We’ll give William F’s piece a through analysis in class today. Half of the groups will be tasked with getting a handle on the interpretation section of the Critical Reading questions as they relate to WDWC and the other half will use the Evaluation section. After groups go at it, we’ll talk as a full group.

Next, we’ll do a section of multiple choice questions based on paragraphs 1-8.

After a break, we’ll take a look at a set of terms I constructed with help from the Interwebs.  This should be a pretty exhaustive list of words that–while not likely to be expressly asked about–are helpful concepts and strategies to keep in mind. I’d like to give everyone 5-10 minutes to talk about the list and then 5-10 minutes to:

• Choose 8 terms.
• Create examples of those terms that–if read–should allow a reasonably bright AP student to figure out which term it refers to.
• Then, we do battle. I have a Jeopardy game and we might try AP Term Baseball if we have time.

Also, I’d like to show a quick PP on how to do this kind of analysis using Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural address.

HW: Choose a topic or claim that you feel strongly about (e.g. Global Warming is so serious that we should take emergency measures now to combat it.). Write one paragraph that make an argument for your claim. Write another paragraph that makes an argument for the opposite claim. Make it so that someone cannot tell which side you agree with. Try to choose a topic that your friends don’t know your feelings on.

Let’s start with honesty. We’ll get groups to share homework and compare/contrast the Insufficiency of Honesty and the Ways we Lie pieces in terms of the Critical Reading Analysis questions.

Then, on to the Idler. In small groups again, pull out how Johnson creates a persona, uses evidence and examples, and achieves his purpose.

Time for individual work. Go to Arts and Letters Daily, browse, and then choose the essay/article/review you like the best. Read it and then write a 300-400 words reaction that quickly summarizes what it says and then analyze what it does by using the Interpretation Asks questions.

HW: Read William F. Buckley’s Why Don’t We Complain (also in 50 Essays) and use the Evaluation questions to evaluate the validity of Buckley’s thesis.

Image credit: 1902encyclopedia.com

So, we present today our synthetic essay Keynotes.  Remember, short presenations are key. Give us the question and and idea about the evidence.

Next, we’ll try another approach with rhetorical analysis: Criticial Reading and then we’ll apply that to the two pieces we read for homework: “The Insufficiency of Honesty” by Stephen L. Carter and “The Ways we Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson.

HW: Read The Idler by Samuel Johnson and use the Critical Reading Handout to comment on Analysis asks section.

Lisa: (gasps) It’s Tom Wolfe! He uses more exclamation points than any other major American writer.
Tom Wolfe: It’s true!!!!!

We’ll start, after a short period of psyching up (e.g. pounding our frontal lobes into dictionaries, cracking knuckles, trash talking Jonathan Frantzen), with the in-class rhetorical analysis essays.

Afterward, we’ll see our fellow students and note 2-3 elements: what elements are identifies, how the writer connects them to the purpose, writing style of the student.

Finally, let’s talk Boo.  Choose a paragraph to adopt and use it to make bigger points about her style, purpose, strategies, and attitude towards her subject.

Image credit: The Simpsons

We’ll start with the rhetorical flow chart…Either go lo-tech (big piece of paper) or high-tech (inspiration file) and create a set of boxes to help anyone make decisions about what to look for when analyzing the rhetorical strategies of piece of writing. Here’s 1st period’s work. Here’s period 3 (also as a .pdf).

Then, we’ll use the student-created flow charts with the following prompt:

Next, in small groups, we’ll answer the following questions about “Notes on a Native Speaker.”

1. What is the purpose of the list that opens the essay?  How is it meant to engage the reader?
2. How would you describe Liu’s attitude towards being “white, by acclamation” (par. 2)?
3. How does he define “assimilation?”
4. In pars. 7-10, he describes himself at a crisis point. How did he get there? What’s the problem?
5. Explain the paradox in paragraph 42. How could it be resolved?
6. What’s the deal with the hair? Why is it such a concern for him?
7. What is the overall organizational structure of the essay?
8. Note the authorities Liu cites.  How do they establish his appeal to ethos or logos?
9. What is the main claim Liu is making in this piece?

Finally, I want to look at a short excerpt from Tom Wolfe’s Kandy Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.  How does Wolfe use unconventional style choices to elicit and invoke the place he is describing?

HW: Become a Wolfe-ian.  Describe a place or event as you imagine Tom Wolfe would.  Go overboard on the onomatopoeia. 200-300 words