Pre-AP English II Summer Assignment 2018-19 AP English Language and Composition requires students to be able to analyze nonfiction texts and argue critically about different topics. In order to quickly bring you up to speed, you will be procuring and reading Jay Heinrich s Thank You for Arguing, Revised and Updated Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion, and completing a pair of relatively simple tasks: you will be summarizing each of the concepts Heinrich covers, and then finding examples of their uses in documentaries. We will be continuing to use Heinrich s book and concepts throughout the year as we prepare for the AP Language exam. A word of advice: take your time, and split up the reading. Trying to read the whole book at once is likely to not only be painful, but to make you miss important information. Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing, Revised and Updated Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. New York: Three Rivers, 2013. Print. ISBN-10: 0385347758 ISBN-13: 978-0385347754. Arvatu, Adina, Andrew Aberdein, and Merrily Harpur. Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. This is a new edition of the book, and significant changes have been made from the original please make sure to get the revised edition of the book. Copies of Heinrichs book may be new or used. Amazon.com has the lowest prices for new and used copies of books, at least that I have been able to find. Please let me know if procuring this book is a problem for any reason. Your Assignment: Part 1: Type a one-to-two sentence summary of the important ideas of each chapter in Heinrich s book. Number each summary so that it is clear to which chapter each summary belongs. Remember that you are reading for the key concepts, which may not be immediately apparent from the title of the chapter, or even its first few paragraphs. Expect to be tested over Heinrich s book. Part 2: Heinrichs book presents common techniques used to manipulate and persuade others. These techniques are used by you, your friends, your family, politicians and advertisers on a daily basis, whether you realize it or not. The best defense against this manipulation is awareness of when others are using these techniques to manipulate you. In chapters 2-24, Heinrichs presents 23 chapters worth of distinct, individual ideas that readers should be acutely aware of. Your assignment is to find specific examples of 15 12 of Heinrichs 23 ideas from these chapters in each of 3 films you select from the list of 36 below. This means 45 36 total references. You may find and write over more than just 12 references for each film; I will give you credit for your best 15 12 for each film when assigning grades for this project. Copy/Paste your summary from Part 1 of your assignment, and, in at least one fully developed paragraph, briefly describe the event in the film that exemplifies Foster s concept and then explain how the example that you selected is, in fact, an example of Heinrichs idea, as well as its overall importance to the story. Example: Chapter 3: Control The Tense. Arguments can be broken down into three groups based on tense: past tense to determine blame, present to debate values, and future to argue over choices. Changing the tense of an argument also shifts its focus. In An Inconvenient Truth, all three tenses are used. Blame is assigned to various groups who have either actively contributed to the pollution causing global warming or passively failed to prevent the pollution, i.e. lawmakers and corporations who have lobbied against environmental protections. Values, specifically whether or not to prevent pollution, are discussed numerous times throughout as well. Solutions, which largely involve reducing the levels of pollution pumped into the atmosphere, are presented in the future tense. All three tenses are used in one particularly illuminating and dramatic example, where Al Gore uses a powered lift to show the Co2 levels in the Earth s atmosphere over time. Gore demonstrates how the atmosphere s Co2 levels have drastically increased since the time of the industrial revolution, which incontrovertibly demonstrates the causal relationship between industrialization and an increase in Co2 levels, which cannot help but affect the Earth s climate. He discusses blame for the rise in Co2, the values that are shaping current environmental policies, and the choice that we as individuals need to make.
The Documentaries: American Made Movie: G, 2013 An Inconvenient Truth: PG, 2006 Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire: PG-13, 2013 Blackfish: PG-13, 2013 Blue Gold: World Water Wars: NR, 2008 Bully: PG-13, 2011 Creating Freedom: The Lottery of Birth: NR, 2013 Crude Independence, NR 2009 Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare: PG- 13, 2012 Food Matters: NR, 2008 Food, Inc.: PG, 2008 Forks over Knives: PG, 2011 Four Horsemen: NR, 2012 Gasland: NR, 2010 Happy: NR, 2011 Home: NR, 2009 How to Die in Oregon: NR, 2011 Hungry for Change: NR, 2012 Inequality for All: PG, 2013 Inside Job: PG-13, 2010 Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve: NR, 2013 More Than Honey: NR, 2012 Paper Clips: G, 2004 Project Censored the Movie: NR, 2013 Revenge of the Electric Car: PG-13, 2011 Schooled: The Price of College Sports: NR, 2013 Terms and Conditions May Apply: NR, 2013 The 11 th Hour: PG, 2007 The Corporation: NR, 2003 The Cove: PG-13, 2009 Trashed: NR, 2012 Vanishing of the Bees: NR, 2009 Vegucated: NR, 2010 Waiting for Superman: PG, 2010 Who Killed the Electric Car?: PG, 2006 Zeitgeist: Moving Forward: NR, 2011 A word on selecting your documentaries: The documentaries on this list have been selected because of the way they present information and the prevalence of Heinrichs concepts used in each of them, not because of the subject matter or ideology expressed within them. Rather than simply presenting information in an unbiased way, these films present an argument, making them as much or even more akin to propaganda as documentaries. Please keep this in mind as you view these films not everything included is necessarily true, nor is any serious attempt made to present all sides of the issues. I have tried to create a diverse list of documentaries in order to allow you to choose films about subjects in which you have some interest. Please be aware, however, that not everyone will enjoy, appreciate, or even find these documentaries appropriate. I encourage you to check out the movies synopses, trailers, and Parent s Guide on www.imdb.com to make sure nothing in the films you choose will be objectionable to you. Assignment Submission: You will submit a single document containing your assignment in Canvas. This means that you must have access to the Canvas course for PAP English II. Follow the directions at the end of this assignment. Just so you are aware, Canvas will run your assignment through a plagiarism database, as well as compare it to the assignments of your classmates, so be sure to do your own work. This assignment is due August, 15, 2018 by 11pm. In addition, I would recommend that you purchase Adina Arvatu & Andrew Aberdein s Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion. This book provides explanations and examples of many of the important terms and concepts covered in PAP English, including the terms you are responsible for on the rhetorical device tests. Arvatu, Adina, and Andrew Aberdein. Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2016. Print. ISBN-10: 9781632864437 ISBN-13: 978-1-63286-443-7. In case you have any questions or problems, e-mail Mrs. Stephens at sherry.stephens@pottsboroisd.org.
Canvas Instructions to Submit Pre-AP & AP English Summer Assignments Go to https://pottsboroisd.instructure.com/login/canvas to log in to Canvas. Your username is your last name in all caps and your six-digit lunch number. Your password is whatever you set it to. Click on the Advanced English class
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