Rhetorical Analysis Essay--

Today we will:
1. Go over student rubric----please save for future reference!!!
2. Look at a student sample from the AP exam (different topic of course) --save for reference!!
3. Review our rhetorical analysis assignment--Thoreau's Walden
4. Go over your own rhetorical analysis essay and make any necessary corrections--it may be helpful to ask a peer to go over it for you if you did not get any edits from me.
5. Turn in your final draft either today or tomorrow for an essay grade

***THERE WILL BE NO NEW ASSIGNMENTS GIVEN TOMORROW!******

ENJOY YOUR BREAK OR FEEL FREE TO READ AHEAD IN THE BOOK--REMEMBER TO KEEP WRITING QUOTES IN YOUR DOUBLE-ENTRY JOURNAL!!!!

class work

Into the Wild

Close Read and Characterization

Character Description – Christopher McCandless (Please cite your text using MLA citation)	What does this reveal about his character?

Character Sketch

Presentation

What pieces of textual evidence gave you the best insight into McCandless and his character? 

1.

2.

3.

Overall, give three adjectives to describe McCandless based on your textual evidence.

1.

2.

3.

Chris McCandless assignment---remember to meet in 184 tomorrow for AP classroom/rhetorical analysis review Thursday

video link
Read Ch. 7: pages 61-69
complete characterization assignment

Check the side board for this week's agenda please!

Today we will:
1. Take our your dialectical journals for Into the Wild. (At this point you should have read Ch. 4 and 5 up until page 46)
2. Watch a movie clip

Work on the study guide questions for Ch. 4-5:
Chapters 4 and 5; pages 25-46 3. Chapter 4 ends with the following quote from McCandless’ journal: “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found” (37). Identify an experience from this chapter and explain what “meaning” you think Alex has found. Use a quote to support your explanation. 4. What does “Plastic People” in chapter five mean? What are two things McCandless considered plastic? Do you agree with his assessment? Support your answer with a quote.

For homework: Read Ch. 6 "Anza-Borrego" (pages 47-60)

Conclusion questions/Begin to look at the Rhetorical Analysis Essay packet

IF YOU DID NOT FINISH THE PRECIS YESTERDAY--PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU FINISH IT ASAP!!!

• Why does Thoreau leave the woods?  Is this a valid reason?  Remember back to “Where I Lived, What I Lived For”—why did Thoreau go to the woods?  According to “Conclusion,” did he achieve his purpose?

• What does it mean to “hear a different drummer”?

• What similarities between poverty and wealth does Thoreau find?  What benefits of poverty does Thoreau see? 

• If the “sun is but a morning star,” what do you think Thoreau’s opinion about mankind is?  Are we just in our infancy as well?  Who or what is our best teacher?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the second part of class we will start going over the rhetorical analysis essay---what does the writer do with his/her writing and why?

We will be writing our first rhetorical analysis essay in class over the next few days---PLEASE SAVE ALL OF THESE SHEETS IN YOUR BINDER FOR FUTURE REFERENCE!!!

Walden...again

Today we will--
1. Finish our questions on Walden from yesterday (#1-8). Remember you were supposed to read and annotate the remainder of the text (not including the Conclusion, that was optional)
2. When you are finished, work on writing your rhetorical precis using the attached white sheets as a guide--IT NEEDS TO BE WRITTEN ON LINED PAPER--NOT ONLY FILLED OUT ON THE WORKSHEET TO BE CONSIDERED COMPLETE.---it shouldn't be done hastily--take your time!

TURN IN BOTH THE WALDEN QUESTIONS AND THE PRECIS BEFORE YOU LEAVE.

Walden assignment continued

1. Continue reading selections from Walden
---"Solitude" we will read together and annotate/summarize
---"The Pond in Winter" and "Spring" you will annotate on your own annotate/summarize
2. Answer the questions below on a separate sheet of paper

Questions section 1: "Where I lived and what I lived for"
1. Why does Thoreau find it necessary to tell his audience "he wished to live deliberately" in the woods? (par 3)
2. Explain Thoreau's use of the word "simplicity" in par. 4. What is he referring to and how does he believe it benefits a person.
3. In par. 5 Thoreau talks about the idea of "work". What is Thoreau's opinion on it? How do you know?
4. Explain the quote from par. 8 "Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in." What literary device is this and what is he trying to say?

Questions section 2: "Solitude"
5. In your opinion, why does Thoreau refer to the evening as "delicious"?
6. Who are "Nature's watchmen" and why are they referred to in this way?

Questions section 3: "The Pond in the Winter"
7. Explain how Thoreau uses imagery in this section and what effect it has on the reader.

Questions section 4: "Spring"
8. Compare and contrast "winter" to "spring" (the previous paragraph to this one).

For homework: Complete reading and annotating the conclusion

Worksheet excerpts Walden

Link to the excerpts: Click here

Section 1: "Where I lived and What I Lived For"
First: we will read and annotate: I will model section 1 on the board
Second: We will work to finish reading section 1 INDEPENDENTLY
Third: We will work in a group to summarize 1 section of the text---write it on the board--we can all use your notes to add onto our text
Fourth: We will work either by ourselves or in groups to answer the questions below

Questions section 1: Walden
1. Why does Thoreau find it necessary to tell his audience "he wished to live deliberately" in the woods? (par 3)
2. Explain Thoreau's use of the word "simplicity" in par. 4. What is he referring to and how does he believe it benefits a person.
3. In par. 5 Thoreau talks about the idea of "work". What is Thoreau's opinion on it? How do you know?
4. Explain the quote from par. 8 "Time is but the stream I go a-fishin in." What literary device is this and what is he trying to say?

Henry David Thoreau "Walden"

In Ch. 4, we learn more about Chris McCandless and his intentions for his life. The book tells us, that he was influenced, as are many, by Henry David Thoreau. Who is this? What did he do?

For homework tonight: Read Ch. 4

Thoreau/Walden video introduction

Ch. 2: The Stampede Trail

First, take 5-10 minutes and read Ch. 2 "The Stampede Trail" to yourself (pages 9-14)
Second, take an additional 5-10 minutes and add on at least 3-4 entries to your dialectical journal (that we started yesterday)
Third, choose a partner (or 2--DO NOT work alone) and compare your notes --tell them which quotes you chose and explain why. Copy any from each other that you missed and would like to write down.
(about 10 min. total)
Fourth, choose a member of your group to come to the board and add on YOUR BEST QUOTE/EXPLANATION to share with the class. An additional group member will be chosen to read/explain it to the class aloud.

For homework: Read Ch. 3 "Carthage" (pages 15-23) and add on an additional 3-4 entries in your journal

Today's homework: Complete the work for the first prompts (chapters 1-3)-

 Part 1 – Into the Wild
 Chapters 1-3; pages 3-23
1. After reading chapter 1, use two adjectives to describe your impressions of Chris McCandless (Alex). Explain and support each adjective with a specific quote from the chapter. 2. After graduating college, McCandless begins, “an epic journey that would change everything” (22). He saw his time in college as “an absurd and onerous duty” (22). In heading west he felt freed “from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess” (22). Using examples from the reading explain what he meant by this. Do you agree with his motivation for leaving? 
Chapters 4 and 5; pages 25-46 3. Chapter 4 ends with the following quote from McCandless’ journal: “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found” (37). Identify an experience from this chapter and explain what “meaning” you think Alex has found. Use a quote to support your explanation. 4. What does “Plastic People” in chapter five mean? What are two things McCandless considered plastic? Do you agree with his assessment? Support your answer with a quote.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 Chapters 6 and 7; pages 47-69 5. Ronald Franz and McCandless establish a father-son type of relationship. Identify one benefit or drawback (using a quote) that each gets out of the relationship. 6. Before McCandless leaves for Alaska, Wayne Westerberg offers to buy him a plane ticket. McCandless refuses, however, claiming, “flying would be cheating. It would wreck the whole trip” (67). Find and explain two quotes from this chapter that demonstrate whether or not McCandless actually lives by his own words. 
Chapters 10 and 11; pages 98-116 7. Identify two qualities that Walt McCandless and his son have in common. Support each quality with a quote from the text. 8. Identify two specific details or examples (using quotes) from Chris McCandless’ childhood/high school years that seem to predict his later behavior. What is it about these events that help to explain his actions as an adult? 
Chapter 12, pages 117-126; Chapter 14-15, page 133-56 9. Contrast McCandless’ feelings about his family with his family’s feelings about him. How does the Thoreau quote that opens the chapter match Chris’ feelings about his family? Support your points with two quotes from the reading. 10. Krakauer admits to not being an “impartial biographer” (ii). How do his experiences (particularly his own journey into the wild (pp.133-56) comments and opinions add to or take away from Chris’ story? Support your answer with specific details from these chapters.
 Chapter 16, pages 157 – 171; Chapter 17; pages 172 - 186 11. Read the italicized passage on page 168 that McCandless wrote and the italicized passage he highlighted from Tolstoy on page 169. Based on these writings and events in this chapter, what convinced McCandless that it was time to return to civilization? What did he learn from his time “in the wild”? Support your answer with specific details. 12. Krakauer observes that it is not “unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders.” Identify two details from this chapter where McCandless exemplifies this observation. Explain whether or not McCandless would agree with Krakauer. Finally compare McCandless’ view with that of one of the following men mentioned in this chapter: Andy Horowitz, Gordon Samel, Roman Dial, Sir John Franklin. 13. Krakauer goes on to claim that McCandless’ “life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path.” Do you agree with Krakauer? Support your response with two specific quotes from this chapter. 
Chapters 18 and Epilogue; pages 185-203 14. How does the Doctor Zhivago quote that opens the chapter foreshadow McCandless’ actions and writings later in the chapter? Cite two specific examples using quotations from the text. 15. Do you believe McCandless is to blame for his own death? Explain your answer using two specific details from the chapter. Use quotations to support your response.

Day 1: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (please return all copies of The Glass Castle)

Today we will:

•  Begin a dialectical journal and our notes that we will keep for the duration of the novel (we will review how to do this)
• Read pages Ch. 1 pages 3-7 (3-5 as a class 6-7 independently)
• Add a minimum of 2-3 quotes to your dialectical journal
• Write a response of a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs using rhetorical analysis (analyzing the author's writing strategy(ies) and how it affects the reader in Ch. 1---you should use a minimum of 2-3 examples of textual evidence in your response. It is due by the end of class today.

Ideas:
characterization
setting
foreshadowing
imagery
conflict (internal/external)
diction
dialogue

For homework: read the "Author's Note" at the beginning of the book