Monday, September 15


 

Response 1 Feedback

Discuss “Momma’s Encounter”

Discuss Invention Assignment

For today or Wed:

Read/Discuss Student Sample

Distribute Rubric

 

Assignment:

Complete Invention Exercise I 

 

 


 

Response 1 Feedback

 

excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, 1845 (pgs. 79-81)

 

 

Later in his narrative, Douglass writes, "I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing."

 

1. What does Douglass mean by this statement?

2. How is his view of reading shaped by the rhetorical situation in 1845?

3. Can you think of any modern-day situations or examples in which Douglass's view of reading is still valid, or is the ability to read and write (our access to knowledge and information) always a blessing?

 

 

 

Skills to Work On

 

Following basic instructions: paragraph (indent), double spaced

responding to all aspects of the prompt--rhetorical situation

drawing on specific examples

formal writing (contractions, point of view, formal diction--"says," conversational phrases (now, so, etc.)

formal diction (page 190-191 in Handbook)

 

Other academic writing conventions to keep in mind:

Providing info/context--what should you include in the very beginning?

Names

tense

quoting

don't misquote--quotes must make complete sentences

IE: When Douglass wrote "I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing." He means that.....

Summary vs. shaping your claims

Topic sentences

 

 

 

 

 


 

Maya Angelou's "Momma's Encounter," published in 1970

 

 

Who is the audience?

What is the rhetorical situation? Historical context: 1930s rural Stamps Arkansas/ publication context- 1970

 

Rhetorical Situation (WOW page 32)

 

-an appreciation of the social circumstances that call rhetorical events into being and that orchestrate the course of those events

-each act of communication is anything but self-contained

-each communication is a response to other communications and other social practices

-communications, and social practices more generally, are considered to reflect the attitudes and values of the communities that sustain them

 

 


 

Understanding the Structure of the Narrative

 

I. Introduction: 2 main threads/ideas

II. Background information: follow up with thread 1/ follow up with thread 2

III. The event/ rising action

IV. Climax

V. Falling Action

VI. Conclusion

 

 

 

 

Why doesn't the narrative immediately begin with the event?  Why are the background information paragraphs necessary?  How do they lay the foundation for the theme?

 


Discussion Questions

 

 

Repetition/Thematic threads

Sensory Description

Analyze Tone and Style

Language

Artistic Appeals


 

Discuss Invention I Assignment

 

 

Read and Discuss Student Sample

"Caught You Caring"

Discuss Rubric for Essay I

 


How does "Caught You Caring" fulfill the requirements of the assignment?

 

 

 

Narrative Essay Rubric

 

MLA Style and Format 10

 

Introduction 10

(Entices the reader, sets tone/style, provides necessary background)

Foreshadowing
Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.

 

Narrative Purpose: SO WHAT? 20

(Understands rhetorical situation and audience, offers an implied or implicit argument, uses a suitable genre and artistic appeals)

 

 

Descriptive Elements: SHOW. DON’T TELL. 15

(Uses sensory details that emphasize the purpose, personalizes your experience, recreates event)

 

 

 

Organization/Structure/Paragraph Development/Transitions 15

(Uses story-telling conventions or thematic threads to build the narrative)

Flashback
An interruption of a work's chronology to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main time frame of a work's action. Writers use flashbacks to complicate the sense of chronology in the plot of their works and to convey the richness of the experience of human time.

 

Mechanics: Clarity, Grammar, Syntax, Punctuation 20

 

 

 

Conclusion 5

(Reiterates purpose in a new, enlightening way/ creates a lasting impression)

 

 

Creativity/Readability/Title 5

 

 

100 total points