Welcome to firestein.org!
Here, you'll be able to check out what we're doing in class, download readings, handouts, and assignments, check your agenda, take a look at some of our class projects, and stay in touch with me.
REMOVABLES
AP English Language Generic Rubric
Analyzing Argument
Tone Words
The Rhetorical Triangle
Parallelism
Satire
AP Lang Syllabus
Learning Targets for High School
Annotating Texts
AP Terms Packet
The Language Police
The Tiny Rhetoric Packet
The Bigger Rhetoric Packet
Transfiguration HW
Modified Terms for the Second Terms Test
The Iroquois Creation Story
Affluenza (President's Council - King Lear ARQ)
Your Original Ad Campaign: Cardboard Tube!
President's Council: Education and Child-rearing
The Synthesis Project (Intro and Directions)
The Synthesis Project (Sources)
Charlotte's Web Style Analysis
Emily Dickinson Poems
"Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman
The "Volcanic Punctuation" of Dickinson
The Scarlet Letter Vocabulary
The Scarlet Letter Chapter 1: Style Analysis
Hawthorne Discussion Project for The Scarlet Letter
Scarlet Letter Subjective Review AP
Term Paper Presentation Peer Review
2005 Rhetorical Analysis Prompt: "The Onion" Sample Essay
2005 ARQ: "The Singer Solution" Sample Essay
2004 Rhetoric Prompt: Silent Spring
Silent Spring Annotations and Rewrite Assignment (Schoology)
2007 Rhetoric: Women's Press Club
2007 Rhetoric: Women's Press Club Samples and Analysis
The Multiple Choice Test: 2012
The Multiple Choice Test: 2013
The Multiple Choice Test: 2014
The Multiple Choice Test: 2015
2013 "Last Child" Rhetoric Samples and Criteria
2005 Synthesis Essay Sample: Television and Presidential Elections

Unit One: Knowing One's Self
Belief in Miracles on the Rise
British vs American Demonic Possession
Most Americans Believe in Demons
The Devil is Alive and Well in 2018
Demoniacs, Sophomores, and the Rest of Us: An Intro to 10th Grade
Rousseau and the Romantic View of Human Life
Catcher in the Rye Resources
The Essential Questions Project
My Essential Question
What is art...
SOURCE A: Danto and The Transfiguration of the Commonplace
The Danto Study Questions and Project
The Danto Project: Sample Ideas
SOURCE B: "Evolutionary Theories of Art"
SOURCE C: Art as Biological Adaptation
SOURCE E: Homeless Man's Stylish Digs
SOURCE F: Rothko Exhibit
...and what is it good for?
SOURCE A: "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World"
SOURCE B: The Norman Rockwell Museum
SOURCE C: Ekphrastic Poetry
SOURCE D: "Selfies: an (Art)fistic Perspective
SOURCE E: The Third Chimpanzee
SOURCE F: "Everyday Use"
The Danto Project
The Assignment
"Arthur Danto with Wise, Puffy Cheese Doodles"
Photograph
by Irene Caesar, 2010

In The Transfiguration of the Commonplace, Arthur Danto sets forth a fully articulated theory of art. Stated formally, the theory maintains that something X is a work of art if and only if: (a) X has a subject (i.e., X is about something); (b) X projects some attitude or point-of-view about what it is about (this may be described as a matter of X having a style); (c) X is rhetorically elliptical (generally, a metaphorical ellipsis); (d) X engages audience participation in the ellipsis by getting them to fill-in what is missing (an operation which can also be called interpretation); (e) X requires an art-historical context for interpretation (which context is generally specified as a background of historically situated theory). This theory of art is an attempt to capture the essential nature of art.
AP Language Student Resources
CLASS DOCUMENTS
The AP English Language Course Syllabus
AP Generic Rubric (ARQ's and Rhetorical Analyses)
SATIRE
Full Practice Tests
Spring Break Test
RHETORIC AND STYLE
2014 Rhetoric Prompt: "Adams" Samples
2014 Rhetoric Prompt: "Adams" Scores
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "Pink Flamingo"
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "Pink Flamingo" Samples
2017 Rhetoric Prompt: "Women's Conference"
2017 Rhetoric Prompt: "Women's Conference" Samples
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "Silent Spring"
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "Silent Spring" Sample
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "The Want of Money"
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "The Want of Money" Samples
2006 Rhetoric Prompt: "The Want of Money" Scores
2006 Rhetoric Prompt "Joan of Arc"
2006 Rhetoric Prompt "Joan of Arc" Samples
ADDITIONAL MULTIPLE CHOICE PRACTICE TESTS
SYNTHESIS ESSAY WRITING
The Museum Synthesis Essay Sample
FREE RESPONSE / ARQ's
AP Prompt: "The Singer Solution" Sample
Am I Qualified? (Practice ARQ Structure)
AP Tone Words (Vocabulary Lists 1-4)
Affluenza: Is it Real?
VISUAL RHETORIC
Unit One: Adulthood: Our Place in the Global Village
Unit Introduction:
What does growing up mean to a high school sophomore? Can't we just refuse? If not, what does it mean to join the village of adults: those who see "seven generations hence." Canonical in its voice, Salinger’s novel provides a framework to discuss the modern myth of Icarus, the boy who fell from the sky. Drawing from a diverse group of texts, we will piece together ways to connect the past to the present and expose the universality of the ascension to adulthood: to the top of the beanstalk, reluctantly leaving Neverland, encountering children Lost without parents. While Rebel Without a Cause captures the confusion and anxiety of an age, Thirteen acts as a harrowing warning to modern culture, reaping the deficits of a society of siblings. We will invariably find ourselves in these familiar stories, applying their truths to our own lives.
Central Questions:
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What does it mean to be an adult, and what is necessary in order to become one?
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What are the consequences to children when they grow up in a world increasingly without mentors?
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How do noble ideas such as duty, compassion, and pride lead us towards adulthood, and how are these qualities acquired?
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How can the individual participate in the global village and contribute towards a benevolent common goal?
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How do global economics cater to adolescence, and what are the consequences of its success?
Final Essay:
J.D. Salinger, in The Catcher in the Rye, argues that there must be a “great, great fall” ushering each of us into a world greater than that of adolescence. But what does it mean to join this village of adults? First, drawing on your readings and class discussion, define what it is to be an adult. Then, using examples from Salinger’s novel, the 1807 version of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, Barrie’s Peter and Wendy, and the film Thirteen, discuss some of the perils, both literal and symbolic, that we face as we abandon the “indolent, careless, and extravagant” identities of childhood. Finally, discuss how your research project demonstrates the ability to transcend adolescence, give and receive “invisible gifts,” and contribute to the health of global village?
Unit 1 Resources
The Human Spark
Explore the fascinating link between culture, language, and the development of the human brain, as we explore exactly what sets us apart from other animals on the planet.
As you watch this episode, consider the relationship between the cultural, linguistically, technological, and biological development of Homo sapiens sapiens.
Synthesis Essay Resources
Research Project Resources
OFFICE HOURS
In addition to your required conference time, I will keep an open Office Hour every Friday at 10:00AM. Stop by for extra help. Click here to enter our virtual conference, hosted by Zoom.