Week 6

Monday, September 27

Before class, READ & LISTEN:

• My Announcement.
• Read Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” 
• Listen to “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
  • Note: there are different version of this text’s title.
  • Also note that the text is longer than the audio version–so don’t just listen to the version produced by NPR!

Before class, review this RESOURCE:

• Washoe School District, “The Quote Sandwich”

During and after class, we will WRITE: 

Responding to Douglass

• Write a Post titled Full Name, Responding to Douglass; post it under Introductory Work, in which you do the following (approximately 200-250 words):
  • Having read and listened to Douglass’s speech, what do you believe he is arguing? Write a short summary of what he is saying.
  • Now, pick two quotations from the text where Douglass helps his listeners understand the problem he is making visible. Use the “The Quote Sandwich” technique when you initially quote.
    • Quote the passage/lines using proper MLA citation formatting (be sure to quote accurately). Use the “quote sandwich” method.
    • Paraphrase the quote (put it in your own words).
    • Explain how this quote helps Douglass to illustrate his argument.

In your response, use the following format:

Quote 1:

Paraphrase:

Response:

Quote 2:

Paraphrase:

Response:

• Hit “reply” to the Discussion Question “Douglass’s Writing Strategies”: Describe one of Douglass’s writing strategies that gets your attention. Explain what he is doing and why it caught your attention. (Remember: for the Unit 1 Assignment, you will be writing your own speech or letter.)
• BOTH assignments are due by class time on Wednesday, September 29.

Wednesday, September 29

Before class, READ & WATCH: 

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (A.O.C), “I am Someone’s Daughter too”
  • FYI: I copied the text and recording on a document, and placed it in the Course Profile.

During and after class, we’ll WRITE: 

Pick a Model & Organize Your Ideas

• Decide on whether you are going to write a letter or a speech for your chosen audience.
• Now, review the relevant models. If you are writing a speech, review Young, A.O.C., and Douglass. If you are writing a letter look at the text by Wollstonecraft.
• Imagine you have met someone who is outside your discourse community. You want to convince them of the importance of the issue you’ve identified.
  • Set a timer and spend 20 uninterrupted minutes writing what you would say about your issue or problem. (This is a freewrite, so you don’t have to worry about perfect grammar or complete sentences– just get your ideas down!)
  • Include all the details you can think of related to this issue or problem:
    • Who is affected and how?
    • What are some of the effects of this problem? Give examples.
    • Also include other important and relevant information to help someone on the outside of your discourse community see and understand the problem.
    • Who are the people with power who could help to create change?
  • After twenty minutes, read through and decide what information seems useful and worth using in the letter or speech you will be writing. Also, think about how you will lay out your argument; for example, in what order will you deliver the information?
• The above activities are for you to keep and reflect on as you work towards the Unit Assignment (in other words, do not submit the above). 
• Instead, you will write a Post (approx. 300 words). Title it Full Name, Letter or Speech? Post it under Introductory Work. In your post, please share the following:
  • Write a few sentences explaining which model you are choosing (the letter or speech) and why. How do you think this specific genre will help you to make your argument? 
  • Create either an outline or a summary organizing your thoughts. This outline or summary should state your main point and how you will make your argument.
  • This assignment is due by 11:59 PM on Friday, October 1.