Hand back AP synthesis projects

PERA type II midterm assessment

Tomorrow: 

Discuss Hemingway's "Horns of the Bulls" questions from turnitin.com

Watch the Hemingway Documentary...Start at the 40 minute mark and watch the Bullfighting and big game sections.  Tell students about his family life, the family history of depression, 

Homework: 

Research the Spanish Civil War and bullfighting.

Respond to the questions on turnitin.com on the discussion board.

1) What were the main issues of the Spanish Civil War? Who were the main combatants? Which groups of people tended to be which sides? Cite your source.

2).  "Running with head down Enrique came forward and Paco swung the apron just ahead of the knife blade as it passed close in front of his belly..." Does this story praise courage or deliver a cautionary message about it? 

3). Why do you think Hemingway spend so much time developing the characters of the bullfighters only to essentially leave them behind when he reaches the Paco-centered stages of the story? What role do the bullfighters play in the story?

4) Do you think Hemngway thinks it is better to die with a head "full of illusions", like Paco, or to die aware of a fuller truth of the world?

Read The Horns of the Bulls and write two text-connected and inspired questions for discussion.

What is real courage?

Gatsby rewrites due Thursday

Write a paragraph explaining what you needed to do to improve your paper, and then highlight and annotate/explain the changes you made.

Hand in Synthesis Packet

Watch the rest of the Fitzgerald documentary - please take notes 

Time permitting we will finish watching The Great Gatsby 

Gatsby papers will be entered in IC by end of school today (might be a few exceptions); will get those papers back on Monday.

No homework!!

Read Source A from the 2014 synthesis essay

In a few sentences, explain whether you think Source A would be best used to support, refute, or qualify the idea that college is worth the costs.

Also, put a star next to what you feel are three of the strongest sentences/parts of his argument.



The Case for Working With Your Hands (full article)





Example of a Source Write-up

Source A Write-up

                                Source A

Matthew. "The Case for Working With Your Hands." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 May 2009. Web. 02 Mar. 2016

Matthew Crawford’s “The Case for Working With Your Hands” best supports the “con” argument (that college might not be worth the cost). While Crawford does not directly address the cost of college, nor does he overtly oppose college or the white collar professions that typically follow, he eloquently reminds the reader that hands-on careers should not automatically be seen as less worthy or desirable. Furthermore, his articulate and well-reasoned argument establishes credibility with New York Times readers (and AP test takers), the vast majority of whom do have college degrees (or soon will).  He reminds people that a “pure information economy” – the one which favors the college educated – has not come to pass, as “now as ever, somebody has to actually do things: fix our cars, unclog our toilets, build our houses.” And, of course, many of these trades do not necessarily require a four-year college degree; they do, however, require skill.  This leads to his next point: working with your hands should not feel like a last resort.  He exposes the often condescending attitude towards manual labor: “When we praise people who do work that is  straightforwardly useful, the praise often betrays an assumption that they had no other options.” This is part of his overall strategy to get us to question our underlying assumptions and attitudes towards manual labor/arts; if we view these as lesser options in terms of their effect on our intellectual reputation, our ego will drive us towards college as the only respectable option for a smart person. If we begin to question these assumptions, we might begin to rationally assess whether college – especially with astronomical tuitions – is always the best choice, even for smart students who have a track record of academic success. Finally, this article makes an economic argument for working with your hands; many of those jobs can’t be outsourced, so they provide a stability which some information-based jobs can’t provide. Quoting Princeton professor Alan Binder, he reminds us that  “’You can’t hammer a nail over the Internet,’” and then Crawford adds “Nor can the Indians fix your car. Because they are in India.” In summary, this source prompts the high school reader to question whether college is worth it: “If the goal is to earn a living, then, maybe it isn’t really true that 18-year olds need to be imparted with a sense of panic about getting into college.”

Tonight: Keep working on writing your prompts and finding sources.  Also, read 2014 student essay response 1A.