Homework for Wednesday, Dec. 12

Read and annotate Act 5 of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. Also, write your own definition of a sentence (I don't want you to look it up). Then, go through Henry IV, Part 1, and write your five favorite sentences from the play. Provide brief explanations of what you like about each sentence.

Homework for Monday, Dec. 10

Read and annotate from Act 3, Scene 3 to Act 4, scene 2 in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. Pay particular attention to the rebels' situation and their hopes for dethroning King Henry IV. How do they see themselves, and how do they see Henry IV, Hal, and their supporters? You do not have anything to write with this reading, so start or continue working on the speech explication that is due on December 18. If you've misplaced the handout, it is posted to the right.

If you did not watch Act 3, scene 2 (where Hal talks to his father), you can watch it in this video starting at the 53:48 mark.

Homework for Thursday, Dec. 6

Read and annotate Act 3, scenes 1-2 of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. Answer one of the questions below in a good paragraph. Be sure to use quotes from the text to support your insights.

1. Act 3, scene 1 may seem strange in its introduction of characters and the arguments and interactions that ensue among them. Consider Hotspur and Glendower's interactions. Identify their rhetorical situations, and explain how each of them achieves their rhetorical purposes.

2. In Act 3, scene 1, Worcester rebukes his nephew (lines 179-191). What is the purpose of this rebuke, and how does Worcester accomplish it rhetorically?

3. In Act 3, scene 2, what is the point of King Henry IV's question (lines 11-17), and what is he trying to accomplish rhetorically in his response to Hal (lines 29-91)?

Homework for Tuesday, Dec. 4

Click here for the video we didn't get to watch in class. Act 1 takes up the first twenty minutes. Warning: it's noisy, and they cut a lot of lines.

Here's your assignment for the weekend: Read and annotate Act 2 of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. Answer one of the questions below in a well-developed paragraph:

1. A major aim of Act 2, scene 2 is to make the audience laugh as much as possible. Nevertheless, is Falstaff  serious in parts of this scene? Write a rhetorical analysis of Falstaff's language that explains whether he is jesting throughout the scene, or if he turns serious at key moments.
2. Do Hotspur and Lady Percy really love each other? Write a rhetorical analysis of Hotspur and Lady Percy's conversations in scene 3, and explain why they speak to each other as they do. You should consider the context of the conversation as well as each character's purpose and persona in developing your response.
3. In Act 2, scene 4, Hal and Falstaff take roles as Henry IV and Hal in preparation for Hal's impending visit with his father. With an emphasis on their language, explain how Hal and Falstaff convey the king's seriousness.

Homework for Friday, Nov. 30

Read and annotate Act 1, scene 3 of Henry IV, Part 1. Your goal in this reading is just to understand what is happening. For that reason, you have no writing due this Friday. The plot developments are complicated, so we need to make sure we understand what is happening before unpacking the characters' rhetorical situations and their rhetoric. If you still have no idea what is happening when you finish reading scene 3, don't hesitate to consult this web site. Also, make sure you bring with you the assignment that was due on Wednesday that I did not collect. We will continue our discussion of Hal's soliloquy.

Homework for Wednesday, Nov. 28

Read and annotate Act 1, scene 2 of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1. Then, complete the following for Hal's soliloquy at the end of this scene: Write one or two paragraphs that identify Hal's rhetorical situation, and then explain how that rhetorical situation influences what he says in the soliloquy and how he says it.

Homework for Thursday, November 15

In William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, read and annotate the following introductory materials:
Introduction, pp. vii-xix
Key Facts, pp. xxvii-xxviii
List of Parts, p. 3

Be prepared to answer the following questions in class:
1. Which play does the story of Henry IV, Part 1, follow? (0-1 sentence)
2. Summarize the events that lead up to Henry IV, Part 1. (4-6 sentences)
3. Identify the following characters and their distinctive traits (2-4 sentences for each):

• 3a. Prince Henry/Harry/Hal 
• 3b. Falstaff 
• 3c. King Henry IV 
• 3d. Percy/Hotspur 

4. How does the play begin? (4-6 sentences)
5. What does Machiavelli have to do with Henry IV, Part 1? (2 sentences)
6. Who are the most prominent characters?
7. Which sources did Shakespeare (probably) rely on to write Henry IV, Part 1?, and what liberties did he take with the historical facts? (2-4 sentences)
8. Keeping in mind that a character list can be arranged in various ways (e.g., the prominence of the roles or the order of appearance), by what principle is the List of Parts arranged? (0-1 sentence)

(All right, it's actually a little more than ten questions. My bad.)

Revised Upcoming Assignments through November 13

For Tuesday, Oct. 30: View the following speeches and answer the questions below about them:

Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address (In class, I mistakenly called it the "Morning in America" speech; I was thinking "city on a hill." "Morning in America" refers to an ad from the 1984 presidential campaign.)

Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address

If you wish, you may also read Reagan's speech here (scroll down) and Obama's speech here (scroll down).

Answer these questions about the above speeches. Write a paragraph for each answer.
1. Describe Reagan's persona in this speech, and identify at least two key moments where something in the text of the speech or his delivery of the speech make this persona apparent to you.
2. Obama makes effective use of all the tactics we've discussed for delivering a speech (e.g., persona, posture, eye contact, projection, enunciation, pitch variety, pauses, body language, and suiting the delivery to the words). Select three of these and explain how Obama uses them to reinforce the words of the speech.

For Thursday, Nov. 1: The threat of Hurricane Sandy pushed October 30's assignment to today.

For Tuesday, Nov. 6: Complete your speech in response to one of these prompts, which are also posted to the right.

For Thursday, Nov. 8: Read the New Yorker article on TED Talks handed out in class. Sorry, but it's not fully available on line. (You may also read this live chat  with the article's author, Nathan Heller. Give the chat transcript a minute or so to load.) Also, view two of the TED Talks posted here. Viewing these will take about thirty to forty minutes of your time.

For Tuesday, Nov. 13: You will write an in-class essay about your independent reading book. Introduce William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.

Homework for Monday, Oct. 22, Wednesday, Oct. 24, and Friday, Oct. 26

For Monday, a slight change; you will not have to read Frederick Douglass's "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July"; it's just too long. We'll come back to it.  First, identify three to five successful qualities of King's delivery of his "I Have a Dream" speech. If you want to view it again, click here. Second, read King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and write a good paragraph analyzing one of his rhetorical strategies or his use of one rhetorical device. If you don't have the handout from class, you may have a difficult time finding a version on line. The King family has aggressively pursued copyright violations of King's writings, so it has become very difficult to find his writing online. The best source is the King Papers Project at Stanford University, but their site was not working when I tried to access it. Third, view Steve Jobs's 2005 commencement address at Stanford University (available here), and then read the text of the speech (available here). Fourth, write a good paragraph that evaluates Jobs's delivery of his speech. You may write about his delivery of the speech, the rhetorical success (or shortcomings) of the speech, or both.

On Wednesday, you will read to the class The Gettysburg Address, an excerpt from Kennedy's Inaugural Address, or an excerpt from King's "I Have a Dream" speech. If you choose to do an excerpt, it should be about the length of The Gettysburg Address, and definitely not longer than 300 words.

On Friday, you will read your adaptation of The Gettysburg Address.

Homework for Tuesday, October 16. and Thursday, October 18

As we discussed and began in class, write your Gettysburg Address. You do not have to include all of Lincoln's rhetorical devices by today, but at least have a statement that is about as long as the Gettysburg Address. We'll continue to work on adding the rhetorical devices in class. The complete version, with all of Lincoln's rhetorical devices, is due Thursday, October 18. You will read them in class on Wednesday, October 24.

Homework for Wednesday, October 10, and Friday, October 12

For Wednesday, complete at least one page of the narrative essay that is due on Friday, October 12. Click here for the essay topics; they are also posted to the right under "Syllabus and Assignments."

Homework for Wednesday, Oct. 3

If you so desire, turn in your revision of the summer assignment.

Homework for Monday, October 1

Read and annotate James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" (handout) and answer TWO of the following questions. While reading the essay, be mindful of Baldwin's audience(s) and purpose(s).

1. Identify at least three stories Baldwin tells about himself. What does each demonstrate? What is the unity among them?
2. Baldwin uses several writing techniques in the essay. Find examples of a concrete description of a person or a place; action; reflection; and strong argumentative assertions. How do these techniques advance his specific purposes?
3. Why does Baldwin divide the essay into three sections? What is the purpose of each?

Homework for Monday, Sept. 24, and Thursday, Sept. 27

For Monday, read and annotate the following essays, and then write a one-page DIDLS analysis for one (only one) of them:

Heidi Julavits, "The Writer in the Silos," pp. 159-162
Vijay Seshadri, "My First Fairy Tale," pp. 163-168
Patrick Madden, "A Sudden Pull on the Heart," pp. 169-172
Stanley Jenkins, "George," pp. 314-321
William deBuys, "Errands in the Forest," pp. 322-326

For Thursday, read and annotate George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant" and James Baldwin, "Notes of a Native Son" which will be handed out on Monday. No writing. Bring Gornick's The Situation and the Story to class.

Interesting piece on what Romney could have learned from G. W. Bush

Given our discussion this morning about the presidential campaign and Romney's struggles as a candidate, I think you will be interested in this blog post by a New York Times coumnist. He points out that because of his presidential failures, we forget about George W. Bush's successes as a candidate, especially in 2000, but also in 2004. The columnist is interested in what a center-right coalition would look like, and he thinks Romney and the Republican party missed an opportunity to develop one. As he puts it, Bush's "failures and [their] backlash did not change the basic realities of national coalition-building." The blog post makes for fascinating reading in light of the recently released video recording of Romney dismissing 47% of the population (and, in his reasoning, the electorate). What might this campaign look like if Romney had run to the middle instead of the right? 

For Tuesday, Sept. 18, and Thursday, Sept. 20

While reading the essays for Tuesday, be especially mindful of how they were arranged by their authors. When you read a narrative essay, you might expect the author to arrange it chronologically. A chronological structure can be restrictive, confining authors to the straightforward time sequence of events.  Chronological structures might also present a false sense of unity, making events that were disjointed appear to be cohesive. Because of these limitations, authors will play around with the structure of the narrative essay for a variety of reasons, including drawing attention to important events or realizations, grouping certain experiences together, or giving a sense of how they came to make sense of the experience they're writing about.  Paying attention to the structure of a piece usually provides important insights on the author's purpose for writing the essay as the structure reinforces the thing the author has come to say.

For Tuesday, read and annotate the following essays in Gutkind, Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 2. While reading pay close attention to the authors' rhetorical strategies. Then, respond to one of the prompts below.
Potts, "The Art of Writing a Story about Walking across Andorra" (pp. 41-53)
Bernard, "Figurines" (pp.146-158)
Richards, "It Was Nothing" (pp. 305-309)

In one or two typed pages (double-spaced), respond to one of the following prompts:
1. How does the structure or organization of each essay reinforce the thing the author has come to say?
2. Write an essay about an incident that happened to you or a relationship you've developed with someone  using a structure suitable for either the subject of the story or the point you want to make.

For Thursday, read and annotate the following essays in  Gutkind, Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 2. While reading pay close attention to the authors' rhetorical strategies. Then respond to one of the prompts below.
Renner, "The Suicide Murder of Joe Kupchick" (pp. 173-188)
Sewell Matter, "Pursuing the Great Bad Novelist" (pp. 54-73)
Optional: Matherly, "Final: Comprehensive, Roughly" (pp. 6-20)

In one or two typed pages (double-spaced), respond to one of the following prompts:
1. These essays have subjects that are usually written by news reporters and journalists (or, in Matherly's case, teachers and professors). Explain the strategies the authors use that distinguish these pieces from straightforward reporting and transform them to creative nonfiction.
2. Take a topic or subject that you would ordinarily write about in a straightforward manner and turn it into a creative piece employing the strategies practiced by Renner and Sewell (and, optionally, Matherly). You may base this piece on an assignment you've completed for another class, e.g., a lab report or translation exercise.

For Tuesday, 9/11, and Thursday, 9/13

For Tuesday, as mentioned in the summer reading assignment, prepare for the in-class essay on your third summer reading book. You will be able to use your notes from Friday's class to help you, but you may use neither an outline nor your book. You will have forty-five minutes to write the essay. This will be the question: What rhetorical strategies does your author use to get the reader on his or her side? To frame your thesis, you may also consider whether the author is successful in getting the reader on his or her side. 

For Thursday, read and annotate the following essays in Gutkind, Best Creative Nonfiction. While reading, pay close attention to the writers' rhetorical strategies. Then, respond to one of the prompts below.

Anne Trumbore, "Spite" (pp. 1-5)

Sarah Miller-Davenport, "Here I Am in Bergdorf-Goodman" (pp. 21-24)

Gwendolyn Knapp, "Instead of the Rat Pack" (pp. 25-40)

In one-to-two pages, respond to one of the following prompts: 

1. Discuss the extent to which each of these authors meets Gornick's criteria for writing a memoir. You may focus on any or all of the following: detachment, trustworthiness, central insight, and depth of inquiry that appeals to a disinterested reader. A paragraph on each writer is sufficient. Be sure to include evidence to support your response. 

2. Write an essay in which you explore the significance of some part of your upbringing in shaping who you are today. It does not have to be shameful, or even unflattering, as it was in the essays you just read, but it must be very specific, and you should be clear about how you feel about it. 

Welcome to AP Lang, 2012-2013!

Welcome to AP Lang! Although school has only recently ended, I am excited for the start of the new school year and the beginning of your journey in studying rhetoric. Your summer reading and writing assignment is posted to the right, under Syllabus and Assignments. Here is a schedule of due dates for your assignments:

New York Times Summer Reading Contest: 3 entries by August 17 (Part 1).

Essay on a memoir due Wednesday, September 5 (Part 2).

Annotated book(s) due Wednesday, September 5 (Part 3).

Quiz on The Situation and the Story on Thursday, Sept. 6, or Friday, Sept. 7 (Part 2).

In-class essay on your book from Part 3 on Monday, Sept. 10, or Tuesday, Sept. 11. 

Homework for Friday, May 18

Look over the essay topics for the Common Application, and prepare two questions about the college application essay for Mr. Cardamone, who will visit Friday's class to talk about the college essay and its role in the admission process. Start thinking about which one you might want to write about. Also, read and annotate to p. 186 in Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Homework for Monday, May 14

Read to p. 141 in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Practice for Wednesday's exam in your yellow-and-black exam book.

Homework for Tuesday, May 8

Begin reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It would be great if you could get to page 34. Pay attention to Oskar's narration and how his language reflects or expresses his persona.

You may want to practice in your black and yellow exam prep book.

On Tuesday, we will first review your recent in-class essays, and then we'll discuss the rhetoric of Foer's novel.

Homework for Monday, April 30, and other dates

Write a draft for a short piece that responds to one of the following prompts:

1. Look at the last paragraph of Didion's "On Morality" (it's a long paragraph) and write a (long) paragraph about morality in the post-9/11 world. Like Didion, start your paragraph with a sentence that begins,"You see I want to be quite obstinate about insisting that we..."

2. As Ericsson categorizes and defines lies in "The Ways We Lie," categorize and define at least three kinds of facts.These facts and their definitions must have some bearing on 9/11. Your examples don't have to come directly from something related to 9/11, but you should make connections between your examples and 9/11. You may open and close your piece with two or three sentences that provide a context for understanding the nature of facts after 9/11.

If you have any uncertainties about either topic, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

The final version of this piece will be due on Wednesday, May 2.

In class on Monday, April 30 (day 1; last block) you will write a synthesis essay on 9/11. There is nothing you can do to prepare for it except to put yourself in the right frame of mind for writing it. You will have fifteen minutes to read the sources and forty minutes to write the essay. During the reading period, you may take notes and organize the essay, but you may not begin writing the essay. After the essay, we will discuss the argumentative essay on Thomas Paine and America.

On Wednesday, May 2 (day 3; second block), you will write both a rhetorical analysis essay and an argumentative essay. Be sure to arrive early for class so you have the benefit of the full eighty minutes.

On Friday, May 4 (day 5, first block), you will complete another hour-long set of multiple-choice questions.

Additional Resources for 9/11 and Loose Change

If you're trying to sort through the various issues raised by reading The 9/11 Commission Report and viewing Loose Change, the resources below may be of some help to you.

New York Times Interactive Feature: Inside the Towers
New York Times Interactive Feature: How the Towers Stood and Fell (heavy on engineering and design)
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Final Report on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Towers 
Screw Loose Change (a blog whose title describes its raison d'etre)

Homework for Tuesday, April 24

In "On Dumpster Diving," Lars Eighner takes a term that has certain connotations and explains what it really is. In light of your reading of The 9/11 Commission Report and viewing of Loose Change, write a short essay (two to three pages) that explains what terrorism is. Like Eighner, try to use a variety of strategies (personal, ethical, analytical, and so on) to make your point. The final version of this essay will be due Thursday, April 26.

In class on Tuesday, you will finish viewing Loose Change and we will review your first drafts of the Eighner-like essay.

Homework for April 18 and April 20

For April 18, begin working on a two-page Swiftian response to 9/11. After completing The 9/11 Commission Report, you may feel some outrage and dismay. Consider Swift's approach to expressing outrage and dismay about poverty in Ireland, and write a satirical piece about a solution to the anxieties generated by 9/11. Keep in mind how Swift remains serious despite the extremity of his proposal, and only injects his actual view on the topic toward the end of "A Modest Proposal." A rough (but typed) paragraph or page is sufficient.

For April 20, complete the Swiftian essay described above.

During Wednesday's class, you will write an essay asking you to analyze a passage; after writing the essay, we will discuss The 9/11 Commission Report and your Swiftian response to it.

During Friday's class, you will write an essay asking you to formulate an argument; after writing the essay, we will begin viewing a documentary about 9/11.

In-Class Work on Monday, April 2

Since many of you don't have much information about 9/11, I thought it would be a good idea for you to acquire more background on that day and it's aftermath prior to reading the narrative presented in The 9/11 Commission Report. The Report was published in 2004, almost three years after the attacks, so its early readers experienced the report with the events fresh in their minds. While you cannot recreate that state of mind, I thought it might be helpful to read accounts of those days and months of the early post-9/11 world.

First, spend five-to-ten minutes writing down your memories of September 11, 2001. I want you to do this so you don't confuse your memories with the words and images you are about to read and view. Next, go through as much of the material below as you can in forty-five minutes to an hour.  Then spend ten-to-twenty minutes putting together a response that tries to make sense of that time, a little more than ten years ago. Whatever you don't finish writing in class, you can finish before starting the homework for Wednesday, which is described in the post below.

Don DeLillo: The Terror of September 11
The Onion Responds to 9/11
9/11 and Language
The 9/11 Decade--Oral History
9/11's "Most Controversial" Photo
10 Events "More Important" than 9/11
9/11 Found Objects
Where Was I: An Interactive Map of 9/11
James Nachtwey's 9/11 Photographs
The 9/11 Decade--Artists Respond

Homework for Monday, April 2, and Wednesday April 4

For Monday, April 2, read and annotate pp. 1-26 in your abridged edition of The 9/11 Commission Report. Keep in mind that the footnotes for this section are on p. 26. Also, remember to use the Cast of Characters (pp. 27-31) and the Glossary of Acronyms (pp. 32-33) to identify any persons or agencies that are unfamiliar to you.

For Wednesday, April 4, read and annotate pp. 35-65 of The 9/11 Commission Report. Keeping in mind the strategies used by E. B. White in "Once More to the Lake," write at least one page (but not more than two) that describes the events of that day using both your memories and the details you have learned so far from the Report and the links above.

Over the April break, you should finish reading The 9/11 Commission Report. If you don't, you will have to both read it and write several assignments about it at the same time.

Click here for the unabridged 9/11 Commission Report. This link is also posted to the right under Syllabus and Assignments.

Homework for March 29

In 50 Essays, Read and annotate Stephanie Ericsson's "The Ways We Lie," and write one page in response to question 4 at the end of the essay.

No homework this weekend

New quarter, no homework. Enjoy the weekend.

Homework for March 19-23

March 19: In 50 Essays, read and annotate Henry David Thoreau's "Where I Have Lived, and What I Have Lived For." Respond to questions 2 and 4 at the end of the essay; write a paragraph for each. In responding to question 4, write it as though you want it published--use humor, indignation, sarcasm, provide telling details, refer to personal experience, and the like.

March 21: In 50 Essays, read and annotate Joan Didion, "On Morality." Respond to questions 2 and 4 at the end of the essay; write a paragraph for each. Be careful with question 4--when a question is posed in a straightforward, even uninteresting, way, the challenge is to find interesting ways to respond to the question. Since question 4 asks for an argumentative response, try to make it an interesting argumentative response.

March 23: In 50 Essays, read and annotate E. B. White, "Once More to the Lake." Respond to questions 2 and 4 at the end of the essay; write a paragraph for each. For question 2, select three, not five, descriptive moments.

Homework for Thursday, March 15

In 50 Essays, read and annotate Lars Eighner, "On Dumpster Diving." Respond to the following prompt in two well-written paragraphs:  Describe Eighner's attitude toward his subject, and explain its rhetorical effect. You may focus on specific sections of the essay (e.g., paragraphs 25-27 and 64-65), and you should consider Eighner's tone, selection of detail, irony, and so on.      

Homework for Tuesday, March 13

In 50 Essays, read and annotate Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," and type your responses to the four questions that follow the essay. I strongly recommend that you read the essay twice, pay close attention to what you don't follow in it, and identify the point at which you realize what the essay is really about.

Homework for Monday, March 5, and Wednesday, March 7

For Monday, March 5: In 50 Essays, read and annotate Thomas Jefferson, "The Declaration of Independence," and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." Respond to the following prompt: Write the introductory paragraph for an essay (strictly hypothetical; you won't write this essay) that accounts for the rhetorical effect of Stanton's revisions to the Jefferson's "Declaration." You may limit your observations to the first two paragraphs of each document.

For Wednesday, March 7: Write 2-3 pages in response to the following prompt:

Given your commitment to being well-educated and working hard, what do you think is fair for you to expect from American society in the future, once you've completed your education and are either established, or trying to be established, in your career or vocation? You can approach this essay as either an argument that draws on points made by John Lanchester's I.O.U. and Judith Shklar's American Citizenship, or an analysis of those books' central points. Regardless of the method you choose, you must make use of both Lanchester's and Shklar's books.

Homework for Thursday, March 1

Write one page in response to one of the following prompts:

At the end of the chapter on earning, Shklar claims that the right to work should be on par with any other right that contributes to one's standing as a citizen. Should we have a right to work in the same way that we have a right to vote

Also, click here for the civics questions on the U.S. citizenship naturalization test.

Lastly, you don't have to write anything about this, but consider the following passage from Shklar's chapter on earning:

The defender of the helpless poor wants to protect them against an army of predatory aristocrats who are denying them their rights and sustenance. The poor are social victims who are being denied racial equality, opportunities for decent work and education, and access to normal public goods. If more were done for them, they too would become upstanding laborers. The opposing party of individual effort, like Frederick Douglass, hopes that government will do nothing more than ensure fair play for all. Anyone who truly wants to work, they argue, can find employment, and with it will come standing and self-respect. Both parties deeply believe in self-discipline, in independence, in work as the primary source of all value and all dignity, and in the ideal of a society of self-supporting democratic citizens. Each one sees the other as a threat to democracy and to the values of work and independence which they so profoundly share. (pp. 96-97) 

After we discuss Shklar's chapter on earning, we will use this passage as our point of departure for discussing American political ideologies.

Finish Judith Shklar's American Citizenship...

...over the break. As you read, keep track of her argument, but try not to get lost in the details. As I said in class, this book, as a scholarly book, is all logos, which makes it dry. She will not make emotional appeals(well, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but we'll talk about that after the break), and the book's ethical aspects are framed in analytic terms. Be sure to read the footnotes and make note of the different purposes the footnotes serve.

Homework for Friday, Feb. 17

Read and annotate the introduction to Judith Shklar's American Citizenship. If you missed class, stop by to pick up the book. If I'm not in my room, take one from the top of the filing cabinet behind my desk.

Homework for Wednesday, Feb. 15

Read and annotate Lanchester, I.O.U., pp. 213-250. Please bring the AP-exam style questions you prepared for Monday class; when I looked at my notes and saw "review questions," I thought that referred to the questions I asked you to come up with about ch. 5, not the AP-exam questions. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what. Sorry about the mixup.

Homework for Monday, Feb. 13

Read and annotate Lanchester, I.O.U., pp. 169-212. You do not have a writing component with this assignment. Also, finish developing the three AP-exam style questions that you started in class on Thursday. If you missed class, the handout with questions about I.O.U. distributed in class is posted to the right, under "Syllabus and Assignments."

Homework for Tuesday, Feb. 7

Read and annotate Lanchester's I.O.U., pp. 81-132, and respond to the following prompts:

1. Write a summary of chapter 3, "Boom and Bust" (a paragraph).
2. Paraphrase a passage from chapter 4, "Enter the Geniuses" (not more than about half a page of I.O.U.).
3. At the end of chapter 4, how does Lanchester want the reader to feel? Why? How does he try to elicit that emotion from the reader? (A few sentences will suffice.)


Writing a paraphrase: 1. A paraphrase conveys all ideas in the original source. 2. Use a paraphrase when quoting an original source may not be useful to your audience because its language or subject matter is too difficult or specific. 3. Write the paraphrase in your own words, making it clearer than the original for your audience--in essence, translate it into ordinary language. 4. A paraphrase is about the same length as the original passage it is based on. (When actually incorporating a paraphrase in a larger writing piece, you must signal that you are paraphrasing a writer with an appropriate introductory phrase such as, "To paraphrase Lanchester, ...")

Writing a summary: 1. A summary conveys the gist of the original source. 2. A summary restates only the most relevant idea or ideas from the source. 3. A summary will be briefer than the original. (When actually incorporating a summary in a larger writing piece, you msut signal that you are summarizing a writer with an appropriate introductory phrase such as, "To summarize Lanchester's argument, ...")
Source: Floyd Watkins, et al. Practical English Handbook, 11th Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), pp. 365-366.

Homework for Friday, Feb. 3

Read and annotate Lanchester's I.O.U., pp. 45-80; you do not have a writing assignment with this reading, but pay attention to how Lanchester continues to build his "story."

Homework for Wednesday, Feb. 1

Read and annotate John Lanchester's I.O.U., pp. 1-43.  Write one page analyzing how Lanchester uses figurative language, narration, and appeals to the reader's ethos, logos, and pathos, to explain global finance. You may also write about other rhetorical strategies you notice in Lanchester's writing.

Homework for Monday, Jan. 30

Read the articles linked below, and write one typed page analyzing the rhetorical strategies of the Richard Florida essay in relation to the point he is trying to persuade the reader of. The sheet I distributed in class on how to write a rhetorical analysis is linked below and to the right under "Smart Sites."  Be sure to print out both articles for use in class. The first is short, the second is long.

Dante Chinni, "Income Inequality Gap Widens among U.S. Communities over 30 Years"
Richard Florida, "How the Crash Will Reshape America"

Homework for Thursday, Jan. 26

Read the article linked below and write one page analyzing the rhetorical strategies the authors use to persuade the reader of their point. Be sure to identify that point before discussing those strategies.

Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher, "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work"

Homework for Friday, Jan. 20

Read and annotate the journal articles distributed in class today. Write a summary for each of these articles. Begin your summaries with the following structure for the opening sentence: "In his 2007 article, 'insert title of the article,' insert author's name argues ..." You can also find them in JSTOR with the following information using the password I gave you in class:
Thomas E. Boyle, "Unreliable Narration in 'The Great Gatsby'"
Dan Coleman: "'A World Complete in Itself': Gatsby's Elegiac Narration"

For Tuesday, you will have to write a three-page essay about the rhetoric of Gatsby that incorporates or responds to these articles.

Homework for Friday, Jan. 13

Finish reading Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Write a one-page response to the following prompt: It is clear that Nick views Gatsby favorably; he is on Gatsby's side and sees himself as Gatsby's advocate. What does Fitzgerald think of Gatsby, and of Nick? Use specific evidence from the text to support your analysis.

Homework for Wednesday, Jan. 11

Read and annotate pp. 80-145 of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Pay attention to how characters' personae change over the course of this section and how that might affect the way they address rhetorical situations. You do not have a writing assignment, but you will have a quiz. The quiz will test your memory and comprehension of the reading (who did what and why did they do it) and your ability to rhetorically analyze a passage from it.

Homework for Monday, Jan. 9

Read and annotate chapters III and IV of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (to p. 80) and answer one of the following questions:

1. Look at the conversation between Gatsby and Nick on pp. 65-67, and explain Gatsby's rhetoric of self-description, and Nick's reaction to it. How does Gatsby construct his narrative about himself (e.g., what kinds of details does he include, how does he arrange those details, what does he emphasize about himself, etc.)?  What does Nick respond to in Gatsby's details, language, and manner of expressing himself?

2. You are F. Scott Fitzgerald. Chapter IV includes two stories that involve Gatsby, one related by Gatsby, and one by Jordan Baker. Explain how you approached writing Gatsby's story about himself (pp. 65-67) and Jordan Baker's story about him (pp. 74-77). You may want to reflect on the purpose of each story within the narrative, characterization, dialogue, flashback, internal narration, detail, punctuation, Nick's involvement in each story, and so on.

Homework for Thursday, Jan. 5

Read and annotate chapters I and II (to p. 38) of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Give special attention to Fitzgerald's sentences (identify favorite ones in your book), and take time to read aloud parts of the novel. Write one typed page in response to the following prompt: In class, I spent a bit of time praising Fitzgerald as a stylist. From your reading so far, is that praise warranted? Focus on the rhetorical aspects of Fitzgerald's writing, i.e., the way his writing produces (or fails to produce) certain effects on the reader, and be sure to quote the text directly.