AGENDA 9/21

Sample Critical Annotation in MLA format

Tips for MLA format:

Create a hanging indent in Google Docs

Create a hanging indent in Word

Create a header in Word

MLA Manuscript Format

HW: Please review our list of topics related to The Boys in the Boat and submit your Critical Annotation to Turnitin.com before 9pm tonight. Please complete your 200 pages of reading for this grading period and see pust for a book check ASAP. Late penalties for the book check will start next Wednesday, 9/30. 

AGENDA 9/18

Answer any questions regarding Critical Annotations assignment due Monday to Turnitin.com (bring hard copy on Tuesday).

Small group discussion of Anytown budget cuts: focus on articulating your reasons (what are the benefits/disadvantages), your evidence, and understanding how these relate to the original warrants (e.g., what are the purposes of school in the first place?).

HW: Critical Annotations assignment due by 9pm Monday to Turnitin.com.

AGENDA 9/17

Review list of topics related to The Boys in the Boat that we could use to research and create a Critical Annotation

Introduce the rest of the vocabulary words from The Boys in the Boat and complete the vocabulary chart (or make flash cards, if you prefer)

HW: Critical annotation on a topic related to The Boys in the Boat due on Monday, typed and in MLA format. Continue to work on independent reading (complete 200+ pages by 9/22) and learning vocabulary words from Ready Player One and The Boys in the Boat.

AGENDA 9/16

Getting Started and Wrap-Around Share: Generate list of topics related to The Boys in the Boat that we could use to research and create a Critical Annotation

Introduce first seven vocabulary words from The Boys in the Boat and complete the vocabulary chart (or make flash cards, if you prefer)

HW: Critical annotation on a topic related to The Boys in the Boat due on Monday, typed and in MLA format. Continue to work on independent reading (complete 200+ pages by 9/22) and learning vocabulary words from Ready Player One and The Boys in the Boat.

AGENDA 9/15

Class discussion: Amanda Ripley's "The Case Against High School Sports"

Questions to consider:

• What did you annotate?
• What was your symbolic word, most important sentence, and most important paragraph?
• Which part would be most compelling to someone who disagreed with Ripley's views?
• Where does Ripley make emotional appeals or tug on the reader's heartstrings?
• Which evidence is the strongest or most compelling?
• What is the purpose of the concession paragraph on page 3? To what extent is this paragraph self-contradictory? How does it add to her argument or help persuade the audience?
• What might Ripley oversimplify or overlook in her argument? What could she add to further support her claims?

HW: Continue to work on independent reading (complete 200+ pages by 9/22) and learning vocabulary words from Ready Player One and The Boys in the Boat.

AGENDA 9/11

Read, Annotate, Reread, Funnel "Winning Isn't Everything, But Don't Tell Anyone" by Jack Bowen
Discuss and write two-sentence summary of Bowen's claim.

We talked about: unfamiliar vocabulary, clarifying confusing parts (e.g., what's a pinch-runner?), stylistic purpose of the three anecdotes (Why is each included? Why does Bowen arrange them in this order? What purposes do they serve together? How does each build on the former?) and his overall purpose/argument.

HW: Read, Annotate, Reread, Funnel Amanda Ripley's "The Case Against High School Sports"and write a two-sentence summary of Ripley's claim. Be prepared to discuss overlaps and points-of-difference between Ripley's piece and the other "winning" essays/editorials/letters we've read: Bowen's, Schwartz's, and Roosevelt's.

AGENDA 9/8

Review and discuss the editorial "Our Unhealthy Obsession with Winning" by Tony Schwartz.

Our notes from class today (both periods together in one document)

HW: Reread President Roosevelt's "Proper Place for Sports" and write a two-sentence summary of his major claim/argument. Be prepared to discuss both President Roosevelt's piece and Tony Schwartz's pieces more fully tomorrow. Continue to study vocabulary words, and begin your independent reading book--complete 200 pages before 9/22.

AGENDA 9/4

Warmup: Quickwrite on "winning"

Continue Escalating Questions Group Discussion over pages 39-40 of The Boys in the Boat

HW: Read, annotate, reread, and funnel (RARF!) the editorial "Our Unhealthy Obsession with Winning" by Tony Schwarz. Be sure to be consistent with your annotation system. Then, write a two-paragraph response to Schwarz's piece: to what extent to you agree or disagree with Schwarz's claims? What evidence can you include from the editorial itself or from your own personal experiences, observations, current events, The Boys in the Boat, or other texts to support your claims?

AGENDA 9/3

RPO Vocabulary Practice #3

Homework Review: RARF (Read, Annotate, Re-read, Funnel!) for The Boys in the Boat and President Roosevelt's "Proper Place for Sports"

• What is your partner's annotation system? Can you explain/understand it?
• What parts were confusing? Can you solve them together?
• What parts were important/significant? Did you choose the same parts, or find multiple places in the text that matter? How did you choose?

AGENDA 9/2

Homework Review/Peer Revision, BB Funneling One-Pager: Let's examine our responses and note how we discussed the choices the author made in terms of symbolic words or important sentences. What patterns can we find in the language? Who is the intended audience? How would we describe the tone? How do all of these choices reflect the author's purpose?

Four Main Purposes of Writing

Additional Practice: Rhetorical passage from pages 39-40 of The Boys in the Boat. Apply the annotating and funneling strategies again, this time making sure to select the important sentence/symbolic word from different paragraphs within the passage. What's the author's purpose/meaning in this text? What is the tone? Who is the intended audience? Which word(s)/sentences matter most to express that purpose/meaning? Remember RARF: Read, Annotate, Re-read, Funnel!

HW: Practice the annotating and funneling strategies again, this time using RARF with President Roosevelt's "Proper Place for Sports," a letter he wrote to his son. Be ready to discuss the tone, important sentences/words that achieve purpose, and stylistic choices that Roosevelt makes for his intended audience.

AGENDA 9/1

Introduction to Annotation and Funneling

Some thoughts about annotating texts:

• It's time to have a system! You can use highlighters, symbols, or a combination of underlining/circling. What matters is consistency--adopt this system for reading not only literature/NF in English class, but also history, science, etc.
• What to look for:
• unfamiliar vocabulary
• parts that are confusing or need clarification
• parts that showcase the author's writing style
• important ideas or takeaways from the text: What are we supposed to learn or realize here?

Visual from the board to describe annotating

Funneling practice using Boys in the Boat

Visual from the board to describe funneling

HW: Read and "funnel" Passage #4 from the practice handout. Then select ONE of the four passages to write about--explain your most important sentence and most symbolic word in a one-pager, using the author's name, Brown, as much as possible, to keep the focus on Brown's tone and choices. This may be handwritten neatly in blue or black ink or typed in MLA format and is due tomorrow. If you need an extension, please contact me today. :-)