JFK Paper

Please do questions 1-4 and 1-9 on pages 55-6 of the TLC book. Due Monday November 4th.

If you feel like you've been cornobbled by this JFK assignment 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 and 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.

We're in the lab Tuesday (11/5) and Wednesday (11/6) at least. Remember the prompt is on page 57 of the book.

Here's the speech file if you need a clean copy.

Hmmm, wouldn't cornobbled and collieshangie be great words to add to a vocabulary test?
Cornobble: An example for a study break.

Hunger of Memory

Blog a personal response to one or more of the implied claims made in the preface to Hunger of Memory. Explain the implied claim and how he makes it, and then engage with that claim on a personal level (what you think) and relate it or contrast it with your own life and situation.

Have a wonderful Homecoming!!

Education: The Emerson Way

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finish reading Emerson's On Education on page 102 of The Language of Composition (TLC). In order to get a solid understanding of what he is on about, do Questions for Discussion on page 108 numbers 1, 3, and 5 on your blog. Once you're done with that, it'll be time for some analysis of how he does what he does. To that end, thoughtfully respond on your blog to Questions on Rhetoric and Style 1-3, 5-6, and 8-12 on pages 108-109.

And as you do this and your other homework, remember that:

"Not less delightful is the mutual pleasure of teaching and learning the secret of algebra, or of chemistry, or of good reading and good recitation of poetry or of prose, or of chosen facts in history or in biography." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take delightful pleasure in this learning activity up through Tuesday evening (due Wednesday October 23). We'll discuss this in class on Wednesday, unless I'm miraculously somehow able to find time to grade your timed writes before class on Wednesday.

For some all-important context, please see this transcendentalism article from the Stanford website, quoted in part below.

Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Other important transcendentalists were Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Amos Bronson Alcott, Frederic Henry Hedge, and Theodore Parker. Stimulated by English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume, the transcendentalists operated with the sense that a new era was at hand. They were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking conformity, and urged that each person find, in Emerson's words, “an original relation to the universe” (O, 3). Emerson and Thoreau sought this relation in solitude amidst nature, and in their writing. By the 1840s they, along with other transcendentalists, were engaged in the social experiments of Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and Walden; and, by the 1850s in an increasingly urgent critique of American slavery. 

Goodman, Russell, "Transcendentalism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .

Superman and Me

Today in class we read Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie. Reread this short piece paying special attention to the syntax and the rhythm of the language. Also pay attention to his use of metaphor. These are related and work together to convey his overall meaning. Please blog your analysis of this little essay in the terms discussed above.

In addition, please blog your answers to questions 1-4;7-8 in the same blog post as your thoughts above. Hint: questions 5 and 6 will help you answer the slightly more vague directions above. (Hopefully we started these in class -- I'm not sure because it's before school at the moment.)

This is a short piece. Read it again. Remember as you analyze to focus first on the details and use them to reveal the big picture, then when you write, start with the big picture and explain it using the small details.

I know why the caged bird cannot read...uh, it's a bird.

Who says I can't read?

Finish reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Can't Read that we began in class today. Please read it with a dictionary handy (experiment: can a high school student use dictionary.com without also stopping to use facebook/spotify/tumblr/twitter/
snapchat/instagram/etc?); Prose's prose is rich and varied and can be either a delight or a difficulty depending on your reading vocabulary and fluency. Do your best to understand her argument and the moves she makes in that argument.

Tomorrow we have Dayna Childs from UW Tacoma to talk about their new early entrance program for high performing high school students. We will also have our SAT vocab test on week 5 words, and we will discuss the essay and work in groups on the questions. Whatever isn't finished in class, will be homework. For Monday, please have blogged all assigned questions (the Questions on Rhetoric and Style only on page 100).