It's raining...time to read Emerson!

Read Emerson's Education, rather the excerpt included in TLC on page 102. We'll discuss it in class on Monday. Yes, there will be questions involved, but for right now, just focus on reading and understanding what he wrote. There is much being said about education reform these days. See what Emerson said and consider what you believe.

Writing your JFK paper

If you feel like you've been cornobbled by this JFK paper and are lost in a collieshangie with rhetorical devices, remember to step back, take a breath, and reacquaint yourself with the purpose you are dealing with in each paragraph/section. Focus on how he attempts to fulfill each purpose using rhetorical strategies. Remember that rhetorical strategies can include such things as diction & syntax, appeals (both classical and various, i.e. patriotism, pride, compassion, etc.), choice of detail, figurative language, imagery, organization, etc.

Remember the rhetorical situation: speaker, occasion, audience, purpose(s) as well.

Best of luck with this paper. Don't over-think it. Just identify a purpose and show how he tries to accomplish it in his speech.

Weekend homework

Work on your JFK drafts. You'll have a timed write on Tuesday and the rough drafts for this paper are due on Wednesday.

DO NOT wait to do this paper. Have a real rough draft ready for Wednesday.

Have a great weekend.

Starting the JFK Paper

Camelot

We're going to start working on our JFK papers tomorrow. We'll meet in the Study Hall Lab, over by the the career center (you may know it as the door across from the vending machines) in the 400 building. 

This is an analysis paper. It’s important for writing prompts such as this that you to reverse the process, i.e. begin not with an analysis of the rhetorical strategies Kennedy uses to achieve his purpose—begin with an understanding of his purpose and explain how he achieves that through the use of his rhetorical strategies. If you learn to read for meaning first, you will then be ready to analyze how meaning is achieved (this is a restatement of the 2nd paragraph on page 35 of TLC).

Tonight, read pages 56-57 of TLC in preparation for writing tomorrow.

Vital Statistics:

• 900-1200 words (3-4 pages)
• Google Docs file name: Per 3 Lastname Firstname JFK Paper
• Rough Draft Due: Wednesday, October 27
• Final Draft Due: Friday, October 29

Homework

Do the questions on page 55-56 of the TLC book: all 4 diction and all 9 syntax.

Have a good weekend!

20 worst drinks available in America

Check it out here.

Getting to know JFK

Here is the link to JFK's inaugural address that we watched today in class. If you lost your hard copy for annotation, then here it is as a pdf and Google doc.

Your homework is to annotate or create a dialectical journal or graphic organizer as demonstrated on page 40-47 of the TLC book. Please bring your books tomorrow as we will be using them again.

Don't forget our Easy Vocabulary Test #5 tomorrow!!!

Notes

Bring your books on Thursday. 

Read over Lord Chesterfield's letter again and see if you can see his tone this time. Blog your thoughts on the following: What are the clues to his tone? Why did you miss it if you missed it and what helped you see it if you saw it? 

If you remember nothing else from this timed write, remember this:

Multiple choice analysis

Take a few minutes tonight and look at your multiple choice results. Looking at the ones you missed, ensure that you understand why the answers are the way they are and not the way you thought. You do not need to blog this, though it is highly recommended as you develop your skills analyzing text.

Tomorrow we are taking our first graded timed write. It will be the same format as the first few.

Remember persona...

"I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!" Shakespeare in Othello

Modest Proposal Argument

Revisit paragraph 29 on page 919 in its context (you've already thought about this in question #9). Using Questions for Rhetoric and Style on page 920-21 (maybe look at question 10 to help with this as well), write a short reflection (try to keep it between 150 and 200 words) on how Swift uses satire coupled with his true ideals, hinted at throughout the piece and especially in paragraph 29, to drive home his argument to his audience.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Homecoming weekend!

PS for 5th period: You DGP quiz average was 74.2%  Very good for not doing anything with grammar over the summer, but not quite 85%. We'll start DGP on Monday!

Modest Proposal

Though a disturbing piece, A Modest Proposal is a brilliant argument — in part because it is so disturbing. Let’s take a closer look at how Jonathan Swift crafts his argument.
To that end, blog your responses to the following questions found on pages 920-921 in TLC: Questions on Rhetoric and Style #s 1-5, 7-9.

NMSQT Discussion

Just to follow up on our conversation this morning concerning how to qualify for National Merit and those qualifying levels, of 1.5 million who take the test, the top 34,000 qualify for some sort of recognition ranging from commended students to semi-finalists to finalists. The winners come from the finalist group and that's where the direct scholarship money comes from. Indirect scholarships typically follow for the finalists and semi-finalists (as well as the actual National Merit winners), often from the actual university they attend. Either way, it's a good thing if you qualify. More information can be found here and here.

Caged Birds vs. King Lear

Finish reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read by Francine Prose in the TLC book on pages 89-99. Then blog your Graff Template response. What is the Graff Template, you might ask. If you go to Class Info and Documents and then click the Rhetorical Analysis Tools link, there is a link for the Graff Template. 

You'll notice some other resources as well that we will introduce along the way. Please blog your response. We'll look at a few of them in class and do some group work on analysis questions as well. Please bring your books tomorrow. 

DGP

Daily Grammar Phun is about to begin. That is, unless you cut it off at the pass by acing a DGP pre-test!
Remember that if we demonstrate proficiency on average as a class, we will drop DGP and only talk about grammar directly as it applies to our close reading of specific texts. So look over your pink packets and get ready for a DGP pre-test next week sometime.
We’ll talk about the threshold we need to reach. My regular English classes chose 80% as what would define competence. How many of you are okay with a B-? Consider what you would consider competent and we’ll talk about it before the exam.
That is you only homework, though make sure you bring your TLC books on Monday (there will be reading in class and at home Monday from that book).
Have a great weekend.