Duly Noted News
This space is reserved for our Duly Noted News in period 3 and period 4, AP Language and Comp. Ghostwriters will send their entry to my gmail by 9:00 pm for credit on their post. I will post the entry as soon as I recieve it. Make sure you check this page to review the information if you were absent; either physically or mentally, or if you need a refresher of your class events. Ghostwriters will post homework assignments and any updates for long term assignments.
Duly Noted News
Novemeber 30
Hi period 3!!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Today it took a while for the class to settle down with the excitement of the break still in the air. At the beginning of class, Mrs. Brosius walked around the room to check that everyone had their outside reads while everyone talked quietly. After Miles inquired whether we would have another book to read as a class, Mrs. Brosius assured him we would. Then, we were allowed some time to work on our author study for the authors of our outside reads. After about ten minutes, Mrs. Brosius told us to turn off our computers and clear our desks as she passed around the article about the famous boxer, Paret. Mrs. Brosius gave everyone some background information about the author, Paret and Griffith so that we could better understand the force of the piece. The author’s name is Norman Mailer, a famous sports writer who was sitting in the second row as he witnessed Paret’s death. Griffith was a homosexual and Paret was homophobic, which created tension and bitter personal feelings towards each other. Where Mailer writes that Griffith made a “pent-up whimpering sound all the while he attacked”, he reveals the anger Griffith felt towards Paret; when Mailer recals the “look of woe” on the referee’s face, he conveys the fear of the witness as he observed Griffith destroy Paret (Mailer). The thorough discussion of the passage was meant for everyone’s more accurate understanding of the power that the event had on the witnesses. For tonight’s homework, Mrs. Brosius told the class to read through their essays (handed back towards the end of class) about the article, give it a score out of 10, and write an evaluation on the reasoning behind the scoring. Hope you all have a great night!
Sincerely,
Ghostwriter
November 24, 2009
Hey Period 3…With the collection of our symbols books, the TSL unit is officially over, and we are free to relax and enjoy our Thanksgiving break with our outside read books! Today in class, Mrs. Brosius collected our final Scarlet Letter symbols book along with the titles of our proposed outside read. After collection was completed, we ultimately finished all TSl work with a symbols group evaluation. To end the period, Mrs. Brosius let us watch the phenomenally well-made movie of The Scarlet Letter; the Oscar winning movie gained an eruption of laughs from the impressive effects and subtitles and was the perfect way to begin our five day weekend!
Homework:
Have in class your outside read. This is an easy 10 point assignment don’t blow it!
Other Things you may choose to invest your time working on are:
· Reading your Outside Read book through a certain lens
· Looking up the list of tropes Mrs. Brosius provided us with (they are on the class calendar
Hope all of you have a fantastic Thanksgiving, and remember there are always things that you can work on!
Hey [period 4] everybody…so the start of period four was hectic as we were all scrambling to get together our symbol book projects. Finally they were off our shouldrs as brosius collected them. Next she had us take out a sheet of paper to grade our own projects and our group members on their contribution to the project. Brosius gave us a whole speech on how business with friends never turns out like planned and she hopes we didn’t just learn that during the process of this project…after that was done we had the pleasure of watching a rendition of the scarlet letter on video! Yea no, basically worst movie made, ever…I seriously think those videos we make at the end of the year in Spanish class are better than that movie…and for anyone that’s seen em knows that’s really sayin something! Ha so at least brosius was nice enough to warn us to try and look for any redeeming qualities…as a class we decided nothing beats the meteor scene! We ended our day on that note and now get a vacation! Yay!
Hope everyone has a yummy thanksgiving!
Oh and for homework you should probably start your outside read and look up those tropes 
-Your lovely Ghostwriter =
November 23, 2009
Hey Period 4,
If you weren’t in class today, then I’m guessing that you were lucky and got to start your Thanksgiving break early. If this is the case, then WHY DIDN’T YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU?! Don’t worry; I’m not bitter, because today was a very important day in AP English. That’s right. We took The Scarlet Letter final in class today. I’m not going to go into detail, because some of you may not have taken it yet. My only hint is that if you read each page of the test carefully, you will continually be motivated. Since the test was quite long, we did not do much else in class. The only homework is to have the title of your outside read book ready tomorrow in class. Yup, that just about covers it homework-wise.
OH WAIT!! That’s right! Our symbols books are also due tomorrow. You know; those projects we’ve been working on for months now. Yeah, those are due. I don’t actually believe that anyone was capable of forgetting that, and if you did, then I wish you the best of luck with your atrocious workload tonight. Ok, now that really is all that you need to know. Happy Thanksgiving!
Don’t forget!!! Last chapters of TSL Study Guide are due Monday, November 23rd…
November 20, 2009
period 4 After completing last night’s homework, which continued our practice in writing timed essays, Ms. Brosius provided us with a new approach to improve eachother’s writing and insight on diction and tone. Using the passage by Henry James, we wrote an introduction on tone and a paragraph on diction. Today we read about three other students’ work, commenting on their evidence of addressing the prompt and identifying the proper tone and diction. How well these tasks are achieved will determine your essay grades on the AP in May. I suggest using other students’ work to find examples of possible mistakes but also positive strategies that can be used in your own writing. Focusing on the present, the final for The Scarlett Letter is Monday! The symbols book is due this Tuesday! This leaves students the weekend and Monday night to wrap it up, since everyone’s already used their time wisely instead of procrastinating until Monday night. It will contribute to your understanding and help review the events throughout he novel Good luck!
Period 3
Okay, so the day started out a little slow today and everyone was mingling and having a great time, but as always, there was work to be done. The first thing we did was place our homework on top of our computers, of course. Mrs. Brosius then began thinking of how we would peer grade our paragraphs on the Henry James piece. The final decision was to simply use post-its to write the score of the person’s essay that was read, then constructive feedback. Before we began reading, she told us that we get better at writing by seeing the flaws and good points in other people’s work, although that is not exactly how she put it. This activity took the majority of the period, and some students felt like they needed to go above and beyond, having their essay read 3 or more times, but this was certainly not neccisary. This friday lacked a thought provoking and suspenseful story like the one yesterday, but it was still a good day. In conclusion of the period, she emphasized the ineffectiveness at any attempt to study for the Scarlet Letter test, and no one needs to because all of us have been paying very, veeerrrryyyy close attention to everything in the book….. yeah.
SUPER important, work on that Symbol’s Project! Its due Tuesday and the due date is coming up fast. For all of you procrastinators out there, make sure to put tons of effort into it so it seems like you have been working on it since like 7 months ago, or whenever we started it. It would also be a good idea to at least think about the outside read, everyone wants an A so do it quick! Go out and get that book, its due when we get back and no one remembers things over breaks.
Make sure to keep tabs on the football game tonight even if you aren’t going, its a very important one for us Griffins! Have a great weekend and get all that good stuff you have to do under control!
- Your Writing Ghost
November 19, 2009
Period 4:
As we recover from the horrors of career day
I let you in on the agenda for this thursday
But ill do it in rhyme ’cause thats what’s hip
Remember theres test that you cant skip
it’s on the Scarlet Letter our favorite book
and to your study guides is where you should look
if you need some tips on the Hawthorne bible
cause gettin’ an A will ensure your survival
In the class of Mrs. Brosius, our fearless leader,
preachin’ us truths from the Bedford Reader
But let’s get back to class; Yes period four,
The one Mrs. B said she does adore
more than other periods, but i wont name names
So lets talk about the story by Henry James
Which we analyzed from beginning to end
And about 30 minutes we did spend
on the peice analyzing diction and tones
uninterrupted by peircing groans
Because Mrs. Brosius teaches with a kind of style
so when your finding tones you can’t help but smile
at the antics she does to get points across
and we attentively listen cause she’s the boss
But if you weren’t there cause you had other plans
here’s some tips on the story from one who understands
That Henry James was arrogant and kind of a snob
who ridiculed profusely the impovershed mob
who gathered in the cemetary that tragic day
for they had some dear respects to pay
to that poor Mr. George the humble shoemaker
who died; yes dead, ya he aint no faker
So if you dont write so good in class, under pressure
then finish tonite and it wont be torture
so thats the rap on class today
see you again another day
-Rappin’ Ghost Writer
November 19, 2009
Hello my fellow AP students period 3 it’s you ghostwriter here for the report on class for today thrusday November 19. Today started off like any other day with everyone ariving on time to class and quieting down when the bell rang. Again like most days Brosius started off with one of her “commercials” however, this was
not any oridinary commercial, it was about how she once worked for a middle school in South Central LA. The first story was about how on the first day she worked at the school there was a gun on campus. YES a gun at a middle school!!!!! Then she got the story we were waiting for. She descibed how she had to chase a enormously fat student who had one of her students pinned against a wall and chased after the fat kid by the name of Melvin, tackled him and pinned him to the ground with her knee. All while she was wearing heels and a skirt. Ive got
to say props to Ms. Brosius, and that maybe a NFL tryout is in her future?
Now on to the learning that we did in class today which im sure you are all dying to hear. We first discused how to do citations for quotes and that many people do them wrong. Next we read a passage from a man named Henry James. The prompt and the passage can be found on the class website. We had a few minutes to discuss what we wrote in class. I found that many people did not have the same ideas for the tone of the passage. After our discussion Ms. Brosius told us what she got for the tone and it was both sarcastic amusment, an arrogant superiorty, and a pompus judging.
The homework for today is:
Rewrite the intro paragraph and paragraph on diction for the passage
we read in class with the correct tones and diction to support them.
Of coarse work on you symbols book. Its due next week!
Yours Truly,
Ghostwriter
November 16, 2009
Hello Period 3!
I hope you all had a great weekend! After the excitement of nutrition and the several conversations died down, class started right away with a The Scarlet Letter quiz on chapters 19 through 21. The tension was relieved in the classroom upon hearing that it was multiple choice this week. The quiz was quite simple, dictating the events that had occurred in a narrative, leaving blanks for us to choose the correct answer. Before Mrs. Brosius distributed the quizzes to the tops of our computers, she gave the option of working on TSL or boatload.com after we completed the quiz. Glancing at everyone’s screens once all the quizzes were finished, it seems that we have all found boatload.com addicting. Once all the quizzes were turned in, Mrs. Brosius addressed the class, notifying us of the TSL deadline and her understanding that we need more time. Thankful for the extra time, everyone busily started working with their groups, discussing the meaning behind symbols and the plans for the completion of the symbol book. While the murmur of diligent students filled the room, Mrs. Brosius kindly helped several groups. After an ample amount of time had passed, Mrs. Brosius showed us the homework for tonight. On the sidebar of the website, there is a link under AP LANGUAGE WARM UPS (under Analysis Practice) that says “Fredrick Douglas Passage”. On Mrs. Brosius’s instructions, everyone opened the link and discovered a prompt and a passage before them. The prompt said to “read the following passage carefully. Then write an introductory paragraph that identifies two different but complementary tones or attitudes in the piece. Then write a paragraph that analyzes the author’s diction.” Mrs. Brosius helpfully offered advice, suggesting that we have many good tone words in our minds before writing. She told us to take into consideration that the completion of our symbols books should be coming to an end. Mrs. Brosius then recalled telling us to have proof on individual work when she assigned the symbols books. She also told the class not to split up the work, but rather work together so that we can receive other’s views and discuss our thoughts, encouraging a more thorough understanding of all the symbols. On the day when we turn in the books, we are supposed to have the symbol book AND our own individual work, showing our contribution to the group. After clearing up the expectations on the due date of TSL, Mrs. Brosius allowed us the last few minutes of class to look over the Fredrick Douglas piece. Returning to her desk, the students earnestly began focusing on the piece. Before the bell rang, Mrs. Brosius told the class to stop after chapter 21 on the symbols book!! Don’t do any symbols from chapters 22 to 24! After the relieving news, class was dismissed in high spirits.
To recap on homework..
- two paragraphs are due tomorrow on the Frederick Douglas piece
- study guide for chapters 22 through 24 are due next monday
- the symbols book (chapters 1 to 21) are due at the end of the unit
- vocab test (if posted) will be next monday
- individual work on the symbol book due when the symbols book is due
- get outside read books
- and don’t forget to work on outside reads!!!
Sincerely,
Ghostwriter
hi period 4
today was a pretty easy going day….
we took our TSL quiz on chapters 19-21(even though our study guide went up to 22)
it was all fill in the blanks with names and actions from the chapters as choices.
since most of us finished up pretty quickly, we had some time to get caught up on some more english.
Once everyone completed there tests we got into symbols groups and talked.
By the way, the TSL FINAL IS NEXT MONDAY(23rd), AND THE SYMBOLS BOOKS ARE DUE NEXT TUESDAY(24th)
towards the end of the period ms. brosius said our homework, though most of us missed it.
heres the link
im pretty sure its right.
http://docs.google.com/View?id=df4f56bp_270rv3hfgfx
bye.
November 13, 2009
Good Afternoon Period 4,
We all came in and the large screen was on with an ominous prompt suggesting an essay. Mrs. Brosius, however, began class by asking us about our “break” from school (which felt strange in the middle of the week); many answered that they were diligently doing homework; then, she explained that while working the Knocked Up movie was playing on a loop and showed the degradation of American Cinema and social mores (O’ Citizen Kane where are you). Rosebud. Anyway, we continued to talk about the 30 minute essays that we wrote and how many did not focus on the prompt specifically the effect on the reader. So we went over the process on writing a thoughtful analysis based on the entire prompt (not answering a part will get you 4/9 AT BEST). So we went over:
Prompt: Read the passage and write an essay that explains and analyzes the effect of the passage on a reader. Pay attention to the tone, diction, imagery, and syntax and its effect on the reader.
The “what” system: Identifying transitive verbs in the prompt and then asking what a writer should do!
- Read the passage and
- write an essay
- That explains and analyzes the effect of the passage on a reader.
- Pay attention to the tone, diction, imagery, and syntax and its effect on the reader.
Then we went over the diction carefully by circling any words that were important to the “atmosphere” of the text or that jumped out for some reason. After the initial read, we broke down the words or phrases into connotation to understand who it works within the piece. ALSO, syntax is the structure of the sentences NOT the piece itself.
Ex.
Fangs—violent, deadly
Lastly, we went over the overall understanding of the story; main points
1) End of the day, a relaxing, calm time after long day of work; “stopped short”
2) “Rigid”, “arrested”, and “undulant” gives an ominous but powerful feel to the snake as it stands its ground; reverence for it.
3) Struggle within the man who chooses to kill the snake not out of sport but necessity to protect the children and men and women; when he kills it he bravely stabs it once, grabs it, and comments that the snake would have sinuously departed were it alive.
HOMEWORK: Read the passage and write an introductory paragraph that explains and analyzes the effect of the passage on a reader. Pay attention to the tone, diction, imagery, and syntax and its effect on the reader; REMEMBER STRONG THESIS.
ALSO: there is the SYMBOL BOOK, OUTSIDE READ, and the STUDY GUIDES, but no vocab.
Farewell, Ghost C. Writer
Hey, Period 4~
Mrs. Brosius said, “I’m going to change your lives today…well, your lives in writing.” She appeared especially cheerful today, so that changed what would have been a pretty depressing day to a pretty good one for me. Thanks, Mrs. Brosius! Anyways, Mrs. Brosius turned our attention to a large sentence she wrote up on the whiteboard, and so began our writing lesson which lasted the entire period and reestablished the basis of our writing.
“The boy surveyed the class, congratulating himself for snatching the highest grade.”
See words that pop out of the sentence? (Can you 1.identify the diction?) Did you choose “surveyed” and “snatching”? Let’s assume you did. Now write down their connotations, or implied meanings. (2.Analyze = connotations) “Surveyed” could mean scanned, has a cynical, even snobbish air to it; “snatching” suggests grabbing something forcefully and without remorse. Now that we have the connotations down, come up with a simile that describes how the boy “surveyed” and “snatch[ed]”; for example, he did so like a hawk. What you have just done is inserting your voice into the piece. (In other words, it is your 3.commentary about the words and their effects.) When discussing the effects of the piece on the reader, you must join the conversation as a reader and evidently insert your voice into your analysis. Don’t stray far from the author’s tone and idea, though; your commentaries (in the form of similes for today) must reflect the piece (the tone, diction etc.) and your images must coincide with, not overpower, the author’s.
Now, let’s insert your voice into your analysis from last night. Come up with a simile for a word or phrase in your paragraph.
So there was our writing exercise. Then, Mrs. Brosius brought up her analysis paragraph that she had written last night. (An interesting fact I learned today: Mrs. Brosius does the homework with us the day she assigns it.) Her introductory paragraph was very long, but she pointed out that length is not the problem when analyzing. In a timed writing, the introductory paragraph can actually serve as the entire essay as long as it contains a thorough analysis that answers the prompt because the AP graders look for the flow of thoughts, not the number of paragraphs.
The prompt for this paragraph was to explain and analyze the effect of the passage on the reader. This is the prompt where you can insert your voice and commentaries as a reader because you are analyzing the effect the piece had on you (effect on the reader). Do not confuse this prompt with another that asks you to analyze the rhetorical devices the author uses to convey his message. In this type of prompt, you cannot insert your voice; it is strictly the author’s voice (effect of the author’s language).
Homework today is work on TSL Chapters 19-21 Studyguide, symbolism project, and/or your outside read.
Have a GREAT day, Period 4.
November 12
Hi Period 3!
Hope all of you had a great, relaxing day off !
As we walked into the classroom today, we were all surprised to find that the typical blue background that customarily greets us was not there; instead, a scenic background had replaced it. Mrs. Brosius immediately warned us to not touch the computers. In a panic to figure out what was happening, the kids began to intensify the typical amount of clamor before class.
Once the bell rang, Mrs. Brosius informed us that we had a special task to complete; we were going to attempt to update the Firefox browser in order to increase the pace of our class. However, the update did not work out, and the computers were off limits for the rest of the period.
Mrs. Brosius still had an activity planned for us. We were going to practice prompt analysis. Together we collaborated on the most efficient way to assay a prompt. The prompt she gave us to analyze was:
Prompt: Read and analyze the following passage carefully. Then write an essay that explains and analyzes the effects of the passage on the reader. Pay attention to how the author uses diction, syntax, imagery, and tone to produce their effect. (This prompt will help in the homework listed below! )
After discussing the prompt, Mrs. Brosius gave us response practice by presenting us with a literary passage, “The Rattler” by the brilliants author Jane Schafer. Since we are still on the bath of becoming masters of the English language, Mrs. Brosius decided to focus our literary analysis on the key aspect of diction; therefore, for 10 minutes we sat in silence as we inspected the passage word by word highlighting those that stood out to us. Next, we were asked to explain the connotative meeting of those words and discuss them with the person next to us.
As the clock-hit 10:55 Mrs. Brosius announced that we did not have enough time to fully discuss the diction, but quickly assigned us homework to keep us practicing and improving our literary compositions. Always remember that Mrs. Brosius has an open door policy and whenever you may need help she will be willing to work with you. As we departed from English, Mrs. Brosius granted us with her words of wisdom: Practice! Practice!
The homework for tonight is as follow:
In response to the prompt given in class, write an introductory paragraph that explains and analyzes the effect of the passage on the reader. Make sure to pay attention to how the writer uses dictions, syntax, imagery, and tone to produce effects. (If you need a copy of the passage online its under AP Lang Warm ups.)
Keep in mind that the author’s description of the snake presents the snake as a feared and revered creature with an outstanding amount of dignity.
Also, make sure to continually keep working on TSL and tropes!
Have a great night!
- Ghostwriter Period 3
November 10,09
Happy Tuesday Period 4!
No School Tomorrow
Class started of quickly as Mrs. Brosius quieted the class by the mentioning of a quiz. She had the students who did not take the TSL vocab yesterday take the quiz today while the rest of the class took the TSL chapter quiz (the quiz was on chapters 13-18). Mrs. Brosius mentioned that there is one more TSL quiz (November 16) before the final (November 24). The final is not plot based like the TSL quizzes that we have each monday, but it is a test on the characters’ purposes and the author’s message. When we complete TSL, we will move into our next unit on tropes and transcendentalism. Within this unit, each student will be assigned a trope and will be required to teach a lesson to the class on their trope. When we take the trope test at the end of the unit, if the majority of the class gets the question on your trope right, you will possibly be given some extra points. To help you study and properly grasp the concept of tropes, Mrs. Brosius recommends us to make a notebook for our tropes. This assignment will not be graded. The list of tropes are posted on the blog on today’s date. The trope notebook should include thirty pages. Each page should have one trope with its definition and any examples thats will help you remember it. Remember to leave a blank space to take notes on the tropes when your fellow students present
Mrs. Brosius also passed back our essays (not the essay we wrote this past weekend, but the essay we wrote in class and had to write a paragraph of corrections on). If you received a 17 or higher on your essay, you are in good shape. Anyone else should come in and talk to Mrs. Brosius to get help.
Reminders:
* Keep working on your symbol books. Take notes on any symbols seen within the chapters as you will have to turn your notes in at the end of the TSL unit for points. Your symbol book is due November 24! Make sure you work with your group on this ahead of time and do not wait until the last minute to complete this!
* Keep checking the blog for any updates and especially check the calendar for any homework posts or upcoming tests or quizzes.
* The outside read assignment is now posted on the blog. Check this as soon as possible! It is better to start thinking about this long term assignment ahead of time. Also look at the choices of books to read. There are about fifty books to choose from, so choose one that you will enjoy.
* Continue to read TSL and work on TSL questions (due Monday!)
*** Mrs. Brosius is giving Extra Credit if you purchase your outside read book or if you have your book at your house and turn it in to her (if you turn in your book, make sure it does not have any writing in it and that it is in a fairly well condition)
Until Next Time,
~Ghostwriter, Period 4.
This is for you, period 3!
Class began with what seemed like (to me, atleast) a very unexpected Scarlet Letter Quiz on chapters 13-18. How difficult it is to remember what happened several chapters ago! We spent the first half of class scribbling our responses down on paper then turning both sheets in at the podium. While waiting for the last people to finish up their quiz, the rest of the class chose to test their minds at boatloadpuzzles.com. Time passed, and we moved onto the next thing scheduled for the day: a discussion about our plans for the rest of the month. Ms. Brosius gave us the Tropes talk, briefly summarizing an assignment we have to look forward to in the future. Next, she went more in-depth explaining the Outside Read assignment, not failing to mention the extra credit opportunity (donate your outside read book when you’re finished for 5 points)! Ms. Brosius then offered us another chance to improve our grade, with 10 points of homework credit to be exact, if our book is in class on November 25th. The last thing Ms. B spoke of was the Scarlet Letter exam, which is coming up quicker than ever! She reminded us to continue persistently working on our symbols book, which will be due around that date. The discussion died down, and Ms. B passed back our class essay with her commentary on our reviews. We scanned through the sheets of paper which were just handed to us, and a few questions were asked regarding Ms. B’s style of scoring. (She informed us that the majority recieved the grade they deserved, while others were able to gain a point or two extra by means of arguing with reason). The last few minutes of class were spent chatting amongst ourselves about TSL activities, in class essays, and the outside read assignment.
-Everybody’s studying for the vocab test, oooh butterflies.
November 9, 09
Hello Period 4.
*sigh…
Today was Monday and Ms. Brosius was NOT here. It was slightly dull without her usual chattering self and mini commercial breaks… I hope she did not catch the h1n1 flu! Anyway, the beginning of the period was filled with the sounds of everyone furiously scrambling to memorize/learn their TSL vocab. words. A little while after the bell rang, Ms. Shane called for our homework to be turned in. Shortly after, she passed out the vocab. tests and scantrons. We then procceeded to begin taking the test. Overall, the vocab. test was not as bad as I expected… I have to say that I enjoyed how most of the sentences referred to old cartoons. After the vocab. test, we worked in our symbols groups until the end of the period. I know we were all productive because we are all good AP language and comp. students, right??? Well, that’s about all we did today…
Oh, and we don’t have homework… kind of. Just get ahead on the TSL studyguide and vocab. And if you don’t have anything else to do, get some sleep. Have a good week =)
Well here’s my first ghostwriter period 3
-Everybody’s studying for the vocab test, oooh butterflies.
-Richard Stelmach’s Facebook was up and his status stated, “Was feeling hyper because I won BINGO last night.” Haha, oh Richard.
-Mrs.Brosius wasn’t present today, but Ms.Shane was.
-Oh how very noisy it was today, poor poor Ms. Shane.
-Well, Olivia was extremely stressed and could be heard above all other that she was, “Freaking out.”
-Then, Russel’s pencil broke, and Olivia willingly traded pencils with him.
-Michelle and Olivia both had “the chills.” (Weirdo’s)
-Ms.Shane came by collecting essays, and Olivia didn’t staple her essay so Ms.Shane was hesitant to pick hers up.
-Michelle laughed, then she blinked.
-Isabel and Myles were talking to people behind them, I’m guessing they were studying.
-Russel was unprepared as always.
-Iris was consumed in the class calendar that was online.
-Starla’s headband was sparkling wonderfully.
-George said, “Let’s go!”
-Ale almost turned over the quiz but Olivia scolded her because the intelligent being that she is was aware that the paper was poison–silly Ale.
-We had time to work on our symbols, yaaay!
-Michelle found Olivia’s sweater soft.
-Oh, and also, Olivia had holes on not one, but get this….BOTH sides of her sweater. Coincidental? I have no clue, but quite embarrassing if I must said so myself…
-Michelle was on boatload, and was incessantly clicking away!
-Russel was on Wikipedia…what’s new?
-Kira was on Boatload as well. It seems to be so popular! (I love it as well, don’t worry.)
-An ambulance passed by, what a scare.
-Ale and Olivia were constantly arguing, and tensions were high.
-Starla came and harassed Olivia.
-Ale and Olivia finished their first Boatload crossword EVER with the high score of 915–congrats!
Sincerely, Today’s Ghostwriter 
…until next time
November 6, 09
Happy Flannel Friday to all in Period 3!
Today was a rather busy day in English, if I must say! The class began in quite the clamor. Everyone was excited that the week had come to an end and it would soon be the weekend. Mrs. Brosius then announced that today was flannel friday and with that note, the class began. We began by discussing our answers to last nights homework. Many people had different answers and fought hard to prove why theirs was the valid one over the person’s they compared it with. After we were done discussing with a group or partner, Mrs. Brosius asked us if we would be willing to place a million dollars on our answers. Most of us said no. She then asked the class if there was one person who thought that they had all the right answers and if they did, the class would get twenty-five points of extra credit, but if they didn’t, the class would lose fifty points. Eric Burd believed that all of his answers were right, of course, but the class was not willing to risk losing fifty points of credit. Mrs. Brosius told then told the class that there were people who were willing to fight and people who were willing to learn. Those who are ready to fight are those who are willing to waste time. Eric was obviously the one ready to fight. We then went over our answers with Mrs. Brosius, but she only told us the correct answer for the first question. For the second question she asked Aaron Blumenthal what he put as the answer. He said that he circled answer C, but Mrs. Brosius did not tell him if that was right or wrong, instead she put on her poker face and made him think he was wrong. She then had the class vote on the answer, and during this, Aaron went over to the “dark side” to see what another person put as the answer. Mrs. Brosius was trying to reel him back, out of the “dark side”. We then voted on the rest of the answers, but Mrs. Brosius never actually told us which one was right, instead she told us that she would grade our tests and that many of us had voted for the wrong answer! I was probably one of those people! She left us with some words of advice before we moved on to our next topic: “Go with your gut, but be smart!” She also added, “trust your gut, don’t trust your teachers.” Not the best thing to say to a bunch of rebellious teenagers, but I’ll take it! Mrs. Brosius then went over the book list with us. She told us that her favorite book, The Reader, would be on there (hint, hint, read this one if you want an A). She explained to the class that all of these books work for the different lenses that we should read through and that they are all excellent books. Russell Nighswonger then asked if we had to answer five questions per reading lense. This question freaked Mrs. Brosius out. She said that it would be like a bad acid trip if we had to read according to all five of the literary lenses. She then proceeded to discuess some of the books she had that would be on our list such as Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Snow Falling of Cedars, The Bell Jar, The Color Purple, Withering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice. We took two detours during our discussions of the book list. One of them was of Mrs. Brosius explaining how she HATES when books are turned into movies since they do nothing to show the greatness of the book. The other detour was Mrs. Brosius discussing Hemingway and how he is the man from the Dos Equis commercials as the most interesting man on the earth. We ended our discussion by Mrs. Brosius telling us that we should choose a book that we have never read before and get really into it. Our final item of the day was to discuss homework. We were to read a story and write an essay for 30 minutes, no more, no less. Mrs. Brosius read us the story in class, but we need to finish the essay for homework!
Don’t forget:
- check the website for the book list
- our homework is to write the essay
- have a great weekend
Sincerely,
ghostwriter
November 5, 09
Period 4
Today the AP Language students worked on their first warm up for quite some time. It forced readers to consider the author’s tone and attitude toward the subject by examing the details, diction and images of the passage. Students take it seriously! This is a skill that Ms. Brosius keeps throwing at us for a reason. It should not be treated like the tedious work that Ms. Brosius compares to pushing the rock uphill in The Myth of Sisyphus (If you do not know what that is, “Gahh!” she will respond to express her frustration with the ill-prepared curriculum of 10th grade and you not paying attention again). The class built off this topic to discuss whether homework is useful or pointless. The answers varied, but the majority of the class did not immaturely declare that homework is useless or stupid. Although completing homework is necessary for good grades, it should always be done for learning and improving your ability in any subject even when tedious assignments arise. My advice for these unfortunate situations is to find something you can benefit from while forcing your way through something so horrible that you think it will be the end of you. This is why you should do your homework, which for tonight was to take the multiple choice test on an excerpt from The Scarlett Letter and continue this week’s TSL vocabulary, studyguide, and the symbol project.
What up period 3?
Here’s the scoop on today’s many events:
We began the morning with a voice lesson, something we’ve all been missing so much! We noisily typed upon our keyboards, searching for the Tone Exercise link on Ms.B’s blog, then opened the file. Thanks to our genius, we found a way to copy and paste the image onto our document so we wouldn’t have to retype the entire passage, (which would waste away valuable class time). A few minutes went by, and Ms. Brosius warned us to finish up our responses. After typing up the last bit of our answers, we discussed the tone of the excerpt (first with our neighbors, then as a class). After analyzing the sarcastic tone in the Miss Manner’s piece, a couple students volunteered to read their response for the last portion aloud. With the help of Ms. Brosius, we digressed far from our original topic, and ended up discussing the importance of discovering our passion. (’Why do we do homework anyway? Everyone hates it, and we’re better off finding ourselves, not completing busy work!’ in the words of the very knowledgeable Ms. B). To our satisfaction, the conversation lasted for quite a while. Soon enough, Ms. B walked around pasing out a sheet of paper which contained an excerpt from the AP exam. She told us that it would be our homework assignment for the night, and made sure everyone understood the directions: carefully read the passage, analyze the questions and answers, then chose the best answer and defend it with a brief sentence. When the questions revolving the homework were answered, we chatted amongst ourselves for a short amount of time before the bell rang, dismissing us to our fourth period class.
November 4, 09
Hello Period 4.
Today was a good day.
I liked the weather.
Yay. So basically today was like this:
1. The bell rang
2. Mrs. Brosius told us to put our homework on the top of the computers
(homework from yesterday: write a paragraph on how you could improve on your ”AP” essay, give yourself a score, highlight your thesis, and write a thesis statement if you didn’t already have one in the essay)
3. Mrs. Brosius talked reeeally long (as usual) [noted]
- reminding us the exact directions for hw from yesterday
- telling us about the outside read link online
- how period 3 was diligently working on the TSL symbols project (hmmm.)
- how we’re better than period 3 (just kidding)
4. Mrs. Brosius gave us the remaining time to work on the symbols project
5. The bell rang
6. Oh and no homework [Definitely did not say this!!! Did say... work on study guide, vocab, symbol project, and reading]
Have a good night and don’t procrastinate, children
(esssspecially apush)
P.S. I need to thank my good friend for asking me whether we had hw or not…10 minutes ago.
Yes, I confess, I almost forgot to do this and I wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for her
So thank you muuuucho amiga. ohh em gee reeeeally.
-Period 4 Ghost Writer
What up Mrs. B,
Today I walked into class and was really loud. I bet everybody could hear me, but I didn’t wasn’t paying attention. I tried to listen to Brosius but I had so many things to say so I didn‘t think much. My thesis was already highlighted, but everyone kept asking her dumb questions. “What if we emailed it?“ She probably got their emails anyways. I ask a lot of questions too, but mine are randomer. We turned in our essay things to Mrs. B and she pretended to know how many people didn’t turn them in. While she counted to make sure she was right, we went into our symbols group for fifteen minutes or like an hour. I just talked with Eric and Myles the whole time. When we had to go back to our computers, I played around with the mouse, making rectangles on the screen while Mrs. B talked. She said something about putting that outside read thing on the blog and about how you can get different grades depending on when you turn in the project. I kept raising my hand but she is “wont” not to call on me anymore. Look Mrs. B, I used a vocab word. She kept looking at me when she talked about people not getting full credit on their study guides. I don’t know what she’s talking about but whatever. We keep getting catch up days, which is cool cause I get to catch up on stuff. Then she told us to take our toys with us, like our books and stuff because people keep leaving books and wrappers in class. I don’t know really. I just left when the bell rang.
-Geo
[The aforementioned person was not assigned ghostwriter, therefore, I believe the entry was signed using a pseudo name. There is only a slight resemblance of voice, therefore I am not posting the whole name]
November 3, 09
Hello everyone!
Hope you’re having a great week so far.
Here’s a recap of period 4 ,
Mrs. Brosius let us take TSL Vocab Test #6 again in groups today because she wants us to be successful in learning and fully understanding the words. But then she added that tests scores will be averaged whether you did better or worse….
After the test, Mrs. Brosius told us that she had graded our essays from last Friday. *GASP* She said that no one in our period got a 5 or lower (in AP scale) so no worries… and even if you get a C on your essay, you can still pass the AP exam if you get an A on the multiple choice section. But do the best as you can because it’s kinda hard to get an A on the multiple choice… Analysis is a simple writing that does not require creativity but rather conciseness and dryness. To help us improve on the AP analysis, Mrs. Brosisus has assigned us to read and evaluate our own essays tonight.
HOMEWORK:
- Identify and highlight your thesis.
- Find your score that is secretly hidden (on the back of your paper 
), and compare it to the score you would give on your own essay. It’s out of 25.
- Write a paragraph explaining what you need to do to write a better paper.
HINTS!!! (Do’s and Don’ts)
DO’S:
- Clarify your pronoun.
- Use transition words.
- Analyze in present tense.
- Be specific about adjectives.
- Book titles must be underlined.
- State the main idea and give details that explain what it means.
- You may discuss the background of the piece but not anymore than the text gives you.
- Use support from text and comment on it. Quotes must be used to support your ideas, not to finish your thoughts.
- Stay focus on your thesis statement. Body paragraphs are followed in order of the ideas that are presented in the thesis.
DON’TS:
- Do NOT summarize.
- Do NOT define terms.
- Do NOT use synonyms in a sentence.
- Do NOT use clashing terms (i.e. uplifting – degrading)—“listen to your words.”
- Do NOT change the tense in a quote to make it flow in your sentence.
c u tmrw
~Gh0st Writer~
AP Lang 3
Today was a bad day for me because I woke up with a nosebleed and that nosebleed gave me a headache that wouldn’t go away. I still felt pretty hungry when I got to English, which was depressing, considering that I’d already eaten half of my lunch for the day during periods one and two. I also seem to remember feeling particularly cold, which at the time convinced me that I was coming down with a fever when really it was just cold and my headache made me feel kind of sick in general. I stayed outside of the classroom in the sun for a while to warm up but I lost track of the time and almost came in late, but still I found myself wondering how much longer I could have afforded to stay out there. I will admit that the squishy grey chair has some benefits; namely comfort, the downside is that I have to scoot really far in so that people can get in and out of the row at the beginning and end of the period. Now I know what you’re thinking, “If he was almost late there shouldn’t have been other people for him to scoot in for.” My response to that is, shut up.
Which leads us to the beginning of the period, where Mrs. Brosious told us all to get in groups of two or three with like-minded people. I’m pretty sure that everyone likes their mind, but whatever. At any rate, she made a point to tell us all not to talk because it would benefit the people who weren’t in our groups and not us. I don’t know about you, but the idea of helping someone in any way that doesn’t at least indirectly help me really makes my blood boil.
Another thing that makes my blood boil is these vocab tests. We all got to retake the one we took yesterday because we’re so stupid. Yeah, that’s right, it’s the test’s fault you didn’t study your vocabulary. Well, neither did I. I guess it is the test’s fault. I put down all the same answers I did yesterday and had plenty of free time to put off doing my symbols book. I think that’s the test’s fault too.
You know what isn’t the test’s fault? That essay we took friday. That’s one-hundred percent the essay’s fault. We went over all the things that you shouldn’t do when writing an essay, but they’re not really that important. If you want to stop reading at this point, nobody would blame you. Except the next essay you fail. “Whose fault is it now?” the essay would say as it laughed over you with the big “F” written on the top. And you would cry. I don’t care who you are, you would lay down on the floor and cry. First of all, if you manage to fail the essay, you probably didn’t put any effort into it because you thought, “Oh, if I fail I’ll just say it’s the essay’s fault.” Otherwise how could you fail an essay? Just rewrite the prompt and that’s like ten points right there. Or you could be like the famous W.M. who shall remain otherwise nameless, who didn’t like his prompt for the AP test and wrote a story about dinosaurs instead. Second, if an essay starts mocking you, it’s probably because you’re going crazy from the stress that you no doubt will experience when you fail the essay. Or maybe you just want someone to talk to because you’re so desperately lonely because nobody likes you because you fail at writing essays. Boom. Headshot.
Here goes. Don’t use contrasting adjectives in a sentence, but likewise don’t use synonyms. For that matter, go ahead and use adjectives to describe your literary techniques, such as diction and tone. Don’t just say that your diction supports your tone, because that’s like saying your words support your attitude. Don’t ever say that repetitive diction adds to the tone either, because that could never happen and so saying so just sucks sucks sucks SUCKS what? Don’t overuse quotes and don’t put quotes around the title of the novel. Don’t explain what you just said, just explain it clearly the first time. By which, of course, I mean that you should state your idea in a concise form and follow it up with support and commentary rather than a simple explanation. Transitions, by the way, should further explain the previous statement or pull quotes from the text to do so. Be concise and avoid ambiguity. Say to yourself, “In this paper, I’m going to prove blank.” to help focus you in on what you’re trying to accomplish. Talking to yourself might also help reduce the chances of your essay talking to you instead. Use very straightforward writing, and make sure that when you conclude you don’t add any new details. What? No, I don’t want to install a new edition of Java.
