Month: February 2021

The time has come. The time to begin steeling ourselves for the big exam. The time to start applying what we learned from looking at the award-winning and money-generating strategies of the mad men on Madison Avenue and applying it to the kinds of texts we’ll see on exams. The time to take on your first real rhetorical analysis.

This week, you’ll be working independently to analyze President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 press-conference speech wherein he takes the nation’s top steelmakers to task for colluding to raise prices. More below in in the assignments section. You’ll also continue your work in AP Classroom, taking on Unit 6. Then, as always, you’ll report back on your work in Google.

This Week’s Assignments

Deadline 10 p.m. Sunday, 3.7 (Juniors)/Wed. 3.10 (Sophomores)

First, click through to and listen to Kennedy’s entire press conference, including the questions posed by reporters. (Pay particular attention to his remarks on actions of the steel companies, but listen, too, to his discussion of the draft, among other things. In line with our only class this week, it’s important to remember that other generations faced challenges unimaginable today, including the draft.) Listening to the questions will help you analyze the context of the speech.

Then, click through to this packet and find Question 2, the prompt for a rhetorical analysis essay about Kennedy’s speech. (You can also find the packet in the Menu section under “AP Prompts.”) This time, you’re working alone — and you need to put in a complete effort, using all the tools in our Rhetorical Analysis Starter Kit. (Pro tip: You’ll also find this kit in the Menu section under “Rhetorical Analysis Starter Kit.”

You’ll start with our old analytical friend SPACE CAT, but do NOT use the worksheet for anything other than a guideline. This time,  you’ll need to start a Google doc so you have plenty of room to write down your observations. Let me repeat. DO NOT use the worksheet. Further, from this week forward, you need to move beyond writing down a single word or two to writing full sentences and performing a thorough and comprehensive analysis for each letter of the acronym.

In your Rhetorical Analysis Starter Kit, you’ll find support for your work that includes lists of rhetorically accurate verbs and tone words, among other things. Use them. It’s no longer good enough to write down “angry” or “powerful.” You’ll need to talk about tone in every rhetorical analysis essay you write, so its critical that you get comfortable with using a wider variety of more precise words for tone.

As you conduct your analysis and compile your observations, make sure to use the chocolate-chip cookie formula we’ve discussed for crafting analytical statements. Remember, the “formula” is the thing that you see, plus the thing that it’s doing, plus the effect that it’s having, plus the impact on the reader — as in, “My mom’s use of Madagascar vanilla and Ghirardelli chocolate elevates her cookies, creating a dark magic that makes me smile every time.” 

When you’ve completed an exhaustive SPACE CAT analysis of Kennedy’s speech, you need to do one more thing: analyze the Kennedy steel prompt. What is the College Board asking you to do? What recipe are you being asked to bake? As you break down the prompt, review the rhetorical analysis rubric. DO NOT SKIP this prompt analysis and rubric review step; you’ll need to include this in this week’s Google check-in form. Once you’ve completed your work on the Kennedy analysis and prompt review, save it someplace safe. You’ll need it for at least two weeks more.

Kennedy done, go to AP Classroom and work on Unit 6. This will be the last unit due before Spring Break. As you celebrate, please note the following: these have been one-point grades until now, and the quality of your work hasn’t mattered. As we turn the corner toward exam readiness, you need to complete these to the best of your ability. If you blow through the multiple-choice sections answering everything as choice C, you will receive a 0, and there will be no make-up. If you write a single sentence or simply list an idea or a couple of bullet points with thin or no evidence, you will receive a 0 and there will be no make-up. On the FRQ in particular, you need to treat the prompt and your work there as a mini-essay. Use complete sentences, write like you’re in it to win it — make a real effort. Many of you have been doing spectacular work there; keep it up! If you’ve been pretending or phoning it in, the buck stops here. I want you ALL to get college credit!

As your final  step this week, you’ll need to complete this week’s Google check-in form to turn in and reflect upon your work.

We’re moving forward, getting ourselves ready for all that is to come. As Kennedy would say, “Ask not what Lang can do for you, ask what you can do for your Lang exam readiness.”

See you in class for both of this week’s scheduled meetings!

As we’ve discussed a few time in class, if you really want to learn how to employ and analyze rhetoric, study the advertising gurus on Madison Avenue; the experts paid to part you from your money know all the best mind nina tricks to lighten your wallet — and the yearly glut of Superbowl Commercials serves as a master class in tour-de-force rhetoric. This year is no exception and, since for many of us, the commercials are the best part of the de facto holiday that is Superbowl Sunday, it’s worth looking at a few of this year’s standout offerings to study effective rhetorical strategies in the wild. One of the most interesting rhetorical strategies? The decision by Budweiser, Coke, Pepsi and Hyundai to sit the game out, and release their commercials from the sidelines — making room for some first-time Bowl advertisers — like Chipotle — to step up and show out with it’s fascinating “What If I Burrito Could Change the World?” spot.

This Week’s Assignments

First click here (or click through the menu on the left) to pull up the worksheet for this week’s analysis. (Pro tip: Click on “Google doc when it asked you what file format to open the work in.) Then, working with your partner, use this article to link through, select any three of this year’s (non-Budweiser) commercials of your choice, and complete the graphic organizer at the top of this week’s worksheet for each one.

Next, go watch the first of Budweiser’s entries into this year’s unofficial Superbowl commercial sweepstakes, screen it a few times, and work together to complete the “Last Year’s Lemon’s” section of this week’s Google worksheet.

Then, continue with the remainder of the analysis by screening a few times and completing the worksheet analysis for Budweiser’s “Bigger Picture” commercial. When you’ve completed the worksheet, hold on to your work until next week.

Finally, remember that your deadlines for AP Classroom Unit 4 videos and assessments were extended, so they’re due by 10 p.m. Sunday, 12. 14 (juniors) or 10 p.m. Wednesday, 2.17 (sophomores).

Happy viewing, and see you in class!