Class Notes
Final Unit on Genres
ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE WORDS OF THE WEEK. Check on status of each research paper. Discuss how editing went, feedback from Krista, citing sources. Request final drafts this week.
Several of your essays this semester have dealt with the topic of social media and teens. You students have shown wisdom beyond your years in recognizing the dangers of the Internet (how it affects our mental health, our friendships, our productivity, etc.). Read excerpt from Sincerely Stoneheart Letter 1 on Distraction.
(Next week excerpt on grades and identity).
Today we are going to take a quick look at Unit 7 in our book. This unit introduces us to the many genres in writing. “A genre is a family of writing (or art, music, etc.) with common characteristics of form, style, or subject matter. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE ASPIRING WRITERS, COMPLETING THIS UNIT WOULD BE A GOOD SUMMER GOAL. Your research portfolio is already set up as a file for genre artifacts. The intention is for you to collect samples of genres you enjoy and want to imitate in your own writing.
ONE OF MY SUMMER GOALS IS TO REVISIT ALL OF MY BOOKSHELVES AND SORT THEM INTO THE CORRECT GENRES!! Since we moved our library in a hurry, finding a book at my house is like shopping in cluttered, disorganized grocery aisles!
Share some of the best quotes about reading.
ACTIVITY 1: GENRE PREFERENCE QUIZTurn to page 250 (the genre preference quiz). I’ll read through the options, and you can mark your choices. Review results.
A – fiction fanatic (novels, short stories)
B – Nonfiction (prefers reality)
C – Future scientist or engineer
D – Artist
HAND OUT BOOK BINGO AND READING LIST. FILL IN EACH BOX WITH IDEAS.
THIS WEEK’S HOMEWORK: SEND ME THE FINAL DRAFT OF YOUR RESEARCH PAPER BY FRIDAY. GAMES NEXT WEEK!
Lesson 63
ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE WORDS OF THE WEEK. Memorable Quotes on Writing & Editing
“Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.”
– Richard Curtis (b. 1956)
“There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money either.”
– Robert Graves (1895-1985)
“Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”
– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.”
– Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)
“Puns are the highest form of literature.”
– Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)
“I have been correcting the proofs of my poems. In the morning, after hard work, I took a comma out of one sentence…. In the afternoon I put it back again.”
– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
“All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”
– Red Smith (1905-1982)
“Writing is easy. Just put a sheet of paper in the typewriter and start bleeding.”
– Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)
“No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.”
– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.”
– H.G. Wells (1866-1946)
“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”
– T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it.”
– Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
“You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of the country.”
– Robert Frost (1874-1963)
“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.”
– Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
“I never write ‘metropolis’ for seven cents when I can write ‘city’ and get paid the same.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”
– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
– Elmore Leonard (1925-2013)
“I leave out the parts that people skip.”
– Elmore Leonard (1925-2013)
“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.”
– A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)
“It’s easier to teach a poet how to read a balance sheet than it is to teach an accountant how to write.”
– Henry R. Luce (1898-1967) [But Pen-for-Rent is there for anyone who needs writing or editing help.]
“The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.”
– John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
“Only presidents, editors and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial we.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“Sentence structure is innate, but whining is acquired.”
– Woody Allen (b. 1935)
“You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty.”
– Sacha Guitry (1885-1957)
“When ideas fail, words come in very handy.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
“Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.”
– Wilson Mizner (1876-1933)
“The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.”
– Marty Feldman (1934-1982)
“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.”
– Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
“The adjective is the enemy of the noun.”
– Voltaire (1694-1778)
“The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech.”
– Clifton Fadiman (1902-1999)
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar.”
– Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
“The covers of this book are too far apart.”
– Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
“From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.”
– Groucho Marx (1895-1977)
“When you catch an adjective, kill it.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
– Robert Frost (1874-1963)
“What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.”
–Burton Rascoe (1892-1957)
“First you’re an unknown; then, you write one book and you move up to obscurity.”
– Martin Myers (b. 1927)
“Plato was a bore.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
“Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal.”
– Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”
– William Faulkner (1897-1962) on Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”
– Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) on William Faulkner (1897-1962)
“Why don’t you write books people can read?”
– Nora Joyce to her husband James (1882-1941)
Watch 2 Videos on Citations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0NH7TWi6ZA
Note: There’s no period after 35 in et al. No quotes around block quotes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2evOC8kzew&t=96s
Show sample paper in MLA. This will be on the blog, along with some other helpful samples.
Memorable Quotes on Writing & Editing
“Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.”
– Richard Curtis (b. 1956)
“There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money either.”
– Robert Graves (1895-1985)
“Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.”
– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.”
– Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)
“Puns are the highest form of literature.”
– Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)
“I have been correcting the proofs of my poems. In the morning, after hard work, I took a comma out of one sentence…. In the afternoon I put it back again.”
– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
“All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”
– Red Smith (1905-1982)
“Writing is easy. Just put a sheet of paper in the typewriter and start bleeding.”
– Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)
“No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.”
– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.”
– H.G. Wells (1866-1946)
“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”
– T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“I never made a mistake in grammar but one in my life and as soon as I done it I seen it.”
– Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
“You can be a little ungrammatical if you come from the right part of the country.”
– Robert Frost (1874-1963)
“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.”
– Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
“I never write ‘metropolis’ for seven cents when I can write ‘city’ and get paid the same.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”
– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
– Elmore Leonard (1925-2013)
“I leave out the parts that people skip.”
– Elmore Leonard (1925-2013)
“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.”
– A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)
“It’s easier to teach a poet how to read a balance sheet than it is to teach an accountant how to write.”
– Henry R. Luce (1898-1967) [But Pen-for-Rent is there for anyone who needs writing or editing help.]
“The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.”
– John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
“Only presidents, editors and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial we.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“Sentence structure is innate, but whining is acquired.”
– Woody Allen (b. 1935)
“You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty.”
– Sacha Guitry (1885-1957)
“When ideas fail, words come in very handy.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
“Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.”
– Wilson Mizner (1876-1933)
“The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.”
– Marty Feldman (1934-1982)
“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put.”
– Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
“The adjective is the enemy of the noun.”
– Voltaire (1694-1778)
“The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech.”
– Clifton Fadiman (1902-1999)
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar.”
– Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
“The covers of this book are too far apart.”
– Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
“From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.”
– Groucho Marx (1895-1977)
“When you catch an adjective, kill it.”
– Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
– Robert Frost (1874-1963)
“What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of the window.”
–Burton Rascoe (1892-1957)
“First you’re an unknown; then, you write one book and you move up to obscurity.”
– Martin Myers (b. 1927)
“Plato was a bore.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
“Nietzsche was stupid and abnormal.”
– Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”
– William Faulkner (1897-1962) on Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?”
– Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) on William Faulkner (1897-1962)
“Why don’t you write books people can read?”
– Nora Joyce to her husband James (1882-1941)
Watch 2 Videos on Citations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0NH7TWi6ZA Note: There’s no period after 35 in et al. No quotes around block quotes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2evOC8kzew&t=96s Show sample paper in MLA. This will be on the blog, along with some other helpful samples.
MLA Format- Stands for Modern Language Association. It’s the citation format used in almost every college for English and Humanities classes. MLA is now in its 8th edition, as of about 3 years ago. It has changed quite a bit over the years, but now the most recent changes are to accommodate the fact that almost all research is done online, and almost every source a student uses will be retrieved off the Internet (even if it’s an ebook vs. a paper book).
APA Format – Stands for American Psychological Association. It’s the citation format used everywhere for classes in the sciences, psychology, business, and education. It JUST updated to it’s 7th edition in 2020. This edition has 2 major changes from the previous: 1) it now has a distinct format for student papers (undergraduates) vs. professional papers (graduate work or professional publication) and 2) it now has a way to cite a broad range of electronic sources which it did not previously.
MLA Format- Stands for Modern Language Association. It’s the citation format used in almost every college for English and Humanities classes. MLA is now in its 8th edition, as of about 3 years ago. It has changed quite a bit over the years, but now the most recent changes are to accommodate the fact that almost all research is done online, and almost every source a student uses will be retrieved off the Internet (even if it’s an ebook vs. a paper book).
APA Format – Stands for American Psychological Association. It’s the citation format used everywhere for classes in the sciences, psychology, business, and education. It JUST updated to it’s 7th edition in 2020. This edition has 2 major changes from the previous: 1) it now has a distinct format for student papers (undergraduates) vs. professional papers (graduate work or professional publication) and 2) it now has a way to cite a broad range of electronic sources which it did not previously.
Ask students to hand in their works cited pages and to send me COMPLETED ROUGH DRAFT AND WORKS CITED BY EMAIL AS SOON AS IT’S FINISHED. PLEASE SEND IT IN A FORM WHERE LINK CAN BE EDITED BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME. I WILL SEND TO MY SISTER TO CHECK FOR CITATION EDITING.
ACTIVITY ONE: PEER REVIEW
Break into 2 groups. Ask students to read and give feedback on peer’s paper. Teacher will do the same. I will take one copy home.
Hand out editing checklist. I will be using page 246 in your textbook for editing. It will be graded according to the rubric I handed out a few weeks ago.
I am not looking for PERFECTION as much as an effort to include each of the elements we’ve discussed.
Students, bring two drafts home. Edit essay once more. Ask a family member to read it. SEND ME A LINK TO YOUR ESSAY (MAKE IT SHAREABLE).
Lesson 62
ASK STUDENTS TO SHARE WORDS OF THE WEEK.
Turn back to page 239, Activity 3, and ask each student to share his/her introduction paragraph. Use these questions to evaluate the introduction together.
Chapter 62 begins by telling us about the importance of follow-through in bowling. I don’t know a lot about bowling, but I know about basketball. I thought I’d impress my varsity player and his fans by looking up the details of following through in basketball.
Here's a more detailed explanation: Skim briefly 😊Ask students to hand in their works cited pages and to send me COMPLETED ROUGH DRAFT AND WORKS CITED BY EMAIL AS SOON AS IT’S FINISHED. PLEASE SEND IT IN A FORM WHERE LINK CAN BE EDITED BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN ME. I WILL SEND TO MY SISTER TO CHECK FOR CITATION EDITING. ACTIVITY ONE: PEER REVIEW
Break into 2 groups. Ask students to read and give feedback on peer’s paper. Teacher will do the same. I will take one copy home. Hand out editing checklist. I will be using page 246 in your textbook for editing. It will be graded according to the rubric I handed out a few weeks ago. I am not looking for PERFECTION as much as an effort to include each of the elements we’ve discussed.
Students, bring two drafts home. Edit essay once more. Ask a family member to read it. SEND ME A LINK TO YOUR ESSAY (MAKE IT SHAREABLE).
Completes the Shooting Motion:
The follow-through is the continuation of the shooting motion after releasing the ball, ensuring the shot is finished with the correct form.
Maximizes Energy Transfer:
By extending the arm and wrist towards the basket, the follow-through helps transfer energy from the body to the ball, leading to a more powerful and accurate shot.
Provides Feedback:
The follow-through can provide feedback to the player about the quality of the shot, allowing them to identify areas for improvement.
Maintains Balance:
A proper follow-through helps maintain balance during the shot, preventing unnecessary movements that could affect accuracy.
Consistent Release:
The follow-through helps maintain a consistent release point, which is crucial for shooting accuracy.
Eliminates Sideways Micro-movements:
By extending the arm fully, the follow-through eliminates any sideways micro-movements that might upset the flight of the ball or the player's aim.
Reinforces Good Form:
The follow-through reinforces the best form throughout the entire shot, leading to more consistent and accurate shooting.
Achieves Full Ball Spin:
Completing a full follow-through allows the player to achieve full ball spin by flicking the fingers as they release the ball.
Our chapter tells us that, even if our paper is strong and we give a compelling argument, we can lose our reader at the end if we don’t follow through with a strong conclusion to our research paper. (Refer to diagram on page 240). Discuss this triangle.
Take turns reading as a class at the last paragraph on page 240 through the end of the text on 242.
ACTIVITY 1: SAMPLE MLA ESSAY
Pull up a copy of the essay for Activity 1. Read it. Answer the questions on the top of page 243.
Review the two options for conclusions:
Blend-of-voice technique is when you implement a short quotation in your conclusion and then add your own thoughts. Your voice should be louder and stronger that that of your source text.
Soft challenge is when you challenge your readers, ask them to do more research, or warn them.
Be careful not to sound condescending or preachy here.
Transitional Phrases – Red Complex Sentences – Blue Hooks – Yellow
Secondhand is becoming first rate. No longer just for scrimpers and savers, used goods are attracting shoppers of all kinds. Even some traditional retail stores are going thrift-y in hopes of winning customers back.
Laura Fiebert admits being obsessed with thrift stores. The Head of Operations and writer at Listen Money Matters likens wandering the aisles as she deal-hunts to “exploring a magical treasure trove.” She writes, “I’m not broke or cheap, but I will never pay full price for anything, EVER.”
Fiebert isn’t alone. Today’s shoppers aren’t interested in paying full price. Statistics show that about 17% of Americans shop at thrift stores, while 12 to 15% visit consignment or resale shops. (Thrift shops usually sell donated goods; consignment/resale shops sell used goods for others and keep some of the profits.)
For years, shoppers have been buying and selling used clothes at such shops and on eBay. Through those outlets, they find great deals on clothes they could not normally afford. Plus, many would rather see clothes reused than sent to a landfill. But many physical resale shops were dingy, and sometimes it took weeks or even months for consigners to receive payment for their goods.
Then came a new generation of online resellers like ThredUP and Poshmark. They flourished because they made the shopping experience easier with new technology like virtual try-on options.
However, many of these businesses now see the need for physical stores. That’s partly because nearly 80% of customers born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s enjoy going to stores.
James Reinhart is co-founder and CEO of ThredUP. His company has seen the handwriting on the wall: “You have to go where the customer is going,” he says. ThredUP now runs brick-and-mortar stores in the San Francisco area.
Resale is now becoming so mainstream that traditional retailers can’t ignore it.
This spring, department store chain Neiman Marcus invested in Fashionphile, an online seller of pre-owned designer accessories. Neiman Marcus will launch shops inside some stores where customers can sell items to Fashionphile.
J.C. Penney and Macy’s are getting into the secondhand game too. The stores will sell used merchandise from ThredUP in certain locations.
Most experts applaud the second-time-around strategy as a way to drive customers into stores. But they also see some downsides: Could selling secondhand undermine regular retail business and anger new goods suppliers?
There’s no guarantee that resale will lure young shoppers back to the mall. Still, as ThredUP’s Reinhart says, “Trying to live in the past is a recipe for disaster.”
Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 3:13-14
Our course is going to add some intensity to this model. You probably noticed the body builder on page 223. He represents the power we’re aiming for as we add RESEARCH TO OUR BODY PARAGRAPHS!
Our new model for research papers vs. the model we followed for the persuasive essay:
Transition Transition and Topic Sentence
Topic Prepare for Research
Evidence Integrate Research
Brief Wrap-up Respond to Research
Brief Wrap-Up
“PREPARE, INTEGRATE, RESPOND” give our body paragraphs a plan of action. They are the muscle of our body paragraphs.
Start reading on page 224 at “Soon after your topic sentence…” Read pages 224-225 together, and evaluate the 2 examples of body paragraphs.
ACTIVITY 2: BODY PARAGRAPH MARKUP
Turn to sample paragraph on page 226, and mark it with colored pencils as I read. Do Activity 2 together, and answer the questions together with the answer key.
Here is another helpful link from our book for constructing body paragraphs.
Citation builder link
Does this paragraph include some sort of research?
Is research introduced well – neither underdone nor overdone (“not a dating profile”)
Does this paragraph include the writer’s response (NO FIRST OR SECOND PERSON)?
Does the paragraph begin and end with the writer’s thoughts, the writer’s voice?
Last week we introduced the research paper. We compared and contrasted the research paper with the persuasive essay. Does anyone remember something that makes a research paper DIFFERENT from a persuasive essay? (Includes a variety of outside sources, adds to knowledge, is longer…)
Lesson 48 offers us some caution. Read page 184 starting with “The variety of sources…” and ending with “Some allow other’s voices to overpower their own. Others refuse to let their resources speak. Our goal will be to avoid both extremes."
Ask students which extreme they think they would fall into. Letting sources take over their own “voice” or “not giving the sources an opportunity to be heard.” If we are feeling intimidated about this topic, we might just want to defer to the experts and let them do the talking. By this point, each of you has developed a unique writing “voice.” You are not just gathering and organizing information like you would be for a report. YOU ARE SHARING SOMETHING BRAND NEW WITH YOUR READER IN THIS RESEARCH PAPER!!
Lesson 49 makes the funny comparison between choosing a research topic and finding a spouse. You will be spending a lot of time with your topic, so take the time to choose it wisely. And don’t be afraid to abandon your topic early in the “relationship” if it’s starting to bore you!
When we wrote persuasive essays, we focused on choosing a RELEVENT, CURRENT, AND RELATABLE TOPIC. Gregorian chant was quickly eliminated as an interesting, relatable topic for most people. 😊
NOT ONLY DO WE NEED A RELEVANT AND RELATABLE TOPIC FOR OUR RESEARCH PAPER, BUT WE ALSO NEED AN ARGUABLE TOPIC. There should be conflict surrounding our topic. Our book says, “A TOPIC THAT CAN’T BE ARGUED WITH STRONG, OPPOSING VOICES IS THE STUFF OF REPORTS, NOT RESEARCH PAPERS.” Our book guides us through the stages of choosing a topic, narrowing a topic, ASKING A RESEARCH QUESTION, AND COMING UP WITH A HYPOTHESIS ABOUT OUR TOPIC THAT WILL BECOME A WORKING THESIS STATEMENT.
For homework, you were given a list of 200 possible topics for your research paper, and you were asked to come up with 3 that interested you. REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE NOT LIMITED TO THESE TOPICS, AND YOU CAN CHANGE THEM TO MAKE THEM MORE INTERESTING TO YOU. Ask students to share these topics of interest. ASK STUDENTS WHY THE TOPIC MATTERS TO THEM? Hand out “Topic Work-up Sheet.” Practice with a sample topic chosen by a student.
We are going to do a quick overview of unit 5 in your book and talk about the last big project for the semester. Lesson 48 talks a lot about being naïve and gullible. Do you think this is a problem for most people? How and where does it show up? When I was preparing for this lesson, I found a cartoon on my niece’s Facebook page. “My mum used to say “If you didn’t hear it with your own ears or see it with your own eyes, don’t invent it with your small mind or share it with your big mouth."
We’re going to stick with this rule, but we’re also going to learn to be careful with outside sources that claim to be fact.
The story “Mr. Rogers Rumor Neighborhood” is a well-known anecdote that has been circulating online for many years, often accompanied by an image of Fred Rogers, the beloved host of the children’s television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” The main idea of this story revolves around a rumor that claims Mr. Rogers was once a Navy SEAL and had numerous tattoos on his arms to cover up the marks left by his military service. This story first appeared on the internet in the early 2000s and has since gained significant attention and popularity. In this evaluation, we will examine the rhetorical context surrounding this story, including its origin, purpose, and impact. Additionally, we will analyze the credibility of this rumor and discuss its implications on Mr. Rogers’ legacy as a public figure committed to kindness and compassion.
Thesis statement: While the rumor about Mr. Rogers being a Navy SEAL with tattoos may have captured the imagination of many online users, it lacks substantial evidence and fails to align with his well-documented life dedicated to promoting love, understanding, and emotional growth among children.
After conducting a Google search, I have found several results regarding Mr. Rogers and the “Rumor Neighborhood” that circulated about him.
1. The rumor: One popular rumor suggests that Fred Rogers, known for his beloved children’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” had a dark past as a military sniper or Marine Corps scout sniper with numerous confirmed kills.
2. Debunking the rumor: Multiple sources, including Snopes.com, debunk this rumor as false. There is no evidence to support the claim that Mr. Rogers had any involvement in the military or was a sniper.
Impact of Mr. Rogers: Mr. Rogers’ influence on generations of children cannot be overstated. His show promoted values such as love, acceptance, and understanding, while tackling important topics like racism, divorce, death, and self-worth.
In summary, my research shows that the rumor suggesting Mr. Rogers had a military background as a sniper is false and has been debunked by various sources. Fred Rogers was known for his genuine kindness and dedication to teaching children valuable life lessons through his iconic show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
The Bible compares our tongues to a fire or deadly poison. Not only do we need to beware of spreading false information ourselves, but we also need to be discerning about the information we read and believe.
Let’s look at the middle of page 184. There’s a chart that contrasts the RESEARCH PAPER with the REPORT. Before we read the chart, tell me some of the differences between a PERSUASIVE ESSAY AND A RESEARCH PAPER. ILLUSTRATE THIS IN A VENN DIAGRAM ON THE BOARD.
[Image: Venn Diagram with two circles, one labeled "Persuasive Essay" and the other "Research Paper". ]
Both require a clear thesis statement
Both need supporting evidence to back up claims
Both follow a structured format (introduction, body, conclusion)
Focuses on influencing the reader's opinion
May use emotional appeals and rhetoric
Extensive research and citation of credible sources
Aims to present objective analysis of a topic
Often includes complex data and analysis
Both persuasive essays and research papers need a clear thesis statement, supporting evidence, and a structured format.
A persuasive essay aims to convince the reader to adopt a specific viewpoint, often using emotional appeals, while a research paper focuses on presenting objective analysis based on extensive research and credible sources.
Read through the chart on the middle of page 184, and contrast the RESEARCH PAPER WITH THE REPORT. Read the example about Abraham Lincoln on pages 184-185.
Read activity 3 on page 185. Hand out the portfolios. Mention that our book assigns 2 portfolios this semester. This is our research portfolio, and the flip side is a Genre Portfolio (described on the bottom of page 250). This will be a collection of writing samples from Science, Short Stories, Poetry, Nonfiction, Plays, and more. I have filled out all of the tabs and set up each student’s portfolio for both projects. 😊
Finally, we are going to return to the list of topics from Lesson 37 that helped some of us choose our topics for the persuasive essays. The book encourages us to return to this list and select 3 topics that we might be interested in digger deeper into with a research paper. You are not limited to this list. If you are complethere is a link of 200 topics provide by the text, which I’ll post on our blogtely stumped, there is a link of 200 topics provide by the text, which I’ll post on our blog.
These are organized in helpful categories. Read through some of these.
Ask students if they plan to stick with their current topic or start a new one.
The informative segment is supposed to define and explain key terms, as well as give the reader enough background information that they are prepared to follow the writer’s train of thought through the rest of the paper. Did this segment do this for you? Did you feel grounded in the topic after reading this segment? [Use the back of this paper to respond.]
For those of you who have written a conclusion, let’s look at those together, and turn to page 243. We will follow Activity 3 to evaluate your conclusion. Have students read them aloud, and ask for peer feedback.
Lesson 61
Start with Word of the Week. Ask each student about progress on research papers. Update them on the change of direction I’ve taken with mine. Instead of writing a research paper, I am using much of the information I’ve gathered to write a devotional I’ve been asked to give next week. My topic is too personal to me to write about it in an academic, third person voice. I felt completely stuck until I turned it into a first person “conversation” with my reader. Then 4 pages wrote themselves! It’s been so exciting for me to watch you have similar experiences with your topics.
Today we will talk about writing our introductions. Some of you have already written your introductions. That’s great, but there’s always room for improvement. We are going to review some of the tips in this chapter and then spend some time evaluating our introductions. Watch this video on introductions.
You’ll notice one difference between the outline given in this video and the one in our textbook (page 235). It is not necessary for you to explicitly state your research question in the first paragraph. The most important elements of your introduction (which are included in the chapter and the video) are:
You have a lot of freedom when it comes to the introduction. You can use: A strong hook to capture your reader’s attention An explanation of your topic (includes your concession)
A clear thesis statement that tells where your essay is headedImagery, Figurative Language, or an Anecdote (a story to draw in your reader)
Our text tells us that, when we’re choosing our opener, we need to sift all of our research and find THE SHINY NUGGET OF GOLD. Something that will shine and resonate with a broad audience.
We are not restricted from using quotes (the video we just watched opened with a quote), but we need to be sure it isn’t a boring one.
Let’s read pages 236-237 together (up until the Assignment).
ACTIVITY 1: FALSE STARTS
Activity 1 gives us some restrictions for the beginning of our essay called false starts. DO NOT:
Use a lame dictionary definition. Use a coercive question that manipulates the reader’s emotions.
Insult your reader with a play-by-play as if you’re sharing information with a toddler. This will bore your readers, insult them, and make them stop reading.
After going through these guidelines for introductions, is there any one who thinks they might have dropped a bomb or used a false start in their introduction??
Even if you’re happy with your introduction, join with us in Activity 2. This brainstorming activity will be helpful to everyone – to those of you who have not yet written an introduction AND those of you who might find a better opener than you already have.
ACTIVITY 2: DIGGING FOR GOLD
Read Activity 2 on page 238.
Take 3 minutes to list at least 10 words, phrases, or ideas you associate with your topic.
Take 5 minutes. Choose the word, phrase, or idea you like the most. For that one word/phrase, write one instance each of the following:
Imagery or figurative language (simile or metaphors) Memorable material (anything super interesting that jumped out in your research, your “gold nugget.”) An anecdote. Don’t write a whole story. Just an idea for a story you could open with. Share ideas, and complete Activity 3 together (page 239). If time permits, pair up and do some peer review.
NEXT WEEK. BRING YOUR COMPLETED INTRODUCTION AND READ LESSON 62 ON CONCLUSIONS. If time, play Poetry for Neanderthals.
You have a lot of freedom when it comes to the introduction. You can use:
A strong hook to capture your reader’s attention
An explanation of your topic (includes your concession)
A clear thesis statement that tells where your essay is headed
Imagery, Figurative Language, or an Anecdote (a story to draw in your reader)
Our text tells us that, when we’re choosing our opener, we need to sift all of our research and find THE SHINY NUGGET OF GOLD. Something that will shine and resonate with a broad audience.
We are not restricted from using quotes (the video we just watched opened with a quote), but we need to be sure it isn’t a boring one.
Let’s read pages 236-237 together (up until the Assignment).
ACTIVITY 1: FALSE STARTS
Activity 1 gives us some restrictions for the beginning of our essay called false starts. DO NOT:
Use a lame dictionary definition.
Use a coercive question that manipulates the reader’s emotions.
Insult your reader with a play-by-play as if you’re sharing information with a toddler. This will bore your readers, insult them, and make them stop reading.
After going through these guidelines for introductions, is there any one who thinks they might have dropped a bomb or used a false start in their introduction?? Imagery or figurative language (simile or metaphors)
Memorable material (anything super interesting that jumped out in your research, your “gold nugget.”)
An anecdote. Don’t write a whole story. Just an idea for a story you could open with. Share ideas, and complete Activity 3 together (page 239). If time permits, pair up and do some peer review.
NEXT WEEK. BRING YOUR COMPLETED INTRODUCTION AND READ LESSON 62 ON CONCLUSIONS. If time, play Poetry for Neanderthals.
Lesson 60
Word of the week. I found one to describe my son and me. We have a new clutch of chicken eggs hatching on our counter. While there isn't a single, widely recognized term for an obsession with chickens, the word "alektorophile" is sometimes used to describe someone who loves chickens.
Check with each student on research and drafting progress.
Lesson 60 introduces us to the use of transitions in our writing.
I found a video explaining the importance of using transitions, and I’d like to share it with you.
These transitions are compared to bridges that smoothly connect our sentences, our paragraphs, and our topics. Our text gives us a link to transitional devices. I highly recommend that you keep a list like this handy when you are writing because it will help you avoid writer’s block. When you are transitioning to a new paragraph or idea, glance at the list and find a word or phrase that will lead smoothly into the next section of your paper.
If you turn to page 232, you’ll see a list of joining words called subordinate conjunctions. THESE WORDS SHOW RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IDEAS. THEY SEEM TAILOR-MADE TO FUNCTION AS TRANSITIONS. WE USE THEM, WITHOUT THINKING, AS NATURAL BRIDGES TO CONNECT OUR IDEAS. Look at the sample sentence and the complex phrase in red.
Here’s another list I like. Pull up link and show students the categories.
Transition Words and Phrases: Writing An Argument
Transitions for Supporting a Claim
• One point that explains/shows/supports …
• From the way the author writes…
• Another way/fact/important detail…
• A different example… • This phrase/statement means/represents…
• This detail/quote supports…
• This shows/means/reveals that
• One implication is…
• Throughout the text/passage/excerpt/story/article…
• ____’s point is that…
• If we assume that this is true, then doesn’t it suggest that…
• If we agree on that, then can’t we also say that…”
• That statement supports…
• This evidence implies…
• If… then..
Transitions for Counterclaims
• I know some/they will argue that….
• A number of ___ suggest that…
• Some believe/feel that…
• Although some think…
• It is said that…
• I admit/agree/accept/realize that…
• While it may be true that…
• Many people assume
• I accept the fact that…
• Admittedly…
• Even though…
• Despite Transitions for Rebuttals
• But…
• In contrast
• Let’s take another look…
• However…
• On the other hand…
• Besides the fact that…
• Although
• Instead of …
• It can be argued that…
• I still maintain that…
• The real point to consider is…
• I want to suggest…
• The problem with that ….
(Source: Joan Sedita, Keys to Content Writing, Keys to Literacy (www.keystoliterac.com)
Transitions are not just important to use in writing (catch the transition there 😊), they are also used in speaking. Comedians demonstrate how transitions can be woven in so smoothly that we barely even notice them. I’m going to show you one of my favorite examples of this. The first time I heard this clip, I was driving with my son back to his college in VA, and we almost went off the road we were laughing so hard. I pulled it up in Connor’s honor since he is going on a camping trip with his dad and brothers this weekend. This will remind him of all that he has to anticipate!!
Watch clip until he transitions to hammocks.
The next type of transition our book introduces us to is THE HOOK. Comedy is full of hooks. The comedians says something unexpected or slightly shocking to snap us back to attention and lead us into the next topic. It’s often in the form of a rhetorical question that gets us thinking and prepares us for his joke.
Our book gives us an article to read. The title is “Secondhand is First Rate.” I’ll read the article, and I’d like you to mark the transitions as you hear them. If you want to be fancy and use different colors for the 3 types of transitions we have learned, that would be great.
Transitional Phrases - Red
Complex Sentences - Blue
Hooks – Yellow
Read and mark the essay together, and share the transitions we found.
Discuss Essay Timeline. If time, play transition word BINGO.
Mark the following transitions.
Lesson 59
Word of the Week!“The word “queue” is ironic. It’s just a Q with a bunch of silent letters waiting in line. 😊
Homework assigned last week: Continue researching and writing. Your goal is to bring 3-4 ROUGH DRAFT pages to class next week. Send them by email to me as well. We will talk about incorporating quotes/citations in class next week. Keep everything organized in your research portfolio! Read chapter 59. Ask students about progress.
Lesson 59 (page 227) shows us a picture of a little girl smearing lipstick all over her face. The sloppiness of this little girl’s makeup is compared to poor integration of research in our papers. OUR RESEARCH NEEDS TO BE ADDED TASTEFULLY SO IT LOOKS CLEAN AND NATURAL, NOT SLOPPY AND DISTRACTING.
The biggest mistake we can make when adding research is:
Dropping quotes – This is when we include a quotation without a proper introduction. We jolt our reader by switching between our voice to another writer’s voice without any warning! There are a few ways we can avoid this mistake.
Watch this YouTube video on quote integration. It covers THE INTRODUCTORY TAG, AND THE GRAMMATICAL BLEND. THE THIRD TYPE OF INTEGRATION IS OUR TEXT IS THE COLON (OR THE HYPHENS IN THIS VIDEO)
HAND OUT ABOUT INTEGRATING QUOTATIONS WORKSHEETS, AND COMPLETE THEM TOGETHER.
Pull up the Perdue OWL MLA Citation website. This will be on our class blog in the notes section.
Pull up the citation generator, and ask students for specific questions about citing quotes. Find answers together in class.
How to cite a YouTube video in MLA (Annabelle)
Lesson 58
Draw body paragraph triangle and TTEB model vs. TPIRB model on page 224.
Word of the week! Cover Last Week’s Homework. Check in with each student for progress.
Homework is found on page 222. Here is what students should have by now:
A research question
A working thesis (refined along the way if necessary)
10 sources reviewed and annotated
An outline for your paper (see the sample on page 221)
ACTIVITY 1: BODY PARAGRAPHS
Pull up this link, and discuss body paragraphs with handouts.
At this point, we’ve become really comfortable with the TTEB Model:
TRANSITION, TOPIC, EVIDENCE, BRIEF WRAPUP.
ACTIVITY 3: IN CLASS WRITING WORKSHOP
FINISH CLASS BY COMPLETING ACTIVITY 3 ON PAGE 227. STUDENTS ARE TO FOLLOW THIS OUTLINE AND CRAFT A NEW BODY PARAGRAPH IN CLASS. ALLOW 10-15 MINUTES, AND THEN CHOOSE A READER TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.
IN CLASS WRITING WORKSHOP
Transition and Topic Sentence
Prepare for Research
Integrate Research
Respond to Research
Brief Wrap-Up
QUESTIONS FOR READER:
Please circle any spelling, mechanics, grammatical mistakes, but don’t fix them.
Class Workshop and Lessons 56-57
Find a fun example of a logical fallacy to share with the class (instead of a vocabulary word of the week).
For example, I showed them a picture of a STRAW MAN WALKING A RED HERRING UP A SLIPPERY SLOPE ON THE WAY TO HIS SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS SECTION.
Students should choose a TOPIC for the research paper, decide on a strong research question, and compose a working thesis statement. They should also look for 10 sources to research the chosen topic.
For those who are caught up, read Lesson 56 and follow the Writing Workshop recipe on page 239. We'll talk more about this next week.
My Example of Logical Fallacy: Play Winnie the Pooh Clip.
There’s nothing cuter than Pooh’s logical fallacies. This is an example of A HASTY GENERALIZATION AND MISSING THE POINT. He is drawing a related conclusion from evidence, but not the exact conclusion the evidence supports. Sometimes he gets it right. In this case, he asks, “What’s that buzzing sound? The only reason for making a buzzing sound is because you’re a bee. The only reason for being a bee is to make honey, and the only reason for making honey is so I can eat it.” He then decides that if he covers himself in mud, he can fly up to the hive on Christopher Robin’s balloon and trick the bees into thinking he’s a little black rain cloud. When the bees discover his scheme and attack him, he concludes that these must be the wrong sorts of bees!
Ask students to share the fallacies they found.
Ask students to share their topics, research question and sources.
EMPHASIZE THE FACT THAT THEIR THESIS A WORKING THESIS. THEY HAVEN’T CONDUCTED ALL OF THEIR RESEARCH OR FINISHED LEARNING ABOUT THEIR TOPIC, SO THE THESIS MIGHT BE ADJUSTED ALONG THE WAY! THIS IS FINE.
Today we are beginning Unit 6! Lesson 56 (on page 215) talks about how toddlers have “I’m getting big moments.” My five year old has been telling me all week that he’s growing taller and getting stronger and that soon he’ll be able to join the LCA Lions basketball team like his big brother. That’s another example of a HASTY GENERALIZATION, but it’s a cute one.
Our book encourages you by saying that “You’re getting big” as writers. You’re gearing up to write a college-level research paper. While this might sound overwhelming, we are going to take it a small step at a time, and I know you will succeed!
ACTIVITY 1: WRITING WORKSHOP
Let’s look at the Writing Workshop Recipe on page 216. Ask students where and when they do their writing and if they have any helpful tips for the class. Most of my writing is done in my head while I’m running. My notes are not organized and are often frantically written on a piece of scrap paper when I get home before I forget my ideas. I wouldn’t encourage you to follow my example in this area. The point is that we all need concentrated blocks of time in an uncluttered setting with the proper tools laid out.
Give students 15 minutes for peer review of their work and brainstorming. Writers should be asking their friends, “WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO LEARN FROM MY PAPER? HOW CAN I BRING YOU AROUND TO MY OPINION?” Tell each other about the sources you’ve found so far and how you’ve organized them. Discuss where you feel stuck and what your goals are for this next week.
Hand out Writing Workshop Recipes and Goal Sheet. Answer the Activity 3 questions together as a class, and encourage the students to take notes.
Student Writing Workshop:
Your Personal Recipe:
Setting (Where do you write best?) _________________________
Writing tools you need before starting _________________________
Time (Set off blocks of time during the week to write, and stick to your plan! Noise cancelling headphones are your friend! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Goals (what will I accomplish THIS WEEK?) ________________________
Accountability (Who will review my writing?) ______________________
Answer the following questions:
In what area have you improved (Style, organization, mechanics). Be specific!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What or who helped you improve?
What area is difficult for you in writing (content, style, organization, mechanics) How can you become stronger in this area?
What part of the research paper do you need to work on the most (research, note-taking, drafting, etc.)?
Lesson 57 (page 219) compares our papers to offering hospitality to friends. I have had the opportunity to eat dinner in many different types of homes. One friends from NH had a very unique form of hospitality. She lived on a farm with more chickens and kids than she could count, and there was always some sort of creative chaos going on there. One time I walked in, and she was sewing Easter dresses for her girls. I had to follow her from the sewing machine to the backyard where she would gather her “backyard salad” for dinner, feed the chickens along the way. We’d go inside, and she’d offer me a cup of tea and then tell me where I could find it to make for myself. Next I’d be handed a heaping bowl of elderberries to sort. Eventually the kids would start complaining about being hungry, so she’d pop a chicken (from her backyard!) in the oven. Eventually we’d eat. I loved and respected this friend, but I was always a little distracted by her chaos.
My second friend has a perfectly meticulous house. When she invites us for dinner, EVERYTHING WILL BE LAID OUT by the time we arrive, the table will be set, and there will be vases of flowers and creative, artistic touches everywhere we look. There’s an air of peace and order that makes me want to relax and settle in for a long time.
THIS IS THE EFFECT WE WANT OUR PAPERS TO HAVE ON OUR READERS!
Our text tells us that our thesis statement “may need tidying up more than any other part of your research paper.” Your thesis will need to be adjusted along the way, and it is possible that your research will convince you to reconsider your opinion and argue for the other side.
Our book gives us three helpful questions to use when evaluating our thesis statement. Read these at the top of page 220. I like how page 221 reassures us that, “A thesis statement can be the research paper’s clunkiest sentence.” WE HAVE TO PACK A LOT INTO IT. AS WE WORK ON AN IMPROVED THESIS STATEMENT, WE WANT TO MAKE IT AS CLEAR AND CONCISE AS POSSIBLE. Look at the sample thesis statement on page 221 about cell phones to see how the thesis statement was revised and the outline was slightly changed (VI). The wording was slightly changed so it related more closely to the article she was using to support her thesis. “Cell phones can be destructive to relationships” is a much more bold and interesting claim than her previous one: “Cell phone conversations (and texting) often lead to miscommunication (too obvious).
Spend some time in class tweaking thesis statements.
Lessons 54-56
Share Words of the Week (chocolate for winner!)
My Word of the Week: librocubicularist (a person who reads in bed)
ACTIVITY 1: HOMEWORK REVIEW
Look at Students’ Homework. Answer any questions.
Lesson 54 introduces us to the concept of fallacies. I’m always on the lookout for quotes or images that relate to what we’re learning here. This one was posted by a friend after the election and made me laugh. After today’s lesson, you’ll fully understand the caption!!
ACTIVITY 2: FALLACIES
FALLACIES ARE MISTAKEN BELIEFS, ESPECIALLY THOSE BASED ON UNSOUND REASONING.
Take turns reading through the descriptions of fallacies on pages 207-208.
Watch Link on Logical Fallacies
Lesson 55 tells us about how we can generate a research paper with no effort on our part. AI and internet writing services can help you cheat by writing your research paper for you. Our text tells us, “Don’t be deceived. These services don’t help you solve your writing problem. They help you cheat.” College professors have tools that detect plagiarism, so students are usually caught when they are trying to steal someone else’s work.
ACTIVITY 3: SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER
A wiser and more ethical alternative to cheating is studying excellent research papers and learning to model them. Today we’ll look at a sample research paper provided by our text. It’s a model paper, not a perfect one. I want you to read it with a pencil and a sharp eye for where the author could have improved.
Read the sample research paper together, and answer the Activity 2 Discussion Questions (page 213).
Homework Due 2/25: Encourage students that it’s okay that we are at different stages in the research/writing process. Deadlines are meant to be a helpful tool; however, we have enough margin this semester that it’s okay if we have an “off week” every now and then or if circumstances make it impossible to get our homework done.
By next week, I want students to have a strong research question and thesis statement and to have gathered and reviewed 10 sources. (Mention that I was talking to my college son, who is writing a research paper on the Value of Atonal Music.)
Atonal music is a musical composition that doesn't have a central tone or key, and instead uses all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale. It's different from tonal music, which is based on a major or minor key. Atonal music is known for its discordance and irregularity.
His assignment last week looked really similar to ours, and he was impressed by what you are accomplishing this year! You students are truly working at a college level and should be very encouraged by your success this semester!
For those who are caught up, read Lesson 56 and follow the Writing Workshop recipe. If time look at the Writing Workshop Recipe on page 239.
Give students time to ask any questions.
Lessons 51-53
Share Words of the Week (chocolate for winner!)
Last week I handed out a topic work-up sheet for your chosen research paper topic. Ask each student if he/she has narrowed choices to 1 topic, and go through each work-up, and ask what students found for sources. Decide whether or not the sources are credible, and discuss any concerns or questions.
HELP STUDENTS FORM A RESEARCH QUESTION TO PUT IN THEIR PORTFOLIOS.
WATCH THIS LINK ON FORMING A RESEARCH TOPIC.
In addition to filling out your topic workup sheet and finding some interesting sources to research, YOU WERE TOLD TO COME UP WITH A RESEARCH QUESTION AND A WORKING THESIS STATEMENT. THIS SHOWS WHERE YOU HOPE TO LEAD YOUR AUDIENCE, BUT IT IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS. YOU WILL LIKELY TWEAK YOUR THESIS STATEMENT. PERHAPS YOUR RESEARCH WILL LEAD YOU TO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CONCLUSION AND THESIS!
I WRESTLED WITH MY OWN RESEARCH QUESTION THIS WEEK, REALIZING THERE WERE SEVERAL DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS I COULD TAKE WITH MY PAPER. AFTER I LOOKED AT THE SOURCES OUT THERE THAT RELATED TO MY TOPIC, I DECIDED TO STICK WITH THESE QUESTIONS.
ARE CHRISTIAN MOTHERS CALLED BY GOD TO SACRIFICE THEIR TIME, ENERGY, MIND, AND CREATIVITY AS THEY RAISE YOUNG CHILDREN? ARE THESE “lost years?” IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SECULAR SOCIETY’S UNDERSTANDING OF SELF-CARE AND THE CHARLOTTLE MASON CONCEPT OF MOTHER CULTURE?
Lesson 51 brings us back to the RESEARCH PAPER’S PURPOSE. “It aims to convince an audience of your opinion. It is a demanding type of writing because it wants you to be able to withstand the scrutiny of our readers and attacks of our critics.
The tool that is going to make our writing credible to our readers is our BIBLIOGRAPHY. Our bibliography is a list of ALL THE SOURCES THAT HELPED US IN OUR RESEARCH. When I was in college, they called this a WORKS CONSULTED page. I remember trying to make this list as long as possible. Even if I glanced inside the cover of a book on my topic, I’d add it to the works consulted page because the longer my list of books I researched, the smarter I looked.
If a teacher asked for my “works cited page,” this list would be a lot shorter. Works cited were just the quotes I used or another author’s ideas that I summarized and included in my paper.
Chapter 51 introduces us to an annotated bibliography. This is a list of sources we use and our comments about them.
The two forms of comments are SUMMARY AND CRITICAL EVALUATIVE.
I am teaching SUMMARY to my elementary age kids. Last week Brandan and I read a text from the Bible, and he was told to read it and list key ideas so he could write a SUMMARY of the passage. This is just a single paragraph.
The next term our book uses is SKIMMING. WE ARE GOING TO BECOME EXPERT SKIMMERS AS WE WADE THROUGH A TON OF ARTICLES AND WRITTEN PIECES THAT RELATE TO OUR TOPIC. If we don’t skim, we will become bogged down quickly, and our research will take ten times as long as it should.
An ABSTRACT is a helpful summary of an article at the beginning. This, in addition to a CONCLUSIONS section will become our helpers as we compile our research!
AFTER WE HAVE READ OUR ABSTRACT, SKIMMED OR READ THE ARTICLE, AND READ THROUGH THE CONCLUSIONS SECTION, WE ARE READY TO ANNOTATE.
Let’s look at page 197 to see how this works. Start reading about the “Critical Evaluative” at “The second comment type in an annotated bibliography is the critical/evaluative…” through the example at the bottom of the page.
The source is in blue.
The summary is dark orange.
The brief critique is light orange.
KEEP A BOOKMARK IN THIS EXAMPLE BECAUSE YOU WILL BE FOLLOWING IT IN YOUR HOMEWORK THIS WEEK.
ACTIVITY 1: Homework
Turn to page 198 “Activity 1,” and read it together. This will be your homework. I would like you to mentally answer the Activity 2 questions.
Next week, in class, I am going to ask each of you what you found for research. I AM ALSO GOING TO ASK YOU TO COMPLETE ACTIVITY 3 AND SHARE YOUR WORKING THESIS WITH THE CLASS. We will follow the same equation we learned in unit 4.
Turn to lesson 52 on note-taking. Our text compares the sources we are collecting for our research paper to RESTLESS STUDENTS WHO OVERPOWER THEIR SUBSTITUTE TEACHER AND SEEK TO CONTROL THE CLASSROOM. If a substitute teacher goes into a class feeling insecure and scattered, THE STUDENTS WILL SMELL HER FEAR and lead the class in any direction they feel like going.
We don’t want our sources to overwhelm us, so we must keep them in order.
FIRST, WE NEED TO BE SURE THAT EACH NOTE WE TAKE CONNECTS TO OUR THESIS STATEMENT. WE ALSO NEED TO CREATE A LIST OUTLINE SO WE HAVE A PLACE TO PUT THE INFORMATION WE GATHER.
LOOK AT THE SAMPLE ON PAGE 200 TO SEE HOW THE THESIS STATEMENT IS COLOR-CODED. THIS CLEAR THESIS AND LIST OUTLINE WILL GUIDE OUR NOTE-TAKING AND KEEP US FOCUSED!! When we are researching a topic we are interested in, we are going to come across a lot of other interesting sub-topics and be tempted to follow them. These loosely related topics have no place in our paper.
Read the top of page 202.
WATCH VIDEO FOR COMING UP WITH A WORKING THESIS STATEMENT.
Concession + Opinion + Reasons = Thesis Statement.
Show note taking template.
Sources:
Lessons 48-50
Ask for word of the week. Hand out chocolates with book quotes as a reward for the best word.
Give students an opportunity to share their persuasive essays with the class.
Lesson 50 talks about choosing credible sources. We had some fun tracking down fake news last week and talking about unreliable news sources. We need to be sure that we are using credible, trustworthy sources, BUT WE ALSO NEED TO “UNDERSTAND OUR OWN BIASIS, OUR OWN SUBTLE IRRATIONALITIES.” WHAT IDEAS TO WE GRIP WITH TIGHT FISTS EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE UNTRUE, ILLOGICAL, OR UNHELPFUL? Are we ONLY listening to the voices of those who agree with us?
TOPIC WORK-UP:
Who is my audience?
What is the purpose of the assignment? To research a topic, form an educated opinion, and defend it
What is my chosen topic?
What do I already know (who, what, where, why, when, and how?)
Does my topic have more than one side (is it arguable)?
What is my opinion about the topic?
What other subjects/topics appear when I search for my topic in a database?
List as many questions as possible about your topic. Do any of these questions allow you to be less broad or less specific?
For homework: Answer these questions about your chosen topic. Follow Activity 3 (Lesson 49) to craft the research question you’ll use for your research paper. Find three sources for the topic you chose in lesson 49. For each, write down its author, title, and where you located the source. If the source is online, write down its URL.
Watch this short video about our conscious and unconscious brain and how we develop bias.
The most challenging part of this assignment might be giving respectful attention to sources that do not agree with you. Being an open-minded listener is essential for this assignment.
Our text takes us down memory lane, explaining what it was like to do research BTI (before the internet.” In one sense, your research process is “easier” now because you’re not hauling books from the library. HOWEVER, YOU NEED TO BE CAREFUL TO AVOID WEBSITES THAT CONTAIN BIASED CONTENT.
Be careful of sites with these domain names: .biz, .com, .net. These SITES TEND TO HAVE LESS CREDIBILITY THAN .ORG SITES. Whenever possible, go to the direct source of information, and avoid secondhand information.
Read through the SOURCE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ON PAGE 194 TOGETHER.
If time, watch this clip on media bias. Introducing the Research Paper (1/28)
Ask students for vocabulary words of the week. My word is effectuate. This means “to do something or make something happen.” We are going to effectuate the completion of these persuasive papers next week! (Chocolate for winning word!)
Today we are going to introduce the research paper and understand how the research paper is different from the persuasive essay and the report.
Give students the opportunity to share what they have written and to ask for input from peers.
ACTIVITY 1: FAKE NEWS
I had some fun researching fake news this week. Apparently, this fake news phenomenon has been around for a while. I’m going to ask Mrs. Ashlie to pull up some examples of fake news through history.
Apparently, people were stirring up trouble posting fake news about King George II, saying he was sick when he wasn’t in order to undermine him. Here was a letter written by Attorney General Dudley Ryder responding to complaints about this fake news report,
“As the publication of such false news of his Majesty has a tendency to disquiet the minds of his subjects, hurt public credit, and diminish the regard and duty which they owe him, I think the doing it with such views is an offense punishable at Common Law…And the frequency of such publications is evidence of such wicked designs…I don’t know any method to prevent this practice but by prosecuting the offenders when they are guilty.”
If you scroll through this article, you’ll see fake news affecting stock exchanges, false reports and bizarre pictures of life on the moon, fake news about the price of eggs, and more. My favorite was an article where Mark Twain responded to false reports of his own death. Apparently Mark Twain “heard on good authority that he was dead.” He wasted no words in his response: “Cousin, Not He, Sick.” meaning that the only explanation for this outrageous story was that he had a sick cousin at one point who recovered. This link will be posted on our class blog so you can read through the other funny reports.
Before we move on, I’ll show you one of my favorite fake news reports about Mr. Rogers.
ACTIVITY 2: PERSUASIVE ESSAY VS. RESEARCH PAPER
Let’s look at the middle of page 184. There’s a chart that contrasts the RESEARCH PAPER with the REPORT. Before we read the chart, tell me some of the differences between a PERSUASIVE ESSAY AND A RESEARCH PAPER. ILLUSTRATE THIS IN A VENN DIAGRAM ON THE BOARD.
[Image: Venn Diagram with two circles, one labeled "Persuasive Essay" and the other "Research Paper". ]
Overlapping Area (Similarities):
Persuasive Essay Circle:
Research Paper Circle:
(Explanation)
Similarities:
Key Differences:
ACTIVITY 3: PORTFOLIO
Read activity 3 on page 185. Hand out the portfolios. Mention that our book assigns 2 portfolios this semester. This is our research portfolio, and the flip side is a Genre Portfolio (described on the bottom of page 250). This will be a collection of writing samples from Science, Short Stories, Poetry, Nonfiction, Plays, and more. I have filled out all of the tabs and set up each student’s portfolio for both projects. 😊
Finally, we are going to return to the list of topics from Lesson 37 that helped some of us choose our topics for the persuasive essays. The book encourages us to return to this list and select 3 topics that we might be interested in digger deeper into with a research paper. You are not limited to this list. If you are complethere is a link of 200 topics provide by the text, which I’ll post on our blogtely stumped, there is a link of 200 topics provide by the text, which I’ll post on our blog.
These are organized in helpful categories. Read through some of these.
Ask students if they plan to stick with their current topic or start a new one.
Composition 2 Persuasive Essay Workshop and Peer Review (1/21)
START WITH SHARING VOCABULARY WORDS.
WATCH “Let Me Persuade You” video.
WATCH Amelia Earhart’s Speech.
Hand out Editing Checklists, and Evaluate Each Essay. Discuss where students feel stuck.
Persuasive Essay Editing Checklist:
Content for Introduction:
Do I address a specific audience?
Does my essay start with an interesting hook?
Is my thesis statement clear?
Does each body paragraph include relevant evidence/support that links to thesis?
Style:
Is my writing formal? Do I avoid first/second person pronouns (I/my/me/you)? Quotes are exceptions.
Do I use concrete nouns?
Do I use strong/vivid verbs?
Organization:
Does the introduction start broad and then narrow to the specific? Do I give away my topic too early (see model on page 173)?
Is my thesis statement the final sentence of the introduction?
Do my body paragraphs follow the TTEB (Transition, Topic, Evidence, Brief Wrap-up) model?
Content for Body and Conclusion:
Does the paper address the other side of the topic? Does the paper refute the other side’s position graciously? Does the conclusion offer a challenge?
Style for Body and Conclusion:
Look for word variety. Avoid repeated words.
Look for good sentence variety.
Look for rhetorical devices (at least 2).
Organization:
Are body paragraphs 6-8 sentences? Total essay about 2.5 pages?
Are the introduction and conclusion 4-5 sentences each?
Does the conclusion start narrow and then widen (see model on pg. 177)?
Reader Feedback Worksheet
Position Paper
How to communicate your findings:
- Begin with the positive. Tell the writer what worked well.
- Be specific in your praise, citing specific examples, paragraphs sentences. For example:
- Not “I really liked the beginning,” but “Your choice of statistics in the second paragraph really caught my attention and made me curious to read on.”
- Word the “negative” in terms of the reader’s needs, NOT the writer’s mistakes. Your input is not as a writing expert, but as a reader. That is why your contribution is so valuable. You can help the writer learn how a reader will see their work.
- Not “This was an awkward sentence”, but “I had trouble following you here.”
- Not “This part is boring”, but “I found myself skimming here because there were too many statistics in this paragraph. Maybe just pick two or three.”
- Not “Your reasons are weak”, but “I think I’d need more evidence to come over to your point of view.”
How to structure your response:
- Number the paragraphs of the paper you are critiquing for easy reference.
- Complete the form below. Carefully label your answers and use the back side for additional space.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction is supposed to capture the reader’s interest and let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper. Did the introduction accomplish this for you?
INFORMATIVE SEGMENT
This segment is supposed to give the reader a clear understanding of the various sides of the issue, without bias. Did you feel (1) you understood various sides of the issue after reading this segment, and (2) that you were not feeling manipulated by bias as you read? Additionally, did you feel the author captured the complexity of the issue and did not oversimplify it?
PRESENTING THE DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES
This segment is meant to present an informed, nuanced, mature position on this issue.
PRESENTING A POSITION
Comment on QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF EVIDENCE. Did the writer make a sufficiently
supported case for their position? (You don’t have to AGREE with it. Just evaluate its quality.)Comment on TONE. Was the writer fair, respectful, free of emotionally manipulative language or ranting?
Lessons 42-22 (Review)
START CLASS WITH SNACKS AND POP UNDER PRESSURE PARTS OF SPEECH GAME.
This week we are going to spend some time reviewing. It will feel like we are backtracking, but according to our syllabus, we are exactly ON TRACK. BY THE END OF CLASS, YOU SHOULD HAVE A SOLID OUTLINE FOR YOUR ESSAY AND BE READY TO WORK ON YOUR FIRST DRAFT, which is due next week.
I think each of us is at a slightly different stage in writing a persuasive essay, so we’re going to take a few minutes to back up. We’ll look at what we’ve already covered and talk about what we need to accomplish over the next 2 weeks. By the end of today’s class, I want each student to have the following nailed down: WRITE THESE ON THE BOARD.
A chosen audience for the persuasive essay
A clear thesis statement
3 Arguments AGAINST your position
3 Rebuttals to answer your opponent’s arguments against your position. THESE WILL BE THE 3 REASONS THAT MAKE UP THE BODY PARAGRAPHS OF YOUR ESSAY.
A ROUGH OUTLINE (following page 138 in your textbook)
ACTIVITY 1: Pop Under Pressure Game and Effective Hooks
(HAND THESE OUT TO STUDENTS, AND LOOK THROUGH IT TOGETHER)
Paragraph 1: Introduction and Thesis
Catchy Attention Grabber (Use senses and imagery):
WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvrnVHd-oyM ON EFFECTIVE HOOKS.
SHOW CHART OF 7 EXCELLENT HOOK IDEAS (THESE ARE ON OUR BLOG).
______________________________________________________________________
Transition: ____________________________________________________________
Find ideas for transitions at https://vpress.us/2AWg2H (Show printout)
Clear Thesis (CONCESSION+OPINION+REASONS = THESIS STATEMENT: __________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: Concede and Refute
Paragraph 3: Reason 1 __________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 4: Reason 2 ____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 5: Reason 3 _____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Conclusion: “If the introduction isn’t written well, your essay runs the risk of not being read. If your conclusion isn’t written well, your essay runs the risk of not being remembered. LAST IMPRESSIONS MATTER! See page 177 for a conclusion model.
GUIDELINES FOR YOUR COMPLETED ESSAY (WHICH WILL BE DUE ON JANUARY 28):
Your completed essay will have 3 drafts: first draft, draft with revisions, and final copy.
Essay should be 600-750 words (approximately)
Essay should contain at least 2 rhetorical devices. See this link for 30 ideas: https://blog.collegevine.com/30-literary-devices-every-high-schooler-needs-to-know-with-examples
Essay should contain an arguable thesis statement, concession and refutation, and reasons that support thesis statement
Organization: Introduction with thesis statement, at least 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion
Format: heading (name, teacher name, course name, date in upper left corner of paper)
You may type or handwrite your first draft. You’ll need to type the final copy using a 12-point Times New Roman or similar font and double-space
Your paper will be graded according to the criteria presented on pages 180-181 of your textbook. I encourage you to find a reviewer (in addition to me) to read your first draft and give you constructive feedback. YOU ARE ALSO WELCOME TO SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS OR DRAFTS ALONG THE WAY!
PLAY PARTS OF SPEECH “POP UNDER PRESSURE” GAME:
Review:
Noun – Person, Place or Thing, Idea
Verb – Action Word or Linking Verb (am, is, are, was, were…)
Adjective: Describes a Noun
Adverb: Describes a Verb, Adjective, or Adverb
Preposition: (often indicates “position” Over, Under, Between, With…
Each Student Spins, and When I start the timer, they need to list as many words from each category as possible. Fill as many lines as you can before the balloon pops.
Play all categories, and then tally points.
PERSUASIVE ESSAY WORKSHEET: See pages 180-181 for grading checklist.
Attention Grabber/Hook (Use senses and imagery):
________________________________________________________________________
Transition: ____________________________________________________________
Find ideas for transitions at https://vpress.us/2AWg2H
Clear Thesis (CONCESSION+OPINION+REASONS = THESIS STATEMENT: __________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: Concede and Refute
Paragraph 3: Reason 1 __________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 4: Reason 2 ____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 5: Reason 3 _____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Conclusion:
Sentence 1: Restate thesis statement (with summary)
Sentence 2: Broaden the thesis statement’s applications or connections.
Sentence 3: Leave a lasting impression, and give your reader a valuable take-away.
GUIDELINES FOR YOUR COMPLETED ESSAY (WHICH WILL BE DUE ON JANUARY 28):
Your completed essay will have 3 drafts: first draft, draft with revisions, and final copy.
Essay should be 600-750 words (approximately)
Essay should contain at least 2 rhetorical devices
Essay should contain an arguable thesis statement, concession and refutation, and reasons that support thesis statement
Organization: Introduction with thesis statement, at least 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion
Format: heading (name, teacher name, course name, date in upper left corner of paper)
You may type or handwrite your first draft. You’ll need to type the final copy using a 12-point Times New Roman or similar font and double-space
Your paper will be graded according to the criteria presented on pages 180-181 of your textbook. I encourage you to find a reviewer (in addition to me) to read your first draft and give you constructive feedback. YOU ARE ALSO WELCOME TO SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS OR DRAFTS ALONG THE WAY!
This week we are going to spend some time reviewing. It will feel like we are backtracking, but according to our syllabus, we are exactly ON TRACK. BY THE END OF CLASS, YOU SHOULD HAVE A SOLID OUTLINE FOR YOUR ESSAY AND BE READY TO WORK ON YOUR FIRST DRAFT, which is due next week.
I think each of us is at a slightly different stage in writing a persuasive essay, so we’re going to take a few minutes to back up. We’ll look at what we’ve already covered and talk about what we need to accomplish over the next 2 weeks. By the end of today’s class, I want each student to have the following nailed down: WRITE THESE ON THE BOARD.
A chosen audience for the persuasive essay
A clear thesis statement
3 Arguments AGAINST your position
3 Rebuttals to answer your opponent’s arguments against your position. THESE WILL BE THE 3 REASONS THAT MAKE UP THE BODY PARAGRAPHS OF YOUR ESSAY.
A ROUGH OUTLINE (following page 138 in your textbook)
ACTIVITY 1: Pop Under Pressure Game and Effective Hooks
(HAND THESE OUT TO STUDENTS, AND LOOK THROUGH IT TOGETHER)
Paragraph 1: Introduction and Thesis
Catchy Attention Grabber (Use senses and imagery):
WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvrnVHd-oyM ON EFFECTIVE HOOKS.
SHOW CHART OF 7 EXCELLENT HOOK IDEAS (THESE ARE ON OUR BLOG).
______________________________________________________________________
Transition: ____________________________________________________________
Find ideas for transitions at https://vpress.us/2AWg2H (Show printout)
Clear Thesis (CONCESSION+OPINION+REASONS = THESIS STATEMENT: __________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: Concede and Refute
Paragraph 3: Reason 1 __________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 4: Reason 2 ____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 5: Reason 3 _____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Conclusion: “If the introduction isn’t written well, your essay runs the risk of not being read. If your conclusion isn’t written well, your essay runs the risk of not being remembered. LAST IMPRESSIONS MATTER! See page 177 for a conclusion model.
GUIDELINES FOR YOUR COMPLETED ESSAY (WHICH WILL BE DUE ON JANUARY 28):
Your completed essay will have 3 drafts: first draft, draft with revisions, and final copy.
Essay should be 600-750 words (approximately)
Essay should contain at least 2 rhetorical devices. See this link for 30 ideas: https://blog.collegevine.com/30-literary-devices-every-high-schooler-needs-to-know-with-examples
Essay should contain an arguable thesis statement, concession and refutation, and reasons that support thesis statement
Organization: Introduction with thesis statement, at least 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion
Format: heading (name, teacher name, course name, date in upper left corner of paper)
You may type or handwrite your first draft. You’ll need to type the final copy using a 12-point Times New Roman or similar font and double-space
Your paper will be graded according to the criteria presented on pages 180-181 of your textbook. I encourage you to find a reviewer (in addition to me) to read your first draft and give you constructive feedback. YOU ARE ALSO WELCOME TO SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS OR DRAFTS ALONG THE WAY!
PLAY PARTS OF SPEECH “POP UNDER PRESSURE” GAME:
Review:
Noun – Person, Place or Thing, Idea
Verb – Action Word or Linking Verb (am, is, are, was, were…)
Adjective: Describes a Noun
Adverb: Describes a Verb, Adjective, or Adverb
Preposition: (often indicates “position” Over, Under, Between, With…
Each Student Spins, and When I start the timer, they need to list as many words from each category as possible. Fill as many lines as you can before the balloon pops.
Play all categories, and then tally points.
PERSUASIVE ESSAY WORKSHEET: See pages 180-181 for grading checklist.
Attention Grabber/Hook (Use senses and imagery):
________________________________________________________________________
Transition: ____________________________________________________________
Find ideas for transitions at https://vpress.us/2AWg2H
Clear Thesis (CONCESSION+OPINION+REASONS = THESIS STATEMENT: __________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2: Concede and Refute
Paragraph 3: Reason 1 __________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 4: Reason 2 ____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Paragraph 5: Reason 3 _____________________________________________________
Sentence 1: Transition
Sentence 2: Topic Sentence
Sentence 3: Evidence
Sentence 4: Brief Wrap-up
Conclusion:
Sentence 1: Restate thesis statement (with summary)
Sentence 2: Broaden the thesis statement’s applications or connections.
Sentence 3: Leave a lasting impression, and give your reader a valuable take-away.
GUIDELINES FOR YOUR COMPLETED ESSAY (WHICH WILL BE DUE ON JANUARY 28):
Your completed essay will have 3 drafts: first draft, draft with revisions, and final copy.
Essay should be 600-750 words (approximately)
Essay should contain at least 2 rhetorical devices
Essay should contain an arguable thesis statement, concession and refutation, and reasons that support thesis statement
Organization: Introduction with thesis statement, at least 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion
Format: heading (name, teacher name, course name, date in upper left corner of paper)
You may type or handwrite your first draft. You’ll need to type the final copy using a 12-point Times New Roman or similar font and double-space
Your paper will be graded according to the criteria presented on pages 180-181 of your textbook. I encourage you to find a reviewer (in addition to me) to read your first draft and give you constructive feedback. YOU ARE ALSO WELCOME TO SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS OR DRAFTS ALONG THE WAY!
Lessons 42-45
SHARE WORD OF THE WEEK. RECAP OF LAST WEEK’S HOMEWORK: In last week’s class we talked about concessions. What is a concession? Did any of you realize that your concession needed to be revised? Remember that a concession doesn’t just acknowledge that there is another side to an argument, it argues that the other side has some valid points! This can be really hard to do.
Let’s go around the room. I’d like each of you to tell me WHO IS YOUR CHOSEN AUDIENCE AND TO SHARE YOUR UPDATED THESIS STATEMENT. If you made changes from last week, please explain why you made those changes. We will follow the same formula we used last week to evaluate our thesis statements.
CONCESSION + OPINION + REASONS = THESIS STATEMENT.
Now that we have solid thesis statements, we are going to discuss counter arguments.
ACTIVITY 1: COUNTERARGUMENTS
Turn to page 162 (Activity 3). Allow students to share their brainstorming and to share their 1-2 sentence rebuttals (Activity 2 on page 165). Allow time for peer feedback. Are there any weak points in the students’ arguments? Can the class come up with additional arguments that the student will need to be prepared to answer?
When we start up again next semester, I’d like you to have a solid thesis statement and an outline for your essay. Lesson 43 shows us that, IF WE HAVE A SOLID THESIS STATEMENT, THE OUTLINE FOR OUR ESSAY WILL EASILY FLOW OUT OF THIS. Our text has us turn back to the PERSUASIVE ESSAY MODEL on page 138. YOU CAN MAKE A COPY OF THIS BECAUSE IT WILL HELP YOU CONSTRUCT YOUR ESSAY. EACH OF OUR BODY PARAGRAPHS WILL BE FORMED BY FOLLOWING THE TTEB OUTLINE.
Model Outline for a Persuasive Essay (page 138)
Introduction and Thesis Concede and Refute (Body Paragraph)
Reason 1 (Body Paragraph)
Reason 2 (Body Paragraph)
Reason 3 (Body Paragraph)
(YOU MAY HAVE MORE THAN 3 REASONS. THESE WILL BE ADDITIONAL BODY PARAGRAPHS.
Conclusion
TTEB OUTLINE FOR EACH BODY PARAGRAPH
T: Transition
T: Topic sentence
E: Evidence
B: Brief Wrap-up
We will not be writing our final essays until January, but I’d like you to start next semester with a solid outline. It doesn’t have to look exactly like the model in the book, but I want you to think through the points you’ll be covering. THIS IS THE TIME TO RETHINK YOUR TOPIC IF YOU CAN’T COME UP WITH 3 SOLID REASONS FOR YOUR OPINION (TO TURN INTO BODY PARAGRAPHS).
When we get back from winter break, we’ll spend time working on writing an attention-grabber for our introduction and constructing our body paragraphs and conclusion.
Take some time to look at the final assignment’s Unit Assessment on page 182.
Pages 180-181 gives us a checklist for revising our essays.
We will be picking up next semester with Lessons 44-46.
Celebrate our hard work with a treat. If time, play Poetry for Neanderthals.
Lessons 40-42
Ask students for word of the week. Candy for winner.
ACTIVITY 1: THESIS STATEMENTS
Review class thesis statements. Be sure they follow the formula: Concession+ Opinion+ Reasons=Thesis Statement. Use the questions on page 156, Activity 3, to proofread thesis statements and adjust as needed.
Lesson 40 tells us that it’s important to have both an AUDIENCE and a PURPOSE in mind when we write our persuasive essay. We can’t connect with an audience if we don’t know who they are, and we certainly won’t convince them of anything if we don’t have a clear purpose in writing. Another term for bringing an audience around to our opinion is RHETORIC. Rhetoric is “the art of communicating effectively and persuasively.”
Another term our book introduces is “rhetorical sensitivity.” THIS MEANS THAT OUR WORK IS DESIGNED TO SHARE OUR IDEAS IN A WAY OUR AUDIENCE MIGHT READ AND CONNECT WITH. For example, if we are writing a persuasive essay for a group of unbelievers, we need to use scientific data, rather than Bible verses, to convince them. Our audience of unbelievers would be offended by the use of many Bible verses because they would not accept the Bible as true. That doesn’t mean that there is NO place for Bible verses in a persuasive essay. We just need to evaluate our audience carefully and be discerning and use evidence that our audience would find convincing. Our book says that GOOD ARGUMENTS SHOULD LEAD TO MEANINGFUL AND MATURE CONVERSATIONS.
Complete Activity 3 (page 159) together as a class.
Lesson 41 makes an excellent point. IT REMINDS US THAT THE GOAL OF A PERSUASIVE ESSAY IS NOT TO DEFEAT AN OPPONENT. IT’S TO CONVINCE AN AUDIENCE. Our goal is to write in a way that does not offend our audience unnecessarily AND TO SHOW THEM THAT WE LISTEN TO OTHERS’ VIEWS AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE GOOD POINTS THEY MAKE. Not only is this a respectful approach, but it also assures our audience that we have done our research. An essay written with rhetorical sensitivity will prove that we are writers who are INFORMED, REASONABLE, AND CONSIDERATE OF THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH OUR OPINIONS. Writing a concession in our thesis statement has probably been the most challenging step here!
The next step is to determine what sort of arguments will sway our audience. REMEMBER THAT OUR PURPOSE IS TO WIN OVER OUR READERS’ HEARTS AND MINDS! We will adjust our arguments based on who our intended audience/reader is going to be.
Teenagers are very skillful when it comes to presenting the right arguments to convince a parent. 😊 You know your parents well, and you will present just the right argument to win over their hearts and minds and convince them that you should have a cell phone or stay out past your curfew.
Look at Activity 3 on the bottom of page 162. You will use this chart as a brainstorming tool for your own argument. This will be assigned for homework.
Lesson 42 tells us what to do if we fail to convince our audience. Assume that you wrote a thoughtful concession, stated an opinion, and backed up your opinion with good evidence, YET YOUR READER WAS STILL UNCONVINCED. Can you guess what might have gone wrong here??
Our book suggests that there is another reason why your opponent wasn’t convinced. “IF YOU DIDN’T ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE’S REASONS, IF YOU FOCUSD ONLY ON YOUR OWN, THEN YOU WEAKENED YOUR OWN PRESENTATION.” The unintentional message we sent to our audience was, “I’m so sure of what I believe that I don’t need to pay attention to anyone else.”
Our goal is to understand and tackle our opponent’s strongest argument. Read the example about year-round schooling on page 164. Look at how the writer gently points out the flaws in the opponent’s argument. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A REBUTTAL. IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF A CONCESSION, BUT BOTH ARE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A PERSUASIVE ESSAY. THEY ARE WORKING TOWARD THE SAME PURPOSE – TO CONVINCE OUR AUDIENCE.
Look at cartoon below.
Lessons 37-39
Share words of the week.
We are getting ready to think about topics for our persuasive essays. Our text encourages us to recall a time where we had a significant disagreement with a friend. We are to think of a topic that stirred our heart and mind. Can anyone think of a time this happened?
“To be persuasive, you need to care about what you’re saying. If you don’t, you have little chance of convincing anyone else to share your opinion.”
For this essay, you are encouraged to choose a subject that YOU and QUITE A FEW OTHERS TODAY care about. (i.e. NOT the beauty of Gregorian chant.)
Where will we find ideas for this subject? (Internet, conversations, articles, nature…). Most of my ideas for writing come to me on long runs. I’ve trained for a few marathons, and the process of removing myself from the chaos of my home and escaping into nature to run trails has given me most of my creative ideas. I’ll often run home and grab paper so I can capture my inspiration. This has often made me think of Johnathan Edwards who wrote sermons on horseback.
His evangelistic journeys were mainly on horseback, which served as a sort of desk where he corrected printers’ proofs, abridged Puritan books for his lay preachers, wrote letters and prepared sermons.
In this unit, you are instructed to choose a relevant topic and to form an “unsafe opinion about it.” We are writing to “explore an idea,” rather than just writing about something we already know a lot about. We need to move past safe essay topics. How do you feel about this? This will be a group effort as we discuss various opinions and test them.
ACTIVITY 1: AM I RACIST CLIP AND LITTLE MERMAID ESSAY
This weekend Connor and I watched a new documentary called “Am I Racist?” I can’t fully recommend this because of some language, but this scene captures an unsafe topic in a hilarious way.
This funny clip reminded me of another article I read about the live action Little Mermaid movie. I’m going to read it to you and see what you think.
By Jacalyn Wetzel
There has been so much controversy around the Little Mermaid being Black. I try to only focus on the videos of the little girls seeing the trailer for the first time.
Every time a video comes up of a little girl’s reaction, I stop to watch it.
I stop because that little girl is me.
With each squeal, smile, and gasp, the little girl inside of me cries because they get to see what I didn’t.
Growing up, Ariel was my favorite princess. She’s still my favorite princess. My kids know all the words to “Part of Your World,” not because they’ve seen the cartoon a million times, but because I’ve been singing it since they were in utero.
I was nine when Little Mermaid came out. I had the VHS and played it until it got snowy on my favorite parts.
I never got my brown princess until I was 15, and she wasn’t Black.
She was darker than the others and better represented me. People used to call me Pocahontas because I loved her so much and the cartoon looked very similar to my own facial features. I even begged for a Pocahontas doll when I was nearly 16 years old.
I was grasping for any sort of representation that proved Black and brown people were worthy of being princes and princesses.
We didn’t have the representation until my daughter was nine. The Princess and the Frog came out and she wanted nothing more than to be Princess Tiana. I teared up because my daughter got to experience something I never did as a child.
She got to see a dark-skinned, beautiful princess.
It would be 2018 before my boys had a Black male superhero that wasn’t somehow problematic or part something else.
My kids all experienced the moment these kids are experiencing. The power of representation allows you to dream outside of the box you may have built for yourself because no one looked like you doing what you wanted to do.
When you’ve always been represented it’s easy to be upset or find the need to include someone else silly. You’ve always been there so you’ve always been able to see you in your dreams.
It’s time for others to be able to see themselves, too.
Now, don’t mind me, I’ll just be the first person in line to see The Little Mermaid wearing red faux locs and a fishtail skirt. Little me is ready to shine!
Discuss the article. What kind of attitudes and behaviors help someone to be persuasive? What does it mean to have an “unsafe” opinion? What are two or three examples of unsafe opinions?
ACTIVITY 2: PERSUASIVE ESSAY TOPICS
Activity 2 on page 148 gives us some topics to choose from. I’ll read through these, and I’d like you to circle 5 of these that pique your curiosity.
Ask students to share their topics of choice. Write the most popular topic on the board, and ask some rapid-fire questions you can ask about the subject to dig deeper. See the model in Activity 3 (page 149).
Lesson 38 assures us that changing our opinions along the way, as a result of testing, is a good thing. It’s healthy to question our thoughts and opinions and feelings. Sometimes we’ll have to come to the humbling conclusion that our opinion can’t be defended at all.
The criteria for our opinion statement are as follows:
You need to care about your opinion. Others need to care about it. Your opinion needs to be unsafe – unusual and arguable. Your opinion needs to be defensible. We need to have solid reasons for the opinion we hold so we can defend it.
Our book gives us the topic of health care covered by government tax dollars. I’ve thought a bit about this topic because my husband’s family comes from Canada where the government pays for medical care. My opinion is that free healthcare is a terrible idea because patients need to wait months or years for diagnostic tests. The prices in Canada are ridiculous, including those of taxes that pay for “free” healthcare!
Lesson 39 teaches us how to develop a thesis statement. Assume that you have a topic that you and other people care about. You understand what an unsafe topic is and know how to come up with solid reasons to support your topic. Now you will shape these ideas into a thesis. THIS ONE SENTENCE WILL DIRECT THE COURSE OF YOUR ENTIRE PAPER. “No pressure” says our text.
We will compare our thesis to a final destination on our map. It will remind both you and your readers where you are headed.
Our thesis statement will look very different depending on the type of essay we are writing. In an expository essay (one that tells or explains) on making chicken salad, our thesis might be “Fresh chicken salad requires 5 steps.”
If you were to write a persuasive essay, you would be sharing a strong opinion about chicken salad with your audience.
In a persuasive essay, we are given a unique recipe for our thesis statement. You math lovers would prefer to call it an equation, but I think in terms of recipes.
Concession + Opinion + Reasons=Thesis Statement
This would be rotisserie chicken + mayonnaise + seasoned salt = delicious chicken salad.
This equation or recipe tells your reader where you are headed. It prepares our readers without chasing them off.
ACTIVITY 3: RANKING THESIS STATEMENTS
Read pages 154-155 starting at “Each part of this thesis equation…” Complete Activity 1 on page 155 together, and rank these thesis statements.
Lessons 34-36
List Orwell’s rules on the board. Return edited article critiques to students. Give students one more week to make final changes before they submit final drafts to be posted. Ask for word of the week.
Today we will move into a new unit and learn how to write a persuasive essay. If you turn to Lesson 33, you’ll see that the article critiques we just finished was a valuable exercise. We started by engaging with the ideas of ANOTHER WRITER, but now we are going to transition to sharing our OWN ORIGINAL OPINIONS AND IDEAS. Luckily, we have a class with strong, formulated opinions, so this could get very interesting.
In this unit, we will be selecting a more academic topic. This is not a “boring topic,” but something we can explore, unpack and give reasons for our opinions on the topic.
This chapter tells us not to feel intimidated or restricted by the term “essay.” Many of you have been trained in the 5-paragraph essay structure. Those of you who took IEW could probably write one of these in your sleep. Our text compares this essay to a 1-story building and tells us that “essays come in different sizes, and they come in different shapes, too. They’re a flexible type of writing that can bend and fold to accommodate their topic. Aldous Huxley called them “a literary device for saying almost everything about anything.”
In this class we will be using essays as a writing tool to discipline our thoughts and express our ideas in a clear and compelling way. Let’s turn to page 131 and read the 3 common traits of an essay (bullet points).
Ask students to read these out loud. Keep these in mind as you think about the original essay you will be writing for this unit.
ACTIVITY 1: INFORMAL VS. FORMAL ESSAYSHand out the rules for Informal vs. Formal Essays. What do you find to be one of two greatest differences between formal and informal essays. List 3 possible topics for a formal essay and 3 for an informal one.
Our book gives us a helpful chart to explain the difference between formal and informal writing. Here is a link on formal vs informal essays.
Read through Orwell’s Rules (page 132). Some people think that big words and complicated phrases make a better essay than simpler, concise writing. Sometimes it’s hard to cut these confusing sections out of our own writing. That’s when peer editing can be helpful. Something that sounds great or makes sense to us might confuse our reader.
ACTIVITY 2: THE LIVELY ART OF WRITINGRead and respond to Lucille Vaughan Payne’s excerpt from The Lively Art of Writing, and talk about how to avoid becoming machines in our writing.
Ticker tape was the earliest electrical dedicated financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use from around 1870 to 1970.
Lesson 34 introduces us to the different types of essays. We are reminded that, even when we are sharing strong opinions, we must take time to listen to others, ask questions, and humble our hearts before we respond. This will encourage others to listen to our opinions.
I’m going to skip ahead to a quote from Lesson 35. “The content of a persuasive essay needs to be worded with care…If we want to win an audience over, it matters both what we say and how we say it. The world of politics gives us a barrel full of wrong ways to convey an opinion. Politicians often deliver their messages with all the grace of angry gorillas. They engage opposing views with the civility of toddlers throwing tantrums. We need to learn from these politicians’ examples; we need to learn what not to do.
Lesson 34 gives a detailed explanation of the types of essays we can write. (Hand out resource). Here is a quick reference to help you remember the main differences between these essays. 
On page 136 we have a list of essay topics. Let’s identify whether each of these is best suited for a narrative, expository, or persuasive essay.
Lesson 34 also gives us an example of a compare/contrast essay, which is a type of expository essay. Hand out the essay, and assign the Activity 3 Essay Critique for Homework. Please bring in your answers to discuss next week.
Lesson 35 tells us that “writing a persuasive essay is like taking trips to the gym. When we put in the hard to work to persuade our reader, we will be using new muscles and will grow and strengthen as writers.
Our text gives us 3 characteristics of ALL ESSAYS.
All essays have a well-supported opinion, a logical organization, and a distinct voice.
It amused me that our book calls these essay characteristics a “magical pair of jeans.” This is a funny, but fitting, reference to a book (turned into a movie) called “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” The story introduces us to a group of high school girls. They have been best friends since birth (their mothers attended prenatal exercise classes together). The summer before their junior year of high school, Carmen finds a pair of old jeans that mysteriously fits each girl perfectly, despite their different sizes. This leads them to believe that the pants are magical. They share the "traveling pants" among themselves over the summer while they are separated.
These 3 rules for essays are like the magical jeans that fit every type of essay, even though they look a little different for every type. Let’s look at the model on page 138. We are not limited to 4 body paragraphs, but each of them MUST PRESENT REASONS THAT DIRECTLY SUPPORT THE OPINION STATED IN THE THESIS.
ACTIVITY 2: VENN DIAGRAMS
What is the difference between the Persuasive Essay and the Argumentative Essay? Let’s watch this short video and make a Venn Diagram to keep the similarities and differences straight. I’ll work on the board while you’ll fill in a Venn diagram, and we’ll compare notes.
Turn to page 140. We will be completing Activity 3 for Homework. This exercise will give us practice identifying the 3 parts of a persuasive essay. You can mark these in your book, and be ready to discuss them next week in class. I’d also like you to read Lesson 36 carefully so you can understand these 3 parts, especially the concession (which might be a new term). We will complete Activity 1 together in class next week.
Lessons 31-33
Have students share their word of the week. My word is suffrage, which means “the right to vote.” I was interested in understanding more about suffrage.
The basic qualifications for suffrage are similar everywhere, although there are minor variations from country to country. Usually only the adult citizens of a country are eligible to vote there, the minimum age varying from 18 to 25 years. Most governments insist also on the voter’s affiliation to a certain locality or constituency. The insane, certain classes of convicted criminals, and those punished for certain electoral offenses are generally barred from the suffrage.
ACTIVITY 1: HOMEWORK REVIEW AND UNITY PASSAGE
Complete Activity 3 on page 117. This topic of unity is just as relevant now as it was when Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians. “He pleads with the Corinthians to let ‘there be no divisions among you.” Do some additional research on 1 Corinthians. What should unify Christians?
Augustine is given credit for the quote: "In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity." If in fact it came from Augustine, it was his way of dealing with the difficult matter of disagreement in the church. It is a helpful principle that offers us a way to think about how we can stay unified even when we disagree.John Wesley liked this and modified it slightly in his preaching to the early Methodists.
Quickly read through Activity 2 on page 119. Answer questions, and ask students to share their written responses.
Lesson 31 asks if it was hard to remain neutral as you wrote about this controversy over the minimum voting age. Did you approach this topic in an open-minded, reasonable, and fair way? (Remember the text analogy that compares us to a referee. We don’t want to turn off our readers because we sound biased. This week you will be going back to your written response and color coding it as you critique your own work. This will give you a visual of what’s done well and what needs work.)
ACTIVITY 2: VOTING AGE OF ZERO?!We are going to practice this exercise on another article pertaining to the voting age. THIS ONE IS PROPOSING SOMETHING EVEN MORE DRASTIC. It title is “The Minimum Voting Age Should be Zero.” This is an article I used in my IEW class, and it sparked some pretty interesting controversy and conversation. (Hand out article, and read it together.) Go through the following steps as a class (with colored pencils).
Purple - Underline the main opinion statement.
Blue - Circle any words or phrases that reveal, or push, Stone’s opinion on the issue. (Watch for sneaky adverbs like “obviously, rightly…”!!) Does the author sound neutral?
Orange - Put a box around the name of the person or group that each paragraph discusses.
Green – Underline sentences that identify what the author’s position is on the controversy.
Red – Underline sentences that explain why the author has this particular opinion. What are the reasons for the particular opinion?
Pink – Check for grammar issues (misplaced modifiers, pronoun disagreement, wrong verb forms, wrong verb tenses).
Complete this activity together.
Orwell’s Six Rules for Writing
These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.
To guide writers into writing clearly and truthfully, Orwell proposed the following six rules: - Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
Orwell’s Six Rules are a good reminder to anyone who proposes to communicate accurately. They have an enduring freshness to them, significant to all times and places.
Lessons 28-30
Share vocabulary words. Finish slideshow presentations. This word relates to our chapters this week. 
Review Homework (Page 107, Activities 2-3) and page 110 (Activity 2).
These are words and phrases related to willing to listen:
amenable
agreeable
willing to agree
responsive
cooperative
favorably disposed
cordial
persuadable
tractable
open
open-minded
acquiescent
willing
obliging
complaisant
sympathetic
yielding
submissive
Lesson 28 teaches us how to focus our opinion statement in a persuasive essay. The reason we want to start with a focused opinion is that it will prevent us from overwhelming ourselves and our readers with too much information. We will narrow our supporting details to those that directly support our opinion.
In persuasive writing, we need to keep our thoughts organized. This will add credibility to our opinion. Our text gives us 3 common approaches writers take to organizing their ideas. (Read together the points on the bottom of pages 111-112).
It’s important to understand the difference between REASONS AND OPINIONS. “Reasons explain why we have the opinions that we do. Evidence explains why we think those reasons matter.”
What would be some types of evidence we could use? (our own experience/knowledge, experience of others, stats…).
The text mentions a funny stereotype about writers. A lot of people think of writers as hermits who shut themselves off from the world and get lost in their own imaginations. Sometimes this is the case, but very often writers are the best observers of the world, and they write. We will be following their example!
Those of you who took Composition 1 will remember the strange assignment where we had to “people watch,” write down observations about strangers, and then turn these lists into stories.
ACTIVITY 1: STRONG OPINIONS
Turn to Activities 2-3 on page 113. Ask students to turn back to the opinions they feel strongly about. We discussed these in class two weeks ago. Use it as a launching point for these activities. Discuss as a class.
Lesson 29 invites us to write about something controversial. How are controversial issues DIFFERENT FROM differences of opinion. Controversies rarely break down to two straightforward sides. Our text tells us that Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been singled out for controversy. In 1885 it was banned from a public library because it used coarse words like “sweat” instead of “perspiration.” Later it was targeted because of its racial prejudice. This is the 4th most banned book in the US! At the same time, it is considered by many to be one of the greatest American novels. Literature professors love teaching it! So the controversy over whether or not Huck Finn should be brought into middle school classrooms wages on...
As you may have guessed, you will soon be writing about controversial topics. Let’s read what Ms. Pitcock from World News says about approaching controversies with Christian readers (page 115-116). This chapter ends by reminding us that “the best writers, it turns out, are those who listen to others’ opinions before they share their own.” The assignment for this chapter made me smile. We are told to go on a controversy hunt. I’m guessing you wouldn’t have to look very far…
ACTIVITY 2: TREATING BELIEVERS WITH LOVE
It can be a little too much fun to get fired up over our opinions and dive into a debate to prove that we are right. Before we get carried away, we are going to complete Activity 3 and review what God’s Word teaches us about treating believers with love. Read activity.
This passage is a good lead in to Lesson 30 which defines criticism. What is the difference between criticism and constructive criticism? Constructive criticism in written form is called critique. (Read paragraph on the bottom of 117-118.) Last week we talked about our responsibility as Christians and American citizens to be aware of current events and to evaluate them with wisdom. “All of us must learn to evaluate what we read and hear. If we don’t, we’ll become (more) susceptible to lies, half-truths, and personal agendas.” Social media is full of lies and half-truths! We need to be cautious about what we believe and suspicious of what we hear in a balanced way.
ACTIVITY 3: EVALUATING BIASES
Let’s read the questions that Margaret Procter gives us for the evaluation of an article. (Read questions in the middle of 118).
What are biases? “We need to recognize that we are not nearly as objective about ANYTHING as we think we are.” Our book tells us that arrogance can hamstring our mind and hearts, so we need to approach controversies and debates with humility, ALWAYS BEING WILLING TO LEARN SOMETHING! “We should be truth seekers who speak the truth in love.”
ACTIVITY 4: THE CASE FOR LOWERING THE VOTING AGEIf time permits, read “The Case for Lowering the Voting Age,” and answer the questions together in class. This will give students a jump on homework for next week.
Lessons 25-27
Ask students to share vocabulary words of the week. Mine is ordo ab chao (order out of chaos) since this has been my goal this week!
ACTIVITY 1: SLIDESHOW PRESENTATIONSShare slideshows. Review homework on pages 99-100. Discuss activities 1-2.
Lesson 25 introduces us to the concept of criteria. Our chapter uses the example of pizza and t-shirts to illustrate how audience has vastly different criteria. Go around the room and ask for the most important criteria each person uses when evaluating the “best pizza.” My criteria might be a little unfair. For me, the best pizza tastes like the ones I ate in Sicily. Most American pizzas fall short.
When writing about your OPINION, consider the criteria you used to come up with it. The questions you should ask are:
Will the criteria I’m using seem reasonable to most people in my audience?
Which criteria will be most convincing to them?
Our text then differentiates between two categories of criteria and explains these in the context of college admissions. Admissions offices will evaluate incoming students using two types of criteria. The first is quantitative criteria (i.e. test scores, grades, ACT scores). The second is qualitative criteria (i.e. extracurricular activities, teacher recommendations, service hours, club involvement, athletics…).
We need to use both types of criteria when we are convincing our audience.
ACTIVITY 1: SLIDESHOW PRESENTATIONS
ACTIVITY 2: QUALITATIVE VS QUANTITATIVE CRITERIAComplete Activity 1 together. Team 1 tries to convince a parent that they chose the car wisely using qualitative criteria. Team 2 convinces the parents with qualitative criteria. Mrs. Ashlie and I will each work with a team. 5 min.
ACTIVITY 3: INSIDE OUT MOVIE REVIEWHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SHAILA! Serve snack, and watch movie review for Inside Out 2. What is the opinion expressed in this review? What criteria does he use to evaluate this film? (Appeal to parents, kids, special effects, quality themes, useful for therapists)
Lesson 26 encourages us to keep current with our opinions. Complete the class activity together on the board. Allow 5 minutes to fill in five headings: Family/co-op/church/local/national/global. Evaluate which categories we had the most/least for?
My very favorite podcast is Dr. Albert Mohler’s, The Briefing.
I would encourage you to subscribe his free podcast and listen to it every day (or read the transcript). I don’t agree with every opinion of Dr. Mohler, but his wisdom and Christian worldview used in evaluating current events has challenged and encouraged me. Nearly every day we will find ourselves talking to our teens about something we heard on The Briefing. It’s our responsibility as Christians to have educated, biblical opinions about current events!! If we are going to write well, we need to first learn how to THINK WELL! FOR HOMEWORK THIS WEEK, I’D LIKE YOU TO READ 2 WORLD articles, or listen to 2 podcasts. Some of our family’s favorites are The Briefing, The WORLD and Everything In It and World Watch for the younger ones.
YOU WILL BE ANSWERING ACTIVITIES 2 AND 3 (PAGE 107) AT HOME AND BRINGING YOUR ANSWERS TO CLASS.
Lesson 27 shows us how to lead readers to our opinions. The first thing we need to do when we are writing about an opinion is to provide background or context for our readers. We have to assume that our reader doesn’t know as much about the topic as we do, and we want to avoid confusion. Almost all news articles begin with a summary of the topic.
There’s a good example of one of these summaries on page 109 in the paragraph that tells us the basics about malaria. The author shares this information BEFORE SHE GIVES US HER OPINION.
The following quote from our text might help us as we choose a topic for our next opinion piece. “Skilled writers don’t settle for saying that things are merely “good” or “bad” or that they “like” or dislike” them. Instead, they offer a specific evaluation based on the results of their research. For example, the writer of the malaria article came to the conclusion that “giving children in Africa a malaria vaccine would be wonderful, since it would probably save many lives.” She did a lot of research to confirm this opinion.
ACTIVITY 3: INSIDE OUT MOVIE REVIEW
Lessons 22-24
Ask students to share their word of the week. My word is paniphile – someone who loves baking bread. I earned this title because of the staggering amount of sourdough bread I made last week.
ACTIVITY 1: SLIDESHOW PRESENTATIONS
Present slideshows. Evaluate them together using the criteria on page 87.
Turn to Unit 3, Lesson 22. How many of you had a sinking feeling when you read the name of this chapter, The Formal Voice? How many of you felt relieved that we are moving on to a more academic assignment? The goal of this unit is to switch from an informal to a formal style of writing, WITHOUT LOSING OUR VOICES AND SOUNDING LIKE A ROBOT. Our text distinguishes between “left brained” people and “right brained.” The distinction between these sides is possibly a myth, but the categories are helpful for evaluating our personal strengths.
According to Sperry’s dated research, the left brain and right sides of your brain help you with the following:
Left side | Right side |
• logic | • imagination |
I liked the comparison of our text between the job of a formal writer and the job of a referee. “The objectivity of formal writing is similar to what we expect from our referees. Audiences who read formal writing want it to follow the rules. They want us to make fair calls about the works we analyze and the claims we make. When we make claims, we need to do our best to prove them.”
At times formal writing will have conversational words or phrases to help readers unpack dense ideas and to remind the readers that this isn’t an AI generated essay. “We can’t let our good ideas be held hostage by ‘academese.’ Academese is ‘writing that inflates small ideas into gassy abstractions.’”
Are we allowed to express our own opinions in formal writing? Yes, as long as our opinions are educated with sources to back them up. Our book tells us that we must serve our opinion to our audience and that we are to serve on china plates, not paper plates.
ACTIVITY 2: WORLD TEEN ARTICLE
I’m going to read an interesting article from WORLD Teen online. As I read, I’d like you to be prepared to answer the following questions: What one sentence conveys the main point? Find 3 facts or quotes from experts that support the main point. Find 2 places where the author paints a word picture or uses concrete nouns to clarify meaning. Discuss questions on page 92. This is an academic article, but it’s very compelling to read!
ACTIVITY 3: SOUTHERN EXPRESSIONS
Activity 3 warns us about the use of colloquial language and cliches. I am still baffled by southern expressions. When I moved here 6 years ago, I felt like there was a language barrier. I think southerners are so used to using informal expressions that they need to be extra careful to keep them out of their writing so they don’t confuse the northerners.
I found a link to some of your best expressions. Just for fun, I’m going to give you a list and see how many of these expressions you can turn into formal phrases.
Someone once said that when you visit the South, you need a translator. It's true, we do have a mouthful of sayings that only Southerners understand. However, if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's just no other way to get your point across. If you're trying to be nice, but you just can't quite let it go, "bless your heart" is a go-to. When you've met the girl of your dreams, chances are she is "pretty as a peach." If you just heard your mama come home and you haven't finished your chores, she will definitely be "madder than a wet hen." Take a look at some of our favorite Southern slang and sayings that we just couldn't live without.
Bless Your Heart
She Was Madder Than A Wet Hen
If I Had My Druthers
Full As A Tick
Worn Slap Out
Hankering
Tore Up
Might Could
Fixin' To
Over Yonder
Til The Cows Come Home
Let Me Let You Go
Carry Me to…
A Month Of Sundays
Hill Of Beans
More Than Carter’s Got Little Pills
No Bigger Than A Minnow In A Fishing Pond
You Can’t Make A Silk Purse Out Of A Sow’s Ear
Plumb.
Hotter Than Blazes
Piddlin'
Pretty As A Peach
Gimme Some Sugar
Gussied Up
Hold Your Horses
Well, I Declare
He Was Funny As All Get Out
Heavens To Betsy
Hush Your Mouth
Well, I S’wanee
I’ll Tell You What
Well, Butter My Backside And Call Me a Biscuit
I Reckon
Oh My Stars!
Too Big For His Britches
She’s Got Gumption
A Rooster One Day And A Feather Duster The Next
Quit Being Ugly
He Thinks The Sun Comes Up Just To Hear Him Crow
Livin’ In High Cotton
The Porch Light's On But No One's Home
He Ain't Got The Sense God Gave A Goose
Y'all
Can't Never Could
That’s Cattywampus
It’s Blowin Up A Storm
Hissy Fit
Three Sheets To The Wind
Preachin’ To The Choir
It’ll All Come Out In The Wash
Allow 5 minutes for translations and another 5 to go through them.
Lesson 23 teaches us how to form a healthy opinion and to steer clear of groundless opinions. We all have opinions, and in formal writing it’s important to back up our opinions with facts and credible sources.
When we were in elementary school (especially in IEW classes) we were told to read a source, rearrange the information a little with our own words, and rewrite the whole thing. This is NOT what we will be doing here. When we offer our readers our opinion, we need to engage them with something new! This will require us to use critical thinking. (Define critical thinking, see middle of page 94.)
The text tells us about two voters, Harry and Jill, who voted for the same candidate but for very different reasons. Harry followed his gut feeling, and Jill asked thoughtful questions to collect and consider the facts. This takes a lot more effort, but when we take the time to research and use critical thinking, we will become better communicators, better writers.
On page 96, we are given a list of Factual Topics, and we are told to turn them into Arguable Claims. (Complete this exercise, if time permits).
ACTIVITY 4: POLITICAL CARTOONS
Answer the questions at the bottom of page 96.
Lesson 24 reminds us that, when we are writing to share our opinions, gut feelings are not enough. Writers need 3 things when they share their evaluation of some topic.
- They need an opinion
- They need criteria on which their opinion is based.
- They need supporting evidence.
What are criteria (the standards on which we base our judgment)? We use criteria all the time – when we are choosing our breakfast, our clothes, our friends, our church leaders…
Our text tells us that “when we set out to write for others, it’s important that we identify the criteria that shapes our opinions. WHAT WILL BE A GOOD TOPIC TO WRITE ABOUT, AND WHY DO I SAY SO?”
Lessons 19-21
Choose winning word from vocabulary word walls.
Ask students to share their interview stories. Focus on the “big picture” for each story. (If students haven’t been able to conduct their interviews, they may bring in their stories and slideshows next week).
Share my story about a multigenerational interview of my mom and daughter.
ACTIVITY 1: MULTIGENERATIONAL INTERVIEW
I’ve been thinking a great deal about motherhood these days. This past year and a half have been ones of huge transitions for me as a mother. In a single season, I married off my first two babies and brought my third to college. The youngest of my nine children just informed me that, even though he would like to stay four forever, he really needs to turn five so he can hold his baby niece, “Sheersha.” In all of these transitions, I have felt a nostalgic longing for my scattered adult children and for my mom, who lives 1200 miles away from me. I decided to interview both my daughter and my own mother about their impressions of motherhood in order to capture both the freshest impressions of a new mom and the seasoned wisdom of an older one. Even though many decades span between the experience of Mom and Siobhan, it amazes me how the challenges and themes of becoming a mom of your firstborn are timeless! Although my daughter’s preparations for her little girl’s arrival were much more informed and “thorough” than my mother’s were, both Siobhan and Mom were struck by the magnitude of their calling and their need to call upon God for help.
Siobhan said that, becoming a mother has given her “a new understanding of what it means to be a daughter of God.” She said that, just as her baby longed to be fed her mother’s milk, she too “desperately need[ed] to “immerse [herself] in God’s Word as [she] leaned on Him for the strength to get through the sleepless nights, the long (at times) lonely days, and the transformation of [her] life as she settled into her ‘new normal.’ She told me that she rests in the security that, just as she loves and cares for her newborn girl, she knows that she is unconditionally loved and held by her Heavenly Father.
My mom, Siobhan’s grandma, had very little preparation for motherhood and even less help when her first two babies arrived in quick succession. Like Siobhan, her inadequacies and insecurities as a new mother led her to rely all the more on God’s grace. Her fatigue and loneliness for her extended family would have proven too much if she had not drawn her strength from God who had called her to such a challenging and important role in the life of our family. When I asked mom to share a piece of advice for her granddaughter, Siobhan, (a new mother) and for me (a middle-aged mother), here is what she said.
“My dear Siobhan, the advice I would offer you is to be fully willing to accept whatever the conditions are that you find yourself in…Marriage and parenting just plain change things…Some things may be hard, but they will probably be temporary. No matter what comes, God is fully able to give you an abundance of His precious grace to accept and thrive in those circumstances. After all, He has chosen them for you.”
Mom’s advice to me was to pray for my children through the many changes of their lives. “…To pray and love and listen and give [myself] the same grace I give to them."
These conversations left me humbled awed by the work God has done in our family and gave me so much gratitude for the faithful example and love of my mother. Her quiet obedience in sowing love and godly instruction in the hearts of her children has already reaped the fruit of two more generations of daughters who embrace and celebrate their calling as godly mothers. “The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. Please know that it is worth it then, now, and forever.”—Jeffrey R. Holland
Lesson 18 tells us that “The right words spoken with the right voice at the right moment can inspire us. Great speeches start with words, but they end with change.” In our day and age, sight and sound have become essential elements of any presentation. Last week we watched a TED talk on the importance of listening. Apparently, these TED talks are pretty popular because our book tells us that “the world watches TED talks at an average of 17 new page views per second!!”
This chapter introduces us to 2 types of presentations: persuasive and informative.
PERSUASIVE PRESENTATIONS use 2 parts of our brain, and we are told that our audience also uses these same parts of their brains. These 2 parts are REASON AND EMOTION.
If we are trying to persuade our audience through reason, we will need to provide evidence. This could be in the form of a detailed chart or convincing statistics. On the other hand, if we are appealing to our audience’s emotion, we will need different tactics (maybe sentimental pictures or stories).
The text gives us the example of our sister making a case for going to the beach. Rather than pulling out a pie graph with statistics about how beneficial a beach vacation might be, she will grab the family album and show her parents all of the fun memories they made on their last vacation.
The other type of presentation is an INFORMATIVE PRESENTATION. The intention of this is to teach your audience something new. This will be the type of presentation WE PUT TOGETHER NEXT WEEK AS WE WORK ON OUR SLIDESHOWS.
ACTIVITY 2: LOGICAL VS. EMOTIONAL APPEALS
You may choose one of the scenarios on page 75 (Activity 3). Half of the class will put together a logical appeal to a parent. The other will put together an emotional appeal. Give 10 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to present.
Lesson 19 teaches us how to organize the material we are presenting so it has an “irresistible effect” like freshly baked cookies or French-pressed Italian roast coffee. We are given an acronym – MIC. These letters stand for MOTIVATE, INFORM, CONCLUDE.
In our slideshows, we are going to motivate our audience to listen to us! This is done by considering their background and experience. We can grab our audience’s attention through STORIES, QUESTIONS, VIDEO CLIPS, HUMOR, FACTS/STATISTICS, OR GRAPHS/PHOTOS.
After we have grabbed their attention, we need to INFORM our audience. The text gives us several options for organizing our points in these orders (spatial, numerical, causal, topical, problem-solution order, or example). Most of these wouldn’t be relevant to this particular assignment, but it’s a good list to file away for future presentations.
In the CONCLUSION of our presentation, we will review our major points and give the audience something to take with them.
ACTIVITY 3: TED TALKS
We are going to watch a speech given by a 12-year-old who claims that the world needs childish thinking. Listen carefully to her points, and be prepared to answer the questions on page 79 of your book.
I thought that she made some good points here, but the TED presentation really enjoyed is the next one. It is a presentation by Julian Treasure on the 7 Deadly Sins of Speech. This is a fantastic slideshow and a memorable speech.
Answer the questions on pages 82-83.
Treasure provides his listeners with ways to remember his content. He also asks his audience to respond physically by doing the warm-up exercises with him. Do you remember the cornerstones of powerful speech (the acronym is HAIL).
They are HONESTY, AUTHENTICITY, INTEGRITY, AND LOVE.
This speech is given from a secular perspective, but his points line up with biblical principles! They are in keeping with the teaching of James.
Turn to page 87 to read through our unit assignment. '
Lessons 16-18
Ask students to share their vocabulary words of the week. My word is “ardor” which means a lot of enthusiasm for something. I feel this about school until November.
Ask students to share their ideas for interviews and the questions they have come up with. Give class input.
Read Lesson 16 (pages 63-64) to gain a clear understanding of the interview process.
I thought it would be fun to watch a famous interview, but when I was searching for one I found a really profound talk on LISTENING and decided to show that first. This person is not sharing from a Christian perspective, but she is basically paraphrasing Philippians 2:4 where Paul says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” It is so easy to be self-absorbed, and this video exposes some of the ways we might be doing this unintentionally. We are going to take the time to watch this because it doesn’t just apply to interviewing but to all of our relationships!
Our textbook tells a story about a reporter who was welcomed into a soldier’s room because he listened and empathized with them. He kept his notebook in his pocket and addressed them “as a person first and a story subject next.” He earned their trust.
I decided to do this interview assignment with you. Recently I became a grandmother, and I started thinking a lot about the heritage of my own mother, my 25 years as a mother, and now my daughter’s first weeks as a new mom.
I am planning to write an interview story that incorporates both my mother’s experience and my daughter’s. Mom lives in NH, and Siobhan lives in IN, so I had to conduct these interviews by email. I’m going to share the information I got from them to spark some ideas for your own interviews.
ACTIVITY 1: INTERVIEW EXAMPLES
Read questions and answers.
MY QUESTIONS
Mom and Siobhan,
I am conducting an interview for my high school composition class and have chosen the two of you to answer some questions about motherhood if you are willing to help me!! I thought it would be neat to write a 3 generational perspective on being a mother. If you could respond to the following questions at your convenience (or share any other wisdom or memories or impressions) I would be so grateful! Siobhan, I need to learn how to put together a slideshow, so if you could tell me how you made those beautiful slideshows with pictures, I will try to teach my class...Mom, if there is anything I'm asking that you don't remember, that is okay!! Just give me whatever you've got. ❤️
Here are the questions:
1. Describe your experience delivering your first child. General terms are fine...
2. What were your baby preparations like? Did you have a shower, a nursery?
3. What were your earliest days of motherhood like? What kind of help did you get?
Practical support?
Emotional support?
4. Siobhan, what is the biggest thing you've learned as a brand new mother? What has surprised you?
5. Mom, what is one piece of advice would you offer to Siobhan as a new mom.
1. Mom, what piece of advice would you offer to me as a middle aged Mom?
Thank you both!
Love,
Meg/Mom/Mim
MY MOM'S ANSWERS
Well, this will be fun – Question #1
My first child was born in 1970. I was twenty years old and had been
married for 2 years. My husband and I had dated through high school
and were now college students living in a small apartment above our
land lady. I had very few “preparations” for motherhood . We lived a
couple hundred miles from our parents and family. Our current friends
were also college students and not the least seasoned in helping a
friend prepare for a new baby. The vast majority of them weren’t even
married. My evenings were filled with homework and writing papers
for college. I don’t believe that I read anything pertaining to the
process of birthing or the skills needed in parenting.
Needless to say, I was very unprepared. When labor began, I felt
helpless and scared. Hospitals had not yet warmed to the idea of the
husband/father being present during labor and delivery. I was whisked
off to a sterile room and surrounded by sterile people. I was in pain
and had no idea how long it would last or what I should do. Finally, I
was sedated. The next thing I knew, I was presented with a beautiful
little dark-haired girl bundled in a blanket (also provided by the
hospital). We had no nursery waiting at home. Just a white canvas
bed the size of a cradle, but with none of its charm. It had been my
husband’s first bed during post World War 2 years.
I will just add a sentence or two on the delivery of my second child
because it was so monumentally different (even though it all took place
in the same community and the same hospital). My second daughter
was born the day before my first daughter turned one. So very little
time had passed, yet so much had changed. Classes were offered on
what to expect during labor and delivery. Exercise classes were
available to prepare for delivery. Hospitals encouraged the father to
remain with wife and baby during this process. All vital improvements.
Question #2
I’m afraid my description of the “help” I received after giving birth will
be just about as bleak as my birth experience. My husband and I
continued to live in New Hampshire where we both attended college.
My education was interrupted for a few years, but I finally graduated
as well. We continued to live in the little apartment above a very
irritable elderly land-lady and her equally intolerant husband.
My first year raising a little daughter was also complicated by the fact
that I became pregnant once again very shortly after the first was born.
In fact, my first daughter turned one when I had already been admitted
to the hospital to give birth to my second daughter. We were still in a
college setting with college responsibilities and no “truly parental”
grown-ups to offer us help. However, we were soon able to move to a
nicer home of our own, but no “help” came with it.
My dear Siobhan, the advice I would offer you is to be fully willing to
accept whatever the conditions are that you find yourself in during and
after this pregnancy. Marriage and parenting just plain change things.
They always require adapting and settling for “a new normal”. Some
things may be hard, but they will probably be temporary. No matter
what comes, God is fully able to give you an abundance of His
precious grace to accept and thrive in those circumstances. After all,
He has chosen them for you!
Oh Megan, we always want “life” to go easily for our kids (even more
than for ourselves). But God gets to choose. It doesn’t always go well
for us and it will not always be easy for our kids. The best thing you
can do is to pray for your kids as they go through these changes. Pray
for God’s amazing and sufficient grace in their lives. He has to “grow it
in them” before they reap the joy of “it being there”. But He will.
Don’t worry or be anxious about them, Meg. Just pray and love and
listen and give yourself the same grace you give to them!
MY DAUGHTER'S ANSWERS
My experience having my first was about as smooth as it could have been! I did have weeks of preterm labor, so I ended up being monitored very closely. I had pretty intense contractions for about four weeks leading up to having my baby girl, but nothing strong enough to actually admit me to the hospital. I was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks. The day Seoirse was born I tried to sleep some (not very successfully!) went to the gym and did the stair stepper for all I was worth to try and speed up my labor (I got some crazy looks) and mostly just read and prayed and tried not to get my hopes up that they would have a bed. That evening they did, so we went into the hospital. My husband and I were told the induction process could take a LONG time, so we shouldn't expect a baby that night. Well, my little one decided to prove them wrong. I had a couple hours of awful contractions, got an epidural, and then had my baby 5 1/2 hours after my active labor started. When they laid my baby on my chest, it felt so surreal. I knew she had been growing inside me, but the fact that this wriggling, pooping, bright-eyed beautiful baby girl was now in my arms was something I couldn't even put into words. I just lay there and held her close in a stunned silence. It was the most emotional, overwhelming, wonderful moment I had ever experienced, second only to marrying my husband.
I was VERY prepared for my baby girl!! I bought her crib and started planning her nursery a month after I found out I was pregnant. I just bought things on sale as my pregnancy progressed, and after a scare at 32 weeks when I thought I was going to have her early, I made sure my hospital bags were packed, my diaper bag stocked, and my baby clothes washed and ready for her! I did have a baby shower that the sweet ladies at my church threw for me.
My earliest days of motherhood were a blur of sleeplessness and feeling like I was relearning everything about taking care of babies for the first time! Even though I had a lot of experience as a pediatric nurse and the oldest of nine, there is something so unique and special about taking care of a helpless little person that is all yours! My husband was my biggest source of emotional and practical support, caring for me and Seoirse in so many ways. Second to him was absolutely my mom! She had bought and filled a freezer with gourmet meals, fresh sourdough and scones, and then stocked my fridge while I was at the hospital. She and Dad drove up the day after Seoirse was born and just gave us so much encouragement and loving support.
The biggest thing I've learned as a new mother is that not only am I learning to know my daughter, but I am also learning to know myself in a totally new way. My body has changed, my relationship with my husband has changed (it's definitely a lot harder to just duck out on a date with a needy little one in the backseat!!), and my roles and responsibilities have had to be reorganized and prioritized. It's been a HARD but beautiful experience to see the ways in which God has worked in the lives of our little family. Spiritually, I feel like I have a new understanding of what it means to be a daughter of God. Our pastor preached on the passage about our longing for God's Word as newborns long for their mothers' milk. This picture never felt so vivid as it did when I fed my own baby and realized how her longing for milk is absolutely constant. It is vital to her health, her peace, and her contentment. In the same exact way, I desperately need to immerse myself in God's Word as I lean on Him for the strength to get through the sleepless nights, the long (at times) lonely days, and the transformation of my life as I settle into my "new normal." It's helped me realize that my identity isn't in how well I clean my house, cook meals, keep up with laundry, take care of my baby, work weekends as a nurse, am present for my husband, and connected with my friends. It's in HIM, and that has been such an unbelievable comfort to me!
My next step in this project will be to determine my “big idea” or message I want to communicate. What are some directions I could take?
Read Activity 3 (page 66) in textbook. After you conduct your interview, you will be writing a 1-2 page story as preparation for a slideshow presentation.
Lesson 17 points out the fact that information is at our fingertips. We can find out about pretty much anything we want to by doing a Google search. However, FOR LEARNING ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES, WE NEED TO INTERACT WITH THEM THROUGH READING THEIR BIOGRAPHY OR HAVING A FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATION. The text gives us an interview model of a scientist and shows that the person did her homework ahead of time so she could understand all she could about the scientist ahead of time and make the most of their interview. She asks intelligent and strategic questions to narrow her topic and to allow the “humanity” and personality of this scientist to show through. The preparation ahead of time and compiling of thoughtful questions are crucial for conducting valuable interviews!!
ACTIVITY 2: WHAT MAKES A GOOD INTERVIEW
Read Activity 2 on the bottom of page 70, and watch the 2009 interview on “what makes a good interview.”
Answer questions on page 71.
Lesson 18 is called “The Power to Present.” It talks about the difference between a persuasive presentation and an informative demonstration. I like this paragraph: “The most effective persuasive presentations combine reason and emotion. You don’t want to your audience to see you as heartless – all facts, no fun. You don’t want them to feel manipulated, either, as though you’re trying to force an emotional response. Powerful presentations offer audiences both reason and emotion. Experienced presenters know how much of each to deliver and when.
We are then introduced to the last portion of this unit assignment, our slideshow. We will be talking about slideshow templates next week.
Lessons 13-15
Ask students to share what their word walls look like. Ask students for vocabulary words of the week.
I was looking for a word like nostalgia that would capture my homesickness for NH in the fall. I had to go to the Portuguese language. My word is SAUDADE (sow-dahd). Saudade is a Portuguese word that describes a deep, melancholic longing or nostalgia for something or someone that one cares about and which is lost. It can refer to missing people, places, or experiences from the past, even if one has no specific memories associated with them. The feeling is one of wistful, bittersweet nostalgia, as if one is homesick for a place or time that may have never truly existed, but still evokes a sense of comfort and familiarity. Saudade is a uniquely Portuguese concept that captures a complex emotional state not easily expressed in other languages.
ACTIVITY 1: BLOG STORIES
Hand back blog stories. I ended up editing these online, so you won’t see written edits.
Pull up the Composition Blog link, and show student their beautiful stories in print!!
Read my Homesteading blog story.
Lesson 13 wraps up our study of citations for the moment. When I looked at the activities in this lesson, I was thrilled to see that we learned most of this last week, so we can breeze through this as a review lesson.
Last week we talked about avoiding plagiarism and using citations in our writing to give credit to other writers for their ideas. “Citations help you write both intelligently and ethically. They help you say something worthwhile, and they help you use someone else’s ideas with integrity.”
There are 3 main methods for citing sources. The MLA (Modern Language Association) format is what we will use in this Composition class.
The APA (American Psychological Association) is another method that is used in subjects like sociology or psychology. This includes dates to prove that the research is current.
Finally, the Chicago Manual of Style is a method that includes footnotes. This seems really cumbersome to read since the footnotes can take up half the page and interrupt the flow of the paper. Our book uses the Chicago format, and my son, who is a history major in college, is required to use this method.
ACTIVITY 2: NEWS STORIES
Ask students to share their news paragraphs they wrote for homework. Remind them that this exercise is not intended to help them write the most compelling paragraph. It is a repetitive exercise, and the purpose is to give practice paraphrasing and citing. These paragraphs won’t be published. 😊
Let’s move on to Lesson 14 that introduces us to our next assignment – conducting an interview! The purpose of interviewing is to gather the knowledge and experience of someone else through careful, evocative questions. We aren’t professional reporters, so you might wonder what the point of this is? Our text assures us that learning interview skills will help us throughout life! What are some of the times you might be able to put this into practice? (Job interviews, admissions/scholarship interviews, leveling up interviews, meeting your future spouse…)
Last week I told you that I prepare every one of my little kids for their annual well check interview with the doctor. They are astonished that I know all of the questions that will be asked, and they feel more confident when they come up with answers ahead of time. My favorite was when the doctor asked my preschooler what his favorite food was, and he answered “artichokes.”
When this son was older, I also subjected him to a mock interview before a college interview for a huge scholarship. He protested a little, but had to admit afterwards that I nailed the questions and none of them took him by surprise! He was offered a fantastic scholarship. You can easily find links to practice mock interviews, and I highly recommend you do this!
I am assuming you are reading our textbook chapters at home. I will pull the most important information for us to review, but I’m not going through line by line. You can do that on your own time, and we can spend our class time interacting with what we are learning.
ACTIVITY 3: INTERVIEWS
Here is another video on “How Not to Sit for a College Interview." Let’s evaluate this (if time).
Just for fun, we are going to break into teams and practice interviewing. (Hand out sheets for evaluating each person being interviewed.)
Turn to Page 59, and read Activity 3 together.
I don’t want this assignment to be something you dread. So, IF YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE TO INTERVIEW SOMEONE YOU KNOW, I will let you interview someone who is dead. You may choose either a historical character or a character from fiction, and (as long as you follow all of the steps for interviewing), In some ways it will be more challenging, because you will have to come up with both the questions and the answers, but I will accept this.
Having said that, I hope that most of you start thinking about someone in your life whom you admire, you aspire to be like, or you are curious about. I want each of you to create a list of five potential interviewees and reach out to your top pick, asking if that person will meet with you. An in-person interview is always our first choice, but if this is impossible, you can interview the person over the phone or through carefully written questions. See page 61 for a sample letter you could send to the person you want to interview. Over the next couple of weeks you will be conducting your interview, writing a short story about the person you interviewed, and putting together a slideshow presentation to share with the class.
Read Activity 3. This will be your homework.
Lessons 10-12
Ask students to share favorite vocabulary words from their reading/word walls. Mrs. Ashlie will choose the winner.
Chapter 10 introduces us to the concept of plagiarism. What is plagiarism? We plagiarize when we forget to cite quotations or paraphrases of others’ ideas. Is it always intentional? We will start by watching a video that gives a helpful definition of plagiarism, especially the kind that is unintentional. Mrs. Ashlie and I remember the day when plagiarism was almost always intentional! The way to steal someone else’s words was when you copied text from your parents’ encyclopedia set or a library book or magazine, hand wrote it for your teacher, and presented it as your own original work. It was tiresome business to cheat!
Today we have a limitless amount of information on the Internet, and it’s easier to blur the lines or even forget what is our original idea and what we should be giving someone else credit for.
ACTIVITY 1: PLAGIARISM
The next few lessons in our textbook will be focusing on 3 areas:
1. We need to know our sources.
2. We need to understand what we read.
3. We need to use our sources well.
The book compares our writing to a patchwork quilt. Each block of fabric is a unique design of someone else, yet the particular design and arrangement of those blocks of fabric is unique. “YOUR QUOTATIONS AND RESEARCH FROM OUTSIDE SOURCES ARE YOUR BLOCKS OF FABRIC. THEY FILL OUT AND COMPLEMENT YOUR PAPER; THEY DON’T DETERMINE OR DOMINATE IT. READERS SHOULD HEAR YOUR VOICE THE LOUDEST.”
Instead of completing the activities on page 39, I’m going to show you a video my sister created to teach her online class about how to correctly weave our sources into writing so we don’t accidentally plagiarize.
ACTIVITY 2: ICE Activity on Incorporating Our Sources into Our Writing
Lesson 11 introduces us to note-taking. The text uses Sherlock Holmes as a classic example of an observant person who takes excellent mental notes. Since we girls got to watch Disney song clips last week, I thought it would only be fair to show a clip from one of my favorite shows, Sherlock. Watch and learn how Sherlock collects his mental notes…
ACTIVITY 3: SHERLOCK HOLMES
Sherlock’s cases were only as strong as his sources of evidence, AND THE SAME APPLIES TO OUR SOURCES FOR WRITING. I like how our textbook assures us that “the best note-taking method is the method that makes most sense to you.”
At the bottom of page 40, we learn 4 Ws for notetaking: Who, What, Where, and When?
Who is the author; What is the title; When (refers to when this was written); Where is the source’s location.
You can keep track of this information with note paper, 3x5 cards, a computer document, or with a fancy notetaking subscription.
I would recommend that you create your own Word document to keep track of your sources, but you may write your notes by hand or check out one of the notetaking systems our book mentions.
Chapter 11 gives several good suggestions for coming up with a note-taking system. The book mentions NoodleTools and a FREE NOTE-TAKING RESOURCE CALLED Zotero. It also mentions Annotated Notes and Cornell Notes.
Be sure you look these over and DECIDE WHICH METHOD YOU WILL USE FOR YOUR NOTE-TAKING THIS SEMESTER!
I really like another video my sister posted. It shows us how to generate citations in our writing. This can feel intimidating at first, but this video makes it simple.
ACTIVITY 4: BIBCITATION
As a reminder, all of these links will be posted on our class blog so you can find them again. (If time, open Link #5 which is a neat editing tool!)
Lesson 12 introduces us to the concept of paraphrasing. What does this mean? Paraphrasing is expressing someone else’s idea in our own words. My brother sent me a hilarious paraphrase of Paul’s epistle. Show class. This is not the strongest example of paraphrasing.
THIS CHAPTER REMINDS US THAT PARAPHRASING ALLOWS US TO USE OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS BUT TO PUT THEM IN OUR OWN WORDS. Read the steps for paraphrasing on page 46: Read to understand. Look away. Write it once. Write it twice. Give credit. Paraphrasing is NOT just swapping a few synonyms and calling it our own work.
I really like the paraphrasing checklist on page 48. Read together, and mark with a bookmark for future reference.
If time, ask students to read their blog stories aloud AND COLLECT THEM. IF YOU SEND ME YOUR STORY BY EMAIL, I WILL GET EDITS BACK TO YOU THIS WEEK. OTHERWISE, YOU CAN WAIT FOR ME TO RETURN THESE COPIES. I’d like to post these on our class blog within the next week or two.
Lessons 7-9
Ask students if they subscribed to Vocabulary.com and to share a favorite vocabulary word. The best word, voted by Mrs. Ashlie, gets chocolate espresso beans. My word is flummoxed (confused). It was made popular by Dickens.
Ask students to share the rhetorical devices (page 21-22) they found in their reading this week.
Lesson 7 introduces us to the concept of blog types. Blogs began as online diaries, and there seems to be a limitless number of blogs for every type of person and every hobby or interest. UNLIKE FORMAL ESSAYS, BLOGS DRESS FOR CAMP-OUTS. They are conversational and informal and are written for the common person to understand.
The most common type of blog is a personal blog. I sent you links to my family’s blog, which contains our quotes, recipes, book reports, field trip stories… And I sent you a link to my daughter’s blog where she documented her journey through nursing school.
The text tells us about the how-to blog and the hobby and fan blog. I’d like you to consider these different categories as you gear up to write your first blog article for our class blog.
Even though blogging is less formal than essay writing, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE CAREFULLY PLAN OUR BLOG ARTICLES. People have short attention spans, so you’ll need to catch your reader’s attention and hold it for the duration of your post! READ ACTIVITIES 1-3 ON PAGE 26. LOOK AT THE SAMPLE TEMPLATES.
Show the printed templates linked in text. One is simple. One is technical.
YOU CAN FIND THESE LINKS ON PAGE 26 OF YOUR TEXT BOOK.
ACTIVITY 1: SAMMY STOCK AND MACARONS
Before you leave class today, you will have created a solid outline for your first blog post. Let’s look at Sammy Stock Figure on page 27 to see the parts that must be included in an effective blog post.
The Head: This contains our HOOK and OUR THESIS STATEMENT. This will be the point where your reader decides to read your blog post or to scroll on to something more interesting.
The Body: This makes up the bulk of your writing. In the body you support the point you made in the introduction. Your body should b 4-5 sentences.
The Feet: This is your conclusion where you give your readers something to walk away with. It could be a call to action or a call to think a different way…
The chapter gives us a sample blog post on shortbread cookies. I’d encourage you to take time to read each of these drafts because the text shows by example how you will edit and rewrite your own blog post. We are shown the stages of editing. (Hand out macaroons with buttercream).
Read Siobhan’s post: The Chicken Saga.
Ask students to read the sentences they wrote in response to the prompts. Discuss how each could be turned into a blog post.
ACTIVITY 2: BLOG POSTS
Hand out the blog post templates. Divide class in half. Ashlie and I will each brainstorm with one group as they outline their blogs.
Mention signing up for Grammarly to help with generating citations. They offer a free AI grammar checking app.
Your homework assignment for the coming week will be to write 2 drafts of the blog post you’ve outlined, and you will hand in both of them next week. Our text reassures us that EVEN FAMOUS WRITERS HAVE TO REREAD, REWRITE, AND EDIT THEIR OWN WORK, often countless times!!
When we revise our writing, we will be looking at 4 areas: CONTENT, ORGANIZATION, STYLE, AND MECHANICS. PUT A BOOKMARK IN PAGE 32. Read the chart together, and discuss color coding our edits. I want to see your edits.
Sample ideas: You may start with your homework sentences for inspiration or fill in these blanks…
How to…
Four ways to…
The secrets of…
What you should know about…
The weirdest, best, worst, funniest, most ridiculous…
OUTLINE
Introduction (what’s the angle of this post? Remember to stick with ONE TOPIC… HOOK YOUR READER FROM THE BEGINNING!
___________________________________________________________________________
Include an image.
Main point 1 ________________________________________
Subpoint 1 __________________________________________
Subpoint 2 __________________________________________
Subpoint 3 ___________________________________________
Main point 2 _________________________________________________
Subpoint 1 _____________________________________________
Subpoint 2 ______________________________________________
Subpoint 3 _______________________________________________
Main point 3 ___________________________________________________
Subpoint 1 ______________________________________________
Subpoint 2 _______________________________________________
Subpoint 3 ______________________________________________
Conclusion /Call to Action __________________________________________________
Length: 300-500 words (about 1 page), Include 2 rhetorical devices. Include an image. Look at UNSPLASH to find free images and pictures. NEXT WEEK YOU’LL HAND IN YOUR FIRST 2 DRAFTS (WITH EDITS MARKED).
See page 36 in your textbook for a description of your unit project. 😊
Lessons 4-6
Invite students to share their Word Banks.
This is a good lead in to Lesson 4 which is on WORD VARIETY. We’ve talked about concrete nouns and vivid verbs. Our text tells us that these are the stars of the writing, but the first supporting role is that of MODIFIERS. What is the job of modifiers? They restrict or limit the meaning of words. WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERUSE THESE.
Read the two examples on page 13 of Thoreau’s description of Walden Pond. This is a good example of how modifiers, when used carefully, enhance your writing. Thoreau considers his audience and dresses his writing appropriately.
One of our goals this year is to grow a richer vocabulary so we won’t have to search for words. This is done by reading and by deliberately adding words to our vocabulary.
There are a lot of resources that can help us. See the IEW charts for a quick reference.
Starting this week, I would like you to create a word wall. This can be either a physical wall (show online templates) where you write out new words you come across in your reading and practice using them. OR you can use the computer to store your words. I’m going to recommend that you subscribe to vocabulary.com so a new word comes to your email each morning.
EACH WEEK WE WILL START CLASS BY SHARING OUR FAVORITE, NEW WORDS. The word Mrs. Ashlie likes most will earn a bag of chocolate espresso beans.
ACTIVITY 1: SHARE HOMEWORK
For homework, you wrote 2 or 3 paragraphs about your life. You avoided “be verbs” and focused on concrete nouns and vivid verbs. I’d like you to pair up and share your homework with each other. (Read Activity 2 on bottom of page 14 for directions on peer editing these paragraphs). Allow 5 minutes.
Lesson 5 teaches us about sentence variety. Anyone who has classified sentences knows that a simple sentence can just contain a subject noun and a verb. We use a lot of these in our writing. Our text says that reading a simple sentence is like grabbing an apple for snack. Nothing exciting, but it gets the job done when we are hungry. Life would be boring if we only had raw apples. Sometimes we need apple dumplings. The apple dumplings in our writing are our braver sentences.
ACTIVITY 2: APPLE DUMPLINGS
Lay out apples and apple dumplings. I thought it would be a little less painful to review sentence structure if we had a snack to enjoy while we read. Turn to the bottom of page 15 and follow along.
ASK STUDENTS TO MODEL EACH TYPE OF SENTENCE WITH THEIR OWN SAMPLE OF SIMPLE, COMPOUND, COMPLEX, AND COMPOUND-COMPLEX.
What is the difference between a phrase and a clause? Clauses contain a subject and verb. Phrases do not. They are compared to our pets, not sharing the DNA of actual family members, but important additions to the family.
Try saying PARTICIPIAL 3X FAST.
Participial phrases begin with a verb that ends in “ing” or “ed.” They act like adjectives and give us more details. We have to use them carefully so your reader doesn’t end up confused about who is doing the action. Read 2 samples in the middle of page 17.
Be careful not to confuse a participial phrase with a verb phrase (helping verb and verb). We can tell a verb phrase from a participial phrase because if you remove the helping verb, the sentence falls apart.
Finally, we have the ABSOLUTE PHRASE. ABSOLUTE PHRASES ARE ALMOST SENTENCES. Read the top of page 18 to see how these phrases can enhance our writing.
ACTIVITY 3: DOMINO SQUARES
Divide into pairs and ask students to create a unique sentence with the domino squares. When you are finished, you will tell me what type of sentence you have created. I want to know if it’s simple, compound, complex or compound-complex. You’ll get extra points for modifiers and for knowing what the parts of speech are called. We’ll vote on our favorite sentence.
This week I’ll be posting some helpful links, class notes, and homework on the blog. Are you figuring out how to use the blog? YOU’LL HAVE SOME QUICK ACTIVITIES TO COMPLETE, BUT YOUR MAIN ASSIGNMENT WILL BE EXPANDING ON THE PARAGRAPHS YOU WROTE LAST WEEK. YOU’LL BE ADDING CONCRETE NOUNS, VIVID VERBS, AND SENTENCE VARIETY.
Lesson 6 IS A FUN ONE! I LOVE TALKING ABOUT RHETORIC (CREATIVE USES OF LANGUAGE WHICH ENGAGE OUR AUDIENCE). I’m going to get us started by saying that the English language makes absolutely no sense. (If time, watch the pronunciation short and read a few of the most unusual English sentences).
Rhetoric is what keeps our readers motivated to keep going!! The text calls them our “crowd pleasers.”
Start reading at the second paragraph on page 21 to discuss figurative language, hyperbole, similes and metaphors. Page 22 has a helpful chart to keep these straight.
Lessons 1-3
Introduction: COMPOSITION IS THINKING ON PAPER. I love E.M. Forster’s question, “How do I know what I think, until I see what I say?”
What do you think the text means when it says, “text messages are snacks, while well-written essays, short stories, and blog posts are meals”?
It says in the introduction that God Himself affirmed the value of the WRITTEN WORD. Instead of recording his words with a heavenly iPad (which would have arguably been quicker and more efficient) He chose to use PEOPLE AND CREATIVE IDEAS AND WORDS to create Scripture!!
Becoming a solid, confident writer is going to help you through your entire life, no matter what you pursue for colleges or careers. I have 2 kids who have graduated from college and a third who is attending Patrick Henry college. The first two are in the medical fields, the third is a history major. EVERY ONE OF THEM HAS THANKED ME FOR GIVING THEM A SOLID WRITING BACKGROUND AND HAS TOLD ME THAT THE WRITING YOU WILL BE LEARNING IN THIS CLASS GAVE THEM A HUGE ADVANTAGE IN COLLEGE AND IN THEIR JOBS.
Later in the introduction, the text talks about the VOICE WE USE WHEN WRITING. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? When you are writing a letter to a close friend, it’s easy to let your voice be heard. Is it harder to let your voice be heard when you are writing something formal? Do your essays tend to be boring? If I read a stack of your essays (without names) could I figure out which one of you wrote which essay?? That’s the goal. EVEN IN A MORE TECHNICAL WRITING CLASS LIKE COMPOSITION TWO, OUR GOAL IS TO ALLOW OUR READERS TO HEAR AND ENJOY OUR DISTINCT VOICES.
This year we will be studying a variety of writing genres – from blogs to essays to short plays-and studying how good writers let their voices be heard in both formal and informal writing!
In Lesson 1 we learn that we must UNDERSTAND OUR AUDIENCE. We are going to think of our essays, blogs, articles, or stories/poems as a STAGE. We do not want to raise the curtain before we are SURE THAT OUR WRITING IS INTERESTING AND ENGAGING ENOUGH TO KEEP THE AUDIENCE INTERESTED!
When we think about our particular audience, we want to be sure that we are “dressing our writing” appropriately. Who is the audience, and what is the occasion, and what should we show up “wearing” so we don’t look ridiculous or insult our readers.
See the chart at the bottom of page 1 (in your student textbook) to see examples of formal vs. informal writing assignments.
Next, look at the chart on page 2 to see the pronouns we use for each point of view we could be writing from.
WHICH POINT OF VIEW DOES OUR TEXTBOOK USE? WHY? (USUALLY, 2ND, SOMETIMES 1ST)
As a writer, you need to EARN THE RIGHT TO SPEAK IN THE FAMILIAR FIRST PERSON. IN FIRST PERSON, YOUR PERSONAL OPINIONS AND KNOWLEDGE ARE MADE CLEAR, OR THERE IS A LEVEL OF FAMILIARITY WITH THE AUDIENCE. This could be insulting for the wrong audience.
The text then talks about formal writing and says, FORMAL WRITING DESERVES AS MUCH STYLE AS A POEM! Does this surprise you?
Let’s look at page 3 and read a list of practices we need to AVOID IN FORMAL WRITING.
THE BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM THIS CHAPTER IS THAT FORMAL WRITING DOES NOT MEAN WRITING LIKE A ROBOT.
ACTIVITY 1: DIVIDE THE CLASS INTO PAIRS. GIVE 4 OPTIONS FOR AUDIENCES THEY COULD PRESENT TO. THE TASK IS TO TELL THEIR AUDIENCE ABOUT LINDSEY LANE CO-OP. THEY NEED TO ADDRESS THEIR PARTICULAR AUDIENCE APPROPRIATELY. Have them “draw” a prompt.
- Pretend that your youngest sibling is just getting ready to go to his first day of co-op and is really scared and unsure about leaving his mom. How would you convince this kid that he is going to have the time of his life?
- Pretend that Mrs. Jessalee pulled you aside and asked you to tell a visiting mom (with a kid your age) about your experience at co-op. The goal is to look really impressive and to make this look like the most incredible co-op ever!
- Pretend you are sitting at lunch with the new kid at lunch and convincing him he should come to this co-op! He is worried it will be more boring than school, so you’re trying to convince him that homeschoolers know how to have fun!
Give them 5 minutes to plan their speech and 5 minutes to present. Evaluate presentations as a class.
ACTIVITY 2: Ask if anyone brought in a book (article, blog post…) to share. Answer the questions on page 3. I will share a passage from “Notes from the Tilt a Whirl” and show how the author uses a strong hook to keep the reader going. Think together about how the writer would have to adjust his voice if he had a drastically different audience. Would this be possible?
Lesson 2 begins with examples of a great show and tell (iguanas and gymnastic medals) vs. a lame show and tell where the students share dictionary definitions of courage and poverty.
EITHER ONE OF THESE SUBJECTS COULD MAKE A FASCINATION AND MOVING SHOW AND TELL IF THEY INCLUDED STORIES ABOUT COURAGE AND POVERTY!
Ask for a volunteer to read the example from Flannery O’Connor’s “The River.”
EVEN WHEN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING ABSTRACT LIKE POVERTY (A NOUN WE CAN’T HANDLE OR SEE) we need to include description. THE PEOPLE IN OUR STORIES NEED TO BE CHARACTERS WE CAN SEE AND HEAR AND RELATE TO OR SYMPATHIZE WITH.
WHAT IS A CONCRETE NOUN? The book says it is a “noun with skin on.” Jesus used vivid concrete nouns in His parables, and that is why they were timeless and powerful and relatable! (I.E. PLANK/VS. SPECK)
Page 7 gives us a “Caffeine Word Bank.” Each of these concrete nouns should prompt us to form a picture in our head and come up with a vivid verb!!
(Hand out chocolate espresso beans, and invite each student to come up with a sentence using the word bank.) STUDENTS WILL COMPLETE THE SECOND CHART AS HOMEWORK.
Next, turn to Activity 2, and ask the students to highlight the concrete nouns as I read it. As for a volunteer/volunteers to share the nouns they found.
Lesson 3 tells us that, while concrete nouns engage our readers’ senses, vivid verbs bring these nouns to life!
We use linking verbs or to be verbs (am, is are, was were, will be) all the time. They are necessary in the English language. HOWEVER, THE MORE WE USE THEM THE MORE WE TELL INSTEAD OF SHOW.
Look at the two examples on page 9. We can say “Tamar is a secret agent.” OR WE CAN REINTRODUCE OUR STAR CHARACTER: (Read sentence in the middle of page 9). THIS DESCRIPTION OF TAMAR CAUSES OUR READERS TO USE THEIR IMAGINATIONS AND WANT TO KEEP READING!!
The lesson goes on to say that “the more you use be verbs, the more likely you are to use the passive voice.” TEACHERS DON’T LIKE THIS, AND NEITHER DO READERS. Let’s talk about the difference between ACTIVE AND PASSIVE…
ACTIVE VOICE: THE SUBJECT OF THE SENTENCE DOES THE ACTION.
PASSIVE VOICE: THE SUBJECT RECEIVES THE ACTION. “VENISON WAS HUNG IN A TREE.” This leaves us curious about WHO HUNG THE MEAT.
Read the paragraph on the top of page 11 about passive voice creating distance between the writer and the reader. This might be okay in scientific writing but not in our essays.
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