Summer Marginalia - Sisyphean High

Summer Marginalia: Language & Composition 

 THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN

Summer Marginalia

This is the summer assignment for AP English Language and Composition. You have the ability to post comments, ask questions, and interact with the substructural and preparatory components of the course by loading this online. The URL is at the bottom of each printed page.

You will also notice that your predecessors have filled the comments with their thoughts and reflections, giving you the chance to hear from successful students before you start your own journey.

The image to the left is from Patrick Gannon’s site. It is called “Travel Reading” and comes from his Wood • Sea • Stone collection.

Two Kinds of August

Toward the beginning of next year — somewhere in August — you will be given your own version of Sisyphean High with introductory posts like this one from last year. You will receive your own syllabus, your own opening-day materials, and your own space to learn.

First, though, you have this year’s site, which you are asked to explore as part of your summer reading. This is an artifact of collaborative growth and paradigm shifting — a frozen bit of thinking and learning. As Neil Postman wrote,

Writing makes it possible and convenient to subject thought to a continuous and concentrated scrutiny. Writing freezes speech and in so doing gives birth to the grammarian, the logician, the rhetorician, the historian, the scientist — all those who must hold language before them so that they can see what it means, where it errs, and where it is leading.

My thinking has been frozen alongside the thinking of your predecessors. Let’s test your investment and curiosity.

Some Context

The summer assignment for this course has changed regularly. Until four years ago, students were assigned books to read — 1984 and The Tipping Point were two perennials. Four years ago, it changed from books to a study of the basics of argument, rhetoric, and grammar. Three years ago, it

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Summer Marginalia: Language & Composition 

took the form of a rather complicated, online summer project that involved the four modes of discourse, some underground rap, and the idea that Google is making us stupid. The next year, students received a 30-page, self-contained unit of study on education that essentially argued that the entire public education system is broken and needs to be overhauled.

Unfortunately, nothing worked. Too many students arrived to the first day of school in September exhausted and dejected, having just compressed an enormous amount of work into a few sleepless days. Many of them hadn’t even finished. Some who had finished had only finished in a technical sense. They certainly hadn’t benefited from the experience, and any subsequent effort to capitalize on that reading was desultory at best.

If Sisyphus is our metaphor/mascot , the boulder just keeps getting heavier. 1

Interstitial Immersion

Until last year, that is, when the entire structure and purpose of the course evolved. It began with the summer assignment. What you are reading right now is quite similar, but this is more than the next iteration: It is a microcosm of the course itself. It is a reflection of a desire to evolve and adapt with you.

The written word will be the primary mechanism of instruction, usually delivered through the interstitial classroom. The difference between this and the flipped classroom is that I don’t use lectures; instead, you will read arguments and feedback that are intricate and challenging. This post is an example.

You might expect your summer reading to be a series of articles, a book or two, or a writing prompt. In fact, all of those things are part of our summer work; they are not, however, explicitly assigned, nor do you have a penalizing assignment to worry about in late August. Your goal must be to immerse yourself in the way this course is designed and taught. The more you do, the less likely you are to fall behind or succumb to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Start with how you’re reading this assignment sheet right now. If it’s the printed version, the hyperlinks aren’t going to work that well , but you can still define words you don’t know, like 2

desultory and microcosm and interstitial andimmersion. You will only retain new vocabulary, after all, if you encounter it in context, where defining the new word is critical to your progress.

The same logic applies to new ideas, like the Dunning-Kruger effect mentioned two paragraphs ago. If you can click on that link, read the attached article. Otherwise, a Google search seems to work fairly well for most of us in solving the problem of knowing and not knowing. There’s another link — this one to a YouTube clip of a stand-up comic.

1 We have more than a few class metaphors/mascots. You should also read Albert Camus’ essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus,” and pay attention to the last line; Camus’ version of Sisyphus gives us a galvanizing philosophy — the idea that we are trapped in a repetitive and dehumanizing loop, but we retain the ability to find meaning and purpose in our work. 2 You can click on them as often as you like with your finger, and all you’ll get are strange looks from the people around you. That’s okay, though. As one of our authors writes, “We’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better.” Tap away.

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Summer Marginalia: Language & Composition 

Which gets to the crux of it: Everything you are given in here is connected, everything is deliberate, and everything will help you learn the skills and knowledge you need. You can’t be scared off by difficult language or a lot of dense reading. You can’t skip over footnotes or hyperlinks . You must 3

embrace a little uncertainty and a lot of hard work.

The Summer Assignment

With that in mind, your assignment is to get to know this course. Do this in those interstitial moments between what I hope is a lot of relaxation and rejuvenation. Internalize everything you can about the course rubric, DAMAGES; about grade abatement; and about the interstitial classroom, especially as it looked last year. Get yourself in the right mindset by perusing old course websites 4

and talking to your predecessors.

Bookmark this URL: http://www.sisypheanhigh.com. When the website for 2015-2016 is ready, the link will be posted there. In the meantime, you are going to strengthen your autodidactic muscles. My expectation is that you develop a nascent understanding of all of this — of what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and why we’re doing it that way.

Let’s Checklist That

Last year, the students were given a three-step process to follow. It took them through a series of Google Drive folders, website links, and so on. We’re going to simplify that slightly and checklist the assignment . 5

By the end of the summer, you should have a nascent understanding of the following: 6

1. Our approach to assessment: grade abatement.

This is the universal language of learning we use in all assessments. This is the most complicated, freeing, and galvanizing element of the course. You should know how the idea evolved, including its inspirations and influences. Start to study and to parse the profiles and the ten academic skills and traits that comprise them.

3 Footnotes and hyperlinks are just two examples of the ramiform approach we’ll take to learning. You must also pay attention to image captions, embedded multimedia, and the strange marginalia of websites. Consume everything you are given. 4 This is an odd word that can be used to mean two contradictory ideas. Learn to love words and their origins, if you can; it will help you see the connections between ideas, too. 5 The verbing of “checklist” here is a kind of anthimeria. So is “verbing.” The term matters far less than the effect — which is the approach we will take to all rhetorical strategies. Read the introduction to Silva Rhetoricae for more about this, and begin to think of all reading as fodder for emulation-through-analysis — the ETA methodology that will inform most of your work this year. 6 That’s the second time in three paragraphs that you’ve seen this term, which is important enough to be defined in a footnote: It means “just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.” You are already capable and intelligent; the more time you spend on this substructural summer work, the more you buy a future where you are more prepared and less stressed.

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Summer Marginalia: Language & Composition 

2. Our approach to writing: DAMAGES.

This is the universal language we use for writing, reading, and various kinds of analysis. You should start to internalize the rubric and accompanying writing process. You should also know what ETA writing is, how radial and proxy feedback work, and what our post-writing process looks like.

3. Our approach to technology: the interstitial classroom.

This is primarily about the online components of our learning. You should understand the unique efficacy of each element: reddit; Medium; Google Drive; Twitter; the course website, Sisyphean High; and so on.

You’ll notice links to information about grade abatement and our universal rubric, DAMAGES, in the menu at the top of Sisyphean High. You may find the Google Drive folder to the right more helpful.

You should also bookmark our course Medium account. Start with this essay:

You are all in this together, and the stronger you make your individual understanding, the greater your collective success will be.

Taken together, these are the substructural components of our learning. As you peruse all of this information and become more familiar with the course, you are likely to have some thoughts. Write them down somewhere. Record your questions and insights to some extent.

If all goes well, you will also be able to interact with your predecessors in a few different ways. The comment section here should feature some discussion,

and there will be a stickied post on the course subreddit.

You can leave comments on Sisyphean High by using your school email address and full name. The course subreddit is locked; you can request access, however, by contacting any of the mods.

You may also wish to dive into the discussion happening in the “Tip of the Iceberg” post, which is as much about collaboration as it is about self-assessment and introspection.

Contact

The most important facet of all this might be your individual initiative, which includes your willingness to work early and often. Embrace the word interstitial and the spirit of this assignment; if you do, then you will be able to ask questions before the usual, penumbral panic settles on you in late August. I will do my best to answer any emails or comments within a few days.

● Email address: [email protected]

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Summer Marginalia: Language & Composition 

● Twitter: @sisypheanhigh ● Medium: @sisypheanhigh ● BHS site: Mr. Eure’s Website ● Google Classroom: TBD

The BHS website is living out its last, vestigial usefulness. Rely on the Sisyphean High links. As for Google Classroom: When I have my schedule, I will create the appropriate sections and invite you to join the group.

You should also contact and work with your predecessors. Their comments will appear on the Sisyphean High version of this assignment, and you are encouraged strongly to engage with them. Even into the summer, the Pareto best will return here to talk to you . 7

Note: This is a reformatted PDF version of the summer assignment. The original version is available online at the following URL: http://www.sisypheanhigh.com/umwelt/?p=10964.

[T]he absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols. In the universe suddenly restored to its silence, the myriad wondering little

voices of the earth rise up. Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse and price of victory. There is no sun

without shadow, and it is essential to know the night. The absurd man says yes and his efforts will henceforth be unceasing.

— Albert Camus, 1942

7 Pareto refers to an organizing concept in this course. Start here, and then read this post, which is in a footnote to the first. Then recognize that we are not limited to 20%. I believe you can reverse the percentages, just as your predecessors did.

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