Update Jan. 30

Students continued giving their fashion analysis presentations.

Homework:
Read through page 155 of Huckleberry Finn.

Update Jan. 29

Students should have read up through page 135 of Huckleberry Finn by today.
In class yesterday and today, we have been having student fashion analysis presentations. The audience is required to reflect on the presentations by writing responses to the following for each presentation:
1) What is one strength of the presentation?
2) What additional insight can you add to the presenters' analysis?

Homework:
Rhetorical notebook entry for "The Decay of the Art of Lying" due tomorrow.

AP
On Monday students took a timed synthesis essay test on the topic of the U.S. Postal Service. Today we analyzed a student response that demonstrates strong voice. We also reviewed spelling rules/guidelines. Finally, we continued our study of the satirical article on advertising methods.

Update Jan. 27

We read together from Twain's essay "The Decay of the Art of Lying." We read and annotated the first half.  We will continue work on this tomorrow.  We then read together pages 109-111 of Huck Finn. We discussed Sherburn's speech and what Twain might be saying about Southern culture. He seems to be pointing out a different kind of hypocrisy than that which he highlighted with the Grangerford episode, a hypocrisy of cowardice masquerading as bravado.

Homework:
Read through page 123 of Huck Finn.
Be prepared to present your fashion analysis any day this week.

Update Jan. 23

Students worked with their partners on their fashion analysis assignment. They will have one more in-class day to prepare for their presentations which will begin next week. Remember, the PowerPoints must be submitted on Monday.

Update Jan. 22

Students took a reading quiz on the following question. What was Twain satirizing about Southern society in the Grangerford episode of Huckleberry Finn?

We discussed this question after the quiz, noting the ways Twain satirized the South's religious hypocrisy, obsession with gentlemanly honor, slave culture, and feuding culture (including the Civil War itself). We noted that the Grangerford's appearance of gentility was only a façade, like the Gilded Age itself. This hypocrisy was captured in the symbolism of Colonel Grangerford's white suit, also worn by Twain in a carefully manicured public persona.

Students were paired off to work on their new assignment:

Fashion Analysis

 

As Mark Twain has demonstrated by wearing his white suit, even the clothes we wear are an argument. Read the following excerpt from the “For the Strength of Youth” booklet and note what it says about how our dress and appearance communicate messages for good or for bad.

Through your dress and appearance, you can show that you know how precious your body is. You can show that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and that you love Him. … When you are well groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit and you can be a good influence on others.  Your dress and grooming influence the way you and others act.  … When you dress immodestly, you send a message that is contrary to your identity as a son or daughter of God. You also send the message that you are using your body to get attention and approval.

Your assignment is to conduct a fashion analysis. You are to select a photograph or collection of photographs that illustrate a specific wardrobe or fashion style. Then, you should analyze the rhetoric of the clothing. Consider the following questions as you conduct your analysis:

1.     What emotions do you associate with the clothing?

2.     What is the viewer likely to associate with the clothing? (What does the clothing remind the viewer of?)

3.     What group of people would the clothing we associated with?

4.     What colors are dominant and what emotional effect do the colors have?

5.     What shapes are dominant and what is the effect?

6.     What message is the clothing intended to communicate?

7.     What does the clothing say about masculinity or femininity?

8.     What does the clothing say about authority?

9.     What does the clothing say about beauty?

10.  What does the clothing say about the body?

11. What does the clothing say about age?

12. What does the clothing say about individuality?

13. What does the clothing say about unity?

14. What does the clothing say about what is important?

15. What role, if any, does brand name play in the clothing?

You will work with a partner on this assignment. With your partner, prepare to make an oral presentation of your fashion analysis during class next week. For your presentation, you must bring a BRIEF PowerPoint presentation with your selected images. Do not include text in your PowerPoint; rather, be prepared to orally share your analysis in a concise, organized manner. You need to prepare notecards with main talking points. Your presentation should be 3-5 minutes in length. It should focus on both WHAT the clothing communicates and HOW it communicates.

Obviously, it would be inappropriate to show images during class that are pornographic in any way. Please be careful in your image selection. You need to bring your PowerPoint to class Monday so that you can load it onto my computer.

Update Jan. 21

Students took a brief reading quiz. Then we discussed whether or not Jim and Huck are friends. We noted that although Huck wants to believe it is a friendship, societal pressures make it an impossibility anywhere but on the raft. Whereas we are told the story through the narration of a young white boy, we must be wary readers and note what Huck may not realize. For example, Jim may not truly be happy to see Huck at the Grangerfords. Perhaps he intended to leave without Huck and regrets his discovery, but must keep up appearances with Huck. A lifelong slave, Jim would certainly have experience managing perceptions of the whites in his life.

We also viewed images of Mark Twain in his white suit. We discussed the ways in which the suit symbolizes hypocrisy and how Twain may be using it as a way of calling out his own hypocrisy as well as indirectly calling for others, particularly in the "genteel" Southern culture, to recognize the ways in which they too may be "whited sepulchers."

Homework: Finish the first draft of the "Modest Proposal."

Update Jan. 16

By today, you should have read up through page 88 of Huck Finn. Today in class we discussed our writing assignment (see details below). We also read a sample satirical article on gun control (http://www.theonion.com/articles/nra-sets-1000-killed-in-school-shooting-as-amount,28352/). We examined the way in which the author indirectly criticized various parts of the NRA's stance on gun control. We also noted that there is a difference between satire which tears down and satire that builds up. This article seems to represent the former, whereas "A Modest Proposal" is the latter.

Homework: Work on your own "Modest Proposal" imitation article.


A Modest Proposal Imitation Assignment

In “A Modest Proposal”, Jonathan Swift proposes a solution to Ireland’s poverty: turn the children of the poor into an edible delicacy. His essay employs the methods of satire: juxtaposition, irony, narrative point of view, understatement, overstatement, tone, etc. He takes an absurd idea so seriously that readers are shocked by the idea; then he turns the tables on the readers to redirect their shock towards their own assumptions about poverty. He uses the first portion of his essay to establish a logical voice for his narrator, so that the reader can be properly shocked by the proposal when he introduces it. He reveals his true beliefs about what should be done about poverty by saying, “Don’t talk to me about…” For this assignment, you need to write a satirical article imitating Swift’s use of satirical strategies.

Topic

Your satire should address a current social issue of your choosing. You might propose a solution to gun control or to the national debt. You might propose a solution to the United States’ international relations with Iran or North Korea. You might propose a solution to the problem of college student debt or the decline of the family. You might choose a state or even local issue such as air pollution in Utah. Whatever topic you choose to discuss, make sure that what you write is appropriate for publication in the AHS newspaper.

 
Humor

Satires use humor to ridicule those social practices and beliefs that the writer believes need to be changed. It can be effective when the humor causes the readers to reexamine their beliefs and assumptions about the topic. Please note that humor can be used as a weapon as well as a tool. Please be careful with the former. Do not use humor to be verbally violent or vulgar. This is a delicate balancing act. You must use humor with sharpness to cut to the root of the issue; however, after reading your entire article, the reader must come away enlightened. Satire can tear down, but more importantly it can build up. Please make sure that your satire does both.

 Additional Stipulations

1)      Title—Your title should imitate the form of Swift’s title, “A Modest Proposal for…”

2)      Length—Your article should be 550-600 words in length. Length is less important than strong writing and effective imitation of Swift’s rhetorical strategies.

3)      Format—Your article must be typed, in MLA format, and show careful proofreading.

4)      Due Date—The first draft of your article is due on Wednesday, January 22.

Update Jan. 14

Students took a reading quiz at the start of class. We then discussed Huckleberry Finn.

• We explored the symbolic loss of innocence involved in the snake incident on the island. The island was paradisiacal until the snake incident which revealed a darker side to the apparent childlike innocence of the story. Huck and Jim end up leaving the Edenic island and being cast out into the "world" of Southern society, down river.
• With the snake incident, we see Huck lying to Jim by omission.
• We see likewise that the relationship between Jim and Huck may not be as simple as it seems. Jim, an escaped slave, feels threatened when Huck, a member of Jim's owner's household, discovers him on the island.
• Jim strategically prompts Huck how much Huck needs him during the rainstorm.  He may do this to secure Huck's assistance, when in reality Jim has benefited from the relationship as much as, or more than, Huck.
• We detect Jim's intelligence when he discusses his plans for escape. We also saw earlier in the novel how Jim could use his hairball to "scam" Huck.
• When they find the dead body in the floating house, Jim covers the body apparently to protect Huck. However, a careful reading would indicate that this body may belong to Pap (who went away with his pockets full of money with some strange, dangerous looking men). Perhaps Jim has ulterior motives for keeping Huck in the dark--for Pap was the main reason Huck was running away and the main thing keeping Huck from going back to society where he could potentially turn in Jim.

Homework: Read Huckleberry Finn through page 65.

Update Jan. 13

We finished read "A Modest Proposal" together. As we read, we identified rhetorical strategies Swift employs in the article. We noted that Swift was writing a satire, as was Mark Twain. Both used satirical strategies including irony, juxtaposition, and narrative point of view.

Homework: Rhetorical notebook entry for A Modest Proposal due tomorrow. (Do not do number 4--we will write a full-length imitation article later.)


AP
Students took a quiz on subordination and coordination.

We then held a writer's workshop, revising essays using repetition, clear pronoun references, and subordination (conjunctions) for emphasis.

Homework: Final revisions of the monuments essay are due on Wednesday.

Update Jan. 10

By today, you should have read to page 27 in Huck Finn. As you read, you should be annotating ways in which Twain is using the story to comment on Southern society. Please also continue to pay attention to comparisons of Huck and Tom.

Students took a reading quiz and we discussed the assigned reading.

Next, we read together from Jonathan Swift's essay, "A Modest Proposal." (https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/modest.html)

Homework: Huckleberry Finn read through page 47. Continue annotating ways in which Twain comments on Southern society.

Update Jan. 8

We discussed the challenging section of "The Ways We Lie" on lying by omission. Students also worked to identify rhetorical strategies in the article and to imitate the syntactical style of one paragraph from the essay.

We then read a bit from Huck Finn.

Homework: Rhetorical Notebook entry on "The Ways We Lie" due tomorrow.

AP
We continued to examine strategies for increasing cohesion in an essay. We focused on repetition, noting that repetition can be used at the beginning or end of a clause. Furthermore, repetition of key words is often used as a transition between sentences or even paragraphs. Overt repetition can be strategically employed, so long as the argument progresses with each repetition. (Remember the slinky analogy.)

Homework: Have your next draft of the essay ready for class on Friday. All the major pieces (i.e. paragraphs) should be in place so that we can work on fine tuning revisions.

Rhetorical Notebook Instructions

Purpose

You will be keeping a rhetorical notebook for the readings associated with our unit on American Faith and Fear. The purpose of the notebook is to help you pay attention to how other writer use the resources of language to enhance your own writing voice and style. With each author you analyze and imitate, you will add new writing “tools” to your own writing toolbox.

Content

For each assigned reading (except for readings from Huck Finn), you need to make an entry that includes the following sections:

1)      Vocabulary—Identify at least 2 vocabulary words that you need to learn. Look them up. Write their definitions and copy down the sentence in which they appear in the essay.

 

2)      Evaluation of the author’s ideas—What is the author saying? Which ideas do you agree with? Which ideas do you disagree with? Why?

3)      Observations about the author’s rhetorical strategies—What rhetorical strategies does the author use? Which strategies are most effective? Why?

4)      Imitation of the author’s style—imitate the author’s writing style in one paragraph giving your own unique thoughts on the topic of the author’s essay.

Rhetorical Notebook Standards

 Each entry is expected to meet the following standards.

1)      Use MLA format, typing all entries.

2)      Each of the sections should be at least one full paragraph in length (with the exception of vocabulary).

3)      Respond using grammatically correct complete sentences. Proofread before submitting.

4)      Demonstrate precise thinking about rhetorical strategies. If you are uncertain, don’t just guess. Discuss your ideas with classmates until you feel confident about your understanding of the author’s strategies.

Notebook entries which fail to meet one of these standards will automatically be dropped a letter grade.

Update Jan. 7

We continued reading and annotating Huck Finn as a class. We discussed Huck's lonesomeness as a symptom of his not being part of society. Thus his freedom is also his lonesomeness. We examined Tom Sawyer's band of "robbers" as a microcosm of Southern society at large.

Homework: Rhetorical Notebook entry for the article "The Ways We Lie" by Stephanie Ericsson is due on Thursday.

Update Jan. 6

Welcome Back and Happy New Year! I am excited to be back with you and look forward to learning together this new semester. We will be starting our new unit on American Faith and Fear.

Today we began reading together from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. We noted the following:

1) Why would Twain begin the novel with a notice to not try to find meaning in it? Perhaps this is like a no trespassing sign which invites the curious and mischievous to trespass. Certainly the likes of Tom Sawyer would have seen this as an invitation.

2) What theme(s) are introduced in the novel's opening paragraph? Everybody lies at one time or another, but few will acknowledge it; instead we "tell the truth, mainly" or we "stretch" the truth. The very act of writing fiction is telling a lie so that everyone will believe it is true, and perhaps sometimes the lie is more true than reality. We also noted that from the very first paragraph, Twain sets up a contrast between Huck and Tom.

3) For Huck, civilization is a form of bondage. He sees the hypocrisy in so-called civilized society.

4) Twain juxtaposes the Christianity of the Widow Douglas with Huck's superstition, inviting the readers to see the similarities. After all, there is little difference between Huck's tying up a bit of hair to ward off bad luck and the Widow's "grumbling" a blessing over her meal to ward off ill effects.

5) Why does Tom pay for the candles he "steals"? This seems to be in the same vein as his demand that for Huck to join his band of robbers, Huck must first go back to the widow and be "respectable." He is a thrill seeker, but only for fictional thrills.

No homework.

AP
We discussed strategies for achieving coherence in essay writing. We defined a paragraph as one or more sentences that coherently express an idea. Likewise a sentence is one or more words that coherently express an idea, and an essay in similar fashion.

Strategies for coherence include:

• Repetition
• Emphasis
• Transitions