Agenda, May 29

Due Friday: Juniors: Final Draft of "What is Justice?"

You may return The Language of Composition and 50 Essays at your leisure. Please remove your sticky notes. 

Due Monday: Bring a hard copy of any TEP paragraph, graded or ungraded. You may also share this document electronically.

1. What I learned last night
2. Seniors, start your thinking ...
3. Questions about yesterday
4. A rebuttal to "The Age of the Essay"

Agenda, May 28

Due Friday: Juniors: Final Draft of "What is Justice?"

You may return The Language of Composition and 50 Essays at your leisure. Please remove your sticky notes.

1. What I learned last night
2. Questions from yesterday
3. A return to "The Age of the Essay"
4. A rebuttal to "The Age of the Essay"

Agenda, May 27

Due Now: Seniors: Final Draft of "What is Justice?"

Due Now: Juniors: COMPLETE rough draft of "What is Justice?" Typed. Double spaced. With header. Bring two copies.
Due Friday: Juniors: Final Draft of "What is Justice?"

1. Peer Review
2. Justice Test Continued, if time allows

Agenda, May 22

Due Tuesday: Seniors: Final Draft of "What is Justice?"

Due Tuesday: Juniors: COMPLETE rough draft of "What is Justice?" Typed. Duh. Double spaced. With header. Bring two copies. 

Due Now: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham

1. Paul Graham: Agree of disagree?
2. Another sectional discussion

Agenda, May 20

Due Now: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," in 50 Essays, 2nd Edition

Due Wednesday: Your contributions to the presentation; typed; bullet points okay.

Due Wednesday: Speech o' Justice

Due Wednesday: Justice Essay Outline (juniors only)

Due Thursday: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham

1. Speech Questions
2. Essay questions
3. "Insufficient" Argument

Agenda, May 19

Due Now: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," in 50 Essays, 2nd Edition

Due Now: Justice Essay Outline (seniors only)

Due Wednesday: Speech o' Justice

Due Wednesday: Justice Essay Outline (juniors only)

Due Thursday: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham

1. Essay questions
2. Evaluating sources
3. "Inusfficient" Rhetoric
4. "Insufficient" Argument

(In)credible websites

Searching "evaluating websites" will show that pretty much every university on the planet has an "evaluating websites" page. Here's the one I liked best, even if it is from California:

UC Berkeley's Evaluating Websites Page

Agenda, May 15

Due Monday: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," in 50 Essays, 2nd Edition

Due Monday: Justice Essay Outline (seniors only)

Due Wednesday: Speech o' Justice

Due Thursday: "The Age of the Essay," by Paul Graham

1. Library Research and Destroy

How to Write a College Level Paper

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

(Or: What it Means to Write a “College Level Paper”)

1. I read first. I read all the assigned work for the class, even the boring pieces (except, I confess, for the single most boring piece). As I read, I looked for connections between essays, connections between the essays and my personal experience, and particularly for places that created “disequilibrium” – a disconnect between the writer’s point of view and the world as I understand it.

2. I took notes during the lectures. I took three types of notes: 1) content based notes; 2) ideas for my paper (both thesis ideas and supporting arguments); 3) curriculum ideas for my classroom. I identified ideas for my paper with an asterisk in the left hand margin.

3. I wrote an outline on Saturday, July 19^th. The outline identified four sections of my paper. Each outline section heading was a question. The bulk of my outline consisted of authors and page numbers where I could find textual support to answer the question.

4. I let the essay “cook” until Tuesday, July 22^nd. I thought about the essay, discussed my thesis with classmates, skimmed the class readings, and reviewed my lecture notes, but I did not compose.

5. I wrote one section of my paper each night from Tuesday through Friday. As part of the writing process, I turned the questions from my outline into thesis statements. Yes, my essay has four distinct thesis statements. The main thesis for my essay – the one that operates as an umbrella thesis for the others – first appears at the bottom of page two (not at the end of the first paragraph).

6. The writing process created new questions for me, so I turned to the internet for research. I did not use wikipedia, except to fact check one definition. Often, the websites Google provided were not helpful, but the pages contained links to other pages that met my needs. Ultimately, I found three resources that were both useful and credible: one of my sources was from Indiana State University (after I selected the resource, I googled the author to confirm that he was reliable), the Pew Research Center (a nationally recognized institute), and a government website.

7. Each night, before I began work on a new section, I reread my previous work. This helped with proofreading, maintaining continuity of voice, and creating smooth transitions.

8. On Saturday, I revised. I reread the paper from beginning to end. I fussed with my organization, particularly the transitions. I also created my Works Cited page. I used the Knight Cite online citation maker. Even with assistance from the internet, it took almost two hours to create my Works Cited page.

9. On Sunday, I gave the essay to my wife to read (in school, this is called peer review). She’s also an English major and an excellent editor. She gave me feedback on diction and voice, audience awareness, grammar and punctuation, and a few logical lapses. She also gutted my conclusion.

10. On Monday, I made the easy revisions. I attempted to revise the conclusion, but it still needed more time to “cook.”

11. On Tuesday, I revised the conclusion. My wife reviewed the new conclusion, offered a few tweaks, and griped that I didn’t accept every single one of her suggestions.

12. Tuesday night, four weeks after I began my reading for this essay and ten days after I began the process of composing, I e-mailed my final draft to my instructor. I sent the essay as a Microsoft Word attachment AND pasted the essay into the body of the e-mail.

Agenda, May 14

Due Monday: "The Insufficiency of Honesty," in 50 Essays, 2nd Edition

Due Monday: Justice Essay Outline (seniors only)

Due Wednesday: Speech o' Justice

1. How I Spent my Summer Vacation
2. Search Terms
3. Library Time

Agenda, May 13

Due Now: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson, in 50 Essays. Read it like a college student. Do you remember how?  
Due Wednesday, May 21: The Speech o' Justice

1. Justice Essay Questions?
2. Rhetoric in "The Ways We Lie"
3. Argument in "The Ways We Lie"
4. Justice Test

Justice Essay

What is Justice?

Craft a research paper of 7-10 pages that provides your personal answer to the question “What is justice?” You may base your answer on your personal reading, as well as events in the news and in your own life. Feel free to scavenge from previous essays (remember, however, that this is a research paper. This paper needs to demonstrate the ability to conduct original, college level research). Classroom texts don’t count as research.

You may consider other questions, such as who deserves justice? Who abdicates their right to justice? Who decides who deserves justice?

This paper requires parenthetical citations and a Works Cited page in MLA format.

Schedule:

5/13: Justice “Test”

5/14: Lab time for research

5/15: Lab time for research

5/16: Lab time for research

5/19: Justice Essay Outline due for seniors

5/21: The Speech o’ Justice

5/21: Justice Essay Outline due for juniors

5/22: Not due: Works Cited page for feedback purposes only

5/27: For juniors: Typed first draft of essay due for Peer Review. Participation grade only.

5/27: For seniors: Final draft of essay due.

5/30: Final Draft Due

Rest of tri: college essays

Speech o' Justice

Speech O’ Justice

Due: May 21

The Task:

Working with a group of up to four people, create a presentation in which you encourage your peers to donate the proceeds from Kline’s Vas O’ Justice to a philanthropic organization of your choice. Presentations must be a minimum of three minutes and a maximum of four.

The Details:

Students may either present as a group or elect a representative to deliver the speech. All group members are expected to contribute equally to the presentation; at the time of the presentations all group members will submit a precise, written explanation of their contribution to the group’s efforts.

The Grade:

Your presentation will be graded on the quality of your argument (have you selected appropriate appeals? have you selected effective diction? have you researched your charity thoroughly enough?) and the quality of the presentation (enthusiastic? confident? well prepared? well delivered?). Winning the vote will not be a factor in your grade.

Agenda, May 12

Due Monday: Come to class with your favorite charities in mind. We're forming groups. If you're going to be gone today, make sure somebody is ready to adopt you.  
Due Tuesday: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson, in 50 Essays. Read it like a college student. Do you remember how?
Due Wednesday, May 21: The Speech o' Justice

1. So, how was it?
2. The Speech o' Justice
3. Group selection
4. The Next Big Thing

Agenda, May 9

Due Monday: Come to class with your favorite charities in mind. We're forming groups. If you're going to be gone Monday, make sure somebody is ready to adopt you.
Due Tuesday: "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericcson, in 50 Essays

1. Where is everybody?

Agenda, May 8

Due Now: Read pages 98-100 in Language of Composition. Be prepared to discuss logical fallacies.
Due Monday: Come to class with your favorite charities in mind

1. Let's watch TV
2. We'll talk about Rhetorical Analysis of multiple texts
3. Score 4
4. Pressing questions

Agenda, May 7

Due Thursday: Read pages 98-100 in Language of Composition. Be prepared to discuss logical fallacies.
Tomorrow: We'll talk about Rhetorical Analysis of multiple texts

1. Scoring spree! 
   

Agenda, May 6

Due Now: Practice Test for those who couldn't make it on Friday.  
Due Now: Look up "syllogism" on line. Be prepared to define major premise, minor premise, conclusion, and enthymeme in class. You might want to invent your own syllogism.  
Due Thursday: Read pages 98-100 in Language of Composition. Be prepared to discuss logical fallacies.

1. All students discuss syllogisms.
2. Mr. Kline will discuss syllogisms.
3. Therefore, Mr. Kline is a student.
4. Multiple choice answers
5. Multiple choice questions 
   

Agenda, May 5

Due Now: Practice Test for those who couldn't make it on Friday.
Due Tomorrow: Look up "syllogism" on line. Be prepared to define major premise, minor premise, conclusion, and enthymeme in class. You might want to invent your own syllogism.
Due Thursday: Read pages 98-100 in Language of Composition. Be prepared to discuss logical fallacies.

1. What did we learn Friday?
2. Scoring arguments  
   

Practice Test Timing

Multiple Choice: 60 minutes
Break: 10 minutes
Reading Time: 15 minutes (you may take notes, but you may not compose)
Writing Time: Two hours (write your essays separately; they will be submitted and scored separately)