Day Thirty-Eight / 10.29.10

Today we started with a quote from Elmore Leonard: "If it sounds like writing, rewrite it." Then we talked about how to make your writing so fluid that we forget that it is writing. We also talked about rewriting techniques, such as:

-adding figurative language

-reading our paper aloud

-asking for help/peer review

-reading each line, from last to first

Then we worked on the paragraph unscramble and finished our conferences. Happy Halloween, and remember your final draft of your Persuasive Essay is due on Monday.

Day Thirty-Seven / 10.28.10

Today we continued working on our ads and continued our conferences.

Day Thirty-Six / 10.27.10

Today we worked on our advertisements and had conferences.

Day Thirty-Five / 10.26.10

Today we started by analyzing the argument / counterargument of the pro and con cheer articles. After that we began looking at advertisements (like below) and what they sell/say.

Day Thirty-Four / 10.25.10

Today we started by peer editing our rough drafts. Then we journaled on a quote from John-Paul Sartre: "A writer who adopts political, social, or literary positions must act only with the means that are his own—that is, the written word." Then, we looked at argument/counterargument through the lens of this article from Sports Illustrated, and this article from Cheerhome.com.

Day Thirty-Three / 10.22.10

Today we started with a quote from Doris Lessing, "Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself." Then we discussed interviewing techniques. Finally, we wrote poems on the rain using personification.

Day Thirty-Two / 10.21.10

Today we started with a quote from Oscar Wilde, "The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." Then we discussed this article from the Week Magazine. We looked at how to integrate facts and opinions into our commentary.

Day Thirty-One / 10.20.10

Today we started with a quote from John Milton: "...for smiles from reason flow." We journaled. Then we discussed this fact v. opinion sheet, and finally discussed commentary. You're homework is to highlight the Week article in 3 different colors for facts, opinions, and commentary, respectively.

Day Thirty / 10.19.10

Today we started by talking about premises and conclusions. We did a worksheet about it. It is here. Then we reviewed our partner's outline.

Day Twenty-Nine / 10.18.10

Today we started with a quote from Eliza Griswold's poem "Evolution."

The moral is movement

is awkward. The lesson is fumble.

Then we outlined the "Texting" article, then went over the Persuasive Essay Prompt, and discussed your homework for tonight, the Persuasive Essay Outline. Here is my example.

Essay Prompt

Day Twenty-Eight / 10.15.10

Today we started with a quote from A.J. Liebling: "Cynicism is often the shamefaced product of inexperience." We talked about the difference between a critic and a cynic.

Next, we looked at this story for the OC Register.

Day Twenty-Seven / 10.14.10

Today we started with a quote from Paul Simon: “Facts can be turned into art if one is artful enough.” Then, we finished our discussion of ethos, pathos, and logos. We went over inductive/deductive reasoning. Your homework is below:

On a separate sheet of paper, please complete the following.

Persuasive Thesis Statement: _______________

Ethos. Provide 3 reasons for why you are a credible source.

Pathos. Provide 3 reasons for how you can draw someone’s feelings into your argument (humor, appeal to happiness, etc.).

Logos. Provide 3 facts you can use to strengthen your argument.

Show one example of inductive / deductive reasoning to prove one of your facts.

My example is below:

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Day Twenty-Six / 10.13.10

Today we started with a quote from John Cleese: “If I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.” Then we went over our persuasive thesis statements. Next, we started covering the 3 main tenants of persuasion, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Here's the short version on those three:

Ethos: the source's credibility, the speaker's/author's authority

Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details.

Logos: the logic used to support a claim (induction and deduction); can also be the facts and statistics used to help support the argument.

Or, this is a helpful site if you're interested in learning more.

Day Twenty-Five / 10.12.10

Today we started with a quote from Alexander Hamilton, "Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything." Then we finished reading the article by Steve Almond. We outlined his persuasive progression. For homework, you're to do the assignment below.

Use 3 things from your list of "20 Things You Know a Lot About" to come up six (6) thesis argument statements. I.E. If one of the things you know a lot about is snowboarding, you'd write:

Snowboarding

1. It takes more skill and coordination to snowboard than to ski.

2. To become a good snowboarder, you must ride a Burton Snowboard.

An example of what you should not do is:

Snowboarding - have board and ride on snow.

Day Twenty-Four / 10.11.10

Today we started with a quote from Henry David Thoreau: “Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.” We discussed, power v. persuasion.

Then we read and began analyzing this article by Steve Almond.

Day Twenty-Three / 10.08.10

Today we finished our dialogue posters. Then we read a prosety poem (poetry + prose) by David Shumate. It is below.

Shooting the Horse

I unlatch the stall door, step inside, and stroke the silky neck

of the old mare like a lover about to leave. I take an ear in

hand, fold it over, and run my fingers across her muzzle. I

coax her head up so I can blow into those nostrils. All part of

the routine we taught each other long ago. I turn a half turn,

pull a pistol from my coat, raise it to that long brow with the

white blaze and place it between her sleepy eyes. I clear my

throat. A sound much louder than it should be. I squeeze the

trigger and the horse's feet fly out from under her as gravity

gives way to a force even more austere, which we have named

mercy.

We ended writing some prosety on the valiant Dusty, who joined our class for the day.

Day Twenty-Two / 10.07.10

Today we started with a quote from Paulo Friere: "Critical reflection is also action." We journaled, then we did some critical reflection on our Personal Moral Narratives. We then presented our dialogue posters.

Day Twenty-One / 10.06.10

Today we started with some story presentations. They were fantastic. Then we continued working on our dialogue posters.

Day Twenty / 10.5.10

Today we started with the end of WS Merwin's quote: "One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time." Then we journaled. After that we discussed analogies, and Hilda Doolittle's poem "Eros." It's below.

Where is he taking us

now that he has turned back?

Where will this take us,

this fever,

spreading into light?

Nothing we have ever felt,

nothing we have dreamt,

or conjured in the night

or fashioned in loneliness,

can equal this.

My mouth is wet with your life,

my eyes blinded with your face,

a heart itself which

feels the intimate music.

My mind is caught,

dimmed with it,

(where is love taking us?)

my lips are wet with your life.

In my body were pearls cast,

shot with Ionian tints, purple,

vivid through the white.

Keep love and he wings

with his bow,

up, mocking us,

keep love and he taunts us

and escapes.

Keep love and he sways apart

in another world,

outdistancing us.

Keep love and he mocks,

ah, bitter and sweet,

your sweetness is more cruel

than your hurt.

Ah love is bitter and sweet,

but which is more sweet

the bitterness or the sweetness,

no ne has spoken it.

I had thought myself frail,

a petal

with light equal

on leaf and under-leaf.

I had thought myself frail;

a lamp,

shell, ivory or crust of pearl,

about to fall shattered,

with the flame spent.

I cried:

I must perish,

I am deserted in this darkness,

an outcast, desperate,

such fire rent me with Hesperus,

Then the day broke.

What need of a lamp

when day lighten us,

what need to bind love

when love stands

with such radiant wings over us?

What need -

yet to sing love,

love must first shatter us.

Day Nineteen / 10.04.10

Today I handed back rough drafts. Your final draft is due Wednesday. Then we discussed a quote from W.S. Merwin: "I think there's a kind of desperate hope built into poetry now that one really wants, hopelessly, to save the world.” We talked about hopeless hope, then journaled on whether or not we can save the world. Then we went over MLA format, and concluded with a jaunt through the simile in Merwin's poem "Separation." It is below:

Your absence has gone through me

Like thread through a needle.

Everything I do is stitched with its color.

Day Eighteen / 10.01.10

Today we started by listening to part of a Radiolab episode. If you'd like to listen to the whole program, click here. We then journaled on whether or not words help us think.

Next, we peer reviewed our partner's Rough Drafts. For Monday, you need to complete the converted Cliches handout.