Assignment Schedule

December 1

Argument/Cause and Effect
• “The Case of Wall-Mart”-- Coster/Edmonds*
• “Down and Out in Discount America”—Lisa Featherstone*

The Rhetorical Form of Cause and Effect

• Introduction—pg. 327-341

Argument Essay due Saturday Dec 4 via email attachment- WORD DOC ONLY~
Please choose from any of the assignments found in question 10 on page 704.

December 8

Final Exam 

“The ‘Black Table’ is Still There”—Lawrence Graham*

Cause/Effect Essay Due Saturday Dec 10 via email attachment- WORD DOC ONLY~

December 15
Short class-- Exam results disclosed

Announcement: No class Weds, November 24

Hi All,

I decided to cancel class on November 24 to give us all a little break before the holidays. Please check back in a few days for updated assignment schedules and info about the exit exam, and be sure to have any outstanding work in to me by our next class meeting.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

AF

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

This important work of literature is typically studied in light of history and the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. However, it underscores the idea that mastering reading, writing and discourse is not a study in isolation, but is a means to convey the ideas and sentiments that are essential to our existence and co-existence as human beings.


Please consider the following questions about King's letter thoughtfully, fully and in regard to an argumentation essay in a minimum of one full paragraph each:

1. Why does King establish his setting (the Birmingham Jail) and define his intended audience in the first paragraph? How does this information impact the reader and his subsequent words?
2.  King begins his letter with a reference to his audience as "men of genuine good will" (1), yet later criticizes those same men. Is this phrase meant in irony? What is his intention in using it, and what effect does it have on you as the reader, and further, what effect might it have on you if you were one of the "men of good will" it refers to?
3. Who is King's intended audience? What evidence do you have of this, both within the text and without?
4. What is King's thesis? Is it directly stated or implied?
5. In argumentation, it's common-- and effective-- to acknowledge the opposing argument and the proceed to discredit it. Where does King do this? Is it effective and why?
6. King cites philosophers from Jewish, Catholic and Protestant religions. He also relies heavily on appeals to authorities such as Augustine, Aquinas, Buber, Tillich, etc. Why does he make both of these choices and how do these strategies work in his argument?
7. King is known for his eloquence and resonant oration-- this is also apparent in his written works. Select one quote you found moving or meaningful and analyze it. 

Updated Assignments List for Nov 17

The Rhetorical Form of Argumentation—Part 1
• Introduction—pg. 555-580
Blogged discussion: “Letter form a Birmingham Jail”—Martin Luther King
pg. 589-601 (no journal due)
Practice Proficiency Exam 2

Process essay draft 2 due

The Embalming of Mr. Jones

The Embalming of Mr. Jones (1963) offers much in the way of analysis of semantics and style. Please consider the following questions fully and answer in a minimum of 6 sentences per post, not including the question you're responding to:

1. What is Mitford's thesis? Does Mitford expect her readers to agree with her viewpoint? Provide textual evidence to support this and analyze that evidence.
2. What is Mitford's tone (the feeling of the piece)? What effect does that tone have on you as the reader? How does it affect your regard for her ideas?
3. How does her choice of framing her ideas as a process essay impact your perception of her ideas? Was it effective? Why?
4. Pick out one quote that was significant to you. Explain it and why it was significant.
5. What biases did you have, for or against the subject, while reading this text? When did you become aware of it and did it hinder your evaluating the text in an objective way?
6. What ideas were you unfamiliar with from the text and how did you approach that information?
7. Pose one question you have about the text. Then, attempt to answer someone else's question.
8. Respond to one other student's post by either adding to it or politely refuting their ideas.

Assignment Update for November 10

• 1st draft of process essay due by email.  (Prompt: Using process analysis, describe something you do regularly)
• For Blogged discussion: The Embalming of Mr. Jones (No journal)
• For class discussion: Get it Right, Privatize Executions (Journal)

My First Conk

Please answer each question with a minimum of 6 sentence paragraphs per post.

1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1964, when many African Americans regularly straightened their hair. Is the thesis of this excerpt still relevant today? 
2. Why do you think Malcolm X includes so many references to pain and discomfort throughout the text? Do modern techniques for straightening, which can be much less painful and damaging, change the message he is trying to get across? Explain.
3. Discuss Malcolm X's choice of telling his story via a process essay. Is it an effective technique? Might another form have been more effective?
4. What behaviors can you identify from your own group (women/men/ethnic, etc.) that you feel is destructive to their identities as members of this group. Why do people continue to engage in it?
5. Comment on another classmate's post to either add to his ideas or intelligently (and politely) refute his logic.  

Process Essay

Hi All,

We didn't go over the process essay, so I will be backlogging the 1st draft of this essay until next week. We will cover this and the prompt tomorrow. I will adust the schedule.

AF