AP Boot Camp

What is AP Boot Camp?

The purpose of AP Boot Camp is to reinforce skills students should have learned in pre-AP or English II and familiarize them with the essential “tool box” of skills they will need in order to proceed further in AP.

How Boot Camp Works:

Provide overview of the AP and a sample test.
Provide basic terminology for writing and reading
Shuttle among three major areas: reading, writing, discussion.
Think of them as “muscle groups” being worked out on different days.
In between our thematic readings, which will focus on the topic of parents and children.

we will start with the basic “bones” of argumentation, and then work on diction and close reading, tone, and sentence structure as tools.

AP College Board Standards

College Board Standards
Upon completing the AP English Language and Composition course, students should be able to:

analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques;

apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing;

create and sustain arguments based on readings, research and/or personal experience;

write for a variety of purposes;

produce expository, analytical and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations and clear transitions;

demonstrate understanding and mastery of standard written English as well as stylistic maturity in their own writings;

demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and

secondary sources;

move effectively through the stages of the writing process, with careful attention to inquiry and research, drafting, revising, editing and review; write thoughtfully about their own process of composition;

revise a work to make it suitable for a different audience;

analyze image as text; and evaluate and incorporate reference documents into researched papers

Overview of the AP

Lecture Notes
AP Test Overview

AP Lang and Lit used to be the same test back in the day.
AP Lit = Fiction, poetry, drama, novel

AP Lang = Nonfiction, rhetoric, speeches, journals, essays

Two big sections
Multiple-choice
Free-response

Multiple-choice
55 questions
60 minutes
Typically 5 passages
Divided btw pre-20th and 20-21st century prose
Questions focus on identifying rhetorical devices
Function of the rhetorical device
Purpose in a passage
Relationships

Free-Response
3 prompts
Synthesis
Rhetorical analysis
Argument/ADQ
15 minutes to read
2 hours to write
Essays scored from 1 (bad) to 9 (awesome)

Synthesis

Easiest and first
Read prompt, support position
Support position with 4-5 sources
Cite correctly
On-the-spot research paper

Rhetorical analysis
One-page passage
Author’s fundamental argument
How s/he used rhetorical devices to persuade
Why those devices worked

Argument
Assertion or statement – respond to it
Agree, disagree, qualify
Support comes from own knowledge or reading

Each essay is read by two readers
Generally receive scores in mid-July
To succeed on the AP…

Must be a good reader
Must be able to identify parts of an arg – claim, data, warrant, counterclaim, rebuttal
Must be able to see complexity – tension between ideas
Surface and subtext
See an author’s journey from beginning to end
Minor versus major argument
How parts contribute to whole
How or why an author chose a strategy

Must be a good writer
Must have clear organization at paragraph level
Be able to write claim, data, warrant etc. clearly
Be able to support ideas with data
Explain why or in what way the data supports argument
Write clearly and unpretentiously

______
About Boot Camp

There to teach or re-teach those fundamental skills – identifying and writing CDW
Reading and analyzing argument

NOTE: We will go back and forth between skills and reading for the first few weeks!!
PREVIEW

Will cover claim, data, warrant
Will practice identifying all three
Will practice writing all three

THEN

First major thematic unit: Parents and children

First Steps: Claim, Data, Warrant

Identifying Parts of an Argument

College Board Standard

analyze and interpret samples of good writing, identifying and explaining an author’s use of rhetorical strategies and techniques;

create and sustain arguments based on readings, research and/or personal experience;

produce analytical and argumentative compositions that introduce a complex central idea and develop it with appropriate evidence drawn from primary and/or secondary sources, cogent explanations and clear transitions;

Text

AP reading selections (included in student exercises)

Lesson

Identify claim, context, data, warrant, counterargument, concession, rebuttal,
Understand relationship between these parts.

Lecture Notes: Why Rhetoric is Magic

AP Lang – fundamentally about rhetoric
Rhetoric = the art of persuasion
VERBAL MAGIC.
The art of using words to get people to do what you want them to do or believe what you want them to believe.
THIS IS MAGIC. Think about it. You have a bunch of people who don’t want to do something you need or want them to do, or they don’t believe something you need or want them to believe. (We know this is true or else there would be no reason for speaking to them.)
WITH YOUR WORDS, you manage to get them to do what you want them to do and believe what you want them to believe. With your words, you can convince women to marry you, people to give you money and power, countries to liberate you, or people to die for a cause.

Claim, Data, Warrant

Major “bones” of an argument
Claim: The major point or message the author is attempting to get the audience to do or believe.
Signals: Logically follows after “so…” or “therefore,” or “in conclusion”

Context: The crucial, necessary information a reader must know in order to understand the information being presented.

Data: Evidence, examples, proof

Signals: Capital letters, dates, quotation marks

Warrant: The linkage between the claim and the data – sometimes unstated, sometimes not.
Signals: Logically follows after “because,” “since”

Counterargument: The other guy’s side
Signals: “However, some people might believe,” “Most people think,” “Some might argue that…” “On the other hand…”

Concession: A “granting” of a right point or right element to the other guy
Signals: I concede that, I admit that, One must agree that

Rebuttal: A “comeback” from a counterargument
Signals: Nevertheless, Despite these considerations, Still, The fact remains that…

Student handout on next page.

Student Exercise: Identify Argument Parts

Directions

In the short selection below, you will see a brief speech taken from the television series Game of Thrones in which a character must persuade a group of men to stand and fight. You will identify the major parts of this speaker’s argument.

Selection: Tyrion Convinces Soldiers to Fight

Speaker: Tyrion Lannister, “the Imp”
Occasion: Defense of King’s Landing, his city. Currently, the city is besieged by rival king Stannis Baratheon, who looks poised to win
Audience: The soldiers who are currently slinking away, believing that defeat is certain.
Purpose: To convince the soldiers to fight for King’s Landing

“Don’t fight for your king, don’t fight for his kingdoms, don’t fight for honor, don’t fight for glory, don’t fight for riches because you won’t get any. This is your city Stannis means to sack, your gate he’s ramming. If he gets in, it will be your houses he burns, your gold he steals, your women he will assault. Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let’s go kill them!”
Questions
1. What is the claim?
2. What is the data?
3. Is there a counterargument?
4. What is the warrant?
5. Big question of the hour: Why was it effective? What did Tyrion say that made the soldiers stand and fight?
Homework
AP Skills Packet
Section VI, Identifying Claim, #1-5
Section VII, Identifying Counterargument, 1-2
Section VIII, Identifying Concession, 1-2

Context: Adding Information

College Board Standard

Students should be able to apply effective strategies and techniques in their own writing;

Text

AP reading selections (included in student exercises)

Skills Learned

Using techniques such as “5Ws” or SOAPSTone to add context to a quotation
Understanding that context must precede a quotation

Lecture Bullet Points
REVIEW

We talked about the major “bones” of an argument – claim, data, warrant, counterclaim, concession, rebuttal
We’ll delve further into those parts today, beginning with context.

Context = The information that precedes the quotation and follows after the claim.
Background information about the author – the five Ws

Who is it?
Who is this person?
What is his relationship to others?
What did he write?
What is this person’s country or genre or period?
Where is this person from?
When did this person write?
Why did this person say this?

SOAPSTONE

Who is the speaker?
What is the occasion for his speaking? Why were they silent before? What was the catalyst?
Who is the audience?
What is the speaker’s purpose here?
What is the general style in which this statement was written?
What is the speaker’s tone?

YOU CAN (and often should) incorporate the quotation into the context itself and do both at once.

Student handout begins on the next page.

Student Exercise: Adding Context

Directions

Each of the following statements has been provided with information to help you.
Find the second hole in a standard three-hole-punched piece of paper. Count three lines below that second hole. Make an X.
Begin to write the quote on the line with the X.
Fill in the space between the top of the page and the beginning of the quotation with context. (Yes, that is about the normal amount of context you should be supplying.)
Feel free to look up additional information other than that contained in the blurb.

You will see that I have given you information about each quotation. Include as much of the following information in your context as is practicable:

TAG: The title, the author, the genre
The five Ws – who, what, where, when, why
SOAPSTone – speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, style, tone
A preview of what the quote will say

Selection 1

Speaker: The speaker is the protagonist of the television series Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan. Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher whose terminal cancer diagnosis caused him to manufacture methamphetamine to provide for his family after his death.
Audience: His wife, Skyler, who has discovered her husband’s illegal activities and is concerned for her family’s safety.
Occasion: Skyler has just finished expressing her fear that criminals will break into their house to take revenge on Walter for his illegal activities.
Purpose: [You will need to determine this information based on the statement.]
Subject: [You will need to determine this information.]
Tone: [You will need to determine this information.]

______
Statement
I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!'
Selection 2

Speaker: HAL-9000, a futuristic computer with artificial intelligence. HAL is a character in British director Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey
Occasion: HAL is speaking to the astronaut Dave Bowman, who realizes that HAL intends to kill him. Dave orders Hal to open the pod doors before he dies from lack of oxygen. HAL refuses to do so.
Audience: Dave Bowman, the astronaut
Purpose: [You will need to determine this information based on the statement.]
Subject: [You will need to determine this information.]
Tone: Calm regret

______
Statement
I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.

About the Examples:

I will often provide you with examples showing you what your final written products should look like. Please feel free to use these examples as writing models. You may mimic or adapt the example’s transitions, sentence structures, methods of incorporating data, organizational patterns, et cetera.

Example of Writing Context
Blurb:This passage was written by the English monarch Queen Elizabeth I at the end of her reign in 1601. She delivered this speech to the House of Commons in Parliament and addressed the devotion she had to her country and the members of her parliament.
Quotation: My heart was never set on any worldly goods. What you bestow on me, I will not hoard it up, but receive it to bestow on you again. . . .
Your Context (Example)
To a surprised House of Commons in 1601, the English monarch Queen Elizabeth delivered what would be her last address at the end of her reign. Rather than address the issues of state, of foreign affairs, of the matters of politics, Queen Elizabeth chose to speak to her Parliament of her love for her country, people, and members of the House of Commons who had helped her rule. Her heart, she declares, was never given to material things, but was devoted to her people. The open and heartfelt tone with which Queen Elizabeth delivered the following lines suggests a commitment to the people of England that reminds readers of Juliet’s passionate declaration in which she wishes she had her love back from Romeo so that she could “ be frank [generous] and give it [him] again,” or, as Queen Elizabeth declares, “My heart was never set on any worldly goods. What you bestow on me, I will not hoard it up, but receive it to bestow on you again. . . .”

Data: Working with Quotes

Standard

Students should be able to demonstrate understanding of the conventions of citing primary and

secondary sources.

Text

AP reading selections (included in student exercises)

Lesson

Students should learn how to break up and incorporate quotations into a sentence.
Students should punctuate quotations and sentences correctly.

Lesson: Working With Quotes

Overview: In this lesson, students will learn to work effectively with quotations.

Skills Learned

Leading Up to Quotations
Integrating Quotations
Walking Away from Quotations
Avoiding “drop-ins”

Lecture Bullet Points

Avoid “drop-in” quotes – quotes with no connection to the text.
Example: Jane Eyre reveals herself to be a tough person. “I resisted all the way” (Bronte 5). Jane also…
Why? Forces reader to make connections – it’s lazy writing.
Why else? Reader may not be able to see the linkage.
Why else? YOU may not know the linkage!
Why else? Often, quotes occur in big chunks.
NO ONE likes to eat a bowl of “beef stew” when “stew” = one big cow leg.
TIP: Break quote into “bite-sized chunks.”
Why? Teachers will not read “drop-in” quotes. If you chop up the quote and mix it in to something wonderful (e.g., your prose), we WILL.
Your quote has to flow smoothly, making sense with your sentence as a complete grammatical unit. It has to “fit” with the grammatical sense of your sentence.

What a Well-Integrated Quotation Looks Like

Never use the word “quote,” as in “In this passage, X quotes, ‘laidkfjlsdk’.”
Better choices than “quotes”: Hisses, murmurs, shouts, explains, reasons, argues, rationalizes, reveals, confesses
Include the TAG (title, author, genre) and SOAPSTone ( speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone) whenever appropriate.
Put the punctuation marks in the right place. Quotations INCLUDE THE COMMAS AND PERIODS.
Punctuation goes after the citation information. You will probably be using a comma, because you will be continuing the sentence after the quotation and not ending with it.
Begin and end with YOUR words.
Break up quotations of longer than about 5-7 words by incorporating them smoothly into a sentence – usually a sentence that explains context.

Student exercise begins on next page.

Student Exercise: Integrating Quotations

Directions[1]

Each of the following sentences contains errors in punctuation, capitalization, integration of quotation, wording, or all of the above.
Make sure titles of works are punctuated and capitalized properly.
Make sure the quotation flows smoothly within the larger sentence. Use brackets to insert your own word or ellipsis and omit unnecessary words from a quote whenever necessary. You may have to condense or rewrite the sentence.
BREAK UP the quotes. Try not to have more than about 5-7 consecutive words.
Begin and END with your words, not the author’s. YOUR WORDS should come before the period.
Rewrite the sentences, fixing all errors. There may also be incomplete sentences or run-ons.

Example

Unfixed: Jane Eyre, the heroine of Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, reveals that she is very determined. She quotes, “I resisted all the way.” (Bronte 3).

Fixed: In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, Jane’s determination is revealed from the moment she tells us, “I resisted all the way” (Bronte 4), revealing that Jane is no stereotypical Victorian heroine.

Sentences

The lead antagonist of Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice is Shylock, who is Jewish. Quote: “I am a Jew.” (III. iv. 45)
In Ralph Ellison’s novel, the speaker explains that he “am an invisible man” (Ellison 1).
Teens learn from what they see instead of learning right from wrong. “Violent video games require active participation.” (Grossman 14).
Jane Austen’s novel Emma begins with a sarcastic description, Emma Woodhouse “handsome, pretty and rich” (Austen 1).
“Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when captivated by her charms as the Tarleton twins were.” This was said on page one of Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone With the Wind about the heroine Scarlett. (Mitchell 1).
Alison in Chaucer’s short narrative The Miller’s Tale seems to have the best of everything. For example, let’s examine her outfits. Alison’s Sunday church outfit is “She wore fine kerchiefs. . . Her stockings were of the finest scarlet red. . . and her shoes were soft and new” (Chaucer 68).