DAY 01 - CYCLE 04 - SEMESTER 02: 01-27-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
An outline for an argument paper.


IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Looking at how two articles structure their efforts: how to they start? How do they mix in facts? What order do they go in?
2. Review of above handout.
3. Write three or more sample opening sentences for a specific argument.

CLASS NOTES:
NONE

HOMEWORK

• 
  

  Outline your essay. Yes, it should be written out.
• EXAMPLE: Argument-->University School of Milwaukee should start college counseling in 5th grade. (Incidentally, I don't believe this to be true--I doubt I have to clarify that with anyone, especially given the absurdity of what follows, but just in case...)
• Opening paragraph
• Stats about applicant pools
• Size, competitiveness, etc.
• Explanation of my own experience
• Goal-->make audience fearful about admissions, feel like they need to do something. Create the anxiety that the later part of the paper soothes; instill their trust in me to be the one to solve their problems.
• Next paragraph
• USM specific anecdotes - case study approach. "By senior year, for Billy and Sally's best chances to get into Miracle U. with a weighted average of 4.7 (which they'll need because Miracle U accepts only 1% of applicants) and totally perfect scores on standardized tests, they will need to have taken X,Y, and Z and had four and a half years of test prep. That means they need to start worrying in 6th grade."
• Goal-->make audience visualize their own son or daughter as being in need of this  advice at a young age.
• Next paragraph
• How a 5th grade college curriculum can solve all of these fears
• Anecdote
• Stats
• Question
• Conclusion

You get the idea. Explain what you hope to do and how you hope to structure it.

DAY 05 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-26-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
A legal sized photocopied piece that I do not have in electronic format. If you lost yours, plan on getting to school early and you're welcome to borrow my book.


IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Reflection on successes and frustrations when researching on SIRS
2. Determine the most important word in your argument
3. Read George F. Will's essay on page 376 "Virtues vs. Values" about the implications of nuances in words. Think about the most important word you wrote down. What does it really, really, really mean? What nuances are you assuming about it? What's your attitude toward it? What does it represent to you?
4. Distribution of article/overview to read tonight

CLASS NOTES:
NONE

HOMEWORK

• 
  

  You should read the three page handout. Yes, it's dry. No, it doesn't have a plot. No, it's not a story. Yes, it's useful. Yes, it's important that you read it. It has all the sex appeal of an instruction manual, but like all useful instruction manuals, it really is tremendously helpful and is meant to save you loads of time, spare you frustration, and provide a wonderfully satisfying working knowledge. SO READ IT. Thank you.

DAY 04 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-25-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:
Voila!

The Position Paper—Finding and Using Good Sources

SIRS can be accessed through the USM Libraries portion of the portal

Click on the Upper School

Online Databases

SIRS

Username/Customer #: WI0489H

Password: 53217

SIRS® Issues Researcher

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Debating our arguments in small groups

CLASS NOTES:
NONE

HOMEWORK

• Click on this link: Upper School

  Online Databases

  SIRS

  Username/Customer #: WI0489H

  Password: 53217
• Find anything and everything you can that relates to your argument, even tangentially. I want you to muck around in this and get a sense of what works for you and what doesn't, what problems you run into, etc.  This is exploratory. If you are doing a highly specific USM related piece, I want you to look for information that sets a broader context. For example:
• USM's soccer teams should have support equal to or greater to the football program - find information about the cost of high school sports, popularity of soccer versus football in American sports, related injuries in each--anything that would help you make a case
• USM's service program needs to be revamped: look up information on service learning programs, successful examples elsewhere, the value of community service in education, etc.
• USM should allow students to choose their reading assignments in classes or during breaks: find information about open curriculums, the importance of outside reading in general, power of choice in reading, etc.
• When you have mucked around and saved pertinent articles, write down some bullets to share with me about what worked and what did not. Where are your frustrations? What do you wish you knew? What do you wish you could find?

DAY 03 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-24-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

See earlier post (color coded version of "Letter from Birmingham Jail")

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Formative assessment: determine if you can tell what appeals are related to what rhetorical approaches:
1. logos-appeal to reason
2. pathos-appeal to emotion
3. ethos-appeal to trust
4. acknowledgment of counter argument
2. Discussion of "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

CLASS NOTES:
He set out to:

• defend the use of non-violent direct action as a method
• justify its particular use in this particular case
• encourage readers to not deplore the protests but the reasons that bring about the protests

Does he do it? We looked at some particularly compelling and useful passages.

We agree that this "Letter" would make a great speech. Helps make it seem more dynamic.


HOMEWORK

• REFINE YOUR ARGUMENT: Write out your stance, your intended audience, and what you want your audience to do.  Then, write out answers to the following questions:
• Just for intellectual practice, write out the opposing stance to your own.
• Why should your audience trust you on this?
• What are your own assumptions about the topic? What are the assumptions of those who disagree?
• What deductive/inductive arguments can you make about this topic?
• What specific emotions do you want your audience to feel and to what degree?
• What questions must you research answers to in order to move forward?

DAY 02 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-20-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Vocabulary quiz on units 3 &4: word matching.
2. Peer Assessment of refined argument paper ideas based on the following three questions:
1. Is it crystal clear WHAT you want to argue?
2. Is it crystal clear TO WHOM you want to say it?
3. Is it crystal clear HOW you want them to respond?
3. Begin reading "Letter from Birmingham Jail" together.

CLASS NOTES:
None.


HOMEWORK

• Finish reading "Letter from Birmingham Jail." For those of you who are auditory learners and prefer to have someone read aloud while you follow along, you will find videos that allow you to do that on the Moodle page and on the class wiki. They're .wmv files, so you'll need a program that plays these (Windows Media, Real Player, etc.). You'll also find a copy of the text there, just in case you forgot to bring your book home.
• Continue refining your argument idea.

DAY 01 - CYCLE 03 - SEMESTER 02: 01-19-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

Argument Essay Overview, and just in case you lost the syllabus for the week (click this link to download a copy)

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Partner work on your argument paper ideas
2. Assessment of argument paper ideas based on the following three questions:
1. Is it crystal clear WHAT you want to argue?
2. Is it crystal clear TO WHOM you want to say it?
3. Is it crystal clear HOW you want them to respond?
3. If the answer to any of the above questions is not "Yes!" your paper will be more difficult to write and less satisfying to read.

CLASS NOTES:
Done on board.


HOMEWORK

• Refine your topic so that all three questions above can be answered with a resounding YES!
• Study for the vocabulary quiz on units 3 and 4.
• Have a good night. Maybe read a poem just to give your brain something to play with.

DAY 05 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-18-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None. But just in case you lost the syllabus for the week (click this link to download a copy)

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Review exercise in vocabulary book, page 38
2. Discussion of Jonathan Kozol's "The Cost of an Illiterate Society"

CLASS NOTES:
Done on board. Aside: I chose this article because Kozol is a skilled rhetorician and it's fairly easy to see how he plays with the constituent parts of rhetoric to achieve his aims. He also goes REALLY far with his ideology, and it's useful to study that, too, because it provides a model for the limits of rhetoric.  His Major Premises are:

• Illiteracy is:
• A crippling limitation on effective citizenship and personal quality of life
• He provides specific examples in a variety of ways to make his point (an inductive argument). We were totally with him on this. He gave compelling cases and reasons for why illiteracy would be a functional limitation.
• A form of subjugation
• Here's where some of us started to get hot under the collar and felt he was stretching things a bit.  Subjugation implies that someone else is doing the subjugating. Those who took umbrage at his claims did so because they felt Kozol did not ascribe enough personal responsibility to those afflicted (see, I can sound like a literate smarty-pants, too). [For those who did take umbrage, and for those who bristle at the seeming refusal of the downtrodden to grab their own darn bootstraps already, I encouraged them to join us in tutoring for Operation DREAM to get to know the people who walk the streets where the downtrodden live. From the students we tutor, we can get deeper insights to that observation.]
• A form of subjugation willingingly maintained through "malign neglect"
• At the points where the essay makes this suggestion, it is worth it to do a thorough examination of the rhetoric. Is he appealing to your logic, your trust, and/or your feelings?  If you disagree with his assertion (i.e. if you believe this premise is false), try postulating your own argument in defense.  How would you seek to convince him that he is wrong, and how would you seek to make that argument?
• We didn't get to enthymemes, but they're there, especially in regard to how people in disadvantaged positions behave/believe.

Highlights include:

• ETHOS: The establishment of credibility/trust with an audience through direct and indirect methods. To establish this effectively, an author/speaker MUST know his/her audience well.
• DIRECT appeals occur when an author or speaker associates himself/herself with a trusted brand, group, person, etc. or claims particular experience that grants expertise.
• For example
• As a member of the federal commission on housing...
• As a longtime professor of...
• As my friend Ronald Reagan always said...
• As a major in the Army...
• With my doctorate in literary theory...
• Having authored 42 published studies on the subject...
• INDIRECT appeals occur through using language in a way that says to the audience either "I am one of you" or "I am an even more evolved version of you."  This is the vebal equivalent of dressing appropriately or particularly well for a specific occasion.
• For example
• An author may use lots of scientific terms when addressing an academic audience of researchers, but layman's terms (nonprofessional language)when addressing the public at a book signing.
• QUESTION: How does Kozol seek to establish credibility, or ethos?
• As he seeks to influence an educated, literate audience, he must demonstrate that he is literate and educated. He does so by:
• Alluding to people and groups known by educated people: Socrates, Founding Fathers, James Madison
• Using partcularly sophisticated words (mendacious, countenance, etc.) demonstrating his own highly developed literacy and demanding that readers test the limits of theirs
• PATHOS: The effort to persuade through the use of emotion
• QUESTION: How does Kozol seek to influence emotions/use pathos?
• He does so directly by encouraging us to sympathize with the plight of particular people
• He does so indirectly by playing on our patriotism
• He discusses citizenship first, giving it primacy
• He refers overtly to the Founding Fathers, revered heroes of the American past, and phrases from our most important founding documents and our anthem 

HOMEWORK

• Write a list of TEN topics on which you can take a particular stand. Three of them must be school related. Things to consider:
• What do you want an audience to think/do/believe differently?
• Who is your audience?

DAY 04 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-17-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None. But just in case you lost the syllabus for the week (click this link to download a copy)

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Review exercise in vocabulary book, page 40
2. Discussion of Tannen's argument
1. A good argument depends on an understanding of your AUDIENCE
2. A good argument depends on your understanding of your own BIASES

CLASS NOTES:
Done on board.

HOMEWORK

• Read "The Cost of an Illiterate Society" by Jonathan Kozol.  Annotate for appeals to LOGIC and EMOTION, and for methods of establishing his CREDIBILITY (ethos).

DAY 03 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-16-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

Syllabus for the week (click this link to download a copy)

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Review exercise in vocabulary book, page 55
2. Discussion of our own observations of classes

CLASS NOTES:
Done on board. I asked you to do your own inductive reasoning by examining your cases and from them, identify general principles.

Highlights include:
Your formulated principles (with which not all of you agree, and some may surprise):

• When boys talk/answer questions, it's to the entire class; when girls talk/answer questions, it's to each other.
• Girls promote class goal/lesson plan: they try to stick to the plan by suppressing their questions whereas boys deviate by asking whatever question comes to mind (e.g. "So how much money did Locke make?" It's not germane to the goal of the history lesson, so a girl may wonder but never ask whereas a boy will ask with little regard for the lesson plan.)
• Men tend to teach math, science and history (more objective systems of thought with emphasis on concrete, linear thinking) whereas women tend to teach foreign language and English (more subjective systems of thought with more abstract, organic thinking).
• If the above is suggestive, then it's ironic that you also observe that girls are more organized, directed, focused students whereas boys are more creative, imaginative, impulsive thinkers.
• Girls tend to build little cliques within a larger class (a pod that speaks with one voice) whereas boys atomize and see the larger class as the whole unit.
• A teacher's subject matter is more important than gender in determining what a class dynamic is like.
• Boys are rewarded for taking risks; girls are rewarded for following rules.

Hmmm. Well. That's food for thought. Do you still agree with yourselves?

HOMEWORK

• Re-Read Tannen’s essay
• Write down ALL of Tannen’s premises (including enthymemes). What does she believe/assume to be true about:

o    boys and girls

o    language

o    purpose of classroom discussion

o    the way genders respond to classroom dynamics

o    significance of culture on class habits

o    significance of gender on class habits

o    male and female teachers

• Start reviewing Unit 3 vocabulary words. You will have a quiz on FRIDAY 1/20 on unit 3 & 4 words
• Bring your vocabulary books on Tuesday

DAY 02 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-12-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Review exercise in vocabulary book.
2. QUIZ on rhetoric terms (if you were absent, you will need to make this up)
3. Discussion of Katha Pollitt essay, "Why Don't Boys Play With Dolls?"

CLASS NOTES:
Done on board. Highlights include:
Pollitt's thesis: Culture determines gender roles.
For the most part, most people fell more on her side of the argument than the other. However, we were not universally impressed with her methods of sustaining it.

Question: Does she adequately defend this?
Well, we're not sure.  The tone in which she speaks about the counter-argument (that biology determines gender roles) is disparaging and dismissive.  When she addresses the studies that suggest that male and female brains operate in a fundamentally different way, she says that such studies are:

• not tested over time
• overly-hyped by the media
• grasped onto by parents desperate for an excuse not to do the heavy lifting that comes with redefining gender roles

While her points are logical in nature, they're bathed in pathos, which made some of us doubtful.

At the end of class, we just started to look at the logos of her argument, particularly at the assumptions she makes about parents; in other words, her major premises.

We will spend a few minutes on Monday talking about those major premises, and start digging into Deborah Tannen's as well.

HOMEWORK

1. Bring your vocabulary book.  Please.  Help those who tend to forget theirs remember to do so.
2. Read Deborah Tannen's Essay "Conversational Styles" on page 314.  You should annotate to help you pick apart her argument, When is she appealing you your sense of REASON (logos), when is she appealing to your sense of EMOTION (pathos), and through what methods does she try to establish her CREDIBILITY (ethos)? Remember that ethos can be established through subtle methods like tone, vocabulary, comfortable pacing, etc.
3. My first question to you on Monday will be, "What is Deborah Tannen's thesis?" Be prepared to answer when called on.
4. You will have a vocabulary quiz next Friday. It will cover words from units 3 and 4 (so yes, you will need to review.)

DAY 01 - CYCLE 02 - SEMESTER 02: 01-11-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:  

Classroom behavior assessment: Do classrooms favor boys? A personal investigation leading up to an essay we will read this weekend.

Reading guide to Katha Politt's essay "Why Boys Don't Play With Dolls" on page 283 of your book.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Overview of the introduction to Seagull Reader and study guide.
2. Practice rhetorical analysis of an advertisement's enthymemes
1. Because smart people read the Economist
2. Because you want to be smart
3. THEREFORE, you should read the Economist

CLASS NOTES:
None available on line, though you should have jotted a few down.

HOMEWORK

1.       BRING YOUR VOCABULARY BOOK – we’ll do a review exercise tomorrow.

2.       Complete the handout regarding class dynamics. You had today and will have tomorrow/Friday to work on it. Really give it some thought, as it will make our conversations better over the course of the next several days.

3.       Read Katha Politt’s essay “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls” which appears on page 253 of your Seagull Reader and do the corresponding reading guide passed out in class. Forget your book? No problem: http://www.uta.edu/faculty/fuston/Fall%2003/Boys%20and%20dolls.pdf

Finally, and strictly FYI, is a GI Joe a doll? How about Wolverine?  Turns out, this is more loaded question than you thought. Have a listen! http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2011/dec/22/mutant-rights/

DAY 05 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02: 01-10-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. In class essay.

CLASS NOTES:
None

HOMEWORK

Read and outline the Introductory essay in The Seagull Reader Essays book, found on pages 3-21 and complete the study guide. You will also find a helpful powerpoint on the moodle.

DAY 04 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02: 01-09-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

None

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Vocabulary Unit 4, words 10-15
2. Student discussion of the question, "Is justice served in the novel?"  Larger student goal of developing a question to address.
3. Student participation noted on the board.

CLASS NOTES:

 

HOMEWORK

You are to prepare for tomorrow's impromptu:

1.       Yours from today worded to lead more toward textual analysis and away from hypothesizing and opinion: Does Frank’s suicide serve justice to any degree?

Other questions you might consider.  Those in bold are better suited to the exercise.

r  Marie Little Soldier, Ronnie Tall Bear, Doris Looks Away, Ollie Young Bear and the Highdog Boys are the most described American Indians in the novel.  What do each of them help us to understand better?  Other characters?  Larger relationships between communities?  Explain what they help us to see, and how.

r  Interpret the “vision” Davy had

r  What motivates Frank Hayden's final act? (The author has characterized it as both a selfish and a selfless act.) Requires a careful reading-between-the-lines of Frank’s actions, words, etc.
 

r  Late in the novel, Gail Hayden changes her attitude. She no longer wants her husband to continue the course of action that earlier she encouraged him to follow. What causes her to change?
 

r  What does Wesley Hayden mean by his admonishment not to "blame Montana"?
 

r  A great deal of attention is paid to locating Bentrock (a fictional community) on the map. What role does the setting play in the novel?
 

r  Whose story is this? Wesley's? David's?
 

r  Who is the moral center of the story?
 

r  How does prejudice play into the story?
 

r  Why is Wesley Hayden especially concerned when his son David tells him that Len McAuley might "know something"? What does this reveal about Wes and his priorities?
 

r  What would the outcome of the story have been had David's father publicly arrested Frank? Would things have turned out better? Worse? Would you have done the same thing as Wesley had it been your family?
 

r  Was there any justice for the crimes committed by Frank?
   

r  In what ways is the novel about privilege and the abuse of power?
 

r  What is the effect of David Hayden telling this story so many years after the fact?

r  Why does David say that he feels better after killing the Magpie?

r  Len McAuley says to David that he wanted to tell Julian Hayden “…don’t let those boys [Wes and Frank when they were younger] run wild.  Just because we’re out here, a thousand miles from nowhere, you think it doesn’t matter.  Out here, nothing but rimrock and sagebrush.  You think no one’s going to care.  But those boys have to live in the world.  Rein ‘em in a little.  Don’t break them, but pull ‘em back.  But I didn’t.  Never said a word.  Now look at them… A lawyer and a doctor.  College and the whole kit.  Sheriff and a doctor… Your granddad could tell me a thing or two…” (93-94).  Though their status is great, both Wes and Frank have significant character defects.  Could those have been avoided if Julian had “reigned them in” when they were growing up?

r  Why can’t David figure out how town life works?  Assuming that the frontier-like, hard lifestyle of Bentrock matters in this consideration, in what way is Montana so central to the themes of this book?

DAY 02 - CYCLE 01 - SEMESTER 02: 01-04-12

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

Bad Apple and Good Apple Traits

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Vocabulary Unit 4, words 1-5
2. Distribution of Bad Apple/Good Apple handout--what bad habits are you prone to, what good habits are you aiming to achieve?
3. You responded to the statement: "Wes Hayden can be held responsible for the death of Frank Hayden." You could select from the following options: Absolutely!, To an extent, I don't know, Not really, and No way!
4. You then assembled in small groups with disagreeing parties to discuss the statement and practice your good apple habits.
5. We reconvened and discussed as a larger group.

CLASS NOTES:

None taken.

HOMEWORK

You are to prepare a written response on the moodle to ONE of the following prompts:

• Wes Hayden can be held responsible for Frank Hayden's death because...(add your reasoning) Here is how the novel suggests that my interpretation is the right one...(add and explain your evidence)

• Wes Hayden cannot be held responsible for Frank Hayden's death because...(add your reasoning) Here is how the novel suggests that my interpretation is the right one...(add and explain your evidence)

• We can never assign guilt or innocence to Wes Hayden in his role in Frank's death because...(add your reasoning) Here is how the novel suggests that my interpretation is the right one...(add and explain your evidence)

DAY 01-CYCLE 01-SEMESTER 02: January 3, 2012

HANDOUTS FROM TODAY:

You were given your grade printout at the end of class.

IN CLASS TODAY:

1. Montana 1948 reading quiz.
2. Small group activity centered on selecting scenes from the novel that best help us answer essential questions about the book's main themes:

• The Haydens both represent and are dismissive of the law. To what extent do each of the members of the Hayden family respect the law?
• To what extent is Wes Hayden dismissive of the law?
• Much of the book considers law vs. lawlessness, or civilization vs. wilderness.  Where do we see these forces conflict with one another, specifically for Wes,for Gail, and for David?
• Is Wes Hayden master of his own fate? Is Frank?
• Is Wes a good brother?

    3.  Review of final exam, grades, comments.


CLASS NOTES:

Notes will be posted on the wikispace.

HOMEWORK
Tomorrow, we will begin preparing cases for and against Wes Hayden in the death of his brother, Frank.  You will be working in small groups.  In preparation for that group work, and the group work you will be doing over the course of the semester, you are to complete the following:

You are to listen to the first 12 minutes of the This American Life radio program entitled "Ruining It for the Rest of Us," a piece about bad apples. You do NOT need to listen to the whole program! Just the first 12 minutes! You may find the program by clicking here.

You are to write or type responses to the following questions:

1. What are the three "bad apple" types the study identifies?
2. The study talks about those behaviors in the work place. What do those behaviors typically look like in the classroom?
3. Based on your own experience in less than successful classes, are there other types missing from the list? If so, what are they?
4. Explain "the spillover effect."
5. One of the groups overcame the bad apple effect. Explain how, and the specific skills employed.
6. Hypothesize: what are "good apple" types? Identify and define them.