August 27 - August 31

It's the second week of school and the last week of August. It's been a pleasure to meet everyone, and I look forward to starting our first novel as a class, The Grapes of Wrath, as well as diving into the basics of rhetorical analysis.  This is the first style of essay that we'll master (one of the three styles on the AP Lang exam, and the same style required for the SAT).

 
TUESDAY: Journal warm-up. Collect Letter to Freshman Self. Receive "Rhetorical Analysis Packet". Notes: Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle. SOAPS analysis. A Step Toward Falling (summer reading) discussions and activities. 

Due: Letter to Freshman Self.

Signed syllabus and Turnitin.com form.

Sign up for TheWeek.com current events daily e-mails (see sidebar on the right-hand side of this website for step-by-step instructions).

Homework:  Summer reading written homework, (if you haven't already turned it in).

Please read "How to read like a writer" by Mike Bunn and be ready to discuss on Thursday. 

THURSDAY: Journal warm-up. Quiz: Vocab/grammar list #1 and summer reading questions.  Gallery Walk: The Grapes of Wrath.  Intro to Grapes of Wrath. Read Chapter 1 together, act out Chapter 2. Review SOAPS and introduce homework.

Due: Summer reading written homework.

Homework:  Read The Grapes of Wrath, Chapters 1-3.

On a separate piece of paper, please perform a SOAPS analysis on the following two communications:

1.  Beto O'Rourke, a candidate running for a Senate seat in Texas, at a speech at a town hall, answers a question about anthem protests.

2. President Trump, in a speech at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama in support of Senator Luther Strange in his primary election race, talks about anthem protests. 

Please write out each letter (S-O-A-P-S) and then some notes beside each one. Think about how the rhetorical situation affects the message and its reception, and whether or not it was effective.

Enjoy the three-day weekend!