When teaching students non-fiction and informational texts, use this chart to guide students on how best to annotate for rhetorical strategies. Great for: AP English Language and Composition courses Rhetorical Analysis studies Other Related Resources Other Rhetorical Analysis Lessons Lessons for ANY Literary Text Poetry Sleuths Activity
How in the world do we start? There are so many ways to design an AP English Language course, that it’s hard to decide what to do the first week. For some schools, schedules are pretty fluid the first ten days or so, so you may be constantly dropping and gaining students. For others, students […]
The AP English Language exam focuses on reading, analysis, and writing about imaginative literature such as fiction, poetry, and drama from various periods.
These student reference sheets for synthesis, rhetorical analysis, and argumentation are an easy-to-use tool that AP Language and Composition students will turn to again and again. Perfect for introducing the course, teaching each essay, or end-of-the-year review, these “cheat sheets” are available in an attractive, print-and-go format. Each quick reference sheet includes information about the AP Language and Composition exam, tips for unpacking the tasks involved in each essay, and suggestions for reading/writing. Definitions, close reading, thesis statements, organizational patterns, common pitfalls—it’s all captured in six total pages (two pages per essay so that you can copy them front-to-back). This product is also available in the AP Language and Composition Bundle. Save over 20%--buy now and get all the updates at no additional cost! Related Resources: AP Lang & Comp Introductory Unit: What Does it Mean to Be An AP Student? AP Lang & Comp Unit: History of English Rhetorical Analysis Bundle: Organizers, Activities, and Assessments A friendly note: This work is protected by copyright. You may use my products in your classroom, but you may not distribute them (this includes posting them online for public access). The copyright information on each page must remain intact. If you are interested in sharing with your colleagues, please send them the link to my store! Multiple license discounts are available. Let’s connect! My blog: The Rhetor’s Toolbox Pinterest: The Rhetor’s Toolbox on Pinterest
How in the world do we start? There are so many ways to design an AP English Language course, that it’s hard to decide what to do the first week. For some schools, schedules are pretty fluid the first ten days or so, so you may be constantly dropping and gaining students. For others, students […]
How should AP English Language teachers get in ALL the rhetorical modes (or modes of discourse)? There are four ways we can pull it off.
This fall, I’ve received many messages from new AP Language and Composition teachers who are trying to find their feet. After some reflection, I decided to offer a few of the ideas and proces…
Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.
One of the essential skills that our AP English students need is to develop a line of reasoning in the essay writing.
I recently started teaching rhetorical analysis to my sophomores. This unit precedes our research paper, and so one of the goals of my rhetorical analysis
Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.
Welcome Back to Teaching Tuesday! Today is the third edition of “What I Teach,” and I’m sharing my full course outline for 11th Grade: AP Language and Composition/American Literature. If you missed them, check out “What I Teach: Ninth Grade English” + background info on my courses in general here AND “What I Teach: Tenth...Read More »
15 Posters to hang in your classroom to aid students in becoming stronger rhetoric interpreters and writers. Great for: AP English Language students, students completing non-fiction assignments What's Included: 13 Colorful Posters with 70+ unique verbs and how best to use them 1 Ethos, Pathos, Logos Poster 1 Methods of Development Poster Other Related Resources Other Rhetorical Analysis Lessons Lessons for ANY Literary Text Poetry Sleuths Activity
New to AP English Language? Trying to figure out how to teach it? There's more than one right way to go about teaching this course.
Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.
The AP English Language & Composition Exam will be different in 2020. Change is good!
Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.
When AP English Language & Composition was introduced in 1980(ish), AP Lit teachers were skeptical. A whole course based on non-fiction? Cake walk. They soon learned the opposite; in so many ways, the course was more challenging than one rooted in fiction. Times changed. When Lang was designed, the vast majority of American high schools […]
When I first started teaching AP in the fall, I felt like I was starting over from scratch…not sure which, if any, of my go to strategies could cross over into the scary and academic world of…
If you'd like to help your students understand the parts of the rhetorical situation and the choices that a writer makes to convey his or her message, then this chart is for you! The chart comes with guiding questions to help students analyze a text within a specific rhetorical situation. SPACE CAT ...
Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.
The difference between Do, Does, Did and Done in English using charts, examples and games
Angie Kratzer's 50-resource bundle of AP English Language & Composition resources fits together to create a complete course.
I finally nailed teaching symbolism! Using candy was both engaging and efficient - a major win that students remembered all year long!
Learn some ideas for supporting IEP and ESL students in the middle school classroom.
Looking for techniques to teach visual literacy? Read on to learn about the OPTIC strategy for rhetorical analysis of visual texts and images.
If you're teaching 1984 by George Orwell, this blog post provides lesson plans and activities to connect your 1984 unit to the real world.
Getting to know you - Speaking prompts with vocabulary bank.I have previously uploaded "Let me introduce myself - Getting to know you - Speaking prompts with vocabulary" which was aimed at younger students of all levels. This version has been adapted slightly to suit adult language learners. - ESL worksheets
An interactive list of logical fallacies & rhetorical devices with examples. In nine languages. Never be duped again!
Engaging, informative, provocative–TED talks are the perfect tool for the English language arts classroom. In my AP Lang & Comp class, they are a refreshing source of high-quality rhetori…
Want your AP students to see the AP Enduring Understanding topics and AP Skills? This resource is a great visual for your white boards to help students visualize each EU and AP Skill that is included in your daily lessons. This resource includes: Definitions are from the AP English Literature and Composition CED. 38 cards with color coded definitions PDF print ready
Whether you’re looking to explore more of what TeachArgument has to offer, or you’d simply like to receive awesome lesson plans in your email all year long, you’ve come to the right place. Simply enter your information below to begin receiving our highly engaging, rigorous, and awesome pop culture lesson plans in your email immediately! You can expect ELA lesson plans that: Are aligned to the newest and most rigorous standards! Lend themselves to the upper echelon of the newest teacher-evaluation models! Bolster the skills demanded by next-generation tests! Will save you hours and hours of planning time! Are so engaging, your students will be thanking you!
Teaching theme is not an easy task! Not only do students need to have a strong comprehension of the story's elements (like plot, setting, and characters), but they also have to be able to make inferences to find the author's message, since most themes are not overtly stated by the author. So, what are some of my favorite activities for helping kids understand theme? I'll list a number of them here. 1. Make an Anchor Chart Anchor charts are a great way to make learning visual and to have a record that kids can refer to when they need a bit of extra support. Theme may be defined in a number of ways. To me, the theme is the author's message or what he/she wants the reader to take away/learn from the story. It is a BIG idea, with a real-world or universal concern and can be applied to anyone. Besides talking about what a theme is, you'll also want to go over what it isn't. For example, some kids confuse the main idea of the story with its theme. To help students understand the difference, it's helpful to use stories that everyone in the class knows, like previous read alouds or classic stories like The Three Little Pigs. You can take each story and discuss the main idea (what the story was mostly about - specific to the story) vs. the theme (the lesson the author wants the reader to know - not specific to the story), to contrast the two ideas. The second area of confusion for some kids is that the theme is not specific to the characters in the story. In the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, for example. The theme would not be that...A little mouse named Chrysanthemum learned to accept the uniqueness of her name. The theme would be larger than the book and would be something like...It's important to accept oneself. Also, you'll want to explain to your students that often times, a book has multiple themes and there are several answers which work equally well to describe a book's theme. Since theme is very subjective, I tell students that I will accept any answer, as long as they have the text evidence to prove it. For example, in the book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, one might argue that the theme is about friendship, another might say family, or even courage, or kindness. Any one of these themes would be right, and counted as such, since they each fit the story and could be supported by text evidence. 2. Use Pixar Shorts to Practice Theme Besides the sheer enjoyment which comes from watching these mini-films, your students can learn a lot about reading concepts from these. They're great for ELL students or for struggling readers, and for all readers really since the text complexity piece is removed. You can find these clips on YouTube, but you'll want to make sure to preview them first, so you're more familiar with the plot and are able to focus on theme questions. Here are some of my favorite Pixar Shorts for teaching theme: Piper Partly Cloudy Lava Boundin' 3. Use Mentor Texts Mentor texts are one of my go-to teaching tools as picture books are able to portray examples of just about any reading concept you need to teach. One thing I like to do when using mentor texts for theme, is to vary the types of questions I ask. Rather than always saying What is the theme?, I might ask... What is the deeper meaning of this story? After reading this book, what do you think matters to this author? Which idea from the story do you think might stay with you? What did the author want people to learn from this story?... Once kids answer, you might say, Ah...so that's the theme! Some of my current mentor text favorites for theme include the following: Ish by Peter H. Reynolds I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe Journey by Aaron Becker (a wordless book) Beautiful Oops by Barry Saltzberg The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed If you're looking for more titles, I have a FREE Mentor Text List for Literature which includes a page on theme which you can download from my TpT store. 4. Use Posters with Themes to Chart Book Themes I like to choose 8 - 10 common themes and place posters of them in the classroom. These are included in my Theme unit but you could easily make them yourself if you'd like. After we finish a class novel, a read aloud, or a mentor text as part of a mini-lesson, I like to have the kids discuss the theme of the book. Once we decide on the theme, I place a miniaturized copy of the book's cover (about 3 x 3 inches or so) under the correct theme poster. You can also make the posters more interactive by allowing kids to write titles of books they have recently read on sticky notes, under the posters as well. 5. Use Songs to Practice Finding the Theme I love to add music to the classroom whenever possible. Not only does it add instant motivation for some kids, but it is also just good for them in so many ways. There are lots of songs you can use to teach theme, from current pop songs to oldies, rap songs, and country songs. While all of these work well, I especially enjoy using Disney songs. Disney songs are easily recognized for some kids, have catchy, fun tunes, and have lyrics that need no censoring (yay!). You can easily find the lyrics online to project on a smartboard or document projector, and the song clips may be found on YouTube, Here are some of my favorite Disney songs which work well for theme: Hakuna Matata from Lion King Just Keep Swimming from Finding Dory Reflection from Mulan Let it Go from Frozen Something There from Beauty and the Beast A Whole New World from Aladdin 6. Introduce Short Texts Using Task Cards Using task cards for theme gives your students a great deal of practice in a short period of time, which makes them a perfect way to begin to practice finding the theme using text. I love the fact that students can read multiple task card stories and practice finding the theme 20 - 30 times, in the time it might take to read a story and find the theme once. You can do task cards as a center activity, to play Scoot, or as a whole class scavenger hunt. One thing I like to do for the scavenger hunt is to make sure everyone has a partner and to pair stronger readers with struggling readers. 7. Add Some Writing After students have worked on theme for a week or two, I like to have students create their own short stories which show a strong theme, without directly stating it. This changes each student's role from a theme finder, to a theme creator and gives students insight into how authors create a situation that allows a theme to unfold. When I introduce this project, we refer back to the task cards we just completed, as an example of story length and rich content. In a matter of 2 - 3 paragraphs, students learn that they can include enough information to let our readers know our message. After students are finished creating these short stories, it's fun to share them in some way, to give more theme practice. Sometimes I have students meet in small groups to share out, with group members guessing the theme. Other years, I leave a stack on my desk and grab several if we have a few minutes. Either the students or I read the short story out loud, and the class discusses the theme. 8. Move to Passages, Short Stories, and Novels. Once we have scaffolded a great foundation for the understanding of theme, there comes a point where kids have to move on to text which is more challenging. I like to use page-long passages which I have created, before using short stories, and ultimately novels. If you're looking for some ready made materials to help you teach theme, here's a packet I love to use which works well for 4th and 5th Graders. Click here to read more about the Theme unit. Want some more teaching ideas and activities to teach theme? Click here to read Teaching Themes in Literature. If you like this post, make sure to share it with a teacher friend! Thanks so much for stopping by! For more ideas and strategies focused on upper elementary, be sure to sign up for The Teacher Next Door's free email newsletter! Bonus, you'll also gain access to my FREE Resource Library which contains exclusive upper elementary freebies that you won't find anywhere else! I'd love to connect with you! The Teacher Next Door's Website Pinterest Facebook Instagram TpT Store
Learn three simple things you need to teach your ESL beginners right away. These include variations of introductions, classroom surroundings and basic needs
