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.
  
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• 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.