Moses’ AP Blog

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we learned about the three types of claims. He gave us examples and we also used examples from the class. One example was “Is water wet?” We confirmed that water is indeed wet. I did not know that wet was a noun. At the end we looked at some of the bellringers we did and determined which type of claim each one was. Today was an easy day. Hopefully that carries on through the week.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we learned how to write a body paragraph for an argumentative essay. The example we used was a court case about a man that murdered his friend. Mr. Rease showed us the evidence and how it is important to tie the evidence back to the claim. Without tying the evidence to the claim, the defendant would have been found innocent by the judge, even though he committed a heinous crime. We also used two prompts as an example for a body paragraph. We found evidence and counterclaims that we would use in the body paragraphs if we were writing an argumentative essay. I feel like we are going to have to write an essay soon, which I am dreading. I probably would not do bad on it. I just dislike writing essays.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we reviewed crisis rhetoric and learned about rhetoric of place. The example of crisis rhetoric we used for review was a John F. Kennedy speech about 9/11. We also had homework from the previous day. I think a lot of people did not do it. A situation we used for rhetoric of place was “Where would we take a significant other to confess our love to them?” For our exit ticket, we had to write down 3 places, what they are used for, and what they symbolize. It was a pretty easy exit ticket. The day was normal as always. 

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we continued notes about arguments from yesterday. We used a Donald Trump speech as an example of appeals and to show parts of an argument. We also used a Malbaro advertisement and OJ Simpson’s case as an example. Towards the end of class, Mr. Rease gave us homework because supposedly, most people were not paying attention. We have to analyze a speech that was given during a crisis and show how it uses crisis rhetoric and appeals. The assignment is similar to what we did with Trump’s speech in class. Aside from the homework (because we usually do not get any other than the blog), it was a pretty plain day.

Today in Mr. Rease’s class we took a quiz on rhetorical situations. I got a 66 on the quiz, but I think I could have at least passed if I was not rushing. The average of the class was around 71 if I recall correctly, so I think most people did not do too good. We might go over rhetorical situations or get a quiz again tomorrow or sometime this week, because it seems like we did not get a good understanding of it. After the quiz, Mr. Tease taught us about argumentative writing. We reviewed ethos, pathos, and logos. He also gave us examples of how we would use each appeal. 

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we learned about rhetorical situations and parts of them. The eight parts are exigence, context, speaker, purpose, audience, text, genre, and message. The example we used was a speech from the mayor of Atlanta about the George Floyd protests and riots. We found all of the parts of rhetorical situations in the speech. We also logged into APclassroom and learned about the grades we can get on the AP exam. I did not know that no one at Cedar Grove has ever gotten a five, which is the highest score, on the AP exam. All in all, the class was easy today and I hope to use what I learned in the future.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class the other two groups presented their assignment from Wednesday. They did a good job. The first group started presenting a little late since we received our Chromebooks today. It didn’t take long at all. I like how we got new Chromebooks this year instead of the same ones we had in 9th grade. Fridays are usually good since it’s the last day of school for the week. I hope to have a good weekend.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class my group presented our assignment from yesterday. I think we did a good job, even though we didn’t have all of our group members. We just explained to the class what the poem was about and the deeper meanings. AJ did most of the talking, but we all contributed. Another group presented as well. They couldn’t ask all of their questions, but they still did a good job. At the end of class, Mr. Rease showed us some pictures of him from when he was in his rock band. I hope that we can hear the music he made. It was a pretty good day.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we did a group assignment. The assignment was about analyzing a poem titled “Mother to Son.” He made 4 groups with 7 people each, but my group only had 6 people since one of our classmates was absent. We all chose assignments based on our strengths. I chose the vocabulary assignment since I’m pretty good with words. The assignment wasn’t that hard, and my teammates didn’t seem to struggle with theirs either. We present tomorrow and I’m pretty confident it will go well.

 My dream is to have financial freedom. I will achieve it by obtaining a stable and well paying job. I will also have things I do besides my job to earn money. Some examples are investing in the stock market or buying and selling items. To avoid deferring it, I can make good decisions with money. I can also stay consistent. Even though there are some things I cannot control, I will try to not defer my dream and hopefully accomplish it.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we learned how to make inferences about literary text. The example we used was a poem titled “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” It was written by Langston Hughes in the 1920s. There were a lot of lessons and themes that you could get from the poem that were not explicit. For example, the theme I got from the poem was that black people have been through a lot, while one of my classmates got that we shouldn’t judge everything we see. Other classmates found a different theme in the poem. It was a good lesson and hopefully next time I read a poem I will be able to understand the theme better by looking at the symbolism in the poem, and making inferences based on that.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we took a test and a quiz. The quiz was on vocabulary words. The quiz was fairly easy. The test was a pretest on unit 1. It was more difficult, probably because of the short response question. Writing isn’t really my forte, but I’ll likely improve at it later in the school year. Mr. Tease also gave us a homework assignment over the weekend. We have to comment on 3 blog posts. It’s not a hard task but it is somewhat annoying that we get weekend homework. 

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we learned the importance of reading with a purpose. We read part of a story titled “The House.” At first, we read with no purpose, and we did not notice much of the story. However the second time, we read it as if we were going to rob the house. We paid attention to a lot more details. We also read it as if we were going to buy the house, and we also noticed more details about the house. We read it multiple times to compare how reading with a purpose can be more beneficial than reading without a purpose. I will start to read with a purpose now whether it be for a school assignment or just to read, so that I can retain more information from what I’m reading.

Today was a normal day. We learned how to comprehend complex text. We took notes and did a test. The test used a poem as the complex text. The test wasn’t as easy as the one yesterday, and I was somewhat confused on a few questions. However, at the end of class I had a much better understanding of those questions. I am curious to see what we will learn tomorrow.

 Today in Mr. Rease’s class we took a pretest to see what level we were at. I am fairly confident that everyone passed because it was an easy test. He taught us how to use process of elimination in multiple choice tests. He used the pretest as an example and explained why certain choices should’ve been eliminated. Mr. Rease said that there was a different method for questions with “all of the above” as a choice, but didn’t teach it to us today. I’m curious on what the method is. Hopefully he’ll teach us tomorrow. 

 My name is Moses Huggins. I am in the 11th grade. I am the oldest of two siblings. My favorite hobbies are playing chess, playing video games, and reading. My favorite books are Coraline and the Kyoshi novels. For the school year I expect to learn new things as well as sharpen my knowledge on the things I do know already. In American Literature specifically, I want to improve my writing and maybe I could even enjoy writing by the time I leave the 11th grade. Hopefully this will be a wonderful and prosperous school year!