions.
Example: What is Romeos concept of love at the start of the play?
Example: Is Friar Lawrence or the Nurse more to blame for the tragedy?
Example: How do you explain Tybalts anger toward Romeo?
Level Three Questions: These questions are more abstract. They go outside the text and
present issues for discussion that bring in the students; frame of reference.
Example: Are girls Juliets age ready to be married?
Example: Is love at first sight really love?
Example: Should parents arrange marriages for their children?
Notice that while level three questions will probably promote the most discussion, they may not
necessarily require that the students have carefully read the text.

Levels of Questions Practice: Visual Image

The following picture was taken during the 1930s Dust Bowl in the southwestern United States.
Farmers lost their crops and were forced to move their families. Most went westward to
California. As they migrated they would often form camps. This picture is of a mother, Florence
Owen Thompson, who stopped at one of these camps on her way to California.
Write three questions, a level one, two and three. We will use these questions as a basis of a
discussion.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1998021539/PP/

Levels of Questions Practice: Lou Gehrigs Farewell Speech

Lou Gehrig was one of Americas greatest baseball players. He, unfortunately, contracted a fatal
motor neuron disease and died at age 37. He was known not only for his baseball ability, but
also for his kindness and humility. He delivered the following retirement speech in Yankee
stadium.
The following exercise models instruction that will help students develop fluency in English and
will prepare them for the AP English Exam. You will engage in reading, listening, discussing,
and writing activities.
Read Gehrigs speech, annotating the parts that you find interesting and also the parts that you
find confusing. After you finish, we will listen to a delivery of the speech. You will then write
three questions, a level one, two and three.
Lou Gehrigs Farewell Speech
Full text version of the Farewell Speech
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have

been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I

consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen
years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to
associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to
have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have
spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next
nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in
baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.
"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends
you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in
white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful motherin-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When
you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build
your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown
more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.
"So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live
for."
http://www.lougehrig.com/about/speech.htm

Related Writing Activity:

Brainstorming: In groups of 3-4 people discuss the main ideas/themes that the picture of the
Migrant Mother and Lou Gehrigs Farewell Speech raise. These ideas should be universal
and be level 3 thinking. Each group should write one idea from each work to share with the
large group.
Individually, choose one idea and write a personal response to it. For instance, from the
Migrant Mother, we might formulate an idea that The responsibilities of motherhood help
women perserve through adversity. Your response to that idea should reflect your opinions and
experiences. This type of personal writing will help students develop the skills to write the more
structured academic essays required on the AP exam.
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John Meng
College Essay
Eat! my father silently hissed at me, There is absolutely no reason to feel guilty;
besides, you might even develop a taste for it.
I struggled to hold back my rage.
Not...funnydad
He chose wisely to end the brief exchange, jumping back into the not-so-funny table
humor that engulfed the rest of my relatives. It was a scheme to lower my defenses. Out of the
corner of my eye, I saw that he had already adjusted his gaze to the center of my plate in eager
anticipation. Gulp There was no way out. Cornered against an unbreakable standard of etiquette
and a father who might just have had a little too much to drink, I finally decided to gather
whatever confidence that remained, take the risk and dive head-first into the ominous future.
My hands were quivering uncontrollably and yet I began to meticulously position the
chopsticks in their positions. Uncles, laughing, became silent; aunts, gossiping, became still;
fathers, anticipating, became motionless. After staring at his cold plate for 10 minutes, was this
Americanized boy really going to experience gritty Chinese culture? I cautiously raised the piece
of meat towards my mouth; time slowed down for sure.
Are you out of your mind?! Think of the consequences. What would people say?
pleaded a voice inside my head.
Life cannot be lived without risk! Think of the success! Be polite to your relatives!
persuaded another.
It was true. My uncle treated me to this dinner. I would be insane to anger relatives.
Shutting my eyes, I crossed the point of no return and swallowed the piece of meat. On that
fateful day, Ia law-abiding citizen who has never robbed a bank, committed fraud, or
participated in money launderingviolated one of civilizations most sacred pillars of humanity;
I ate a part of mans best friend.
Opening my eyes, I watched my family cheer and felt my confidence skyrocket. I
succeeded? I succeeded! I had become an epic hero for my derring-do. Victory was surely mine.
Wrong. I nearly vomited 5 minutes later. My stomach quarantined me to the bathroom for
the evening. After arriving home and recounting the incident, my friends made fun of me for 2
slow weeks.
I learned the hard way. Risks do not always have a happy ending. And yet what better
way could I have learned it? Success without failure, is that even possible? Maybe it wasnt the
best ideaphysically, morally, and sociallyto have eaten that fateful piece, however, in taking
that risk, mans best friend did become my friend. He taught me the necessity of taking risks and
the humility that often comes attached. I have no regrets. Gulp Maybe this topic wasnt the best
ideawho knows, you might just be a member of PETA. Brushing aside crushed fairy-tales, I
embrace the possibility of a happy ending. This is a risk I must take.

A Gift to My Second Motherland

Michelle Ren - 2005
I come from the famous northeastern city of China - Harbin, also known
as the Little Paris of the East. Every year, tens of thousands of people from
all over the world rush to my hometown to see the International Harbin Ice
and Snow Festival. At forty below zero, Harbin is actually further north than
the notoriously cold Vladivostok of Russia. As a result, mythological ice and
snow sculptures lit with bright neon lights last from early December until late
March. It was during one of these festivals that I got to perform in public for
the first time in my life at the age of five. I was one of the twenty amateur
artists invited to participate alongside the greatest of Chinese sculptors. As a
crowd gathered around me, I tipped my toes, barely reaching the
canvas, and scrupulously painted my peony blossom for the awing
audience in a freezing world of gleaming snow. Little did I know that
twelve years later I would be proudly painting the same national flower in
front an American audience.
When I just turned three, my mom sent me to study Chinese
calligraphy and brush painting under a stringent master. As I carried my
stack of rice paper and roll of thick brushes on the bumpy bus ride to the
citys art academy and back home every weekend, I slowly mastered the
precise control of brush strokes and the aesthetic sense of color choice.
Before long I was competing on a national level and winning awards and
receiving recognition. I was most proud to receive my marble seal on my
ninth birthday. After I carefully stamped my seal on my finished work, I
always stood back and squinted at the painting with my right hand
supporting my chin, admiring at the beautiful crimson mark of the seal while
imitating my teacher at the same time. Every day after practice, I carefully
wiped my precious seal with a favorite handkerchief and waxed its surfaces
until every corner shone under the dim light. It was a pleasure to paint - I
loved how the colors blend together perfectly and the unique use of empty
space. At the same time, I was glad to give people a different view at lifes

simplicity through my paintings, thus offering them another way to seek

inner peace as well as harmony with nature. To me, Chinese brush painting
was not only an art; it was part of my culture, and thus my identity.
When we moved to America, I stuffed every single art supply I could
possibly find into my jam-packed backpack, secretly hoping that the more I
took with me, the more memories of China I would keep. Before my English
was good enough to communicate with my peers, I turned to Chinese brush
painting for consolation. My artistic talent slowly became well known among
the Chinese American society of Louisville as family friends and neighbors
admired my paintings hanging on the walls of our apartment. One day I
received an invitation to perform at the Asia Institute, Inc. for the AsianPacific Heritage Americans celebration. I was overjoyed at the news and
immediately started preparing for the performance.
On the day of the celebration, the lively decorated auditorium was
filled with hundreds of people of various nationalities. During the first part,
accomplished musicians captured the audiences attention as they played
the violin, banjo, Er-Hu, piano, flute, and sitar. When my name was
announced, I slowly walked up the steps toward the center of the stage,
where my supplies were already set up. The entire auditorium was deadly
silent. I felt all seven hundred eyes on my silky Qi Pao. I picked up the brush
and dipped its tip into the thick paint. My hands were trembling. A million
thoughts were running through my mind. What if I spilled the ink? What if I
messed up the petals? Just as I was starting to have second thoughts, the
music of the legendary romance between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (the
Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet) started playing in the background.
Having listened to the music almost every time I practiced brush painting, I
quickly snapped back to my usual artistic trance. My brush strokes easily
picked up the rhythm of the music. They raced as though they were the
lovers chasing after each other in an endless field, relaxed when the sad Zhu
Yingtai thought about her lover for the last time before committing suicide,
and finally ended with a dab in the center of the flower when the souls of the

two star-crossed lovers flew out of their tombs as a couple of beautiful

butterflies, finally able to stay together for eternity. The painting, now two
vivacious peonies, was finished and I turned around to face the mesmerized
audience whose eyes were still transfixed on my artwork. Next came the
roaring clapping that lasted several minutes. I smiled and waved to my
parents, who were now beaming with pride.
I went up the stage as a hesitant little girl who was intimidated by the
language and cultural barriers. But I came down the stairs with pride in my
own culture. Years later, when I learned that an American eagerly asked for
my painting, I also realized that I had delivered part of my culture to my
second motherland.

Migrant Mother Sources

The following websites provide details about Florence Owens Thompson, the mother
photographed by Dorthea Lange.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/depressions-migrant-mother-remains-a-powerfulimage/493338
http://www.hulu.com/watch/71328
http://imagespublicdomain.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/who-was-dorothea-langes-migrantmother/
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2006/3/06.03.10.x.html#j
http://web.archive.org/web/20020602103656/http://www.newtimesslo.com/archives/cov_stories_2002/cov_01172002.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/02/dustbowl.photo/index.html?
_s=PM:LIVING#cnnSTCText
2001 AP Language Argumentative Essay Prompt:

Seminar

Purposes:

Guidelines:

To generate ideas for later exploration

To practice reflective and critical thinking
To refine conversation skills (conference)
To improve listening skills
To focus on textual evidence

Everyone should speak at least once.

No one person or persons should dominate. If you have spoken three times, wait
at least five minutes before talking.
Please address your peers by surnames.
Grades are determined by student and teacher.
Your grade is based on a healthy balance among 1) listening to others 2)
speaking 3) questioning and clarifying points made by others 4) familiarity with
the text 4) ability to draw parallels and make connections.
Be aware of people who are trying to jump in, but are having a difficult time.
Ask thoughtful questions that clarify and expand ideas.
Be willing to qualify or abandon your initial opinions if you are persuaded by
others that you need to do so.
When drawing parallels and making connections refer to the text.
Be comfortable with silence.
Make eye contact with your peers, not the teacher.
The teacher will act as facilitator not as the authority.
Remember, this is a discovery and critical thinking activity. Most comments are
welcome. Evaluation of those comments is encouraged.
Linear thinkers need to be comfortable with ambiguity. Answers and direction
come later.
Its fine to return to a previous topic in the conversation. Just acknowledge that
you would like to shift the discussion or to return to a point that Mr. Jones made
earlier.
Seminars raise more questions than they answer. Refinement of thought comes
through other activities.

Student Observation SheetSocratic Discussions

(Outer Circle)
Please record statements made during the discussion in the appropriate column.

General Comments

Textually Supported

Questions

Any silence? Why?

Please rate the following components of the discussion on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest.
Briefly defend your ranking.
Participation

1 2 3 4 5

Content

1 2 3 4 5

Listening

1 2 3 4 5

Cooperation

1 2 3 4 5

Overall

1 2 3 4 5

On the back, write a paragraph analyzing the discussion you just witnessed.

Seminar Evaluation
Name: __________________

Work Discussed: _________________

Level 1:
____ Contributes to the Discussion
____ Listens Actively
____ Is Considerate
Level 2:
____ Does Not Digress Unproductively
____ Is Neither Impulsive Nor Overly Hesitant
Level 3:
Extends and Expands Discussion by:
____
____
____
____
____
____
____

Questioning
Involving Others in a Meaningful Way
Offering Analogies
Alluding to Previously Shared Readings
Clarifying the Contribution of Others
Comprehending and Contributing at the Universal Level
Examining Critically and Logically the Ideas of Others

Grade: ____
A. What were the main points made during the discussion? Which if any were confusing or
unclear?
B. What did I hear that I already knew or thought?
C. What interesting new point(s) did I hear? Who made it (them)?

SOAPStones: A Device to Unlock Meaning in Texts

S = Subject: What is the topic of the piece?
O = Occasion: What called the creator of the piece to put pen to paper? What was the
immediate cause? Is there a later occasion that gives the piece a different or larger
meaning?
A = Audience: To whom is the piece intended? Can there be more than one?
P = Purpose: What is the creators message to the audience. What does s/he hope to
accomplish? Purpose and theme are closely related.
S = Speaker: What conclusions can you draw about the speaker?
Tone = Creators Attitude to the Subject? The Audience? The Occasion?

SOAPSTONE
S ubject: _______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
O ccasion: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
A udience: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
P urpose: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
S peaker and S hift: _____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
TONE: ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Jolliffes Rhetorical Framework Diagram

Exigence

Rhetorical
Situation

Audience

Purpose

Logos
Imagery
Appeals
Ethos

Pathos

Imagery
Organization / Structure / Form

Diction

Syntax

Surface FeaturesFigurative
Language

Point of View or Focalization Beyond 1st and 3rd Person Terms

Term

How to Recognize

1st Person Subjective

Participant in the story;

uses I or We; narrates
during or close to the time
of action; therefore,
present tense predominates
Participant in the story;
uses I or We.; narrates
the story after the action
has concluded; therefore,
past tense predominates

1st Person Objective

3rd Person
Omniscient

Nonparticipant; Knows
thoughts of all characters;
can move locations within
seconds; has God-like
abilities; usually
summarizes not in the
diction and syntax of the
characters, but of the
narrator

3rd Person Limited

Omniscient

Nonparticipant;
Knows thoughts of one
character; reports dialogue
and actions of remaining
characters but not their
thoughts.
Nonparticipant; observes
the action or retells a it
from accounts of others

3rd Person Objective

Direct Discourse

Identified by quotation
marks; reproduces actual
speech

Possible Impact on
Theme and Tone (Other
possibilities exist)
May intensify action and
suspense, but might be
unreliable as s/he has not
had time to reflect on the
conflict.
May lose some of the
excitement associated with
a 1st person subjective
narrative, but the narrator
often gains some reliability
over subjective narrators
Reliable speaker knows
thoughts of characters;
therefore, knows
motivations and agendas;
Less opportunity or need
for reader to draw
inferences; can slow
narrative pace; can distant
the readers from the
characters.
Reliable speaker, but less
so than a 3rd person
omniscient; reader distance
is lessened for the chosen
character.
Cannot report thoughts so
loses some reliability
associated with omniscient
narrators; more objective
than a 1st person narrator,
but often not as passionate;
style may be journalistic
Allows reader to draw
inferences about
characters; supports or
refutes narrative
commentary; often
quickens the narrative pace

Examples

Indirect Discourse

Free Indirect
Discourse

Stream of Conscious
or Interior
Monologue

Grammatical structure of
reported speech; narrator
reports what was said, not
how it was said.
3rd person narrator, but a
stylistic departure from
pure 3rd person omniscient
or limited omniscient
narrators. Instead of
reporting thoughts of
characters solely in the
style of the narrator, the
narrator reports the
thoughts in the style of the
character.
Can be either a 1st or 3rd
person narrator, but the
characters thoughts are
replicated using 1st person
pronouns; resembles
natural thought patterns
that do not follow spoken
or written syntax; often
dependent on symbols and
motifs

Interposes the narrators

voice with the characters; a
good place to analyze tone
Mixes in to the 3rd person
narrative a degree of
intimacy found in a first
person narration or stream
of conscious monologue.
Passages of free indirect
discourse are good spots to
look for tone and theme.

. If the overall point of

view is 3rd person, the
stream of conscious
portions resemble a 1st
person narrative; reflects
the order or chaos of the
characters state of mind;
demands more
involvement of the reader
in discerning characters
traits and motivation