May 27, 2014
Agenda 5-27-14
Journal Inventory
Rubric for Final: Synthesis Essay
Group Preparation Activity
Activity Guidelines
Divide into Groups
Hand Back Work!
HOMEWORK: FINAL PROJECT DUE DAY OF
FINAL; TURN IN COPIES OF TKR ON THURS.
Journal Inventory
We need to create a journal inventory for
The Kite Runner unit.
Synthesis Essay Rubric
Let’s take a look at the final synthesis essay
rubric that will be used to score your writing.
Keep in mind the keywords that you hear and
underline them as we go along.
“Be the change you want to see in the
world.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
Quickwrite
Write about a time in your life when you faced an
injustice. What did you do about it? Did you
stand up and make a change? Why or why not?
What were the factors involved in your decision
making and how did you come to a conclusion?
Think about people in history who have faced
injustice and challenged it. What made it difficult
for them to challenge it? What made it possible?
I will be numbering you off 1-5.
Once everyone has a number, I
will tell you where each group
should meet. You will need your
journal and something to write
with.
Discussion Questions
What forces shape the way an individual views his or
her role in the world and ability to make a change?
What factors make it difficult or impossible for an
individual to make a change in the world around them?
To what extent is it possible to make a change in the
world given these forces and factors?
Group Activity: Prep for Final
In groups, you will be assigned both a non-fiction piece
and a novel that we’ve read.
You will have a prompt to respond to and it will be up
to you and your group members to brainstorm, discuss,
pull quotes as evidence, analyze, and ultimately create
an essay outline.
Each group will present their outline on Thursday, so it
is essential that we work through all possible arguments
and essay elements in class today.
The Prompt
In response to the quote above by Mahatma
Gandhi, please write an analytical essay in
which you state your belief in or skepticism
about individuals’ ability to change the
world around them. You must include
evidence from two sources (the novel and
non-fiction pieces your group has been
assigned).
In Your Journals
You will be responsible for:
Creating an outline with these essential elements:
A full introduction (hook, transition, background, thesis)
A topic sentence for each body paragraph
Pulling evidence for each body paragraph
A sentence, or two, of analysis to support your claim in
terms of the quotes you found
A full conclusion
You have the rest of the period to complete
the outline in your journals. I will be
including this as part of the inventory, so
make sure you are taking down the same
information as the rest of your group. You
will also need the information in order to
successfully present on Thursday.
May 29, 2014
Agenda 5-29-14
Finish Outlines
Share Outlines
“Synthesis” Discussion
Annotate Sample Essay
Quick Grammar Review
Collect Journals/Hand Back Work
HOMEWORK: FINAL PROJECTS; PREP FOR GRAMMAR
Finish and Present
Take 15 minutes to finish your group outlines.
Once the outlines are complete, you will share
yours with the rest of the class.
Be ready to discuss any strategies you used and
what worked best in terms of
drafting/analyzing/synthesizing.
Synthesis
Examples: Why does Golding use animal
imagery to describe Jack? What sorts of
behavior do you think Jack would exhibit
back at school? What would he be like?
Example: What are the three most significant events in chapter two?
This pyramid represents the different levels of critical thinking we’ve been practicing all
year.
You can see the levels at work in the various types of questions you’ve had to
create/answer and the types of writing you’ve been asked to perform.
What Is Synthesis?
Synthesis is the process of bringing together information from various
sources to form a new whole. The word comes from a Greek root that
means “to put together.” So whenever you draw evidence from
various sources to support a point—whether it’s your reading,
observation, or experience—you are synthesizing.
What is a Synthesis Essay?
The synthesis essay is a timed writing situation which
was designed to mirror the researched arguments many
university courses call upon students to write. Like an
argument, it is persuasive, but you must use the facts
and ideas presented in the sources provided for you.
These sources are almost always relatively brief and will
sometimes include--at least--one visual (a graph, a table,
a cartoon, a photograph, etc.). The research paper you
were asked to write this year is an example of an out-ofclass synthesis.
The prompt will call upon you to write a composition
that develops a position on a particular issue, and while
you may draw upon whatever you know about the issue,
you must make use a certain number of the provided
sources to earn a high score.
Let’s Look at a Sample
Major Tasks:
1) Unpacking a Sample Prompt.
2) Looking at a Sample Synthesis Essay
Sample Prompt
In the Quickwrite section of your journal, title this
entry “Sample Prompt.” You will be responding to
the prompt in terms of what it is asking of the
writer.
What is the actual task?
What keywords do you notice and why are they
significant?
What words or phrases are confusing and why?
Sample Prompt
Prompt: Television has been influential in United
States presidential elections since the 1960’s. But just
what is this influence, and how has it affected who is
elected? Has it made elections fairer and more
accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing
issues to pursuing image?
Directions: Read the following sources (including any
introductory information) carefully. Then, in an essay
that synthesizes at least three of the sources for
support, take a position that defends, challenges, or
qualifies the claim that television has had a positive
impact on presidential elections.
Strategies to Consider
Question the claims made by the writers. Examine the
warrants (assumptions).
Do you note any logical fallacies or unsupported claims?
What does the writer claim to be true? Is it actually true?
For statistics, identify the presumed cause for any numerical
changes. Might there be other causes?
Question! Question! Question! Your job is to evaluate the
sources, not bow down at the altar of some intellectual
genius.
Address—if appropriate—the opposition, but don’t’ forget
to explain you still ultimately disagree with their position.
Is the writer using conventions correctly (i.e. integrating ALL
quotes) and synthesizing sources chosen?
Sample Synthesis Essay
Please locate your “Hassan” group
members and move your desks to face
each other.
You will need to take your journal and
something to write with (perhaps a
highlighter or two if you wish).
Sample Synthesis Essay
Read through the essay. Annotate essential elements
(hook, transitions, background, thesis, topic sentences,
analysis) as well as parts you thought were particularly
effective.
Be ready to discuss:
What is the writer doing in each paragraph?
How are the sources being used?
What do you notice about the quote
analysis/commentary?
How is the essay structured? Is it the best possible? How
else could one structure it?
Essential Grammar
Lessons
Misplaced Modifiers, 64
Modifiers should be placed as close as possible
to the words they modify. Misplaced modifiers
are words, phrases, or clauses that cause
confusion because they modify the wrong word
or seem to modify more than one word.
Misplaced: Taxiing on the runway, the radio tower
was in contact with the pilot of the plane.
Clear: Taxiing on the runway, the pilot of the plane
was in contact with the radio tower.
Dangling Modifiers, 64
Dangling modifiers are modifiers that do not logically
modify any word in the sentence. Usually, if a
modifier is dangling the word(s) it intends to modify
is missing, so to fix the sentence you must add the
word(s).
Dangling: After trying for many years to locate my
birth mother, she lives in Tuscon.
Clear: After trying for many years to locate my birth
mother, I found her living in Tuson.
Lesson 65
Usage: Affect vs. Effect
Affect is a verb that means to “cause change”
and is a verb
The heat affected my ability to do my best at
the track meet.
Effect is usually a noun and means “a result”
The heat during the track meet yesterday hurt
my performance and the effect was that I did
not get a metal.
Usage lesson 68
Lay means “to place” or “to put” and is a
transitive verb that refers to a direct object.
Lay; laying; laid
Please lay the silver on the table for
dinner. (present)
Jessica laid the book on the table. (past)
Usage lesson 68
Lie means “to recline” or “to be positioned”
and does not refer to a direct object.
Lie; lying; lay; lain
•
Ms. Keys lies in her recliner. (present)
•
She can’t come to the phone right now: she is
lying down. (present progressive)
•
Last night I lay down at 8:00 pm. (past)
•
That book has lain on the floor since you
dropped it there. It has been lying
there all day.
A few new lessons
(unit 12)
Colons (lesson 74)
Semicolons (lesson 75)
Commas: (lessons 76, 77, 78, 81)
I will ask you some questions about these on the
final so the exercises in the book will help you
practice 
Colons
Use a colon to introduce a list (especially after the
phrases such as these, the following, or as follows).
Ex: She loves Italian food, such as the following
delicious dishes: lasagna, spaghetti, and risotto.
Use a colon to introduce a long or formal quotation.
Ex: Jason’s speech ended with this quotation
from MLK
Jr.’s speech: “I have a dream, that
one day……”
Semicolons
Use a semicolon to separate main clauses that are not
joined by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS--for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, so)
Ex: Our opponents were alert; we were not.
Use a semicolon to separate the main clauses joined by a
conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, thus, etc.).
Ex: I did not go to the movies; instead, I cleaned the house.
Use a semicolon to separate the items in a series when
the items already contain commas.
Ex: The itinerary has us going to Rome, Italy; Paris,
France; and Rotterdam, Holland.
Example Questions:
Colons and Semicolons
Correct or Incorrect? Explain.
Her favorite movies are: Braveheart, Good
Will Hunting, and The Usual Suspects.
She did not have her homework, therefore
she skipped class.
The students were mostly from Saratoga,
Los Gatos, and San Jose; but some others
were from the East Bay.
Commas (there are lots of rules,
here are a few of the main ones)
Use commas between the
main clauses in a
compound sentence. (76)
Ex: I tried to read that book, but it was
much too boring.
Use commas to separate
the items in a series. (77)
Ex: She spoke of hockey, baseball, and
softball with authority.
More comma rules
Use commas to set off nonessential
elements of a sentence, like phrases or
clauses that could be taken out without
changing the meaning of the sentence.
Ex: Joe, wearing red shoes, accepted
the award. (nonessential--use commas)
The player wearing red shoes flew. (no
commas = essential-- the information in
the modifier is essential to
understanding the sentence)
More nonessential
examples
Use commas to separate out non- essential parts
of the sentence.
Ex: I read an essay by the author John
Steinbeck. (no commas)
Ex: John Steinbeck, a writer I admire, wrote The
Grapes of Wrath. (commas)
Commas: Titles,
Addresses, and Numbers
(Lesson 81)
Use commas to set off titles when they follow a
person’s name.
Ex: Jake Lee, R.N., will be here later.
Use commas to separate the various parts of an
address, location, or a date
Ex: Jane visited Rome, Italy this summer, and
she also went to Bremen, Germany.
Exit Ticket
This is the very last one!!
In order to help me become a better teacher and learn
from what we’ve done in this class, I would like you to
answer a few questions before you leave today. I won’t
read them until after finals, and I want you to be
thoughtful in your responses so that I really can take
your feedback with me for my planning next year.
What, of the following, was your favorite part of the
semester and why: Socratic Seminars, Creative Projects,
Group Presentations, Research Project