Apprentice Practice- We should ban...

Using Singer as your model, write your own brief 1 page editorial calling for the banning of _____.  Of course it will be polemic but that is what will make this fun to write.   Consider this a pre-draft to prime your mind for your editorial you write at the conclusion of the IRP.  Check out the Room for Debate series by the NY Times for ideas.

Requirements:

• 1+-page minimum
• Introduction-creative
• Counter-argument ( Some argue...)
• Use of logos (legitimate source- ex. Singer cites FDA study/ Proctor- Stanford Science historian)) 
• Parallel structure 

Sports-Politics-Entertainment-Economics-Food-Education-History-Science-Religion-
Here are some possible ideas:
*Photoshopped photos in advertising
* Too many standardized tests
* Yik-Yak
* Unlimited political donations
*Teaching evolution/intelligent design
*Fracking-Keystone XXL
* Drone attacks
* Repeal ban on perfomance enhancing drugs (PED) in sport
* BCS playoffs

Writing Round-Up- Paris Attack

These are a few things that will not solve the terrible and tangled web of causation and violence in which the attacks of Friday night were spawned. A 242-ship Navy will not stop one motivated murderous fanatic from emptying the clip of an AK-47 into the windows of a crowded restaurant. The F-35 fighter plane will not stop a group of motivated murderous fanatics from detonating bombs at a soccer match. A missile-defense shield in Poland will not stop a platoon of motivated murderous fanatics from opening up in a jammed concert hall, or taking hostages, or taking themselves out with suicide belts when the police break down the doors. American soldiers dying in the sands of Syria or Iraq will not stop the events like what happened in Paris from happening again because American soldiers dying in the sands of Syria or Iraq will be dying there in combat against only the most obvious physical manifestation of a deeper complex of ancient causes and ancient effects made worse by the reach of the modern technology of bloodshed and murder. Nobody's death is ever sacrifice enough for that.

From Charlie Pierce 

Editorial Project 2015- IRP

Writer Apprenticeship Final IRP #1 for 1st Semester

“Good writing isn’t a science. It’s an art, and the horizon is infinite. You can always get better.” -David Foster Wallace

Task:  Inspired by DFW's words on writing, we will continue our study of the craft. Our next project will involve you following a columnist from a major newspaper/ publication over the next few weeks.  The purpose of this project is for you to learn at the feet of a contemporary master of argumentative prose.  You will collect a minimum of five current columns and analyze the patterns of persuasion and style of this writer.  The editorial you select should not exceed 700 words, regular length of an editorial.  

 Too easy!  

Areas of annotation for each column:

• Speaker’s tone and possible tone shifts
• Rhetorical strategies
• Organization and arrangement
• Methods of appeals
• Intended audience reactions- laughter, anger, confusion

Questions to guide your observations for analysis:

1. How does the title inform the piece?
2.  What is the thesis and where is it?
3. What introductory technique(s) did the author use?  Is the technique weaved through the essay?  How?
4. Our texts have reflected some of the purposes of argument.  Using the language of your text, identify the purpose (s) of this argument.
5. Is this a ceremonial argument, a deliberative argument, a forensic argument?  Explain.
6. What appears to be the balance of ethos, pathos, or logos in this editorial?
7. Comment on the method of conclusion.  What can you learn from this method of closing?
8. What appeals are in the argument?
9. After studying this piece, what, if anything, would you like to emulate as a writer?

Look no further than New York Times Opinion pages or the syndicated columnists from Yahoo News Opinion for your selection of writer. Washington Post maybe? How about an international point of view from The Guardian or Independent UK?

Remember that the "I" in IRP stands for Independent. Outside of today, there will be limited time to work on this project in class. This means that there is a level of trust and academic maturity required to meet the demands. If you wait until the last few days to complete the analysis of the writer, the project will suffer as your analysis will be weak as will your Apprentice essay. On the flip side, keeping a disciplined regiment of analysis of a new editorial piece every 1-2 days will pay off as you will be less stressed and will allow for a proper reflection on the technique of your writer. This reflection will make the drafting of the Apprentice essay smooth.

While we will not use Google Sites this year, you can follow this model Editorial Project and Apprentice Essay from Matt Wenz. This is what it will resemble in Google docs. Target no less than 5 solid observations per editorial. You will then write a rhetorical analysis of one of the techniques of the editorial directly under the article. The rhetorical analysis paragraph will essentially be commenting on the dynamic of technique impacting audience with direct evidence. Too easy!

Due dates- 
Editorial Annotation/ Reflection on Writer Style Nov 13 
Editorial Essay-November 20th (Project Free over break) 

Expect one drop in where I verify that you are keeping up with the intent of this project.  

Make it stop! https://t.co/SMZ4Peg2Dm

— Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) October 28, 2015

Persuasion...Hollywood Style 2015

Task:
Here we go again...this time you can team up with a partner (as in one other carbon based life form) to break down some rhetoric from a famous film.  Get started by clicking on American Rhetoric Movie Speeches or maybe some other scene from a movie/TV you can find from the intertubes.  This is a first come/ first serve list for films so there can not be any redundancy in our presentations.  The list begins now...tell me your selection before you get too far into the analysis.  You may not use any war/coach speeches motivational...We will cover that in January.  Break it down for us.  Create a brief Google Slide Show that covers the following rhetorical elements.

1. Slide 1-Explain what we know about the speaker and their motive(s).  What do they want from their audience (not us audience- the people they are speaking to)?
2. Slide 2-Who is the audience?  What do they value?  Why might they be reluctant to move upon request of speaker?  or why might they be excited or intrigued?  
3. Slide 3-Explicitly lay out the strategy of the speaker.  What must they do to "unlock" the audience?  Establish at least three unique strategies at play in this speech.
4. Slide 4 +  What are the rhetorical devices in the speech?  How did this device amplify the strategy?
5. Slide- 6?  One perfect paragraph to model how you would write this in the rhetorical analysis essay.  Show this to me before you finish as it must be PERFECT!  
6. Save the presentation in Classroom in the form shared with you.
7. Don't worry about the sample being too short.  You are just walking us through an analysis at the start of the period.  This will sharpen the blade of analysis.

Check out this project from 2014/2015 AP Star Cam Z

Rhetoric in action-Gaming can make a better world

So what do we know about this audience at TED?

So Professor McGonigal needs to reach this audience using a unique set of appeals.
Let's find them!

HW:

Write a rhetorical analysis of two techniques Jane McGonigal uses during her Ted talk.  I want you to move away from blanket statements of rhetoric like, "McGonigal delivers plenty of logos to persuade her audience."  It is more concise to use expressions similar to the following:

• For ethos= McGonigal established her authority by repeatedly...
• For pathos= McGonigal appealed to the audience's sense of...
• For logos= such data reinforces the belief that...

Handy outline for writing RA-

A) Establish audience

B) Explain what speaker/writer must do to reach audience

C)Reveal evidence

D) Discuss the intended/likely effect of technique

Requirements:  

Minimum two paragraphs

Direct evidence- Transcript here

Must connect efficacy of evidence to intended effect on this audience.

Link to class notes.

Downe-town analysis

For Tuesday-
HW: Write a rhetorical analysis paragraph from Downe's letter. Look over your annotation notes and start with this outline:
Strategy #1- How does Downe “build a bridge” to his wife?
A) What does Downe do to reach out to his wife?
 B) Rhetorical strategy #1- Textual evidence/ (Rhetorical Device-if there- comment on its function to amplify the strategy)?
C) Why would this effectively persuade her?

Last touch on Reviews- Film Friday returns!

I know this is an old review of The Happening from several years back, but it is dripping with sarcasm.  Here are some of my favorite zingers by Christopher Orr:

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, The Happening, is not merely bad. It is an astonishment, so idiotic in conception and inept in execution that, after seeing it, one almost wonders whether it was real or imagined. It’s the kind of movie you want to laugh about with friends, swapping favorite moments of inanity: “Do you remember the part when Mark Wahlberg … ?” “God, yes. And what about that scene where the wind … ?”

The single most absurd element of The Happening, the wellspring from which all other absurdities flow, is its conceit: Across the Northeastern United States, people are succumbing to a toxic airborne agent that makes them commit suicide, often gruesomely. At first it hits major population centers, followed by smaller towns, and on down to groups of even just a handful of people. Initially, it’s assumed to be some kind of terrorist attack. But as we learn pretty early in the film, it’s not. It’s trees. Yes, the trees (and perhaps some bushes and grass, too, the movie’s never too clear on this point) have tired of humankind’s ecological despoilment and are emitting a complicated aerial neurotoxin that makes us kill ourselves en masse. I bet you wish you were the one who came up with this blockbuster idea.

But enough about the boring interpersonal melodrama: On to the boring arboreal genocide! Each time the airborne toxin strikes, everyone ceases what they were doing and freezes in their tracks for a moment. It took several such episodes before I stopped anticipating that they’d commence tapping their feet in unison, as in the beginning of a big musical ensemble number.

Alas, there’s no singing. But the methods of suicide chosen often seem chosen for their entertainment value, in particular: the man who meticulously starts an industrial mower and then lies down in front of it; the woman who wanders around a house methodically smashing her head through windows until she embeds enough glass in her skull to keel over; and, of course, the zoo lion keeper who invites his charges to bite off his arms so he can stand around, Black Knight–like, spraying blood from the stumps.

Equally odd is their insistence, even though they’ve known from the beginning that the deadly nerve agent is airborne, on spending as much time as possible outdoors. When fleeing by car, they leave the windows rolled down; anytime they want to look at a map or discuss what to do next they get out of the car to do so. It never seems to occur to any of the protagonists that they should get inside somewhere and tape the windows and doors --even though this is the only strategy we’ve seen work for anyone else. Eighty minutes into a 90-minute movie, Alma and Jess are still sitting in a small guest house with all the doors and windows open. When Elliot, who’s just watched someone fall victim to the toxin nearby screams, “Close the windows and the doors!” Alma innocently inquires “Why?”

For Monday:
Rhetorical Analysis paragraphs
Prompt: In the summer of 2015, American dentist Walter J. Palmer traveled to Zimbabwe to hunt big game animals.  During one excursion, Palmer shot and killed a lion named "Cecil", a well loved lion from a game reserve.  The circumstance surrounding how "Cecil" died has enraged animal lovers throughout the world; however, Palmer claimed to hunt the lion lawfully under the supervision of his trackers.  The subsequent outrage against Palmer has jeopardized his dental practice in Minnesota.  Read the following letter Palmer wrote to his clients and community.  Then write two rhetorical analysis paragraphs in which you describe the techniques Palmer uses to win back the trust of his clients.  Use the following prompts to help guide your unpacking of the strategies.

A) Establish a concern that Palmer must confront about his audience
B) How does Palmer attempt to build a bridge to this audience?
C) Provide textual evidence
D) Explain why this would work on this particular audience.

Review- The Visit

The lesson to be learned...don't disappoint Pauline from 5/6...

As probably one of the worst Nicholas Sparks movies ever released, the name “The Best of Me” is misleading for the ordinary and extremely predictable story line. Former romance enthusiasts can foresee the happenings in the movie even before the film starts: Boy meets Girl, Girl is too good for Boy, Boy and Girl fall in love anyways, Girl’s parents don’t approve, Girl and Boy separate, Girl and Boy reunite decades afterwards and drop everything to be together again, Girl and Boy are still haunted by the ghosts of the past. (Sarcasm) “The Best of Me” of course features the infamous kiss in the rain, a montage of lovey-dovey happiness, and the caressing of faces during the exchange of words that are supposed to bring sentimental tears to the eyes of the audience only to instead cause laughter caused by the cliché-ness of it all.(ethos) The film eerily resembles and might as well be deemed the disappointing sibling to the classic Sparks film “The Notebook”. Even the actors in the film seems to have been chosen to resemble the well-known characters Noah and Allie. Overall, “The Best of Me” is a cheap shot for former Sparks films. Save your money, you’ve seen it many times before (only with different abs, long haired boys, and mid-length dresses)(parallel structure).

From Manhola Dargis-

In “The Visit,” an amusingly grim fairy tale, floorboards creak, doors squeak and lights lower and sometimes shriek to black. The story, a “Hansel and Gretel” redo for Generation Selfie(appositive + cultural ethos), has the virtue of simplicity and familiarity: A young brother and sister travel into the deep, dark woods, but where they once innocently held hands, they’re now holding camcorders to record an adventure quickened by anxious laughs, yelps and screams and one shivery long knife. These children don’t need someone else to immortalize their once-upon-a-time; they just point and shoot.

The director M. Night Shyamalan has a fine eye and a nice, natural way with actors, and he has a talent for gently rap-rap-rapping on your nerves. At his best, he skillfully taps the kinds of primitive fears that fuel scary campfire stories and horror flicks; at his worst (comparative conjunction), he tries too hard to be an auteur instead of just good, letting his overwrought stories and self-consciousness get in the way of his technique. After straining at originality for too long,(prepositional) he has gone back to basics in “The Visit,” with a stripped-down story and scale, a largely unknown (excellent) cast and one of those classically tinged tales of child peril that have reliably spooked audiences for generations.

This Hansel and Gretel come equipped not only with his-and-her cameras but also a Spielbergian(allusion modifier) family dynamic, featuring a loving if somewhat distracted single mother (Kathryn Hahn) and an absent father.(participial) One of those well-meaning women whose desires unwittingly unleash a world of chaos, Mom (as she’s credited) opens the movie with some yammering, squirming like a witness for the prosecution in front of a camera operated by her off-screen daughter, Becca (an appealing Olivia DeJonge).(double appositive-she just did that!) Becca and her younger brother, Tyler (Ed Oxenbould, a charmingly exuberant scene-stealer), are to stay with their maternal grandparents while Mom and her boyfriend go on a cruise, and Becca has decided to make a documentary about the trip, the first of many references to moviemaking.

 and the Wildcat Chronicle review

 For Monday:  

1. Decide what you are going to review.  Again, it must be some form of media-sorry- No review of Trump's coiffure...Film, Album, Tech, Show, Book, Food, Video Game, etc.  Check with me before you run too far with it.
2. Interact with the selection...multiple times.  Think about the various components that are worthy of review/critique.  What this writing will not slide into is a plot summary.  Take notes and begin to assemble categories of possible observations.  I can help with this.  You keen eye will reveal that your observations are not superficial.  Your ethos will be evident. 

Target- Vocabulary of the medium

Today we begin to build our available vocabulary for your future review.  It is important that you select the medium for your review (music, film, television, food, video games, books, etc.) so we can begin the process of drafting.  The preliminary step is to build our vocabulary that is specific to the target of our review.  So we need to read several reviews and prune the language specific to this medium.

A) Select your target.  (Film,Album,Show,Restaurant,Tech, Video Game, Books, etc)
B) Peruse critics from established professional publications. Select one critic that you enjoy and pick a range of their reviews from positive, negative, to "meh".
C) Create a Google doc (do not need to share with me) and copy and paste no less than 4 lengthy reviews reflecting a range of ratings.
D) Now begin to read reviews and copy the vocabulary unique to the  target (cacophony, wide angle, etc) into the Review Vocabulary notes in Classroom.  Tuck away words that will help you show fluency in the medium.  Remember how we highlighted red for ethos?  Orange for tilted language?  Pull out these words and your future self will be most thankful when you are drafting your review.  (Here is a big pile of music vocab note tilting for positive or negative)
E) Of course, observe the structure of the review.  Think about how the writer opened the review.  How were the areas of critique organized?  What were the comparisons?

I have linked for you several quality professional reviewers below.  So what is your medium of choice for a review?  music, film, television, food, video games, books, theater, etc.

Here are some of my favorite reviewers of Film/TV
A.O. Scott       Manohla Dargis       Peter Travers  (Rolling Stone)

Roger Ebert- Suntimes          AV Club                   Salon.com             
TV-Andy Greenwald ( Grantland)

 Music- Rolling Stone (Brief)               Paste               Pitchfork             AV Club                              Steven Hyden (Grantland)

Technology- Recode   Wired

AV Club has sharp reviews as well...Movies, Music, TV, Books,
Grantland

Crack the code on humor

How about this zinger from A.O. Scott's recent review of The Walk...

Mr. Petit, an elfin Frenchman with a terrible haircut (appositive), is played by the manic-pixie song-and-dance man Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an irrepressible imp, greeting the audience in accented English from a perch on the Statue of Liberty’s torch(participial). The Manhattan skyline — digitally rendered to include the towers and to omit more recent construction(participial set off by dash) — stretches out in the background, and the lady in the harbor stoically tolerates the presence of her voluble compatriot.

You might have a harder time. Let me see if I can put the matter in scientific terms. Philippe, in addition to being an aspiring wire walker, is a juggler, a mime and a unicyclist.(parallel structure) He is, as I’ve mentioned, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This makes him, objectively speaking(participial qualifier), the most annoying person on earth. And “The Walk,” before ascending into the New York sky, tries to seduce you with forced amazement and sleeve-tugging (noun + participle modifier) displays of whimsy. Instead of wowing you, the movie gets in your face and yells, “Wow!” It’s not quite the same feeling. 

from A.O Scott's review of The Hobbit

In “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s first Middle-earth fantasy novel, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) sets out with the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a posse of dwarfs to battle a fearsome dragon. [Spoiler alert] they do not kill the dragon, although [spoiler alert] they eventually will, within the next 18 months or so, because [spoiler alert] this “Hobbit,” which is [migraine alert] 170 minutes, is the first installment in [film critic suicide-watch alert] a trilogy.

I love clever reviews of disappointing albums.  Here is a excerpt of John Caramanica's ...review of Lil Wayne most recent album. 

He’s a punch-line rapper who rarely thinks about his lines beyond the rhyming couplet. Coherent verses are a rarity, coherent songs even more so. And his choice of words often feels arbitrary; he’s not obsessed with picking the right ones or the most important ones or the most revealing ones... 

In recent years, but especially on this album, he’s become the least quotable great rapper, with lines that land harder more because of his voice than because of his wit, which was once prodigious. Because Lil Wayne has been so sharp, so dexterous in the past, it’s tempting (and ultimately necessary) to overanalyze him. But even on this album’s weak tracks, and there are several, he remains a commanding presence, deploying just enough of his insistent croak to tether the song together. He doesn’t bother appearing on two of the best tracks on the album, “Interlude” and “Outro,” which are instead full of eager guests.

Here is some clever writing from a review for Project X

A grimly depressing, glumly unfunny teensploitation comedy about an epic all-night party that devolves into anarchy, Project X also is an intriguing blank slate, a sort of crude art object upon which viewers can project whatever feelings they have about the degenerative high jinks on display, since the film itself offers none. In that sense, this strange teaming of producers Todd Phillips and Joel Silver provides a curious cultural, generational and even political touchstone, one that will enthrall a portion of the high school/college age demographic it depicts, just as it alternately outrages, confounds and disgusts other, presumably older audiences.

our editor recommends

The first question posed by this action painting of resolute irresponsibility is: Have teenagers always been this idiotic, or does Project X move the goalposts? The second might be: Did earlier generations approach having a good time with such surly determination? And the third is, definitely: Does this film set the standard for the nausea-inducing use of the unsteady cam?

Micro-review breakdowns

Intro Metaphor from NYT Lede

After circling each other for the past year, President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia squared off on Monday at theUnited Nations in dueling speeches that presented starkly different views on the Syrian crisis and how to bring stability to the Middle East.

  For Wednesday-

• Micro-review #3 (230 Word Count)- Add your 3rd review in the same doc that kept review #1 & #2.  
• A) New stolen sentence B) (allusion + esque/ian/-like) C) noun + participle modifier

Reviews- The Bad, The Badder, The Ugly

                          Warriors-esque
Great way to add description where the right word is not available to capture it.  Take an allusion from pop culture/literature/ history (don't be too obscure for your audience) + ian or esque or -like. Adds flavor but as always use in moderation.Punch up your adjectives when no word current exists that can capture the essence...

• Flintstonian(adj) beef ribs(noun)
• Jordanesque (adj) fadeaway (noun)
• Matrix-like (adj) evasion (noun)

 What a food review from Pete Wells once again

Chase the scent of great barbecue in New York City, and you are rooting for a team that will, sooner or later, let you down. You are a Red Sox fan in any season from 1919 to 2003. There will be enough victories to keep the dream flickering, and there will be nights when you watch the ball hop between the first baseman’s legs.
But every loss feeds a new hope in your heart. This winter, hope came in threes. Barbecue hounds ran to Gowanus to get burnt ends and char siu pork steak at Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue, and to Williamsburg to find out whether BrisketTown deserved to be crowned the Brisket King of New York in a recent cook-off. They descended on the East Village to take apart Flintstonian beef ribs at Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque and watch men in heavy black gloves grab pork shoulder by the fistful and shake it into dripping hunks — yes, real pulled pork on Second Avenue.
All three places slow-cook their barbecue with hardwood only, no gas allowed. All three places serve meat that is largely raised on pastures or outdoors, including pork from old breeds with flavorful rosy flesh and a thick girdle of white fat that bastes the meat as it melts. 

For Tuesday:

• Finish the Allusion slide
• Write your 2nd micro review underneath Friday's review-this time negative (230 WC)- 1) Steal a sentence 2) allusion modifier (esque, -ian, -like) 

Allusions

For Tuesday-
Allusions- Sign up 
Content requirements

1. Brief history of the expression.  
2. Explain the context and connotation of how/ when it is most effective to use
3. Find two professional examples.

5/6   and 10

Reviews Day 1! Steal this sentence

For Friday:

• Via Classroom- Write a 230+ word review of (movie/album-song/restaurant/tv episode/etc) Can be +/-.
•  I want you to steal a sentence from one of the AV Club reviews and make it yours with your word choice. Highlight it.
• Continue layer examples of participial/appositive/prepositional/adjective/adverbial as the opportunity arises in your critique.  

Round 3- We're All Water...

James Franco Grammie Round 2 Winners-

Winner 5/6

Able to unmask the reality of his hopeless destiny with a true love and too apprehensive to utter even a word to another human being, he finds the only person able to ever fulfill his infatuations is his own self. Hypnotized by his appearance, his longing for seduction grows with every stare at himself. He tries to amuse himself on a conversation of passion with the mirrored image but finds his only satisfaction can be  Kirsten!

Winner 10-

Tremors rippled through his core, failing to breach the surface of his countenance. Once more, he gazes into the glass only to find cold isolation: he is utterly alone. The corners of his mouth suddenly reach upward, shattering any reluctance. As he attempts to quiet anxiety he reaches in for the first kiss, a gentle caress. Closing his eyes, he imagines meeting soft, warm, kind flesh but instead is greeted by glass-- Jenna!

1. What do you see?
2. What do you hear?
3. How do you describe the events of this performance from start to finish?
4. What extended metaphor might capture the feel of this performance?

Yoko Ono - We're All Water Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

There may not be much difference
Between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon
If we strip them naked
There may not be much difference
Between Marilyn Monroe and Lenny Bruce
If we check their coffins

There may not be much difference
Between White House and Hall of People
If we count their windows
There may not be much difference
Between Raquel Welsh and Jerry Rubin
If we hear their heartbeat

We're all water from different rivers
That's why it's so easy to meet
We're all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we'll evaporate together

There may not be much difference
Between Eldridge Cleaver and Queen of England
If we bottle their tears
There may not be much difference
Between Manson and the Pope
If we press their smile

There may not be much difference
Between Rockefeller and you
If we hear you sing
There may not be much difference
Between you and me
If we show our dreams

We're all water from different rivers
That's why it's so easy to meet
We're all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we'll evaporate together

What's the difference?
What's the difference?

There's no difference
There's no difference
What's the difference?

What's the difference?


For this memorable performance by Yoko Ono-
Let's attempt to capture 2 parts:
A) Extend a metaphor of comparison
B) Use participial, appositive, prepositional, adjective, and adverbial clauses (See Sentence Spice)

What is an antithesis?

Monday! Time to draft the essay

For Tuesday:

• Today in class you will select the prompt for your essay.  You may use the prompt worthy quote you posted on Tricider but I would like you to take time to see what your classmates posted in both periods 5/6 and 10.
• After you finalized your decision, the essay doc is posted via Classroom.  Follow my sample here but we are modeling how to write a successful Q3, only this time you have 2 full days to outline and draft it.  This means initially you will make an outline composed of recently covered texts as well as other forms of varied support.  
• What you will need to demonstrate in this essay is a deliberate introduction that features sentence variety and successful handling of prompt.  Your support will be be patiently developed, varied, and also pay attention to syntax when opportunity exists.

#wegoreads @ItsCaptOz pic.twitter.com/lOVaVEhaKh

— Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) July 16, 2015

From yesterday's opinion section in Trib (use of anaphora)

I, like Martin Luther King Jr., still have the audacity to believe that, "peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that "We shall overcome!"

I believe, as the Tribune series proclaimed in its closing paragraph, that every person deserves the "chance to be productive citizens participating in the American dream."

Or from conservative Opinion writer Ross Douthat (use of parallel structure with rhetorical question)

The fed-up columnists have reasonable questions for Trump-supporting Republicans. How can fiscal conservatives support a single-payer-praising crony capitalist? How can social conservatives support a thrice-married sybarite? How can anyone who mocked the celebrity element in Obama’s 2008 campaign embrace the host of Celebrity Apprentice?

or from liberal Opinion writer Gail Collins (effective use of : and periodic finish.)

If an elected official wants to try to drive Planned Parenthood out of business, there are two honest options: Announce that first you’re going to invest a ton of new taxpayer money in creating real substitutes, or shrug your shoulders and tell the world that you’re fine with cutting off health services to some of your neediest constituents.

Prompt Spotting...

For Monday-

1. Create the Snagit screen capture video of your ITW passages.  Remember this is a casual conversation of you linking the patterns of your evidence.  This should not take longer than 15 minutes.  Post Snagit link(s) to Classroom question-only I can see it.
2. Post the most prompt-worthy quote or passage from any of our readings.  This may be the prompt you choose to defend/challenge/ or qualify for the essay on Wednesday.  Post this... 5/6 and 10
3. If you choose to start collecting ideas/evidence...use the ITW Notes posted via Classroom.  

Listen to this fascinating story from Radiolab as a connection to Harris essay.

These opening paragraphs to the LA Times feature on refugees...

The gray rubber dinghy that carries Huda Malak, pregnant with her first child, sags to sea level as it approaches Lesbos. The overloaded raft has been taking on water since it launched from a crag off the Turkish shore, about six miles away.

The 18 Syrians on board desperately try to bail water from the sinking craft. Weight, they need to shed weight. They start jettisoning backpacks that hold most everything they still own. A trip that should have taken 45 minutes has lasted double that, and they are still a mile from the Greek island.

Suddenly, Malak’s husband, Tarek Sheikh, stands up.

“I’m doing this to save you, our child, and everyone on board,” Sheikh tells her.

Then he jumps overboard.

His weight makes the difference, and the raft chugs toward land as Malak looks back to where her husband disappeared into the Aegean.

Should we optimize our design?

For Friday:

• Read/annotate Sam Harris Edge Response Optimizing our Design (Posted via Classroom)
• Insert 4 comments observing persuasion/effect Harris makes to move reader closer to his thesis
• Insert 3 comments of personal reaction (agree/disagree/maybe) and briefly explain why...
• Defend, Challenge, or Qualify Harris claim of the need to "optimize our design." (1 paragraph minimum- complete on Harris doc & turn in)

        1) Adverbial conjunction 
        2) Evidence (in absence of available logos), use pathos 
        3)Two forms of sentence variety(See sentence spice)



Scariest Movie of the year?

Enjoy the Silence

You will be busy today:

• Briefly share your connections from your Style/ Characterization/ Theme within your groups.
• Now using your Snagit screencapture, I want you to thread the connections so I can hear how you recognize the patterns of your choices.  Hopefully you did not sling whatever first caught your eye and you indeed cultivated appropriate evidence that reveals patterns.  This will be obvious in your verbal defense in the screen capture discussion.  This is a casual discussion of your observations.  I am the only person who will hear it and if you want to post three separate videos instead of ones longer one, no worries.  What I want to hear is solid connection among the passages.  Finish by SUNDAY by posting the link(s) to question on Classroom.  
• Annotate the Emerson excerpt from Self Reliance (via Classroom)

Happy People/ Back Channel Day 2

Happy People dance to Hideaway (Why not?)

Let's try this one for a back channel today.

For Thursday:

• Plan ahead- Read the excerpts from Self Reliance posted on Classroom.  Follow the directions for annotation guidelines.  

Behold something so meta I can't crawl out from under it...a Trumpbow...Click with caution...

Thank you...Vania

Franco Votes and Snagit Prep

 James Franco vote for 5/6    10th

For Monday:

• Add Snagit
• Use this link of solid visual leads...pick a photo/map/political cartoon/Star Wars Meme or data set and explain it via the Snagit screen capture.  This is just an experiment so do not take more than a minute in your interpretation of the visual.  Post the link to the video in comment (no one will listen to yours).
• Via shared Slide with you...

 Type or attach three passages from each Style-what appears to be a pattern unique to Krakauer's style as a writer?-(3)/Theme(3)-Which theme jumped out at you and how did Krakaeur express it throughout the book? (3) /Characterization-What are the most distinguished passages that reveal Chris's persona?(3). The selection of your evidence must not be random as the collection should reveal trends that will evoke commentary. Don't forget why you selected these passages in the first place. Include page number and use passages from throughout the book. You do not need to jam all three passages on a single slide. You can erase the passage I included in the sample. No commentary needed at this point.


The power of illusion with word choice...Artisan...

Why not?  Artisinal $190 rock anyone?

Round 2-Participial +Appositve

Period 5/6-

Gradual and heavy, it approached. The concept of death disturbingly danced around her mind for the first time. Hesitantly she retreated, desperately grasping on to her last seconds of humanity. It had found the girl. She saw it for the first time, death was so close she could taste it. It tasted bitter, yet strangely sweet. She refused it at first, but accepted the resting tone. As she fell to the accepting warmth of the ground, her misguided hope reached for a shred of light. But she was already consumed, held tight in the grasping veil of darkness. Maximus

T-Bizz Award

Pierced with fright and the sharp, cutting nails of her kidnapper, the woman shrieked once more for help. Her tears uniting with the blood on her torn lips, she heard her scream simply echo into the darkness--no one was here but herself and the nightmare she used to admire. She sank to the floor as slow as he pronounced the word "b****", and let her nails scrape the cold wall, the only thing keeping her stable. She was solely shaking now, questioning how her brother could ever break her like this. Vania (you're killing me)

Period 10 Winners (Look at 5/6...Just saying...)

Shrieking in fear for her life, she fell slowly into an unholy abyss. P Dubs

Desperately reaching her hand out, pleading for someone to help, she slowly gave up and was drawn into the darkness. R Bears

Round 2- James Franco (Participial + Appositive)
For today's round I want you to describe this scene but use the both the participial and appositive. 2-4 sentences will be sufficient. Remember you are describing the character, not James Franco, the actor.

Rowling Notes for the Order of the Phoenix

Film Friday!

From Manohla Dargis's review of Gone Girl

Unspooling is such an inapt word — can brains, after all, be unspooled? — that it immediately puts dread in check. No matter how brutal the images generated by these words, surely there’s more in store than blunt-force entertainment. Well, yes and no, which is sometimes the case with Mr. Fincher. One of those filmmakers whose technical prowess can make the mediocrity of his material seem irrelevant (almost), Mr. Fincher is always the star of his work. His art can overwhelm characters and their stories to the point that they fade away, leaving you with meticulous staging and framing, and edits as sharp as blades. It’s no accident that the first time you fully see Nick Dunne, the man who had been discoursing so vividly about his wife’s head, he’s alone...
Mr. Fincher’s compositions, camera work and cutting are, as always, superbly controlled. Working again with the cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and the production designer Donald Graham Burt, he fashions an ever more haunted, haunting world that wavers so violently between ordinariness and aberration that, as in his other movies, the two soon blur.

Visual Literacy by V. Deane

For Tuesday:
1) Read Desperate Crossing
2) Using the screenshot feature (see image below) select two scenes from this visually immersive report.  Paste into your Slide presentation on Classroom.  You do not have to write about it yet but be prepared to explain how you believe the intersection of photo/video/ text maximized the pathos(emotional appeal) of this report.

3) Bring Into the Wild starting next week.    

Parent Open House!

Thanks for stopping by tonight.  Here is the link to the class syllabus.  Feel free to check out old posts from past AP classes.

#wegoreads @ItsCaptOz pic.twitter.com/lOVaVEhaKh

— Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) July 16, 2015

De Musset revisited

Now that we have a better grip on the format and style choices of the Q3 essay, let's go back and rework the de Musset prompt from summer reading.

"How glorious it is, but how painful it is also, to be exceptional in this world!" (in La Merle Blanc, 1842)   -Alfred de Musset

In a well-written essay, develop your position on the meaning of de Musset thought on exceptionalism. Use appropriate evidence from your reading of Into the Wild, experience, or observations to support your argument.

For Thursday:

• Bring your reworked outline.  Remember you want to draw from and ultimately connect or contast your evidence against the prompt.  (sports/anecdotal/literature/history/current events/psychology/sciences/music/ etc) 

During in-class essay

• Attack this prompt as we have the past three (Horace/Phillips/ Sontag) Draft an introduction to address the prompt-Remember the expectation now is that your syntax/ diction are to be as carefully cultivated as your structure.  So once you commit to your stance (support,refute, or qualify), begin the process of the sentence level craft.  
• Consider: parallel structure, rhetorical question, sentence spice, adverbial conjunction, and qualifiers (more easily, not merely, and not, say,,if at all, apparently,)
• Take the full class period.  I will be grading your introduction (gasp), commenting on your best evidence (not graded-*what you feel is your best support paragraph), and giving you a AP score (not counting, don't freak if it is not above a 5 at this point)
• If you were gone yesterday, review the range of student responses from the Sontag prompt(link above).  Get your copy of the de Musset summer reading prompt and your Adam Phillips response.  Begin to outline the de Musset prompt as if you were preparing for the Q3 (the types of essays we have studied these past two weeks).  Have that ready for tomorrow.

Good news for tomorrow- The RETURN OF FILM FRIDAY!!! YES!

Q3- Intro Practice

Grammies- 5/6   10

Adverbial Conjunction  and some sentence spice!
Let's review this prompt from 2001(scroll to page 4).  These are hefty thoughts about the role of photography in our current cultural mix; however, the good news is that there is no shortage of evidence to discuss the prompt.
Student sample of q3

For Wednesday:

• Create an outline for the prompt
• Draft an introduction to address the prompt-Remember the expectation now is that your syntax/ diction are to be as carefully cultivated as your structure.  So once you commit to your stance (support,refute, or qualify), begin the process of the sentence level craft.  
• Consider: parallel structure, rhetorical question, sentence spice, adverbial conjunction, and qualifiers (more easily, not merely, and not, say,,if at all, apparently,)
• Look to the sentences from Long Form essays for ideas/inspiration.