Speech organization techniques and considerations

Interesting reading about "the rule of three" speech organization technique, with several speeches linked to watch/read and analyze for additional presentation techniques
Speech Techniques

"This I Believe" responses

Choose at least two words from the themes provided on "This I Believe" essay site (website is linked to the left).
For each word, read at least two essays written about this word.
For each essay, record:
1.  Title and author of essay
2.  Claims and supports
3.  Appeals used
4.  Your views in comparison to this author's

This assignment is due on the day speeches begin.

*Take note:  Our Town response assignment due tomorrow!

Our Town

In the words of the Stage Manager from Our Town, "This is the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying."
As we go on in the play, a young life will be cut short and leave a hole of sadness in the people of the town where there once was happiness.

Today, many people in the country will relive their moments of the same type of grief as they experienced the new museum dedicated to the events of 9/11/2001, when they walk through the 9/11 Museum dedicated to preserving the memories of those lost.

Using the New York Times "Portraits of Grief" tribute archives, please read and reflect upon the lives of at least three people who died on 9/11/2001.  Choose at least two different letters (perhaps at random, perhaps my your initials) to read tributes.  Compile a short summary and a response to each of the people you read about.

Monday's class recap and Tuesday essay practice and planning approach

For today's class period, we graded multiple choice sections taken over the weekend, looking at annotated answer keys for questions.  Then, we defended our author's claim and argument rhetorical techniques aloud to the class. 

Tomorrow, the plan is to practice an essay-writing planning strategy.  This strategy is to split one hour in half:  take 30 minutes to plan all three essays, and then choose one of those essays to write in the following 30 minutes.  You should know at the end of this process whether this is a strategy you want to use on test day or not.

We will use the 2010 form B free-response questions, taken from AP Central website.

If you were not present in class, you should work on completing what we did in class, using the same essay prompts.

Weekend homework

This weekend, your homework is to write one Q3 assertion essay (there are two possible prompts on the sheet you picked up) and complete one multiple choice section.  Record answers for your multiple choice section on the answer sheet you picked up, or on the question sheet itself.

Stop by sometime today or Saturday morning from 8am-noon if you have any questions or need clarification on the assignments above, due Monday.

Study session and discussion time for particular questions with the upcoming AP test will be held this Saturday, 8am-noon, our classroom at ZWHS.  You can come at the time slot that works best for you and stay as long or short as you'd like.  See you there!

"We are all One" unit first reading

Read the first part of "The World House" by Martin Luther King, Jr. and discuss how King emphasizes and illustrates the importance of the following purposes of the human race:

1) to transcend tribe, race, class, nation, and religion to embrace the vision of a World House
2) to eradicate at home and globally the Triple Evils of racism, poverty, and militarism
3) to curb excessive materialism and shift from a "thing"-oriented society to a "people"-oriented society
4) to resist social injustice and resolve conflicts in the spirit of love embodied in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence

Use this World House handout to guide your discussion and reading of this piece.

Synthesis Essay for Nature Unit

Choose one of these ten "trusts" developed by Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff, naturalists who have dedicated their lives to the protection and preservation of wildlife, particularly animals.  Develop your central argument in support of this claim, using sources from the nature unit that you have been given and gathered in support of your argument.

1st TRUTH:  Rejoice that we are part of the animal kingdom
2nd TRUTH:  Respect all life
3rd TRUTH: Open our minds, in humility, to animals and learn from them
4th TRUTH:  Teach our children to respect and love nature
5th TRUTH: Be wise stewards of life on Earth
6th TRUTH: Value and help preserve the sounds of nature
7th TRUTH: Refrain from harming life in order to learn about it
8th TRUST: Have the courage of our convictions
9th TRUST: Praise and help those who work for animals and the natural world
10th TRUST: Act knowing we are not alone and live with hope
CODA: After all is said and done, silence is betrayal.

Assignment:  In a well-developed essay, defend, challenge, or qualify with one of the statements above.  Develop your argument for your position using at least three (that means 4!) of the sources we have used during the nature unit.  These sources are listed below; refer to sources by letter or the term in parentheses.  At the end of your essay, please list the sources that you used, including any added sources, within this essay.

Source A (Klinkenborg) -- "Our Vanishing Night",
                                            National Geographic article, 2008
Source B (Carson) -- Excerpt from Silent Spring, book, 1962
Source C (Emerson) -- "Nature" essay, 1849
Source D (Dillard) -- "Seeing", excerpt from Pilgrim at Tinker 
                                    Creek, book, 1974
Source E (Silko) -- "Landscape", Antaeus article, 1986
Source F (Oliver) -- "Owls", excerpt from Blue Pastures, 1995
Source G (Louv) -- Excerpt from Last Child in the Woods, 2008
Source H (image) -- either cartoon or photo/art piece that you found
Source I (choice) -- additional source of choice from those you found