Concession is a device used in argumentative writing where one acknowledges a point made by one’s opponent. It allows for different opinions and approaches toward an issue, indicating an understanding of what causes the actual debate or controversy. (Concession is not straw man! Avoid using straw man when trying to make a concession.)
In Class Writing: Create your outline for Essay 3.
Fact: statement of actuality or occurrence. A fact is based on direct evidence, actual experience, or observation.
Opinion: statement of belief or feeling. It shows one’s feelings about a subject. Solid opinions, while based on facts, are someone’s views on a subject and not facts themselves.
Homework for Thursday, 11/14: Take notes/annotate your third and fourth sources for Essay 3 (highlight things you may want to use for your essay) and write one paragraph summarizing each one. Share the annotations/notes with me via Google Docs, print, or hand-write them and share with me in class on Thursday. Post your summary paragraphs to your blog.
“A logical fallacy is, simply put, a flaw in reasoning. Often, logical fallacies are tactics that are used in order to bolster arguments that are, otherwise, pretty weak. At worst, they are diversion tactics, which are meant to side-track and derail a conversation. We frequently see them used by politicians, by anti-science denialists, and by, well, pretty much everyone uses them at one point or another. Notably, someone is not wrong just because they are using a logical fallacy.” – Jolene Creighton, science and tech writer
In-Class Writing: “Defend” your argument using three fallacies, one of each type (emotional, ethical, and logical). You can write out your fallacy or create a meme or comic if you’d like to get more creative with it. Post your work to your blog & share with your classmates.
Homework for Thursday, 11/14: Take notes/annotate your third and fourth sources for Essay 3 (highlight things you may want to use for your essay) and write one paragraph summarizing each one. Share the annotations/notes with me via Google Docs, print, or hand-write them and share with me in class on Thursday. Post your summary paragraphs to your blog.
In Class: Post your topic for Essay 3 and 4 credible sources on the issue and potential solutions (cited correctly, MLA style) to your blog.
Homework for Tuesday, 11/12: Take notes/annotate two of your sources (highlight things you may want to use for your essay) and write one paragraph summarizing each one. Share the annotations/notes with me via Google Docs, print, or hand-write them and share with me in class on Tuesday. Post your summary paragraphs to your blog.
In-Class Writing: (Preliminary research) Answer the following about your topic: How big of an issue is this? How do you know (what evidence is there)? What communities does it affect? Which communities does it negatively affect the most? Am I a part of or do I empathize with these communities? What are their (the community/communities affected) perspectives on the issue? What are other opinions on the issue (informed, uninformed, and misinformed)? Why is this issue important to me? Why should it be of importance to my classmates? *Begin your Works Cited page, citing the (credible) sources you use to answer these questions. Post your work to your blog.
Homework for Thursday, 11/7: Answer the in-class questions for two other topics you may be interested in researching and post to your blog.
In-Class Writing Part 1: Essay 2 reflection: How was the experience of writing the second essay compared with the first? In what ways do you think your writing may have benefited from this assignment? What style(s) of writing do you prefer? What topics do you enjoy writing about?
Discuss issues, the communities they affect, and possible solutions your classmates could take part in (for Essay 3).
Library databases: Controversial issues
In-Class WritingPart 2: Pick one issue you may be interested in writing about for Essay 3. Identify communities it affects and potential solutions.
Homework due Wednesday, 11/6: Study for Quiz 4: imagery, scene, character, characterization, and tone.
In Class Writing: Make a copy (File>Make Copy) of your latest draft of Essay 2 on Google Docs and share it with me (Click “Share with the same people” or click share and copy/type: jspencerlevy@pima.edu).
Include at least one em-dash (—) to replace a semicolon or add emphasis.
Make your subjects bold and underline your verbs.
Check your document for and highlight instances of passive voice.
Homework for 11/5: Your final draft of Essay 2 is due to D2L and posted to your blog by 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5.
“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly…. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
“A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes—within the limits of endowment and environment—he has made out of himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions.”
“Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become the next moment. By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.”
“Life never ceases to have meaning; even suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
“What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms.”
“For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.”
In Class Writing Part 1: Answer the following on your blog pertaining to your story for Essay 2: What did you learn about others from your experiences? What did you discover about yourself? What did you learn about the world and your part in it? (How to survive?/How to be true to yourself?/What’s most important to you?/How to fulfill your needs?/What’s needed of you?)
Share your answers with your classmates.
In Class Writing Part 2: Come up with 5 titles for your story and post to your blog. Come up with 5 titles for each of the classmates’ stories that you peer reviewed last week and post to their blog as a comment under the second draft of their essay. Approve your classmates’ comments on your blog.
Homework for Wednesday, 10/30: Complete a Venn Diagram for your ikigai.
The deadline for essay 2 has been extended to Tuesday, November 5. Happy Halloween. 🎃
Give peer feedback for two classmates’ papers using Google docs.
Copy and annotate on their document, commenting on what you think they did well and on what you think they could improve (put in “Suggesting” mode so they can see any edits you make in the document).
Be sure to share the Google doc you commented on and your rubric evaluation with me (jspencerlevy@pima.edu) and with the author, so I can give you credit for your in-class work and so they can use your feedback to help them write and revise their final draft.
Homework for Tuesday, 10/29: Finish peer reviews if you need more time.
Looking forward: Final drafts of Essay 2 are due next week on Thursday, October 31 by 12:45 p.m. to D2L and posted to your blog. We’ll start Unit 3/look at the Essay 3 prompt that Thursday.
WRT 101S 