Grading Analytical Essays

Just to remind you of the the standard criteria I use to assess your analytical essays, I have posted separately the section of the syllabus labeled "How I Grade Essays." You can find it to the right with the links to other handouts that have been posted as Google Docs.  

Homework for Friday, 9/26, and Monday, 9/29

For homework, write one page of the essay that is due next week. You should type it, print it out, and bring a copy to class. You will find the topics below. If you wish to print out the topics, click on the link to the right. 

Topics for Narrative Essay due 10/1 and 10/2

Select one of the topics below for an essay that is due either Wednesday, October 1 (Day 5), or Thursday, October 2 (Day 6).  This essay must be approximately three pages in length. 

As you prepare to write your essay, look over the readings you have liked so far and recall our discussions of their strengths. Especially keep in mind that they employ specific language, use “I” only when absolutely necessary, incorporate dialogue, and have something to say beyond merely telling a story. You should strive to write your essay as though it is being considered for publication in a book like The Eloquent Essay. 

1.  Annie Dillard’s “The Death of a Moth” presents her observation of a moth as an analogy about herself as a writer. Write an essay that describes your observation of or interaction with an object, animal, or person that allows you to draw comparisons between you and you subject.

2.  Orwell’s “The Hanging” tells an anecdote in order to have the reader think about an issue that is of interest to everyone. With “The Hanging” as a model, write an anecdotal essay tha aims to do three things: to tell a very short, plausible story; direct your reader to think about an issue that has meaning for people beyond the narrator of the anecdote (preferably without directly identifying the issue); and plant enough clues along the way to suggest to the reader the attitude you believe he or she should adopt toward that issue.

3. Using Steinbach’s “The Miss Dennis School of Writing” as a model, write an essay that pays tribute to a person who has strongly influenced you.  Your essay should include some details of that person’s life.  In addition, the essay should clearly describe that person’s appearance, mannerisms, sayings, and impression on others.  The ideal essay will also show your interaction with this person and clearly explain what you learned from him or her.

4.  Following Iyer’s “In Praise of the Humble Comma,” write an essay that praises an object that is well-known and frequently used, but is nonetheless underappreciated. Realize, as you write the essay, that you are essentially redefining this object for your reader. That is, you must write about this object in a way that no one previously considered. In the ideal essay, the writing style will suit the subject matter, much as Iyer’s exaggerations were suitable to elevating the status of the “humble comma.”

5.  Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” explores her, and her mother’s, relationship to English. Write
an essay that explores how a person’s use of English influences how others perceive him or her. What does that person sound like? Would you describe his or her English as fractured or limited, or does some other adjective apply? Does that person’s language use limit his or her opportunities? The ideal essay will use that person’s words to capture his or her expressiveness.

6.  Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” describes the obligation of philosopher kings to put their talents in service to society. In contrast, his “Ring of Gyges” story describes the selfish use of a special gift, invisibility. With these ethical contrasts in mind, write an essay in which you describe how you would use a superpower. Which superpower would you want to have? What would you do with it? The ideal essay will identify the benefits and drawbacks of your selected
power, discuss what your choice reveals about you personally, and explore the ethical implications of your power (whether you would use your power selfishly, for the benefit of society, or would you keep it hidden to yourself and not use it much at all).

Revised Homework Wednesday and Thursday

Given the difficulties with reading Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," we will not read Crito, the Apology, and "When Free Speech Was First Condemned." Instead, over the next two classes we will focus our attention on the narrative essay that is due next week. Therefore, for class on Wednesday and Thursday, I want you to select one of the in-class writing exercises that you have started and try to turn it into a polished piece of writing. You may write it in your journal or you may type it up; it doesn't need to be more than a page or two pages in length. Whichever piece you decide to revise for next class, you are not obligated to make that the essay you turn in next week. 

As you revise the in-class writing, try to turn it into the first page or two of an essay that could be included in The Eloquent Essay. Pay attention to the narrative voice, descriptions and details, figurative language, dialogue, plot (if applicable), and so on. We will spend our next two classes working on these aspects of your writing.  

For next class, be sure to bring The Eloquent Essay, A Pocket Style Manual, and your journal in addition to your revised in-class writing.

Journal Response and Suggestions for Reading the Allegory of the Cave

Last year with Mrs. Luther, you participated in Socratic Seminars, where you had focused discussions on a variety of issues from your readings. These seminars are named after the main character in your reading for the weekend, Socrates. 

Like I said in class, Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a difficult reading, but I think it can be rewarding, too. The hardest thing to get past is its absence of quotation marks and identification of characters: it's hard to tell who's talking, and when a different character is talking. Let me try to help with that. 

The first "I" in the dialogue (p. 284 of your handout) is spoken by Socrates, Plato's teacher, who is leading a conversation with his students. The response "I see" is given by a student, a man named Glaucon. Each "I said" comes from Socrates; each "he said" refers to Glaucon. Here is a link to a web site that uses the same translation and has Glaucon's responses in bold, which makes it easier to follow. This site, however, stops about halfway through our reading. 

Later in their conversation, Socrates refers to "the State." By this, he means the government, and the conversation he has with Glaucon is part of a larger attempt to figure out the ideal form of government, the ideal state. So here's the topic for your journal response: Why does Socrates tell the allegory of the cave? What is the larger point he is trying to make by telling this story to Glaucon? Could he have made his point more effectively without telling the allegory? Remember, since I have your journals, write or type your response on a separate sheet of paper, and then tape it into your journal after I return it to you.

Enjoy the weekend!

Journal responses for Thursday 9/18 and Friday 9/19

For "Mother Tongue," consider the following question in your journal response: The stockbroker story is comical and the CAT scan anecdote is disturbing, but they both illustrate the same point. What is that point, and why does Tan include both memories in this essay?

For "Lying in the Tall Grasses," consider the following question in your journal response: Writing is often perceived as an intellectual exercise, but Opal Palmer Adisa wants the reader to think of it as something deeper, more visceral. (Click here for a definition of "visceral.") How does she manage to convey that feeling in the opening of her essay?

As you have written for the previous journal responses, your response to each essay should be at least 75 to 80 words for a total of at 150 words.

Journal Responses for Friday 9/12 and Wednesday 9/17

For "The Miss Dennis School of Writing," consider the following questions in your journal response: Miss Dennis urged her students "to tell an interesting story." Whose story is Steinbach telling in this essay? How interesting do you find that narrative?

For "In Praise of the Humble Comma," consider the following questions in your journal response: Why is the comma so important to Iyer? Why does he feel a need to praise it to the rest of the world?

As you did for the previous journal response, your response to each essay should be at elast 75-80 words for a total of at least 150 words. 

What is Annotating?

Annotating is writing comments, questions, and reactions to your readings in the margins of the book or handout. In order to annotate, you have to pay attention to both the reading and your reactions to the reading.

What should you annotate as you read?  Here are some suggestions your classmates offered today: 

• vivid imagery
  
• details and descriptions
  
• the speaker/narrator's emotions
  
• the speaker/narrator's personality (his or her persona)
  
• digressions or tangents that appear in the reading
  
• your questions about the reading
  
• the kinds of words the speaker uses (simple or complex, specific or general, concrete or abstract)
  

You may respond to many other aspects of a reading, but this list is a good starting point.

Homework for Wednesday and Thursday

For Wednesday, the class that met first period must write a letter to me explaining what would be the ideal English class.  It may be formal or informal in tone, but it must take the topic seriously. As I said in class, the letter should be about 250 words in length. (You may either type it or handwrite it; as long as it's neat and presentable, it's fine.) Among the issues you might raise are the the things that worked and didn't work in previous English classes, the reasons why they worked or didn't work, how your attitude contributed to your performance in those classes, how your teachers' methods and attitudes affected your performance, readings you enjoyed or disliked, and so on. 

The sections that met right before and after lunch Monday (E and A blocks) must write a journal response to George Orwell, "A Hanging" and Ellen Ullman, "Space Is Numeric" that answers the following questions.  What is Orwell's purpose in writing "A Hanging?" What is Ullman's attitude toward her work ? Be sure to use evidence from each essay to support your responses.  To clarify, this counts as one entry, and it should consist of at least a total of 150 words for the two responses combined. (This will be the homework for the even-day section.)