Homework for October 18th

Folks,

Remember to revise one of your edited paragraphs to use for your essay. Also, you need to write one more academic paragraph that will support your thesis statement. Remember, the thesis statement has two main parts. The first part is an arguable claim. The second part is the roadmap of your essay's outline. If you are writing on Brian's character, please refer to the character trait handout I gave you. Using terms like "determined" or "ambitious" is much better than vague terms like "good" or "nice." If you are writing about symbolism, first claim what that symbolism stands for. Don't just say the hatchet is a symbol--say what it is a symbol of. Next, show three areas in the novel where the hatchet can be interpreted through that lens. Please remember to go back to our post on Self-Editing tips! At this point, I should not see any "you" or "I" in your paragraphs. Always use these tools before submitting work. And as usual, the papers need to be in MLA format. This week, I will show you how to document page numbers and do a work cited page.

Also, remember we have our vocabulary quiz on Tuesday!

I do want to give you some input on our class analysis. I have given you art, poetry, and music to explicate. Which do you prefer? Which would you like to see more of? Please comment and let me know. This will help me to design the class content around your interests. Learning to analyze these kinds of materials for messages and meanings will not only help you with analyzing novels, it will be a skill you can apply to newspaper articles, memes, political debates, advertisements, etc. What is being said? How is it delivered? Who is saying it? What is their agenda? Are they being truthful? How can you tell? What kinds of symbols are you seeing? What is the tone? What is the mood? This type of work is not just the beginning of good writing, it is the beginning of understanding rhetoric--something we will cover more in-depth beginning in January.

One last thing: I have rescheduled our Survivor class for the last class of October so that all of our students can attend. I'm looking forward to this! If you'd like, start preparing some survival questions you might have so that I can share them with her. Is there anything in our story that seems confusing or wrong? Our guest speaker will be a good person to ask!



See you Tuesday!
Heather