- "The Village Watchman"
- "Miriam"
- "Zoo Island"
- "At the Pitt Rivers" (which you'll have for homework over the weekend).
Then, we talked about the condiments you might use to serve up a quotation sandwich (I know, I know, the metaphor is growing hackneyed, but bear with it): the dab, the dollop, and lotsa sauce. Please refer to the handout given in class, and which you may find on the wikispace. Essentially, no matter how you include a quote, you MUST identify certain features for your reader:
- Who is speaking?
- Under what circumstances?
- In what manner?
Once we had an idea of the different ways we could introduce a quote, we graded each other's homework, using a guide sheet, which may also be found on the wikispace.
Few people received an A range grade from their peers, and the problems in each section tended to be the same, with the three primary ones being:
- The thesis didn't answer "how" or "why."
- Quotes were plopped in without an introduction.
- The commentary sentences didn't always relate back to the thesis.
Get used to subjecting every thesis you write to the "how or why" test. I suspect that many of you are studying hard for the Sparta/Athens history test these days. Take a look at your thesis statements written in response to potential essay questions. Are you stating facts, or are you explaining how those facts came about, or how they affected other people, or why they were the way the were? I cannot emphasize this enough: ensuring that every thesis you write addresses some aspect of explaining how or why things are the way they are will make you a better writer and a better thinker. This all goes back to Bloom's Taxonomy (see Day 2 of the blog posts). By answering how or why, you are forcing yourself to think at the analysis and synthesis levels, whereas you are at the comprehension and application levels if you simply state a fact. Ask your parents to look over thesis statements with you, using the five key rules of a good claim to guide you. This does not come naturally at first, so don't worry if things aren't easy. They'll get easier. I promise.
As for testing your quotation sandwiches, ask yourself:
- Did I name the speaker?
- Did I explain the circumstances? (Who is being spoken to, in what situation, etc. Include these details so your reader can keep track of what is happening.)
- Did I precisely indicate how the speaker is speaking?
Now, read JUST your thesis statement and your comment sentences. The two should have an obvious connection. If they don't, you'll need to go back and tweak it.
To end the period, we quickly looked at a sample 12-sentence paragraph about a story that you have not read. Even though the story was unfamiliar to you, you could make sense of the author's argument because the author put in a number of details to help give you, the reader, a firm grasp of what was going on. Tomorrow in class, we'll take a close look at that paragraph to see just how it's structured, and pay extra attention to those areas which cause problem on your homework last night.
Your homework:
1. Write 5 new sentences for the last 5 words of unit 1.
2. Read "Zoo Island" in Junior Great Books.
In the sentence "Are you stating facts, or are you explaining how those facts came about, or how they affected other people, or why they were the way the were?" it should end with, "why they were the way THEY were."
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