Agenda: Week 6

Week 6: Reading Op-Ed/Opinion Essays as Writers

Class Info

• Dates: Thursday, 3/6, Monday, 3/10
• Meeting Info: Meeting Info: 11:30am-12:45pm in room N521

Objectives

• To read op-ed/opinion essays and find mentor texts
• To brainstorm topics for Project 2
• To consider research techniques
• To complete any unfinished work, especially Project 1: Discourse Communities and the reflective cover letter

For Thursday, 3/6

Reading

• Novel: Passing by Nella Larsen

Writing

• take notes and annotate while reading
• Choose a word from any of our texts or course materials and contribute to our ongoing Noticing Words discussion from earlier this semester.

In Class Wednesday, 3/6

• Finalizing Project 1 cover letters

• Passing
• Brainstorm: what are all the things passing means?
  • pass away/death/eternal sleep
  • succession
  • passing a class: succeeding/dominating in the class
  • going through/around
  • pass out papers: distributing, sending it on its way
  • passing a ball
  • pass as someone else/as something you’re not
• Read Chapter 1. What do you notice? how can we group those details?
  • Irene, Clare, Clare’s father, who was abusive and died in a bar fight
  • set in NY (we know from the postmark on the letter)
  • flashback: to their childhood
  • Clare wants to see Irene
  • colors, references to pale skin

For Monday, 3/10

Reading

• Novel: Passing by Nella Larsen, Part One: Encounter
• Op-Ed/Opinion Essay: “What We Are Not Teaching Boys About Being Human” by Ruth Whippman.
• Op-Ed/Opinion Essay: “College Students Have Something to Say. It’s Just Not What You’d Expect” by Jonathan Malesic

Writing

• take notes and annotate while reading
• Add to our Brainstorm Discussion about issues relevant to the audiences we’re aiming to reach that you would want to read about, write about, research

In Class Monday, 3/10

• Group work: Read the following excerpts. What DCs do we recognize in this text, and in our assigned passages? What else stands out as we read these passages? Do we feel included or excluded as we read?
  • p18, “Again she looked up…” to 20 “She couldn’t prove it.”
  • p20, “Suddenly her small fright increased” to bottom of 22
  • p36 “The truth was” to bottom of 38
  • p 43 “But you’ve never answered my question” to 44 “fascination, strange and compelling”
  • p44 “Clare Kendry was still leaning back” to 46 “there was about them something exotic.
• NYT video op-ed: “Greta Thunberg Has Given Up on Politicians”
  • reactions?
  • What is Thunberg’s argument?
  • How does Thunberg support her argument?
  • What is effective/less effective in her opinion piece?
  • What does the multimodal aspect do for her argument?
• What is an Op Ed or an opinion essay?
  • opinionated claim or argument, also includes counterargument, have a point they want to get across, use evidence to support what they want to say. think about how they use information–do they include misinformation or disinformation? is the author truthful, manipulative?
• What topics would make us interested enough to read an opinion essay?
• Helpful resources:
• What is an opinion essay? why write one?
  • to persuade a reader; to get a message across; make an argument;
• Reading op-ed/opinion essays, including “What We Are Not Teaching Boys About Being Human” by Ruth Whippman
• What are the features of the op-ed/opinion essay genre?
  • reason to share an opinion
  • introduction that includes that opinion, what comparison they might make
  • uses specific tone, diction, style relevant to audience and purpose. eg softer language, less trying to change your opinion and more sharing information?
  • includes personal experience, telling a personal story
  • includes facts, refers to experts, refers to data, mentions or links to studies or other research–and does this appropriately for the venue and audience
  • thesis? yes, but maybe not like we’re used to in an academic essay. Might be longer, might be later, and might just be implied
  • title–this might help us understand the argument/main idea
  • counterpoint, rejection of counterpoint
  • desired outcome
  • call to action
• The Op-Ed Project
• Reviewing Project 2 instructions
• What are possible topics for our projects?
• Op-Ed/Opinion Essay: “College Students Have Something to Say. It’s Just Not What You’d Expect” by Jonathan Malesic
• What topics matter to students? what opinion essays would you be interested in reading or writing in a City Tech context?
• Project proposals
  • what topic are you interested in writing about?
  • what is the thesis or argument for your opinion essay?
  • within the City Tech student population, who is your audience?
  • what information will you need to support your opinion?
• Reading opinions in Passing

Photo credit:

“How to be an Optimist (Short guide:)” by Irene Mei via Flickr under the license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Deed