AP English Final

1. Essays: 50%
40 points on analysis of contemporary persuasive article
10 points course eval essy

2. Multiple Choice Objective Strands
since last test 10.8 to 11.13 30%
First set of strands 10%
Rhetorical Devices/Persuasive Techniques 20%
Previous vocab (10, 11, 12, 21, 22, BNW, Grendel) 20%
New strands (below) 20%
John Marshall Maya Angelou Robert Frost Miller Williams Henry David Thoreau Martin Luther King, Jr. Transcendentalism Walden Epistle St. Thomas Aquinas Mahatama Ghandi Satyagraha Alfred Nobel George Orwell 1984 Utopia

John Roberts: A New John Marshall?

In this month's Atlantic Monthly is a lengthy interview with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. His goal during his tenure? He'd like to eliminate dissenting opinions and have more unanimous (read: unbreakable) opinions. His primary model? John Marshall. The graphics are pretty revealing about his initial success.

Odds are this 51 year old will be around for a while and it is excellent supplemental worth your while, , to read the article.

Those "poor" federal judges!

Article referencing our newest member to the US Supreme Court-Chief Justice John Roberts and some controversial statements attributed to him about federal judges. Fits nicely with our new unit and some of you eager "pre-law" students may be curious about financial security as a federal judge.

Outside Court, Roberts Hears Dissent

Mr. Thompson

Gallows Humor

gallows humor (n.) is a Standard term for humor that makes light of life-and-death or other terrifying or very serious matters, as in the old line, “Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” ~ Bartleby's

Wikipedia definition

See Also -- I mean it, you NEED TO SEE THIS MOVIE!! -- Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

And, a doctoral thesis sketch from 2005. An analysis of several "mature" jokes, concluding with a philosophical view that distance from the events allows us to laugh.

Welcome to the US Judicial Branch

Our last unit of study together.

Here are some links to some helpful sites to get you through these last two weeks.

A great interactive map to help you understand the location and organization of the US District Courts, US Appeals Courts, US Supreme court, and all other federal courts-http://www.uscourts.gov/courtlinks/

A direct link to the US Supreme Court-http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

A link to Landmark Supreme Court cases that you can choose to use if you like to help you complete your landmark court case assignment-http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/topic.htm

Finally a must read for everyone!!! The Power of the Federal Courts. Pay particular attention to the last section regarding Judicial Activism vs Judicial Restraint. You will need to know the difference between these 2 rather complex philosophies.

Enjoy the Judicial Branch!
Mr. Thompson

Wrap up of Executive Branch

Wow, we are heading into our last unit of study!!! Can you believe first semester is almost over?

Anyways...an article that is a great reference to some of the people in the EOP who work most closely with the president. I thought this was a great story to kind of wrap up so much of what we have studied-the mid-term election, relations between Congress and the Executive, the Bureaucracy etc. and since Harriet Miers was Pres. Bush' first choice to replace Justice O'Connor on the Supreme Court... a good inkling to our last unit of study The Judicial Branch.

Miers Steps Down as White House Councel

Good Luck on your Executive Branch Test!
Mr. Thompson