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9.27.2012

Are We Dumb?

Mark Bauerlein asserts that today's under-30 crowd is the dumbest generation, but are we? Sure we have an inclination toward the defensive, but maybe there's some truth to this. Or maybe it's the usual inter-generational misunderstanding.

This article seems to support Bauerlein's position; it certainly offers some other interesting ideas. And it offers a quiz to see how dumb you are. THAT IS SO MEAN! Ha. No, seriously, would you pass the citizenship test? Take the quiz and see.

Also, fair warning: tomorrow you will be engaging in a debate. Not to worry! You'll have a little time to prepare your opening statement and all that good stuff so you won't end up like such as this:



Now, I fully admit that I am not the most eloquent speaker, and probably say and do all kinds of annoying things when I'm rambling on in front of the class...hey, I'm only human, and public speaking is difficult for most people. Still though, the ability to form and articulate a position in a short amount of time is rather important because you never know when you'll be running for Miss Teen USA.


9.24.2012

Jon Stewart on Logical Appeals

Politicians give us so much rhetoric to analyze it's almost unfair. Here, Jon Stewart waxes poetic about the benefits of logical reasoning, bolstering arguments with facts, statistics, figures--math. He gets really into math.


9.13.2012

What Counts as News?

 
A Short TED talk (if you don't know TED talks yet...get on it. 
They're soooooooooo cool. (Did you catch that? See memo note for #4.)

Dropbox

Here is a link to our AP Lang/Comp dropbox Save this link for times when you want to submit something and Moodle doesn't work (or when we officially abandon Moodle because it's lame). Dropbox is also just a huge livesaver. Download it onto your home computer and drag and drop stuff into it and then download the app onto your fancy phone and have all of your documents with you everywhere. Amazing, right?

9.06.2012

Welcome to the Blogosphere!


You're going to love it here.

So yesterday you officially set up your blog. Woot! Keep tinkering and playing around with gadgets and layouts. Personalize it, but remember that your blog reflects who you are--it is you living in the technology world. I will be reading it. So will your classmates. So will potential employers or colleges. What I'm saying is, keep it classy.

You will update your blogs every weekend of AP. I will assign something on Friday, and the post will be due on Sunday night. If you know you'll be out of town; if something comes up; if your blog gets spammed--whatever, just let me know and we'll figure it out. If I hear nothing from you and you don't post, it sure looks like you just blew off the assignment.

Do this:

  1. Set up your blog.
  2.  Once you have a link established, EMAIL me your link so I can link you from my blog. This is how I will check it.
  3. Play around with the links on my blog. I have some pretty cool blogs connected here as well as some great websites for you to waste time looking at. And also some useful, academic ones.
  4. Finish setting up your blog, including your "about me" section; link to sites as you work; finish the design of it.
Remember: Your literacy narrative (ROUGH draft) is due Monday, and your Mixtape next Friday.

Happy blogging!