Day 22: finishing up your essay

Swap with two peers to review your essay. Ask me questions. Finalize this puppy!

Uploaded as pdf to http://dropitto.me/mcollie. Password: EnglishRocks. Please label the file Essay3_name.pdf.

Post #8: What's missing?

Sometimes when I read the same writer for a while I get lulled into their habits and their style. And then sometimes I start thinking ... Sheesh. This writer would be super amazing if only they did ________. In looking at this week's work, what's missing from the work that would really make you love it? What's missing that would make this writer truly the best ever?

Thanks for your insights and ideas. Excellent work.

Day 21: Working and writing and more working

Swap as needed. I'm happy to check in. This is a full period of essay work. Get to it!

Day 20: More small group work

Writer --> What do you love about your argument? What help are you looking for?

Small groups --> same as last class. Swap drafts. Give feedback. **Readers: need to offer one new perspective both for and against the thesis. Writer cannot address all arguments and issues, but has the writer forgotten anything major?

Day 19: Small group workhop

Large group: What are the components of a good argument? of effective persuasion? What do you as the reader want to experience? What do you as the writer what to achieve?

Solo work: Check in with your thesis statement. What is it? Where is it? Revise once and tighten it up.

Board work: Put your thesis statement on the board. Space them out. Let them breathe. Review of all thesis statements. No names. No comments. Just read them.

Break into groups based on what thesis statement you'd like to work with. Can't choose your own. Two people pick to make a group.

Day 18: Why Don't We Complain & Small Town ...

Writing: You must take a stand on one of these issues (homework policy at MA, MA is a bubble, MA food stinks, MA doesn't appreciate how busy the students are, ) and argue for or against it. This is not a time to be wishy washy or a moment to embrace the spectrum. Draw a line in the sand and stand on one side or the other.

List thesis statements on the board. Pick one (not your own) and come up with three arguments for and three arguments against the claim. Working in groups, share your ideas and pick the best for and the best against argument. Share with larger group.

Discussion

Why Don't We Complain

Small groups --> How would you describe Buckley's attitude toward his subject? What's his tone? What's the thesis? Is it one sentence? Two? Pinpoint.

Large group --> Ethos, Pathos, Logos? What purpose does the story about the ski shop serve in the narrative?

Small Town, Quiet Town, Safe Town

Small groups --> review homework questions, look for moments of levity and discuss their effectiveness, paragraph 4 includes some interesting repetition (what do you think of it?)

Large group --> Identify Ethos, Pathos, Logos! How does Steben achieve a nearly universal appeal to his story that's ground in a specific place? What purpose do the first 5-6 sentences serve?

Day 17: Death & Justice // Why Prisons Don't Work

Writing: You must take a stand on one of these issues (funding public pensions, gay marriage, raising the minimum wage, climate change, college affordability) and argue for or against it. This is not a time to be wishy washy or a moment to embrace the spectrum. Draw a line in the sand and stand on one side or the other.

Discussion

1. Death & Justice

In small groups --> review homework questions, find examples of Ethos, Pathos, Logos

In large group --> Review Ethos, Pathos, Logos; closer look at the opening ... impact of the quotes? Are there faulty parts to the argument and structure?

2. Why Prisons Don't Work

In small groups --> review homework questions, find examples of Ethos, Pathos, Logos

In large group --> Review Ethos, Pathos, Logos; what is Rideau's tone?

**Compare the effectiveness of the two essays? Which one does a better job of arguing its side? A better job of persuading you to side with him?

Post #7: Getting involved

This week try to focus on how the writer involves the reader. Good narrative pieces (this is not to say all of your readings are narrative pieces) engage the reader on some level. How do your writers do it? Is it the topic? The language? Something about the style?

Day 16: Argument & Persuasion

Write: You must take a stand on one of these issues (death penalty, legalized marijuana, gun control, assisted suicide, immigration reform) and argue for or against it. This is not a time to be wishy washy or a moment to embrace the spectrum. Draw a line in the sand and stand on one side or the other.

Working with Argument & Persuasion:
Argument --> appeal to audience's sense of reason
Persuasion --> appeal to audience's feelings and values

THESIS!!! Your claim. Your assertion. It's debatable. It's concise. It's amazing.

Ethos: Ethical appeal (writer takes aim at reader's desire for credibility and reasonable argument)
Pathos: Emotional appeal (writer takes aim at reader's hearts)
Logos: Rational Appeal (writer takes aim at reader's ability to reason logically)

• Inductive Reasoning: moving from particular to the general, from evidence to generalization or conclusion
• Inductive Leap: movement from particular to general
• Deductive Reasoning: moving from general to the particular
• Syllogism: an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion (e.g., all dogs are animals; all animals have four legs; therefore all dogs have four legs )

Fallacies --> review (p. 326). Eight fallacies listed. Break into groups and work to write a fallacy for the topics you wrote about at start of class. Share fallacies on board.

Reading:
Half the class reads The Racial Reality of Policing and the other half reads In Defense of Football. In your group, answer the following questions:

• What is the essay about? Summarize for the other group. Define SAS.
• How is the essay organized?
• Did you find any fallacies?
• Ethos, pathos, or logos?

Day 15: Writing Workshop 2 (Share, Ask, Write)

Share: Please share your work with at least two peers.

Groups -->
Lacy, Michelle, Kyndelle
Jason, Brodie, Jenny R
Jez, Angus, Jenny N, Jaq
Douglas, Jorge, Jack,
Nora, JR, Andrew, Micah

Ask: I will answer as many questions as possible. I cannot read everyone's essay (not enough time and I'm not that fast of a reader), but I want to check in with everyone.

Write: Once you have swapped with peers, use class time to refine and revise your work. Your final essay needs to be uploaded to dropbox before the start of our next class. Instructions are on MyMA. You'll be great.

Please bring your books and laptops to our next class. We are heading into Argument territory for the next essay. Best. News. Ever.

Weekly Post #6: Patterns

You can answer this week's post in one of two ways ...

1. Do you notice any patterns to your writer's work this week? Does your writer love a certain sentence pattern or piece of punctuation or phrase?

2. Looking back over the last few weeks, do you notice a pattern to your writer's work. I want you to think structurally not thematically.

Share the pattern and an example with us all.

Day 14: Writing workshop

Some inspiration from previous essays ... opening lines

1. I come from a village.
2. When I was five years old I was a social, adorable baseball fanatic.
3. I need to compete
4. I was a shy kid.
5. I'm not white.
6. As a child, one of the realities I believed I understood (perhaps even better than other children of my age) was death.
7. I knew when the hamper screamed that everything would be alright.
8. When I was four years old, my siblings and I would often leave our house for extended periods of time.

What's your purpose? What do you want to achieve with this essay?
---------------------------------
Step 1: At the top of your draft please write the following:

• 3 things I love about my work.
• 3 thing I need help with.
• 3 questions for the reader (unrelated to previous ideas)

Step 2: Find your partners and get reading. Be sure to read their notes at the top. Remember: this is a time to be concise, constructive and honest in your feedback.

Step 3: Work on your own. Ask Mary questions. Work toward that second draft.

Groups:
1. Michelle, Lacy, Micah, JR
2. Douglas, Nora,  Kyndelle
3. Jack, Jason, Angus, Jez
4. Jaq, Brodie, Andrew
5. Jorge, Jenny R, Jenny N

Day 13: Talking workshop

Solo work: What do you aspire to do with your writing? What writers do you look up to and want to be like? How are you going to excite your reader and encourage them to read? What two goals do you have for the next essay?

Large group: What are the components of a successful compare/contrast essay? What makes a good comparison great? What do you as the reader want to experience?

In groups of four ...

1. Presenter presents. Partners listen. (3 mins) Talk out the points you're comparing, the details, the ideas. Listeners listen, take notes (think about what stands out, what you'd like to know, etc).
2. Listeners report back. Presenter listens. (3 mins) What did you hear? What do you want to know? What needs elaborating? Share your thoughts and insights.
3. Repeat until everyone has told their story.

Group 1: Jorge, Lacy, Jenny N
Group 2: Nora, Kyndelle, Jack, Jaq
Group 3: Brodie, Andrew, Michelle
Group 4: Jenny R, Micah, Angus
Group 5: JR, Jez, Douglas