DAY 04 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-28-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
Today, you received an article about the history of the State of the Union Speech. 
You also recieved a handout of the material posted below, but which you may get here, too.

IN CLASS TODAY:

Together, we discussed the logical arguments in Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail."  We began by listing the essay's Major Premises and Enthymemes. We then looked at Minor Premises.  The goal is for you to become increasingly comfortable determining premises, stated and unstated, and to be able to state them crisply and clearly. It will take practice!

At this point, you should feel somewhat comfortable doing the following when reading an essay, looking at an ad, or hearing a speech:

• Recognizing the author's basic assumptions (the major premises and unstated beliefs, or enthymemes), i.e. what does the author believe is true about human nature and the world we live in?
• Identifying the specific cases used in the argument (the minor premises or samples), i.e. what does the author believe about specific people or specific situations? What evidence is the author providing?
• Determining how ethos is established, i.e. how is the author seeking to gain your trust?
• Discerning appeals to your emotions, i.e. how does the author want you to feel? Why? How does the author seek to create this emotional response?
• Understanding the author's purpose, i.e. what does the author want you to do, feel, or think? Are you being asked to change anything about yourself or your actions?
• Understanding the author's sense of audience, i.e. who does the author think he or she is speaking to? Is his or her understanding of the audience accurate?

CLASS NOTES:

Class notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK:

• 1. Listen to the State of the Union Speech (8:00 central statndard time), the Republican response, and apply the above principles and questions to these speeches. Be ready to discuss your answers in class with J.S. tomorrow.  I know that some of you have late practice, but you should be able to find links to the speech or to the text of the speech at http://www.whitehouse.gov/, and check out the Republican response at http://www.gop.com/, or through any major newspaper site.
  
  2. Apply these same questions to “College Pressures” and be ready to discuss that essay further on Friday.
  
• 
  
• COMING UP:
  

After the "College Pressures" essay, we will read George Will's "Virtue Versus Values."  Mr. Stephens will be your sub on Thursday and Friday of this week.  At the end of next week, you will be turning in a written analysis of an essay from the book OR of the State of the Union address (televised tonight).  In that analysis, you will be asked to answer the questions posed above in an essay of several paragraphs.  This assignment will be given to you on Monday, but you have enough information here to get started.

DAY 03 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-25-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:


Today, you received a handout with questions for analyzing "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

IN CLASS TODAY:

Together, we diagrammed the following sentences from the book:
Have you met my friend Mary?
The renters altered, that is, nearly destroyed, the apartment
They have strength, speed, and mental toughness--the right qualities.
We then started to go over "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," studying the different types of appeals and answering questions about the essay.  We practiced identifying major premises and fallacies, too.

CLASS NOTES:

Class notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK:

• Read "College Pressures" by William Zinsser on page 396 of the Essays book.  Using the handout from today's class, use colored pencils or highlighers to identify passages employing logos, pathos and ethos.  Do the entire essay.  On Wednesday, we will discuss this essay and do an analysis of it.

COMING UP:
After the "College Pressures" essay, we will read George Will's "Virtue Versus Values."  Mr. Stephens will be your sub on Thursday and Friday of this week.  At the end of next week, you will be turning in a written analysis of an essay from the book OR of the State of the Union address (televised later this week).  In that analysis, you will be asked to:
- Identify and explain the logical, ethical and pathetic appeals.
- Determine the intended audience.
- Expose the presence of any fallacies.
- Justify your agreement or disagreement with the argument using your own appeals.

DAY 02 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-21-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

Today, we began with a review of the first five words from unit 6 and added five more: effigy, equity, inane, indictment, and indubitable.

We then brought out our sheets observing classroom behavior from other classes, and in small groups, I had you complete the following statements based on your own observations and conjectures:

In classes, girl students tend to ______________________, while boy students tend to _______________.  This is because ___________________________________.  Meanwhile, male teachers tend to ___________________________, while female teachers tend to _______________________.

We then reconvened as a group to start picking apart Katha Pollitt's essay, looking at her major premises.  We went back and looked at Tannen's essay, revisiting her major premises.

Pollitt says the major differences between genders are created by society and we should move past them.  Deborah Tannen says our major differences are hard-wired and we should cater to them.  What are their biases? The strengths and weaknesses of their arguments? You've done your own observations, enough to form an opinion of your own.  What do you think?  What are your biases?

The purposes of reading these two essay were:

1. To start practicing assessing arguments and analyzing the parts of them.
2. To engage you to the point of having an opinion of your own.

That's what good analysis can do--drive you to have new ideas and beliefs that make life (and class) more interesting.

Incidentally, American Heritage Dictionary defines "doll" as follows:
doll (dŏl): n. A child's usually small toy having the likeness of a human.

Just sayin...


CLASS NOTES:

No class notes for today.

HOMEWORK:

• Read Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in your Essays book. List ALL of the major premises (stated or enthymemes) you can find on a separate piece of paper and bring it with you to class.
• Review the unit 7 of Sentence Diagramming.
• Bring your vocabulary book with you to class Monday.

DAY 01 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-20-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
Worksheet on Deborah Tannen's Premises and Arguments in "Conversational Styles"
Worksheet on classroom dynamics for your other classes.

Worksheet on Katha Pollitt's "Why Boys Don't Play with Dolls."

IN CLASS TODAY:

You took a quiz on the elements of rhetoric.

We then started our discussion of Deborah Tannen's article, "Conversational Styles." I opened with the question, "How true is this essay?"  After you debated about the essay in general for a while, I had you take a look at her specific premises and state your agreement or disagreement with them on a case-by-case basis, and then revisit the debate.  I asked you to focus your comments on specific premises rather than the overall thrust of the essay and to seek an alternative view to your own; in other words, to conduct conversation like you're shopping for a new opinion.

I then passed out a worksheet so you can put her theories and your own to the test by oberving what happens in other classrooms.  We'll discuss this tomorrow and see whose theories hold up under testing.

CLASS NOTES:

Class notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK:

• Read Katha Pollitt's "Why Boys Don't Play with Dolls" in your Essays book.  Complete the worksheets (links to both are at the top of this post):
• Worksheet on classroom dynamics for your other classes.
• Worksheet on Katha Pollitt's "Why Boys Don't Play with Dolls."
• Bring your vocabulary book with you to class tomorrow.

DAY 05 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-19-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

We covered the material in the rest of the introduction, except the fallacies for pathetic and ethical arguments.  You'll find examples in the power point.

CLASS NOTES:

You took your own, but you must review the Power Point for more.

HOMEWORK:
Quiz on introductory material will be on Wednesday. Review the Power Point and prepare for the quiz on that material tomorrow. Read "Coversational Styles" and annotate by Deborah Tannen on page 253 of the Seagull Reader: Essays book (if you are using the first edition, the essay appears on 231). Try to determine areas of strength and weakness in her argument using the information you learned in the introduction.

DAY 04 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-18-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

We began the day by diagramming the following sentence: Do you know your friend Adam's email address? Do you remember how? (HINT: There's an appositive!)

Then, we looked at a Power Point presentation starting to cover the following:

LOGOS: LOGICAL ARGUMENTS
Deductive
major premise
minor premise
conclusion
valid
sound
true
false
enthymemes

Inductive
sufficiently large
Accurate
Representative

Tomorrow, we will cover the following:
Deductive Fallacies
Invalid
Non sequitur
Red herring
false-cause fallacy (post hoc, ergo propter hoc)
Begging the question
either-or fallacy

Inductive Fallacies
Hasty generalizations
Anecdotal evidence
Flase analogy
Special Pleading

ETHOS: ETHICAL ARGUMENTS
What defines them?
Ad hominem

PATHOS: PATHETIC ARGUMENTS
What defines them?
bandwagon
appeal to tradition
appeal to pity


CLASS NOTES:

You took your own, but check out the Power Point for more.

HOMEWORK:
Quiz on introductory material will be on Wednesday. For Tuesday, read "Coversational Styles" and annotate by Deborah Tannen on page 253 of the Seagull Reader: Essays book (if you are using the first edition, the essay appears on 231). Try to determine areas of strength and weakness in her argument using the information you learned in the introduction.

DAY 03 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-14-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

First, we resumed unit 7 in the Sentence Diagramming workbook.  Tricky stuff, but we did a few sentences together and you have answers to the rest.

Then we (barely) talked about the introduction to the Seagull Reader: Essays book and just tried to clarify the material covered by the introduction, which included some basic terms:

LOGOS: LOGICAL ARGUMENTS
Deductive
major premise
minor premise
conclusion
valid
sound
true
false
enthymemes

Inductive
sufficiently large
Accurate
Representative

Deductive Fallacies
Invalid
Non sequitur
Red herring
false-cause fallacy (post hoc, ergo propter hoc)
Begging the question
either-or fallacy

Inductive Fallacies
Hasty generalizations
Anecdotal evidence
Flase analogy
Special Pleading

ETHOS: ETHICAL ARGUMENTS
What defines them?
Ad hominem

PATHOS: PATHETIC ARGUMENTS
What defines them?
bandwagon
appeal to tradition
appeal to pity


CLASS NOTES:

No notes today.

HOMEWORK:
Review the introductory essay to make sure you understand its elements.  We will cover it in depth on Monday.  Really.  Even if I have to use a cattle prod. You will have a quiz on Tuesday on the material.  And then we will start judging the arguments of others: wheeeeee!  For Tuesday, read "Coversational Styles" and annotate by Deborah Tannen on page 253 of the Seagull Reader: Essays book (if you are using the first edition, the essay appears on 231). Try to determine areas of strength and weakness in her argument using the information you learned in the introduction.

DAY 02 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-13-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

Today, you received a copy of several advertisements from a magazine.  Because I photocopied the pages, they are not available for download from the class wikisite. Please see me if your need a copy.

You also received a handout about appositives in sentence diagrams. 

IN CLASS TODAY:

Today, we worked on Unit 7 in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook, and you received an additional handout on appositives.  Remember that an appositive (a word, phrase or clause) renames another word phrase or clause in the sentence.  Wondering if something is an appositive?  Take out a word and see if it still works:
- Those flowers are pretty.
- Those flowers are pretty. Yup. This makes sense.
- Those Flowers are pretty. And this makes sense too.
So... Those (flowers) | are \ pretty
We also looked at possessives used as nouns, and expletives.  Today's lesson was tricky.  We'll practice these concepts tomorrow, too, before moving on.
After that, we spoke about yesterday's video clip and started to analyze HOW he tried to persuade the judges.  We looked at appeals to reason, to emotion, and how he tried to present himself as being worthy of listening to.  We also looked at his intentions.

Afterward, we analyzed a few advertisements, and the hidden assumptions behind them.  We used a chart to help:
               REASON                  EMOTION                 AUTHORITY

THINK



DO




FEEL

HOMEWORK:
Read and annotate the introduction in your Seagull Reader: Essays (2nd Ed.), Edited by Joseph Kelly.
The introduction appears on pages 3-21 of the text. It is not an easy read throughout, since it presents information in much the same way a textbook does. The toughest part will be understanding "logical arguments," but the rest should go fairly smoothly. Take notes, concentrate, read it AWAY from the computer/cell phone/TV/anything with an on switch and do your best. We'll start talking about the ideas tomorrow, and you'll have a quiz on the introduction on Thursday. Why a quiz? Because the material presented in the introduction constitutes the set of tools we will be using in the rest of the unit to build a better understanding of the art of persuasion: if you don't fully understand the tools and how they work, you can't build much. If you have questions about what you read or are having trouble, feel free to post a comment here. That way, I'll have a good idea of where we need to focus our efforts tomorrow!

DAY 01 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-12-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

Today, we began with the first five words of Unit 6 in the Vocabulary Book: abject, agnostic, complicity, derelict, and diatribe.

We also officially began the Argument Unit, in which we will:

• learn methods of persuasion,
• analyze a variety of arguments presented to us in a variety of media,
• evaluate some examples of argument for effectiveness,
• and attempt our own written argument in response to an issue raised in our studies.

In having you incorporate an argument based in reason, an argument based on emotions, and a demonstration of mastery of the material in your essay on Montana 1948, I was giving you a bit of a pre-test for this unit.

Today, we wrestled a bit more with the concepts that in the next few days we'll be naming: logos, pathos and ethos.

To begin, I had you talk to a partner about the ad and the article you brought in, answering the following questions about each.

1. Does the article/ad want you to DO something or THINK something or FEEL something (or a combination of these)? Name its intention.
2. You chose these articles and advertisements because you thought them effective.  Justify that choice.  (Be aware that with the article, part of your motivation may be "Because it reaffirms what I already think.")  What are the sources of their effectiveness?
3. For whom is the article/ad intended? What makes you think that?
4. From the prespective of both the article and the ad, I asked you to complete the following statement: "You,     describe intended audience member here    , should        do/think/feel  what?           because                                           ."   For example, an ad for an athletic shoe might read You, an athlete who takes his/her workout seriously, should wear our brand of shoe because its precisely engineered for intense athletics.

Tomorrow, we'll be talking more about just HOW articles and ads get you to think this way, but for today, we're still just getting our feet wet.

To continue, we looked at the following sample of an argument taken from the television series Boston Legal (included here with thanks to Mr. Daniel Sharkovitz of Martha's Vineyard Regional High School).  We watched the clip twice.  The first time, I just had you watch.  The second time, you watched with pen in hand, and I asked you to look at how the protagonist tried to score points with his arguments.  We discussed his approaches and tried to see some patterns in our ideas.




CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today.

HOMEWORK:
For Wednesday:Write up an explanation of HOW the lawyer in the clip above seeks to changethe minds of the judges. Consider not only his message, but how he delivers it.  Your analysis will form the basis of our discussion tomorrow, sobe thorough.  I will check homework again.  For tomorrow night, you will need to use the book that appears below.  Please make sure that you own it.  Bring your Sentence Diagramming workbooks to class. 

COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT (DUE THURSDAY):
Read the introduction which appears on pages 3-21 of the Essays text.  It is not an easy read throughout, since it presents information in much the same way a textbook does.  The toughest part will be understanding "logical arguments," but the rest should go fairly smoothly.  Take notes, concentrate, read it AWAY from the computer/cell phone/TV/anything with an on switch and do your best.  We'll start talking about the ideas tomorrow, and you'll have a quiz on the introduction on Monday.  Why a quiz? Because the material presented in the introduction constitutes the set of tools we will be using in the rest of the unit to build a better understanding of the art of persuasion: if you don't fully understand the tools and how they work, you can't build much.  If you have questions about what you read or are having trouble, feel free to post a comment here. That way, I'll have a good idea of where we need to focus our efforts on Thursday!

DAY 05 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02: 01-11-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. You wrote your verdicts judging Wes innocent or guilty of being liable for Frank's death. You were to base your arguments in a reasonable appeal, and appeal to emotion, and a demonstrated knowledge of the book.

CLASS NOTES:

There were no notes for today's class.

HOMEWORK:
Find and print (or copy) ONE advertisement and ONE newspaper opinion-editorial that you would describe as "effective" for whatever reason (the ad doesn't even need to have words).  Bring your vocabulary book to class tomorrow; we will begin unit 6.  You will find links to op-ed sections below (listed alphabetically).
The Boston Globe
The Chicago Tribune
The Financial Times
The Los Angeles Times
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The New York Post
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post (you have to create a free account to get to their material)

DAY 04 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 01: 01-08-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. We opened by discussing rules for discussion so that everyone gets a change to make his or her case fully. 
   
2. Then, we discussed!

CLASS NOTES:

Notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK:
Using Wednesday's and Friday's notes to help you, you are to write a full summary of both the case for and the case against Wes. That means you will have two summaries. Each should outline both the argument and the key pieces of evidence. No matter which side you agree with, do both sides justice, and represent them as fairly and thoroughly as possible.


These documents will be extremely useful in the in class writing assignment on Monday in which you issue a verdict for or against Wes, making a case for your decision. Your goal is to convince me that your verdict is the right one because it is reasonable given the facts of the case, inspires in me an appropriate emotional response to Wes's character, and demonstrates a firm command of the novel's evidence. You may use the 12-sentence format, or deviate from it as your argument requires, but your final product must have three pieces of evidence.

You will turn in both your summaries and your verdicts at the end of the period.

DAY 03 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02: 01-06-09

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. We began with Sentence Diagramming, going over "Exercise 6: Predicate Nominatives and Predicate Adjectives."  This is review for you, but some of the sentences were a bit tricky.  A good trick is to circle the subjects and verbs in the original sentence, as we did in the sentence: He became angry and silent and left the room. Once you have that identified, it's easier to pick apart the sentence and figure out where things go.  Also, don't forget the flow chart tricks!

1. 
2. Then, I checked your homework--a list of four reasons to consider Wes guilty or innocent of the charge of being liable for Frank's death.
3. Then, you were asked to consider yourself in one of four possible roles for the purposes of today's discussion, depending on how strong an opinion you had:
   Prosecuting Attorney: Your job is to convince others that Wes is accountable for Frank's death. That means you need to prove your case; you might be convinced of his guilt, but others are not, and your job is to get them to think like you do. How will you do that? Cater to their emotions? Show them through logical analysis of facts? Dazzle them with your clearly superior knowledge of the subject matter?
   Defense Attorney: Your job is to defend Wes from these charges, and prove to others that he cannot reasonably be held responsible for Frank's death. Like the Prosecuting Attorneys, you are out to make a compelling case that cannot be ignored. How will you convince others? Through an appeal to reason? An appeal to emotion? By demonstrating your own clearly superior insight into the novel's details?
   Character Witness: Your job is to provide evidence. When either of the attorneys make their cases, your job is to give back up by providing the evidence they seek, offering details, and if you can find them, citing specific passages for the attorneys to talk about. This requires a good sense of the book's details.
   Judge: Your job is to ask questions of the attorneys and witnesses in order to get a clearer picture and to force attorneys to make better, more compelling cases. You will need to listen carefully to discussion and ask good follow up questions, and be willing to demand substantiation from others: What makes you think that? But if that is true, then why this ?, etc.
   
4. We then discussed the charges, and I took notes.

CLASS NOTES:
Notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK:
WE WILL CONTINUE DEBATE ON FRIDAY.  We will spend the first 5 minutes devising a structure for making sure the conversation does not turn into a free for all.  Like a regular courtroom, we will allow both sides to make their cases in full, without interruption, and judges need to be impartial.

Homework for Friday, then, will be the following:

Using Wednesday's and Friday's notes to help you, you are to write a full summary of both the case for and the case against Wes.  That means you will have two summaries.  Each should outline both the argument and the key pieces of evidence.  No matter which side you agree with, do both sides justice, and represent them as fairly and thoroughly as possible. 

These documents will be extremely useful in the in class writing assignment in which you issue a verdict for or against Wes, making a case for your decision.  Your goal is to convince me that your verdict is the right one because it is reasonable given the facts of the case, inspires in me an appropriate emotional response to Wes's character, and demonstrates a firm command of the novel's evidence. You may use the 12-sentence format, or deviate from it as your argument requires, but your final product must have three pieces of evidence.

You will turn in both your summaries and your verdicts at the end of the period.

DAY 02 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02: 01-05-10

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

There were no handouts for today.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. We opened with some sentence diagramming review of the following sentences.  This week, we will continue with sentence diagramming.
   Wes was very frightened.
   Did he really believe Frank?
   David feels absolutely unmoored
   Gail shot the cumbersome shotgun.
   
   
2. Then, I checked your homework--a prepared set of notes for today's discussion on the following questions:

• What allows Grandpa Hayden to be so dismissive of the law? Consider internal and external factors (e.g. personality, culture, socio-economic status, etc.)
• To what extent is Wes Hayden dismissive of the law?
• Much of the book considers law vs. lawlessness, or civilization vs. wilderness.  Where do we see these forces conflict with one another, specifically for Wes,for Gail, and for David?
• Is Wes Hayden master of his own fate? Is Frank?
• ADDED: Is Wes a good brother?

    3.  Your reading quizzes were returned to you yesterday in your mailboxes. Please see me with questions or concerns.

CLASS NOTES:

Notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK:
Wes Hayden has been charged with being liable for Frank's death.  That means he can be held legally responsible.  Do you agree or disagree that this is a reasonable charge?  Come up with at least four reasons as to why Wes can be held responsible or why he can't; you may have reasons for both sides.  One of your reasons must appeal to a sense of REASON (e.g. be a logical argument), and another must appeal to a sense of EMOTION (e.g. try to make the listener angry at or sorry for Wes).  You are to write dow your reasons and bring them to class with you tomorrow, where they will be spot-checked.  Please bring your sentence diagramming workbook as well.

DAY 01 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02

WELCOME BACK everyone!
HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

You were given your grade printout at the end of class.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Montana 1948 reading quiz.
2. Small group activity centered on selecting scenes from the novel that best help us answer essential questions about the book's main themes:

• What allows Grandpa Hayden to be so dismissive of the law? Consider internal and external factors (e.g. personality, culture, socio-economic status, etc.)
• To what extent is Wes Hayden dismissive of the law?
• Much of the book considers law vs. lawlessness, or civilization vs. wilderness.  Where do we see these forces conflict with one another, specifically for Wes,for Gail, and for David?
• Is Wes Hayden master of his own fate? Is Frank?
• ADDED: Is Wes a good brother?

    3.  Review of final exam, grades, comments.


CLASS NOTES:

Notes for today may be found here.

HOMEWORK
The four questions addressed in today's group activity will form the basis for discussion tomorrow.  You are to use the notes from today's class, review the scenes selected by the groups, and select ONE question to talk about.  You are to prepare a separate page of notes for class discussion tomorrow that outlines your answer to the question, lists pages on which evidence can be found, AND an explanation of how that evidence proves your point.  I will spot check notes at the beginning of class on Tuesday.

COMING UP:
On Wednesday and Thursday, we will be putting Wes Hayden on trial in class as being liable for Frank's death.  I will be asking you to use evidence from the novel, and to make appeals to both reason and emotion.

On Monday, you will arrive to class with a summary of the arguments for and against Wes, and you will be hand-writing a verdict in which you declare him guilty or innocent of the charge.  You may use your book and your summary that you prepared as homework to help, but that is all.  You will not be able to use class notes.  At the end of the period, I will collect both your argument summary and your verdict.