Questions for "Not Very Giving" by Robert Reich, The New York Times, September 2013

1. Give some examples of the extravagant donations that have been made by families to schools in the Hillsborough school district.
2. What have these gifts enabled the school district to do? How might this give these students an advantage?
3. What would you infer the word "anomaly" in paragraph 5 means? How do you know?
4. How does the East Palo Alto district differ from the Hillsborough school district?
5. What would you infer the word "pernicious" in paragraph 8 means? How do you know?
6. What does it mean when the author states, "the policies that govern private giving to public schools seem perverse"?
7. According to the author, what can we do to improve the "upside-down system of charity"?
8. What is the author's claim? Hint: look towards the bottom of page 2 for help. Explain your reasoning using a minimum of two textual examples from this article as support.

“GOSPEL OF WEALTH”--if you finish early

“GOSPEL OF WEALTH”
Author: Andrew Carnegie; Source/Publisher: North American Review (Swarthmore); Date: June 1889
Text Notes: Considered one of the wealthiest and most charitable people in history, Andrew Carnegie retired in 1901 at age 66 with a net worth of nearly ten times that of Bill Gates. By the end of his life, he had given away 90% of his wealth. In this seminal argument, Carnegie proposes that the philanthropy of the ultra rich should be a thoughtful and careful redistribution of their wealth. He admonishes against bequests to heirs because they do not serve either the poor or the person receiving the unearned wealth, while at the same time contending that taxing the rich for the purposes of the poor simply keeps the poor in their condition and robs the wealthy of their duty and privilege to make a difference in the world with their wealth.

As you read think about the following questions:
What is the author’s personal relationship to the topic? How does this influence the author’s perspective?

Text-Dependent Questions:
1. How does Carnegie argue that socio-economic improvements for the rich have improved the lot of the poor? How have they harmed it?
2. How does paragraph 7 help establish a background for Carnegie’s argument? What does the paragraph tell the reader about Carnegie’s own perspective? To what economic system does he apply the word “civilization”?
3. Describe the three modes by which wealth can be disposed of. Which of these does Carnegie propose as “a reign of harmony?”
4. How does Carnegie’s view of “indiscriminate charity” support his position for wise philanthropy? How does this view support his claim that “the best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise?”

Midterm

MIDTERM DIRECTIONS: (It doesn't matter which order you go in--your choice)

• Please do not write on test booklets!!! I will provide post-its for those who want them.
• You may answer your multiple choice on paper (not in the booklet) or on the online quiz page if you want your results immediately.

Part I: Essay: Please read the directions in your test booklet for the essay. It may be typed or handwritten--it is up to you. But, I want you to take a piece of paper AND WRITE DOWN WHERE IT IS (DROP BOX, EMAIL) AND PLACE IT IN THE BOX FOR YOUR PERIOD.

Part II: Multiple Choice: Please read the directions in your test booklet for EACH QUESTION. Either hand write your answers or input on the quiz page under MIDTERM.

"Eveline"--J. Joyce
"Duty--that's to say complying"--A. Clough

Interesting...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/01/19/richest-global-wealth/21983443/

You can definitely use this for your research paper if you want to!

Notes on Argument, Persuasion, Claims, etc. to help with your essay

Links to help you:
Claims and counterclaims
Persuasion vs. Argument Example
Persuasion vs. Argument vs. Opinion Chart

PLEASE USE TODAY TO CATCH UP ON ANY WORK YOU MAY OWE!

Claim Sheets and Questions on: (See older posts for details)

1. "At the Center of the Debate of Food Stamps"

2. "Don't Give Money to Beggars"

3. "Wealth Inequality in America"

4. "The Duty of Hope"

5. "The Why and How of Effective Altruism"

Remember Next Week:

Tuesday/Wednesday: Midterm

Thursday: Guest Speaker

Friday: Nelson Mandela "Poverty Speech" Work Day (claims, questions, midterm extra-time)

Friday 1/30: Work day (claims, questions, midterm extra-time)

Notes on Argument/ "The Why and How of Effective Altruism"

"THE WHY AND HOW OF EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM"  
Author: Peter Singer
Source/Publisher: TED talks; Date: March 2013
Text Notes: World-renowned ethicist, Peter Singer argues that people have a moral obligation to give as many resources as possible to as many suffering people as possible in order to effect the most change for the good. In the same sense that one should (and would) do as much as humanly possible to assist an injured child directly in front of us, so ought one do as much as possible to help a starving child in abject poverty – and in some circumstances, we ought to do more for the child who is not directly in front of us. He further contends that this assistance should not only be increased in volume but also in effectiveness – here, he coins the phrase "effective altruism." In typical utilitarian sequence, Singer compares dilemmas in which good can be maximized for the greatest number – provide one American blind person with a $40K seeing-eye dog, or cure up to 2,000 people of blindness in a developing country with a procedure that costs no more than $50 per person. "I think it’s clear what’s the better thing to do."

**I would advise you to take notes either onto a claim sheet or on paper as you watch
IF THAT IS TOO HARD, THERE IS A LINK FOR A TRANSCRIPT ON THE WEB PAGE

(ALTRUISM--or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others)

 Text-Dependent Questions:

1. How does Singer’s example of two-year-old, Wang Yue, set the stage for his argument? How does this help Singer set up the question of what is "morally relevant"?

2. What evidence does Singer present to support his claim that it is better to spend your resources helping others than on non-essential material goods? How does he organize his evidence?

3. How does Singer’s appeal to reason and logic support effective altruism?

4. Singer points out a phrase on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website: "All lives have equal value." How does Singer incorporate values into his argument? To whom will they appeal?

5. What argumentative premises and evidence does this text provide that influence your understanding of or perspective on the issue/problem of immigration and immigration policy in the US? 

Please complete the following assignments today:

1. Complete your claim notes for the video from yesterday “Wealth Inequality in America”—I have some notes on the blog if you need help.

2. Complete the short-answer questions for “Wealth Inequality in America” that are on the blog (yesterday’s post)

3. Read “The Duty of Hope” by George W. Bush (look under the links for research texts on the left)

4. Complete another claim sheet for “The Duty of Hope”

5. Complete the short-answer questions for “The Duty of Hope”

Answers to the questions need to be handed in separately--not on the claim sheet!! They are graded as assignments!

TOMORROW-Guidance in! PLEASE BRING YOUR SS NUMBER!!

THURSDAY- Video/claim sheet/questions “Why and how of…”

FRIDAY-“Catch up day”

Monday—OFF MLK

Tuesday/Wed—MIDTERM EXAM GRADE 12

Notes from the Video on Wealth Inequality in America

Author’s Debatable Claim – an opinion that is a matter of personal experience and values that must be backed up with evidence. Others can disagree with this claim. Also known as an opinion.

*We need to wake up and realize that the reality about the wealth distribution in America is not at all what we think it is.*
Author’s Evidence- personal experience, confirmed facts, reasons, expert research, and statistics that directly relate to and support a debatable claim.

• Study done by a Harvard business prof./economist surveyed 5,000 Americans and most (92%) were pretty far off about wealth distribution
• Wealth in America was 54 trillion dollars in 2009
• Reality: 15% are below poverty line, middle-class “barely distinguishable” from the poor
• Poorest “don’t even register” on the chart while the wealthiest 2-5% are off the chart
• 1% of pop. has 40% of the nation’s wealth, this has tripled in last 30 yrs.
• Bottom 80% has 7% of nation’s wealth
• Top 1%  own 50% of stocks, bonds, mutual funds
• Bottom 50%, owns 0.5% of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
• CEO makes 380x more than average worker
• It takes the average worker 1 month to earn what he earns in an hour

Elements of Persuasion used by the author (appeals):

By using a study by a Harvard professor it presents someone who is a reliable source

Used lots of statistics (must cite these)

Tries to give you information that would surprise you, make you angry, bad

Appeals to your sense of patriotism “American Dream”

Analysis/Conclusion:

This author/presenter makes people upset about the wealth distribution in America and wants you to “wake up” and realize what is going on here

Wealth Inequality in America/The Duty of Hope: Articles for the next 2 class periods

For each of the following articles/videos you will answer the questions below using the RACE strategy (for the video paraphrasing may be necessary, but take some notes on the video). Then, you will complete a claim sheet for each (2).

“WEALTH INEQUALITY IN AMERICA” (Monday)
Author: NA; Source/Publisher: YouTube.com; Date: November 20, 2012
Text Notes: This video illustrates in various graphic demonstrations the reality of America’s wealth distribution. The content dispels myths and delineates between the ideal, perceived, and real wealth of Americans. Note: this video highlights wealth distribution and not income distribution.

Text-Dependent Questions 
1. In what ways is the reality of wealth distribution in American different from what we think it is?
2. How does the total wealth, respective of our economic system (capitalism vs. socialism) of the United States influence how we think it should be distributed?
3. What evidence does this video provide that influences your understanding of the issue of poverty, and how or whether society should work to address the problem? In what ways?


“THE DUTY OF HOPE” (Tuesday)
Author: President George W. Bush; Source/Publisher: Houston Chronicle, Texas on the Potomac blog;
Date: July, 22 1999
Text Notes: This speech was delivered by then Governor Bush of Texas to an audience of inner-city clergy in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the first campaign speech of his successful campaign for US President. He introduces “Compassionate Conservatism” as his platform, proposing federal funding initiatives to increase the sustainability and scale of faith-based and community based organizations as social catalysts for change

Text-Dependent Questions 
1. What reasons does President Bush give for turning to faith-based initiatives to solve social problems?
2. In what ways does America’s prosperity influence its social responsibility?
3. What evidence does this text provide that influences your understanding of the issue of poverty, and how or whether society should work to address the problem? In what ways?

Note worksheets for identifying author's claims in non-fiction...

Completed Claim notes for the first two articles: Note these are not perfect, they are just an example. There are a couple extra blanks at the bottom for you to use.

Extra Blanks: Worksheet Template

Argument Notes/Assignment "Don't Give Money to Beggars": Group Work Assignment

What a Claim Is:

*A claim is the main argument of an essay. It is probably the single most important part
of an academic paper. The complexity, effectiveness, and quality of the entire paper
hinges on the claim. If your claim is boring or obvious, the rest of the paper probably
will be too.
*A claim defines your paper's goals, direction, scope, and exigence and is supported by
evidence, quotations, argumentation, expert opinion, statistics, and telling details.
*A claim must be argumentative. When you make a claim, you are arguing for a certain
interpretation or understanding of your subject.
*A good claim is specific. It makes a focused argument (MTV's popularity is waning because it no longer plays music videos) rather than a general one (MTV sucks).

(https://depts.washington.edu/owrc/Handouts/Claims%20Claims%20Claims.pdf)

Today's Assignment:
"Don't Give Money to Beggars"
Vocabulary: Write down the sentence(s) from the text where it appears
cynical/cynicism
lucrative
burden
decisive
prompt
vast 
elicit

Answer the following 3 questions:
1. What is the author's claim? Be specific. How do you know? (use textual evidence to support)
2. What evidence does he give? What type(s) of evidence are used? Is some evidence better than others? Why? (use textual evidence)
3. How does the author attempt to persuade you to believe he is correct? (this doesn't mean give the same evidence from #2, but look at that evidence and think about what he wants you to do/think about/, how/why does he think this evidence will persuade you)

Research Paper

DEFINITION OF TERMS USED IN THIS UNIT

Area of Investigation: a particular theme, question, problem, or more focused sub-topic within the general topic that warrants investigation.

Inquiry Question: questions posed by researchers about their areas of investigation to be answered through inquiry.

Inquiry Path: groups of inquiry questions developed to guide investigation. Each Inquiry Path has a name or title that is the theme of the group of questions. It can also be a more general question that summarizes the specific questions within the group.

Research Frame: a written document comprised of the topic, the area of investigation, the Inquiry Paths and all the inquiry questions within each Inquiry Path. It is the tool that will guide the student throughout the research process.

Research Portfolio: the binder or electronic folder where students physically or electronically store and organize all the material related to their personal research.
Research Plan: a document presenting the strategic process students follow to guide them through the various stages of inquiry.

Topic: the general topic chosen for class exploration.

Topic Resource Repository: a repository of information on a topic including a general description, possible areas of investigation, source locations and model sources provided by OE to facilitate and support teaching and learning of the research process.
------------------------------------------

On the Edge of Poverty—At the Center of a Debate on Food Stamps: Sheryl Stolberg

1.      What is the author’s purpose in beginning this article with the descriptions of Dustin Rigsby and Darnisha Adams?

2.      Looking at the sentence and any context clues you can find, what would you infer the meaning of the word “revamp” means?

3.      What irony does the author give the audience in her portrayal of Rep. Stephen Fincher?

4.      What does Rep. Fincher mean when he says, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat”?

5.      According to the article, what is “food insecurity”?

6.      Looking at the sentence and any context clues you can find, what would you infer the meaning of the word “acute” means?

7.      Describe what Maura Daly means when she states, “hunger is often invisible?”

8.      Describe what SNAP is and what it does.

9.      Describe some of the negative experiences the people in this article that use food stamps deal with.

10.  What are the potential effects if House Republicans succeed in cutting $40 billion more in food stamps over the next 10 years?

11.  Describe the two opposing positions in this passage: Who is on each side and why do they hold that position?

12.  Which side do you believe the author is on (if any side at all)? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

13.  Which side do you believe is right? Support your answer with any real-life experiences or prior knowledge of the subject you may have, as well as the information you just read in this article.

14.  What do you think the author’s purpose in writing this article was? What did she want to do? Inform, persuade, etc. Support your answer with details from the text.

15.  What elements of argument persuasion can you identify in this article? Support your claims with textual examples and explain.

A Raisin in the Sun WEB QUEST

If you have never done a "web quest" before, it is basically clicking on links to different articles to find important information you need for a certain topic. So for our web quest (Mrs. London page), you will:

First, click on the link for the directions: A Raisin in the Sun Web Quest
Second, decide how you will be answering your questions: either in a Word Doc./Google Doc or on plain old paper
Third, click on the links to the articles and videos needed to answer the questions in Sections #1-6. (the last video will not work but it is not needed). Please CLEARLY LABEL the sections (example below).

YOU MUST USE YOUR RACE STRATEGY WHEN POSSIBLE FOR ALL QUESTIONS:
RESTATE
ANSWER
CITE (TRY TO DO YOUR BEST OR PARAPHRASE FOR VIDEOS)
EXPLAIN

*Note: If you cannot hear the videos, leave them for last and we can watch them together at the end.

Your paper should look like this:



Your Name

Mrs. Caccamise

English IV

5 January 2015

                                                  A Raisin in the Sun Web Quest

Section 1:
Lorraine Hansberry may have been inspired to write A Raisin in the Sun by many things including...

Section 2:

etc......