AP English Language & Composition
Unit 6 Graded Discussion
Spring 2013
Works Covered:
Major Works:
 1 Dead in Attic—Rose
 The Things They Carried—O’Brien
Minor Works:
 Dress for Success excerpt—Molloy
 “Drugs”—Vidal
 “Don’t Legalize Drugs”—Kondracke
 Through the Dark Continent (excerpt)—Stanley
 Travels in West Africa (excerpts)—Kingsley
 “Truth, Can You Handle It?”—Hesse
 “The Backfire Effect”—McRaney
Ground Rules:
1. There is no winning here. This is not a debate where one side is trying to outdo the other. This is a
discussion where we are all bringing something to the table, and together hoping to work towards a better
understanding of the texts.
2. Keep the discussion text-based. Cite specific examples and quotations. This means that you will need all
texts in front of you! Come prepared.
3. Disagree with ideas, not people.
4. Do not use the time when others are talking just to think of what you will say. Pay attention. If necessary, we
will institute the rule that as part of your response, you will need to repeat the argument of the previous person
(as in, “I think what you’re saying is that Rose ________, and I agree to a certain extent, but I think we also
need to consider_______.”).
5. Respond to the idea at hand. Do not bring up new points randomly when others are still discussing something
else.
6. Look to invite new voices to speak. Your job is not just to share your ideas, but to ask questions that provoke
high-level responses from others.
7. We are looking to cover entirely new ground in this discussion. Comments should show evidence of
independent thinking. Do not rehash what we have already discussed.
8. Do not dominate conversation (either individually or with back and forth banter). You are not graded on the
number of times you speak, but on the quality of your contribution. If you interrupt or talk over others, you
will lose points. If you are not engaged in the conversation, you will lose points. If you continually display
such disrespectful behavior, you will be asked to leave.
Questions to get you started: As you prepare for discussion, read back over your annotations and charts for
all of the works. Spend some time thinking about the questions below. It might be helpful to jot down some
of your responses so that if you get nervous during discussion, you can refer to your notes. You will also
need to prepare some questions of your own.
1. What is fact? What is real or true? How much of what we hold to be true is shaped by what
others choose to tell us? What are the consequences of such shaping and slanting?
[Overarching unit question]
2. What connections do you see between/among these texts? Which texts have similar purposes?
Audiences? Arguments? Structures? Tones? Use of rhetorical strategies?
3. In this group of writers, who would disagree with whom, on what points, and why?
4. Rose and O’Brien both write about dealing with traumatic events. How do their approaches and
conclusions differ? Why might this be?
5. Sir Henry Morton Stanley fought his way through a very different jungle than O’Brien and Alpha
Company. Still, are there similarities that you can draw between Stanley’s account and that of
O’Brien?
6. What might Hesse have to say about perception of truth and the structure of The Things They
Carried?
Your questions: In preparation for our discussion, you should come up with your own questions to pose to
the group. These should not be level one, factual right/wrong questions with easy answers. Try to make
connections between texts. Try to ask questions that require analysis and synthesis.
If you are absent: You will need to submit typed responses (about a page long each) to three of the questions
above. You must include textual evidence from multiple works in your answers. You also need to type up
and submit at least three discussion questions of your own.