They Say I Say

AP English IIIMs. Bird, Ms. Bramlett, Ms. Cullen, & Ms. Davis

2014-15Dear Juniors: Welcome to AP English Language and Composition. A large part of the curriculum this year focuses on the art of persuasion, also known as argument. Throughout the year, you will read and analyze examples of arguments, respond to others’ arguments, and develop your own evidence-based arguments. For the next few weeks, you will begin this study by planning and writing an essay in which you respond to a claim from a published essay including evidence from your own experience and observations. Work hard, study the models carefully, and complete all

ArgumentCLINIC

A Hunger for Booksfrom Chapter 13 of Black Boy, by Richard Wright

That night in my rented room, while letting the hot water run over my can of pork and beans in the sink, I opened A Book of Prefaces and began to read. I was jarred and shocked by the style, the clear, clean, sweeping sentences. Why did he write like that? And how did one write like that? I pictured the man as a raging demon, slashing with his pen, consumed with hate, denouncing everything American, extolling everything European or German, laughing at the weaknesses of people, mocking God, authority. What was this? I stood up, trying to realize what reality lay behind the meaning of the words . . . Yes, this man was fighting, fighting with words. He was using words as a weapon, using them as one would use a club. Could words be weapons? Well, yes, for here they were. Then, maybe, perhaps, I could use them as a weapon? No. It frightened me. I read on and what amazed me was not what he said, but how on earth anybody had the courage to say it…

I ran across many words whose meanings I did not know, and either looked them up in a dictionary or, before I had a chance to do that, encountered the word in a context that made its meaning clear. But what strange world was this? I concluded the book with the conviction that I had somehow overlooked something terribly important in life. I had once tried to write, had once reveled in feeling, had let my crude imagination roam, but the impulse to dream had been slowly beaten out of me by experience. Now it surged up again and I hungered for books, new ways of looking and seeing. It was

not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look of the world different.

As dawn broke I ate my pork and beans, feeling dopey, sleepy. I went to work, but the mood of the book would not die; it lingered, coloring everything I saw, heard, did. I now felt that I knew what the white men were feeling. Merely because I had read a book that had spoken of how they lived and thought, I identified myself with that book, I felt vaguely guilty. Would I, filled with bookish notions, act in a manner that would make the whites dislike me? . . .

Steeped in new moods and ideas, I bought a ream of paper and tried to write; but nothing would come, or what did come was flat beyond telling. I discovered that more than desire and feeling were necessary to write and I dropped the idea. Yet I still wondered how it was possible to know people sufficiently to write about them. Could I ever learn about life and people? To me, with my vast ignorance, my Jim Crow station in life, it seemed a task impossible of achievement. I now knew what being a Negro meant. I could endure the hunger. I had learned to live with hate. But to feel that there were feelings denied me, that the very breath of life itself was beyond my reach, that more than anything else hurt, wounded me. I had a new hunger. [word count = 552]

HOMEWORK DAY ONE: [due at the beginning of next block]Choose a quotation from a book, song, or film that “made the look of the world different” for you. Write a paragraph (200-300 words) in which you explain why the quotation is meaningful to you. Responses should be typed, double-spaced and include the proper MLA heading, header, margins, and a word count. See teacher website for a template.

Argument Clinic 2

Self

Family

Peers

Community

Country

Humankind

CIRCLES OF REFLECTION

from Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12 by Kelly Gallagher

THE WRITER’S POSITION: DETERMINING WHAT “THEY SAY”

Day Two and Day Three Quotations Carousel…

In class on Day Two and Day Three, students will work in groups and follow teacher instructions to complete the charts on Pages 5-8.

Day Two: Students complete the unshaded boxes and then complete the Day Two homework task (see page 8).

Day Three: Students will share their homework responses and then complete the shaded boxes. Using these completed notes, students will begin to generate personal evidence to support their initial response to the claims in the quotations. For homework, students will narrow their focus to THREE quotations and complete the homework assignment (see page 9).

YOUR TURN: Argument Clinic 3

SAMPLE QUOTATION“The making of illusions—misleading images or ideas that appear to be authentic or true—has become the primary business of our society. Included in this category are not only the false promises made by advertisers and politicians but all of the activities which supposedly inform, comfort, and improve us, such as the work of our best writers and our most influential leaders. These promises and activities only encourage people to have unrealistic expectations and to ignore facts. - Adapted from Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image

UNFAMILIAR / KEY WORDS

(Identify and define.)

PARAPHRASE(Write the quotation in

your own words.)

DISCIPLINE(S)(i.e. science, social

studies, mathematics, technology, ethics,

politics, philosophy, sociology, etc.)

CONTEXT(Imagine the antecedent situation that prompted

this quotation.)

CIRCLES OF REFLECTION

ABSTRACT IDEAS

In your small groups, complete the following charts on pages 5-8.

QUOTATION #1“We flatter ourselves by thinking this compulsion to please others an attractive trait: a gist for imaginative empathy, evidence of our willingness to give." – Joan Didion, American author

QUOTATION #2"Nature seems (the more we look into it) made up of antipathies: without something to hate, we should lose the very spring of thought and action.  Life would turn to a stagnant pool, were it not ruffled by the jarring interests, the unruly passions, of men." -- William Hazlitt, British essayist (p 267)

QUOTATION #3"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.  Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. (p 335)

UNFAMILIAR / KEY WORDS

PARAPHRASE

DISCIPLINE(S)

CONTEXT

CIRCLES OF REFLECTION

ABSTRACT IDEAS

Argument Clinic 4

QUOTATION #4"[The] Internet creates a vast illusion that the physical social world of interacting minds and hearts does not exist.  In this new situation, the screen is all that is the case...The new world turns the most consequential fact of human life--other people--into seemingly manipulable half presences wholly available to our fantasies." -- Lee Siegel, American nonfiction writer (p 570)

QUOTATION #5"It is not, of course, the desire to be beautiful that is wrong but the obligation to be--or to try.  What is accepted by most women as a flattering idealization of their sex is a way of making women feel inferior to what they actually are--or normally grow to be.  For the ideal of beauty is administered as a form of self-oppression ...Nothing less than perfection will do."-- Susan Sontag, American writer (p 589)

QUOTATION #6"The national myth of immigration, the heart-warming saga of babushka-clad refugees climbing to the deck of the tramp steamer for a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty ("Look, Mama, just lie the pictures we saw in Minsk, or Abruzzi, or Crete"), is just that, an image out of aging newspapers or our collective pop-memory banks. Today's arrivals are more likely to be discharged on a beach and told to swim ashore, be dropped in a desert and told to run, if they survive at all." -- Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-born American writer (p 430)

UNFAMILIAR / KEY WORDS

PARAPHRASE

DISCIPLINE(S)

CONTEXT

CIRCLES OF REFLECTION

ABSTRACT IDEAS

Argument Clinic 5

QUOTATION #7"There is something deeply conflicted about the devotion to work, vocation, career as an ideal in any society, but especially in one that has zealously cast off so many of its other repressions...We (Americans) have all been so oversocialized that unnatural devotion to toil leaves its mark on every area of life. It could even be argued that the most highly prized pleasures have themselves become a form of work, complete with their own uniforms, disciplines, and special lingo." -- Christopher Clausen, professor (p 122)

QUOTATION #8"Certain kinds of tragedies make an impact; others don't. Our perceptual apparatus is geared toward threats that are exotic, personal, erratic, and dramatic. This doesn't mean we're ignorant; just human...We aim our resources at phantoms, while real hazards are ignored." -- K.C. Cole, science writer (p 134)

QUOTATION #9"Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked..." Katherine Anne Porter, American author and essayist (p 475)

UNFAMILIAR / KEY WORDS

PARAPHRASE

DISCIPLINE(S)

CONTEXT

CIRCLES OF REFLECTION

ABSTRACT IDEAS

Argument Clinic 6

QUOTATION #10“Our cherished notions of what is equal and what is fair frequently conflict. Democracy presumes that we are all created equal; competition proves we are not, or else every contest would end in a tie. We talk about a level playing field, but it is difficult to make conditions equal for everyone without being unfair to some.” – adapted from work by Nancy Gibbs, American essayist and editor

QUOTATION #11“It is actually those who promote ‘diversity’ who ask you to deny your individuality and your humanity by insisting that you assume a collective identity as a member of a racial or ethnic or cultural group. Membership in these groups is reductive; it restricts your horizons and diminishes the likelihood that you'll be successful even in articulating your own personal aspirations, let alone achieving them.” – Greg Lewis, American professor

QUOTATION #12“[Before] I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” – Harper Lee, American author

UNFAMILIAR / KEY WORDS

PARAPHRASE

DISCIPLINE(S)

CONTEXT

CIRCLES OF REFLECTION

ABSTRACT IDEAS

HOMEWORK DAY TWO: Choose SIX of these quotations from pages 5-8 (at least some with which you agree and some with which you disagree) and TYPE a two to three sentence response for each discussing the modern relevance of the issues referenced. [Label each response with the quotation number and either AGREE or DISAGREE.]

THE WRITER’S CRAFT: GATHERING EVIDENCE

Compose a complete and Write a complex sentence List two to three experiences Argument Clinic 7

thoughtful sentence expressing the main argument.

(THEY SAY)

stating your original position.

(I SAY)

that connect to your argument. Include who, what, when, & where.

QUOTATION #

SAMPLE

QUOTATION #

QUOTATION #

QUOTATION #

Complex SentencesIn order to develop your skill for both expressing a position and articulating your reason for having that position, practice stating your idea in a complex sentence. What makes a sentence complex is the presence of both an independent clause (a full statement that can stand on its own as a complete sentence) and a subordinate clause (a modifying component which is connected to the idea in the independent clause but is not a complete thought and cannot stand on its own). For the purpose of this exercise, you will be crafting sentences in response to the quotations you have chosen. Follow this format:

Subordinate clause (reason/support/concession) + , + your position.

Begin your subordinate clause with a subordinating conjunction – (e.g. although, while, because, since).In your independent clause, avoid saying “I think that” or “I agree/disagree” or “So-and-so is right/wrong” when stating your position. Simply speak your mind. “I agree that smooth peanut butter is better than chunky.”Examples: (1) Although there are many excellent high schools across the state of Texas, Westwood is by far the very best. (2) Because Westwood students are driven by an innate desire to succeed, they seldom require external motivation to do their homework. (3) While some would argue that Westwood is a pressure cooker that promotes detrimental levels of peer-to-peer competition, the opposite is actually true; Westwood students are well-adjusted and happy and sleep a minimum of 8 hours a night. (4) Since learning is the priority at Westwood, it is a wise decision for parents to send their children to school here.

HOMEWORK DAY THREE:

In this step of the process, you will begin to generate evidence to support your ideas for THREE of the quotations from pages 5-8 (at least one with which you agree and one with which you disagree). This evidence should come from your personal experiences and observations -- loosely defined as a specific something that happened to you, someone you know personally, or in a news story you witnessed.  Your goal is to be specific in your details and to provide the experience in a nutshell.  Your responses should be TYPED in the format modeled in the chart above and ready to hand in at the beginning of next block.

Argument Clinic 8

THE WRITER’S CRAFT: PARALLEL STRUCTURE

A writer keeps grammatical form, creates fluency, and maintains interest by employing parallel structure. By definition, items in a series – words, phrases, and clauses – must be parallel in a sentence. Nouns are paired with nouns, adjectives with adjectives, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, etc. Take a look at the following excellent examples.

"It is by logic we prove, but by intuition we discover." -- (Leonardo da Vinci) "Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious,

but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." (Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker, 1980)

"A good ad should be like a good sermon; it must not only comfort the afflicted--—it also must afflict the comfortable." (Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, Macy's, Gimbels, and Me: How to Earn $90,000 a Year in Retail Advertising. Simon and Schuster, 1967)

IN CLASS PRACTICE: For the following sentences, underline the portion of the sentence that demonstrates faulty parallelism and record how you would correct it to make it parallel.

1. We must either raise revenues or it will be necessary to reduce expenses.

2. Stoics deny the importance of such things as wealth, good looks, and having a good reputation.

3. In his farewell address to the army, the general praised his soldiers for their unsurpassed courage and gave thanks because of their devotion.

4. The police have a duty to serve the community, safeguard lives and property, protect the innocent against deception, and they must respect the constitutional rights of all.

5. Sir Humphry Davy, the celebrated English chemist, was an excellent literary critic as well as being a great scientist.

6. The Johnsons were cheerful and knowledgeable traveling companions, and behaved generously.

7. The delegates spent the day arguing with one another rather than work together to find common solutions.

8. My sister's promotion means that she will be moving to another state and take the children with her.

9. A company is not only responsible to its shareholders but also customers and employees as well.

10. Examples of aerobic exercises are distance running, swimming, cycling, and long walks.

11. Consuming too much of a fat-soluble vitamin can be as harmful as not to consume enough.

12. If you hire a contractor to make home improvements, follow these recommendations:

o Find out if the contractor belongs to a trade association.o Obtain estimates in writing.o The contractor should provide references.o The contractor must be insured.o Avoid contractors who ask for cash to dodge paying taxes.

13. The new instructor was both enthusiastic and she was demanding.

14. It is a truism that to give is more rewarding than getting.

15. A battery powered by aluminum is simple to design, clean to run, and it is inexpensive to produce.

http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/parallelstructureterm.htm

Argument Clinic 9

THE WRITER’S CRAFT: INCORPORATING DETAIL AND IMAGERYRead the following excerpts from Richard Wright’s Black Boy and notate particularly strong use of detail and imagery.

There was the delight I caught in seeing long straight rows of red and green vegetables stretching away in the sun to the bright horizon.

There was the faint, cool kiss of sensuality when dew came on to my cheeks and shins as I ran down the wet green garden paths in the early morning.

There were the echoes of nostalgia I heard in the crying strings of wild geese winging south against a bleak, autumn sky.

There was the yearning for identification loosed in me by the sight of a solitary ant carrying a burden upon a mysterious journey.

There was the disdain that filled me as I tortured a delicate, blue-pink crawfish that huddled fearfully in the mudsill of a rusty tin can.

There was the love I had for the mute regality of tall, moss-clad oaks.

HOMEWORK DAY FOUR: Choose FIVE of the following sentence starters. Complete the sentences with relevant and poignant details and imagery that connect to the personal evidence you recorded in your chart (p. 9). At least two of your responses should demonstrate parallel structure. TYPE the original quotations(s) and your response(s) before the corresponding sentences. This assignment is due next block.

1. There was the delight I caught in seeing…2. There was the vague sense of the infinite as I looked…3. There were the echoes of nostalgia I hear in the…4. There was the tantalizing melancholy in the tingling scent of…5. There was the teasing and impossible desire to…6. There was the yearning for…7. There was the disdain that filled me as I…8. There was the aching glory in…9. There was the incomprehensible secret embodied in…10. There was the experience of feeling death without dying that came from watching…11. There was the great joke that I felt God had played on…12. There was the thirst I had when I watched…13. There was the hot panic that welled up in my throat and swept through my blood when…14. There was the speechless astonishment of seeing…15. There was the cosmic cruelty that I felt when I saw…16. There was the saliva that formed in my mouth whenever I smelt…17. There was the quiet terror that suffused my senses when…18. There was the aura of limitless freedom distilled from…19. There was the suspense I felt when…20. There was the drugged, sleepy feeling that came from…21. There was the bitter amusement of going…22. There was the fear and awe I felt when…23. There was the greedy joy in the…24. There was the all-night ache in my stomach after…

Argument Clinic 10

Writing Focus: ParallelismChoose at least two of your sentences from the Black Boy starters to demonstrate your understanding of and ability to incorporate parallel structure. Highlight and label these examples.

Brave Pakistani schoolgirl tells it like it is in U.N. speech BY LEONARD PITTS JR.LPITTS@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Sometimes, the directness of children is unsettling.

They just have this way of making things plain. I am thinking of a 10-year-old white boy I met in Montgomery, Ala. in 1995. My late colleague Michael Browning and I were driving across the South, visiting battlefields of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. We filed five days of reports — learned, eloquent dialectics deconstructing the Gordian knot of race.

But we never cut as close to the meat of the matter in all our thousands of words as that little boy did in just a few when we told him what we were writing about. Appalled, he said, “No fair you have to do this because you’re this color and you have to do that because you’re that color. No fair.”

His indignation felt, well . . . childish. “No fair?” That’s what you say on the playground when somebody is hogging the swing. It’s what you say when big brother won’t let you have a turn playing video games. Is that really what you say about this great betrayal of America’s promise, this ugly bloodstain on America’s flag? Can something so complicated really be reduced to words so simple?

Well, as it turns out . . . yes.

Sometimes, the directness of children is eye-opening.

And that brings us to Malala Yousafzai. She is, you recall, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban last year for the “crime” of advocating education and equal rights for women and girls. In an authentic miracle, she not only survived, but recovered. A few days ago, she addressed the United Nations in New York and said this:

“We are really tired of these wars. Women and children are suffering in many ways in many parts of the world.”

Mind you, she said other things. She said we must advance women’s freedoms. She said education should be every child’s right. She said we must stand together and be brave.

All in all, it was a remarkable speech. But at day’s end, what encapsulates it all for me was that statement about war — not the words of it so much as the fact of it, the idea of this child — she’d turned 16 that day — standing before the assembled nations of this warring world saying, We are tired of all the fighting. Cut it out.

Sometimes, the directness of children is challenging.

Hearing Malala’s words, I feel as I felt 18 years ago. I want to tell her that these are lovely sentiments, but she is too young to understand this sort of thing. How do you advance women’s freedoms in societies where women’s subjugation is regarded as holy writ? How do you win universal education when so many tyrants depend on universal ignorance for their power? How do you encourage people to stand and be brave when there are so many inducements to sit and be scared? How do you say “Stop fighting” and expect the world to listen when war is such a useful and profitable thing?

And it’s funny. Those observations have the odd distinction of being logical, realistic, indisputable and yet, wholly unsatisfying.

Sometimes, the directness of children is confounding. And it can be burdensome, too.

It forces you to confront realities you’d as soon not confront, see truths you’d as soon not see. It has a way of cutting through complexities the way you do cobwebs in a room that has been too long shuttered and dark. You find yourself thinking maybe the automatic rejection of children’s directness says more about you than it does about them. Maybe it says that “logical,” “realistic” and “complicated” have become words you use to anesthetize your own hope, embalm your own idealism.

“We are really tired of these wars” says the child who was shot in the head — and lived. And you realize, well, heck, I am tired of them, too.

Sometimes, the directness of children is haunting.

This is one of those times. [word count = 656]

Argument Clinic 11

THE WRITER’S EVIDENCE: OBSERVATION AND READING

Carefully read Leonard Pitts’s essay from the previous page. Then, thoughtfully complete the chart below. Create at least three responses in each section; responses in the left hand column should demonstrate careful, detailed thought, and responses in the right hand column should include specific evidence from the passage.

Pitts argues Evidence to Support his Assertions

Leonard Pitts incorporates supporting evidence beyond personal knowledge, experience and reflection. This evidence may come from literary knowledge, current/recent events, historical/scientific events, etc. Look at the evidence you have listed in the right hand column above and determine what kind of evidence Pitts employs. Discuss why each example is effective in making his argument.

HOMEWORK DAY FIVE: Finalize the ONE quotation to which you will respond in your argument and brainstorm at least two pieces of evidence from outside your personal experience to support your position. TYPE the following: the entire quotation, a clear thesis statement expressing your position on the topic, and your TWO detailed examples from outside your personal experience. This assignment is due next block.

ExampleQuotation:The making of illusions—misleading images or ideas that appear to be authentic or true—has become the primary business of our society. Included in this category are not only the false promises made by advertisers and politicians but all of the activities which supposedly inform, comfort, and improve us, such as the work of our best writers and our most influential leaders. These promises and activities only encourage people to have unrealistic expectations and to ignore facts. - Adapted from Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image

Thesis: Modern Americans claim to crave contentment and frankness yet are – at least en masse – dissatisfied and cynical; perhaps this void between our hopes and our realities is the result of a society that emphasizes appearance over substantive truth.

Evidence:1. Teenage girls are particularly susceptible to body image issues as a result of a false sense of beauty perpetuated by fashion magazines. Advertisers and editors use techniques such as airbrushing and manipulating the original image to portray flawless skin, body shape, eye color, hair color, and even facial features such as the size of someone’s nose or lips, for example. Not only do the girls have an impossible goal to reach when viewing these images, but also young men begin to have unrealistic expectations of what the women in their lives should look like.

2. [2nd piece of evidence goes here]

Argument Clinic 12

WRITING YOUR OWN ARGUMENT:

DUE DATE September 24/25, 2014 (submitted to Turnitin.com by 10:00 pm, September 25, 2014)LENGTH 600 – 800 wordsTYPED MLA format, heading, header, margins, spacing (include a word count)PROMPT (see below)

Each of the following authors creates assertions about at least one key concept, often raising philosophical or ideological concerns. Choose one of these arguments to which you respond.

Write an essay in which you consider the extent to which the author’s assertions hold true for contemporary American society. Support your argument with appropriate evidence. [Evidence must include personal anecdote and may also include evidence from your reading or observation.]

1) “We flatter ourselves by thinking this compulsion to please others an attractive trait: a gist for imaginative empathy, evidence of our willingness to give." – Joan Didion, American author

2) "Nature seems (the more we look into it) made up of antipathies: without something to hate, we should lose the very spring of thought and action.  Life would turn to a stagnant pool, were it not ruffled by the jarring interests, the unruly passions, of men." -- William Hazlitt, British essayist

3) "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.  Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." -- Martin Luther King, Jr., American clergyman, activist, and leader

4) "[The] Internet creates a vast illusion that the physical social world of interacting minds and hearts does not exist.  In this new situation, the screen is all that is the case...The new world turns the most consequential fact of human life--other people--into seemingly manipulable half presences wholly available to our fantasies." -- Lee Siegel, American nonfiction writer

5) "It is not, of course, the desire to be beautiful that is wrong but the obligation to be--or to try.  What is accepted by most women as a flattering idealization of their sex is a way of making women feel inferior to what they actually are--or normally grow to be.  For the ideal of beauty is administered as a form of self-oppression...Nothing less than perfection will do."-- Susan Sontag, American writer

6) "The national myth of immigration, the heart-warming saga of babushka-clad refugees climbing to the deck of the tramp steamer for a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty ("Look, Mama, just lie the pictures we saw in Minsk, or Abruzzi, or Crete"), is just that, an image out of aging newspapers or our collective pop-memory banks. Today's arrivals are more likely to be discharged on a beach and told to swim ashore, be dropped in a desert and told to run, if they survive at all." -- Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-born American writer

(continued on the next page)

Argument Clinic 13

WRITING YOUR OWN ARGUMENT (CONT):

7) "There is something deeply conflicted about the devotion to work, vocation, career as an ideal in any society, but especially in one that has zealously cast off so many of its other repressions...We (Americans) have all been so oversocialized that unnatural devotion to toil leaves its mark on every area of life. It could even be argued that the most highly prized pleasures have themselves become a form of work, complete with their own uniforms, disciplines, and special lingo." -- Christopher Clausen, American professor

8) "Certain kinds of tragedies make an impact; others don't. Our perceptual apparatus is geared toward threats that are exotic, personal, erratic, and dramatic. This doesn't mean we're ignorant; just human...We aim our resources at phantoms, while real hazards are ignored." -- K.C. Cole, science writer

9) "Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked..." Katherine Anne Porter, American author and essayist

10) “Our cherished notions of what is equal and what is fair frequently conflict. Democracy presumes that we are all created equal; competition proves we are not, or else every contest would end in a tie. We talk about a level playing field, but it is difficult to make conditions equal for everyone without being unfair to some.” – adapted from work by Nancy Gibbs, American essayist and editor

11) “It is actually those who promote ‘diversity’ who ask you to deny your individuality and your humanity by insisting that you assume a collective identity as a member of a racial or ethnic or cultural group. Membership in these groups is reductive; it restricts your horizons and diminishes the likelihood that you'll be successful even in articulating your own personal aspirations, let alone achieving them.” – Greg Lewis, American professor

12) [Before] I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” – Harper Lee, American author

NOTES:

Argument Clinic 14

THE WRITER’S CRAFT: SENTENCE VARIETY and THE PHRASE TOOLBOX(from Laying the Foundation, AP Strategies).

Prepositional Phrase: (shows relationship between words)Adjective Phrase: (which one, what kind, how many?)

The store around the corner is painted green.The girl with the blue hair is angry.

Adverb phrase: (when, how, where?)Oscar is painting his house with the help of his friends.Sally is coloring outside the lines.

Infinitive phrase: (“to” with a verb.)To dance gracefully is my ambition.Her plan to become a millionaire fell through.She wanted to become a veterinarian.John went to college to study engineering.

Appositive phrase: (renames a noun or pronoun)My teacher, a woman with curly hair, is very tall.Bowser, the dog with the sharp teeth, is coming around the corner.

Participial phrase: (verb form functioning as an adjective)Blinded by the light, Sarah walked into the concert hall.John, swimming for his life, crossed the English Channel.

Gerund: (an “ing” verb form functioning as a noun)Walking in the moonlight is a romantic way to end a date.He particularly enjoyed walking in the moonlight.Walking the dog is not my favorite task.

Absolute phrase (“ing” or “ed” form of a verb, modify the entire sentence, set off by “,”)Their minds whirling from the avalanche of information provided by their teacher, the students made

their way thoughtfully to the parking lot.His head pounding, his hands shaking, his heart filled with trepidation, the young man knelt and proposed

marriage to his sweetheart.The two lovers walked through the garden, their faces reflecting the moonlight, their arms twined about

each other, their footsteps echoing in the stillness of the night.

Argument Clinic 15

PHRASE TOOLBOX PRACTICE: Using your final topic for the argument essay as inspiration, practice writing sentences including the different phrases from the toolbox. Sentences should demonstrate complexity of thought and structure.

Prepositional phrase (adjective or adverb)

Infinitive phrase

Appositive phrase

Participial phrase

Gerund phrase

Absolute phrase

HOMEWORK DAY SIX: While you continue to work on your argument, it is time to begin crafting your thesis and body paragraphs. Type your thesis and at least one body paragraph. As you write, pay attention to ideas you can connect using the phrase toolbox. Include, highlight, and label at least THREE of the different types of phrases in your paragraph.

Argument Clinic 16

Writing Focus: Sentence FluencyChoose at least three of your sentences from the Black Boy starters to demonstrate your understanding of and ability to incorporate a variety of phrases and clauses in your writing. Highlight and label these examples.

THE WRITER’S CRAFT: ALLUSIONS AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Read the following passage by essayist Joan Didion. Pay particular attention to the details, particularly developed through allusion and figurative language, that she includes to convey her argument.

Once, in a dry season, I wrote in large

letters across two pages of a notebook that

innocence ends when one is stripped of the

delusion that one likes oneself. Although now,

some years later, I marvel that a mind on the outs

with itself should have nonetheless made

painstaking record of its every tremor, I recall with

embarrassing clarity the flavor of those particular

ashes. It was a matter of misplaced self-respect.

I had not been elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

This failure could scarcely have been more

predictable or less ambiguous (I simply did not

have the grades), but I was unnerved by it; I had

somehow thought myself a kind of academic

Raskolnikov, curiously exempt from the cause-

effect relationships which hampered others.

Although even the humorless nineteen-year-old

that I was must have recognized that the situation

lacked real tragic stature, the day that I did not

make Phi Beta Kappa nonetheless marked the end

of something and innocence may well be the word

for it. I lost the conviction that lights would always

turn green for me, the pleasant certainty that those

rather passive virtues which had won me approval

as a child automatically guaranteed me not only

Phi Beta Kappa keys but happiness, honor, and the

love of a good man; lost a certain touching faith in

the totem power of good manners, clean hair, and

proven competence on the Stanford-Binet scale.

To such doubtful amulets had my self-respect been

pinned, and I faced myself that day with the

nonplussed apprehension of someone who has

come across a vampire and has no crucifix at hand.

Although to be driven back upon oneself is

an uneasy affair at best, rather like trying to cross a

border with borrowed credentials, it seems to me

now the one condition necessary to the beginnings

of real self-respect. Most of our platitudes

notwithstanding, self-deception remains the most

difficult deception. The tricks that work on others

count for nothing in that very well-lit back alley

where one keeps assignations with oneself: no

winning smiles will do here, no prettily drawn lists

of good intentions. One shuffles flashily but in

vain through one’s marked cards – the kindness

done for the wrong reason, the apparent triumph

which involved no real effort, the seemingly heroic

act into which one had been shamed. The dismal

fact is that self-respect has nothing to do with the

approval of others – who are, after all, deceived

easily enough; has nothing to do with reputation,

which, as Rhett Butler told Scarlett O’Hara, is

something people with courage can do without.

[word count = 430].

Argument Clinic 17

CLOSE READING PRACTICE

In this reflective passage, Didion takes the reader on a psychological (rather than literal) journey through which she gained a unique perspective on the idea of self-respect

Follow your teacher’s directions for deciphering Didion’s “enriched” vocabulary and literary allusions. Then, summarize Didion’s ideas by filling in the blanks below. Use your own words.

Paragraph 1: Describing a “dry season” in her writing career, Didion asserts that __________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

Paragraph 2: The event which brought her to this realization was ______________________________________

___________________________________________. She notes her feelings of ____________________________

________________________________________________________ as a result of this experience. By alluding to

Raskolnikov, she suggests that ___________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

When she writes that she “lost the conviction that lights would always turn green for [her],” she is really saying

that ________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

Likewise, she contends that she felt____________________________________________ with the “power of good

manners [and] clean hair because these ” ___________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

By alluding to the Stanford-Binet scale, Didion rejects the notion that ____________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

Finally, she compares herself as a result of this experience to “someone who has come across a vampire and has no

crucifix at hand.” This is an apt comparison because Didion and such a person share the characteristics of

___________________________________________________________________________________________

and ________________________________________________________________________________________.

Argument Clinic 18

CLOSE READING PRACTICE (continued)

Paragraph 3: Didion asserts that, as a result of ____________________________________________________,

______________________________, she came to believe that the “one condition necessary to the beginnings of

real self-respect” is _____________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________. However, she observes that self-

deception____________________________________________________________________________ because

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

When she cites “that very well-lit back alley,” she is really referring to one’s _______________________________

_______________________________________. “The kindness done for the wrong reason” describes an action

that ________________________________________________________________________________________.

Similarly, “the seemingly heroic act into which one has been shamed” suggests that _________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

Didion’s purpose in alluding to Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara is to ____________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

Entire passage:

Overall, Didion would argue that many people ______________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________,

Student response: [record your thoughts on Didion’s argument] _____________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________.

THE WRITER’S CRAFT: WRITING THE PERFECT HOOKArgument Clinic 19

One of my favorite opening lines from a student’s personal narrative essay read, “My grandmother hides cornbread in her armpits.” Are you curious? I was, and I kept reading a very heartfelt essay about a grandmother suffering from dementia. Even though that was a narrative essay and you are writing argument, the concept still rings true – you must hook your reader from the beginning so that your argument will be heard.

Now that you have established your position and generated your evidence, you need to consider how to begin your argument so that anyone coming across it cannot help but read on. Consider the many ways to begin: (some are exemplified below). These serve as the “hook” or initial attention getter for the audience and ultimately lead the audience to your thesis.

Read the following examples and place a star next to the ones that compel you to want to read more…

Startling Statement (good and evil theme)- All human beings are capable of the most gruesome crimes imaginable. It is only because of the customs and controls of civilization that we do not become brute savages.

Anecdote/Scenario (courage theme) - A close friend of mine was in the Vietnam War and he admitted to me that he was terrified every time he had to go into battle. Even so, I consider him one of the most courageous men I have ever known. It is not the absence of fear that defines courage, but the ability of one to force oneself to take action in spite of fear.

Analogy (superficiality theme) - The models that grace the pages of magazines seem to be better than anyone we have ever met: they seem elegant, untouchable, and perfect. But, just as magazine covers are manipulated to hide imperfections, we, too, sometimes fool ourselves into ignoring the flaws of individuals whom we have built up to be perfect beings.

Humorous Musing (conformity theme) - Why is it that, when I go to school with my underwear on my head, the world looks at me as if I were unusual? High school kids are so caught up in their little cliques that I feel like I’ve got to become one of those “underwear under the pants” types too. (Note: Humor is not appropriate for all classes and teachers. Use good judgment.)

http://www.cibacs.org/teacherpages/jbronkar/PDFs/hooks.pdf

HOMEWORK DAY SEVEN:Complete your introduction and at least two body paragraphs for your argument. Your introduction must include a compelling opening sentence (labeled “hook”) and a clear thesis statement (highlighted in pink). Body paragraphs should include evidence (highlighted in green) and discussion or explanation (highlighted in yellow).

In addition, continue to incorporate the effective phrases from the toolbox and include at least one strategy modeled after the Didion passage (figurative language or allusion). Highlight (in blue) and label the strategy you modeled after Didion.

Argument Clinic 20

Writing Focus: Figurative Language and AllusionChoose at least one strategy you noted from the Didion essay and incorporate it in your own essay to demonstrate your understanding of and ability to incorporate this device. Highlight and label this