11/18: Happy MondayNEW UNIT: Non-Fiction Essays: aka

Writing in the Real WorldDO NOW: Pick up notebooks, Organize Handouts, Turn in Family History Projects

Review: Unit Calendar, Essay AssignmentRead: David Sedaris: “Jesus Shaves”Do: PRESS/TEJHW: PRESS/TEJ for “Jesus Shaves”

11/19: Happy Tuesday!If you were not here yesterday, please see me for the handouts.

Let’s talk guys… 10/7/2013

Check out 50 EssaysCheck: PRESS/TEJ for “Jesus”Read: “On the Second Day of Sun” by Joshua Foster, PRESS only.

HW: Read: Momaday, “The Way to Rainy Mountain” (50 Essays) PRESS & TEJ for “Rainy Mountain”, Read: The Art of Rhetoric (Edmodo/Am Lit/NF Essays

Folder)

What is the PROBLEM the author is addressing?

• The author wants to live up to family expectations, but wants to do what he wants– get his bachelor’s degree and city life and balance his obligations to his family as the only son.

• Tug of war between family and their desires and the admiration and respect for his father and his accomplishments with his own desires.

• The denouncing of his desires and goals makes him resentful

What are some of the REASONS as to why this is a problem?  •  It creates a mental strain for him. He keeps

vacillating between what he wants for his future and what his family wants for his future.

• Internal conflict that above creates stress• The jobs that he does are dangerous and he’s

a family member, so there is no protection for him if he physically gets injured.

• Family obligation v. personal desires• He knows the farm life well, and yet he’s the

first person who will achieve a bachelor’s degree. It’s a struggle because his family can’t help him as much, but he still wants to do it.

  

What EVIDENCE does the author use to support his or her stance (position/argument/perspective)?

•  He uses the metaphor of the second day of sun beating down on his back as an example of the pressure he feels.

•  He emphasizes that he is the only son; if he works on the farm he would have to do most of the work.

• Being the only son makes him feel even more pressure to make his father proud.• When he talks about the contrast between street smarts and school smarts, he shows the

differences in the perspectives that he is dealing with.• When he leaves and returns continuously keeping in touch, trying to disconnect but then being

pulled back, it illustrates the internal conflict.

PRESS: PROBLEM, REASONS, EVIDENCE,

STANCEThe Second Day of Sun

What is the PROBLEM the author is addressing?

• The author wants to live up to family expectations, but wants to do what he wants– get his bachelor’s degree and city life and balance his obligations to his family as the only son.

• Tug of war between family and their desires and the admiration and respect for his father and his accomplishments with his own desires.

• The denouncing of his desires and goals makes him resentful

What are some of the REASONS as to why this is a problem?  •  It creates a mental strain for him. He keeps

vacillating between what he wants for his future and what his family wants for his future.

• Internal conflict that above creates stress• The jobs that he does are dangerous and he’s

a family member, so there is no protection for him if he physically gets injured.

• Family obligation v. personal desires• He knows the farm life well, and yet he’s the

first person who will achieve a bachelor’s degree. It’s a struggle because his family can’t help him as much, but he still wants to do it.

  

What EVIDENCE does the author use to support his or her stance (position/argument/perspective)?

•  He uses the metaphor of the second day of sun beating down on his back as an example of the pressure he feels.

•  He emphasizes that he is the only son; if he works on the farm he would have to do most of the work.

• Being the only son makes him feel even more pressure to make his father proud.• When he talks about the contrast between street smarts and school smarts, he shows the

differences in the perspectives that he is dealing with.• When he leaves and returns continuously keeping in touch, trying to disconnect but then being

pulled back, it illustrates the internal conflict.

PRESS: PROBLEM, REASONS, EVIDENCE,

STANCEThe Second Day of Sun

What is the PROBLEM the author is addressing?

• The author wants to live up to family expectations, but wants to do what he wants– get his bachelor’s degree and city life and balance his obligations to his family as the only son.

• Tug of war between family and their desires and the admiration and respect for his father and his accomplishments with his own desires.

• The denouncing of his desires and goals makes him resentful

What are some of the REASONS as to why this is a problem?  •  It creates a mental strain for him. He keeps

vacillating between what he wants for his future and what his family wants for his future.

• Internal conflict that above creates stress• The jobs that he does are dangerous and he’s

a family member, so there is no protection for him if he physically gets injured.

• Family obligation v. personal desires• He knows the farm life well, and yet he’s the

first person who will achieve a bachelor’s degree. It’s a struggle because his family can’t help him as much, but he still wants to do it.

  

What EVIDENCE does the author use to support his or her stance (position/argument/perspective)?

•  He uses the metaphor of the second day of sun beating down on his back as an example of the pressure he feels.

•  He emphasizes that he is the only son; if he works on the farm he would have to do most of the work.

• Being the only son makes him feel even more pressure to make his father proud.• When he talks about the contrast between street smarts and school smarts, he shows the

differences in the perspectives that he is dealing with.• When he leaves and returns continuously keeping in touch, trying to disconnect but then being

pulled back, it illustrates the internal conflict.

PRESS: PROBLEM, REASONS, EVIDENCE,

STANCEThe Second Day of Sun

TRIPLE ENTRY JOURNAL

Summary of passage Thematic Questions

Rhetorical Analysis

11/20-21: Happy Block Day!

What essay would you write this morning? Reading Assessments Review the reading: “The Way to Rainy Mountain” Share your PRESS/TEJ with the table. Review: Triple Entry Journal Format for “The Way

to Rainy Mountain” – add details for Pathos and 3 stories analysis.

Read: “Six Stages of Email” by Nora Ephron, PRESS & TEJ

HW: Finish PRESS & TEJ for “Email”

11/20-21

Review the reading: “The Way to Rainy Mountain” (35 minutes) Answer the following questions in your notebooks:

1. What is the style and purpose of this essay? Explain your reasoning.

2. Momaday uses emotional appeals throughout his piece. How does Momaday use pathos to appeal to his readers? Find 2-3 specific passages that incorporate pathos appeal. Be prepared to explain the impact that each of your examples has on the writing/reader’s experience.

3. Momaday tells at least three stories – his, his grandmother’s, and that of the Kiowa people. Why does he tell them together? What effect does this story telling have in terms of how the audience (you) react to his piece?

4. Choose a Golden Line (2-3 sentences) that evokes a powerful image, incorporates figurative language (metaphor, personification, vivid sensory imagery, etc.). Explain why you selected this particular line/image and the impact it has on you as a reader.

11/22: Happy Friday!

DO NOW: Review your TEJ on “Six Stages of Email”. If you did not discuss at least TWO of the following in your

Rhetorical Analysis section, please re-read the essay NOW and add to it:

Syntax (sentence structure) Diction (word choice) Repetition Literary Contrast Satire/Sarcasm Structure & Organization: emotional progression through

“stages”

Metacognitive work: What do you know? How do you know it? With the title? Predictions

HW:Read and PRESS/TEJ for “On Compassion”

The man’s grin is less the result of circumstance than dreams or madness. His buttonless shirt, with one sleeve missing, hangs outside the waist of his baggy trousers. Carefully plaited dreadlocks bespeak a better time, long ago. As he crosses Manhattan’s Seventy-Ninth Street, his gait is the shuffle of the forgotten ones held in place by gravity rather than plans. On the corner of Madison Avenue, he stops before a blond baby in an Aprica stroller. The baby’s mother waits for the light to change and her hands close tighter on the stroller’s handle as she sees the man approach. (1)

The others on the corner, five men and women waiting for the crosstown bus, look away. They daydream a bit and gaze into the weak rays of November light. A man with a briefcase lifts and lowers the shiny toes of his right shoe, watching the light reflect, trying to catch and balance it, as if he could hold and make it his, to ease the heavy gray of coming January, February, March. The winter months that will send snow around the feet, calves, and knees of the grinning man as he heads for the shelter of Grand Central or Pennsylvania Station. (2)

11/25: Happy Monday!

Do Now: Fill in the blank… Try to keep writing until I stop you. Choose ONE prompt.

1. The world needs more…2. I believe in…3. If you knew me, you would know…4. I am happiest when…5. The thing I want to say to _______ but haven’t is….6. I wish I didn’t depend so much on…7. If I ever have children, I will make sure I …8. The thing I value most is…9. I want to learn to…10. If I could, I would…

Read: Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” HW: Liu, “Notes of a Native Speaker” /PRESS & TEJ

11/25: Happy Monday!

Writing Workshop: Effective Style Writing Skill: Word economy– if you had to “pay” for

every word you used, how could you get the most “bang for your buck”? In a word… Specificity.

Person Place Thing Idea

Generic Woman Park Drink Pain

Better Writer Baseball park

Juice headache

Bang!

11/25: Happy Monday!

Let’s look at some of Ascher’s writing as models: Generic: His shirt hangs outside his pants. Specific: His buttonless shirt, with one sleeve missing, hangs outside the

waist of his baggy trousers.

Generic: Up the street, there is a bakery, where you can go to get a bread and coffee.

Specific: Up the avenue, at Ninety-first street, there is a small French bread shop where you can sit and eat a buttery, overpriced croissant and wash it down with rich cappuccino.

Generic: He wears a blanket around him and has a hood pulled down to his eyebrows. His smell fills up the room.

Specific: He wears a stained blanket pulled up to his chin, and a woolen hood pulled down to his gray, bushy eyebrows. As he stands, the scent of the stale cigarettes and urine fills the small, overheated room.

Generic: He looks intensely at the baby. Specific: Like a bridegroom waiting at the alter, his eyes pierce the white

veil.

11/25: Writing Workshop: Active v. Passive Voice

Let’s look at some examples:If your writing feels like it is slow and uneventful, perhaps dragging along, perhaps you have used too much passive voice.

Passive: The sky was struck by lighting. (Subject: Sky) Active: Lightning struck the sky. (Subject: Lightning)

Passive: My grandfather is loved dearly by my father. (Subject: Grandfather) Active:

Passive: Our sensibilities are offended by raw humanity. (Subject: Sensibilities) Active:

11/26: Happy Tuesday!

CHANGE TO NOTEBOOK COLLECTION:I will collect ALL notebooks together on

December 10Do Now: Describe what it’s like for your

family on Thanksgiving Day. Perhaps you celebrate it, perhaps you don’t. Just think about that time frame from 12pm-7pm on Thanksgiving Day and try to capture the experience in a narrative style.

11/26: Happy Tuesday!

A little pre-Thanksgiving treat:

Whole Class Reading: Dave Barry, “Lost in the Kitchen”

How is he using humor in the essay? What effect does his humor have on the audience? Discuss with a partner and then be prepared to share with the class!

PRESS & TEJ

12/2 Happy December !

Journal: Write about a time when you encountered an authority figure for whom you had great fear or great love. How did the authority figure use fear or love to encourage you? Did it work? Why or why not? Explain… give details.

Read: Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Morals of the Prince” PRESS/TEJ

In your rhetorical analysis, be sure to discuss which of the three appeals (Ethos, Logos, Pathos) is most prevalent in the essay. Be sure to pick one passage that illustrates the appeal being used.

HW: Read an Opinion/Editorial (op/ed) from The New York Times that is written no earlier than July 2013. Bring a copy and be prepared to share the article and your analysis on the block day.

12/3 Happy Tuesday!

Reminders: NOTEBOOKS DUE ON 12/10 TEJ for longer essays should have 2-3 passages being

analyzed.

You Pick It Day: Choose one of the following to read and do PRESS/TEJ on:

Ortiz-Cofer “Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”Ericsson “The Ways we Lie”Mairs “On Being a Cripple”Eighner “Dumpster Diving”

This PRESS/TEJ will be ONE of your reading assessment grades.

HW: Read an Opinion/Editorial (op/ed) from The New York Times that is written no earlier than July 2013. Bring a copy for each person at your table and be prepared to share the article and your PRESS analysis on the block day. (No you cannot print them from my printer during class if you forget.)

12/4-5 Happy Block Day!

Please take out the OpEd that you read, your PRESS for it and the copies for your group.

Each person should lead the group in reading of their OpEd, then share your analysis.

Read each essay together

Share PRESS– have group discuss– are you all in consensus about the “issue or problem” as it as been identified?

Do you all understand the reasons for the problem/issue?

Each person should give their “stance” on the different OpEds.

12/4-5 This Is Water

Watch Interpretive Piece on This Is WaterRead and annotate text

1. Identify his main thesis idea and all supporting points.2. Identify examples/exemplification: the specific places in

the text that he supports his point. What kind of examples are they?

3. Identify specific rhetorical strategies, ie.Structure, tone, appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), diction (word choice), syntax (sentence construction), questioning…

HW: Read MLK,Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” PRESS/TEJ

12/9 Happy Monday!How to begin?

This Week: ESSAY WRITINGNO TUTORIAL TOMORROWNOTEBOOKS DUE TOMORROWBRING LAPTOPS TOMORROWROUGH DRAFTS DUE FRIDAY

HW: Finish Edmodo Openings Activity and write an opening for your essay.

12/9 Happy Monday!How to begin?

With a generalization:

"It happens this time every year."Joshua Foster, "On the second day of

sun"

"Men are basically scum when it comes to helping out in the kitchen."

Dave Barry, "Lost in the Kitchen"

How to begin?

With narrative summary:

"The bank called today and I told them my deposit was in the mail, even though I hadn't written a check yet. It'd been a rough day. The baby I'm pregnant with decided to do aerobics on my lungs for two hours, our three-year-old daughter painted the living room couch with lipstick, the IRS put me on hold for an hour, and I was late to a business meeting because I was tired."

Stephanie Ericsson, "The Ways We Lie"

How to begin?

With a description of person or place.

"The man's grin is less the result of circumstance than dreams or madness. His buttonless shirt, with one sleeve missing, hangs outside the waist of his baggy trousers."

- Barbara Lazear Ascher, "On Compassion“

“ On a bus trip from London to Oxford University where I was earning graduate credits one summer, a young man, obviously fresh from a pub, spotted me and as if struck by inspiration, went down on his knees in the aisle.”- Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”

How to begin?

With a list:

"Here are some of the ways you could say that I am 'white.'"

Eric Liu, "Notes of a Native Speaker"

How to begin?

With dialogue:

"'We're going to have to control your tongue,' the dentist says, pulling out all the metal from my mouth."

Gloria Anzaldua, "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

"'You must not tell anyone,' my mother said, 'what I am about to tell you.'"

Maxine Hong Kingston, "No Name Woman"

A Word about Titles: They matter!

Consider the title and content:"On Dumpster Diving" begins by addressing the

rather surprising topic: "Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters, enough so that I wrote the Merriam-Webster research service to discover what I could about the word 'Dumpster.'"

VS"Why Don't We Complain?" begins with a

complaint: "It was the very last coach and the only empty seat on the entire train, so there was no turning back. The problem was to breathe."

12/9 Narrowing your topic: 2 approaches

1. Pick a topic that you are passionate about and be as specific as possible.o Example: the influence of the mediao Identify the problems:

people are easily influenced about what to buy because they need to feel “better” than others

people are led to believe that they can "buy away" their problems, rather than work to fix them

Media has the ability to control the public conversation, sometimes irresponsibly

*turns out my problem is with people, not media

12/9 Narrowing your topic: 2 approaches

2. Begin listing observations/"mind rants"

Observations about everyday life…

Larger Connections and societal question

Student with sagging pants Does student expression through personal style reflect pressures to fit in and be cool or is it a real reflection of personal choice?

Student sitting alone on bench in a crowded high school

An isolated student on a bench in a school full of students could be the result of a personal choice or it could be that the student is a victim of bullying or anti-social behavior? When is anti-social behavior cause for concern and when it is simply a personal choice? Is it my business to care?

Drivers who don’t use their directional signals

Is society becoming careless and lazy or just downright inconsiderate and rude?

12/9 Essay topics from last year

• No shirt, no problem: questioning the no shirt policy for boys sports at LAHS

• The Death of Chivalry: when did it become acceptable to be impolite?

• Hardly Mindless Entertainment: video games as an artform

• I love Calculus, so why am I bored in math class?

• Golden Goodness: why I am over the organic food movement

12/9 Happy Monday!

Writing Effective Openings/EdmodoTURN IN YOUR REACTION via

Edmodo.

HW: Develop opening for your essay

12/10 4 Starts to your Essay

Choose 4 different types of “starts” and write a mini-paragraph (4-5 sentences) for each.

By the time you are finished you should have 4 different “starts” for the same essay topic.

Bring these to class with you tomorroww.

12/10 4 Starts to my essay

Working Title: WoMan’s Best Friend: how my life changed after Lucy

Start 1: Generalization

I pretty much feel guilty all the time. And by all the time I mean any time I “could” be home with her, but am not. And even then, when I can’t be home, I still feel guilty.

Start 2: Dialogue (yes we talk- what’s weird about that?)

"Get on your bed." I carefully hold the duck flavored organic dog treat to her nose until she gently takes it from my hand. "Good girl. Bye Boogies… beeyah good girl today. See you laaaayter. I luh yous.”

Yes– that says “luh” and “yous”. I baby-talk to her. Don’t judge me.

12/10 4 Starts to my essay

Start 3: Narrative with DialogueEveryone thinks they have the cutest dog in the world. But I actually do. With her creamy white rabbit-y fur, charcoal brown-black eyes and nose protruding from amidst a pouf of wavy locks, she’s looks like a canine harp seal, minus the razor sharp teeth and the endangered species label.

Last weekend I while making my way back to my car from the Apple store at Stanford Mall, I had almost made it to the parking lot, when I heard the call of the wild. This time it came from a well dressed couple, clearly into their golden years, beckoning me.

People on the street, in the mall , at the park, stop me constantly and the litany repeats much like it always does:

Excuse me, but your dog is sooooo cute! She’s like a live teddy bear!Thank you. Yes, she is a great dog. What’s her name?Lucy.What is she?She’s a mini Golden doodle. Oh, I’ve heard of those. They don’t shed, right?She does shed but not as much as a Golden Retriever. Do you mind telling me where you got her? (Sometimes they aren’t as polite.)From a breeder in Toronto- Golden Belle Kennels. How old is she?A little over 2 1/2 years. She’s the best dog I've ever had.

And so it goes just like this. If I had a dollar for each time I’ve had this conversation in the last two and a half years, I could keep Lucy rolling in organic dog treats and therapeutic spa treatments for life.

12/10 4 Starts to my essay

Start 4: A ListHow life has changed since I got Lucy:

1. I feel guilty constantly.2. I never sleep in.3. I vacuum all the time; she wasn't

supposed to shed by the way.4. I know more about organic dog food than

its human counterpart.5. I should own stock in those lint remover

roller tape thingamajigs.6. I have day care bills in my budget- Yes,

I'm one of those dog owners. See #1 above.

7. I cry when I read or watch anything about a dog dying. Damn you Of Mice and Men!

8. I think about something other than myself at all times.

9. I think of myself as a single parent.10.I can't wait to open my front door each

day when I get home.11.I am rarely alone.12.I am never alone.

12/11-12 Happy Block Day!

12/11-12 Happy Friday!

Review/Read Writing Packet sections 3-6 Peer Feedback Speed Dating.

Each table should work in pairs. Switch papers, read the four “starts” and then discuss with your partner which of the four you think is the most effective “start” and why. Then switch pairs. If there is an odd number of people at the table, work in threes. Start working on an outline for your essay.HW: Bring completed Essay outlines to class on Monday

12/13 Happy Friday!

  

7 school days until Finals! Checking in about Friday.

Reflecting on the Semester Journal: Heads up! You will share SOMETHING with the

class from this journal write… Write about a high point and a low point from

the first semester. This could be personal or academic. Explain what happened and how you’re feeling about those experiences now.

Checking in with essay– Get your work stamped. Private semester reflection. HW: Bring Rough Drafts of Essay tomorrow.

12/16 Happy Monday!

  

7 school days until Finals! Checking in about Friday.

Reflecting on the Semester Journal: Heads up! You will share SOMETHING with the

class from this journal write… Write about a high point and a low point from

the first semester. This could be personal or academic. Explain what happened and how you’re feeling about those experiences now.

Checking in with essay– Get your work stamped. Private semester reflection. HW: Bring Rough Drafts of Essay tomorrow.

12/16 Happy Tuesday!

  

7 school days until Finals! Checking in about Friday.

Reflecting on the Semester Journal: Heads up! You will share SOMETHING with the

class from this journal write… Write about a high point and a low point from

the first semester. This could be personal or academic. Explain what happened and how you’re feeling about those experiences now.

Checking in with essay– Get your work stamped. Private semester reflection. HW: Bring Rough Drafts of Essay tomorrow.