Unit 1: Introduction to Rhetorical Analysis and Annotative Reading
Modes of Writing: narrative, descriptive, compare contrast
Readings:
“My Father: Leslie Stephen” by Virginia Woolf, p.137, The Norton Reader
“Shooting Dad” by Sarah Vowell, p. 152 The Bedford Reader
“Arm Wrestling with my Father” by Dorothy Allison, p. 155, Seeing and Writing
Excerpt from The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
“Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard
Passage from Meena Alexander’s autobiography, Fault Lines 1993
“Salvation” Langston Hughes
“Champion of the World” by Maya Angelou, p. 88, The Bedford Reader
“Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie, p. 133, Short Takes
‘’Portrait of My Body” by Phillip Lopate, p.202, Seeing and Writing
Excerpt from A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
“Two Dinners” passage by Virginia Woolf
Op/Ed pieces from major newspapers
Assignments:
-Image analysis
-Annotative reading
-Dual-entry journals for reading assignments
-Rhetorical Precis
-Anecdotal Writing
-Narrative and descriptive writing
-Rhetorical analysis essays, based on the essays in the reading list
-Timed (40 min.) in-class rhetorical analysis essays from past AP Language prompts
-Rewrites
-Collaborative writing, imitation exercises, in-class responses
-Independent readings
-Small group discussions
-Socratic seminar
-Vocabulary
Terms and Skills:
Annotation, speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, tone, metaphor, structure, syntax
(inverted word order, periodic sentence, cumulative sentence, use of parenthetical),
diction, connotation, denotation, figurative vs. literal language, formal language, colloquial
language, general and specific language, concrete and abstract language, voice, style,
writing introductions