Practice Essay #3

 The excerpt below is from William Hazlitt’s “On the Pleasure of Hating” (1826). Read the excerpt carefully. Then write an essay that argues your position on the value—if any—of hatred.

[W]ithout something to hate, we should lose the very spring of thought and action. Life would turn to a stagnant pool, were it not ruffled by the jarring interests, the unruly passions of men. . . . Pure good soon grows insipid, wants variety and spirit. Pain is a bittersweet, which never surfeits. Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust: hatred alone is immortal.

In your response you should do the following:

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that may establish a line of reasoning.
• Select and use evidence to develop and support your line of reasoning.
• Explain the relationship between the evidence and your thesis.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

Special Edition Blog Plop your homework assignment here

 Post your Last Child in the Woods Essay here. In the comments, tell us what score you think you earned based on the rubric for the rhetorical analysis essay. 

A GREAT thesis, a GREAT introduction

 Having a great thesis and introduction are must haves for this blog post. If you did not watch the video about writing a GREAT thesis statement, you MUST!!! It it the video that will change your entire essay approach. Having a great thesis demands that you use ideas INSTEAD of devices and that makes the entire essay different. 

So, I am going to give you a prompt. Your job is to write a GREAT thesis statement based on one of the formula's from the video. UNDERLINE IT inside of your GREAT introduction!!!!

In the comments, you MUST challenge any thesis statements and introductions that are NOT great because on Monday, you will draw an introduction (which will contain a thesis) out of a grab bag and will have to write your essay based on whichever  you choose. If they are ALL great, there should be no problem writing the essay and conclusion for it. 

Here is the prompt I want you to use for the GREAT introduction which will contain a GREAT thesis statement. 

(Suggested time—40 minutes.  On the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., labor union organizer and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez published an article in the magazine of a religious organization devoted to helping those in need. Read the following excerpt from the article carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the rhetorical choices Chavez makes to develop his argument about nonviolent resistance. 

Use this link to go the essay in it's entirety. Scroll to page 9. 

link

Practice Essay The Commencement Address at Mount Holyoke

  In 1997, then United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave the commencement speech to the graduating class of Mount Holyoke College, a women’s college in Massachusetts. Read the following excerpt from her speech carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the choices Albright makes to convey her message to the audience. 

SET YOUR TIMER FOR 35 MINUTES

SINCE YOU HAVE ALREADY READ THE PROMPT AND PREPARED YOUR ESSAY, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO JUST START WRITING!!!!!

As an aside, please check the google classroom. Since there are 4 days in between now and when I will see you again, you are going to complete the assignments from the end of video #1 and then watch the entire VIDEO #2. There is a quiz on Tuesday. You must watch and complete the assignments she gives you in video #2 before class on Tuesday. 

What the Bagel Man Saw Rhetorical Analysis!

Knitty Gritty

 Video with instructions

So, this is a video that is really good and at first glance seems really long. The writing assignment, in the end, is just to edit or rewrite the opening paragraph. However, getting to that point and really understanding it will require watching the video. There are some parts in the beginning that you can skip, like the introduction and her explanation of how things are going to work for the next few weeks, but you will be able to tell when she is getting down to business. This is practice for the rhetorical analysis essay. We will be doing 4 lessons with this passage. When you get towards the end of the video, she will have up on the screen an opening statement that she is asking you to rewrite. You will come to learn in the next few videos (which we will do this upcoming week) that she is actually teaching you about how to establish a "line of reasoning". So, watch this and then post a rewritten or edited thesis. You do not need to comment on classmates posts this week. All 20 points will be based on your rewritten thesis. 

Shut Up and Listen

 Our next unit in AP Language will be economics. As a warm up, watch this Ted Talk, Shut Up and Listen.

After listening to the talk from Ernesto Sirolli, write a rhetorical analysis of what his argument is and how he convinces his audience of this argument. 

1984 and Stop and Frisk

 THIS ASSIGNMENT FOR EVERYONE. Those who did not participate in harkness were emailed a separate assignment. 

I inadvertently posted this on the wrong blogger account, so it is now Saturday evening and I am just realizing that. For this reason, the blog is not due until Monday night. 

Stop and Frisk, Right or Wrong?

https://www.commonlit.org/texts/stop-and-frisk-right-or-wrong

1984 and this article both consider the difficulty in finding balance between protecting people's freedom 

and keeping citizens safe. In 1984, the totalitarian government allows its citizens no freedom, which they 

supposedly do in their best interest. Discuss whether or not the government should be able to violate 

citizens' freedom if it is in their best interest. What dangers arise when citizens assume that all government 

actions are undertaken in their best interest? Who gets to decide what is in the citizens' best interest?

Think about the 3 slogans and what they represent in the book. Education, Technology and 

Leisure.Applythis article to what we are reading as well as to current events. 

Equality Act

So,

We are reading 1984. It is now 2021 and the equality act has been passed by the House of Representatives and is now going to Congress. FROM A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE, how might this Act cause a problem?

Here is a link that can help you discern what it is about. You are welcome to use additional resources if you would like

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/house-passes-equality-act-which-bishops-warned-would-punish-religious-groups-44682

Propaganda

 https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/truth-commission-lessons-in-propaganda?mc_cid=ed6b4f5134&mc_eid=86d517b7f8

What is this author's argument? And how does he go about making that argument?

Strange Case Essay Due Wednesday at the beginning of class

 Write an essay that compares Dr. Jekyll’s repulsive indulgence in Mr. Hyde with any sort of addiction.  Include the various stages of Dr. Jekyll’s association with Mr. Hyde and the various stages by which one becomes drawn into evil.  Is Dr. Jekyll culpable of the crimes of Mr. Hyde?  Why or why not?  Finally, after Hyde commits murder, what evidence is there that Jekyll never thoroughly stopped “loving” Hyde, and so was never really resolute in his decision to quit Hyde permanently?

Science and Reason are friends

 You are all embarking on  a mission of discovery. You are teaching yourself about a topic of science that is controversial in nature. So far, you should have 4 resources. After doing some background reading and taking some notes, tell us about your topic and how the science being developed is meeting controversy. Are humans taking the science and using it unethically? Are humans taking a gift from God and using it against what his will and intent for it may have been? Is the science using unethical approaches to develop the discovery? Give us a quick summary of your topic and then discuss some of the facets of applying ethics to topic you chose. This blog post should be AT LEAST 300 words. 

"The Birthmark" (Since I posted the blog late at 9:17 AM on Saturday, you have until 9:17 on Monday to post.

 Using evidence from the text, write an essay explaining why Aymler, the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark", undertake his fatal experiment?

Thanksgiving Synthesis

Head over to your google classroom to open the prompt for this blog assignment. I was not able to put a live link on here because it is not a file I was able to share publicly. 

Synthesize This

 So, writing an argument paper that is research based helps teach you how to do two things:

1. How to structure an argument

2. How to synthesize sources

So, I am putting a link in here to a synthesis essay from a past exam. I want you to follow the directions carefully, and write the essay into this blog post. Be sure to time yourself. You have 15 minutes to review the sources and choose which ones you will be using, and then 40 minutes to write the actual essay. We are looking for progress here, not perfection. Good luck!

Synthesis Essay

Nancy and Amy are Friends

  http://pnhs.psd202.org/documents/jpatel2/1508346311.pdf

Here is the link to the prompt I would like you to tackle today in class since I did not post a blog this past weekend. This essay is written in the same spirit as "Mother Tongue", but Amy Tan. This is just an excerpt, but the essay is fantastic and worth reading. Here is a link to that must in case you are interested. 

https://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/MairsOnBeingaCripple.pdf

The Feast of All Saints

 Choose a current issue that our world is facing. Explain the issue, and then find a saint to whose intercession would be the most helpful and argue why that saint is the best choice. 

So, two jobs, one is to find and articulate a current world problem about which we need to pray. Your second job is to research a saint whom you think would be helpful to us in regards to this problem. 

Finally, on the Feast of All Saints, which is Sunday, November 1, say a prayer to that saint about the issue you have listed. After every classmates blog, respond, AMEN. 

“Is This the Country the Founders Envisioned?”

 This is where you will post the essay you will be reading aloud on to a disc or a usb so that it can be turned in and heard by the judges at the Emporium VFW. Your audience is a group of men and women who are Veterans of Foreign Affairs. Think about your audience. You are being tasked with answering the question, and then supporting that claim. Remember, a good rhetor establishes authority or appeals to the shared values of the writer and the audience. The writer can also garner support for the argument by using statements from outside sources that support the claim.  A good rhetor also appeals to logic. How should your argument unfold? What are the ways that will most effectively reveal your argument so that it is not only easy to follow, but that will make it clear and convincing? Comparisons, maxims, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning? And last but not least, you  must consider the emotions of your audience. These are men and women who love their country very much. They are proud to have served their country and many of them made sacrifices that many of us cannot even fathom. So, think about this before you sit down and just blast something out with your thumbs ten minutes before the deadline. These men and women deserve more than that, and each of you are capable of more than that. Be honorable to yourself and to your gifts and to everything you have learned about how to write a good, solid argument. 

I will be editing these before you are going to be permitted to record it. Post it on blogger and then print it out and bring it in on Monday. No late assignments will be accepted. 

Practicing our LOGOS with a little creativity!

 Fable Writing 

A fable is a short narrative that exemplifies a moral or principle of human behavior; that is usually stated in the conclusion of the story. The characters, setting and actions become a symbol of human nature. 

Directions:

 Go online and research Aesop’s fables at https://aesopfables.com/

 Read some of the fables you find and gather some ideas for your own writing. 

After researching, you will write your own fable. 

Criteria:

 Entire fable less than 250 words 

Title

 Plots actions must lead to the moral 

Moral must be given in last line of the story

 Keep it simple and specific 

Be original (not based on example fables) 

Uses appropriate language

 Use correct grammar, punctuation, etc.

Old Sojourner Due Sunday, October 4 by midnight

This is another rhetorical analysis essay. I DO NOT want you to split this essay up in logos, pathos and ethos. We need to get out of that poorly formed habit. So, in order to avoid that, I am posting a link to a video that will help you. 

Helpful video

Do NOT use the words logos, pathos and ethos in the essay. If you need some help, there are ten million rhetorical analysis essays online, even samples from this exact prompt. Fake it till you make it is not a bad strategy. HOWEVER, if you cut and paste an essay into this blog, you will flunk for the quarter, so while it is okay to look at some samples to get an idea of what you should aiming for, do not cheat. If you cheat in college you get kicked out, and this is a college class. So, proceed with caution. 

After her escape from slavery, Sojourner Truth became a vocal supporter of the abolitionist movement and the feminist movement. In 1851, Truth attended the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Hhio, where a group of men monopolized the audience with biblical evidence for keeping women subservient. Truth, who had not planned to speak, felt compelled to respond. She stood and gave the following speech. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Sojourner Truth makes to convey her message that women should have more rights. 

 Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say. [1]