AP English Language Analyzing Famous Speeches Detailed Prompt walk through PLUS

20 detailed slides presentation plus links to the AP practice prompt (from a previous year), specific strategies explained, embedded video, my google docs, images, link to the pdf of College Board's student examples with scoring explanations, and 10 famous speeches (linked) for an extension assignment that allows students to apply what they have learned through their own choice of speech and analysis.

First I have detailed the formula of the AP exam essay prompt. Students will learn it is always the same formula, and this will help them with their timing. Then I give them a strategy for how long to spend on certain (specific) activities as they read the prompt and practice. I have a time limit suggestion for each.

Next I have a 10 part fill-in-the blank review of the main elements present in AP essay passages (For example, exigence, audience...) The slide has custom animation so you can put the sentences up there first with the blanks, and students can try to answer them on their own. Then on click you can show each sentence with the correct AP term filled in. I have also linked a google doc fill-in-the blank handout you can use in the classroom.

After solidifying students' knowledge of the essay elements, we begin looking at an example prompt, and I have labeled (on click) all of the essential devices in the prompt and then in the actual passage.

Then we watch the (embedded) YouTube clip of the actual speech being given. I handout the speech on paper (also linked as a Google Doc in this presentation) so that students can annotate as we hear it the first time. Depending on where you are in your course, you could have students write the full essay prompt, or write it collaboratively, or write just the introduction with a detailed thesis statement.

I have also put a sample opening paragraph on a slide, and we talk about what is good and what could be improved within this first paragraph. Then I have a slide with just examples of evidence and commentary, and we do the same with those. Then I have a slide with a "sample" second paragraph.

Finally I have linked the College Board's AP Exam student samples with their scoring guidelines. You could read through these first, so students see specific examples of how the overall score is derived. I also often wait until after the students have written the essay themselves (or after they at least have their own introduction and thesis statement) because sometimes their essays can accidentally model the examples too closely.

After walking through this prompt practice together, I ask students to choose from a list of ten famous speeches (all linked in this presentation). They will research the speech, create their own AP essay prompt (following the formula) and write either the full essay or the introduction with thesis statement. You could extend this assignment and have them then peer score each other's essays by using the scoring guidelines provided by College Board.

This mini unit is part of my "Unit 5: Words Matter in Letters and Love and Speeches" and you can see my ultra detailed 16 page College Board Approved Full Year Syllabus Here. I have included the code you need to claim the syllabus for your College Board approval (you are allowed to "claim" an already-approved syllabus).

If you like using songs to teach ELA, I've created a full course elective called "The Literature of Music" here or see some of the individual units:

Dueling Ballads

Murder Ballads

Graphic Organizer for Analyzing Songs

Youtube Ambience Blackout Poetry

Lana Del Rey Music is Poetry

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The Dark Side of Oz

The Phantom of the Opera

The Rhetoric of Music Unit

I'm Obsessed with this Song

Youtube Ambience Poetry Activity

Lyrics as Poetry Assignment and Rubric

Classic 1970s songs

Elvis Movie Soundtrack Assignment

2 Songwriters who are Poets

Podcast Unit

The 2 Most

Lyrics Mashup Patchwork Quilt

U2 Running to Stand Still

Update My Playlist

Lyrics that are LIES

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