Portfolio Assignment 1.1: Rhetorical Analysis, English homework help

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Portfolio Assignment 1.1: Rhetorical Analysis

Whenever you hear the word analysis, you should think of small pieces. An analyst is someone who breaks something down into smaller sections so they can better understand how those pieces work together to make a more effective whole. You will do a rhetorical analysis of the Declaration of Independence.

  1. Print the Declaration of Independence from the Charters of Independence website.
  2. Do a quick “get to know you” read through.
  3. Write down the purpose of the document in one succinct sentence.
  4. Find three different colors of highlighters, pens, or colored pencils.
  5. Read it again, more thoroughly. Slow down and mark sections where Thomas Jefferson uses ethos in one color, pathos in another, and logos in the last. You should mark up a lot of the document—Jefferson really knew his rhetoric.
  6. Finally, write a one-page paper, including your explanation of each element of the Declaration. Organize it like this:
  • 1st paragraph: the purpose of the document
  • 2nd paragraph: the ethos of the document
  • 3rd paragraph: the pathos of the document
  • 4th paragraph: the logos of the document
  • 5th paragraph: the effectiveness of the rhetoric in the document

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus.

Portfolio Assignment 1.2: Collaborate and Orate

Use rhetorical strategies and the principles of persuasive speaking in your own presentation.

The Declaration of Independence was a pivotal document which changed the world in many ways. It was discussed, written, and voted on by some of the greatest minds of the eighteenth century. These men spent hours of time and energy applying their varied gifts to creating the ideas which it embodies. But that was in the seventeenth century, we now live in a different United States of America than the one which broke away from Great Britain. There are many people and groups who feel that the Declaration is outdated and doesn’t apply to the modern America. However, there are also many who hold the document as sacred and feel that its ideals are timeless. Which side of the fence do you stand on?

You will give a speech about your standpoint but, like the document in question, you will not come up with all your ideas on your own. Your speech/presentation will require personal reflection and group collaboration.

Your first task is to determine what your argument is going to be. What will you try to persuade your audience to do or believe? So ask yourself, “Do I feel the Declaration of Independence is outdated, or do I feel that it has application for us today?”

After you’ve answered yes or no, sit down and write a one paragraph free write which starts like this: “The Declaration of Independence is applicable today because . . . ,” or “The Declaration of independence is not applicable today because . . . “

That gives you your main point, your argument. Now you need to collaborate and see if you can refine it and get better ideas. Use the checklist to aid your collaboration. Read over this rubric and checklist before you begin.

Presentation Checklist and Signature Form

Here’s what to do:

First, organize a group of three to five individuals. (That’s you plus two more or you plus four more.) You will meet with them on more than one occasion so be sure they are people you will have access to.

During your first meeting ,you will present your basic argument to the group (you may want to give them copies of the Declaration). This will be a brainstorming session. Ask them questions such as:

  • “What are some ideas you can think of that support my argument?”
  • “Can you think of a different way of wording my argument?”
  • “Are there stronger arguments than the ones we’ve been discussing?”

Be sure to take notes or assign a scribe to keep minutes of the meeting.

Using your notes, create a clear one-sentence statement for your argument, which includes three supporting reasons. Another name for this one-sentence argument is a thesis statement.

Meet with one member of your group. Share with them your new argument. Ask them for ways to improve or strengthen your argument. You might focus on questions such as “Are there weak words which could be replaced?” “Do you think the supporting reasons are strong enough?” Work through a revision together.

Take your revision to the group for a final meeting. This time assign one or two members to be the negative side of the argument. You want them to attack your argument. Your job is to listen to their arguments understand their side and then come back with your own argument. Do not get in a fight, and be respectful of the views they express. Pay attention to the details you use to support your reasons. These will become part of your speech.

Write your speech. It should consist of these five sections and the final condition, like so:

  • A catchy introduction which grabs the reader’s attention and introduces your argument.
  • A section about your first reason and its three supporting details.
  • A section about your second reason and its three supporting details.
  • A section about your third reason and its three supporting details
  • A conclusion which flows naturally from the rest of the speech and restates your argument.

Be sure to include an example of all three rhetorical strategies (ethos, pathos, and logos) somewhere in the speech.

Practice giving your speech by recording yourself, either an audio or video recording. Save the recording to send to me for grading.

Print out a copy of the Presentation Checklist and Signature Form and use it to help you put the finishing touches on your presentation. You’ll also need a member of your audience to fill it out and sign it.

Finally, give your speech in front of a live audience. Here are tips for public speaking.

  • This is a formal speech, so you should not use slang.
  • Dress appropriately; part of the ethos of your speech is how you look. Dressing in a shirt and tie (for boys) and nice blouse and skirt or slacks (for girls) will also send a message to your brain to speak and act more professionally.
  • Look up and make eye contact with the people you’re speaking to, but don’t stare at your audience (staring makes people uncomfortable)
  • Speak loudly and clearly. To make your speech more interesting, vary the loudness and type of voice you use. This is also a way to add pathos to your speech.
  • You may move a bit during a speech, and gesturing (appropriately, not too much) can help relieve some of your nervousness.

When you are finished, ask an adult member of your audience to fill out the Presentation Checklist and Signature Form. Scan the completed form and include it with your assignment for Portfolio 1.

Portfolio Assignment 2.2: Anticipation Guide

Read the following statements. On a scale of one to ten, rank how strongly you agree with these statements, with one being you do not agree at all, while ten being you agree completely. You may use the same number more than once. Once you have gone through all ten statements, choose five of these statements and explain your ranking to me. This doesn’t have to be a long explanation, but it does need to be three or four sentences. Try to pick five rankings that give a pretty fair sampling of your anticipation guide. For example, don’t give me all five statements that you ranked a ten or all five that you ranked a one. (You can download this assignment here.)

Refer back to these statements while you read; as you’re introduced to certain characters, try to anticipate where they might stand on the same spectrum. Do you stand with them? Your rankings might change throughout the course of the play; if they do, indicate the changes on this anticipation guide. I would like to see any observations you make when you turn it in to me. This assignment will be turned in with portfolio 1.

  1. _____ It is wise to confess to a crime you didn’t commit in order to avoid punishment.
  2. _____ There is a clear difference between right and wrong.
  3. _____ It is better to die for what you believe in rather than to lie in order to save your life.
  4. _____ There is only one correct way to interpret the Bible.
  5. _____ That which doesn’t destroy us only makes us stronger.
  6. _____ It is harder to forgive yourself if the person you’ve hurt doesn’t forgive you.
  7. _____ Having courage means doing something even though it can be difficult and scary.
  8. _____ A person is innocent until proven guilty.
  9. _____ A person who goes against the good of the community should go to prison.
  10. _____ Justice is best determined in a court of law.

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus and format them in the following manner:

  • In the top left-hand side of the page please include:
  • the portfolio submission number
  • the name of the assignment and lesson number it came from
  • your name
  • date

Portfolio Assignment 2.3: Response Paper

Now that you have finished the first act of The Crucible, you need to select one of the following writing prompts on which to write a one-page, double-spaced, typed response. While I don’t expect you to go through a brainstorming or outlining process for this response, it should be obvious that some thought went into the assignment. This assignment will be turned in with portfolio 1.

Please select one of the following prompts to write your journal about.

  • Choose one of the anticipation statements you ranked before you read and expound on your thoughts.
  • Fear, or any emotion, can be a dangerous and powerful thing while experienced in a group. Describe a time when you allowed yourself to be carried away because you were feeling an emotion in a group setting.
  • The world has experienced many times when fear overcomes reasoning. What text-to-world connections can you think of?
  • Why do you think Abigail has so much power over the other girls? Is this a fairly accurate characterization for Arthur Miller to make—that, in a group of friends, there will be one individual who will be so strong as to almost bend the will of the others? Have you seen this happen in your experiences?

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus and format them in the following manner:

  • In the top left-hand side of the page please include:
  • the portfolio submission number
  • the name of the assignment and lesson number it came from
  • your name
  • date

Portfolio Assignment 3.2: Read Transcripts and Newspaper Article

Read Transcripts

In the appendices (A–D) you will read the transcripts of testimonies and examinations of actual people at this tumultuous time in Salem. You will also find a list of the accused and those executed. Read carefully as the language is a bit archaic (old-fashioned) and the spelling is not what we are used to now. You may want to take notes or write observations as you read through these transcripts. It is interesting to note how the accused are treated while being examined. Keep in mind that this is long before our nation became “our nation”. At the time, Massachusetts was still a British colony and the courts were not held under our current Constitutional guidelines.

Newspaper Article

After you have read these transcripts and other documents, you will pretend that you are a reporter from an unbiased village watching the proceedings. You are expected to write an unbiased newspaper article for your village’s newspaper about the strange rumors circulating about Salem and its supposed witches and trials. Include as much information as you can from these documents as you create an interesting news article. Don’t feel you have to use the complicated language the Puritans did at the time. Your article needs to be one and one-half full pages in length and will need to be typed. This assignment will be turned in with portfolio 1 after lesson 5.

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus.

Portfolio Assignment 4.2

Poem Summary and Character Declaration

As you know, good readers make textual connections. These textual connections are text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world. We’ll be reviewing each of these textual connections throughout the course. For this assignment, you’ll be making a text-to-text connection.

Text-to-text connections are more than superficially comparing characters from one book to another. I often hear students try to pawn off a text-to-text connection such as, “A character in Book A answered the telephone, and so did the character in Book B. That’s a connection.” Well . . . not quite. Let’s try to go a little deeper.

One way to make text-to-text connections is when you have a primary text like The Crucible, then after reading another text, you evaluate the primary text in a different way. For this assignment, you will be given a poem and then asked to apply and compare the primary text, which, in your case, is The Crucible. But first, read and understand the poem below.

Disillusionment of Ten O’clock1

The houses are haunted

by white night-gowns

none are green,

or purple with green rings,

or yellow with blue rings.

None of them are strange,

with socks of lace

and beaded ceintures.

People are not going

to dream of baboons and periwinkles.

Only, here and there, an old sailor,

drunk and asleep in his boots,

catches Tigers,

in red weather.

  • Wallace Stevens

Right away, one of the first questions students ask me when reading this poem is, “What’s a ‘ceinture’?” A ceinture is a beaded belt. When reading poems, imagine the action. We have two areas of action in this poem: the houses haunted by people in their nightgowns getting ready for bed and the drunken sailor probably down at the docks. Once you have the center of action, you can begin to visualize the meaning of the poem.

First, let’s discuss the nightgown people. What are these people like? First of all, they’re going to bed at ten o’clock in plain, white night gowns. What image strikes you with the verb “haunted”? Are these people drifting through their own homes? Are they full of life? Why so much description of what their nightgowns are not?

Second, the sailor who falls asleep in his boots, what is he like? Is he full of life, or is he drifting through his life in plain night clothes?

Third, why is the bedtime, ten o’clock, such a disillusionment? The speaker of the poem (not the same as the poet) is making an observation about how to live life. What do you think it is?

Part 1: Poem Summary

On your own piece of paper, summarize what you think the meaning of this poem is. Also, I want you to include who you think the speaker might be, what the speaker’s tone or general attitude is, and what you think the speaker’s observation about life is. This is the first part of this assignment. This summary needs to be approximately a half-page in length.

Part 2: Character Declaration

Depending on how you complete the first part of this assignment, you are going to create a character declaration using this poem. Choose a character from The Crucible and, using lines from the poem, write a speech that is three-fourths to one-page in length as if you are the character speaking to a group of people of your choice. You can use the lines in consecutive order, split them up, or use a few here or there, but all the lines must be used. Both the poem summary and speech will be turned in with portfolio 1.

Example Character Declaration

An example of a character declaration may help you get the text–to–text connections flowing. I have written a character declaration using the same poem, “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock“ and the character Boo Radley from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. This is just an example to help you create your character declaration using a character from The Crucible.

Boo Radley Speaks to Maycomb

I am your phantom who watches your streets, a figment of your own creation. But really it’s not me who does the spooking, the houses of Maycomb are haunted by white night-gowns. You have made me disappear into a world of your own creation. A world of sameness or a world of malevolence. And maybe it is better that way. Here I sit at the window, in my home, watching Maycomb’s world go by. Each day is much like the next. There is no difference; I can never remember if it is Monday or Thursday. There is only one difference to Maycomb’s ways, in the shape of a boy and girl, who create worlds of their own… worlds of excitement and pretend. These worlds–none of them are strange, just full of imagination. I can picture them with socks of lace and beaded ceintures, playing in one of their games. These kids, this boy and this girl, they have the spirit of difference. They embrace it and they have the courage to walk out their door each morning and challenge the world.

You see, none of you people are green, or purple with green rings, or yellow with blue rings. And it is sad, your insistence on conforming, on staying the same. Why do I stay inside my house? Why do I never go outside? Why should I? The world out there is either black or white – or Black and White, and the people are not going to dream of wild things, exciting things, things like baboons and periwinkles. Inside my house, I can be anyone except me. Only, here and there, I am reminded I’m called Boo Radley. I am Maycomb’s ghost. But who do I want to be? An old sailor, drunk and asleep in his boots, who catches Tigers, in red weather. And maybe I can be, in my Maycomb dreams.

This kind of text-to-text application will help you bridge literature together in a way that all readers should. Textual connections are more than shallow observations; they are tools to create an avenue for characters and literature to come alive. It is the first step to making text-to-self connections, which we will cover in another lesson.

Portfolio Assignment 7.3: Opinion Essay

For your assignment, you will need to postulate a theory as to why the Beats strayed from the American transcendentalists. Obviously, because it is an opinion-based theory, you can rarely be wrong, unless you write something that is “constantly random.” Your theory needs to be grounded in the discussion material from this lesson, and you can also use the discussion material from lesson 6. Your essay needs to be typed, double spaced, and one page in length. You will be turning in your essay with portfolio 2.

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus.

Portfolio 12.2: Comparison Essay

After reading chapters 24–26 of Hübener vs. Hitler, write a two-page essay in which you compare Atticus Finch to Helmuth Hübener. You can approach this comparison in any way you see the connection. You are required to include a minimum of four citations; one citation must come from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Refer to the examples in this objective for how to format your citations. Your essay must have one-inch margins and be typed, double-spaced, and in 12-point Times New Roman font.

Please format and submit your assignment according to the instructions in the syllabus.

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