For your viewing pleasure, my 9-year-old got inspired to draw a picture of Lady Macbeth... above...
In class MONDAY we worked on writing a thesis statement for our Macbeth argumentative essay. Below you will find a bulleted list of things you need to do before you come to class on Tuesday. Beneath that you find a list of things that are due this week. Hopefully, this will help you get a headstart. Remember that there are three steps to writing/honing a thesis statement.
A job well begun is a job half-done. -- Aristotle
TUESDAY, we turned in our SOMEBODY/WANTED/BUT/SO summaries of ACT III - ACT IV is due Wednesday and ACT V is due Thursday. We also moved the date of the typed rough draft from Thursday to Monday. That said, we also went over some techniques that are from the book: My Max Score AP English Literature and Composition, a great resource to help you get the gist of writing critical analyses of literary texts. Four "take-aways":
1. "Tape-recorder flaw" - Your introduction should NOT simply be a restatement of the prompt--even if you do flip words around. You can use the prompt to help guide your introduction, but don't simply restate things.
2. "The Throat-clearer Flaw" - Your introduction should avoid "creative writing" tangents that focus more on the hook than on the actual thesis. Keep your hooks text-focused. If you move too far away from the text, your essay will be considered off-topic. Remember, you aren't trying to prove a theory of moral scepticism or deontic imperativism. You are trying to prove by the text and from the text that Macbeth acted rightly or wrongly--using other informational texts as evidence to bolster your assertions.
3. "The Dump and Run" - Don't just "dump and run." Your introduction SHOULD have a hook, a contextual--yet brief--discussion of the topic, and it should funnel down into a bold assertion (thesis). You shouldn't just drop your thesis on the page and move on.
4. "The Flatterer" - What a great book this masterful writer has amazingly, wonderfully done. What a super good job at NOTHING an introduction like this will amazingly, beautifully, articulately be!
A GOOD INTRODUCTION WILL...
A) stay focused on the text
B) give enough exposition to set up the essay
C) give just enough information to "drive" the essay
To follow the four steps, first: write a "Resolved: _(something arguable)_. Example: Resolved: Macbeth's killing of King Duncan was a murderous act of treason, an act that can never be justified under any moral code of human conduct."
Next, remove the "Resolved" and add a because clause on the end. Example: Macbeth's murder and treachery are examples of heinous acts of human behavior that can never be justified under any standard of moral code because his actions were existentially self-promotional, pragmatically counter-productive, and did not lead to a greater amount of good for a large number of subjects.
Now, remove the "because" and add qualifications -- address your audience's potential objections: example: Although many individuals may attempt to argue from an atheistic point-of-view that Macbeth's actions were completely justified in this dog-eat-dog survival-of-the-fittest world, Macbeth's murderous actions were counter-productive, self-destructive, and morally indefensible no matter what system of ethical behavior one chooses to support. (EXAMPLE.)
* Print out your argumentative rubric here: RUBRIC
* Print out your Essay Handout here: ESSAY HANDOUT - REQUIREMENTS
* Complete your Somebody/Wanted/But/So summaries for ACT III (Check resources page for the text, and here for an example: SOMEBODY/WANTED/BUT/SO - ACT II EXAMPLE. This is due on Tuesday, October 9th!
THE REST OF THE WEEK
* Pre-writing in class on Tuesday/discussion of act III
* Summary Charts of ACT IV due Wednesday (SWBS charts)
* Summary Charts of ACT V due Thursday (SWBS charts)
* Thursday - Typed rough draft due.
* Friday - Test on Macbeth (will incude two "short responses")
- Vocabulary list 7 (will include terms from previous lessons)
ANY QUESTIONS??? Contact me...
In class MONDAY we worked on writing a thesis statement for our Macbeth argumentative essay. Below you will find a bulleted list of things you need to do before you come to class on Tuesday. Beneath that you find a list of things that are due this week. Hopefully, this will help you get a headstart. Remember that there are three steps to writing/honing a thesis statement.
A job well begun is a job half-done. -- Aristotle
TUESDAY, we turned in our SOMEBODY/WANTED/BUT/SO summaries of ACT III - ACT IV is due Wednesday and ACT V is due Thursday. We also moved the date of the typed rough draft from Thursday to Monday. That said, we also went over some techniques that are from the book: My Max Score AP English Literature and Composition, a great resource to help you get the gist of writing critical analyses of literary texts. Four "take-aways":
1. "Tape-recorder flaw" - Your introduction should NOT simply be a restatement of the prompt--even if you do flip words around. You can use the prompt to help guide your introduction, but don't simply restate things.
2. "The Throat-clearer Flaw" - Your introduction should avoid "creative writing" tangents that focus more on the hook than on the actual thesis. Keep your hooks text-focused. If you move too far away from the text, your essay will be considered off-topic. Remember, you aren't trying to prove a theory of moral scepticism or deontic imperativism. You are trying to prove by the text and from the text that Macbeth acted rightly or wrongly--using other informational texts as evidence to bolster your assertions.
3. "The Dump and Run" - Don't just "dump and run." Your introduction SHOULD have a hook, a contextual--yet brief--discussion of the topic, and it should funnel down into a bold assertion (thesis). You shouldn't just drop your thesis on the page and move on.
4. "The Flatterer" - What a great book this masterful writer has amazingly, wonderfully done. What a super good job at NOTHING an introduction like this will amazingly, beautifully, articulately be!
A GOOD INTRODUCTION WILL...
A) stay focused on the text
B) give enough exposition to set up the essay
C) give just enough information to "drive" the essay
To follow the four steps, first: write a "Resolved: _(something arguable)_. Example: Resolved: Macbeth's killing of King Duncan was a murderous act of treason, an act that can never be justified under any moral code of human conduct."
Next, remove the "Resolved" and add a because clause on the end. Example: Macbeth's murder and treachery are examples of heinous acts of human behavior that can never be justified under any standard of moral code because his actions were existentially self-promotional, pragmatically counter-productive, and did not lead to a greater amount of good for a large number of subjects.
Now, remove the "because" and add qualifications -- address your audience's potential objections: example: Although many individuals may attempt to argue from an atheistic point-of-view that Macbeth's actions were completely justified in this dog-eat-dog survival-of-the-fittest world, Macbeth's murderous actions were counter-productive, self-destructive, and morally indefensible no matter what system of ethical behavior one chooses to support. (EXAMPLE.)
* Print out your argumentative rubric here: RUBRIC
* Print out your Essay Handout here: ESSAY HANDOUT - REQUIREMENTS
* Complete your Somebody/Wanted/But/So summaries for ACT III (Check resources page for the text, and here for an example: SOMEBODY/WANTED/BUT/SO - ACT II EXAMPLE. This is due on Tuesday, October 9th!
THE REST OF THE WEEK
* Pre-writing in class on Tuesday/discussion of act III
* Summary Charts of ACT IV due Wednesday (SWBS charts)
* Summary Charts of ACT V due Thursday (SWBS charts)
* Thursday - Typed rough draft due.
* Friday - Test on Macbeth (will incude two "short responses")
- Vocabulary list 7 (will include terms from previous lessons)
ANY QUESTIONS??? Contact me...