Write!! Revise!!!!

Just a quick reminder that your JFK papers are due tomorrow (Wednesday October 1st) as is your Summer Assignment.  Remember that after the 1st, all missing summer assignments go to irrevocable zeros.

Remember as you revise your papers, think about how each sentence flows into the next and how each paragraph leads into the next.  Make sure each paragraph serves a purpose in your paper, jsut as each sentence must serve a purpose in your paragraph.  Sometimes subtraction can do as much or more than addition to make your paper better.

Obama / McCain Debate #1

Note to both classes:  We'll meet in the Study Hall computer lab.  We're in for the whole time 3rd period, but in 2nd period we'll have to switch to the Library lab halfway through.  Sorry, but it's the best we could do to get you the time.

Since we're watching the debate, you might find it interesting to check out some of the fact-checking sites out there to see how accurate both candidates were the other night.

• Factcheck.org


• Yahoo News


• Washingtonpost.com


• Politifact.com (This is where the Tacoma News Tribune got the information for their website)

La Victoire Douce!

Remember that your papers are due on Wednesday. Not by design, your summer assignments are also due Wednesday. Remember that after that date, missing turns to a zero in the grade book. That's a firm deadline.

As you write your papers, keep in mind the tone t-chart we talked about. It will help you figure out what you want to write. Have a good weekend.

Everyone gets a horse in Camelot...

Work on your JFK papers tonight.  We will meet in the Study Hall Computer Lab both periods to maximize your writing time.  Oddly, we didn't talk about this in 2nd period, but 3rd period, as promised, here is the length requirements:  900-1200 words.

As I said in class, that is what we had last year and it seemed to work pretty well for students.  Use the notes we've been compiling all week to their best advantage to help you garner the evidence for this paper.

This paper is due on Wednesday, October 1. 

When you're stuck and wondering what to do, the paragraphs right after the sample thesis on page 57 of your text are very good.  They explain exactly what I'm looking for in your papers.

Here's to productive writing this weekend. May your whiny inner editor leave you alone and let you get your ideas on paper for he/she to look over later.  See you tomorrow!

Diction/Syntax Reflection

Blog your observations and analysis of how diction and syntax create tone in a piece of writing.  Then record your thoughts as to how (there's that word again, Megan) one might write about tone in a paper.

As Kristi pointed out, if a group hasn't started the syntax questions, they won't have much to say about tone.  In that case, limit your reflection to diction.

Journaling on JFK

Create a dialectical journal on JFK's inaugural address in which you analyze at least 5 passages that you find to be important in some way.  If you forget how to do a dialectical journal, refer to pages 42-3 of Langauge of Composition.

There are many copies of this speech on the internet.  Google "JFK inaugural address" and you'll have many copies to choose from.  I recommend cutting and pasting your selections into a table.  Don't forget to indicate the paragraph number of your selections.  If you blog it, use the paste from Word button and it will work like a charm.  If you forgot how to do that, ask Brett Howell; he's got it down.

Presidential Rhetoric

Read the article at Slate.com entitled "The Hottest Rhetorical Device of Campaign '08".  Evaulate the article for it's ability to engage the average person with an obscure rhetorical device.  Then, try your hand at creating an example of antimetabole that you'd like to hear one of the candidates use (as in the invitation at the end of the article, but post it to your blog, don't email them to Slate.com).

DGP

I forgot to remind you in class, but remember to have the Monday work done for DGP sentence number 3 on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

PS Ask me about the PSAT on Monday.  I have some information for you.

and the number of the counting shall be...three!

Okay, light homework tonight.  Read pages 10-11.  It's only half a page of text on each page so you're really only reading one page.  Then, do the assignment on page 12.  I'd like you to fill in the rhetorical triangle in a similar manner to what we did in class today when discussing Mr. Collins' unfortunate proposal.  Then write up a short analysis that considers the classic appeals as well (Logos, Ethos, and Pathos).  It can be blogged, but your welcome to bring it on paper. We'll project them from my computer if they're on the blog or on the document camera if they're on paper.  Either way, be ready to talk the class through your reading of your political cartoon.

Arranging your life, er...essay

Your homework tonight consists of reading pages 13-26 in your textbook and blogging the short assignment on page 26.  The early part of the chapter discussed the classical arrangement with an example.  We'll take a brief look at that tomorrow along with the Rogerian arrangement that isn't in our text.

Sorry that you're getting hit with so much information right now.  We'll be done with that phase soon and then we'll get quite a bit of practice using what we've learned.  So far, you are doing very well!

Go ahead and blog this assignment if you haven't done so already.

Papers and Einstein

First, finish your paper.  That's important.  It will be your biggest grade other than the summer assignment thus far.  I will grade it holistically, much like the AP essays.  My primary focus will be on your content and structure, though voice and conventions count for something.  As for format, follow these guidelines.  You won't be turning in formal papers on the blog.  Formal papers are turned in on paper.  This is your first formal paper.

Assignment:

In other news, read papges 3-10 in your text book and blog your response to the Einstein assignment on page 9-10.  Please don't forget to double check the link to your site on my page.  Make sure it works, otherwise I will not see your assignment.

Re-vision

Take another look at your papers tonight with your classmates' comments in mind.  Remember that revision isn't editing, it is seeing your paper with new eyes, "re-vision-ing" it if you will.  Spend your energy on such things as structure, thesis, argument/content.  Check to see whether your essay answers all the concerns of the prompt, the what and the two hows.  The hows deal with how the author's use of personification accomplishes the purposes stated in the prompt.  You'll have to do some thinking about audience and purpose to get to the meat of this.  Good luck.

Final drafts are due Wednesday the 17th.

Don't forget to bring your books to class tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Reminders

Everyone: We will be in the computer lab again on Monday.  You need to bring an electronic copy of your rough draft to class.  Best methods of doing so are a flash drive, the blog, or a CD.  2nd period will be in the study hall computer lab, while 3rd period will start out in the study hall and move to the library (sorry, we do what we can).

Blog Lollygaggers: I do not have blog information for the following students:  In second period we have Katherine and Nate (Katherine, I remember--just try to do it this weekend) and in 3rd period we have Chelsia and Mckenzie.  Let's get this done, guys.  We'll start using them to turn work in next week.

Everyone again:  Good luck on your papers this weekend and I hope you got enough done on Friday to go to the fair or something this weekend.  

Grades: There are about 24 F's right now, which is an unhappy thing.  Those are all a result of missing summer assignments.  Homework will get more regular in this class and others.  Don't put it off.  October 1st is a very firm deadline.

It's all in the Implications

As was said in class today, we will be in the study hall computer lab.  Let's go ahead and just meet there.

Tonight for homework, do some thinking about the question and look at the text in light of the what and 2 hows in the question.  Perhaps annotate the text in light of our question.  If you do that, you'll be better able to get some writing done in the lab tomorrow.

Hunger of Memory

As we said in class, your task is this:

1. Read the excerpt of Richard Rodriguez's Hunger of Memory


2. Using the "Reading int he Context of a Personal Economy" sheet, analyze your response to Rodriguez. In this activity, you're analyzing how you think and why you think that way.


3. Write a reading response to Hunger of Memory. Use the guide linked in this post (it's the same one I distributed in class). This one will take the longest.


4. Lastly, read Mortimer J. Adler's How to Mark a Book. Just read it. We'll discuss it a bit tomorrow. As you will notice, it provides some additional rationale and ideas for the annotation of text.

Tomorrow

we'll be reading a short essay called It's all in the Implications by Pico Iyer. We'll write our first paper on that essay, getting started on that tomorrow. We are in the study hall lab on Friday to work on the paper. Get your AUP in if you haven't done so already!

What are they really saying?

Please finish getting your blogs up.  We will start using them to turn in work next week.  We are in the computer lab on Friday; turn in your AUP!!!!  And now for your homework:



Find an ad that catches your eye in some way and analyze it using the AP² method.  Do NOT make a poster.  Just draw it on a sheet of notebook paper.  Remember, your claim goes on the outside of the box and the evidence supporting it goes inside. 

Once you have done that, distill your analysis into a short write-up (a couple of paragraphs) that explains the ad and how it interacts with its intended audience.

 

image credit

Ascham's Wind

Read pages 35-48 in our text and to do the assignment on page 48 dealing with the Roger Ascham excerpt from Toxophilus.  The excert is linked below as well as in your book if you would like to write on the text.

Toxophilus

Tomorrow, we read pictures!

Evaluating Green

Okay, using what we examined in class today, evaulate your own essay.  Score it on the AP scale and defend that score using evidence from the text of your essay and language from the rubric.  Model your defense on the score commentary.

• Rubric (There are three rubrics in this file, use the second one.)


• Student Samples


• Score Commentary

Also, try setting up your blogs again over the weekend.  Instructions can be found in the post below.

  

Please bring your books to class on Monday.

"Fun, Oh Boy. Fun. You Could Die from It."

Quick blog note.  If you get the sorry we're fiddling with stuff message, it means they're doing some maintenance.  This is based in Australia so sometimes they do things at annoying times for us.  If you can't get it to work tonight, try again tomorrow.  I know there are other blog sites out there, but this one makes it through our school filter.  Be patient and don't stress.  Try once more before you go to bed and then, if they aren't done yet, we'll do it tomorrow.  This doesn't happen often, but what do you know, it happens the night we try and set them up.  Go figure.

Assignment

Looking at the article we read in class today, identify the author's purpose. This isn't simply what she is trying to say, but why she is saying it.   Provide textual evidence to support your claim.

Then look at both her language (the words/phrases) she uses and her structure (syntax, sentence length, paragraph breaks, arrangement of ideas, etc).  Discuss how specific examples of her language and structure serve the purpose you identified previously.

All of this should be written/typed on paper (we'll start using the blogs for some of this once we get everyone set up and running).  For those of you concerned with length, the standard answer is "as long as you need to say what you need to say."  That isn't very specific or satisfying, but it's true.  Even so, you could probably write a paragraph for each of the purpose, structure, and language.  One example is sufficient on this assignment to establish each point, though, for example, if you think she uses structure in several different ways, you should provide evidence for each claim.

We be bloggin'

All right folks, it's time to set up your blog.  Intructions are here.  Make sure you follow ALL of the directions.  If you have trouble, let me know.

You will use these to submit some of your homework.  You'll get a fair amount of your homework from my blog.  The blog can be very useful if you take a little time to learn how to use it. 

Some tips regarding the blog:

Pay Attention

Read each noodleblog post in its entirety.  I will do my best to give you clear instructions.  Do your part by reading them.

Hit Publish

When you publish your posts, hitting “save” only saves them.  You must hit Publish for your post to make it on your blog in such a way that others can read it (or give you credit for it).

Learn how to use the site

Visit http://edublogs.org/support and at least watch the video entitled “an introduction to using edublogs”.

Make Sure You’re Up To Date

Go back and make sure you’ve done all the assignments and all the parts of the assignments on this blog.

In the future, check this blog every day for announcements and assignments.  You are responsible for doing the work posted here.