Reading = Listening; Writing = Speaking; Thinking = UnderstandingEng 1 Pre-AP

REVISED GRADING (see 4/27 blog):Everett Public Schools has adopted A, B, C, Incomplete grading criteria for Spring semester courses:

A/4.0: This is for students who had an A on March 17, or who had a lower grade and have shown both progress to core learning standards and engagement during distance learning. [Baker's take: A or A- on March 17 = A]

B/3.0: This is for students who had a B on March 17, or who had a lower grade and have shown either progress to core learning standards or engagement during distance learning. [Baker's take: B+, B or B- on March 17 = B]

C/2.0: This is for students who had a C on March 17 and is also the foundational target for teachers to work with students who had lower than a C, to engage them in learning. [Baker's take: C+, C or C- on March 17 = C; D+, D, F on March 17 = below C]

I (Incomplete) is the rare option for circumstances that might warrant it. Students assigned an “incomplete” for a course will be given opportunities to reengage in the essential learning standards AFTER THE SEMESTER according to a district process and timeline to be developed soon. [Baker's translation: what you get if you had below a C- on March 17 and you do NOTHING new]

Engagement is defined as participation. This may include (but is not limited to): Exchange of academic work; responsive to teacher assignments and feedback [Baker's translation: full attempts] Evidence of independent work (logs) [Baker: not applicable to my classes] Connecting with teachers via email, phone, Zoom [Baker: hit me up! jbaker@everettsd.org] Logging on to Canvas, Google Classroom [Baker: uploading work on Googledrive/turnitin.com or sharing it with me via

email] Participating in Zoom class meetings [Baker: not applicable to my classes]

Progress is defined as work that demonstrates meeting, or growth towards, core/essential learning standards. Each teacher should identify the core/essential learning (“priority standards”) on which students should focus and that can be reasonably learned through distance learning tools, while recognizing the individual circumstances of students and multiple ways of demonstrating progress to standards.

I read, thus I know.I write, thus I answer.I think to know the answer.

I read to find out what’s new.I write to show what I “got.”I think to “get” what’s new.

I read to explore.I write to contribute.I think to decide.

I read to listen to others.I write to speak to others.I think to understand myself, others and how we relate.

BOTTOM LINE: The new District policy is A stays A, B stays B, C stays C if you submit nothing new. Only if you want to improve a B to an A, a C to a B/A do you need to do something new.You can engage/make progress meeting the "priority standards" in your course with "full attempt" scores on 2/4 summative assessments. (I can do this because the assessments are two literary analyses and two rhetorical analyses, so the same standards are covered more than once.) Only if I have NOT received full attempts (1.5 grade or higher, not INC) on 2 summatives by June 18 will I assign an INC grade for the course to a student who had a D+, D or F on March 17)

What is the CLEAR, DOABLE PATH to improving my grade?

I will count the highest 2 summative scores--from your Unit 2 Assessment, the Multiparagraph Argument, Unit 3 Assessment (upcoming) and Unit 4 Assessment (upcoming)--and drop the lowest 2, so you can focus narrowly to take/retake/revise these to get them to “full attempt.” They will count as progress to improve your grade.

I will credit your scores for formatives submitted before the break--and if you submit full attempts for missing/inc formatives and/or any formatives I assign during the break, these count as engagement to improve your grade.

You are ALSO still allowed to propose a replacement summative--if I accept your proposal, it will count in place of one of the four above. Hit me up via email!

Yes--this means: if you already earned passing grades on the Unit 2 Assessment and the Multiparagraph Argument, you do not have to do the other summatives to improve your grade (but you can for the learning/practice experience, the potential even higher grade, to count as “engagement”)—you can just focus on formatives, if that is better for you.

The Essential Learning Objectives are for every person to: Figure out new and familiar subjects, perspectives and languages in/with texts. Hone speaking, listening, reading, writing, researching processes and strategies. Use experience, resources, sources and tools successfully for tasks. Manage high stakes (testing, etc), grow from class, thrive in real life language situations.

TimelineJan 29 What is learning?

Midpoint reflectionJan 30 Performance Task: Literary Analysis of Poetry (Unit 2 Assessment)Feb 3 The subject is: Perspective (Unit 3)

Fact, Opinion, Perspective, ArgumentFeb 4 Personal Narrative: Toni MorrisonFeb 5 Personal Narrative: Danial AdkisonFeb 6 Author’s TechniquesFeb 7 Myers-Briggs Types (16personalities.com) and Functions (Heidi Priebe)Feb 10 Multiparagraph Argument Planning/DraftingFeb 14 Intro and Conclusion Paragraphs (Dana Goldstein, Derek Thompson’s Religion of Workism)Feb 19 Writing Tactics/Style Choices

Author’s PurposeFeb 20 Rhetorical Analysis for RevisingFeb 24 Summative Multiparagraph Argument DUE to TURNITIN.COM by midnightFeb 25 Nonfiction Essay: Ben SasseMar 3 Document the MomentMar 4 Public Service Announcement: NBC’s The More You KnowMar 5 Design Briefs due for 2 PSAsMar 9 Extra Credit Assignment (see blog for details)Mar 11 PSAs due from all groupsMar 12 Retake of Unit 2 Poetry Analysis Assessment in class (work period for non-retakers)Apr 20-24 Journalism Narrative: Lexington (The Economist magazine)

Rhetorical AnalysisApr 27-May 1 Journalism Analysis: Derek Thompson’s Teenagers Have Stopped Getting Summer Jobs—Why?

Argumentative Writing ProcessMay 4-8 Synthesis of Perspectives: What are authors’ views on the value of work for teens?

Comparison/ContrastMay 11-15 Performance Task: Rhetorical Analysis of Nonfiction (Unit 3 Assessment)

Retake (Optional) of Unit 2 Poetry Analysis AssessmentMay 18-21 The subject is: Narrative Openings (Unit 4)

Film Openings: KubrickEpisode Cold Opens: Goor and Schur; Daniels, Gervais and Merchant

May 22 and May 25

HOLIDAYS

May 26-29 Verbal Narrative Openings: Orwell, Morrison, EggersModel analysis: Grady

June 1-19 Fan Theories as Interpretation: BTS, berry852, jintellectually/BRISxLIFE, BTStheoryPerformance Task: Literary Analysis of Fiction (Unit 4 Assessment)

Course Grading PolicyEach student selects a body of work to demonstrate the essential learning objectives of the course for summative grading (based on the rubric and grading scale below) by the final semester deadline. The work may include in-class and/or out-of-school writing or analyses, tests/quizzes, nonverbal texts, etc—by agreement with the instructor. Formative (practice) work will be graded based on full attempt (4.0 if minimum requirements ALL attempted; INC—equal to 0—if one/more minimum requirements not attempted).

Course Grading Formula

Formative Work 30%Summative Work 70%

Grading ScaleJHS Pre-AP Scale LETTER GRADE

3.50-4.0 A3.33-3.49 A-3.16-3.32 B+3.00-3.15 B2.82-2.99 B-2.66-2.81 C+2.50-2.65 C2.32-2.49 C-2.16-2.31 D+2.0-2.15 D0.0-1.9 F

Scoring Categories4 EXEMPLARYThis work exceeds standard across most areas; it demonstrates mastery. It is model work, an example others could follow.3 PROFICIENTThis work meets standard across most areas; it demonstrates proficiency. It shows the student is capable but could use polishing in order to exceed standard.2 EMERGINGThis work is below standard across most areas. It demonstrates basic skills or articulation of ideas but needs to be refined (by revisiting instruction/practicing) in order to meet standard.1 INCOMPLETEThis work demonstrates an incomplete articulation of ideas or skill set across most areas. It shows a need to return to fundamentals (additional instruction/practice) in order to meet standard.

Assessment RubricBelow Standard - At Standard “at” + Above Standard

Apply/analyze basic NARRATIVE STRATEGIES, TEXTUAL STRUCTURES, TRANSITIONAL STRATEGIES used for

coherence.

A Apply/analyze some narrative strategies (dialogue, description, pacing), text structures, transitional strategies (closure, intro of point of view, dialogue to describe) used for coherence; use/analyze enough relevant details and precise words and phrases for brief narrative texts.

Apply/analyze EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE STRATEGIES and

PROCESSES for writing and analyzing texts intended for ALL PURPOSES.

Use/analyze minimal RELEVANT DETAILS for writing or analyzing brief narrative

texts.

B Apply/analyze some strategies (stating and maintaining a focus/tone, developing a complex topic/ subtopics, vocabulary) for brief informational/ explanatory texts; apply/analyze skills/knowledge of ways to develop a topic by organizing ideas, using appropriate language to maintain a suitable focus/ tone, enough relevant supporting evidence.

Use/analyze PRECISE LANGUAGE.

Use/analyze minimal SUPPORT AND ELABORATION for brief INFORMATIONAL/

EXPLANATORY texts.

C Write/analyze full informational/ explanatory texts—both print and digital—with specific purpose and audience: organizing ideas, appropriate language to maintain a suitable focus/ tone, gathering, assessing, integrating enough relevant supporting evidence.

Use/analyze RELEVANT AND PERSUASIVE EVIDENCE.

Use/analyze some APPROPRIATE TEXT FEATURES.

D Use/analyze text features (formatting, graphics, multimedia) with some attention to audience and purpose.

ASSESS AND SYNTHESIZE supporting evidence.

Produce/analyze ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS; including COUNTERCLAIMS.

E Apply/analyze strategies for brief argumentative texts: develop a claim by organizing and citing some supporting evidence and counterclaims, providing transitional strategies for coherence, using language to maintain a suitable focus/tone.

SELECT TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS based on appropriateness.

Demonstrate basic AWARENESS OF AUDIENCE AND PURPOSE.

F Write/analyze full argumentative texts—both print and digital—developing a specific claim by integrating some relevant supporting evidence, developing claims and counterclaims appropriate for audience and purpose, providing a concluding statement (articulating implications or stating significance of the problem), using language to maintain a suitable focus/tone.

Apply GRADE-APPROPRIATE EDITING AND REVISING SKILLS.

Pay limited attention to WORD CHOICE AND/OR SYNTAX.

G Demonstrate attempts to use/analyze varied syntax, vocabulary (including some academic and domain-specific vocabulary and figurative language), style appropriate to the purpose and audience.

Demonstrate some CONVENTIONS of grade-appropriate Standard English

GRAMMAR USAGE and MECHANICS used to clarify.

H Apply and edit most conventions of grade-appropriate, Standard English grammar usage and mechanics.

Apply/analyze some REVISIONS to narrative, informational, argumentative

texts.

I Follow directions when using tools of technology to gather information, make revisions, produce texts.

Use basic TECHNOLOGY tools and resources, with support, for gathering

information, making revisions, producing texts.

Glossary of Rubric TermsTerms underlined below are also entries in the glossary.

Academic vocabulary—wording used by real world scholars writing about the topic as opposed to everyday words people use. Analyze is academic language; think about is general language, for example.

Analyze—to take information, data or evidence apart and explain how it works, what it means or why it is important for your writing purpose specifically. Restating what something says is not analysis; commenting or agreeing/disagreeing with information is also not analysis.

Appropriate—wording that is a good match for the purpose, for the audience or for the task; inappropriate or mismatched writing would offend, confuse, go off-track. The word suitable is synonymous with appropriate; both mean that your writing choice is “right” for the situation, audience, topic, format, etc.

Argumentative Texts—writing that gives proof that a view or perspective is true or should be accepted. Arguments are proven by laying out claims, logical reasoning (also analysis), evidence, counterclaims and conclusions for the audience to judge as convincing or not. This contrasts with informational/explanatory texts that explain and elaborate on a topic so the audience can understand it fully.

Assess—to judge or decide if a word, strategy, revision, format, etc is useful and/or appropriate, effective or ineffective, correct or incorrect.Audience—the reader of a text or visual; Smarter Balanced defines the audience for most writing prompts.

Bias—presenting or analyzing information, not fairly or objectively, but from one point of view or perspective only (excluding other possible views); a person has a bias (we also say “is biased”) toward or against something if he/she is only willing or able to see it from one point of view, when other views exist as well.

Brief Texts—in Smarter Balanced, only part of a full essay, report, story or investigation (one paragraph, one step or one passage, for example). Brief texts, to be understood, must state ideas concisely and clearly since they are too short to develop ideas in detail.

Cite—to name the source of information you quote, paraphrase or refer to; this can be done within parentheses at the end of the sentence or with a phrase like According to… Different types of sources use different conventions for citation—see “print source” and “digital source” below.

Claim—in argumentative writing, claims are statements you must support with evidence to prove, explain or demonstrate, or else the audience may not agree or accept them. Claims include your thesis, topic sentences and even analysis and conclusions.

Clarify—to choose wording that makes it easy for your audience to understand your meaning; specifics are an effective way to clarify.Coherence—if the ideas within a text are logically connected to each other by YOU—ideas do not get off-track, disconnected or lost—your writing is coherent.

Transitions that guide the reader, especially when a text gets complex or detailed, help keep coherence.Complex Topic/Subtopics—when writing informational/explanatory texts, a complex topic is a subject which has several characteristics, steps or parts; a simple

subject would have only one characteristic. A complex topic can be made up of a number of simple subjects (called subtopics) that you combine together in your writing.

Conclusion—the closing or end to a paragraph, report, essay or investigation, used to point the audience to the “so what?” of what was discussed or to suggest next steps to take as a result of what was learned. Implications of proving an argument or conducting investigation are their conclusion.

Consistency—like focus and coherence, consistency is staying on-track. Writing that is consistent keeps the same verb tense or mood, pronoun number, voice, tone going instead of shifting without reason or going back and forth. See Conventions Rubric.

Conventions—ways a real world audience expects a writer to use words, punctuation, capitalization, sentence structures and text features. In the Conventions Rubric, you will find “rules” to follow (like capitalizing “I” when you are refer to yourself); there are also conventions of style (referring to an author by his/her last name—not first—when you discuss a text for example).

Counterclaim—a claim you include in your argument that disagrees with, contradicts, opposes or responds with an alternate view to the claim you are proving is true. Addressing counterclaims makes an argument stronger, not weaker, because the reader feels like you have considered all the options instead of being biased.

Credible Source—a person, organization or publication the audience would likely trust for information on a topic (usually because it is not biased, is recognized as an expert and/or has education or experience to make it worth respect). In argumentative writing especially, writers often explain why a source is credible as part of his/her analysis of evidence, to be sure the audience accepts it.

Describe—to provide details or specifics that make a reader understand what something looks, sounds, feels, moves, smells, tastes like. Vivid words are the most effective descriptors (a big guy vs a lumbering hulk, muscular and weighing a ton). Metaphors, images and other figurative language cause readers to imagine the subject for themselves; description presents it directly to them.

Details—pieces of information in a text that—put all together—define the subject or argument. Details can be things, people, actions, descriptors, dialogue, steps, colors, etc. Specifics are a type of detail.

Develop—think this: an ENVELOPE can enclose blueprints or plans; DEVELOPMENT of that blueprint constructs a neighborhood. Developing in writing is taking the plan for an idea and “building out” all its connections and parts so they work as they should. Writing that is undeveloped states a plan, but it doesn’t build it out fully for the reader. Arguments are developed with evidence and reasoning; explanations are developed with details and elaborating; narratives are developed with vivid words and organizing.

Dialogue—writing out the exact words said by people, usually with quotation marks at the beginning and the end of the speech.Digital source—articles, books, lists, interviews, stories, pictures, tables of data or other information that was meant to be viewed on a computer. Page numbers,

tables of content, titles and other “print source” conventions are usually not part of a digital source (example: a website might be 20 pages of material if you printed it out on paper, but no website has a page 1, page 2, page 3, etc). You cite the author/creator of a digital source, if known; you cite its title of it if no author name is given.

Domain-specific vocabulary—specific words used to study the skills and concepts of English, Mathematics, Social Sciences, History, Science, Career and Technical Education, Health and Fitness or other “areas” (“domains”). Hypothesis is a domain-specific word from Science; metaphorical from English; problem statement is from Career/Tech; food diary is from Health.

Domain-specific content—topics in a text that are studied in English, Mathematics, Social Sciences, History, Science, Career and Technical Education, Health and Fitness or other “areas” (“domains”). Line slope formula is domain-specific content for Mathematics; cultural or social norm is for Social Sciences; The Mayflower Compact is for History.

Edit—to correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization and mechanics errors (see Conventions Rubric), add necessary parts, delete irrelevant parts, spell-check and finalize the format of a revised draft of writing.

Elaborate—to make connections between ideas, add details to show ideas’ complexity, sequence them or state your reasoning/analysis about them to show how ideas lead from one to another in your narrative, informational/explanatory or argumentative text. Extending basic ideas to create complex sentences, listing details, layering specifics and charting a cause to effect path of ideas are all strategies for elaboration.

Evidence—examples, statistics, quoted statements or other data you use to show the reader that your claim or view should be accepted. Evidence may come from a text (which you cite) and it may come from your own experience or knowledge. So, you might both cite data from a study on eating oranges you read in an article and describe your own eating habits to argue, explain or narrate a text about the nutritional value of fruit.

Explanatory—see “informational/explanatory” below.

Figurative Language—devices like metaphors, similes or images that cause a reader to feel, imagine or sense something by inferring how it looks, sounds, moves, etc rather than having it described specifically by the text. Reading rippling waves of wheat, for example, causes readers to “feel” a breeze, “hear” a shushing sound, “see” a wide landscape—without saying any of those things.

Focus—including only the necessary information for your claims, topic or task. Losing focus happens when writing includes information that is disconnected or irrelevant, skips to other topics or claims or repeats what it has already covered.

Format—to follow a template or conventions for how writing is laid out on a page. MLA essay format includes a title, page numbers and certain text features; list format may include bullets to mark each item; lab report format has certain sections like hypothesis, methods, data analysis and conclusion.

Full Texts—unlike brief writing, a full write includes all the parts of an essay, report, etc—usually an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion. A full argument includes all components of proving its claims: thesis, evidence, analysis, counterclaim(s), conclusions.

Grammar—rules about how parts of speech [nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, articles, prepositions] change in order to make meaning in a sentence or phrase. Rules for making nouns plural, verbs past or present tense, prepositional phrases, capitalizing proper names, etc are all part of grammar. The Conventions Rubric describes these in detail.

Implications—the conclusions that follow logically—but are not stated in words—from what is said. Calling someone “little” in American English implies (but does not actually say) the person is young, for example. Proving with evidence that pollution hurts the environment implies (but does not prove) that humans need to stop polluting.

Infer—a reader filling in the logic implied by the writer is “making an inference” from the text. Writers imply things without saying them; readers infer things that the writer only hints at or that figurative language makes them imagine.

Informational/Explanatory Texts—writing that presents details and information to give the reader a full understanding of a topic or to clarify the meaning of an idea. Reports are informational writing; encyclopedias and glossaries (like this one!) are explanatory writing. Informational/explanatory texts contrast with argumentative texts by developing an understanding of a topic rather than proving claims through reasoning and evidence.

Integrate—to combine evidence, details, information with claims or topic sentences through elaboration and transitions to effectively present a topic or argument to a reader. Not integrating makes a reader feel like he/she is reading an outline or a filled-in-formula rather than a person’s expression of ideas.

Introduction—the opening of a paragraph, report, essay or investigation, used to show your audience that the subject is worth discussing BEFORE you support/elaborate on your specific argument or explanation of it. Many arguments and investigations point out the stakes—the consequences or benefits of understanding the topic—or the misunderstandings an audience might have as their introduction, to get their audience thinking of questions/issues before they read the argument or explanation.

Mechanics (of Language)—the appropriate choice of punctuation to fit the grammar and syntax of a sentence. If a writer has problems with mechanics, his/her semicolons might connect phrases that are not complete sentences or end a sentence when it is only a fragment, for example. See Conventions Rubric for specifics.

Narrative Texts—writing that presents events, steps or a process unfolding so a reader can understand it as if he/she experienced or observed it. All kinds of stories—fictional, literary, biographical or news—are narrative; the story is narrated—told—to the reader cohesively through connected scenes or other progression to maintain focus. Narratives can be incorporated into informational/ explanatory and argumentative texts (for instance, an example of someone’s life or what occurred during a historical event).

Organize—to plan the order of wording, progression of scenes/steps, sequence of ideas or structure of information in your writing to prevent the reader from getting lost or confused when reading. Some organizational strategies are obvious (beginning to end), others may be very effective, too (big picture to nitty-gritty details; outside to inside; most important to least important, etc).

Pacing—the “speed” of reading out loud caused by the high, low, constant or changing number of words, sentences or paragraphs a writer uses to express ideas, subtopics or parts of writing. Fast-paced writing may have many short active words (like this), while slow-paced writing may take advantage of longer words, punctuation that creates pauses, and phrases that include many separate words instead of singular ones (like this).

Parallel Structure—using the same pattern of wording, syntax, punctuation or organization more than once to make writing flow and/or to transition from idea to idea for the reader. In this glossary, all verbs are defined starting with “to…” for example. Within a sentence, using parallel structure is effective style (like: a child’s love, a dad’s heart and a mom’s care are all it takes to make a family; NOT: the love of a child, dad’s heart and if mom cares makes a family). See Conventions Rubric.

Paraphrase—to translate a person’s or a text’s words or ideas into new words that clarify their meaning for YOUR writing, purpose and audience (like this glossary). Just changing some of the original words is not paraphrasing; it’s re-phrasing—and that’s plagiarism!

Persuasive (Evidence)—usually evidence must be joined together and explained or analyzed by the writer for the reader to accept that it supports the writer’s claim; however, evidence that is persuasive is convincing to the reader without much explanation or with little analysis because its significance is clear. Credible sources, specifics, precise wording and accurate citing increase persuasiveness.

Plagiarism—using someone else’s words, data or material without giving them credit for it, even by accident, is plagiarizing. Plagiarism is considered cheating. To avoid it, always place someone’s exact words within quotation marks and cite the source you found the words in (whether that source is in writing or is sound, film or even a conversation in which he/she said it). If you paraphrase or use material from someone/a source, cite that source directly after your paraphrase, so the reader knows its source.

Precise—word use that is accurate does not mislead a reader but may not be clear or effective; word use that is precise clarifies, specifies or otherwise captures exactly the idea the writer is expressing. Inaccurate word use confuses a reader; imprecise wording leaves a reader with questions instead of understanding—writing a lot of people is imprecise; 8 out of 10 drivers is precise.

Print source—newspapers, books, magazines, posters, scripts, journal articles that are published on physical paper are considered print sources. Often a print source is also available published in a digital version (ebooks, online journals, etc). Print sources have conventions like title pages, tables of content, chapters, etc; print sources usually follow formats like newspaper column, magazine cover story, drama stage directions, etc. You cite the author and the page number—if the source has multiple pages—of the info you are quoting, paraphrasing or using from print sources.

Punctuation—the keyboard symbols used to signal how words relate to each other in a sentence: commas, colons, semicolons, dashes, periods, parentheses [, : ; -- . ()] etc are punctuation marks, which operate the mechanics of language—see Conventions Rubric.

Purpose—for writing, purpose is the inspiration, cause or intent you have for composing that specific argument, explanation, story or other text. Purpose connects the writer to the audience: YOU write so that THE READER thinks, does, knows, believes, etc something you intend for them to learn.

Relevant—related to the purpose, logically connected, unrepetitive and necessary information, details, evidence, wording, etc in writing.Revise—to re-view a draft of your writing so you can assess how to clarify, organize, develop, word, punctuate and produce a final version of your writing to achieve

your purpose as effectively as possible for your audience.

Sequencing—organizing evidence, claims, paragraphs, details or information in a progression from beginning to end, from step to step, from subtopic to subtopic or through another organizational strategy that connects ideas to each other to create coherence.

Significance—what impact, value, effect or use information or an event has for the writer or is likely to have for the reader. The conclusion of a full essay points to the significance of the explained topic or proven argument; every piece of evidence, detail, step or scene should be significant (because it is useful and relevant to the writer’s purpose).

Specific—the opposite of specific is general. Readers find specifics very useful to understand a subject because they make ideas concrete instead of vague—this glossary, in fact, is specifying concepts that Smarter Balanced uses. To be effective for your audience, use specifics—details that apply only to the individual topic, idea or event you are discussing, not more widely—or specify—describe, explain, narrate or make claims that define, narrow or differentiate the topic from others. Saying, Hydrogen is the only element with just one electron and one proton is specific; saying Hydrogen is a very basic element is general. See precise.

Spell-checker—a technology tool that checks each word in a text against a list of words in its database to find close matches. Be careful! A spell-checker can suggest a different word than you actually meant (like “posse” or “poses” for “possess”). The Smarter Balanced full write prompts make a spell-checker available—definitely (not defiantly!) use it!

Sources—a publication—the way someone’s work is made “public”—is its source. A newspaper is the source of a news article, a website for a webpage, an encyclopedia for an entry. Citing the specific source you found information in (Sports Illustrated’s February 2015 interview with Russell Wilson) whether you quote, paraphrase or just use material from it, is necessary to avoid plagiarism.

Standard English—see Conventions Rubric for capitalization, punctuation, grammar and sentence completion expectations.Strategies—a general name for “things writers do with language to make their writing effective.” If there is more than one way to do something, you assess which

strategy is best to use. Transition strategies include repetition, signal words, parallel structure; elaboration strategies include extension of sentences, sequencing details, linking cause to effect. Revision strategies include reading out loud, marking drafts, getting feedback, reverse-outlining, etc.

Style—the general name for the choices a writer makes about HOW to express him- or herself (similar to style in music). To be effective, style has to be suitable for the topic, audience and purpose. If you want to warn people about a serious danger, for example, you would probably not choose to write in a poetic, humorous or highly technical style. Tone, word choice, pacing and format combine to make a text’s style.

Suitable—a synonym for appropriate. Supporting—relevant and logically connected evidence, details, description, elaboration or information to show your reader what you mean about your topic or to

give examples or expert agreement that your claim is true.Syntax—the way that the parts of a sentence (subject, predicate, conjunctions, modifiers) work together to make sense. Runs dog home has incorrect syntax because

as a sentence, its order is mixed up, it is missing an article (a, the) and it may or may not need a preposition (to, from, toward, etc) to communicate what the writer means (is the dog running away from home, to it, at home?). Grammar rules apply to each part of speech; syntax is the organization of those grammatical parts to communicate your meaning.

Synthesize—to integrate multiple pieces or components of a topic, argument, story, process or procedure together to create something new and more complex from the parts. As in chemistry, synthesizing means gathering elements and then combining them in ways that result in a different outcome, not just the assembled parts themselves.

Text Features—reading text includes more than just seeing the words and punctuation. Options like font (the shape of letters), font size, font color, font style (like bold or italics or underlined, ALL CAPITALS or lowercase letters), alignment (words are centered, at the left margin, etc), visual graphics, embedded sound, animation, etc are all characteristics—features—of the text that help the writer to be effective. If a text uses features ineffectively, however, the reader can be overwhelmed, distracted or confused.

Text Structures—the strands that build a story from beginning to end. For narratives, structures include storylines, subplots, time/scene shifts, characterization, viewpoint of the narrator. These narrative strands are also known as elements of narrative.

Tone—the implied attitude of the writer toward the subject, information, topic and audience—inferred by the reader from the word choice and style of the writer’s text. For a single topic, different writers might have opposing tones. A text might be written to be supportive of tater tots, critical of tater tots, neutral toward tater tots, amused by tater tots, concerned about tater tots, etc.

Tools of Technology—computer spell-checkers, notes, comments, calculators, highlighters, word-processing functions (like B I U), navigating buttons (like ), operators (like ), search boxes and other aids writers can use to gather information, organize, plan, draft, revise, edit and produce digital texts.

Topic—in informational/explanatory writing, the subject you are explaining, describing, investigating, reporting or otherwise telling your audience about. For a full essay, you need a complex topic (or else you will not have enough to talk about). If you are proving something is true about a topic, you are stating claims and proving them with evidence and analysis in argumentative writing.

Transitions—sentences, phrases, words, and techniques (like repetition of key terms or parallel structure) that “give directions” to guide a reader from idea to idea in your writing, within AND between sentences, paragraphs, subtopics, scenes or steps. Chronological marker words like “first,” “next” and “finally” highlight

introduction, progression and closure of segments of information; fully elaborated signal statements like “Even though these views are all credible, there is still a reason to question them” direct the reader through the complexities of an argument or explanation. Emphasizers like “another,” “further,” “additionally” signal the connections between previous stated and new ideas.

Variety—the words, ideas, topics, purposes, sentence structures, text features, pieces of evidence, details, specifics or strategies YOU use, if BOTH numerous (more than one or two uses) AND different (more than one or two types) is varied. A text using various transitional strategies might include several chronological terms, a few emphasizing statements, as well as have parallel structure, intro/closure markers and repetition of key terms. A text lacking a variety of strategies would use only one or two types of transition, over and over.

Word Choice—writers select the words they use. Word choice can be effective or ineffective for the audience, topic and format depending on each word’s domain, precision, vividness and specificity. Word choice is ineffective if it is inaccurate, inappropriate or unnecessarily repetitive or if it does not match the tone, style or pacing well. ALWAYS avoid biased word choice (calling an unknown person “he,” for example; or stereotyping, using insulting language or including profanity) in writing.

Conventions RubricSentence Completion Punctuation Grammar UsageAvoids “fused” sentences [run together, comma splices] (They went to the store, they bought groceries.).

May use purposeful fragments such as “Not us.” or in dialogue.

Avoids sentence fragments that are not purposeful—such as restrictive phrases (Going into town) or dependent clauses (Because of the rain)

Semicolons between two independent clauses (I studied late into the night; consequently, I passed the test or I studied; I passed).

Colons to introduce a list or quotation.

Hyphenates commonly combined terms (self-driving but not high school).

Ellipsis […] to indicate a pause or break or to show omitted words.

Commas, parentheses or dashes to set off nonrestrictive/ parenthetical information [appositives, explanatory phrases/clauses] (Batman, the famous caped crusader, battled the Joker; The winner (a rookie) got attention; Our teacher loves sweets—birthday cake included)

Uses a comma• to separate coordinate adjectives (He wore an

old, warm shirt but not He wore an old, green shirt.)

• before a coordinating conjunction [and, but, for, nor, or, yet, so] in a compound sentence

• in complete addresses (12345 67th Ave., Spokane, WA)

• in dates (September 11, 2001)• with single words in a series (red, blue and green

signs OR red, blue, and green signs—both OK)• in greetings and closings of letters• to set off an introductory element from the rest

of the sentence (Therefore,)• to set off yes and no (Yes, thank you)• to set off a tag question (It’s true, isn’t it?)• to indicate direct address (Is that you, Steve?).

Parallel Construction in series• with single words [verbs particularly in informational and technical

writing] (A scientist observes, hypothesizes, and analyzes.)• with clauses (The coach told the players they should get plenty of

sleep, they should eat well, and they should do some warm-up exercises.).

• with phrases [infinitive] (Jamillah likes to hike, swim, and ride a bicycle.).

VerbsAvoids inappropriate shifts in verb tense.Consistent and appropriate voice and mood.Correctly uses • active and passive voices• indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, subjunctive moods• perfect tense (I had walked, I have walked; I will have walked)• simple verb tenses (I walked; I walk; I will walk)• progressive (I was walking; I am walking; I will be walking)• modal auxiliaries [can, may, must] to convey various conditions• past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (sat, hid, told)• regular and irregular verbs.

Uses verb tense to convey various times, sequences, states, and conditions a sense of past, present, and future conjecture (If I had driven, I would not have to walk home; You must

have walked home since you do not drive).

Uses frequently confused words correctly (apart, a part of; maybe, may be; everyday, every day; there, they’re, their; lead, led; you’re, your; it’s its; is biased, has a bias; effect, affect; used to, use to)

Avoids misplaced or dangling modifiers.PronounsAvoids inappropriate shifts in pronoun number and person and vague, ambiguous or unclear pronoun references (She and her sisters said it was theirs).

Capitalizationtitle/official name (President of the US vs the president says; Jackson High School vs in high school; Mom vs my mom)

titles of books

first word in a sentence

the pronoun I

names of people

days of the week

Apostrophes• in possessive nouns (one dog’s house, two dogs’

houses).• to form contractions• in [frequently occurring] possessives.

Uses commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from text.

NounsCorrectly uses • regular and irregular plural nouns• abstract nouns (childhood)• singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in

basic sentences (He hops; We hop)• collective nouns (group) • frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (feet,

Correctly uses • pronoun case [subject, object, possessive] (He and I go; Give it to

him or me; Its ours)• intensive pronouns (This is a book of yours; I, myself agree.)• relative pronouns [who, whose, whom, which, that] • relative adverbs [where, when, why]• common personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns [I, me, my;

they, them, their; anyone, everything, no one]• reflexive pronouns [myself, ourselves].

AgreementPronouns with antecedents [singular-singular; plural-plural](The teacher told each student to turn in his or her papers; The teacher told the students to turn in their papers; Everybody wants his or her own book bag; They all want their own book bags; He brought his dog to school; He and Gary brought their lunches)

months of the year

holidays

product names

geographic names

greetings and closings

children, teeth, mice, fish).

Conjunctions• correlative (either/or, neither/nor)• coordinate (and, but)• subordinate (because, although)• frequently occurring transitions (so, then,

however, also).

Correctly uses determiners [articles, demonstratives] (the book is by me; a book is needed; that book is hers)

Uses end punctuation for sentences.

Subjects with verbs [singular-singular; plural-plural](My friend and I go to recess together; Sally goes to recess with her friends; Neither the coach nor the player is going to the banquet; None of us wants a second helping of pie; The school board is an elected body; People with colds should stay home from school)

Includes pronouns to refer to a [close] antecedent (The boy walked his dog).

Adjectives/AdverbsUse conventional patterns to order adjectives within sentences (a small red bag, not a red small bag).Correctly use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs.

Daily LessonsJanuary 29

Learning something meaningful(ly) to me is a process. What do I mean?

I don’t think encountering something new—being told a fact, reading a definition, seeing a diagram, watching a demonstration, etc—is learning it. You are now aware that the new thing exists, but you don’t know or not know that thing. You merely remember it or you do not. Memory isn’t knowledge. Knowing something means YOU have connected it to the other things you know—that you’ve worked it into YOUR personal system of understanding.

I don’t think completing a task, even if you do it over and over, is learning either. You follow directions, which is going through motions. Being able to do something takes YOU deciding what is/is not worth paying attention to, YOU choosing what is best to do/not do, YOU judging the results. It takes YOU determining the steps to learn to do something.

I think learning is work—working through something, to be exact. So, I don’t think learning is likely to occur at all unless the thing to be learned is something YOU value. I believe the time/method of working through learning should be as much as possible under YOUR control.

That said, I am afraid that I may not be doing the right things to make THIS CLASS conducive to learning. Your thoughts?

For your first credited assignment, complete the midpoint reflection by the end of the period HERE.

You will have all day tomorrow and Friday to complete the postponed Unit Assessment on Poetry. You will have the same opportunities to revise, retake and/or to replace the Assessment.

January 30

Unit Assessment ReviewWHAT does your response have to be to pass?

TYPE: core argumentative paragraph(s).

Topic Sentence what claim am I going to test?Evidence where are data for my claim?Analysis how do data prove the claim—pass the test?Commentary why does it matter that this claim is valid?Hinges when do I attach elements to a frame—to TEACH?

Default TOPIC SENTENCE/CLAIM:In which specific passages, the poet expresses what aspects of which subject of the poem through which pivotal words/phrases.

The reader infers which understanding about the subject of the poem from the aspects expressed.Default EVIDENCE:

W hich specific phrases/words CHANGE the meaning of the subject [asked about by the prompt]

What: “quotes” IN THE TEXT

Data: ?? clue given?? ?? techniques used, ?? IN THE words you CITE.

Default ANALYSIS:Which data in the quotes logically connote/mean which specific things;

logically can not connote/mean which specific things; combine together to connote/mean which specific things.

Why: because these cause the reader to think/implies __ about ___ what the prompt asks about.

Default COMMENTARY:Because the poet crafts it this way, the text is able to change the reader’s view of ___ topic/issue in real life, NOT the poem.

What do you have to do to get an A:Remember the “insider knowledge” about College Board prompts…?

The prompt uses College Board’s term, pivotal words and phrases. So, if you use simple and complex sentences to explain how implicit and explicit parts of the text denote meaning, you are “proficient” (3/4 B).

The prompt doesn’t use the College Board’s terms, poet’s techniques or text’s effects. However, if you use simple and complex sentences to explain how specific examples of style in implicit and explicit parts of the text that denote meaning ALSO connote the tone and/or theme, you are “exemplary” (4/4 A ).

Here is the rubric the District will use to compute your score:

English 1 Unit 2 Performance Task SCORING (same as Unit 1 except for “poet’s use of pivotal words/phrases” instead of “author’s use of telling details.”)Score Reading Analysis Writing

4 (Advanced) Thorough comprehension of the source text and an understanding of the most important detailsFreedom from errors of interpretation regarding the textSkillful use of textual evidence (quotations, paraphrases, or both)

A perceptive analysis of the explicit and implicit meanings of the text A well-considered evaluation of the poet’s use of pivotal words and phrasesRelevant, sufficient, and strategically chosen support for claims

Cohesion and the highly effective use and command of language A logical structure, with an insightful claim, effective order, and clear transitions A strong command of the conventions of standard written English, with almost no errors

3 (Proficient) Effective comprehension of the source text and an understanding of important details Freedom from significant errors of interpretation regarding the textAppropriate use of textual evidence (quotations, paraphrases, or both)

A reasonable analysis of the explicit and implicit meanings found in the text An adequate evaluation of the poet’s use of pivotal words and phrases.Relevant support for claims

Cohesion and an adequate use and command of language A logical structure, with a plausible claim, effective order, and transitions An adequate command of the conventions of standard written English, with only slight errors that do not interfere with meaning

2 (Partial) A very basic or general comprehension of the source text and an understanding of some details Some errors of interpretation regarding the text Limited and/or inconsistent use of textual evidence (quotations, paraphrases, or both)

A limited analysis of the explicit and implicit meanings of the text A limited evaluation of the poet’s use of pivotal words and phrasesLimited or weak support for claims

Little to no cohesion or command of language An inadequate structure, with an unclear claim and a lack of adequate transitions Several errors in the conventions of standard written English that interfere with meaning

1 (Inadequate) Little to no comprehension of the source text and a lack of understanding of important details Numerous errors of interpretation regarding the text Little to no use of textual evidence (quotations, paraphrases, or both)

Little to no analysis of the explicit and implicit meanings of the text Little to no evaluation of the poet’s use of pivotal words and phrasesLittle to no support for claims

A complete lack of cohesion or command of language A missing or inadequate structure, with no identifiable claim and few if any transitions Many errors in the conventions of standard written English that interfere with meaning

February 3Nothing on the desks—all phones, devices, etc PUT AWAY. No pens, paper—NOTHING.

I believe there is a direct connection between what the educational concepts of learning and knowledge are and are not and what concepts fundamental to the English curriculum are: Fact, Opinion, Perspective, Argument.

Let’s see what you know/remember/were taught/learned about these:

World War II ended in 1945.

Which category does this fit, and why is that the right category?(Careful to answer the question asked, not a different question, “is this true/false?”)

A cheatsheet for these concepts:Fact details info description widely accepted by recognized/credible authorities/sources on

the subject

Opinion takes a stance toward info selection by individual of what is/isn’t most valued info about the subject

Perspective puts info in context position from which info is perceived and/or accessed, relative to other positions for the same subject

Argument tests info method of validating/invalidating interpretation of info using reliable,

credible criteria/measures

Thus, these are all TRUE, although they say conflicting things:

Mainstream historians view the signing of the surrender agreement by Japan in September 1945 as officially ending WWII. (FACT)

With the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945, Japan and the Axis Powers had lost to the US and Allied Powers. (OPINION)

To warriors who dedicated their lives to defending the Empire, promoting Nazism or protecting national sovereignty, WWII never ended—they remain(ed) the resistance. (PERSPECTIVE)

Allied Power occupation of captured areas by the USSR (Eastern Europe, Iran, Manchuria, Korea) and the US (Japan, Pacific Islands) as well as control of colonies/protectorates by France and England (in the Middle East and Africa) continued after WWII’s official cessation of combat in 1945. These territories served as proxies “fighting” the Cold War, which can justifiably be said to begin as a subconflict of WWII in 1939, expand to territories not involved in WWII as early as 1946, and be currently ongoing as a global geopolitical and military conflict conducted between Russia, China and their allied nations and NATO and its allied nations. (ARGUMENT)

Which category fact, opinion, perspective or argument best fits each of the following statements, and why? How do you revise to make it fit a different category?

Objects weigh more on Earth than on the moon.We choose our culture(s); we aren’t born into them.Screen time is productive.Diversity and quality are not opposites.High self-esteem is critical for success.The civil rights movement evolved from the African-American experience in World War II.To be ethical, grades must be objective.Title IX negatively affected college sports.“Guardians of the Galaxy” was a better movie than “Avengers: Endgame” and “Captain Marvel.”Malcolm X is misunderstood as a “militant” by people who don’t read his words.Concussions are not being handled properly by athletic programs.Seattle gets more rain each year than Los Angeles.Human beings are basically evil.The Media causes harm by exposing teens to anorexic and photoshopped models.Cloudy weather makes Uber more profitable.Correct English is required to succeed in the US.I prefer Great Danes to Labrador Retrievers.The death penalty works.If you can love someone else, you can love yourself.Public education helps to improve equality in the US.Consent is in the eye of the beholder, just as harassment is.Working out a problem independently is the most effective way to learn.The Grammy Awards matter.To be effective, teaching should guide, not direct, a student’s learning.

Adapted from Univ of Washington English131 Orientation Manual “Argument, Fact, Opinion” 5-5.

February 4Nothing on the desks—all phones, devices, paper, etc PUT AWAY.

Yesterday, you listened to Morrison’s personal narrative. Now, with just the text in front of you identify which sentences in her text are NOT Perspective, but Fact or Opinion.

Discussion: Whose perspectives are explicitly presented in this text?

Whose perspectives are implicitly presented?

What perspectives are missing but relevant (to intended readers like YOU, historians of the time period, fans of Morrison; what about to today’s child labor specialists, parents, social justice activists)?

Get out devices. Copy and paste the 4 questions below into a NEW Googledoc or Word doc. Answer them in writing and share the file with me, so I can give you formative credit.

Applying what you have practiced in this class…

1. In which paragraphs are telling details that show us specifics of the (real world) setting—time and places—of the (real world) events of the narrative? Cite the numbers.

2. What words cause the reader to contrast in each paragraph? Quote the words and cite the paragraph numbers.

3. Which pivotal words/phrases are being contrasted in paragraphs 3, 5, 6? Quote and cite.

4. Write an analysis as one sentence, including:one quote from paragraph 1, 2 OR 4explanation of how Morrison’s use of contrast in the quote points to (IMPLIES, not states) her perspectiveYOUR interpretation of Morrison’s perspective on life during the time of the story.

You can review what we practiced—go to the Fall syllabus in my Course Documents.Due by the beginning of the period tomorrow. A copy of the reading is in my Course Documents.

February 5

Only food, drink, today’s reading on the desks—all phones, devices, other paper, pens, etc PUT AWAY.

Listen to Adkison’s personal narrative, with the text in front of you.

As I read, pay attention to when you hear NOT Perspective, but Fact or Opinion.

Whose perspectives are explicitly presented in this text?

Whose perspectives are implicitly presented?

What perspectives are missing but relevant (to intended readers like YOU; how about employees in food service, bosses, college students who did not work in high school)?

As a group chat/messaging on phones OR a shared Googledoc with up to 3 other people, role play the following scene in written dialogue quoting, paraphrasing and analyzing the implicit meaning of the text by Adkison alongside paragraphs 7 and 8 from Morrison:

Morrison, her father, Jeff and Adkison (4 characters: M, F, J and A) end up sitting next to each other waiting for info on a delayed flight at SeaTac.

The airline official jokes on the intercom, “Passengers, have a cup of coffee and get comfortable—it’s my job to solve this problem as quickly as possible. At least one of us should get to enjoy the process!”

M, F, J and A chuckle—and both A and M say simultaneously, “That reminds me of you talking to me about my job.”

They hear each other…

Now: engage all four in a conversation about what they have said (texts) and what that means about how they view the value of work for teenagers (analysis).

Show me the dialogue for formative credit.

February 6Go to your assigned table. Only food/drink on the desks—all phones, devices, etc PUT AWAY.

What authors say in writing (info) versus what authors do (techniques)

On the sheet I give you, with the markers I give you:

Morrison Adkison Make a Venn Diagram that names techniques used only by Morrison, only by Adkison and by both in your assigned passages.

1 of each = score of 1 2 of each = score of 2

¶ 1+2 ¶ 1-3¶ 3 ¶ 4-7¶ 4 ¶ 8-10

9 total = score of 312 total = score of 4

¶ 5 ¶ 11-15¶ 6 ¶ 16-20¶ 7+8 ¶ 21-23

What kinds of things “count” as techniques? kinds of word choice (vivid, technical, abstract, slang, poetic, etc)sentence structures (simple, complex, combined, mixed, etc)figurative language/devices (humor, imagery, repetition, transitions, anecdote, etc)pace, rhythm and soundpattern of ordering (chronological, most-to-least important, one side-other side, stream-of-conscious, etc)approaches (description, comparison, exemplification, question-answer, debate, etc)dialogue (direct speech) vs indirect speech/thoughtconsistent vs changing structure of narrativeexplicit details vs implicit cluesfact vs opinion vs perspective vs argumentclaim vs evidence vs analysis vs commentary

February 7Devices out!

Perspective: Not Nature vs Nurture, but Nature + Nurture?

The view we have of information—the position from which we access it—is affected by our situation. That is, our life experiences and cultural affiliations influence how we listen/see/feel/notice/care. But, even people in identical situations may still perceive the same thing from radically different perspectives. How can that be?

Psychology argues that our individual personality type affects our view significantly.

Here are the types that are widely accepted by the established authorities on the subject:

Just reading THIS—what do you think YOU are? How about your family members?

Classwork: take this diagnostic test to find out your type. SAVE the RESULTS by PRINTING the results page AS PDF and saving it in your Googledrive. Share your pdf with me or send it to my email: jbaker@everettsd.org.

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

Next,

Read Heidi Priebe’s article on my Course Documents.

You are reading to listen to others, thinking to DECIDE what they mean to YOU, how you understand yourself, others and how you and others relate.

On Monday, you will write to speak to others about how you and others relate, based on the two sources.

February 10Devices, food, drink OUT! (Everything else, PUT AWAY!!)

Open a Googledoc in your Drive to use for today’s assignment. Open your saved 16personalities.com results and Priebe (from my Course Documents), too—you’ll need to access these.

Look back at your saved results from 16personalities.com. What Myers-Briggs Type did you get assigned?

Find the card on the board that matches your Myers-Briggs Type. Read what it says your type’s Natural [Writing] Style is. Read what it says about Outlining for your type. Read what it says about Writing Blocks for your type.

Find a type that conflicts with ¾ of your Myers-Briggs Type. Read its card, too.

I noticed something significant in reading ALL of the cards: they suggest most of the types NOT approach writing work the way English classes usually tell us to. In fact, some of the advice is almost opposite of the typical “writing process” in classrooms (talk, don’t write; skip outlining; don’t think too much). Furthermore, the range of advice varies widely. Several types of people following the suggestions would be doing contradictory things to reach the same writing goals for the same writing assignment. Hmmmm. If the varied advice on the cards is effective, then I would have to conclude that the “fact” that experts have accepted for decades, that there is one, best approach to writing for—and teaching writing for—school, is disproved. Or, perhaps it is fairer to say: the “fact” may just be a common perspective/opinion of people who teach and who do well for teachers of writing in school.

I would like you to consider doing an experiment:

Test the cards’ advice, aimed at college students, from McIver (wanna read the whole thing? It’s here).

In the assignment I give you next, follow her instructions as if they are accurate for you personally. What’s in it for you? You can verify/eliminate a potentially effective writing approach that may be different from what you have been told works (or required to follow) in the past.

I will be taking a risk to “manage the room” to support your—and others’—experimenting, instead of directing everyone to follow one set of instructions for completing the assignment. The risk is worth it, if the assignment is meaningful to you.

Classwork: To argue one complex claim (thesis), compose multiple, body core paragraphs.

Each body paragraph should state your answer to the question (be a sub-claim for your thesis), give evidence (data) supporting the sub-claim, analyze why that data proves the sub-claim is true and comment on why your true answer to the question helps prove the thesis true, too.1. What type does 16personalities.com assign you—cite I/E, N/S, T/F, J/P; are your individual ratings in these 4 categories extreme

(76%-100%), moderate (51-75%), or a mixture of extreme and moderate?

2. Priebe argues our functions are always extreme. Which cognitive functions does Priebe list (see article end) for your assigned type—cite Ni/Ne, Si/Se, Fi/Fe, Ti/Te; do these match up or do they conflict with your ratings by 16personalities in #1?

3. What is YOUR perspective on your cognitive functions: which i/e N, S, F and T functions are the better fit to real examples of how YOU actually approach work for school?

4. Robinson argues that 90% of our personality is reflected in our primary and auxiliary functions (1st and 2nd in order). Do your 16personalities.com type’s “natural” way of facing the world (1st function) and its strengths used to handle work (2nd) in Priebe’s list match up or conflict with YOUR perspective in #3?

Thesis: Myers-Briggs Types/Functions represent how I value and approach work for school in/accurately.

Priebe’s “breakdown of functions and the order in which they’re used […] for each type:ENFP: Ne – Fi – Te – Si INFP: Fi – Ne – Si – TeINFJ: Ni – Fe – Ti – Se ENFJ: Fe – Ni – Se – TiISTJ: Si – Te – Fi – Ne ESTJ: Te – Si – Ne – FiISTP: Ti – Se – Ni – Fe ESTP: Se – Ti – Fe – NiINTJ: Ni – Te – Fi – Se INTP: Ti – Ne – Si – FeENTJ: Te – Ni – Se – Fi ENTP: Ne – Ti – Fe – SiISFJ: Si – Fe – Ti – Ne ISFP: Fi – Se – Ni – TeESFJ: Fe – Si – Ne – Ti ESFP: Se – Fi – Te – Ni

Any type can, theoretically, access any of the eight cognitive functions, but tapping into a function that is not part of your type’s stacking will be an incredibly exhausting experience.”

For formative credit on this assignment, submit the work you do TODAY to: https://forms.gle/GQDyURY4ZgWtyPHT7.

Wait, Baker…

How can I follow McIver’s suggestions for my type to, say, avoid distractions/noise if some people will be discussing while I work?No one will be discussing out loud (see below). Use headphones, move to a spot in the room/position—whatever works well for you to concentrate.

If I follow McIver’s suggestions for my type to, say, talk/discuss before outlining/ writing… what do I submit for credit? Conduct your conversation with yourself/someone else on a Googledoc—speaking/listening by typing back and forth. Each person copy-paste the shared text into the form above as your individual work.

If I follow McIver’s suggestions or not, I don’t think I will be done today. I may have some half-written ideas, quotes, outlining, drafting, freewriting, etc, and they may only be on some of the questions, not all 4. How can I get full credit?

If you are not distracting yourself or others during the period, I will credit you for working on the assignment. Copy/paste whatever you produce/plan into the form.

February 11-12Today is set for you to work on—without distracting yourself or others—a draft of the body paragraphs. To get credit for that draft, you must submit a text that attempts ALL four parts of a core paragraph in ALL four body paragraphs:

Each body paragraph should state your answer to the question (be a sub-claim for your thesis), give evidence (data) supporting the sub-claim, analyze why that data proves the sub-claim is true and comment on why your true answer to the question helps prove the thesis true, too.

When you have a complete draft of all 4 body paragraphs with all 4 parts of each one, upload it to this SHARED GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iIAX62QHdeN9ZGOKTCmERFq9RgqGCBDy

February 13

Be SURE you have all 16 required parts of this assignment (or else it is INCOMPLETE!!!).

MODEL (use this to “double check” your draft)

1. My Myers-Briggs Type, according to 16personalities.com is _____, and my ratings for these components are extreme OR moderate OR mixed.

2. Data from 16personalities on my type and ratings are _________. 3. I rate this extreme/moderate/mixed because my percentages are _______.4. 16personalities’ results suggest that I value/approach work as a solid Mediator? Campaigner? Entertainer? etc OR a combination of

Virtuoso? Protagonist? Debater? etc.

1. My Cognitive Functions, according to Priebe are_____, which match/conflict/both with my Myers-Briggs results from 16personalities. 2. Data from Priebe about my four, ordered cognitive functions are _________. 3. I see these as matching OR conflicting with ______ ratings because _______.4. The similarities/differences between how extreme I am in my ratings and the categorizations of my cognitive functions suggest

that I most strongly value/approach work in this way _________________.

1. When I look at _____ examples of me doing actual work for school, I see _____ functions fit how I work better than their alternatives. 2. Data about how I approached work are _____. What I valued in the work was ____. Traits of my fitting functions are _____; traits of

my conflicting functions are ___.3. The better category for N, S, F and T for my examples is i OR e because _______.4. These categories say I value/approach work in this way _________________.

1. The 1st and 2nd functions of my type are ____. 2. My 1st function says my natural way of facing the world can be paraphrased as __; My 2nd function says the strengths I use to

handle work are ____.3. Comparing these descriptions to my analysis of actual examples, I agree or disagree that these are the best categories for my 1st

and 2nd functions because _______.4. Based on my own analysis, these sources inaccurately OR accurately represent how I value/approach actual work.

February 14Time to add the “bookends” to your body paragraphs that make up a full essay.

Traditional formal introsIntros are core paragraphs, not background info, nor a preview of what you will say later! An intro’s commentary is the essay’s THESIS (yep…that’s why you were taught to put it there). The “default formula” for an argumentative essay intro is…

Claim: Why is this subject/question important/relevant in the world right now?Evidence: Brief evidence to show its importance/relevance.Analysis: Explanation of how evidence backs up claim.Commentary: THESIS you will prove in your essay about the subject/question.

Here’s a real world model, the intro to an article called “Why Kids Can’t Write:”

Poor writing is nothing new, nor is concern about it. More than half of first-year students at Harvard failed an entrance exam in writing — in 1874. But the Common Core State Standards, now in use in more than two-thirds of the states, were supposed to change all this. By requiring students to learn three types of essay writing — argumentative, informational and narrative — the Core staked a claim for writing as central to the American curriculum. This provided a much-needed “wakeup call” on the importance of rigorous writing, said Lucy M. Calkins at Columbia University. So far, however, the Common Core hasn’t led to much measurable improvement on the page. Students continue to arrive on college campuses needing remediation in basic writing skills. The root of the problem is that teachers have little training in how to teach writing and are often weak or unconfident writers themselves.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/education/edlife/writing-education-grammar-students-children.html

LISTEN as I read another real world introduction—do you “hear” how it follows the same pattern of claim, evidence, analysis and THESIS as commentary?

In his 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” the economist Keynes predicted a 15-hour workweek in the 21st century, creating the equivalent of a five-day weekend. This became a popular view. In a 1957 article, The New York Times predicted that, as work became easier, our identity would be defined by our hobbies, or our family life.

These post-work predictions weren’t entirely wrong. By some counts, Americans work much less than they used to. The average work year has shrunk by more than 200 hours. But those figures don’t tell the whole story. Rich, college-educated people—especially men—work more than they did many decades ago They are reared from their teenage years to make their passion their career and, if they don’t have a calling, told not to yield until they find one.

The economists of the early 20th century did not foresee that work might evolve. They failed to anticipate that, for the poor and middle class, work would remain a necessity; but for the college-educated elite, it would morph into a kind of religion: Workism.

Traditional conclusion paragraphs

Am I sounding repetitive? Conclusions, too are core paragraphs, not new info, nor a rehash of what you already said! The conclusion is COMMENTARY on the thesis—why it matters. The “default formula” for an argumentative essay conclusion is…

Claim: Since this thesis is proved, what should happen next?Evidence: Brief evidence to show the next step’s likely effect.Analysis: Explanation of how evidence backs up claim.Commentary: Why the step is the best/appropriate one to take.

Here’s the real world conclusion to “Why Kids Can’t Write:”

There is a notable shortage of high-quality research on the teaching of writing, but studies that do exist point toward a few concrete strategies that help students perform better on writing tests. First, children need to learn how to transcribe both by hand and

through typing on a computer. Quick communication on a smartphone almost requires writers to eschew rules of grammar and punctuation, exactly the opposite of what is wanted on the page. Before writing paragraphs —now part of kindergarten curriculum — children do need to practice writing great sentences. At every level, students benefit from clear feedback on their writing, and from seeing and trying to imitate what successful writing looks like. Some of the touchy-feel stuff matters, too. Students with higher confidence in their writing ability perform better.

Now listen to the ending of the article on WORK—can you “hear” the pattern again?

One solution to this epidemic would be to make work less awful. But maybe the better prescription is to make work less central. This can start with public policy. There is new enthusiasm for universal policies which would make long working hours less necessary for all Americans. These changes alone might not be enough to reduce Americans’ devotion to work for work’s sake, since it’s the rich who are most devoted. But they would spare the vast majority of the public from workaholism, and perhaps create a bottom-up movement to displace work as the centerpiece of the secular American identity.

In one study, the happiest young workers were those who said around the time of their college graduation that they preferred careers that gave them time away from the office to focus on their relationships and their hobbies.

How quaint that sounds. But it’s the same perspective that inspired Keynes in 1930. It is the belief—the faith, even—that work is not life’s product, but its currency. What we choose to buy with it is the ultimate project of living.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/

February 19

If you’re not writing to just show you “get”/”know” something, but with the purpose to contribute something to others, you’re not just thinking to decide what to write, you’re thinking to understand how to relate to others through text. This is the stage of writing where style choices become your focus (though writers often revise what they decided to say as they are making these choices).

Every word, punctuation mark, sentence structure, location first/next/last is a choice.

Many of these can be classified as generic choices—following what a “general” reader would expect (being formal in a business letter, using text-speak when messaging, having the parts of a lab report for an experiment, showing your work on a math test, etc). What College Board calls “control of writing” is how well your generic AND your individual choices work for actual others to relate to what you are contributing.

Being clear is, for school writing, the primary trait of “control.”

Is that sentence clear? Could it be better phrased so my reader and I “see” its meaning the same way?

Clarity is the foundation for control of writing for school.To have “control of writing” for school, first be clear.To relate to readers of your school writing, the most important choice you can make is this: say every idea, phrase, sentence and paragraph as clearly as possible.

In looking at my potential revisions, see how style choices are NOT just fancy “devices” you add into your writing; they are also the nitty-gritty grammar, syntax, word choice, punctuation you use?

If you want a gaming metaphor for this: choices are tactics—everything from just moving/turning your avatar to “see” and “move” in the gameworld to using special skills, tools or powers you have accumulated during gameplay to fight, build, etc.

Model tactic:

Combining complete sentences is a very useful, generic choice for organizing complexities clearly as you explain your understanding to someone else. Take, for example, these conjunctions:

because, but and so.

X is true because…Y makes it true. (shows reader EFFECT of CAUSE)

X is true, but…Y is different but also true. (shows reader CONTRAST/CHANGE)

X is true, so…Y should/does happen. (shows reader CAUSE of EFFECT)

For writing to analyze the College Board readings, you could use these within sentences in core paragraphs to show “control of writing” by being clear about how the writers’ valuing of work affects/is affected by actions, without being simplistic.

Morrison valued work because she/it…______________.Morrison valued work, but she/it…_________________.Morrison valued work, so she/it…__________________.

Adkison valued work because he/it…______________.Adkison valued work, but he/it…_________________.Adkison valued work, so he/it…__________________.

I value work because I/it…_______________.I value work, but I/it…__________________.I value work, so I/it…___________________.

English teachers spend a lot of time on generic transitions from sentence to sentence inside and between paragraphs. Look at those listed below. We can see that these transitions overlap with College Board’s pivotal words/phrases and my core paragraph hinges—three different names for choices that SIGNAL the direction writing is going.

Giving examples/facts to prove your claim:in fact, as illustrated by, for instance/example, specifically, a case in point, this can be seen when/in, defined as, exemplified as, one case of this is, after all—like aslide show, fill-in-the-blank, show your work

Laying out cause/effect to prove your claim:because, if/then, so, accordingly, as a result, consequently, hence, since, thus, therefore, naturally, followed by, leading to, coming/emerging from, the outcome of which is, progressing from—like a flow chart, step-by-step

Marking out perspectives/opinions to show the complexity of your claim:according to, as argued by, lines up with/is challenged by what ___ says/ finds/ witnessed, in dis/agreement, corroborated/rebutted by, ___ calls into question/seconds this, in the view of, not the only one who sees it this way, advocating/questioning this is ___, supporting/refuting this, listen to, as ___ tells it—like mediating, refereeing, roundtable discussion

Comparing facts/examples to test your claim:also, besides, however, yet, but, except, although, still, regardless (NOT irregardless!), sometimes, when/otherwise, there is agreement that, along the same/different lines, in the same/another vein/way, likewise, similarly, although, by contrast, on the other hand, nonetheless, nevertheless, whereas, while also, yet—like pro/con, T-chart, Venn Diagram

Comparing opinions, perspectives, arguments to test your claim:

in/not in dispute is, with this caveat/ condition/ qualification, admittedly, granted that, one/another view is, of course, perhaps, sometimes also, let’s not overlook, some but not all, looking deeper/at other aspects we see—like a debate, court case

Elaborating on a claim, fact, opinion, perspective, example:in other words, this means, actually, that is, to put it another way, to be clear, ultimately, in sum, furthermore, in addition, indeed, moreover, so too, meanwhile, in short—like paraphrasing, explaining your position, fleshing out a sketch

Adapted from the book They Say/I Say by Graff and Birkenstein (105).

In my analytical paragraph from last week I see that I use these kinds of tactics/pivotal words/hinges within and between sentences a LOT:

I noticed something significant in reading ALL of the cards: they suggest most of the types NOT approach writing work the way English classes usually tell us to. In fact, some of the advice is almost opposite of the typical “writing process” in classrooms (talk, don’t write; skip outlining; don’t think too much). Furthermore, the range of advice varies widely. Several types of people following the suggestions would be doing contradictory things to reach the same writing goals for the same writing assignment. Hmmmm. If the varied advice on the cards is effective, then I would have to conclude that the “fact” experts have accepted for decades, that there is one, best approach to writing for—and teaching writing for—school, is disproved. Or, perhaps it is fairer to say: that “fact” may just be a common perspective/opinion of people who teach and who do well for teachers of writing in school, but not an accurate representation of how diverse writers value and approach school writing.

Hinges= red Claim=blue Evidence=brown Analysis=green Commentary=purple

Where am I going with all this? Back to the galaxy brain meme where we started this semester. So far, I hope you agree that you can say the following about the essay you’ve been researching, planning and drafting

I read the sources to explore now I am listening to—not just showing I “get” the info from—others.I wrote a draft to contribute now I am putting together the best ways to speak to others.I thought through the assignment and sources and am still deciding now how I understand myself, others and how we relate.

I hope you see your multiparagraph argument IS a real contribution to others—it presents new data and analysis that experts on personality and cognitive functions want to hear (because it may show that their “facts” are right/wrong). I hope that going through the work of writing it is also valuable to you (because it may validate ways you think/act, give you new, effective ways to approach work, make it easier to interact with people who aren’t like you, etc).

If any of these things are true, then your writing has meaningful purpose, so it is worth the work to do it well.Purpose Is Everything.

IMO teachers of English are not very good at describing why authors write texts (to inform, entertain, persuade...couldn’t that be why anyone does anything?). Nor do we give much attention to working on writing that has meaningful purpose to students (it’s too often a testing method to “show you ‘get’ what’s new” or “to practice for what will be on the exam”).

Rosenwasser and Stephen in Writing Analytically (a college textbook), I think, offer a clear way to “see” purposes for the work of writing for school:

Authors write a text to

Pitch—“sell” the reader a perspective (show how we should see a subject differently)Complain/Praise—justify their opinion (show what they think we should value more)Document—“record” a moment/idea in time (make us notice/know a subject better)Move—motivate the reader to change (make us decide to do/believe something new)

The next stage of the assignment is to step back and judge the tactics/choices in your current draft to see which work well to achieve purposes meaningful to you and which don’t. Revising your draft is a process of refining your tactics/choices to fit the audiences meaningful to you.

You did an outstanding-even-for-college-students’ job identifying the techniques in Morrison and Adkison (check out your Venn Diagrams hung around the room). The data are clear: you “see” how text is choices. College Board—in this class, the SAT, PSAT, AP exams—assesses not only your control over your writing, but how well you can judge other writers’ pivotal phrases/ hinges/ transitions do sub-jobs for their meaningful purposes and meaningful audiences.

Your Venn Diagram named “techniques,” like:kinds of word choice (vivid, technical, abstract, slang, poetic, etc)sentence structures (simple, complex, combined, mixed, etc)figurative language/devices (humor, imagery, repetition, transitions, anecdote, etc)pace, rhythm and soundpattern of ordering (chronological, most-to-least important, one side-other side, stream-of-conscious, etc)approaches (description, comparison, exemplification, question-answer, debate, etc)dialogue (direct speech) vs indirect speech/thoughtconsistent vs changing structure of narrative

explicit details vs implicit cluesfact vs opinion vs perspective vs argumentclaim vs evidence vs analysis vs commentary

To do what College Board tests, you link technique to purpose through audience.

Rhetorical Analysis evaluates how well the author’s tactics/choices sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph support the author’s OVERALL PURPOSE . To pitch, complain/praise, document or move the reader, an author picks out and organizes words throughout the text to do sub-jobs that together achieve the text’s overall purpose.

Jobs are what tactics/choices DO to help explain your understanding to others:

add to analyze for argue thatask about categorize as challenge cite from claim that compare with connect to contradict contrast withdebate define as demonstrate that describe details develop more/deeper dramatizeelaborate on emphasize evaluateexemplify with explain that express asextend further generalize/broaden illustrate withinform about interpret as introduce toimagine that itemize list/sketch/drawnarrate offer a hypothesis oppose organize/structure praise predict problem solve progress a step qualify/narrow downquestion quote from reason/think throughrebut reflect on repeat side with (agree/disagree) specify speculate about state a position/opinion suggest that/to summarizesynthesize trace a pattern in use data to

…and more—but these are a good range of possibilities.

An “outline” template for rhetorical analysis:Overall Purpose of Text: to pitch/complain/document WHAT OVERALL UNDERSTANDING, to move/relate to WHOM

Says What Understanding

Paragraph paraphrase

Does Best Explaining Where

Quote specific pivotal words/ hinges/ choices

Does Worst Explaining Where

Quote specific pivotal words/ hinges/ choices

‘Cuz WhyName the quote’s tactic/job/effect

See techniques & transitions See techniques & transitions See the table above

Adapted from source: http://msalbasclass.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/says-does-explanation.pdf

Classwork: Complete a rhetorical analysis of your draft (using the template above, comments/notes on your draft or otherwise). For credit, it must

name YOUR overall purpose, paraphrase WHAT you say in each paragraph, identify your BEST choice in each paragraph, identify your WORST choice in each paragraph, name the job/effect of each choice.

Upload your Rhetorical Analysis as a NEW FILE to this folder:https://drive.google.com/open?id=1IUdwbivhwnfTNdgsNSf97GQwCLA8GSEh

February 21We have reached “finalizing” stage for your Multiparagraph Argument, which I will score as SUMMATIVE. The final submission is due by midnight on Monday—you will submit it to Turnitin.com.

INTRODUCTION ¶Claim: Why is this subject/question important/relevant in the world right now?Evidence: Brief evidence to show its importance/relevance.Analysis: Explanation of how evidence backs up claim.Commentary: (Thesis:) Myers-Briggs Types/Functions represent how I value and approach work for school in/accurately.

BODY ¶s What type does 16personalities.com assign you—cite I/E, N/S, T/F, J/P; are your individual ratings in these 4 categories extreme

(76%-100%), moderate (51-75%), or a mixture of extreme and moderate?

Priebe argues our functions are always extreme. Which cognitive functions does Priebe list (see article end) for your assigned type—cite Ni/Ne, Si/Se, Fi/Fe, Ti/Te; do these match up or do they conflict with your ratings by 16personalities in #1?

What is YOUR perspective on your cognitive functions: which i/e N, S, F and T functions are the better fit to real examples YOU DESCRIBE of how YOU actually approach work for school?

Robinson argues that 90% of our personality is reflected in our primary and auxiliary functions (1st and 2nd in order). Do your 16personalities.com type’s “natural” way of facing the world (1st function) and its strengths used to handle work (2nd) in Priebe’s list match up or conflict with YOUR perspective in #3?

Each body paragraph should state your answer to the question (be a sub-claim for your thesis), give evidence (data) supporting the sub-claim, analyze why that data proves the sub-claim is true and comment on why your true answer to the question helps prove

the thesis true, too. Need the “template” to double check? It’s HERE.

CONCLUSION ¶Claim: Since this thesis is proved, what should happen next?Evidence: Brief evidence to show the next step’s likely effect.Analysis: Explanation of how evidence backs up claim.Commentary: Why the step is the best/appropriate one to take.

What should I do to “finalize?” REVISE. How is revision defined?First, be sure all required parts are attempted (6 core paragraphs, all four parts of a core paragraph in each one, answering the questions above)—an incomplete essay will not get credit.Next, remind yourself of YOUR purpose (are you pitching me your perspective on how you approach/value work?, complaining/praising the Myers-Briggs system’s usefulness?, documenting your thinking through the data from the sources for me?, moving me to teach writing better?)Then, use rhetorical analysis to see which of YOUR tactics/choices in each paragraph of your draft are doing their job well, not well or not at all. Replace/improve these.

Remember, for the biggest impact on how College Board assesses you, focus on just one job: say every idea, phrase, sentence and paragraph as clearly as possible

Finally, edit for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc. Here’s the rubric for that.

McIver—the source of the cards on the board—gives a range of advice based on type for finalizing a complex piece of writing for school. Read through the different suggestions and pick one that you think might be the advice that matches YOU:

Agony can become joy if you focus on presenting illustrations of your points—usually you need to shorten drafts to stick to your purpose.

Allow time for revision—you often work independently at revising without feedback from others.

At revising time, pay attention to mechanics. Since you are able to point out flaws in arguments, make a deal with someone good at grammar/organization to read each other’s work and give feedback.

Because each word you write is significant to you, make yourself a promise to begin and end revising at a set time—you’ll edit forever if you don’t!

Being organized is very important to you—it helps you to get the job done. Focus on expanding ideas that may not have been fully developed in the first draft. Make sure your tone is right for your audience—you can be so focused on your message that you lose sight of how best to communicate the message to your reader.

Don’t allow your desire for closure (being done!) prevent you from revising. Use your time and energy to add to and expand on what you wrote in your first draft(s).

Feedback that is very specific and directive is your jam—make a deal with someone you trust to be right, and swap papers!

Finished those marathon writing sessions? Went back to structure and organize? Now you need the time to revise extensively. Set yourself an early deadline; seek oral feedback.

Resist your habit of leaving things to the last minute, or revising will be tough and your anxiety high. Don’t dismiss suggested revisions; actively work at understanding where others’ suggestions come from.

Revise early drafts by inserting your thesis statement at the front of your paper. Try working closely with other people to prevent yourself from getting stuck and/or bored.

Since many themes can be included in one paragraph, you should separate each out when revising. Watch out for your wordiness and too conversational parts.

Sometimes you have to check and double-check what is required—that’s fine! Stay focused on the purpose of the paper as you revise. Shorten drafts where needed.

Steady work is best for you. Identify a real person as your audience and write to that specific person.

You are strong at working and reworking a draft. You may have to pull yourself away to get perspective.

You revise best when you receive oral feedback or read texts out loud to yourself to “hear” them. This is because you revise as translation (make a chaotic first draft into a more polished product).

To submit your essay, you need to set up a Turnitin account. Go to Turnitin.com and click on CREATE ACCOUNT. Use your student email address and pick a password that you WON’T FORGET!!!!

Then JOIN my class:Class Name                Pre-AP Eng 1Class ID                     23406173Enrollment Key:          farqhar

Turnitin.com checks for plagiarism—it will show me everything you quote (your sources) AND it will show me every time you use the same words as other students, websites, etc.

February 25

Listen as I read Sasse.

Classwork: complete your assigned row of a rhetorical analysis outline for Sasse. Save it in a shared Googledoc with everyone who participated.

Overall Purpose of Text: to pitch/complain/document WHAT OVERALL UNDERSTANDING, to move/relate to WHOMSays What

UnderstandingParagraphs paraphrase

Does Best Explaining Where

Quote specific pivotal words/ hinges/ choices

‘Cuz WhyName the quote’s

tactic/job/effect

Does Worst Explaining Where

Quote specific pivotal words/ hinges/ choices

‘Cuz WhyName the quote’s tactic/job/effect

1-4 See techniques & transitions

See the table above

See techniques & transitions See the table above

5-789-101112-2021-23

February 26Focusing on HOW an author’s tactics/choices are effective means tying

What it says (content)To

Whom it’s for (audience)To

(purpose) Why it was written in the first place.

I think Sasse is a great example to show how you important the middle part is: WHOM the work is for.

Fact: Sasse is NOT writing for college students, for teens, for YOU.

Who IS he, a senator and politician who works in Health and Welfare, probably writing for?

(Hint: Ask yourself—What kinds of people does a senator/politician from Nebraska WANT to LISTEN to his pitching, complaining/praising, documenting about teen work; who does he WANT to MOVE?—consider selfish, career/reputation/profit motives that the author logically could have)

Identifying a likely INTENDED audience helps you understand/relate to what you read that is NOT intended for you, because it allows you to “see” where other perspectives overlap and contradict with YOURS.

Let’s try it.

Discussion: What phrases/techniques did NOT work for YOU in your assigned paragraphs of Sasse’s text? What is it about them that “gets to you?”

Claims/commentary he makes without/with little supporting evidence?

The tone/attitude in his word choice?Assumptions in his descriptions (implicit meanings about character, etc)?What is left out of his descriptions (explicit details as “facts,” etc)?Unfair comparisons/associations he makesOther?

February 27Want to review how/what you are graded on for the Unit 2 Assessment Retake on Monday? It’s here.

In Unit 3, College Board has so far presented you several perspectives on the value of work for teens—Morrison and Adkison present their memories of their own work, and now Sasse presents a mix of memories, perspectives and opinion on work for teens today.

Numerous people are referred to in Sasse’s text. College Board calls these “voices." MY list of these (in alphabetical order) is:

Includes voices ofCite ¶ #s

What characteristics given

What opinion (value what) about worksuggested

What perspective (see/process work how) suggested

UNDERSTANDING of work(ing) suggested

1985 high school kids

2000s college kids

America

Ben Sasse

Corrie Sasse

Grandpa Sasse

hikers

Melissa Sasse

middle class families

neighbors

older folks

parents today

literature readers

travelers

univ faculty/admin

younger kids today

Since we are reading to listen to others; writing to speak to others and thinking to understand ourselves, others and how we relate, it is logical that we ask a follow up question:

Whose voices AREN’T included by Sasse?…

"Excludes" (but have a perspective on it, too) Relates to ?¶s

Workers like Morrison?

Workers like Adkison?Workers like…?

Parents like Morrison's Dad?

Parents like….?

Bosses like JeffBosses like….?

People who live in OTHER states?

People who value instead…?Experts who “see” instead…?

Classwork: With the table you’ve been working with, fill out the tables above FOR ALL PARAGRAPHS of Sasse to analyze HOW Sasse presents (and chooses NOT to present) voices to support his opinion.

I assign tables their voices as follows:

Rhet Analysis Group—voices included Excluded “voices” (2 from class list)1-4—neighbors, older folks5-7—travelers, hikers, lit-readers8—Sasse family9-10—America, middle class11—kids (now and in the past)12-20—pros, neighbors21-23—parents (now and in the past)

Add your data to the shared Googledocs you have been using.

February 28Finish yesterday’s assignment.

For the next assignment, you must work with a CREW of 2, 4 or 6 that is split evenly between people whose Myers-Briggs types are E vs I AND N vs S (so if you are working with a partner, one can be EN and the other must be IS or one IN with an ES).

Use this time to recruit your crew today.

May I suggest—ask for PROMISES/ make agreements about HOW reliable each person in the group will be for doing and submitting work.

March 3Read today’s blogpost on my website (It’s on a new tab). Remember that you will need to download the Living Syllabus AGAIN each day to see the latest changes I make to it.

Classwork: capture this MOMENT in one of the following ways—

1. Dear Future Create a diary/blog entry that captures what you’ve heard/seen/thought/felt about the virus outbreak in Washington state, how it is affecting you and those you care about and your hopes/worries about what is to come.

2. Mythbusters Compose a comparison of what people imagine/fear about experiencing a disease outbreak versus what the facts/reality are for Covid-19—using expert sources (CDC, WHO, Washington/Snohomish Public Health Authority).

3. Portrait of the Day Create an image/sound/multimedia “picture” that would allow an audience of your choice to “experience” what is going on here or in the US in general regarding the viral outbreak.

4. Customized Art Draw, sing, cartoon, meme or otherwise record words, images, sound or movement to communicate a message about what an audience of your choice should notice/pay attention to about what you/we/the US is facing right now regarding the viral outbreak.

Save your work on your Google Drive.

March 4Assemble your CREW of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 that is split between people whose Myers-Briggs types are E vs I AND N vs S.

If you are working with just one partner, one of you must be EN and the other must be IS or one IN with an ES; larger groups do not have to be split evenly, but they must have at least one member with each of the 4 letters: I, E, S and N and no 2 people who are the same type overall (INTJ, ESFP, etc).

Switch seats to sit with your crew. Then:

On YouTube, find and view 3 different, vintage PSAs [Public Service Announcements] by searching for NBC The More You Know: Parenting.

Classwork: answer the questions of a Design Brief for a Public Service Announcement: What SHOULD be done with the kids this summer?

Your crew is going to produce 2 PSAs from one assigned included and one assigned excluded perspective (the tables from Thursday and Friday) from Sasse, both IN THE SAME STYLE and FORMAT but with different messages. Your PSAs can be made for radio, tv, magazine, web ad or a public meeting. They must be each 1 min long (to hear, watch, read)

DESIGN BRIEF questions to answer: What understanding are YOU trying to communicate as each person’s perspective? (what are your group’s 2 answers to the

PSA question) Why do YOU believe the included/excluded person sees work/kids, views summer "vacation," values what more/less about

these the way YOU say they each do? Which are the characteristics of the specific audience YOUR PSAs are targeting? (see the 5 categories in the table below) What format and style will you use to get that audience to understand and relate to the perspectives you present?

(describe what kind of product you will make and 3-5 tactics/techniques/transitions you will use to be effective for your audience)

Here are things to consider as characteristics:

Source: https://www.pngkey.com/download/u2r5e6a9q8e6w7q8_table-1-characteristics-of-target-audience-target-audience/

Submit your design brief by the end of Thursday’s class to https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CXYJpKLK-XFB4IwdNJd0uNaeMUwrZ6SO?usp=sharingWhen it is submitted, work on your products, due next Wednesday!

March 5

Your product is due by the end of class on Wednesday. Ready to submit your PSAs? We’ll use the same DRIVE. Here’s what to do to submit:

1. Edit your design brief, if needed, to include ALL the people in your group.2. One person on the list New File Upload your 2 PSAs.

The link, again:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CXYJpKLK-XFB4IwdNJd0uNaeMUwrZ6SO?usp=sharing

Any problems uploading? Share the edited design brief and PSAs with me at 06267@apps.everettsd.org. OR jbaker@everettsd.org.

Stay healthy!!

March 9

I’ve posted an extra credit assignment on my blog (see tab on my website) for those who may have completed the PSAs early. Thursday will be the Unit Assessment RETAKE—bring other work if you are not planning to retake or do not think you’ll need the whole period to do so!

NEW LEARNING STARTS HEREApril 20-24 Lessons and Assignments

Reading Assignment: Read my Blog From Home tab on my website for updates about grading and scheduling teaching. Email jbaker@everettsd.org if you/your family have questions.Your goal for this work? “See” what the latest changes and plans are; follow up questions/issues you have with me.

Now, here’s the next step in the curriculum:

Remember what we were working on when we still went to school? Here’s a recap:

Unit 3 is designed to support writing, discussing, reading, thinking about the topic: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF WORK FOR TEENS?

As concepts, we are focusing on separating out fact, opinion, argument and PERSPECTIVEFact details info description widely accepted by recognized/credible authorities/sources on

the subject

Opinion takes a stance toward info selection by individual of what is/isn’t most valued info about the subject

Perspective puts info in context position from which info is perceived and/or accessed, relative to other positions for the same subject

Argument tests info method of validating/invalidating interpretation of info using reliable, credible criteria/measures

As skill, we are focusing on RHETORICAL ANALYSIS, where you evaluate how well the author’s tactics/choices sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph support the author’s OVERALL PURPOSE. We defined this asAuthors write a text to

Pitch—“sell” the reader a perspective (show how we should see a subject differently) Complain/Praise—justify their opinion (show what they think we should value more) Document—“record” a moment/idea in time (make us notice/know a subject better) Move—motivate the reader to change (make us decide to do/believe something new)To pitch, complain/praise, document or move the reader, an author picks out and organizes words (uses techniques/transitions) throughout the text to do sub-jobs that together achieve the text’s overall purpose.

Reading Assignment: It’s OK if you have completely forgotten everything we did. No, really. The Pandemic has been—here’s some vocabulary for you—disorienting. Go back to this spot on the syllabus, skim through to remind yourself of how we got to where we were when schools closed. (Ironic to look back and see that we were worried about how to make the classroom environment work better, huh?)

The course readings (Morrison, Adkison, Priebe, etc) are still there on the website tab called Course Documents, and the Fall living syllabus is there, too—in case you want to review.

For you and those who might be trying to help you at home—these + what comes next on this living syllabus will be your resources. I added the Blog as a tab on the website for general communications. It is ALWAYS ok to email me with questions!!

Your goal for this work? Re-familiarizing yourself with the class “stuff” now that you’ve got to re-figure-out all 6 classes. That’s all.

Once you’re feeling re-oriented and comfortable that you can find the class resources and the curriculum materials we used up until now, you’re ready for the NEW STUFF:

Reading Assignment: Read Lexington’s text (linked on the Course Documents). Look up words you do not know and take notes for yourself on words/ideas you come across in Lexington on a Googledoc.

Your goal for this work? “Get” what it is saying; capture it so you don’t forget. No analysis yet.

From our previous classes, remember that Rhetorical Analysis connects

What a text says (content)To

Whom it’s for (audience)To

(purpose) Why it was written in the first place.

Researching Assignment: Identify the likely INTENDED audience for Lexington’s text by researching its author/publisher. Review the About Us info here: https://www.economistgroup.com/index.html.

Answer these questions in your notes: What kinds of people does a group like this WANT to LISTEN to its pitching, complaining/praising, documenting about teen

work? Whom does it WANT to MOVE? What does the group’s mission tell you about motives it has for its (paying) readers to pay attention to this information?

Your goal? Use explicit and implicit clues in the About Us text to create an accurate profile of this source and its targeting.

Next, time to decide for yourself: WHAT IS THE SPECIFIC OVERALL PURPOSE OF THIS TEXT? Is The Economist…Pitch—trying to “sell” a perspective (show HOW paying readers should see WHAT subject differently?)Complain/Praise—trying to justify their opinion (show WHAT that they think paying readers should value more about the subject?)Document—trying to “record” a moment/idea in time (make paying readers notice/know WHAT about the subject better?)Move—trying to motivate change (make paying readers decide to do/believe WHAT that is new/different?)

Writing Assignment: Using your notes on the text and on your research to help you, re-read the text, looking for clues to logically fill in the following statement of specific, overall purpose:

The Economist is trying to pitch?/ complain?/ praise?/ document?/ move? paying readersby making them see/value/notice/believe WHAT “Truth”? about teens working.

Now you’re ready to analyze HOW this text makes its argument.

Analysis Assignment: alone or with 1 or 2 class partners (max in a group: 3; you can work with students in a different period), complete this table for Lexington’s text:

Overall Purpose of Text: to pitch/complain/document WHAT OVERALL UNDERSTANDING, to move/relate to WHOMSays What

Understanding of Work

Paragraphs paraphrase

Does Best Explaining Where

Quote specific pivotal words/ hinges/ choices

‘Cuz WhyName the quote’s

tactic/job/effect

Does Worst Explaining Where

Quote specific pivotal words/ hinges/ choices

‘Cuz WhyName the quote’s tactic/job/effect

1 See techniques & transitions on living syllabus

See the sub-jobs table on the living syllabus

See techniques & transitions See the table

2345678910

Your goal? Apply the same analysis we practiced with Morrison, Adkison, Sasse to this new text.

List all names on one Googledoc, paste in the filled in table, and NEW FILE UPLOAD here for me to see it. (email it to me if you have trouble with Google Drive)Sneak peek at what comes next (or what you can do if you’ve finished the above and want to move on)…

Just like what we did this week for Lexington’s text, we’ll be reading Thompson’s text on my Course Documents. And researching the author to figure out his intended audience by skimming this https://www.theatlantic.com/author/derek-thompson/, coming up with a specific, overall statement of purpose for his article.

Then we’ll circle back so we can compare/contrast Lexington and Thompson—their arguments, the perspectives they include and exclude and their writing techniques—similarly to how we compared/contrasted Morrison, Adkison and Sasse earlier in the semester.

This all builds up to the Unit 3 Assessment, which is an essay rhetorically analyzing a new reading on the same topic as the five class readings. I will offer this as well as retakes of the Unit 2 Assessment (on poetry) in May.

Email me with questions!

April 27-May 1 Lessons and Assignments

Reading Assignment: Read Thompson’s text (linked on the Course Documents). Look up words you do not know and take notes for yourself on words/ideas you come across in Thompson on a Googledoc. TAKE TIME TO LOOK AT EACH GRAPH.

Your goal for this work? “Get” what it says in words and graphs; capture it so you don’t forget. No analysis yet.

Researching Assignment: Identify the likely INTENDED audience for Thompson’s text by researching its author/publisher. It’s all IMPLICIT, but try “profiling” Thompson by skimming this https://www.theatlantic.com/author/derek-thompson/. Check out the magazine’s About US here https://www.theatlantic.com/history/.Answer these questions in your notes:

What kinds of people does a writer like this WANT to LISTEN to his pitching, complaining/praising, documenting about teen work?

Whom does he and the magazine WANT to MOVE? What does its mission tell you about The Atlantic Monthly’s motives for (paying) readers to pay attention to this information?

Your goal? Use explicit and implicit clues to create an accurate profile of this text and its targeting.

Next, time to decide for yourself: WHAT IS THE SPECIFIC OVERALL PURPOSE OF THIS TEXT? Is Thompson…Pitch—trying to “sell” a perspective (show HOW paying readers should see WHAT subject differently?)Complain/Praise—trying to justify his opinion (show WHAT that he thinks paying readers should value more about the subject?)Document—trying to “record” a moment/idea in time (make paying readers notice/know WHAT about the subject better?)Move—trying to motivate change (make paying readers decide to do/believe WHAT that is new/different?)

Writing Assignment: Using your notes on the text and on your research to help you, re-read the text, looking for clues to logically fill in the following statement of specific, overall purpose:

Thompson is trying to pitch?/ complain?/ praise?/ document?/ move? paying Atlantic readersby making them see/value/notice/believe WHAT “Truth”? about teens working.

What are we doing this kind of analysis of these readings for, again?

Instead of thinking of a claim and then going out to find data to support it, the scientific method and argumentation in writing are both processes that go in the opposite direction. You start with gathering and analyzing data to come up with a claim you think is valid.

🤔

In science, you then test your claim (hypothesis) with an experiment to create a new set of data, which you analyze to see if they fit the claim (if the data fit, it means the claim is valid). Scientists compose a “lab report” that describes the experiment’s steps, lists all the data and records their analysis of the data proving/disproving the hypothesis and conclusions about what should happen next.

In argumentative writing, instead of creating NEW data as an experiment, you test the data that led you to your interpretation. Reconsidering what you’ve gathered, you look for which data fit well. When you draft, these pieces of evidence become the focus of each body paragraph—in each you describe, quote, paraphrase and share fitting evidence so your reader sees clearly WHAT each piece is and HOW it helps your purpose (topic sentence claim). You explain WHY the data in evidence matches up with the paragraph’s topic sentence claim (analysis), and you state how the paragraph’s evidence and claim add up with the other paragraphs to prove your overall thesis (commentary). To get to a draft formal essay, an introduction and conclusion get attached to these body paragraphs so the reader begins by hearing why your argument is relevant and ends by learning what you think should come next—in between the reader gets guided through your evidence and analysis with hinges you use to connect ideas.

A note—just like outlier data and “failed” experiments get included in lab reports, complex argumentation includes evidence and claims that challenge the thesis. In drafting paragraphs to discuss these, writers treat it as a counterargument—focusing on it in paragraphs of its best data and analysis. Counterargument commentary makes the case to your reader WHY the essay’s thesis/claims can still be valid, even if all the data do not fit (NOT that the reader should ignore the disagreeing claims or evidence).

Thompson gives us a chance to try out counterargument as part of complex argumentation.

Ready?

You have gathered and analyzed quite a bit of data on the topic of The Value of Work for Teens. You dissected 4 Pre-AP course readings (Morrison, Adkison, Sasse before break, Lexington since we went remote-only) and gathered and analyzed data about yourself and how you approach/value work (the Multiparagraph Argument before break). Now we connect this to the 5th (and final) course reading on the topic, Thompson.

Good News:

You will NOT be required to write a formal essay to prove a thesis about the value of work for teens using evidence from these sources (although you can if you’d like me to use it as summative). Why not? College Board recognizes that experience reading and interpreting high-level sources, picking out the most useful pieces of evidence from them, crafting the words to communicate what each piece of evidence is and how it helps YOUR purpose for writing and explaining to a reader YOUR analysis of why data in the evidence match claims YOU make is The. Key. to writing at the college and professional level. I AGREE WHOLEHEARTEDLY. To write argument well, hone the skills (not just produce drafts).

Bad News:

My students who have gone on to Ivy League schools struggled with these skills; PhDs struggle with them; Pandemic researchers, health care providers and policy-makers are struggling with them right now. They’re real—not just “for school”—…and they’re difficult. With everything going on, it is easy see how critical it can be to test complex and even changing claims and data and to communicate the meaning of the data being tested for many, different audiences.

Have I convinced you it’s worth fighting through, even if it’s very, very, very frustrating?

Interpretation assignment: read Graph 1 below from Thompson AS IF IT WERE ITS OWN TEXT.

Answer these questions in your notes:

1. Look up any specialized terms (you can google “definition “civilian labor force participation rate”—I did.). Add the definitions to your notes on Thompson.

2. What does the graph “say” in YOUR own words? This is dIfFiCuLt!! Try this default statement:

From when to when (X axis--horizontal) the percentages (Y axis--vertical) of WHAT (define the words in the title) followed what pattern/had what typical and what exceptional features (paraphrase the line’s shape/points)?

3. How does Thompson use it to support his purpose? (find in the text where he talks about this graph, quote/paraphrase the claims/analysis/commentary he writes about it—which tactics does he use to connect it to his argument/purpose?)

4. What questions does the graph NOT answer that YOU think are relevant to the question What Is The Value of Work For Teens? (example: I wondered, how different is this rate of working from other age groups?—I pasted the answer from the same source Thompson used below*) You just have to list your questions.

*Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Graph of OTHER AGE GROUPS for just the “lowest” time period on Graph 1*

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm

Follow the same process for Graphs 2-4:

That’s enough (too much?) for now. You can upload your notes to this for feedback from me:https://forms.gle/SusjM7EGjcmffSgh9Sneak peek at what comes next (or what you can do if you’ve finished the above and want to move on)…

We’ll compare/contrast Lexington and Thompson—their arguments, the perspectives they include and exclude and their writing techniques—similarly to how we compared/contrasted Morrison, Adkison and Sasse earlier in the semester.

This all builds up to the Unit 3 Assessment, which is an essay arguing about the effective techniques, transitions and tactics used by a new reading on the same topic as our class readings. I will offer this next week. (I’ll also offer another OPTIONAL retake of the Unit 2 Assessment on poetry.

Email me with questions!

May 4-May 15 Lessons and Assignments

Analysis Assignment: In your notes, make two T-charts, one for perspectives included and one for techniques used.

Perspectives Included in Lexington Perspectives Included in Thompson

Techniques Used by Lexington Techniques Used by Thompson

Review how we looked at perspectives in readings here. Fill in the first T-chart, then highlight the perspectives that BOTH Lexington and Thompson include.

Review how we looked at techniques in readings here. Fill in the second T-chart, then highlight the techniques that ONLY Lexington OR Thompson—not BOTH—use.

Reflection Assignment: In your notes, answer this question informally (don’t worry about spelling, syntax, etc): What overlap do you see between who these texts’ audiences are? Can you connect the perspectives are and are not

included by BOTH texts to the perspectives of those audiences? What differences do you see between who these texts’ audiences are? Can you connect the techniques used by each

author to the perspective/background that is different in his audience?

You’re ready for sum summative!!!!

You may retake/revise Unit 2 Assessment to raise your grade—see the tab on my website.

AND…you can take the Unit 3 Assessment (remember I will count the 2 highest summative grades).

….but, wait…review first!!!

Unit Assessment ReviewWHAT does your response have to be to pass?

TYPE: for Unit 3, it’s an argumentative essay made up of core argumentative paragraph(s):

An argumentative paragraph has these parts:Topic Sentence what claim am I going to test?Evidence where are data for my claim?Analysis how do data prove the claim—pass the test?Commentary why does it matter that this claim is valid?Hinges when do I attach elements to a frame—to TEACH?

And an essay has these sections:

DEFAULT INTRODUCTION ¶ parts:Claim: Why is this subject/question important/relevant in the world right now?Evidence: Brief evidence to show its importance/relevance.Analysis: Explanation of how evidence backs up claim.Commentary: Thesis: statement that answers prompt’s question fully--

Selingo uses _____ features

Evidence such as facts or examples to support claims AND/OR Reasoning to develop ideas and connect claims and evidence AND/OR Stylistic/persuasive word choice or appeals to emotion to add power to the ideas expressed AND/OR Other rhetorical tactics

to build his argument that more teenagers and college students should work while pursuing their education, because these strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument for his audience.

DEFAULT CONCLUSION ¶ parts:Claim: Since this thesis is proved, what should happen next?Evidence: Brief evidence to show the next step’s likely effect.Analysis: Explanation of how evidence backs up claim.Commentary: Why the step is the best/appropriate one to take.

Body Paragraphs have these parts:Default TOPIC SENTENCE/CLAIM:

In which specific passages, the author expresses what aspects of the argument through which pivotal words/phrases. The effect of the technique causes the intended audience to do/feel what about the subject.

Default EVIDENCE:W hich specific phrases/words CHANGE the meaning/perception of the subject

What: “quotes” IN THE TEXT

Data: ?? clue given?? ?? techniques used, ?? IN THE words you CITE.

Default ANALYSIS:Which data in the quotes logically connote/mean which specific things;

logically can not connote/mean which specific things; combine together to connote/mean which specific things.

Why: because these cause the audience to think/feel __ about ___ the subject.

Default COMMENTARY:Because the author builds the argument this way, the text is able to change the audiences view of ___ topic/issue in real life in ____ way.

Summative Assignment: See my website’s NEW TAB for the Unit 3 Assessment—email me jbaker@everettsd.org your response!

May 18-May 21 Lessons and Assignments

For the final unit of the course, College Board homes in on a PIVOTAL moment in all narratives (and ALL texts): the OPENING. You’ve gotten lots of advice and formulas for writing openings at school. Let’s look at some masters of the opening as models.

Reading Assignment: Watch this (volume on):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk

Create a Googledoc to record notes on your answers to these questions: What do you know about the world, the setting, that the film is presenting? What about the time period? The

location? The time of day or the date? How similar or different is it to where and when you live? What do you know (or suspect you know) about the people, the characters, in this film so far? What questions

do you have about them? What film techniques—lighting, camera movement, or framing—does the filmmaker use to help create the

world and/or establish the characters in this film?** Make an inference about what will happen later in this film based ONLY on what is presented in the film’s

opening. What details or key words and phrases from the opening help you to draw this inference?

**Some film terms definitions you might find useful: Framing: How the object is positioned within the shot; how much of the frame of the movie screen the object will occupy.

Long shot: The object on the screen appears small or appears to be seen from some distance away; used to establish setting. If a person is shown, generally you will be able to see his or her entire body.Close-up or close shot: The object or subject takes up most of the screen space and therefore appears to be very large. This shot can be used to direct viewers’ attention or show emotion.

Angles: Where the camera will be placed in relation to the subject.Low angle: When the camera is below the subject; used to emphasize dominance and power.High angle: When the camera is above the subject; used to emphasize weakness.Dutch angle: When the camera is tilted slightly producing a sideways image within the frame; also known as a canted angle.

LightingLow-key lighting: A small source of lighting is used, characterized by the presence of prominent shadows; used to show suspicion, mystery, and danger; suggests that characters are evil or hiding something.High-key lighting: An even light source and few shadows, as in an office building; suggests honesty, nothing to hide, or lack of threat.

EditingFade: The image on screen slowly fades away; makes a connection between two objects or characters.Dissolve: One image fades out as another image fades in so the two images areon the screen briefly at the same time.Crosscut: Also known as parallel editing; the director cuts between two different episodes; builds suspense.Flashback/flash-forward: Gives viewers important information about what has happened in the past or may happen in the future.

Analysis Assignment: watch the 3 trailers to this film, using this link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/ (go to this section ->

What different answers would you give to the above questions? Record these in your notes.

What am I getting at by having you watch these?

We often confuse “opening” with “beginning” or “start.” Seeing this movie’s opening (the first clip) versus the start-middle-end of its 3 trailers, you can “see” that each uses a different “first impression” technique/tactic to get the audience hooked. The tactic—not the first part of the story’s content—is what we focus on as opening. (opening is HOW; start/beginning is WHAT) Kubrick is celebrated as a movie director for using sound, light, editing and film angles/frames in combination. That multilayered design is definitely getting used here!

There is a lot of overlap between film and narrative writing techniques/tactics. We are going to have FUN! by looking narrowly at two that are shared: openings and scenes.

One scene of a story is a like one core paragraph of an essay: both are mini-versions. A core paragraph has claims, evidence, analysis and commentary, which is the structure of an essay. A scene has plot, character, setting, point of view and theme, which is the structure of a story. The scene, like the paragraph, is condensed to making one point; the story/essay combines multiple points to make a complex whole.

Films can only have one opening, of course. However, series shows can employ a tactic called cold opens—first impression scenes that “open” every episode. This twist on the opening makes sense, since a series continues one story over many episodes (and even multiple seasons of episodes). To get the audience hooked into each episode is necessary, a teaser scene that “sets the stage” for what will come works great.

Evaluation Assignment: Watch these compilations of The Best Cold Opens for two iconic tv shows. In your notes, record what you think is the reason WHY these are considered BEST (whether you know anything about the shows or not):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oArYmPhiqUghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h6k6eg_RmM

That’s enough for this short week. Can you guess where we are going with this? [spoiler! I’m going to have you analyze how a film/show opening of your choice WORKS to hook its audience—you can start thinking about which you might want to use…and maybe watch it for fun…er…I mean, as ENGLISH HOMEWORK!!!]

May 26-May 29 Lessons and AssignmentsWelcome back from Memorial Day weekend!

EXTRA! EXTRA! Senator Ben Sasse (you remember him, right?) gave a commencement speech. It…er…did not go well.https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/05/18/senator-sasse-high-school-graduation-speech-orig-jm.cnn

We looked at openings from film/tv last week—now we apply what we saw there to looking at openings to novels.

For narratives that rely entirely on words, the audience must figure out much more about the story on their own (and the author has to be creative about how to include clues). Here are the questions College Board lays out to represent what the audience thinks through on its own, and how these relate to what literary analysis would discuss:

What ‘world’ have I entered?What does this time and place look, sound, smell, taste, etc like? In other words, How would you sum up the physical details that make up this world (not the characters, JUST the place)? DESCRIBE SETTING’S TRAITS by citing telling details

And…What does this time and place feel like to be in? In other words, How would you sum up the emotional effect of this world on its inhabitants? DESCRIBE MOOD by citing telling details.

Who is my guide in this world?Who am I ‘hearing’ the details of events, characters’ words, etc from? In other words, How would you profile the narrator as a character? DESCRIBE NARRATOR’S TRAITS by citing telling details

What voices do I ‘ hear?’Beside the narrator, whose words/thoughts/feelings/perspectives are included? How central/important to the story are they? NAME/CATEGORIZE Major/Minor CHARACTERS by citing telling details

And…How credible is the version of events I am hearing from the narrator? In other words, How trustworthy is the narrator for providing accurate, honest and full information? DESCRIBE NARRATOR’S PERSPECTIVE by citing pivotal phrases

What relationships are at play?

What emotional, social, biological, etc connections between characters are made explicit? Are implicit? MAP OUT ALLIANCES/ CONFLICTS relevant to PLOT/THEME, citing telling details/pivotal phrases

And…What connections between characters and setting are made explicit? Are implicit? MAP OUT ALLIANCES/ CONFLICTS relevant to PLOT/THEME, citing telling details/pivotal phrases

And…How much access does the narrator have to other characters’ thoughts/feelings? Is it strictly 1st person? OR Limited to one other character at a time? OR Able to read any mind and know the future/past/what’s going on outside of the scene (omniscient)? CATEGORIZE POINT OF VIEW, citing telling details/pivotal phrases

Reading Assignment: On my course documents, read the opening to Orwell’s famous novel, 1984. Create a googledoc and record your answers to the questions above for that opening.

We have now reached full circle in the course. We began in September looking at endings—pictures of rooms of people who had recently died to notice telling details; we moved on to poems, stories and essays to analyze pivotal phrases authors used. In particular, we looked at imagery, a technique of style--word choice NOT to EXPLICITLY describe but IMPLICITLY to make the reader “feel” (see, hear, smell, taste, imagine we touch, move and experience bodily) perceptions of characters in a story. This tactic, we noted, connects the reader to the character virtually.

Constance Grady provides a model of the audience AND the literary analysis in discussing what she thinks is the most powerful opening of a novel, Beloved by Toni Morrison:

In Beloved, the ghost of slavery is literal and inescapable. Sethe, the desperate mother based on the historical Margaret Garner, may no longer be enslaved as the novel opens, but she can never forget what slavery as an institution did to her as a person: that it made her kill her infant daughter, Beloved.

When a young woman claiming to be the now-adult Beloved comes to Sethe’s house, Sethe begins to believe that she may at last be able to forget: that if Beloved is truly alive, then what Sethe did to her never happened, and so slavery may be erased, forgotten, papered over. But it rapidly and inexorably becomes clear that forgetting is impossible.

And so Morrison’s every sentence is heavy with dread and grief, a personal grief rendered universal and historical. But what’s astonishing is that it’s still beautiful, still luxurious to read, even when Morrison is making her language “get out of the way” as much as possible.The opening paragraph of Beloved captures that dread and that beauty as well as anything else Morrison ever wrote:

124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children. For years each put up with the spite in his own way, but by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, was dead, and the sons, Howard and Buglar, had run away by the time they were thirteen years old — as soon as merely looking in a mirror shattered it (that was the signal for Buglar); as soon as two tiny hand prints appeared in the cake (that was it for Howard). Neither boy waited to see more; another kettleful of chickpeas smoking in a heap on the floor; soda crackers crumbled and strewn in a line next to the doorsill. Nor did they wait for one of the relief periods: the weeks, months even, when nothing was disturbed. No. Each one fled at once — the moment the house committed what was for him the one insult not to be born or witnessed a second time. Within two months, in the dead of winter, leaving their grandmother, Baby Suggs; Sethe, their mother; and their little sister, Denver, all by themselves in the gray and white house on Bluestone Road. It didn’t have a number then, because Cincinnati didn’t stretch that far. In fact, Ohio had been calling itself a state only seventy years when first one brother and then the next stuffed quilt packing into his hat, snatched up his shoes, and crept away from the lively spite the house felt for them.

The ghost of Beloved is everywhere here, with the “venom” and “lively spite” of a murdered baby seething its way through the very house where Sethe lives. This is a house that is haunted by an atrocity, and that atrocity was created by slavery, now rendered domestic and personal and intimate, confined to the “spiteful” house of 124.

But even while that atrocity breathes its way through the language, the prose remains beautiful to read. Look at the way the two parentheticals in the third sentence balance each other as both Buglar and Howard reach their tipping point and leave the house; the way they make the narrator’s voice get slightly mannered for a moment, as though we are at the beginning of a Victorian fairy tale for children. And then notice how the “lively spite the house felt for them” at the end of the paragraph wrenches us out of that cozy fairy tale space, into someplace still a little supernatural — it’s a world where houses can have feelings — but altogether more unsettling and unsettled.

Morrison’s language is always this precise and controlled in its effects, and it is always reaching for a bigger and more indelible story. That’s why her legacy — both as an editor and as a novelist — is going to outlive us all.https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/6/20756895/toni-morrison-obituary-legacy-beloved-editor

Analysis Assignment: (with up to 3 partners) Copy and paste Orwell’s opening to your googledoc (below). HIGHLIGHT words/phrases that implicitly make you “feel” physically or emotionally (avoid highlighting words/phrases that explicitly describe) the setting:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide:

the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for HateWeek. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.

Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely. He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the Party. His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended.

Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black-moustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own.

Down at street level another poster, torn at one corner, flapped fitfully in the wind, alternately covering and uncovering the single word INGSOC. In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people’s windows. The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered.

Analysis Assignment: (with up to 3 partners) Looking at what you have highlighted, decide what ONE adjective you would use to name the mood Orwell is trying to establish for his setting. You can fill in this sentence with an emotion/attitude word: “It would make me feel _________ to live in this place/time.”—like the kinds of words shown below:

Now, using your notes, you’re ready to construct a practice literary analysis outline. Copy and paste this into your googledoc, fill in the blanks, and send it to me!

From the very first page, Orwell’s 1984 presents a world that looks ____ and feels ____. [CLAIM] The imagery in phrases such as “__, ” “__ ”and “__ ” [EVIDENCE] create an atmosphere that seems ____ because these bring to mind ____ [ANALYSIS]. Furthermore, including specifics about the setting’s physical traits like ___ and ___ [EVIDENCE] add to this sense because _____ is their effect [ANALYSIS ]. By experiencing living in this world even for just a moment, the reader can see why this novel is used as a warning of how life could become. [COMMENTARY ]

Remember--I’m going to have you analyze how a film/show opening of your choice WORKS to hook its audience as your summative for this unit. Be considering what story you would like to use. Here, by the way, is a short excerpt from the Prologue of my favs:

Writing the first edition, I placed much weight on employing as many real names as possible, using their actual working phone numbers, everything, to prove a point that one could be completely factual, and still tell a story that felt and read novelistic, somewhat timeless, at least fluid. Changing all the names or, worse, making it all fictional (semi-autobiographical) seemed cowardly and silly. And so before publication I approached people whose names were used, and asked their permission. All readily agreed, but now, many of the people who initially said yes have had second thoughts. A typical conversation before publication: "Is it okay to use your real name?" "Sure, why not?" Typical conversation a month after publication: "Would it be possible to remove my name?" "Of course. Why?" "Well, no offence, but I really didn't think anyone would see the damn book."

A slightly different thing happened with the three friends who allowed the usage of their phone numbers. I assumed that after a few months, those whose numbers were listed would have been so besieged by creative teenagers at sleepovers that they'd have to change their numbers, a service I promised to pay for. And yet: approximate number of copies of this book sold in hardcover form: 200,000; approximate number of readers of this book, considering library use and pass-along: maybe 400,000; thus, how weird is this: Number of calls Marny received: 7 Number of calls Kirsten received: 12 Total calls for KC: 5 Total number of calls: 24. Those that did call often hung up; those that spoke were very nice. But overall, a remarkable thing: a gaspingly low percentage of phoners, especially given just how easy and convenient telephone use can be.

My guess is that a majority of people either a) assumed the numbers were phoney or outdated; b) were exceedingly polite and respectful of the privacy of nonfictional book characters; or c) never actually made it that far into the book, a failure for which I cast no outward blame. The fault, of course, is mine. Why, then, have we changed most of the names in the book? Because I've lost my taste for this sort of courage. I thought it was courageous to write about these things, and I thought it was equally courageous for my friends and me to use our names and phone numbers, and to allow our exploits and sexploits to be recounted in print for the consumption of our parents and aunts and nephews.

But now, when so many have asked for name-changes, and so many have been shocked by who/how many have seen all these words, I've decided to let most of the people - save some primary characters - breathe easier and live freer, by allowing them to slip back into semi-fictional personae. In a few cases, where I had originally lashed out at real people in backhanded ways, and used their real names in doing so, I have removed or softened these parts, because in the last year I've also, almost completely, lost my taste for blood.

(Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius)

June 1-19 Lessons and Assignments

We’ve reached the end of the curriculum!

...and today Snohomish County is applying to the Secretary of Health to move to Phase 2! If approved, this means

you can participate in limited outdoor recreation with up to five people outside of your household. You can gather in other ways with five people outside of your household. You can travel some [for non-essential purposes], as long as you don’t break the other rules. And lots of businesses can open again, as long as they continue to follow [6-foot] social distancing rules and [workers] wear masks. These range from hair and nail salons to stores, pet grooming and in-home child care and housecleaning. Restaurants and taverns can open at 50% capacity, but bars must stay closed. [Businesses are allowed to refuse service to those not wearing masks.]

https://crosscut.com/2020/05/are-we-phase-2-yet-reopening-washington-explained

Here’s hoping that the efforts of everyone who has been working to keep others safe pay off, and those carrying heavy loads to care for us now get more helping hands to share the burden (and some well-deserved rest!). May the sacrifices, worry and losses you have suffered pass, along with Phase 1. And may we all keep doing what is needed to keep the progress going!

To close the year, I’d like to return to the promise I made at the beginning—that I would answer the question WHY? for everything we do in class. Ever since teachers began requiring literary analysis—way back in ancient times—students have wondered WHY they should do it…how is it relevant to the real world

(and not just something you do for a class/grade)? Throughout this class, we’ve seen the value of sharpening your skills of analysis and evaluation, adding to your toolbox of techniques and tactics and broadening your awareness of yourself and others as audiences. I want to make a different case for literary analysis here at the finish line: Literary Analysis is what fans do so that they can squeeze as much enjoyment as possible from the art and artists they love. For the finale of the class, I am asking you to be a fan—and share your fanny stuff with me (…er…wait, that didn’t come out right!).

What am I talking about? Glad you asked! As you know, I researched and am myself an ARMY, the fans of the global superstar K-Pop group BTS. ARMY are famous for coming up with theories—interpretations and analyses of BTS’ lyrics, music videos, choreography, etc. (The term comes from gamers’ theorycrafting—analyzing games and strategies to make play more interesting.) Fan theories get as intricate and deep as anything a professor could do! Because fans love to make and discuss theories, BTS creates art that needs to be interpreted, trusting fans, despite differences in language, culture, geography, religion, philosophy and history, to together interpret the meanings. And fans—by the tens of millions in ARMY’s case—do it. To me, this is an amazing case of your generation showing us older folk what it really looks like to accomplish the highest level of communication, the ideal I laid out at the beginning of this semester:

I read to listen to others.I write to speak to others.I think to understand myself, others and how we relate.

So, to recap: literary analysis of art we love is fun and enlightening; that’s why it’s worth doing.

A modelReading Assignment: Watch this short film/music video (no subtitles…just “read” what you see, hear and understand AS IS), and think about (don’t have to write) how you would answer the questions above for it:

BTS’ Euphoria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX0vO4vlJuU

Now scan, skim or flip through each of these 3 different ways fans share their theories about the meanings of the video, noting how they address or do not address the questions above:

berry852’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smxhc2kRVEw (part 1/2)

BRISxLIFE’s YouTube channel discussing @jintellectually’s Twitter theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QWH5ZHfqm8

BTStheory on Tumblr (see Course Documents for this -large- file).

Reflection Assignment: Answer these questions—

What did YOU, personally like most from these fans—aboutwhat things they paid attention to/noticedhow they presented their ideas to other fanswhat they didn’t waste time doing as analysts?

What “stories” are YOU, personally a fan of? (anything that has a plot—not just events—is a story; they may be in song, game, book, comic, podcast, livestream, etc form; they can be fictional, true, interactive, a mix, etc.)

What is your ONE, mostest favoritest of all?

Would it ruin the fun for you to share your fan analysis of an opening from ONE piece of art for that story (one episode, one volume, one movie poster/cover illustration, one live performance, etc)? If so, pick a different story you don’t love as much (and won’t mind “ruining”).

Now, it’s your turn! Check out the Unit 4 Assessment tab on my website for the summative!

Spoiler!...here’s what it asks you to do:

Read the opening of a story of your choice. Focus your attention on how the artist introduces character(s) and surroundings.

After reading, create a well-organized presentation in which you analyze how character(s) and setting, and the relationship between them, are presented by the artist in the opening. (Your analysis can be in essay, video, podcast or other form of your choice.)

Note: Make sure to include specific examples of techniques such as camera angles, word choice, sound effects, etc as you analyze the artist’s choices and develop your presentation. Do not merely summarize the plot.

For this assessment…Wanna do a reaction/theory video, podcast, slideshow, etc? Do it! Actually like essay writing?—I’m here for it! Choose the format YOU enjoy and share your fanny stuff through a link or attachment sent to my email jbaker@everettsd.org.

Happy Summer!!!

[2020 FESTA] BTS (방탄소년단) 'Airplane pt.2' (Summer ver.) @ 2018 SUMMER PACKAGE in SAIPANhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxzxFPvUJAM