London's English Blog

 Sep 25     Prompt:   Today, we learned how to use clustering as a brainstorming strategy before responding to any writing prompt. Think about today’s practice. How did clustering help you generate ideas, examples, etc for the prompt? What part of the clustering process was most useful to you, and do you think you would use this strategy when planning an AP Lang essay? Explain.     Prompt Response: Clustering works as a good brainstorming strategy because it helps you note your topics and connect them to your sub topics. The most useful part was the subtopics. in perspective, the topics serve as your claims while the subtopics can kind of be your evidence. In previous blog posts I talked about how evidence was the hardest for me, but now with this clustering method it seems it will make it easier. I will use the clustering method when planning another AP Lang essay.      Summary: In class we took notes on clustering.      ...

 Sep 23     Prompt:  Yesterday, you constructed a full AP Language argument essay. Think about the experience from beginning to end. What part of writing the essay was easiest for you, and what part was the most challenging? Why? What is one thing you would do differently on your next argument essay?     Prompt Response: Constructing the full argument essay was stressful but important for the development of my writing. I think the easiest part was writing body paragraphs. The most challenging was the introductory paragraph and the concluding paragraph. I think it was hard because I didn't exactly know what to say for it. With the body paragraphs I already had my evidence and claims but for the introductory and concluding paragraphs I didn't plan.      Summary: In class we wrote our full argumentative essay.     Reflection: I learned how to construct an essay on a timer.  It will help me for the AP exam.

 Sep 22     Prompt:  In “Missing Your People,” Tracy Brower explains the importance of belonging. Describe a time when you felt like you truly belonged. What created that feeling?     Prompt Response: I time a truly felt I belonged was in the sixth grade when I met best friends. The three of them were already friends but they made me feel like I belonged by adding me to the friend group. We are still friends today even though two of them moved. I think what created this sense of belonging is feeling like I am a part of a sisterhood. I'm so grateful to have built a sense of sisterhood with these girls.     Summary: In class we worked on a common Lit.      Reflection: I learned about how humans need a sense of belonging. It will allow me to monitor how I feel when I'm in a space that makes me feel like I belong.

 Sep 21     Prompt:  Select the vocabulary word from today that you think will be most useful to you in the future. Explain what the word means in your own words and describe a situation in which you could realistically use it.     Prompt Response: I think cosmopolitan will be most useful to me in the future. I want to be a very cultured person and know a little bit about everything so this word resonates with me. The word cosmopolitan means to be familiar with different areas of the world and their cultures. Realistically, I can use the word when talking about different foods. I could say, "I am a cosmopolitan when it comes to food."     Summary: In class we wrote down fifteen new vocabulary words in our notebook and did activities using the words.     Reflection: I learned some new words. I can add these words to my vocabulary to expand it. 

 9/15     Prompt:  Some students look at a rubric only after receiving their grade, while others use it as a guide while completing the assignment. Which approach do you usually take? After reviewing the AP Lang Argument Essay rubric today, explain how you could use the rubric as a roadmap to improve your argument writing.     Prompt Response: Usually I take the route of looking at the rubric after receiving my grade, however I think I will do the opposite for this assignment. I'm going to use the rubric as a guide/roadmap because it helps me see exactly what kind of essay teachers are looking for. It will also help me keep in mind of the points and if I'm following exact criteria that will allow me to score the most points. Looking at the rubric as a guide will definitely improve my writing. I can also take the essays we looked at for reference.      Summary: In class we went over the rubric some more and how the points work.    ...

 9/18    Prompt: What is one thing you understand about commentary now that you did not fully understand before?    Prompt Response: I think now I understand the "what is it trying to show" and the "why does it matter" part. At first I would just repeat the evidence without properly explaining it. If I did that in the AP test I realize now that I would've probably earned a total of 2 points after looking at the rubric. For our next argument essay coming up I will explain my evidence with that method. The "What is it trying to show?", "Why does it matter?" and the "How does it connect back to the claim?"    Summary: In class we did a worksheet prompting us to write commentary for an existing claim and some evidence.     Reflection: I learned how to distinguish the two different steps of the "So what" part of explaining. It will help me to make my evidence better.

 9/16 Prompt: Identify two important takeaways that you can apply to your writing. Explain what you learned about claims, evidence, commentary, the "so what?" explanation, or the AP Rubric.   Prompt Response: My first important takeaway from  the past argument essays is that explaining your evidence doesn't have to be 2-3 sentences. The more sentences you add that actually support your evidence without repeating make your essay look nicer and polished. My second important takeaway is to state your position in your thesis in the FIRST paragraph. By doing this it sets up your body paragraphs. I also learned that repeating your evidence does not equal explaining it. I specifically saw this in the shorter essays where they just repeated their evidence.  Summary: In class we took notes on the commentary part of an essay and we graded past argument essays.  Reflection: I learned how the more you know about something the better you can craft your commentary and ev...

      9/14     Prompt: How might knowing the "ins and outs" of a rubric change the way you approach an assignment.      Prompt Response: By looking at the rubric, it tells me what to do and how I can receive the most points. It allows me to see what type of essay they are looking for. I'll apply what I learn from the rubric to my essays. This way when the AP test comes in May I will be prepared. It will also help me to score a 5 as well.     Summary: Wasn't in class.      Reflection: From the prompt I learned that applying what you learn from the rubric to what you're doing will help you score better. it also gives you insight into what the tests are looking for. 

      Prompt: Think of a time when you or someone you know used informal language in a situation where formal language may have been more appropriate.     Prompt response: A time where formal language was more appropriate was when one of my friends met my mother for the first time. She wasn't disrespectful, however some words she used should only be used when talking to a friend. She accidentally called my mom "bro", but immediately corrected herself. My mom wasn't upset, thankfully. When my friend went home my mom did tell me that I need to make sure my friends know who they are talking to.     Summary: In class we went over formal and informal language. Then we read other groups paragraphs.      Reflection: I learned how other people perceived different topics. In the future I can bounce off ideas from other people when I need help.

      Prompt: What is one idea, suggestion, approach from a group member that improved your paragraph or changed the way you thought about the argument?     Prompt response: One approach that changed the way we thought about the argument was considering the quality of the product rather than the restaurant itself. My group was hung up by what type of restaurant we would wait for. It was 50/50 on whether you would wait for a fancy restaurant or a regular restaurant. We finally decided that it should be a fancy restaurant because our prompt didn't specify. Then one of our groupmates realized that we should build our claim according to the product a person would wait for not the type of restaurant.     Summary: In class we finished up our group arguments.     Reflection: I learned that bouncing off ideas from one another is extremely helpful. I can say that when i'm creating something getting a second opinion will help improve my work.

      Prompt: September 11     Prompt Response: An event that I experienced that helped me understand the impact it had on Americans was without a doubt COVID-19. I was in 4th grade going into fifth grade and doing online school. Fortunately for me my mother made it as fun of an experience she could possibly make it for me. However It wasn't until 2021 when I actually caught COVID that I understood the impact. It showed me how everybody was affected by COVID in different ways that caused many outcomes in people's lives where positive or negative.     Summary: In class I received feedback from classmates on our group argument paragraph and revised accordingly.     Reflection: I learned how having another person look over your work can help you catch things you never saw. It shows that you should look closely at your work when revising it. 

      Prompt: Write about something you've always been curious about.     Prompt response: I've always been curious about people. I love people watching and realizing how we all are on different walks of life. I'm of course aware of evil people out there, but for the good ones I like to see the seasons their in. I think that's why I like watching vlogs. Human interaction and the social spectrum is something I'll always find interesting and be curious about.     Summary: In class we crafted a group argument paragraph on a topic we were given.     Reflection: I learned how different people perceive things. At first our group was debating what position we would take because of the way each of us perceived the claim.

      Prompt: Which part of building an argument is the most challenging for you, and why?      Prompt Response: In previous blog posts I mentioned how I really struggle with explaining my evidence and how it connects to my claims. I am an over thinker and sometimes I think that contributes to the way I write. I'm good at creative writing, but argumentative writing is a whole different ball game. Sometimes I feel out of place with it just because of how structured it is. In conclusion, typically explaining evidence is my area of struggle.      Summary: Today in class we reflected on our argument paragraph and covered some do's and don'ts of argumentative writing.     Reflection: I learned how your position + reason = your claim. I now know I can use this when crafting my claims. 

        Prompt: Write about a fear you have overcome.         Prompt response:  A fear I have overcome is being afraid of the dark. It is very generic but this fear lasted until I was fifteen years old. The reason I think this fear lasted so long is my horribly vivid imagination. As a child I believed monsters hid in the darkness, but as I got older I began thinking of thief's and killers. However when I turned fifteen and started exploring a deeper relationship with God I kind of stopped being afraid.      Summary: Picture day.     Reflection: Picture day. 

      Prompt: Think about the word or phrase  you find yourself using the most right now. What is it, what does it mean, and why has it become part of your everyday vocabulary? Explain when you typically use it and what your choice of this word or phrase might reveal about you.     Prompt Response: A word I often use nowadays is definitely " Girlllll....". I know its not very deep and intellectual, but honesty is the best policy, right? I use girl when I'm shocked, disappointed, excited, etc. I think "Girllll...." has become a part of my everyday vocabulary because my mom says it a lot and I tend to always do what she does. I typically use it when I feel comfortable about who I'm around. To be honest I think what this word reveals about me is the fact that I code switch. When I'm at home with my family then you'll hear it, but in certain environments you wont.      Summary: In class we did a vocab worksheet where we learned the definitions of...