10th Grade English
Tuesday
29 Oct. 2013
Agenda:
 Assess Student Writing with Scale Checklist
 Mini-Lesson on Introductions
 Select Essay Prompt
 Craft Intro and Body Paragraphs
Homework:
•Periods 1-2: Meet in 206 Lab to Type Julius Caesar 1st Draft of Essay
TOMORROW and Thursday.
•Period 3: Meet in 503 Lab to Type Julius Caesar 1st Draft of Essay TOMORROW
and Thursday.
•Complete 1st Draft Due by End of Class on Thursday, 10/31
Learning Targets:
1. I can craft an introduction with a clever hook, a summary of the
play, and a thesis statement.
2. I can craft a thesis statement with the title of the play, the author,
my arguable point, and the 3 ways I’ll prove that arguable point.
3. I can craft a topic sentence that includes an advanced transition
word, my arguable point, and one point that proves what I’m
arguing.
4. I can craft context that sets up the reader to understand the
quote.
5. I can craft analysis that explains why and how the quote proves
my arguable point.
Introduction Hooks
Open with an attention grabber. Sometimes, especially if the topic
of your paper is somewhat dry or technical, opening with
something catchy can help. Consider these options:
1. an intriguing example (Out of eight conspirators who contrived
to murder their leader, only one had good and noble intentions
for doing so.)
2. a provocative quotation (“Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of
war” (Shakespeare III.i.273).
3. a puzzling scenario (While mother is making dinner, ten year
old Timmy walks into the kitchen and flatters his mother with
compliments. Then he asks permission to play with his Daddy’s
gun. Being buttered up and amenable to anything Timmy
might ask for, mother agrees to let Timmy play with his gun.
Hoping to use Daddy’s toy in a game of cops and robbers,
Timmy heads for the family room in a fit of excitement. Twenty
minutes later, his brother and sister are dead.)
Introduction Hooks
Open with an attention grabber. Sometimes, especially if the topic of
your paper is somewhat dry or technical, opening with something catchy
can help. Consider these options:
4. a vivid and perhaps unexpected anecdote (Learning about
manipulation in the sophomore English course at Camas High School,
students studied the history of manipulation, the various methods
people employ to manipulate others, and what can happen when
people are unaware of others’ manipulative tactics. Students did not
discuss the efficacy of manipulation, however, until one student,
Mary, raised her hand and asked, 'But why would a smart man like
Brutus overlook the fact that Cassius might manipulate him?' That
modern high school students could not conceive of how smart
people can be manipulated speaks volumes about the necessity of
mastering classical persuasion tactics.)
5. a thought-provoking question (For every time a persuasive strategy
is used for good intentions, twenty-two persuasive strategies are
used for selfish reasons in the play Julius Caesar. Why, then, are
people not more aware of when they are being manipulated?)
Thesis Statement Examples:
Prompt #1 (Theme #3): In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, language is
a powerful weapon, and in the hands of a skilled person, it is used to
manipulate others as evidenced by the speeches of Cassius, Decius, and
Antony.
Prompt #2: In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, logos proves to be the
single most effective rhetorical strategy as evidenced by the logical
appeals of Cassius, Portia, and Antony.
Prompt #3: In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Antony’s funeral speech
proves to be the most effective speech in the entire play thanks to his
persuasive strategies appealing to logos and pathos.
Prompt #4: In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, ethos is Portia’s most
effective rhetorical appeal as she persuades Brutus to tell her what is
wrong by establishing her relationship to Brutus, by referencing her
ancestry, and by proving she is trustworthy.