Whaling Webquest Group Activity

Day 1--Gather
Form groups
1. whale ships--tools, ship layout, dimensions, tool functions

2. whaling people--captains, crew, social dynamics, stories, examples of figures, racial/economic makeup

3. whale creatures--whales, behavior, size, population size, strategies for hunting, products made from whales

4. whaling procedures--hunting method, boiling down, stowing; pre 19th century whaling

Collect facts--with each member of the group, find as much information you can an copy and paste it into a Google Doc shared to each group member and myself.

You’re essentially taking notes.

You will need to CITE YOUR SOURCES OF INFORMATION. So note where your stuff comes from.

Please draw from the following websites FIRST:

http://www.whalingmuseum.org/learn/research-topics/overview-of-north-american-whaling

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/timeline-whaling/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/map/whaling-ports/

http://mysite.du.edu/~ttyler/ploughboy/starbuck.htm

http://www.nha.org/history/hn/HNWhalingtools.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/whaling

Articles:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/books/review/Barcott-t.html?ref=whalesandwhaling

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/arts/design/02anti.html?ref=whalesandwhaling

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/07/23/070723crbo_books_crain

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/08/books/bk-applegate8

Melville:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/herman_melville/index.html

Your notes will be due on the designated day.

1st Moby-Dick Blogging Assignment: Loomings

Your assignment is to create a novel in the same style and with a similar structure of moby-dick.

So in general, you need to write with a narrator in the first person who pursues a goal through a journey.  (Which is pretty much every story ever.)

But for your first chapter you should identify some key features of your story and your narrator:

-His or her goal

-The nature of the journey

     -For Melville, the nature of the journey has a larger significance, and works with the goal.

-Key elements of the character's personality

You can try to make the structure and feel of your novel very similar to MD or you can go off on your own tangent.  As long as you meet the qualifications above, you are good. 

Topically, you can choose whatever you want.  Make the assignment your own. 

You can always go back and tweak your earlier chapters if you want to make some changes along the way. 

Somewhere around 500 words.

And, of course, your piece should begin with "Call me ...."

You are going to be graded on the following criteria (30 points):

    (10) Meet the structural qualifications for the post listed above

     (10) Effective and engaging story

     (10) Writing mechanics, attention to detail, overall effort

Speak Editorial Assignment

Speak Editorial Assignment   75 points
    
    Your major writing assignment for Speak is partially a reaction to Speak and partially a persuasive essay reflecting on the world you live in.  
      Your goal is to create an editorial.  An editorial, usually written by a member of the newspaper staff or a highly qualified writer, analyzes the world around them, pushes for a specific kind of change, or supports a specific person, action, or group.  
Almost every paper has an editorial page.  Here is the Washington Post’s , New York Post’s, and The Guardian’s.  They often debate complex national matters.  Sometimes papers discuss local matters.  A type of editorial, a great tradition in American democracy, is the letter to the editor.  Here are the letter to the editor pages for The Daily Record and The Star Ledger.  Use all of these sources for context and format.  
Specifically though, we are looking at our own communities in a season of change and hope.  I would like you to look specifically at the world around you.  At times the structure of this world creates pain for the people in it and not necessarily because of ill-will.  I want you to identify that structure, or mechanism, or habit, argue why its a problem, and look for a solution.  Don’t worry if your solution is as simple and “wishy-washy” as something like awareness or sensitivity (obviously, the more definable the solution the better, but I’m not asking for a step-by-step plan on how to end world hunger).  
Your focus may be as wide as our overall culture, it might be as specific as something you see in your group of friends, or your school, or your town.  You may be a part of the problem or part of the solution--it doesn’t matter.  
Keep in mind, these will be read by lots of people.  You don’t want to say anything that might be taken personally.  Avoid mentioning specific people.  Also avoid making wide generalities, as they are rarely helpful.  (”All athletes do this.”  “All rich kids do that.”)
        The best two pieces will be published in the Notre Dame Academy school newspaper.  

Your piece must be between 300 and 500 words.  

You will be graded on:
Clearly stating the problem your piece is trying to confront: 10 points
Developing your main idea with support throughout the body paragraphs: 10 points
Having a cleanly organized piece with good paragraph use: 20 points
The effectiveness of your argument: 20 points
The writing style and grammar of your argument: 15 points

Rhetorical Strategies and Literary Terms

Rhetorical Devices Cheat Sheet

Devices found in every piece: Devices found in most pieces:

Punctuation Imagery
Diction Metaphor
Mood Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance
Point of View Parallelism
Setting
Tone

Figurative Language--Means something other than what it says (You have to figure it out) Imagery--Relating to one of the five senses.
I walked outside and the cool grass brushed against my bair feet.   Metaphor--Comparison of two unlike things. (Make sure that the comparison is not actually real. For instance, I don't actually have an iron heart. If the line said Mr. Flynn has a "beating heart," that would just be a description.)
Mr. Flynn has an iron heart. Simile--Comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”
I run like an antelope. Personification--Giving objects human characteristics.
The sky looked angry. Allusion--A reference to something outside the text
Call me Ishmael.  (Ishmael is a Biblical name) Symbol--When an object has a meaning larger than itself

Frederick Douglass Project

Frederick Douglass Project

Create a prezi in which you present the following:
(Prezi.com) ← Mainsite
(prezi.com/learn) ← Teach yourself Prezi
Example

3 arguments that Douglass makes against Slavery.

-These should be factual, in your own words, type of statements. For instance, if I were doing this for Into the Wild and nature, I might say that “Chris McCandless states that nature is a place where man can challenge himself and bring out the truest version of his humanity.”

-They must be backed up BY QUOTING THE TEXT
-The text must be close read, and unpacked. In the close reading (2-3 sentences) there should be an explanation of why the text leads you to believe that Douglass is making the argument you have previously identified.

3 different “rhetorical strategies” that Douglass employs to deliver this argument
(Note, the strategies do not have to match with the arguments.)

-It’s one thing to state an argument, it’s another thing entirely to sway others to your point of view. To do so takes craft and skill as a writer. Here is a list from the almighty AP board:

Diction, Syntax, Imagery, Tone, Selection of detail, Irony, Satire, Point of View, Structure, Humor, Sarcasm, Analogy, Soliloquy, Persuasion, Oxymoron, Onomatopoeia, Parallel Structure, Contrast, Comparison, Metaphor, Simile, Personification, Symbolism, Assonance, Alliteration, Paradox, Anecdote, Attitude, Juxtaposition, Hyperbole, Exaggeration, Repetition, Punctuation, Quotations, Foreshadowing, Characterization, Flashback, Rhetorical questioning

(We’ve already gone over a number of these strategies both as vocabulary and within our own close reading work.)

-However, you might also think about rhetorical strategies in a more general way and come up with your own concepts. For instance, you might claim that Jon Krakauer uses “mystery” when he presents McCandless as an anonymous hitchiker on the side of the road sporting an odd nickname. You might build on a term from above and discuss how Abraham Lincoln uses “Religious Allusions” when he writes about “the better angels of our nature” in the First Inaugural Address.

-Again, once you state the rhetorical strategies you MUST QUOTE THE TEXT you’re referrring to.

-Additionally, you must close read the text (2-3 sentences) and explain the rhetorical strategy and why the strategy is effective.

2 different myths that Douglass attempts to dispel with his Autobiography
-Be sure to include the myth and how Douglass attempts to dispel it.
-As always, you need a statement, a textual example, and a close reading.

2 different examples of emotional appeals that Douglass makes to the reader
-Not everything that Douglass tries to do is rational. At times he tries to make the reader FEEL something.
-Explain what he makes us feel and how he gets the feeling across.
-As always, quote the text and analyze it.


Grading: 100 points

10 points for each argument, rhetorical, myth, or emotional appeal strategy
-Proper label for the argument and rhetorical strategy (2 points)
-Textual evidence (2 points)
-Close reading that refers back to the quotations and the particular argument and strategy (5 points.
The key to this project is to explain clearly HOW Douglass gets his point across. This is where rhetorical analysis and close reading comes in.
-Perfect grammar (1 point)