Monday, December 1

Target: to practice analyzing details from a text in order to explain their importance to the text as a whole. 

1. Fill out this form using your Admiration Scale: http://goo.gl/fGE4Co

2. Discuss in class.  Turn in your Scale for Agency points. 

3. Quiz on key quotations from the text.  Are we ready to discuss IRONY?  

4. Introduce Socratic Form for tomorrow's group work: http://goo.gl/BI2X18

Don't forget to study Lesson 7 Vocabulary words for quiz Friday.  

Obama Welcome Mat political cartoons

Obama Welcome Mat political cartoons

Friday, November 21

Target:  to continue reading closely from the author notes in Act One of The Crucible.

Last Vocabulary Test is in two weeks on Lesson 7!  Cards are here: http://goo.gl/9KMyPa

1. Review form responses from yesterday: http://goo.gl/6YQPg0

2. Complete a new form today:  http://goo.gl/jIXEZS

Read the play during the break, AND AS YOU READ, complete this chart: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0zERdqb5ufTcG83aTVuc3VrODA/view?usp=sharing

DUE ON MONDAY the 1st!

Wednesday, November 19

Target:  to discuss the two sides of an argument and then practice a concession/rebuttal/conclusion paragraph.

TURN IN:  Notes on the homework question from the New York Times debate.

TURN IN:  Practice Paragraph writing a concession and then rebuttal to that issue, or the two essays from the Bedford Reader on immigration.

Thursday, November 20

Target:  To introduce the context/exigence of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, published in 1953.

1.  Check out The Crucible text.  See Author's Notes in Act One. 

2. Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2RYkoA-RHg

3. What stands out to you while watching? (write on scratch paper to submit below)

4. Begin reading the author's notes in Act One:  

What do I learn about the Puritan Era/1950's in America as I read?

Submit your answers here: http://goo.gl/wsPx0z

Tuesday, November 18

Target:  to revise/edit your arguments so that they convince your reader that this is the "truth."

1. Purpose of argument vs. persuasion:  http://goo.gl/fMdk2

2.  Review a NYTimes rubric for argument/editorial: http://goo.gl/OiNSOv

3. Concluding Paragraph:  Do not bring up any new points to support your thesis, but exert some control over your last impression here.  There is some good advice here: http://goo.gl/3BYIHM. 

Think of an upside funnel:  begin with a return to your thesis, but then move outward from that, leaving your reader with a sense of its larger implications and a sense of why this matters.  

TURN IN A FINAL DRAFT by FRIDAY (changed date)  in my DROPBOX by 3:00 P.M.

Monday, November 17

Target:  To study an argument for concession and support for the "pro" paragraphs. 

1. Clean up from Friday (correct vocab test & sentence pattern) 15 minutes.

2. Read Nicholas Kristof's piece from yesterday. Highlight thesis/ concessions and how he most effectively supports his viewpoint. 

3.  Assign Room for Debate for our 4 square debate on Wednesday.  Read ALL the short essays and come to class with a PRO/CON chart completed.  

Work day tomorrow.  Put your essays in google docs and edit and turn in by FRIDAY.  

Friday, November 14

Target: to revise your concession paragraphs and outline "pro" paragraphs

1.Vocabulary Test on Lesson 6

2. Review  successful concession paragraphs:

THESIS:  My friend should eat less junk food.

Concession Paragraph:  Of course, there are certain benefits to the caffeinated sugar rush that comes with guzzling down sweets with coffee: heightened awareness and accelerated thinking.  However, the repercussions of constantly receiving an artificial rush of energy are staggering.  This coupled with high sugar drinks and fatty foods will inevitably result in diminishing of his health and well being.  Therefore, he needs to change his eating habits before they get more out of hand and his health is put in jeopardy.

THESIS:  My friend should stop drinking alcohol as way to cope with his problems. 

Concession Paragraph:  Certainly, drinking provides my friend an outlet, a way to escape his real life and forget what troubles he has in his life.  Nevertheless, the young man is just that, seventeen years old and has a whole life ahead of him.  He is intelligent and great with people and has a bright future.  Coping with his problems by drinking is slowly eating away at that future.  Every drink he takes, the window of opportunity slowly closes, inch by inch, and before he knows it, it will be closed forever.  Therefore, drowning himself in his sorrows with alcohol is not beneficial in any way at all. 

3. Revise your concession paragraph. SHARE WITH YOUR GROUP.

4. What are your PRO paragraphs going to focus on?  One reason per paragraph.  ROUGH DRAFT of both will be turned in on MONDAY.

5. SP #5?  http://padlet.com/jenlamonte/x0qw67ld87yh

Thursday, November 13

Target:  To practice making a concession

1. Review a successful intro paragraph:

It’s  Friday afternoon and you’re in a cheerful mood. You and your best friend decide to hang out and take a drive. Coming out of the speakers is a song you can’t help but blast loudly and sing at the top of your lungs to. You aren’t paying much attention to the road because you aren’t the one driving; however , your friend who driving is decides to not pay attention either. She is driving 60 in a residential area, keeping inches away from the back bumper of the car ahead and answering text messages any chance she gets. You stop singing and think about how unsafe this is, but you don’t know how to tell her. She just simply needs to drive safer.

Recommendations for revision?

2.  Look at concession paragraph and REVISE:  add in conceding cues and the right conjunctive adverb.

Get into groups and read yours OUT LOUD.

TURN IN. 

3. Work on your pro paragraphs. 

Veterans Day political cartoons

Veterans Day political cartoons

Wednesday, November 12

Target:  to work on stating a thesis AND making a concession and a rebuttal.

1. Read your intro paragraph out loud to yourself.  This is called "subvocalizing."  Edit or revise if you see something that needs fixing.

REVISE directive:  Add a short sentence next to a longer one.  

2.  Read your intro paragraph out loud to your group.  Listen for THE THESIS.  Where does it appear in the paragraph?  How does the writing begin?   

3. Repeat the process with your CONCESSION paragraph.  (subvocalize/ read aloud)

This time, try to identify what points they are conceding and if they offer a rebuttal or not. 

REVISE directive:  Add a conjunctive adverb to this paragraph.

Star the top of the most effective papers in your group so far.

TURN THEM IN.

HOMEWORK:  Work on a "pro" paragraph tonight:  Suggest one reason for the change you are suggesting, and then offer evidence in the form of example, analogy, statistic/fact, story that should persuade your audience to change.  

President Obama political cartoons

President Obama political cartoons

Friday, November 7

Target: to practice building an argument where you have all the evidence.

1. Practice Critical Reading Chapter 6 Vocabulary book

2.  Thesis Practice: All students at VHS should be required to take four years of a fine art---like band, choir, dance, photography, drawing, ceramics, or drama--in order to graduate. 

What are the reasons for-- "pro" ? 

What are the reasons against --"con" ?

3.  ARGUMENT ESSAY #1:  Personal Essay

Prompt: Write an essay in support of a change one of your friends should make.

Intro paragraph:  Start your paragraph with a story, a list of facts, a quotation, or a description of an event/anecdote.  End with your thesis statement.  DO NOT mention any of the specific points you are going to make in your concession or pro paragraphs. 

HOMEWORK:  Write your intro and concession paragraph this weekend.  Follow the directions on the front page of the packet I gave you today.

ELECTION political cartoons

ELECTION political cartoons

November 6, 2014

Target:  To analyze how DETAILS and STRUCTURE can contribute to a PURPOSE in an argument

1. Recap from yesterday: "Too Much Pressure"

2. Read "Should We Put Baseball on Speed?"

3. SOAPSTONE 

4.  FOCUS on key DETAILS and STRUCTURE

5. Lesson 6 vocabulary words: notes and an exercise

Wednesday, October 5

Target:  To introduce the ARGUMENT mode

• Read "Too Much Pressure" by Colleen Wenke
• SOAPSTONE on binder paper
• What is the most important detail in the piece?
• What is the most important WORD in the piece?
• What do you notice about the STRUCTURE of the piece?
•  Any effective examples of SYNTAX?

INTRODUCING....VOCABULARY LESSON 6 words

Tuesday, November 4

Target:  To introduce argument mode and review DICTION and TONE

Monday, November 3

Target: to improve your definition essay on the sentence level

1. Thesis check:  What is your point about this word?  It should be at the heart of your essay. 

Samples: 

All of us have different things that make us happy, and we all have a different understanding of what it means to be happy, but while thinking about it I've discovered what happiness is.

FEEDBACK:  Share the discovery with us!  Your thesis is the next sentence!

So, why do only a few individuals have these characteristics, and what does it mean to have sportsmanship?

FEEDBACK: A question is not your point, right?

People use privilege to mean a bouquet of different things.

FEEDBACK:  I love the evocative use of the word "bouquet", but "different" is too vague and abstract.

Teenagers are incredibly misunderstood in today's society.

FEEDBACK: Ok, so the problem is clear, but have you defined what it means to be a teenager? At the very least, the thesis should say WHY and HOW (and maybe that will address what teenagers AREN"T?

"Recovery is not just a return to a normal state of mind or body. It is a reset, a start over for someone and building from the ground up. It is not only a physical but a spiritual healing."

FEEDBACK: This works because it clarifies what is isn't first and then attempts to say what it is in precise and powerful language.

I believe love is powerful and demands so many other feelings. It demands happiness, sadness, pain, and trust. But love isn't just another feeling. It's an action.

FEEDBACK: I love the short sentence that gives this thesis its clarifying and emotional power at the end.  

2. Improving Sentence Style

3. Create a TEMPLATE for essays in the MLA style.http://goo.gl/o2gv3O