The plan is to watch Errol Morris’s documentary on Abu Ghraib while I talk to individual students about their grades.  I’ll ask for a writing assignment to go along with the movie (due the Friday we get back… April 10th)

Using the set of film vocabulary I provided, explain how Morris uses the documentary medium for rhetorical purposes.  What are the major claims Morris wants to put forth? How does he use interviews, images, camera movement, music, and voice overs to persuade his audience?  What worked and what didn’t. 400-500 words

So, we’ll write our AP prompt based on Sontag’s excerpt from “On Photography.”  Afterward, we’ll talk. Here are samples of exemplar responses. The first, IIII, is particularly good.

HW: Read Exposure by Phillip Gourevitch and Erroll Morris (warning: it’s kinda long) and write a 200-word response that comments on the argument they’re making, especially about the nature of visuals in making a point.

First, we’ll get a chance to read 2-3 of our fellow writers’ work on the Immersive Essay and talk a bit about the process.

Next, we’ll take a short-ish quiz on the photography terms. Here are the images.

Finally, I hope to run through a fullproof method of writing like David Foster Wallace…at least one sentence’s worth.

HW: Read any 3 of the art criticism excepts from here.  In a 200-300 word response, comment on how these critics make claims, provide evidence, and analyze the pieces of art.  Quote from each at least once.

Image: Composition VIII, Kandinsky

It’s WASL day! What isn’t fun about this?  We’ll start with, well, its different for 1st and 3rd periods, so…

1st period: Read “Two Family Portraits” and write a short response: What claims about the portraits does the author make and how does he provide evidence to support them? What differing claims would you suggest and what evidence could you use to support them?

3rd period: Go to The Big Picture, the photoblog site for the Boston Globe.  In small groups, choose a picture and prepare to present and analyze the picture for the class using the photography terminology we’ve been using.

Then, we’re on to take a look at chapter 15 in Everything’s an Argument. We’ll read a selection and then I’ll ask you to render a certain part of the chapter into a visual form.

Finally, we’ll look at advertising using Duke U’s Ad*Access. Choose one of the following products from the list below. Look through the archive and choose one to analyze in an individual blog post. Next, I’m hoping we have time to imagine creating an ad for that product.

• Beauty/Hygiene
• Televisions
• Radios
• Transportation
• WWII

HW: Immersive Paper due. Quiz on photo terms.

Image Credit: Duke U Ad*Access

We’ll start with a peer edit of our Immersion Essay. Here are the reader assignments.

Reader 1: Look to see how the writer uses specific detail and showing (rather than telling) passages to evoke the experience.  Especially look for description, dialogue, scenes, and other fictional devices.

Reader 2: Look to see how the writer includes expository information about the subject without breaking the flow of the narrative too abruptly. Do we learn something while we get the story?

Reader 3: Look for the writer’s style, especially the use of strong verbs and sentence structure to create a tone.

Afterward, I’ll give you time to work.

Next, we’ll use small groups to look at Pulitzer Prize winning photos. See here and here as well. Choose one and plan on coming up to talk about it using our new set of photo vocabulary.

If we have time, I’d like to talk about a dead tree essay on Family Portraits.

HW: Finish the Immersion Essay

Image Credit: pulitzer.org (Preston Gannaway)