Rhetoric Complete

For the first half of class, we were treated to the rhetorical analysis presentations encompassing Meryl Streep's strategies in her Barnard speech. Our crowd favorite presentation was our last, led by Tiana, Grace, Kayla, and Jaime. Their hook had the most depth of the groups, providing context of the speaker and how her ethos was formed over time. If absent, you will need to type up a rhetorical analysis essay on the speech. This will be due by 2:30 p.m. on Monday in hard copy form.

For the second half of class, we began our last unit!?! Argumentation!

As with any argument, the centerpiece is the claim, a position that you take on a topic. The claim could be one of many claims and is not a for or against thesis. As I mentioned in class, avoid "should" and "should not" so that you do not limit the argument and begin to move into persuasive territory. Here is the link to the qualities of a strong claim, which will be necessary information on the final: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/english/mwollaeger/cdw.htm.

Following a claim, you have to consider evidence, which is more logos-driven. Stats, historical facts, expert opinions, and even (if used sparingly and for effect) a personal anecdote will aid your claim.

Last part of today's argumentative focus centered on the warrant, which ties the claim and evidence together and forms a concluding sentence.

To end class, we started a practice on argumentation, featuring a video interlude with Honey Boo Boo. We will finish that up on Friday.

For homework, you will read the 3 articles regarding women in the military. Annotate and prep notes so that you will contribute to our second group activity on Friday. I have hard copy packets to pick up tomorrow, but you may also read these here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/lindachavez/2003/04/30/women_in_combat_will_take_toll_on_our_culture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29269-2003Mar25.html
http://www.newsweek.com/uncle-sam-and-aunt-samantha-149413

One Day More

Since we read "On My Own" from Les Miserables, it is appropriate to reference my favorite song from the musical in this blog title. Our class agenda today was all about your presentation prep for tomorrow. Make sure you are ready to go and be here!

Rhetorical Analysis Assessment

Today's class featured the topic of your rhetorical analysis assessment: the commencement address by Meryl Streep at Barnard University. You will find a copy of the speech here: http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0069-streep.htm. You can also listen to and watch the speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-a8QXUAe2g.

After the viewing and annotation of the transcript, you split into 5 groups for your presentation preparation. As a group, you selected a specific purpose and divided up the strategies for analysis for homework this evening. Miranda, you are to work on the identification and the analysis of logos in the speech; Kayla, you are to work on the identification and the analysis of ethos in the speech.

Tomorrow will be a full prep hour for this presentation. Remember, any person absent on Wednesday will have a supplementary individual assignment to make up the grade.

Logos, Ethos, Pathos

After analyzing your tone maps, which all exhibited a fluctuation of tone as Eponine, she would be the speaker of "On My Own," recognizes that she must accept the loss of a love that never knew her feelings, we read an article for its usage of logos, ethos, and pathos. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12wwln-lede-t.html. Absentees should read the article and identify where logos, ethos, and pathos are used. We decided that the essay relies most heavily on pathos, attempting to disgust and then motivate the reader to adjust a fast food lifestyle. When you return, you will be completing the assessment for rhetorical analysis - more details on Monday.

Your Own Tone Mapping

During class, I modeled how to do a tone map using your nine tone words for "Siren Song." After indicating your tones, you then need to select 2 opposites or 2 words to create a range for your map. Then, you plot the points, draw the lines, and look for patterns in tone.

In partners, you created a tone map for "On My Own" from Les Miserables, which you may find a digital copy here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lesmiserablescast/onmyown.html. If absent, you will need to read through the lyrics, identify all the tone shifts (F.Y.I. you are looking at every minor, subtle tone shift in the lines -- do not just divide by stanza), and give each section (for example, lines 1-4) a tone word. I will show you what to do in class after that.

Big Kid Tone Words

After we performed our tone conversations, focusing on the subtle shifts of team positive, team negative, team sorrow, and team neutral, we looked at the AP tone handout and identified our new favorite tone words. Jingoistic - still my favorite! To practice using the list and our former one, we read "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood and identified the tone of each stanza. On Monday, I will show you how to a tone map and then you will be creating your own.

Diction to Tone

For the first 1/2 of class, we worked on diction analysis. I provided feedback for each body paragraph, allowing for revision. (How impressive you are becoming in organizing paragraph, adopting active verbs, and bringing in multiple examples of evidence.) After the revision process, you composed a team introduction and turned in the team "almost" essay. We will be reading these on Friday, so any absent paragraphs will need to be attached on that day prior to class starting.

For the last 1/2 of class, we played with tone. Using different tones to verbalize statements and identify tone shifts. At the end, you received the umbrella tone list, divided into groups, and sculpted conversations using similar - but not same, Emerson - tone families. We will perform these conversations on Friday so that you may guess the tone shifts.

Miranda, we never made it to tone mapping, so I hope you did not work ahead. We will be doing that on Friday, so please treat the handouts I gave you as a preview.

Team Emerson

We finished up analyzing the paragraphs for Emerson's "Education" and identified topic sentences that would cover the diction and purpose.

In groups of 3, you then composed a thesis statement for the following prompt: "How does Emerson utilize diction to reflect his purpose?" In each group, each person selected one form of diction listed in the team thesis to compose a body paragraph. A strong body paragraph would include multiple examples of evidence that would reflect different paragraphs.

If absent, you should create a body paragraph for tomorrow's class. Choose one form of diction and write the paragraph. Here is a link to the entire essay; we read only nine paragraphs, which I will remind you of after the link.  http://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/education.html

Our section began with the paragraph "I believe that our own experience instructs us that the Secret of Education..." and ends with the paragraph "Nature provided for the communication of thought..."

Emerson Diction

We continue our emphasis on diction by looking at the first 9 paragraphs of Emerson's "Education" essay. In groups, you circled key words, analyzed meaning, and composed thesis statements indicating the author, an active verb, a specific type(s) of diction, and a mature purpose. Overall, the class is doing very well with characterizing diction in the text. My only want would be to see a bit more analysis and support from the text to validate the thesis statement. I know you will keep working on these skills as we continue forward into diction and tone later this week.

Diction

Our class focused on how to analyze diction. As every piece of literature has diction, it can sometimes be a struggle to start the analysis process. I recommend circling words that stand out: words that indicate tone and feeling, words that repeat, words that create a theme.

To practice this, we worked with quotes by circling diction and creating thesis-like statements to summarize the analysis. As with syntax, the formula for a diction thesis would be author + active verb + specific type(s) of diction + mature purpose. After our class practice, you worked with a group to analyze a quote about autumn and complete the aforementioned components above.

We will work more with diction next week. If you were absent, you do not have a makeup assignment for today. However, you can read some of your favorite quotes, identify the type of diction, and then figure out the purpose. This will be an informal way to prep for Monday's class.

Syntaxing Surprises

After my lap around the room to answer your questions, you received a surprise: the deadline for the essay was not today at the end of the hour but tomorrow at 3:45 p.m. Be aware that you will not have class time to work on the essay tomorrow, so any finishing touches will need to be completed for homework or in study hall. As with all of your hard copy essays, you will need to turn this in if you are on school grounds at any point of the day. If absent for the entire day, you will need to share/attach/photograph the essay and then turn in the hard copy the next day.

Syntaxing

Today's class was dedicated to self-evaluating the syntax essay or, more broadly, how to spruce up a rhetorical analysis essay. Use your evaluation suggestions and the tips from class to work on your essay. During class tomorrow, you will have the entire hour to complete a final draft of the essay. If you think you  need more than the allotted hour, take some time this evening or during a study hall to work on it.

Might Not Be Periodic

For the first half of class, we (since I was, technically, playing the role of the simple sentence in one group) shared the different sentence structures you highlighted over the weekend. During this process, you noted when and why the author brought in simple sentences, complex, and the like. Furthering this interaction, your group also noted other syntactical friends like enumeration, anaphora, rhetorical questions, and the like.

For Wednesday, you need to write 3-5 paragraphs responding to the following prompt. Have a hard copy with you for class -- this includes absent students as well.

How does Sherman Alexie utilize syntax to reflect his purpose in "Superman & Me"?

Be aware that you will be self-evaluating your work on Wednesday. If you do not have a draft, you will not be able to break down your rhetorical analysis skills.

Syntax & Superman

To begin class, we finished reviewing your syntax handout.

Then, you printed out your evil paragraph for me. If absent, you will need to share that paragraph with me so that I can have a copy.

Then, we read the essay "Superman and Me" in class, identifying the purpose(s) of each paragraph as we went along.http://static.schoolrack.com/files/34213/220710/Chapter_4-Part_3.pdf

You were then divided into groups to identify the syntax in "Superman & Me." Each student will highlight a specific sentence type or two sentence types for class on Monday. In addition, we reviewed your rhetorical strategy handout for other syntactical analysis. After you highlight the text, go back and see if you notice any other related strategies to help with your syntactical analysis.

Our absentee students will form a group and/or work with another group depending on attendance. Here is what you will need to highlight in the text:

• Tiana - Simple & Cumulative
• Gabrielle - Compound & Compound-Complex
• Miranda - Complex & Periodic

Syntax

For our first half hour, you shared in same and different rhetorical article groups. After turning in this assignment, we moved onto syntax and the six types of sentences that we will focus upon in our identification and analysis: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex, cumulative, and periodic. To practice identification of these sentences, you grabbed two highlighters and a partner and highlighted independent and dependent clauses to help ascertain the syntax. We will finish going over the handout on Friday.

Favor -- I would like to have a copy of your evil paragraph. Please revise your paragraph to make sure it is error-free and then print out a hard copy for me. If you are not here on Friday, share the paragraph with me so I can print it out. Thanks in advance.

Rhetorical Terms

In order to amp your rhetorical analyses and look beyond logos, ethos, and pathos, we reviewed/learned 42 strategies that authors use to reflect their purposes in writing. To put this into action, you drew an article, read its content, and completed a handout breaking down the components of a rhetorical analysis. Absentees will need to pick up hard copies next class.