College-Now "Finding Your Voice"
College-Now at Murry Bergtraum High School
Ms. D'Amato
Through the reading of several famous writers’ “Why I Write”, students will self –reflect and examine the reasons or motivations of their writing, whether it’s the need to imagine, reason, argue, explain or express emotionally. There is a reason to “Why I write”- the purpose of writing.
Deriving from the purpose of writing, we examine the elements that affect our ways of expression. We will examine the shape, structure and of an essay, and the audience and purpose it addresses to and the element within a powerful paragraph.
From our own opinions on a topic to finding out the experts’ opinions on a topic, we will evaluate information through online research to fit our purpose of writing; we’ll learn how to defend our argument, persuade audiences and refute another point of view.
By reading excerpts of memoirs, we examine moments in our own life and how they have affected our attitude, perspectives and action. We also learn to discern every moment could be dramatic. We also examine people who have affected us and events that have changed us forever. We write freely what choices we might need to make in our life and why. These reading and writing activities will help students generate ideas for personal essays.
Since writing research paper is an integral part of college studies, being able to write a research paper from scratch is an essential component of this course. Students will learn to brainstorm to narrow down the subject to a specific topic to writing an effective thesis statement to defending one’s thesis with convincing argument and proof through research. Through online research, students will learn techniques to identify sources that are not authentic. They will learn to annotate, use their thesis as a critical lens to examine and evaluate information they find; they will learn to evaluate the information for a specific purpose (refute, counter-argue, support, elaborate, persuade, etc.). They will learn to use the transitional words, phrases, or even sentences to connect ideas. They will learn to quote, paraphrase and summarize. Structure of a research paper will be visually introduced and demonstrated.
Researched argument papers remind students that they must sort through disparate interpretations to analyze, reflect upon, and write about a topic. When students are asked to bring the experience and opinions of others into their essays in this way, they enter into conversations with other writers and thinkers. The results of such conversations are essays that use citations for substance rather than show, for dialogue rather than diatribe.
To be able to articulate and communicate ideas clearly and efficiently is essential to one’s strong voice. Therefore, learning to argue and debate is part of the core of this course. Students will discuss a controversial topic and formulate their own opinions and use researched information to support their arguments. They then will communicate their idea to other students who disagree with them and learn to work in teams to convince the audience that their argument is more valid not by personal opinions but through facts and experts’ views. They will also learn the Town hall style of debate.
To sum it all, through this course, students will be more prepared to take on college-credit courses and know the skills to voice their opinions whether it is to express their position on an issue, or argue against a point of view or even tell a personal story. They will become more aware of their voice, point of view, purpose, audience and therefore, learn the art of effective oral and written communication.
This writing course is offered to sophomores ( cohorts of TCN) who are motivated to succeed in high school and move on to college level studies. Through the course, students will learn-
In addition, students will learn to identify and read primary and secondary sources carefully, synthesize materials from these texts in their own compositions, and cite sources using conventions by the Modern Language Association (MLA).To gain the ability to synthesize varied sources (to evaluate, use, and cite sources) is an integral part of this course. Students also learn to evaluate the legitimacy and purpose of sources used.
September:
Class 1 09/09 – Intro: course syllabus review, Why I Write-Intro/Motivation
Class 2:
09/11: A. Intro to the argument paper and conference scheduling
Class 3: 09/16 A. Introduce the argument paper on the topic of –“The Impact of Television on Intelligence and Learning”
Class 4: 09/18
A. Focus on creating an argument that is balanced through the use of counterargument
B. Research online an alternate point of view (POV) from Johnson.
C. Complete a small group webquest activity ( by completing a worksheet with questions that center on the research topic)
D. Each student will present his/her points from the previous assignment.
Class 5 and 6: 09/23& 09/25:
Writing Workshops: Students will spend the next two classes organizing their argument into an outline and writing the first draft.
October:
Class 7: 10/02 Debate Workshop#1:
A: Read and respond to Dave Barry’s articles“We've got the dirt on guy brains” & “Turning Over a New Leaf Blower”
B: Complete the observation sheet on gender differences and similarities in a school setting
Class 8: 10/07 Debate Workshop #2
A: Read five articles(Background Reading) on the subject of Same- Sex Schools or classes; underline pro/con points; indicate “pro” or ” con” points and/or evidence; review annotations (notes); pick the three strongest points on each side.;
B: Complete the “Same-Sex Schools Debate—Pro and Con” worksheet with the title of the source/s.
Class 9: 10/14 Debate Workshop #3
A: Independent background research by using Three Baruch Databases: MasterFile, CQ Researcher, and LEXIS- NEXIS
B: Complete the Background Research Worksheet on the history and examples of Single-Sex Education
Class 10: 10/16 Debate Workshop # 4
A: Familiarize with the debate format and procedure
B: Explain and demonstrate the Debate Elements
C:Practice debate Town Hall Approach
Class 11: 10/21 College Intro: Trip to Baruch
Class 12: 10/23 Debate Presentation
Class 13: 10/28 Modeled Mini Research Paper #1-
A: Preliminary Research-intro to online databases
B: Narrow down to a specific topic
Class 14: 10/30 Modeled Mini Research Paper #2
A: Research Paper - note cards with annotations
B: Generate thesis statement
C: Create an outline
November:
Class 15: 11/06 Modeled Mini Research Paper #3
A: Generate topic sentences and find supporting evidence
B: Citations and sources
Class 16: 11/13 Independent Research #1
A: Preliminary Research
B: Narrow down to a specific topic
Class 17: 11/18 Independent Research # 2
A: Preliminary Research-intro to online databases
B: Narrow down to a specific topic
C: Use online databases to find information on the topic
Class 18: 11/20 Independent Research # 3
A: Annotate articles in note cards
B: Generate thesis statement
C: Gather evidence
D: Create an outline
Class 19: 11/ 25 Independent Research # 4
A: Work on the 1st draft of the paper
B: MLA format
C: Citations and sources
December:
Class 20: 12/02 Independent Research # 5 Writing Workshop on Revision
Class 21: 12/04 Research Paper Presentations
Class 22: 12/09 Personal Essay Workshop #1
Use the excerpt from The Kite Runner and When I Was Puerto Rican as examples to introduce the concepts of social setting, details (of characters, relationships etc) and the scope in personal writing.
Class 23: 12/11 Personal Essay Workshop # 2
A: Use Point of View as a view lens to examine personal situations, feelings and relationships.
B: Consider the POV of other people or institutions and examine reasons why the misunderstanding occurs.
Class 24: 12/16 Personal Essay Workshop # 3
A: Continue their inquiry into a time or a situation when a person or institution misunderstood them
B: Learn to avoid letting their personal feelings about the situation influence the other’s POV and how to maintain objectivity
C: Discuss language choices
Class 25: 12/18 Personal Essay Presentation
Class 26: 12/23 Sharing and Commenting Final Portfolios
Research Paper Conference # 1 (09/17, 09/24, 10/22)
(Preliminary Research, Narrowed Topic, Copies of 4 - 5 sources)
Research Paper Conference #2 (10/29, 11/05, and 11/12)
(completed annotation and note cards)
Research Paper Conference #3 – 11/19, 26, 12/09)
(completed formal outline for editing and review, hand - out works cited page and in - text citation materials)
Final Research conference – 12/10 – 12/17 (1st completed draft due to teacher on 12/02 returned to students with comments during conference)
Course Materials
Final Grade:
20% Independent Research Paper
15% Argument Essay
15% Personal Essay
35% Attendance
15% Oral Debate