Friday, March 23, 2012

AGENDA 3/23

Grammar Practice: Semicolons #3
Discuss assignment directions for Gatsby paper
Model annotations of "Tom Buchanan" passage and draft working thesis. Remember to write notes explaining your thinking in addition to highlighting/underlining. Working thesis should contain your overall thoughts about the passage's significance and give the devices you intend to examine, even if it's not a fluid thesis yet.

HW: For Monday, finish reading the book if you haven't already. Select your passage and either type it, photocopy it, or handwrite it neatly in ink. Then, annotate the passage fully and draft a working thesis. Quiz over semicolon use on Wednesday; practice Semicolon Use #4 on your own. Review this helpful handout to learn the three basic rules for semicolon use.

Some great passages:
Description of first glimpse of Gatsby in Ch 1 (trembling/green light)
Myrtle's small apartment in Ch 2
Party scene @ beginning of Ch 3
Daisy's wedding day in Ch 4
Clock scene in Ch 5
Shirts scene in Ch 5
Gatsby's reinvention of himself in Ch 6 (founded securely on a fairy's wing)
Daisy & Gatsby's first kiss in Ch 6
Daisy and Tom eating cold fried chicken in Ch 7
Description of Daisy's dating life in Ch 8 (twilight universe)
"Barbed wire" passage in Ch 8
Description of Gatsby's death in Ch 8
Final paragraphs of the book in Ch 9

Thursday, March 22, 2012

AGENDA 3/22

Debrief strategies for rhetorical analysis "Flamingo" essay
Discuss chapters 7 and 8 of The Great Gatsby

HW: Finish reading the book and select 3 potential passages to analyze

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

AGENDA 3/21

Review vocabulary for The Great Gatsby
Presentation: Senior English Elective Choices by Ms. Reichle

HW: Read chapters 7 and 8

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

AGENDA 3/20

Timed essay: rhetorical analysis

Monday, March 19, 2012

AGENDA 3/19

Quick Pop Quiz over details/events from Chapters 4-6
Review for rhetorical analysis essay - timed write tomorrow

ELEMENTS OF A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS BODY PARAGRAPH:
Thematic statement (optional): What ideas about human nature are shown/revealed in this part of the text? Like a mini-hook, but used to open the paragraph instead of the essay as a whole. Example from Chapter 6: The first kiss--that moment when anticipation becomes reality, and confirms that our feelings and love is real.

Claim: Author uses _____ (device) in order to ________ (purpose). Example from Chapter 4: Fitzgerald uses the repetition of the color white to show the conflicting emotions that Daisy has toward her wedding day.

Evidence: Meaningful 1/2 sentence to introduce a direct quotation from the text that shows the device in action. Meaningful 1/2 sentence needs to include author's name, an argument verb (e.g., illustrates, suggests, reveals, asserts, displays, etc.), and a description of what to notice in the quotation that follows... Example from Chapter 5: Fitzgerald portrays the inward tension Daisy feels when he writes that she sits "frightened but graceful on the edge of a stiff chair."

Analysis: Choose most important individual words and discuss connotations. Example from Chapter 5: By using the word "stiff" to describe the chair, Fitzgerald reminds us that even the furniture echoes the tension the characters feel in this awkward reunion between two former lovers. The chair is as rigid and "stiff" as the past, and there is nothing Gatsby or anyone else can do to change that.

Link: What does this device reveal in terms of theme or argument? Why does this part of the text matter? Example from Chapter 4: Thus, the repetition of white confirms both Daisy's innocence and blankness--she is making the wrong choices for ignorant reasons, and will end up lonely and cold. The color white is often associated with weddings in America, as it connotes purity and newness, but as we consider the sacrifice that Daisy makes in choosing stability over passion and love, it's worth remembering that in many other cultures, the color white is more appropriate for a funeral than a wedding.

HW: Prepare for rhetorical essay--as practice, consider choosing a passage from chapters 1-7 and note striking words, devices, and write a thesis explaining Fitzgerald's purpose/argument in the passage.

Friday, March 16, 2012

AGENDA 3/16

Quick Pop Quiz over events/details from Chapter 3
Watch MTV's My Super Sweet 16 episode "Ariel"
Discuss episode and connections to our society--how might we use this in an argument essay body paragraph?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

AGENDA 3/15

EAP Essay Test

HW: Read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby; complete the multiple choice questions on the "China" passage only (23-33...allow yourself 11 minutes!).

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

AGENDA 3/14

Discuss questions/what we noticed in Ch 2 of The Great Gatsby
Analyze close reading passage from Chapter 2 in small groups, then discuss

HW: Read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby; complete the multiple choice questions on the "China" passage only (23-33...allow yourself 11 minutes!) for Friday. EAP test tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

AGENDA 3/13

Discuss questions/what we noticed in Ch 1 of The Great Gatsby
Analyze close reading passage from Chapter 1 in small groups, then discuss

HW: Read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby

Thursday, March 8, 2012

AGENDA 3/8

Review last night's homework assignment - brainstorm responses to the Mencken prompt


HW: Prepare for tomorrow's timed argument essay.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

AGENDA 3/7

Peer Review of body paragraphs
Submit introduction and two body paragraphs with relevant cover sheets attached to the front and with the peer responses stapled to the back

HW: Write an introduction and body paragraph for the 2011 Mencken essay prompt (on the back of your entertainment prompt). Responses must be typed or handritten neatly in ink and are due at the beginning of the period.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

AGENDA 3/6

Analyze students' introductions in front of class for "Entertainment" prompt:
  1. clear and engaging hook?
  2. complex thesis that offers a clear position on whether entertainment has the capacity to ruin society?
  3. summarizes Gabler's argument and spells his name correctly?
Examine Notes on Argument Essays handout--look at sample introductions and a sample body paragraph

Quickly review with a partner evidence you'll use in your body paragraph, then write one in class


HW: Be ready to turn in an introduction (hook & thesis) and two body paragraphs tomorrow on this topic. Responses may be typed or handwritten neatly in INK. Use all of the handouts and your notes to help you, and email if you get stuck!