I'm guessing today turned into a smattering of different things for the different periods, so I'll just talk about third, and if someone from fourth and/or fifth wants to contribute in the comments, you're more than welcome!
After our journal, Becky told us about Calvin Terrell's presentation (if anyone who was filming that today uploaded it to youtube, could you comment with the link?).
Then, since only a few people actually looked for the lit terms in the Siddhartha passage, we spent some class time to search for them in groups. We'll have a quiz on the first lit terms list on Monday.
After that, we watched the St. Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V, which we need to have memorized by Wednesday, January 15 (which is also the date of the Financial Aid Workshop in the cafeteria during 2nd period — you can stop by the College & Career Center for a prearranged absence form).
In the last two-or-so minutes of class, we marvelled at Dr. Preston's mini me. If you missed that, check it out!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
January 9
Today in class, we did something special with our journals. After answering today's prompt, we each exchanged our journals with a classmate. We read our partners' journals, and wrote commentary answering four questions:
The homework tonight is slightly different than what Dr. Preston originally wrote in today's post — first, we need to reread the Siddhartha passage and see if we can find any of the literary terms from this week's list. Next is items 2, 3, and 4 from the post (copy-pasted here for convenience): "Search for AP Literature/Composition questions on Siddhartha and find five multiple choice/essay questions worth asking. What do these questions tell you about the AP exam? What do you need to "see" when you read a passage? In a post titled "AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA,"
- What was your first impression?
- How was it organized?
- How was the style/tone/diction?
- How did the mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.) work?
The homework tonight is slightly different than what Dr. Preston originally wrote in today's post — first, we need to reread the Siddhartha passage and see if we can find any of the literary terms from this week's list. Next is items 2, 3, and 4 from the post (copy-pasted here for convenience): "Search for AP Literature/Composition questions on Siddhartha and find five multiple choice/essay questions worth asking. What do these questions tell you about the AP exam? What do you need to "see" when you read a passage? In a post titled "AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA,"
- a) list the five questions you chose and the URLs where you found them;
- b) answer the five questions to the best of your ability (if you listed an interesting question that you can't answer because it's not covered in the passage, explain what information you'd need to do a proper job);
- c) explain what the questions tell you about the skills/content you need to master for the AP exam."
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
January 8
First day of the second semester! No, make that the LAST semester. Seriously. In only a few months we'll have graduated. Isn't that crazy?
Today, Dr. Preston introduced the second semester for us. This semester even more than the last one, we'll be immersing ourselves in Open Source Learning. Dr. Preston said that if he tried to tell us to completely do Open Source Learning from the start, it wouldn't have really meant anything to us, and would have just been another assignment for us to forget about. But by now, with a semester's introduction, we can actually commit to it (but only if you, as an individual, are motivated to!).
For all 12 years of our mandatory schooling, our teachers have provided us with structured learning which we've either gone along with, or not. However, as soon as we turn 18 and graduate, much of that structure is taken away, and we'll be left responsible for our own selves and our own minds. After 12 years of being motivated primarily for A's, NOT for learning itself, how are we supposed to make that transition? Luckily for us, we have this semester in AP English with our buddy Open Source Learning to help with that.
...Which brings us to our homework assignment, a blog post entitled "HACKING MY EDUCATION." This semester, we'll be pursuing many of our own individual learning goals, or as Dr. Preston put it, "making the course work for us instead of making ourselves work for the course." To that end, tonight's assignment is to determine what it is YOU want to learn.
In your blog post, please answer these three questions:
If you change your mind during the semester, you're more than welcome to repost as "Hacking My Education Part II."
Today, Dr. Preston introduced the second semester for us. This semester even more than the last one, we'll be immersing ourselves in Open Source Learning. Dr. Preston said that if he tried to tell us to completely do Open Source Learning from the start, it wouldn't have really meant anything to us, and would have just been another assignment for us to forget about. But by now, with a semester's introduction, we can actually commit to it (but only if you, as an individual, are motivated to!).
For all 12 years of our mandatory schooling, our teachers have provided us with structured learning which we've either gone along with, or not. However, as soon as we turn 18 and graduate, much of that structure is taken away, and we'll be left responsible for our own selves and our own minds. After 12 years of being motivated primarily for A's, NOT for learning itself, how are we supposed to make that transition? Luckily for us, we have this semester in AP English with our buddy Open Source Learning to help with that.
...Which brings us to our homework assignment, a blog post entitled "HACKING MY EDUCATION." This semester, we'll be pursuing many of our own individual learning goals, or as Dr. Preston put it, "making the course work for us instead of making ourselves work for the course." To that end, tonight's assignment is to determine what it is YOU want to learn.
In your blog post, please answer these three questions:
- What do I want to know?
- What experiences do I want to have under my belt?
- What skills do I want to demonstrate?
If you change your mind during the semester, you're more than welcome to repost as "Hacking My Education Part II."
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
AP GoPo Reading Calendar
In case you wanted a more visual version of the reading calendar handout... tadaaa! I made this in Word for myself, and then I thought, "This'll take two seconds to copy-paste onto the RAM blog, and it might be useful to someone!" Might as well, y'know?
Unit 1
"Constitutional Underpinnings"
|
Winter
Break
|
Ch 1: The
Study of American Government (p.2-19)
|
Ch 2: The
Constitution (p.20-49)
|
||
1/13
|
Ch 3:
Federalism (p.50-77)
|
|
Unit
1 test
|
||
Unit 2
"The Judiciary, Civil
Liberties, Civil Rights"
|
1/20
|
Ch 16: The
Judiciary (p.438-468)
|
1/27
|
Ch 5:
Civil Liberties (p.100-129)
|
|
Ch 6:
Civil Rights (p.130-160)
|
||
2/3
|
Unit
2 test
|
|
Unit 3
"Political Beliefs, Behavior,
Campaigns, Elections"
|
2/10
|
Ch 4:
American Political Culture (p.78-99)
|
Ch 7: Public
Opinion (p.162-181)
|
||
2/17
|
Ch 8:
Political Participation (p.182-201)
|
|
Ch 10:
Elections and Campaigns (p.234-269)
|
||
2/24
|
Unit
3 test
|
|
Unit 4
"Political Parties, Interest
Groups, and Mass Media"
|
Ch 12: The
Media (p.298-324)
|
|
Ch 9: Political
Parties (p.202-233)
|
||
3/3
|
Ch 11: Interest
Groups (p.270-297)
|
|
Unit
4 test
|
||
Unit 5
"Congress, the Presidency, the
Bureaucracy"
|
3/10
|
Ch 13: Congress
(p.326-363)
|
Ch 14: The
Presidency (p.364-407)
|
||
3/17
|
Ch 15: The
Bureaucracy (p.408-437)
|
|
3/24
|
Unit
5 test
|
|
Unit 6
"Public Policy, Foreign
Policy, and the Budget"
|
3/31
(selected
readings)
|
Ch 17: The
Policymaking Process (p.470-491)
|
Ch 18:
Economic Policy (p.492-513)
|
||
Ch 19:
Social Welfare (p.514-533)
|
||
Ch 20:
Environmental Policy (p.564-580)
|
||
4/7
|
Unit
6 test
|
|
Review
|
4/14
|
final
gov't exam & econ review
|
4/21
|
spring
break
|
|
4/28
|
review
|
|
5/5
|
||
5/12
|
AP Gov't/Pol
exam 5/13
AP
Microecon exam 5/15
|
Monday, December 9, 2013
December 9
Today, Dr. Preston started off class by talking to us about journals and homework. Dr. Preston recommends that everyone take their journals home over the break, in order to review them (personally, I've found that my journals are a good source of personal statement fodder) and/or write more on the prompts that you feel could be improved. The same goes for our blogs-- if you're missing assignments, or just wanna fix that one post that you totally BS'ed at 2:00 in the morning to get it done (we've all been there), you're more than welcome to improve them over the break and resubmit it to Dr. Preston. After all, the school calendar may be ending, but in Dr. Preston's words, "Your learning calendar never stops."
Then Dr. Preston passed back some graded papers. BTW, if you REALLY want his grading system converted to letter grades, here it is:
After that, Dr. Preston asked for volunteers to bring food for our finals period/party, so if you were absent today and want to bring food, you should send Dr. Preston an email. Same goes if you have specific logistics requirements for your final (ex. fridge for food, room opened early for setup, space to store your baking soda volcano, large amounts of paper towels and/or Windex to clean up mess made by said volcano, etc.) and didn't get a chance to tell Dr. Preston today.
Also, if you're looking for a reason to come to school on Dummy Day, Dr. Preston will be available for individual conferences about grades/English/whatever with anyone who's interested.
Besides our final showcase, we have one more assignment this semester: write a time-capsule email to the future you at futureme.org. Then you'll write a blog post entitled "LIFE AFTER THIS BLOG POST," but don't copy-paste your email to publish on your blog (well, unless you really want to). Instead, write about the *experience* of writing the email to yourself.
Then Dr. Preston passed back some graded papers. BTW, if you REALLY want his grading system converted to letter grades, here it is:
| ✓+ :) | A |
| ✓+ | A- |
| ✓ (comment) | B |
| ✓ | B or C |
Also, if you're looking for a reason to come to school on Dummy Day, Dr. Preston will be available for individual conferences about grades/English/whatever with anyone who's interested.
Besides our final showcase, we have one more assignment this semester: write a time-capsule email to the future you at futureme.org. Then you'll write a blog post entitled "LIFE AFTER THIS BLOG POST," but don't copy-paste your email to publish on your blog (well, unless you really want to). Instead, write about the *experience* of writing the email to yourself.
Finals Schedule
TUESDAY
| 0 Period | 7:30 - 9:20 |
| Lunch | 9:20 - 9:40 |
| 1 Period | 9:50 - 11:40 |
| 6 Period | 11:50 - 1:40 |
WEDNESDAY
| 2 Period | 8:30 - 10:20 |
| Lunch | 10:20 - 10:40 |
| 3 Period | 10:50 - 12:40 |
THURSDAY
| 4 Period | 8:30 - 10:20 |
| Lunch | 10:20 - 10:40 |
| 5 Period | 10:50 - 12:40 |
Sunday, December 8, 2013
December 6
Today Dr. Preston started off class by saying something cryptic about a group that walks among us that's about to shake things up. So be on the watch, folks!
After that, we did our journals, of course (and it happened to be the last journal topic of 2013! Can you believe that?).
Then we each filled out an evaluative introspection, and for the rest of the period we talked with our groups about our final presentations, which will be Wednesday for 3rd period and Thursday for 4th and 5th. If you'd like a tool for communication with your group, our shoutboxes are still up for grabs!
After that, we did our journals, of course (and it happened to be the last journal topic of 2013! Can you believe that?).
Then we each filled out an evaluative introspection, and for the rest of the period we talked with our groups about our final presentations, which will be Wednesday for 3rd period and Thursday for 4th and 5th. If you'd like a tool for communication with your group, our shoutboxes are still up for grabs!
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