ENGLISH II OCTOBER 1, 2012

1. ENGLISH IIOCTOBER 1, 2012 Drop off “Everyday Use” worksheet on the stool before class begins! No warm-up today; instead there will be a cool-down. Right now, get out a piece of paper to take notes.  Call these notes “Essay Format Notes.”

2. REMINDERS • Homework: Tuesday, we will take an IN-CLASS essay test! Tonight, write a rough draft (using the handout provided AND the sample essay) to that you can use on your actual essay test! • Tomorrow, you will need… (write this down if you think you’ll forget): • The notes you’ll take today • The sample essay (which I will give you today) • Rough draft (tonight’s homework) • Textbook • A pen (no pencil) • You can use ANYTHING YOU NEED to write your essay in-class. The more you prepare, the better you’ll do!

3. STANDARDS Writing Strategies 1.3: Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples.

4. ESSAY TIME! • This week, you will be writing your very first essay on a piece of literature! • In the following notes, I’ll give you the format to follow for this essay (and most essay you’ll write in this class). You will need to use these notes on Monday, so make sure that you take good, clear notes!

5. WRITING RULES • For the next two days, we’ll take notes that will help you with your essay. Here are some writing rules to use in essays: 1) Do not use “I,” “me,” “my,” or “myself” in your essay. 2) Do not use “you” in your essay. Use “we” or “us” instead. 3) NEVER start a sentence with a quote. you must lead into the quote with your own words. WRONG: “She will stand in corners, homely and ashamed.” (Walker 505). RIGHT: For example, at one point in the story, we hear that Maggie “will stand in corners, homely and ashamed.” (Walker 505). 4) After a quote, include an in-text citation right after. An in-text citation includes the author’s name and page number in parenthesis, like this: (Walker 505)

6. TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS • Most essays about texts are 5-paragraph essay. • The first paragraph is the Introduction • The next three paragraphs are all Body paragraphs • The last paragraph is the Conclusion. • YOUR first essay (this one) will be a 4-paragraph essay: 1= Intro., 2-3 = Body paragraphs, 4 = Conclusion

7. INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH • (HOOK): make a shocking statement, ask an interesting question, or present a catching scenario related to the story. • Do not even mention the story’s title or characters yet. • (EXPLAIN): Explain why you gave this statement, question or scenario and how it relates to the story. • (BRIDGE): find a way to link your hook to your thesis (if you’re talking about literature, mention the actual name of the story here). • (THESIS): make a statement that addressed the prompt and mentions what you’ll prove in the rest of your essay. For this prompt, you want to mention, a) the story’s name, b) the tone, c) who that tone is towards, d) that imagery and diction prove tone.

8. BODYPARAGRAPHS 1) TOPIC: Mention what you’ll prove in the rest of the paragraph (here, mention that either diction or imagery proves a ___________ tone towards ___________ in the story) 2) EXPLAIN: Explain/expand upon something your topic sent. 3) EVIDENCE: Give an example from the book (quote) to prove your point. Lead into this evidence before quoting from the story. Don’t forget your in-text citation after. 4) EXPLAIN: Explain how you interpret this textual evidence and how it proves what you’re trying to prove (i.e. the mother’s tone). 5) EVIDENCE: Give a second example from the book (lead into the quote and give an in-text citation). 6) EXPLAIN: Explain how your second example proves your thesis statement (again, lead in to your quote). 7) WRAP-UP: Summarize what your two examples prove.

9. CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH • RESTATE: Restate your thesis statement in different words. • REVISIT: Revisit some of the evidence you gave in your essay and what all of this essay proves. • APPLY: Apply these ideas to the real world (i.e. why is this info. important to know this in the real world?). • CONCLUSION: State what lesson/main idea we (the readers) should learn from the story and/or from your essay. (Leave them with a deep idea to think about that connects to tone).

10. WRITING REVIEW • Reading essays that are written correctly and using them as examples as you write your own essay is one big but easy step to help improve your own writing. • Let’s read over the sample essay (which is written exactly how you should write your essay on “Everyday Use”)

11. ESSAY • Now, let’s look over the essay prompt to see what you will write about… “In order to help readers understand how the narrator feels, writers of fiction usually use very specific words and images. In the short story “Everyday Use,” what is the narrator’s tone towards either Maggie or Dee based on diction, and imagery used throughout the story?”

12. ESSAY FORMAT GUIDELINES • After receiving a writing prompt, you first should: • Figure out what you are being asked to do. • Find out what each of your two body paragraphs (your three main points) will be about. • Make sure you have at least two examples from the text to support each of these two main points (2 body paragraphs). • Write a thesis statement that answers the questions on the prompt by including the two main points that you will be discussing. • Next, organize your essay into four paragraphs. Follow this format for any literature-based essay.

13. IN-TEXT CITATIONS • Review your “Everyday Use” chart. Decide whether you have better diction and imagery to prove the mother’s tone towards Dee, OR better diction and imagery to prove the speaker’s tone towards Maggie. • Circle the chart of the daughter that you choose.

14. ESSAY FORMAT GUIDELINES • Use the outline/rough draft format to help you prepare for the essay exam tomorrow. Raise your hand if you need help. • Do not pack up until I tell you to (or you’ll lose participation points). • You have to TRY for me to be able to help you with a sentence.