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.
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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......

Characterization "Essay" for RITS-!--100 pts. in the essay portion of your grade/Due no later than end of day Tuesday 12/23

This should be a complete characterization of Walter, meaning:

• you characterize him in all 3 Acts of the play. 
• you should refer to the author Lorraine Hansberry's purpose and craft in characterizing Walter the way she did in your examples (How and why does she accomplish this? What does she want the audience to see/know? How does this change the audience's perception of Walter? How does she want you to feel about him?)
• you should use STEAL method of indirect characterization as well as direct if there is any
• you do not need an introduction and conclusion 
• your TAG (Title, Author, Genre) should be in paragraph #1--if it's not, add it in. 
• you should have adjectives that describe Walter (at least 3)
• you should have TEXTUAL EVIDENCE and citations (Act, Scene) at least 3 (one for each act)
• you should connect the textual evidence to the adjective/quality trait you are proving
• you should have transitions between paragraphs
• you should read it through and edit for spelling and grammar errors

Friday 12/19

Good morning everyone! Please take the time today to do some work--either catch up on the reading if you missed it/work on your characterization paragraphs for Acts II and III--quiz on those acts on Monday! Enjoy your weekend -- or holiday for those taking off early!

Today's Work/Next Week Information

Today:

• Read as much as we can
• Try to finish/work on our characterization paragraphs from yesterday (Act II).

Tomorrow (Friday):

• Write a paragraph(s) characterizing Walter in Act III (what we read today).

Next week:

• I've decided the "test" will more be like a quiz on Acts II and III
• The characterization that we've been working on will be due by Tuesday 12/23 (end of day) (must have at least 1 paragraph from each act: I, II, III)
• Next week we will watch the modern movie/complete any missing work