Friday
• warm-up: Gatsby ch. 1
review.
• activity 1: vocab. 5 quiz
• activity 2: Harlem
renaissance poetry
• activity 3: review realism
unit papers
• close: Langston Hughes
• DUE: Fitzgerald’s “What I
Think and Feel.” In tracker
as “Fitzgerald at 25.”
11.20
• Upcoming:
• 11.20: Vocab. 5 quiz
• 11.24: Modernism unit quiz 1 (Harlem
Renaissance)
• 12.1: Gatsby 1-3 quiz
• 12.4: Vocab. 6 quiz
• 12.8: Gatsby 4-6 quiz
• 12.11: Modernism unit quiz 2 (Hemingway
and imagism)
• 12.15: Gatsby 7-9 quiz
• 12.16: Gatsby essay component
• 12.18 (???): Modernism Unit Test
11.20 activity: Gatsby passages Ch. 1
1. What advice did Nick receive from his dad (1)? What does it mean?
2. How does Nick describe Gatsby in the opening chapter (2)? What does
he reveal about Gatsby?
3. Where is Nick from (3)?
4. What was Nick’s reaction to WW1 (3)?
5. What are the Eggs (5)?
6. How does Nick describe Tom (7)? Is Tom a racist (12-13)?
7. Daisy. What does she say? Who is she? Is she “pretty cynical about
everything” (16)?
8. The green light (21)
11.20 quiz: Vocab. um something or other.
Vocab. quizzes are fun.
• Usual quiz procedures.
• Read “If We Must Die” on p. 890.
• What does the picture on 890 depict?
• McKay is part of the Harlem Renaissance. What is that movement
known for? What do you expect to see in his poetry?
• As you read, identify any figurative language or poetic techniques that
will help you identify who the speaker is and what the tone of the
poem is.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• I will return your essays in a minute.
• Some general comments before I do so.
1. Did you read the rubric before writing?
2. Do you read my comments after I return essays?
Here are your papers. We will examine the rubric together.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• Thesis and introduction:
• Follows the recommended format for intros. (Intro mentions authors,
titles of the works.)
• Thesis is structured correctly. (Complex sentence.)
• Thesis reveals whether the essay will highlight similarities or
differences in the text. (Self-explanatory.)
• Thesis reveals what theme the essay will analyze and answers the
prompt. (What social commentary are the writers you’re examining
making based on the C&C you are putting together? If you can’t
answer that question, or if you don’t answer it in the course of your
essay (though preferably in the intro/thesis), then you probably don’t
have a literary analysis).
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• Body paragraphs:
• Body paragraphs are properly constructed in compare/contrast fashion. (Point by
point or topic by topic. Most of you did this just fine.)
• Topic sentences for body paragraphs are analytical in nature. (Your topic
sentence should tell me what your paragraph is trying to prove (more on this in a
second).)
• Evidence from both writers is used. (Most of you did this.)
• Evidence supports analysis rather than summary of the texts. (Are you using your
evidence to prove something happens in the text or are you using it to prove why
something happened or the social commentary the writer is making on what
happened?)
• Evidence is connected to the topic sentence through an explanation. (This is the
hard part, so let’s look at what it looks like when it’s done well and what it looks
like when it’s done poorly.)
• But before we do that . . .
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• Grammar and mechanics: MLA header, pagination and citations (works
cited not necessary). Grammar is consistent. Quotes are punctuated
correctly.
• I’m not sure what to tell you anymore about this.
• What should separate an Honors student from a Standard student is her
attention to detail.
• Your refusal to pay attention to those details should, at this point, tell you
something.
• BONUS POINT: Rubric is stapled to the front of student's paper with rubric
side up. Prompt the student chose is circled.
• You’d be surprised . . .
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• For a while now, we’ve been using SEE to structure our body paragraphs.
• Let’s completely abandon that and switch to something that will—I hope—
work better.
• It’s called the Toulmin model.
• It was developed by Stephen Toulmin in an attempt to get his students to
write argumentatively.
• In my mind, argumentation is not much different than literary analysis.
• In both, you’re making a claim and supporting that claim with evidence.
• In other words, you’re interpretation the evidence you have and
attempting to convince an audience that your interpretation of that
evidence is correct.
• Here is the Toulmin model very succinctly; then we’ll look at it in action.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• Claim: the point you’re trying to prove.
• Grounds: the evidence you use to prove your point.
• Warrant: how the evidence connects back to your claim and, as a
result, confirms your original thesis.
• Yes, you know this already.
• Let’s look at it in action.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• His thesis: London’s story presents the idea that the views of society aren’t
necessarily negative while Chopin believes that the views of society are immoral
and wrong.
• “The Story of an Hour” presents the idea that society is instrumental in affecting
the lives of women and their roles. In this story, Mrs. Mallard, a housewife, is
overcome with grief and then joy when she hears about the apparent death of
her husband. Her husband’s death allows her to break free from the role given to
her by society that she should be a Victorian Woman who handles duties that
were the norm for women such as cooking, caring for young and deferring to
their husbands. She is overjoyed with the fact that “[t]here would be no
powerful will bending hers” any more (36); she is free in both “body and soul”
(40). Her reaction highlights Chopin’s disapproval for the social view of a woman.
When the freedom is taken away from her, Mrs. Mallard dies. In Chopin’s view,
death is preferable to being defined and determined by society.
• It’s not perfect, and I changed a few bits to clarify, but it is structured well.
• It is a formula every single one of you can replicate.
• Break it down for the Toulmin model.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• His thesis: London’s story presents the idea that the views of society aren’t necessarily
negative while Chopin believes that the views of society are immoral and wrong.
• CLAIM (here the student makes an analytical point that he will have to prove): “The
Story of an Hour” presents the idea that society is instrumental in affecting the lives
of women and their roles.
• GROUNDS (while somewhat summative, he never fully summarizes the story and he
does present evidence that supports his claim): In this story, Mrs. Mallard, a
housewife, is overcome with grief and then joy when she hears about the apparent
death of her husband. Her husband’s death allows her to break free from the role
given to her by society that she should be a Victorian Woman who handles duties
that were the norm for women such as cooking, caring for young and deferring to
their husbands. She is overjoyed with the fact that “[t]here would be no powerful
will bending hers” any more (36); she is free in both “body and soul” (40).
• WARRANT (this relates directly back to his thesis and proves the ambition of his
paragraph’s claim): Her reaction highlights Chopin’s disapproval for the social view
of a woman. When the freedom is taken away from her, Mrs. Mallard dies. In
Chopin’s view, death is preferable to being defined and determined by society.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• This sort of writing is formulaic.
• It’s a formula.
• You can use this formula to get an “A” on all future analytical writings
just like your peer did.
• You’re telling me that you’re not a good writer.
• That’s fine.
• But you are an honors student and you will learn to replicate this
formula in order to achieve success.
• As an honors student, you won’t do this . . .
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• In The story of an hour Mrs. Mallard dies when she sees her husband
again. The story tells the story of a woman who isn’t free, when her
husband dies she constantly tells herself that she is “free, free, free”.
This means that she is free from her husband because her husband
his died and he did not allow her to be free. She dies at the end of
the story of “a joy that kills” because she’d rather be dead than not
free. Being free was not possible for women during the 1890’s.
• So what’s wrong here?
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• CLAIM (what am I trying to prove? That she dies? Why do I need to prove that?
I don’t even want to discuss the fact that I can’t follow proper grammatical
norms and title the story correctly.): In The story of an hour Mrs. Mallard dies
when she sees her husband again.
• GROUNDS (well, I prove that she felt free, don’t I? Grammar mistakes follow
me because I don’t care!): The story tells the story of a woman who isn’t free,
when her husband dies she constantly tells herself that she is “free, free, free”.
This means that she is free from her husband because her husband his died and
he did not allow her to be free.
• WARRANT (I think? I guess I explained why she’s not free, but I never explain
why Chopin is showing me this evidence nor what her comment on society is.
Oh well. At least I put words on paper and somebody had to grade them.) She
dies at the end of the story of “a joy that kills” because she’d rather be dead
than not free. Being free was not possible for women during the 1890’s.
• Let’s look at one more.
• Here is the intro and a body paragraph from a paper that scored 100.
• It’s not perfect, but it certainly does everything right according to the rubric.
11.20 notes and activity: analytical writing
• These notes are online.
• You’re going through your essay and completing an analysis of what you
did wrong.
• Explain all the mistakes you made.
• Do that now.
• You will be allowed to resubmit a new essay for a new grade on Monday.
• You will have to turn in the old essay with your annotations that prove that
you read through it and you understood what you did wrong.
• The new essay must be on a different prompt.
• You cannot use the same prompt. New prompt. Got it?
CLOSE and HW
11.19
1. Everyone must turn in the annotated copy of their original realism
unit essay.
2. Students who choose to turn in a new essay must print a new rubric
(rubric can be found online), choose a new prompt on which to
write and submit their paper to turnitin. This is due Monday.
3. On Tuesday, we’ll cover Gatsby ch. 2-3, and your Gatsby study guide
for chapters 1-3 will be due.