Ignorance in Bliss

Thank you, Destiny Diaz.  I took a comment I was going to make and turned into a post.

I'm probably one of the most happiest people (is that right?) you could come across. I didn't consider The Happiness Advantage because I knew this. I know how to be happy. It's effortless. The times I'm only unhappy is when something discourages me or challenges my joy for even a moment- I push myself into a mood and try my hardest to keep it consistent. But the world around me, God bless, always has something to giggle at or smile about, and I'm a sucker for it. I can't stay upset unless I really truly try. That may be a small personality trait or some crazy science or that may just be the fact that I haven't trained myself to be forced into unhappiness enough to be perfect at it.

But, coming back full circle to Destiny's post about her drive for success over her happiness, that may just be the difference between myself and those of you that chose The Happiness Advantage. I chose Outliers because I wanted to learn if there was a way for me to find success in my life without obsessing over it, and Destiny and others like her most likely chose The Happiness Advantage because they wanted to find out if somewhere in their obsession for success they would find happiness. I told myself in Middle School I was to be in some kind of leadership position. I was to take majority honors classes and join Mariners or Journalism, but I chose to be happy instead, because that's what I prefer, Now I find myself casually wondering if I'll even be accepted to a college of choice because I'm not at my best, and Destiny just made a post telling us she's unsure whether she's capable of being entirely happy herself. There's a line between what you want you want and what you need that I can't seem to find. B's, C's, and a broad smile may be enough for the time being, but I can only hope future regret doesn't ruin it for me.

Now I have to try and finish an Academic Genre because this weekend I chose to pause my work to watch my dad dance to awkward music, and rather than learning the appropriate format for multi- voiced arguments, I chose to giggle at him. Ignorance is momentary bliss.

AF: Playing With Perception

Worth every moment of your time:

REVISED AND CORRECTED: Record of Assignment: Quality and Sufficiency in AP English Language

I accidentally posted a draft before.   Here is my revised version of this post.

Here is a way to think about the Record  of Assignment grades.

10/10 (plus) means the work is complete and professionally presented, but more than that, it demonstrates a mind a work.  It is thoughtful, thorough and reflective with attention to detail.  It meets or exceeds the expectations outlined by the teacher.

8/10 (check plus) demonstrates thoughtful consideration for the most part but is lacking in ONE of the following ways:  limited or shallow response, did not follow directions, crafted as though merely answering a series of questions, or improper format; presentation is shoddy.

6/10 (check) demonstrates some consideration but is lacking in MORE THAN ONE of the following ways:  limited or shallow response, did not follow direction, crafted as though merely answering a series of questions, or improper format; presentation is shoddy.

Odd numbers (9, 7, 5) allow me to express nuance.  I use the odd numbers to show that an assignment is RISING -- a 7 is a better 6, not a worse 8; a 9 is a rising 8, not a falling 10.  A 10 is a 10.

I will discuss the "5" in a moment.

Let's look at an example: Questions 5 & 6 on the Weekend Essay cover sheet were "What is the quality of your connection between the claim and the evidence?  Is the evidence clear? Specfic? Sufficient? "

Here is one answer:
"The quality of connection between my claim and evidence is very consistent throughout each of my essays it isn't spectacular in all of them but it does get the job done
In most cases the evidence is clear and sufficient but in a couple of my essays I think I did a better job than what I did in the other two."

Here is another:
"In all of my essays, I believe my evidence and my claim were well connected.  This is because in each of my claims, I briefly mentioned the evidence I would be using the support my claim. Although I don't know if this is the best way to write a thesis, the strategy does help me keep my ideas organized and keeps me from drifting off topic.  Also, I referred back to my claim frequently in explaining how the evidence I gave supports my claims.
I believe most of my evidence was specific and sufficient.  In Dear Boy, I liked how I smoothly incorporated quotes into the essay to support my claim; however, my explanation of how some of these quotes support my claim was a bit confusing.  I know what I was trying to say in my head, but transferring my ideas from preexistence to birth resulted in a lack of clarity. In King Lear, my essay did not have this problem of unclear explanations.  My evidence included very specific examples that supported my claim. In this essay, my evidence was specific and was used less awkwardly, but I don't believe it was sufficient.  I struggled coming up with good examples from literature of wealth corrupting or not corrupting the judicial system.  In my Gandhi essay, I believe I did a great job using specific and sufficient evidence.  My evidence effectively supported my claim. I also believe my evidence was good in my Susan Sontag essay.  I felt my evidence really helped to support my claim sufficiently.  Some of my evidence was specific, but I believe I could have given a bit more specific examples in this essay.  Overall, my use of evidence steadily improved from Dear Boy to Susan Sontag, so I guess that more practice writing essays is helping me."

As you can see, this represents a wide range of response.  Both writers struggled with naming the bits of evidence that they saw as specific and sufficient, but as a reader, I have a much better idea of how to help writer #2 than I do writer #1.  Can you see that?  The second writing sample gives me much more to think about and work with, and the writing itself demonstrates command of a variety of sentence forms.


About the "5":  it is a failing grade given to work that is completed.  Uncompleted work is, as you must expect, a zero.  Anyway, imagine that these numbers are expressed as percentages -- because actually, they are. The  Record of Assignment category counts for zero percent in the gradebook because I want you to stop thinking about accumulating points.  I want you to think about the quality and sufficiency of the day-to-day work you complete.  Students may well will miss something here or there, so the Record of Assignment percentage will change, going up and down as these RoA assignments accumulate.  That percentage will be used to calculate your "Day-to-Day" grade, along with your personal reflection, and a conversation we have during the month of January when teacher-student conferences begin.

Hey! How did it go today?

How are you kids? Do you have a beautiful Toulmin chart all ready for me to look at?  Do you have 16 vocab words ready to check tomorrow?  I'm getting ready to write the test on the 8 words assigned.  Tell me how you're doing in the comment section.

AF: Oops! One more thing

Tomorrow in class, I want you to read Chapter 4, Synthesizing Sources, just pages 145-152.  Short!  Super short!  But important.

AF: Research Help

Browse the New York Times collection called Room for Debate.  You will not walk away from this browsing experience without a solid idea.

Malik, here's that Washington Redskin video I was talking about.  I've asked football people young and old whether the team should change the name, and many say no.  Find out why.  Find the argument, the reason.  Read as much as you can.  Don't just make up your mind and stop reading.


Here's a starting point to start looking into income inequality in America.

Net Neutrality, kids.  If I were going to write a research paper, this is what I'd pick.  Since Obama speaks in favor of net neutrality, it automatically has a whole bevy of haters.  There's been a "Defend Net Neutrality" link over there in the sidebar since summer!  -->

Do you want to peek at a few samples?  I haven't studied these so I'm not sure; however, at first glance, I'm not knocked off of my seat.  There may be a gem in here.  Take a look, and just accept these for what they are worth...first glances?  Idea generators?

OK, I'm out.  I have a bunch of other stuff to do.

AF: The Vocab Post

We need to start working "eight-plus-eight" -- every time I give you eight words, you find eight words of your own, using the same source.  Find words you do not have command of.  Perhaps you've seen the word; perhaps you even understand what it means — but you don't OWN it.  You never say it, and you never use it in your writing.  Those are the eight you choose.  And of course, you can ALWAYS pick a word that is just downright mysterious: never seen it, never heard it, never said it.

So here are the eight I chose from Chapter 3 in Language of Composition:  

vitriolic (82); tenets (84); zero-sum game (not sure of page#); belies (93); dichotomy (101); disenfranchise (104); syllogism (118); despot (123)

Where are your eight?  I do not know, but they are somewhere between pages 81-139 and I'll be looking for them when I check vocab on Friday.

I see interesting words that fit that category I was describing above -- words that are familiar, but that we don't use or own easily and naturally, like "conjure" or "tailspin" or "concede" or "veracity."  Stretch a little.  Don't pick words that are already safely in your working vocabulary.