Rhetorical Analysis

Our new unit will cover rhetorical analysis, something that you have worked on in previous English courses.

To start, we focused on purpose and the many purposes that authors may have in writing. This may be something as simple as to inform, to explain, or to persuade. Or, the author may be defining, comparing and contrasting, narrating, exemplifying, describing, arguing, and a plethora of other reasons.

With purpose at the center of rhetorical analysis, we then move forward to rhetorical strategies/persuasive appeals. In essence, you are identifying the "what" the author uses in a text and "why" he/she uses it to reflect the purpose.

All of the above connects to the rhetorical triangle: subject, speaker, and audience. When analyzing (and writing for that matter) you want to identify these elements and utilize these in relationship to the overall purpose of the text. The rhetorical triangle connects to the three main persuasive appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos.

To put this into action, we read this article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/nyregion/13teens.html and identified how the author incorporates the persuasive appeals and why.

At the end of the hour, you worked in a group to define rhetorical strategies, terms, and devices. If you were absent, know the meaning of voice and wit so that you can contribute during tomorrow's class.

St. Louis Assessment

The whole hour was dedicated to your compare and contrast essay assessment. If you were absent, you will need to schedule a time to make up this exam next week.

The Second to Last Day of Compare and Contrast

The first half of class centered on the compare and contrast team essay. The second half was the last chance to complete group notes for the assessment tomorrow. If you were absent today, you will need to turn in these notes BEFORE school tomorrow so that I may make copies for your group.

Team Writing Day

Our entire hour was dedicated to the perfection of your team compare and contrast essay on high school and college. This team essay was due at the end of fifth hour. Our absent group, you have until midnight this evening to finalize your essay.

Don't forget that your team notes are due tomorrow, and the compare and contrast writing assessment will be Thursday!

Compare & Contrast Team Essay

First, we reviewed the group research needed for the compare and contrast essay assessment this week. Each group will research 10 locales in St. Louis, with each group member taking responsibility for 2 places. Notes are due on Wednesday, the day in which I will copy all of your notes for use on the in-class writing prompt on Thursday. Our goal is to NOT have homework this three day weekend!

Class-wise, we spent the hour in groups working on a team compare and contrast essay on high school and college. Groups should continue working on their paragraphs over night in order to expedite the collaborative work tomorrow.

If you were one of my five students absent, you will be completing the team essay in class tomorrow. You are not required to write out anything in advance as you will work on this together.

Friday

In a world without vocabulary, we jump right into writing. First, you met with your partner to evaluate your compare and contrast paragraphs. Overall, you are understanding the need for multiple examples, transitions, and final concluding statements. However, maintain your focus on the thesis statement (or topic sentence in this case) and its incorporation of both comparing and contrasting.

After our evaluation time, we read "Sex, Lies, and Conversation," a text looking at the way women and men communicate and how this can lead to relationship problems.

The remainder of the hour centered around your group research assignment for the compare and contrast assessment next week. In your assigned group, you were given 10 St. Louis locations that will require research (cited research). Each person will take 2 of the locations and make a plethora of notes for the assessment next week. (You may even go to these locations to help add to your ethos!) The notes will be due on Wednesday. The assessment will be during Thursday's class.

On Monday, we will complete a team essay practice on high school vs college - the topic you selected on Wednesday. If there is time on Monday and Tuesday, you will be able to work on your notes for the assessment.

The Last Vocab Quest

Prior to lunch, you completed the last vocabulary quest for Advanced Composition. This quest featured all 75 words from this course!

Post lunch, we focused on compare and contrast writing by...

• reviewing the 5 components of basis, thesis, organization, transitions, and conclusions.
• working in a group to create a basis, thesis, example organization, and concluding statement for 2 subjects.
• reading "Two Ways of Seeing a River" to see how Twain used block organization and analogy to create his impressions of a novice and an expert and what is lost when one becomes accustomed to his or her profession.
• creating a community board of c/c topics.
• selecting a topic for a c/c 1-2 paragraph assignment, which you will have on Friday for evaluation with a partner (and maybe me too). 

If you will not be here on Friday, make sure to stop by on Thursday for your work. You will have tasks to complete for Monday and next week. 

Comparing & Contrasting

1. We spent quality time reviewing vocabulary for our last Vocab Quest tomorrow. Make sure you know ALL 75 words!

2. You received your exemplification essays with feedback. As I mentioned in class, paying attention to details -- citations, person usage, punctuation -- yield dividends for your written presentation. Little errors distract the reader from your ideas and organization.

3. We commenced the compare and contrast unit by looking at 5 qualifications of this mode of discourse. First up, you must create a basis, or the purpose for the compare and contrast essay. This occurs with brainstorming, T-charting, Venn-diagramming, or some other prewriting activity. Second, you want a specific, non-generic thesis statement. Using "there are many similarities and differences" does not engage the reader of help you clarify the direction of the essay. Third, you will need to determine a pattern of organization: either block (all A then all B) or point-by-point (A, B, A, B, and so on). Fourth, during your essay writing, remember to utilize transitional expressions - words, phrases, sentences - to add flow between your subjects. Fifth, construct a conclusion that ends with a final thought or perspective for your audience instead of regurgitating everything prior to this moment.

4. At the end of the hour, you divided into 6 groups, selected a c/c topic, and completed the basis portion. We will continue work on this tomorrow...

Transitioning

1. We reviewed - twice - for the Vocab Quiz to end all vocab quizzes, which may be the case for your high school English career. We will review one more time tomorrow, and the quiz will be on our block day.

2. We reviewed the Grammar Quest in order for you to notice your mistakes and continue studying grammar for the final in December. Grammar never goes away!

3: In my quickly constructed office, we met to talk about your narrative and the class. I would like to do this for exemplification papers as well, so be prepared for the same scenario later this week.

Final Drafting

Ah, brevity - vocab, Works Cited Page format, work time on exemplification final draft.

Works Cited Sample

Many of you will use EasyBib to construct your Works Cited page, which is highly recommended to help guide your through the process.

In order for you to have a visual with formatting, check out this link to a sample paper from MLA. Scroll to the end of the essay and make sure your formatting and information match.

https://style.mla.org/files/2016/03/mla-sample-paper-fourth-year.pdf

Exemplifying Peer Evaluations

This class focused on the exemplification first draft, its completion and its evaluation by your peers. As noted on the scoring guide, exemplification continues to focus on using specific examples - from different subjects - and selecting the appropriate range to best represent your understanding of the abstract noun. During peer evaluation, you completed visual and auditory reviews to better proof your writing.

I am typing this in the midst of your peer evals. In theory, we will talk about the WC page at the end of the hour. However, if we do not reach this part of the agenda, we will go over this during Friday's class.

The final draft of this essay will be due by Friday by 3:30 p.m. in hard copy form. Remember, if you are absent, you are required to send the essay via Google or attachment by this time. You will then need to bring in a hard copy for the next class. If you are at school for any time during the day, the hard copy is still required by the deadline.

On Friday, we will continue with vocabulary, and you will have the majority of the hour to work on your final draft for the deadline.

Writing Day with a Little Coterie Too

1. We continued unit 5 vocab with the next 4 words. The last 3 will be tomorrow.

2. We spent the majority of the hour writing the first draft of the exemplification essay. You have over night and the first half hour of class tomorrow to complete your first draft for peer evaluation.

3: We watched an SNL sketch exemplifying a coterie and satirizing Wes Anderson films.

Your Abstract Noun

After vocabulary, you were officially assigned the exemplification essay assignment. In theory, you could plot the essay by selecting an abstract noun, brainstorming examples, constructing a thesis that defines your abstract noun, selecting relevant examples, selecting the range, researching for specific evidence, and writing the first draft.

You will have class work time through Tuesday on this first draft; the first draft evaluation will be Wednesday, a day in which we review the Works Cited Page as well.

Feedbacking Sybaritic Team Essay

Yes, I made feedback into a verb form. No, it is not a word -- yet.

After vocabulary today (by the way we are nearing the end of your vernacular enrichment for this course), we spent the majority of the hour analyzing the team essays for examples, citations (Cody, our citation policeman), cohesiveness, diction (who would have thought alliterative phrasing and sybaritic lifestyles would go together?), and mechanical consistency.

With two exemplification writing samples down, we will start your exemplification essay next week. Given your list of abstract nouns, choose 5-20 that you may want to use for your own exemplification. You may want to consider which words would be most conducive for researching specific examples. On Monday, each of your will choose one word -- and each person in the class will have a different abstract noun to exemplify.

For the last 15 minutes of class, we played on the buzzers, giving you a chance to be on the Scholar Quiz team and review facts. For those of you with the background knowledge and trivia (you know who your are), you can join the Scholar Quiz team at any time during the year.

Grammar Questing

As promised, the first half of our course was dedicated to finishing the team exemplification essay. All groups shared their essays with me, and I will be providing feedback for you during our next class.

After lunch, you were given the whole hour to complete the Grammar Quest, the last part of our mechanics review. If anyone was absent, he or she will need to schedule an appropriate time to makeup the quest in the next 48 hours.

We will start Unit 5 Vocab Experts on Friday.

Sybaritic!

After copying down vocabulary words for unit 5 and learning your new expert word, we spent the time before lunch analyzing "The Catbird Seat" for author's topic, purpose, specific examples, and range. 

Following our lunches, we began our group exemplification on the term "sybaritic," a vocabulary word and an abstract adjective that needs better clarification via specific examples. In your group today, you brainstormed possible examples (according to one group, I somehow managed up on a list), constructed a thesis statement clarifying your group's definition of sybaritic, you selected your four examples for the essay, and then you determined the range of these examples. At the end of the hour, each person is the group claimed a paragraph of this essay as his or her responsibility. Come into tomorrow with your first draft so groups may peer evaluate and complete the best team essay.

Grammar Quest will also be tomorrow - after lunch. Make sure to review your handouts and notes so you will perform well on the assessment. 

Tomorrow is the last day to make up vocab quiz 4. 

The Last Grammar Review...and Clowns

Other than clown exemplification throughout the hour (not on topic but at least you were using specific examples), we started class with the vocabulary quiz for Unit 4. This quiz was half individual and half class for your overall grade.

The remainder of the hour was working through the last grammar review, a preparation for the Grammar Quest on Wednesday. Make sure to study, review, other infinitives prior to the Quest.

For homework, read "The Catbird Seat" and annotate the examples used for the author to exemplify his point. You will have questions to focus your discussion tomorrow.