Blog Project - Sharing and Discussion Day

Greetings!

Ok, it is time for us to share what we have been thinking and writing about - Part 3 of your assignment.

(Note that this will receive a separate grade from what you wrote for Parts 1 and 2)


To do that, I'll group you into clusters of 4.

• Billy - Jacob - Charlie T - Emma
• Jack B - Evan - Penelope - Elizabeth
• Alleman - Kellen - Andrew - Ashley
• David - Kevin - Charlie K - Rachel
• Jack D - Matt - Alyssa - Nate

Simply follow these steps:

1. Using the links to the blogs of your classmates at the top of the class blog, navigate to the blog of one of the people in your cluster.
2. Read their work for Parts 1 and 2. This includes the paragraphs about the articles they reviewed as well as their final paragraph.
3. At the bottom of their blog post, find the link to leave a comment.
4. Your response should say something about their work overall, but must include these elements:
1. What do you think about the articles they shared (part 1)? What did the comments of the writer lead you to think about?  Do you have a different opinion?
2. What do you think about their comments in Part 2, and what it all adds up to about America?  Do you agree with their choice of which article of their three was most important? Why / why not?
3. Did they make an effective argument? Did they use pathos / ethos / logos in a way that affected your thinking about the topic?
5. Repeat this for all members of your group.
6. Return to your blog and read the comments people left for you.  Write a response to these comments, including these points:
1. What did each one lead you to think about? Were they helpful? Did they present you with another perspective?
2. What new questions do you have?  What other issues do you see coming from your three articles?
7. When you are finished with all of this work, please complete this feedback form: Blog Unit Feedback.

**Reminder - you need to own The Tortilla Curtain for class on Monday. There is no other homework for the weekend.

Blog post - final project

This week we will complete our unit on blogging and issues important in America today.

Here is a link to the assignment itself.

Here is a link to the blog rubric I've been using to assess your work and will continue to use for this final project.

Here is the calendar and suggested outline for the week (we will meet in E108 all week):

• Monday - read and review assignment; make choices about articles; find additional article to read
• Tuesday - write reviews of articles (both in class and for homework)
• Thursday - write Part 2 - personal statement
• Friday
• Parts 1 and 2 are due at the start of class today. No exceptions.
• Part 3 in class: blog discussion / comments

How do you find your third article?

• First of all, it needs to be current - within the past few months
• Second, it can come from one of the magazines listed along the left-hand side of this blog we've used: Arts & Letters Daily
• Third, you can use one of the subscription databases from the library under "Newspapers and Magazines"

Pathos Ethos Logos - Day 2

We'll start today by reading this article: "The Caging of America: Why do we lock up so many people?"
(If you'd like a paper copy, let me know)

Together we will identify the different uses of pathos, ethos, and logos, as well as the ideas and issues in the article overall.

Then you will move to individual work - we'll start this today and whatever you do not complete is the homework for the weekend:

Go back to any one of the articles you've read for class since we started this unit.  Review the article (re-read it if necessary) and write another blog post about it.  This time you are identifying which of the different persuasive techniques the author uses (it might be all three).  To support your analysis you will use three quotations from the article.  Follow each one with a basic analysis: "in this sentence the author uses (pathos / ethos / logos) when s/he writes ..."  You will conclude your post with some thoughts about the effectiveness of the argument:

• Do you agree with the author's position?
• How did the author use pathos / ethos / logos to convince you?
• Was there something else in the article that made you agree / disagree with the author?
• What objections do you have about the argument / ideas in the article?  What questions do you have about it?

Persuasive Techniques - Pathos Ethos Logos

We'll start today with a short discussion about persuasive strategies writers use to support their ideas and influence readers. Please click on this link to read about Pathos, Ethos, and Logos.

Here is another resource (from Purdue University) with even more information.

To try these out, you will write a blog post trying to convince an audience by using these different techniques. For example, if you wanted to speak to a teacher about your grade,

• When you tell your teacher that you should receive an ‘A’ on the assignment because you do better work than anyone else, you are using logos.
• When you carefully practice the words that you will say when you ask the teacher for that ‘A’ on the assignment and you dress particularly well that day, you are using ethos.
• When you tell the teacher how difficult it is for you to get along with your parents when you do not get ‘A’s’ on assignments, then you are using pathos. 

Here's what you will do:

1. Choose a topic from this list
1. Convincing your parents / guardians to let you borrow the car for the weekend.
2. Convincing your friends about what to do on a Saturday night.
3. Convincing a person to hire you for a job.
4. Convincing a person to eat a more healthy diet.
5. Convincing a person to see a particular movie.
6. Convincing a person about a particular political position or view on a controversial issue.
7. (other - name your own!)
2. In your blog post, write four separate arguments. The first argument should use logos. The second argument should use ethos. The third argument should use pathos. The fourth argument, your best, should use logos, ethos, and pathos. Each argument should be about two-three sentences long. Remember to be as convincing as possible.
3. We will be visiting each other's blog to comment on their arguments. I'll explain how we will do that.

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Detecting Bias - Homework

For homework tonight you are going to the blog I assigned to you:

1 - Alleman - Ouija boards
2 - Ashley - Memory
3 - Rachel - Secrets
4 - Ying - ADHD Medication
5 - Jack B - "Dumb Starbucks"
6 - Emma - Instagram

Read the article they linked to and then write a post on your blog addressing these questions:

1. What is the bias / position of the author of the article? What argument are they making?
2. Cite two pieces of evidence to support your claim.

Be sure to include a link both to the article and back to the person's blog where you read it.

*Also, be sure you are caught up on all of your blog posts. Many of you are missing a few!

Detecting Bias in Essays

The essays we are reading in this unit are not objective news stories. The authors write them from a particular position (as an expert, a concerned citizen, for a political agenda, etc.) even though they might not be overtly trying to persuade their audience. Some of them come across as "just telling you about" a story or issue, but when you look closely, there is more than meets the eye.

Today we'll look at issues of bias and the ways in which authors construct their arguments.

First you'll take a short on-line quiz about detecting bias.  Go to socrative.com and enter room 856036.
Note that for the last question you will need to paste the link into your browser.

Here is a link to the New York Times article.  In a new post on your blog, please answer these questions:

• What is his position about the Olympics?
• Cite two pieces of evidence he uses to support his position.

After we go over the answers together, you will go to a blog I assign you to.  You will read the article they brought in for today. In a post back on your blog, you will write about the article (including a link to it) describing the presence of bias in it:

• What is (are) the issue(s) discussed here?
• What is the author's position?
• What is the author's relationship to the issue (are they an expert, someone affected by it, etc.)?
• Quote a specific passage from the article and explain how it reveals the bias of the author.

Go to this website from Purdue University to read about "Using Rhetorical Strategies for Persuasion."

Reading a Magazine Article #2 + Weekend Homework

Today you will once again read a magazine article.  Here are six I selected for you to choose from:

• "How to Save Marriage in America"
• "The Growing Problem of Suburban Poverty"
• "Our Numbered Days: The Evolution of the Area Code"
• "Black History Month Isn't Making Life Better For Black Americans"
• "Why the Republican Push for Black Voters is (Mostly) Doomed to Fail"
• "Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators"

Once again you will read the article then write a blog post as a response.  Your post needs to include these elements:

1. What is the main point / argument of the article?
2. Do you agree or disagree with its assertions? Why?
3. Which parts of it did you find most interesting / challenging / surprising? Why?
1. Include a quotation from the article as evidence
4. What questions are you left with as a result of reading this article?

You will need to have this posted on your blog by the start of class on Tuesday.

____________________________________________

Your homework for the weekend, which you can get started on during class if you have time, is to find an article for the rest of the class to (potentially) read next week.  How?

Start by going to this website: Arts & Letters Daily

In the left-hand side navigation column, click on "Magazines." This will take you to a list of many magazines, all linked directly to the Arts & Letters Daily Blog.  You may have heard of many of these magazines, or perhaps only a few. Spend some time browsing around through ones that look interesting.  Look through the articles available on the magazine website (note that in many cases only some of the content is available to the public - some is only for paid or registered subscribers).  Identify a few articles that look interesting, skim through then, and then choose one to read.

Write a new blog post including a link to the article and the rest of the information named above.

You will need to have this posted on your blog by the start of class on Tuesday.

Reading a Magazine Article

For today, please choose one of these articles.  All of them are from recent issues of their respective magazines:

• Cheap Words: Amazon is Good for Reading but Is It Good for Books?
• Bigger Than Phil: When Did Faith Start to Fade?
• A Valuable Reputation: After Tyrone Hayes Said That a Chemical Was Harmful, Its Maker Pursued Him
• A Botched Operation: Steven Brigham's abortion clinics keep being sanctioned for offering substandard care. Why is he still in business?
• Going the Distance: On and Off the Road with Barack Obama

When you are finished reading your article, you will write a blog post about it.  At the top of the screen, click on "new post" to get started.  Here's what you will need to include, and remember, what you are writing will be seen by others - you are publishing it to a blog, not simply turning in a class assignment.

1. Give your post a title that gives a sense of what the article was about and / or your opinion about it.
2. In the post itself, be sure to include a link back to the story.  How do you do this?
1. Copy the URL of the story.
2. Type the text into your blog - something like "here is a link to the story I read" - that you want to serve as the linked text.
3. Highlight that text, click "link" at the top of the post editor window, and paste the URL where it says "To what URL should this link go?"
3. The post needs to be a paragraph long response to the article, including these elements, but not necessarily in this order:
1. What is the main point / argument of the article?
2. Do you agree or disagree with its assertions?
3. Which parts of it did you find most interesting / challenging / surprising?
1. Include a quotation about this
4. What questions are you left with as a result of reading this article?

Please have this completed by the start of class tomorrow.

Let's Blog!

Let's Blog!!

Today you will all become part of what has become known as the blogosphere, a modern day adaptation of the public square. In a tradition that has its roots in early American society, the public comes together to explore the interesting and provocative ideas of the day. In 2014, that universe has expanded to allow anyone's ideas to be put into the marketplace for the world to see or hear. Today, you will set up your blog that will allow you to do just that.

What is a blog?

What does a blog look like?

· Time’s best blogs of 2013

· http://www.bestblogs.org/

· http://blogs.botw.org/

· http://blogsearch.google.com/

Let’s make a blog! (Note-first step will to be to sign in to Google).

· https://www.blogger.com/start

Some things to consider-

• Choosing a design
• Including gadgets
• Warnings before going too far
• Audience
• Privacy - no full names, personal information
• Expectations - tone, respect, acceptable topics

Blogging

• Writing posts
• Commenting on posts
• Incorporating images, video, links

Need help?

· http://www.google.com/support/blogger/

So, here are your ultimate tasks for today:

1.  Create a blog!
2.  Think of a catchy title. Make sure you add a description of what you want your blog to be or to express.
3.  E-mail Mr. Rigler with the name of your blog and its URL address. He will create a link to it on the class blog.
4. Write your first post. The first can be about virtually anything-current events, a good movie you’ve seen recently, the first day of school, etc. Spend some time with this. It will be the first time for your followers to get to know you and your ideas thus you want them to have a good sense of your voice.
5. Comment on someone else's post.