Vocabulary Lesson 6

This week, instead of writing individual sentences, you will write logical, cohesive, and interesting paragraphs. Each paragraph must contain four sentences, at least 3 lesson six vocabulary words, and a vocabulary word  from a previous chapter. Please consider your conjunction usage in your paragraph's creation.

Vocabulary Lesson 5

It’s that time of the week again: time to write fascinating, thoughtful sentences using your vocabulary words. This week, I want you to work on using different types of conjunctions. Most of you only rely on “and” and “or,” limiting your ability to write compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. In essence, you limit your ability to express logic in your sentences, preventing yourself from illustrating how your ideas are connected.

Instructions:

Access the following website and read about conjunctions: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm

Write 5 sentences using a different vocabulary word and conjunction for each.

"The Use of Force"

I know you understand it by now: there is no such thing as one interpretation to a great story. Now you have to prove it. "The Use of Force" on the literal level is about a doctor on a house call who encounters an uncooperative young girl. He must use violence to conduct a throat examination to confirm that she has diphtheria. But, we know that there is more to the story because there are figurative levels to this story.

What are they? In this blog, explain what the characters represent? Provide details from the story to defend your view. Explain how these groups are in conflict? Provide details from the story that reveal the presence of that conflict within the story.

Confusion Involved in the College Application Process

You have settled on a few colleges of interests, have finished your college application essays and résumés, and are currently obtaining letters of recommendations. You probably still have some questions about this often confusing ordeal doing this extremely hectic time in your life. You may even still be apprehensive about this whole college process, uncertainty concerning applications, admissions, and financial aid. To address your bewilderment and hopefully alleviate some of your fears, you have the opportunity to talk to Mr. Kevin Owens, who has been the Assistant Director of Admission at Rutgers, The State University of NJ in Camden, since May 2005. He, wishing to demystify the admission’s process, will blog with you to clarify any confusion you may still have about the college application process, answering question on a variety of topics from documentation involved in the financial aid process to relevant questions to ask tour guides when visiting schools to even mistakes which can potential damage your chances of acceptance that you need to avoid.

 
During this week, you must ask two questions about this very important process in your life. Mr. Owens will be checking the site periodically to answer all your questions. Please check back to read his answer and let him know that he has answered your questions fully.

Koban's "Allegory and the Death of the Heart in the Rocking Horse Winner"

Our previous analysis of "The Rocking Horse Winner" assumed that Paul was the protagonist of the story. But, what if he wasn't? What if it is Hester, Paul's mother? After all, the story begins by exploring her past, her life, and her problems. If Hester is the main character, how does this affect the story's meaning?
Charles Koban explores this question in his essay. Read his essay, taking marginal notes. Then post 6 of your notes that analyze his argument. Address in your posts if you find his argument valid or even relevant.

Quotations in papers

Quotations and references to book provide evidence for you argument. For introductory information, access the site below. Read all information, paying special attention to "How to Introduce Quotations in your discussion."

http://people.hsc.edu/drjclassics/syllabi/IH/writingGuidelines.shtm

How do I incoporate quotations into my paper?
Quotations should fit into your argument, not appear out of thin air.

Always integrate quotations into your text. NEVER DROP A QUOTATION IN YOUR ESSAY! In other words, you must use your own words to introduce a quotation.
          Must provide context of quotation (who said it and why) in order for the quotation to make sense to the reader.
          To integrate a quotation properly within a paragraph, a good writer usually writes one sentence to introduce the quotation, a second sentence that includes the quotation, and a third sentence to comment on the significance of the quotation.
          Need to explicitly explain how the quotation is proving your argument.

Now you will try it. Using your rough draft of paper, rework any "drop in quotation", any parts of your paper that are confusing because you do not fully explain context of quotation or its relevance.

Senior Essays: A Time for Reflection

Wow! What a journey you all went on. Many of you edited draft after draft, reworking your ideas and revising your stories, writing a creative, logical, interesting, and consequently powerful paper. I feel privileged to have been a part of your process.


But you are not done yet. It is time to think about your journeys, consider what you have learned through the Senior Essay. Answer the following questions below. Also respond to any questions asking for clarification of ideas.

1. What was your favorite aspect of this assignment? Your least favorite part? Explain.

2. What academic or writing strengths do you have that allowed you to write the paper? Explain.

3. What were the greatest obstacles to finishing this paper? Thinking of something to write? Organizing paper? Starting writing? What techniques did you use to overcome them? Free writing? Outlining? Conferencing? How were they helpful? How will you use them the next time you write? Explain.

4. What is something that you still need to imrpove in your writing? Grammar, logic, organization, structure? How will you plan on improving it personally? Is this a weakness that we should address as a class? If so, what sort of instruction will you need? Explain.

Effective Writing

In its most basic form, a sentence is proposition: a statement about reality that can be accepted or rejected. We build sentences by putting propositions together. Our writing style emerges from HOW we put those propositions together.

When you write a sentence, you must consider three things:

1. what to write about and what we want to accomplish by writing about it

2. which words to use

3. what order to put them in 

Effective writing anticipates, shapes, and satisfies a reader's need for information. Consequently, sentences that convey more information are generally more effective than those that convey less.

We will now practice writing sentences, focusing on the logical order of your details presented. Access "Vocabulary Two" sentences on the blog. Rewrite any sentences to make it clearer, more logical, and more informative. Incorporate lesson three vocabulary words into new sentences.

Short Story Metacognitive Analysis

Writing about something you have already learned teaches metacognition by promoting problem solving and critical analysis. Metacognition is the monitoring and controlling of thought, a repertoire of thinking processes that can be applied to solve any problem. Metacognitive abilities enable people to act in new situations where habitual or learned responses do not work. Simply put, metacognition teaches students how to learn for themselves. Metacognition, already linked to academic and professional success, is crucial in an ever increasingly changing world. Understandably, college professors believe teaching metacognitive thought should be the most important educational goal in any classroom.

It is now time to access our metacognitive abilities to actually think about the short stories we have read so far in class. Pick one of the stories: "Ms. Brill," "Hills Like White Elephants," "Story of an Hour," or "Use of Force."
Answer the following questions:

1. What new close reading strategy did I learn that helped me analyze this story? Possible answers may include interpreting what characters look at to learn character's thoughts and emotions and questioning the narrator’s views and opinions because narrator may be untrustworthy. Please state 3 new close reading strategies that you have learned and show an example of use within a story.
2. There is no one “official” interpretation of the story. Pick a story and show how this story’s plot or message can be interpreted in 2 different ways. Defend each interpretation by using details from the story.
3. Have you asked a good question today? Start now. Ask 2 questions that you still have on how to interpret literature. I will answer all questions to the best of my ability.
4. Finally, it is your education and your input is valuable. Judge the short story unit so far. Did you find it useful? Why or why not? Did you learn anything? What? What did you like about the unit? Why/ what would you change? Explain.
Show students how to transfer knowledge, attitudes, values, skills to other situations or tasks

"The Rocking Horse Winner"

It is false for English teachers to present one "established" reading of a story. That does not exist. Academics continuously argue about perceived literary devices within a story and central messages of even established canonical literature. We hope this ongoing debate, where arguments are continually scrutinized, either rejected for weaknesses and logical fallacies or discussed for innovative and strong ideas, will establish a collaborative collection of creative ideas which will help us understand literature through many different lens, ultimately enabling us to analyze culture and society through these multi-facted viewpoints.

We have analyzed "The Rocking-Horse Winner" through a typical Marxist reading (which means that we used economic theory to interpret the story). The story is a critique of Capitalism, an economic system that upholds greed and money. According to the story, this greed poisons everything, perverting all human relationships. The mother cannot love her husband or her children.This story critiques capitalistic greed because it cripples a sense of satisfaction in people's lives. In a capitalistic system, people can never have enough money. The house is constantly haunted by whispers, showing the constant worries people endure because their greed encourages them to live outside their means. Paul tries to assuage these fears through work that raises money. He furiously rides his rocking horse, which mysteriously gives him the knowledge of upcoming horse race winners, which enables him to gamble and win money. Even though Paul wins lots of money, his mother can foolishly squander it faster than he can make it. So Paul must continue to ride his horse in order to bet, and this ultimately leads to his death. The story shows the plight of oppressed workers who literally are forced to work themselves to death to created wealth for big business who are never satisfied with their outputs.

But that is not the only valid interpretation. I have provided John Humma's essay titled "Pan and the Rocking-Horse Winner." Read his essay and see how he builds upon the previously mentioned interpretation to create a new idea. Analyze his argument and see if it is good.

Once you finish an argument, you must always:

1. Accurately summarize the argument in 1-3 sentences. Be fair and do not color summary with any biases.

2. Acknowledge good points. What points are strong, and why are they convincing? How do they support the argument's claim?

3. Discover any weak points to argument. Does essay use any faulty logical conclusions, fail to explain a connection between ideas, or not provide enough evidence to argue claim?

4. Decide if this is a valid argument. Why or why not?