Forty-Forth Class Period: Proposing A Solution

Mr. Stone shared a packet on proposing a solution including examples. Students will conduct extensive research to write their proposals for solving campus problems.
Homework: Finish reading the first twenty-four pages of the packet. Meet in the library tomorrow.

Forty-Third Class Period

Mr. Stone was absent. Students received two handouts on research and corresponding study guides.

Homework: Finish reading the packets and completing the corresponding study guide questions.

Forty-Second Class Period: Argumentative Essay Rough Draft

Students submitted the rough draft of their argumentative essay.

No Homework: Happy Thanksgiving!

Forty-First Class Period: Strategies in Persuasive Writing

Mr. Stone checked for students completion of their prewriting: line of argument and opposing viewpoint comparison chart. Students were to read a handout on strategies in persuasive writing.

Homework: Complete rough draft of argumentative essay.

Fortieth Class Period: Preparing a Line of Argument

Sensing a need for more instruction on line of argument, Mr. Stone spent more time discussing how to prepare a line of argument. He went over again the difference between a statement of purpose (goal + strategy) and a thesis (topic + viewpoint). Students began creating T-charts to help them to see the similarities and differences between their positions and the opposing viewpoint(s) they are arguing against. Mr. Stone used several students topics as examples, focusing on the student who is arguing that traditional print books are preferable to e-books.

Homework: Finish preparing your line of argument. Include your purpose statement, your thesis, and the aspects you intend to address (at least five). Make clear the order you plan to address these aspects. Identify a concession you will make. Think of your line of argument as an outline for your argumentative essay. Re-examine the annotated sample essays you were to have previously read. Note the comments made in the margins of these essays. Decide which of these moves might be useful to you in your essay.

Thirty-Ninth Class Period: Preparing to Influence Another's Position

Students shared their top topic choice for the argumentative essay (influencing another's position). Mr. Stone provided feedback about their choices and approved or disapproved.

Homework: Outline your line of argument for the argumentative essay. Be sure to your thesis with a debatable argumentative claim, the kinds of appeals you plan on using (logical, emotional, character), the types of evidence, stated and unstated assumptions, etc.

Thirty-Eigth Class Period: Campus Problems

Mr. Stone checked for the students' completion of a prewriting list of campus problem and argument essay topics. A volunteer scribe wrote on the classroom's front board a list of the campus problems students had included on their lists. He tallied the results. Mr. Stone began discussing the list with the class.

Homework: Read "Credit Cars: Leave Home Without Them" in preparation for a quiz on Monday.

Thirty-Seventh Class Period: More on Argumentation

Mr. Stone shared an argumentation checklist and Bob Swift's "On Reading Trash."

The class also discussed researching solutions to school problems for the class' research papers.

Homework: Bring a list of ten school problems that you would be interested in researching.

La Sierra Experience

Students toured La Sierra University today. No class. Read yesterday's post for homework.

Thirty-Sixth Class Period: Argumentation

Mr. Stone discussed debatable claims, reading examples of debatable and non-debatable claims. He shared four goals/levels of argument/persuasion:

1. Influence people's opinions
2. Gain people's support
3. Get people to take a specific action
4. Change people's behavior

The class reviewed the classic appeals (reason/logic, emotion/feelings, values/character) and a sample argumentative essay, noting its strengths and weaknesses.

Homework: Annotate (write notes on) Toni Morrison's "Cinderella's Stepsisters." Identify her basic claim. Which of the four levels of argumentation is she is attempting? Write notes in the margin of each paragraph of the essay describing her line of argument: the kinds of appeals, the types of evidence, stated and unstated assumptions, and rhetorical devices (rhetorical questions, grammatical parallelism, repetition, restatement, etc.). Be prepared to participate in a discussion of Morrison's essay.

Thirty-Fifth Class Period: Final Draft of Causal Essay

On Thursday, students submitted the final draft of their causal essays and received an introductory packet on argumentation.

Homework: Read argumentation packet.

Thirty-Fourth Class Period: Editing Causal Essay

Mr. Stone checked if each student had completed his/her revised draft of his/her causal essay.

Students received a table for tracking their editing errors and a list of editing marks and their meaning. Mr. Stone asked students to complete the table before they edited their causal paper to attempt to prevent them from making the same mistakes repeatedly. He encouraged students to seek further explanation from him for any concepts that they still did not understand.

Students critiqued a peer's causal essay.

Homework: Complete final draft of causal essay and process journal entry. Remember that your process journal entry needs to be at least one page long, double-spaced, typed.

Thirty-Third Peer Critiquing Causal Essays

Mr. Stone distributed a peer critique check list and verbally discussed special additions to the checklist to address the specific characteristics of the students' causal essays. He then checked for the students' completion of the rough draft of their causal essays.

Homework: Complete a revised draft of the causal essay. Be sure your draft contains significant changes and is between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half pages long.