SAT WORDS

This Week

1) Finish 1st Draft of ORATION (we will watch some national orations later this week).

2) Rewrite AP test for final grade.

3) Read Niccolo Machiavelli's, "The Morals of the Prince" on page 372.

You do not have to write a precis or a news response this week.  Focus primarily on your persuasive-oration.


New Vocabulary Words:

Atone

Pinguid

Agog

Panache

Iconoclast

Escapade

Offal

Paragon

Palisade

Diminution

Back from Regions!

NOTES Chapter 3 EVERYDAY USE

Five Traditional Canons of Rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory and Delivery

ARRANGEMENT

1)   Order and structure the parts of a piece of writing

2)   Support the different parts

As a writer the goal is to discover ideas and take inventory of everything that could be said to make an argument clear and compelling

·      Beginning of a composition usually sets out the central question and hints at development (how)

·      Middle – supports with examples, illustrations, details and reasons

·      End – the “SO WHAT?” question.

Aristotle – argument introduced in the beginning and synthesized at the end.

Principles of Arrangement:

Exordium – the web that draws listeners into the speech

Narration – background material on the case at hand

Partition – divides the case and makes clear which parts will be addressed and spoken about and which will be left out

Confirmation – provides reasons, details, illustrations and examples in support of these points

Refutation – considers possible objections to the argument and tries to counter these objections

Peroration – conclusion – “SO WHAT?” call to action.  

Functional parts – what reading and analyzing, questions to ask

1)   Is there some section that lets the reader know the subject and purpose

2)   Background information?

3)   Themes?  Attention to some particular issue?

4)   Support?  Types of support?

5)   Refutation?  Is there any?

6)   Section that answers the “So What?” question

Questions about the parts

Subject directly stated or implied?

Some angle consciously foregrounded and other material downplayed?

Statement that suggest to the reader the course the reminder of the essay will take?

Does the writer provide transitional words or phrases that connect sentences or paragraphs?

Are there words or sentences that map out the direction like first, second, third, last

Anecdotes, scenes evoking sensory images, defining terms and concepts, dividing whole into parts, classifying the parts, cause and effect reasoning

Language that suggests that the writer wants to counter or concede arguments

STYLE

Choices the writer makes concerning words, phrases, sentences

(Difference between style and jargon)

Active: DOER – ACTION- RECEIVER

Passive: RECEIVER – ACTION (by Doer)

Style: Sentences, words, figures

Simple sentence (simple with compound subject or compound verb)

Compound sentence

Complex sentence

Compound-complex sentence

FUNCTION GROWS OUT OF FORM (FORM = IDEA)

Ethos can be found or assumed by the reader by looking at sentence structure and types of sentences

Reasons to use various sentences: 1) succinct points – short simple sentences; 2) trying to show how ideas are balanced and related in terms of equal importance = compound sentence; 3) show more complicated relationships between ideas – complex or compound-complex sentences

Loose sentence – details added immediately at the end

Periodic sentences – details added before the main clause

REASONS TO USE: A loose sentence moves quickly and can make a piece of prose gallop along; A periodic sentence works with delay – it postpones, slows done.

Parallelisms – a passes, a paragraph or a sentence contains two or more ideas that are fulfilling a similar function a writer who wants to sound measured, deliberate, and balanced will express those ideas in the same grammatical form

(noun phrases, element clauses, clauses)

“THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS” – by Lincoln

Words = diction (choice of words).  What is my purpose?  Words change in different situations.

LADDER OF ABSTRACTION (handout)

Formal vs. Informal

Latinate vs. Anglo-Saxon

Slang vs. Jargon

Denotation vs. Connotation

Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word

Connotation refers to the implied meaning of a word

Schemes and Tropes

Scheme = artful variation from typical arrangement of words in a sentence

Tropes = artful variation from typical way a word or idea is express

SCHEMES:

Parallelism

Zeugma

Antithesis

Antimetabole

Parenthesis

Appositive

Alliteration

Assonance

Anaphora

Epistrophe

Anadiplosis

Climax

TROPES:

Metaphor, simile, synecdoche, metonymy, personification, periphrasis, pun, overstatement (hyperbole), understatement (litotes), irony, oxymoron, rhetorical question 

Tuesday 9/18

In class you need to finish your rewrites of the AP test from last week.  This is due tomorrow.

If you finish you should begin researching Presidential Candidates and Issues.  

Also this week:

Read chapter 3 of Everyday Use, research a current event related to politics and post, read H.L. Mencken's "Portrait of An Ideal World" on page 402 and write a precis on it. 

Political Research

This week we will start researching political candidates.  First, choose three candidates and find out where they stand on at least three topics (you can choose more than three if you wish).  Topics could be things such as health care, energy resources, taxes and/or the economy, the issue in Syria, etc.

2nd, I want you to think about where you stand on the issues you've researching.  Do you agree with any of the candidates?  Which one?

3rd, I want you to analysis the candidates position: what's their argument?  How are they trying to convince their audience (who is their audience)?  What type of appeals do they use?  What types of supports?  Is there an occasion that's important beyond just the election?  

4th, You'll need to turn this in next Monday.

You will also need to start writing the first draft of your oration/persuasive speech on which candidate you want an audience to vote for and why.  This essay should be 3-4 pages in length and use outside sources.  You'll need address at least three different issues and try and use analogues, expert testimony, statistical/quantitative data, and facts (this are types of support).  You will need to also use the three appeals: Logos, Ethos, Pathos.

The first draft is due on Monday October 1st.

9/14

We will be workshopping and rewriting your in-class essays!

TIMED ESSAY #1

Using the following documents on community service requirements in high schools, write an essay explaining whether you believe that high schools in general – or your specific school or district—should make community service mandatory.  Incorporate references to or quotations from a minimum of three of these sources in your essay. 

HW:  Read "The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato (page 468).

Monday September 10th

Today:

Vocabulary Test #1 (SAT Words)

We will discuss chapter 3 of The Language of Composition and look at the synthesis AP question (note this is just an introduction to it).

We will also have a group activity that engages you in conversation.

HW: Reread the articles on community service in chapter 3.  Tomorrow you will have a timed-practice question involving it.

Lastly - You should begin researching presidential candidates and their positions on issues.  I will give you more time to do this in class towards the end of the week, but don't wait.  Here's an article, note the point of view (the speaker is on a side and does over persuasion here), to start with:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/opinion/krugman-obstruct-and-exploit.html?smid=pl-share

Thursday/Friday and Monday

Thursday:

Today we are going to finish reviewing your syntax exercises and rewrite your precis on Swift's "A Modest Proposal".   Also look at Everyday Use chapter 1.

HW: Study vocabulary and read, "Why I Went Into the Woods" by Thoreau.  Vocabulary quiz on Monday.  News/Video posts due on Friday.

Friday:

I will be marking the Cross Country course for the meet during lunch and 5th period.  As a group I want you to write a precis for "Why I Went Into the Woods".

HW: Read and post outline of chapter 3, The Language of Composition.

Monday: Vocabulary quiz.

Vocabulary Words

In honor of your 1st vocabulary quiz (on Monday), here are some more slides:

I'm watching!

Everyday Use chapter 1

RHETORIC refers to two things:

1)   the art of analyzing all the language choices that a writer, speaker, reader, listener might make so that a text becomes meaningful

2)   The specific features of texts, written or spoken,  that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, effective

Rhetorical Triangle:

1)   Subject – and kinds of evidence

2)   Audience – their knowledge, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs

3)   Speaker – the character of the rhetor

Sometimes a rhetor creats a persona or mask

SIX KEYS: understanding persona, understanding appeals to audience, understanding subject, understanding intention, and understanding genre

Key #1: Persona

The speaker, or rhetor, wants to do two things: 1) speak or write so that the audience members perceive a distinct character, usually one who is educated, considerate, trustworthy, and well intentioned; second make inferences and judgments about the character and personality of another writer or speaker

Key terms: voice, tone (speaker’s attitude toward the subject he/she is writing or speaking about), diction, irony, effect

Key # 2: Appeals to Audience

Three kinds of appeals: Logos (clear, reasoned central idea developed and supported with appropriate evidence); Ethos (evidence that the speaker, writer is credible, good, believable, trustworthy person who has his/her audience’s best interests in mind); Pathos (the emotions and interests of the audience).

Key #3: Subject Matter and Its Treatment

1)   Topic, proposition, question or issue (be able to recognize) and offer two paths of interpretation.

2)   Successful writer/speaker generates effective material by capitalizing on what the audience already knows, making them curious to know more about the topic, and satisfying their curiosity by providing facts, ideas, interpretations that build on what they know

3)   Claims-plus-support.  Thesis statement with supporting points, and these points proven by facts, details, examples, illustrations, and reasons

CONTEXT (modifying the basic rhetorical triangle) – a convergence of time, place, people, events; PURPOSE and GENRE. 

Key #4: Context

What immediate situation propelled the writer to create the text (background information on topic, persona, etc.)

Context can be immediate or distant (current events or historical patterns)

Key # 5: Purpose

What does the author wants to happen as a result of the text. 

Key #6: Genre

 Think about modes of composition (narration, definition, compare and contrast, etc)

Context plus purpose leads to genre.

What do the authors say about rhetoric and citizenship?