AP/IB Research Project Due Dates

In the next six-week grading period, we will have a research paper due in various stages. I am posting the dates now so that you will have plenty of time to work this in to your busy schedule.

Note: Even though AP and IB are going in different directions this next grading period, the assignment and the due dates are the same.

Each student will choose a modern controversial issue in an emerging nation to research. The issue must be the result of American and/or European imperialism/colonialism, and by "modern" I mean on-going issues continuing into the 2oth and 21st centuries, or issues that have arisen as a result of past "first-world" intervention.

Parameters

• Each paper will cite a minimum of three (3) legitimate sources
• Each paper will be between three and seven typed pages in length (or 6-14 handwritten pages)
  
• Each final paper will be typed in MLA format (12 font, Times New Roman, 1" margins, etc)
  

Due Dates (all dates have a cut-off of 4:15pm CST):

• March 2 - Topic
• March 9 - Four (4) legitimate sources (print-outs or photocopies)
  
• March 23 - Rough Draft (hand-written or typed)
• March 20-28 and April 2-5 - individual appointments before or after school to review rough drafts
• April 6 - Final Draft due

Note: March 29 through April 1 is the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh; therefore, I will be out of town and unable to help you unless you drive to the reenactment site in Tennessee and find me. Even then, I will be in the 19th century and unable to help you with events that have yet to occur; I may actually arm you and make you fight for whichever side I'm on at the moment. Or I might have you shot as a spy. Either way, it's your risk.

We will discuss the parameters in further detail in class, but it's a good idea to start thinking about it now since the paper does, in essence, stem from our reading of Heart of Darkness.

AP Exam Registration!!!

Hey!

Register ASAP for the Advanced Placement exams you plan to take in May. The deadline to register without incurring a $50 late fee is March 30.

Because of the grants we get to help defray costs, there are two tiers of expense: grant-assisted and full-price. If you are on the free or reduced lunch program, then you are eligible for a further decrease in the overall cost of your exams (again, thank you, grants).

Science, math, and English exams all qualify for the reduced cost of $31 for each exam. This means if you are in my AP or IB English class, you only need to pay $31 for the AP English Language and Composition exam. (If you are on the lunch program, then it's only $13. Not free, but close.)

Psych, arts, music, foreign languages, and all of the social studies exams are $87 each. Yes, it's pricey, but we don't get breaks to help defray these costs--much to my chagrin. (And if you are on the lunch program, then the cost is $27. Again, not free, but not too bad.)

The forms are coming to class in the next day or so. You can also get a copy of the form from Ms. Porter up in the testing room on the second floor.

REMEMBER:

The Mostest Importantest Test Date of Your Whole Life

is May 16, 2012

at 8:00 am CST!!!!!!1!!!!one!!!!

Heart of Darkness

Some background information for you as we take a look at Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and as you prepare for your research paper due in mid-February:

• Wikipedia's article on the Congo Free State (the Belgian Congo)
  
• A BBC piece on the Berlin Conference that paved the way for King Leopold
• Wikipedia's article on Mobuto Sese Seko, the dictator of the Congo/Zaire from 1965 until shortly before his death from cancer in 1997
• The CIA World Factbook's entry for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)

IB Satire Projects

Here are some links to some of the fantabulous satire projects my IB students put together. There were a couple that I wanted to add but could not because of technical issues, and one that was set on private that was very well put together. (Perhaps we can prevail upon her to change her account settings...)

One word of warning: the one titled "Voodooz Movie" is exceptionally creepy, so watch this one in a happy place and remember that good satire--really good satire--gets un-funny fast.

The following movies are presented in no particular order, so please don't read anything into the sequence in which I posted them; I am proud of each.

So, without further ado:

Call Of Duty Satire
by: furrymonsterunderurbed

The Counselor's Office
by: Shardingsloan

Police Satire
by: M3000A

Voodooz Movie
by: valeriacantu94

Messin' With Super Tea
by: Checo911

IB Satirical Comic Book Project

Now that you've finished reading Candide and are familiar with satire and the techniques used to create it, you now have the chance to be a modern satirist, like Voltaire, using humor to criticize human vice and folly in order to effect change. You have an open opportunity to make fun of society in order to change it!

The world is yours to mock!

Any and all of the taboo subjects are available for your mocking. I challenge you to create a Satirical Comic Book that clearly and effectively mocks some aspect of your world.

Your Satirical Comic Book must include clear and properly executed examples of:

• Allusion
• Situational and/or dramatic irony
• Verbal Irony in the form of sarcasm
• Understatement and/or exaggeration (Litotes and/or Hyperbole)
• Pun or oxymoron
• Humorous metaphor or simile
• Parody
• Caricature and/or Burlesque

Remember, the point of satire is to call the readers attention to some problem in order to change it; therefore, it should also do the following:

• It should clearly mock something—society in general, school, government, teachers, parents, etc.
• It should be long enough to effectively mock the thing in question.
• It should use original photos, drawings, or other art to demonstrate creativity and originality.
• It can use a program such as Comic Life, ToonDo, Xtranormal, or any other computer program you like. Or you can do a "low tech" comic if you prefer.

It must be submitted by November 11, 2011 at 4:30pm CST in one of the following manners:

• A link to the work online via email sent to pmcghee@dallasisd.org (be certain to verify that I have received it by the assigned date and time)
• A thumb-drive/memory stick/DVD/portable data-saving device containing a copy of the project
• A full-color, frame by frame printout of the comic in hard-copy format
• An old-school “funny book”

IB Text for New Unit

Download and/or print out the following texts:

A Modest Proposal for Friday, Oct. 7
Cannibalism in the Cars for Thursday, Oct. 13

Please have copies of these texts read and ready to discuss in class by the dates indicated.

AP Language Class Texts

The following are links to the texts we will be using in class for the next few weeks or so. Make sure you download and/or print out a copy of the text for class discussion.

For the record (and for studying purposes), we have already read:

Henry's Speech at the Virginia Convention
The Crisis

The titles, in order, are:

The Declaration of Independence
Plato's Apology
Lincoln's Letter to Horace Greeley
The Gettysburg Address
Letter to Mrs. Bixby
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Kennedy's Inaugural Address
Statement by Alabama Clergymen
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
I Have a Dream
People Get Ready
Ballad of Birmingham
Eulogy for the Martyred Children
RFK's Eulogy for MLK
The Ballot or the Bullet

We may add more at a later date, but that will be announced well in advance of using any additional texts in class or on a quiz.