We did it! Well, almost. We finished our discussion of "Another View of Hester" on Thursday, but did not get to "Hester and the Physician." In light of this, here is the reading schedule for this week:
Monday—Discussion of "Hester and the Physician," "Hester and Pearl," and "A Forest Walk." Pass out "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
Tuesday—Discussion of "The Pastor and His Parishioner" and "A Flood of Sunshine"
Wednesday—Discussion of "The Child at the Brookside" and "The Minister in a Maze"
Thursday—Discussion of "The New England Holiday" and "The Procession"
Friday—Discussion of "The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter" and "Conclusion"
So, did I forget anything? Ahh yes. The paper. I promised to include Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," so we will be discussing this in relation to The Scarlet Letter as we wrap up on Friday. Most of you have already read it, but it would be worth going over again sometime this week. (It's in the back of your book.) I will also pass out "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Over the weekend you will write a synthesis essay. Utilizing themes from the three stories, you will write an essay in which you develop a position on the actions of the individuals in these small towns.
Some questions/statements to get you thinking:
- In each of these stories, the citizens of a small community are acting to defend their way of life. They perceive the foreign to be a challenge to this way of life, and are acting in response.
- Do you see the actions of the people in charge as self-serving, or are they genuinely concerned for the people under their care?
- Can you find other examples of these situations? What is different in your example?
- The essential question here: Is it acceptable to sacrifice the individual for the good of the group?
This will be the framework of our discussions as we finish the novel.
Read More......Dearest Students:
There comes a time in every unit when the reading schedule must be updated. Now is just such a time. I know it can be frustrating (if you put off a concert to discover Pearl's true nature) or relieving (if you didn't), but it must be done. Therefore:
Monday—Review of essays and "Chapter VI: "Pearl," discussion of "Chapter VIII: The Elf Child and the Minister"
Tuesday—Discussion of "The Leech" and "The Leech and His Patient"
Wednesday—Discussion of "The Interior of a Heart" and "The Minister's Vigil"
Thursday—Discussion of "Another View of Hester" and "Hester and the Physician"
Friday—Essay. (In the interest of not giving anything away, I'll explain the prompt at the appropriate moment. Just know it will be argumentative [not an analysis] and will focus on the ethical treatment of a few characters.)
With warmest regards and best wishes,
JS
Read More......Fantastic job on the persuasive essays, guys. You've really come far from the beginning of the year.
Please remember that we will begin the presentations of the city projects on Tuesday. I will take any last minute questions on Monday. We will discuss presentation guidelines then, as well.
Have a great weekend.
Read More......[Bah! Foiled again! The best laid plans...] Ahhh, gotta love random breaks. I don't mean to rain on your snow days, but I thought I'd remind you that the project is still due tomorrow Wednesday, weather permitting. If you have any last-minute questions, send me an email.
Check out the Conservative/Liberals Post for readable instructions.
Please bring a clean, final copy of your argumentative article to class tomorrow.
Read More......Here's an online copy of the 1956 "Montgomery Story" comic book, for those who are interested.
You should be choosing your nonfiction book tonight. We will divide into groups tomorrow. If you have questions about a book, or want to run an idea by me, send an email.
Remember, article analyses are due tomorrow.
Read More......Continue reading over the sources for your support, refute, or qualify essay [click to download] this weekend. We will work on your thesis statements on Monday, your support on Wednesday, and write the final drafts on Friday. Normal article analyses will be due Tuesday and Thursday. (Holy organization, Batman! A week planned in advance!) Have a great weekend, enjoy the extra hour.
Edit: Great ironic inevitability! Of course, as one of you so gently informed me, you do not have school on Friday. So, the essay will be due at the end of class on Thursday, and the rest of the schedule stays the same. [sigh.]
Edit 2: Here is the url for the essay download site: http://www.mediafire.com/?uz1ilncmiii. Six of you have downloaded it so far, so it must be working at some point in the process. Keep me updated if you are still having trouble. There will be no article analyses tomorrow because the gods of organization have conspired against my best laid plans. Work on your essays, come to class tomorrow with a thesis statement and some support. [If you email a copy of your thesis to me before tomorrow I'll smile warmly upon you.]
Read More......I'm wasting away here, guys.
Your assignment today was to begin annotating Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." This is a near-perfect example of a solid argument, one that carefully balances the rhetorical triangle while employing a myriad of rhetorical figures. You've gotta love that.
Your job for tonight is to annotate passages you find interesting (see your handout "AP Review Through Vocabulary" for why this is important, as well as how to do it), and mark the appeals to emotion, to logic, and from Dr. King's character. (Highlighters work well for this.)
We will discuss our reactions in class tomorrow.
Read More.........by popular demand:
- Font: Times New Roman or Calibri, 12pt
- Paragraph: Double-spaced, half inch indentation
- Page Layout: One inch margins all around; last name and page number in Header section (see below for explanation); student name, etc. same size and spacing as Paragraph; no space before or after Essay Title (original, not the name of the work you're writing over)
- Quotations Shorter Than Three Typed Lines: Quotation marks around all words pulled verbatim from the work, citations after direct quotations and paraphrasing, citation (author's name and page number in parentheses) before the final punctuation
- Quotations Longer Than Three Typed Lines: No quotation marks, citation in parentheses after final punctuation, indented 1" (see illustration).
- Adding Last Name/Page Number to Header:
- 1. Double click in header area (or click View in the toolbar, then Header/Footer)
- 2. Align your text to the right side (Click :
) - 3. Type your last name (no first name, comma, or other punctuation)
- 4. Hit the spacebar once
- 5. Go to View in the toolbar, then Header/Footer, then Insert Page Number:
- 6. Click Close on the Header/Footer toolbar or double click in the body of your paper to return
I'm just beginning to look over your drafts now, so I will post any advice later as another post, but I thought I would get this up now.
Here are our notes from the board today, which are essentially a review of the devices. Focus on your papers; comment if you have any questions.
Oh! Here is the official website, which features the trailer and such. (Note the awards listed; what do they do for the argument? Anything? Keep authority in mind.)
We will be writing drafts of our analysis of Maxed Out this weekend. You should write it as you would an article analysis, with a summation of the argument in the first paragraph, an analysis of the argument (not the topic) in the body paragraphs, and a concluding statement of the movie's persuasiveness. This assignment is worth 80 points (think a month's worth of article analyses), so spend some time on it. Here are our notes from the board:
While we didn't get as far as I would have liked, this (coupled with your notes) should give you a good starting point. Think of the above as an annotation of the movie; you won't necessarily structure your analysis this way, but it is a good summation of the movie's structure and the argued impact of many negative influences.
As always, if you have any questions please post a comment for the good of all or send me an email:
Today we began watching Maxed Out, a 2006 expository documentary on American debt. As we watch, take note of how the argument is presented, keeping in mind the various elements that make up the movie:
- Audio
- Spoken
- Background
- Soundtrack
- Video
- Shot composition
- Shot
- Mise en scene
- Camera placement
- Framing
- Subject arrangement
- Camera angles
- Written
- Title
- Labels
- Subtitles
We will discuss articles tomorrow and finish up the movie on Wednesday. You will be analyzing the film (as you would an article) on Friday.
[BTW, Rope was filmed in ten shots—not bad for an eighty minute film.]
[Also, there was no mention of a kangaroo in the seven-year-old's "rampage" at the zoo in Australia...]
Read More......We will be discussing DeLillo's White Noise through chapter 34 on Monday. We will write over this in about a week, so please keep up with your reading journals.
Another great discussion (From the Board below) over the censorship! The debate was heated at times, so we'll be writing our own argumentative articles this weekend. By now you are all familiar with the basic structure of an argumentative article, but here's a quick outline to help you with your writing:
- Know your position. Begin with a basic argument, such as "Apples are good."
- Begin gathering support for your basic argument.
- "Apples are healthy"
- "Apples are all-American"
- "Apples are portable"
- "Apples can be eaten many different ways"
- Then, begin supporting each claim, adding statistics and quotations from other sources as necessary.
- "Apples are healthy"
- Food and Drug Administration
- "Apples are all-American"
- All-American Apple Council
- "Apples are portable"
- Relevant personal anecdote
- "Apples can be eaten in many different ways"
- Recipes
- How-to guides
- "Apples are healthy"
- After that, make sure your sources are credible and your claims are relevant and logical.
"Apples are all-American"(Appeal to emotion, but not a major point.)All-American Apple Council(Biased source)
- After you are certain you have a logical argument, begin writing your article. Draw your audience in with a "hook"—something to draw them in, give them interest in your article. (Look over your previous articles for examples.) Also, because this is such a heated topic, don't forget to appeal to those on the other side of the issue.
Post questions below for the good of all.
Legend: Black: from the articles, Blue: From you, Green: From me.
Read More......
We've chosen to explore the issue of book banning for our articles next week. I've listed a few sources below for those who would like to get a head start. Remember, we are looking at arguments for book banning on Tuesday and against book banning on Thursday.
As you are searching, remember that you are looking for articles arguing one side or the other of the issue, not an "overview" of the debate. Here is a good one about Harry Potter:
- "Some Thoughts on the Harry Potter Series" by Michael D. O'Brien from CatholicEducation.org
Parents Against Bad Books in Schools is an organization devoted to raising awareness of inappropriate material in books available in public libraries. This page contains a number of links to articles that may be worthy of discussion.
Your analyses should be written according to the guidelines I gave you in this post. Remember, you aren't arguing for or against the issue (we do that in class), but explaining how the author structures his or her argument.
Read More......We will be presenting articles and analyses tomorrow. Check the previous post for links to the articles that we discussed on Tuesday, then search for a new one that will continue our discussion.
Comment below or send me an email if you have any questions.
Read More......This course is founded upon learning and applying rhetoric in your academic and everyday lives. To this end, you will bring in two articles/essays/works of art/books/etc. each week (every Tuesday and Thursday, even if I forget to remind you), with a synopsis and an analysis of the argument presented for each. They do not need to be typed, but each must contain the following:
- Your name and date at the top. (This is logistical; I cannot give you credit if I do not know it is yours.)
- MLA citation of the work. (You will most likely be using the citation guidelines under the “Article in a Web Magazine” or “Page on a Website” headings.
- Author, name of article/work, and name of periodical (if you pulled it from a magazine or journal) in the first paragraph.
- Short (single sentence) explanation of which rhetorical devices the author uses and whether the work is persuasive.
- One paragraph outlining (with examples) how the author uses these rhetorical devices.
- One paragraph explaining why the article is or is not persuasive.
This may seem like a lot to do, but once you start writing them it becomes second nature. We will discuss these articles in class, so pick articles that argue a point (this is important; many newspaper articles merely report on a topic, so check the Opinion or Editorial pages for arguments) and come prepared to discuss. If you have trouble finding something to bring to class, or if you forget about it until the last minute, check out the RSS feed on the left of this page. I have set this up to deliver articles that I think are worth reading. Snag one, write an analysis, and enjoy class knowing you came prepared. It’s a good thing.
Example
Here's a quick example of an average article analysis of this article from last year. Note that the student dissects the argument without identifying the rhetorical devices used. This is appropriate as you begin writing your analyses, but take chances and implement the vocabulary you learn in class.
Parker, Kathleen. “The Perils of Pandering.” Tulsa World. 17 Jan. 2008: A19.
“The Perils of Pandering,” the title of Kathleen Parker’s latest opinion article, details the paradoxes and labyrinthine mix of intentions involved in the Democratic front-runners’ candidacies, specifically those of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Parker explores the argument of “it shouldn’t be about race or gender but it is” by referencing the candidates’ own words and actions to display their contradictions. For example, Parker quotes Clinton’s insistence that she is “not asking you to vote for [her] because [she is] a woman,” while following up with Clinton’s cry to “shatter that highest glass ceiling” at Wellesley College. The juxtaposition of the paragraphs emphasize Parker’s point; that the candidates don’t know whether to play their minority cards.
Another interesting topic is brought up in the article: the idea that a victory for one candidate is a defeat for the other’s minority group. “The battle for race and gender has become a fight between race and gender,” Parker states. “If a Clinton victory is viewed as a victory for all women, then her defeat can only be viewed as a defeat for all women.”
Parker’s argument is convincing; it’s hard to disagree when the quotations are from the candidates themselves. Her bias is mild compared to other articles she has penned—she acknowledges the party’s “noble intent” as she bemoans the identity politics. Her audience is not a narrow one; she can appeal to Republicans and Democrats alike. All in all, it’s a very effective piece.
Read More......As a quick review of today's discussion, here are the main points we covered:
- T-DIDLS sounds funny
- Diction is the author’s choice of words; an author can make a short piece more meaningful than a long one just by choosing cool/more specific words.
- Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word; it is the word’s literal meaning.
- Connotation is what the context says about the word; it is what the word implies.
- Slang, colloquial language, and jargon are used in a persuasive setting to connect with an audience. Using them can be risky, though; an author will secure a bond with his or her audience as often as he or she severs it.
- Slang words are words used in everyday conversation, never in academic or formal writing. They add flava to our speech, but send the wrong message when used improperly. (Did I get away with “flava”? I can use that, right? Proper/improper?)
- Colloquialisms are tied to a geographical location. It is often easy to tell where someone lives (even if they don’t have a noticeable accent) by the phrases and words they use. They make up the grey areas between different dialects of the same language.
- Jargon makes sense only if you are part of the group to which the piece is written. Unless you bone up on the topic. Then you’re kind of part of the group. So, it only makes sense if you are part of the group to which the piece is written.
While it turns out that Richard Nixon's "surfer" flub was not actually recorded, I thought I'd share the other video I mentioned. Here, Jay-Z is asked about an obscure song he wrote in 2006. Mayor Bloomberg steps in, quoting the title. While this has little to do with "diction," it does run parallel to the fact that if you seem to have little in common with your audience, a nod to their culture goes a long way. This is precisely how jargon or colloquialisms (sometimes slang) can be a bridge between you and your audience. This falls under the ETHOS category, but we'll talk more about that soon.
Remember to bring an article to class tomorrow for discussion.
Read More......Go outside. Read. Talk with your family. Whatever you are in the middle of, move it to the yard.
This is worth ten points.
Read More......on this session's final paper, check out RottenTomatoes.com for articles on An Inconvenient Truth. George F. Will is an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, and has written a scathing counterargument to Gore's movie.
For the good of the community, post any other online articles you find.
Read More......
