Monday, November 10 - Friday, November 14

Friday
I was away today. Hope the quiz went well. I asked the TOC to get you to continue with identifying the tools of bias/manipulation on your copies of the A.A.Gill article. We will do a re-write of the paragraph on Monday. For the remainder of the class you had time to work on reading your novel; working on your novel autograph; planning your essay; writing your essay.
Thursday
Forgive all the weird colours! Cutting and pasting from Word is causing all kinds of problems...
Once the Hemingway essays were collected, everyone spent time reading their novel, doing the autograph, writing an essay outline, or starting the term paper. In the second half of the class, we returned to A. A. Gill's article about steak. I let you know that Gill is regarded as "a dyslexic writer, a teetotal alcoholic, a high-end restaurant critic who thinks that eating a steak which costs more than the waiter’s daily wage is “uncomfortable and wrong."
Reminder, possible techniques of bias or manipulation:

imagery (5 senses), shock value, impressive vocabulary, relatable, facts, statistics, emotional appeal, humour, flashback, voice, suspense, irony, mood, paradox, directly involving readers (you), alliteration, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, personification, oxymoron, contradicting popular opinion, pun, caricature, onomatopoeia, symbolism.

Below are the criteria for a "6" paragraph and an example (sadly not about the article we read!)

Criteria for a 6

The six response is superior and may draw upon any number of factors, such as depth of discussion,

effectiveness of argument, or level of insight. It exhibits an effective writing style and a sophisticated use of

language. Despite its clarity and precision, the response need not be error-free.

Scale: 6 

Comment: 

This response was awarded a 6 because of its superior use of text to support its 

discussion. Language is sophisticated and depth of insight is strong. 

 In B.H. Fairchild’s poem, “The Dumka”, the contrasting themes of old and 

new, past and present, are illustrated through the usage of imagery and 

symbolism. The parent, “in their old age” represent a time long gone – a time of 

war, financial hardship and agricultural living (line 4). As they recall “breadlines 

in the city” and “the war,” they look back with nostalgia on “the farm in twilight 

with piano music” (lines 21-25). Their wistful recollections of the past are in 

sharp contrast with the emerging lifestyle, which renders them obsolete – a 

lifestyle of “green lawns” and a “vanishing neighbourhood” (lines 27, 30). The 

young have moved away from the neighbourhood, leaving the old clinging to the 

vestiges of the past that remain in the memories of coffee and newspapers” and 

are forgotten by most (line 31). While the elderly sit and ponder upon the past, 

they are aware that their lifestyle is antiquated; yet, they see it as the only thing 

that remains intact in the lives that they have known. Meanwhile, the forgotten 

old is symbolized by the phonograph, and the dust which settled upon table-tops; 

juxtaposed against the “mahogany gleam” of a new piano and the green lawns of 

suburban life, the contrast between the traditional lives of the elderly and the 

ostentatious desires of the young is illustrated. 

Wednesday

FYI - Quiz on 24 terms from the list of examinable terms and devices on Friday, November 14 - style of quiz will be matching definitions with terms.

We spent today's class completing final edits to the Hemingway essay; working on novel autographs or term 1 papers/outlines. I completely forgot to show you the PowerPoint below on embedding quotes! The little video on quotes is also available from the "links" section of this blog.
embedding quotes: http://www.misterconnor.com/2010/10/how-to-embed-quotation-in-essay.html

The Hemingway essay is due tomorrow, November 13
Novel autographs due the week of November 17-21
Novel term paper due no later than Friday, November 21

Tuesday

Remembrance Day

Monday
Lots of loose ends to tidy-up today. The good copy of the Hemingway essay is due on Thursday. For those who have that solidly under control, we discussed the outline for the essay on the banned/challenged book:

paragraph 1: 

             Introduction

             Definition of censorship

             Brief outline of what your book is about and why it has been banned                Thesis (this book should/should not be on a list of banned books)

paragraph 2 : 

             Concession - provide a brief run-down of the arguments on the other                side basically to acknowledge the counter arguments and also so you                can deal with them/refute them later.

paragraph 3: 

              Argument 1 why book should/should not be banned - ideas in book?

paragraph 4: 

              Argument 2 why book should/should not be banned - language in book?

paragraph 5: 

              Argument 3 why book should/should not be banned - __________ in book?

paragraph 6:  

              Conclusion

We will complete our discussion of the paragraph for A. A. Gill's steak article once the Hemingway essays are out of the way.