We're Baaaaack! Diagramming Review and Body Paragraphs

I hope you had a lovely vacation!  Today we reviewed some sentence diagrams.  We are really jumping right back into it, so time to buckle down!

Homework:

1. Type two body paragraphs for tomorrow.
2. Diagram one sentence for tomorrow.
3. Full, typed, MLA-formatted, rough draft with Works Cited is due Wednesday!
4. Sentence Diagram quiz is Friday.

Today's class - researching!

Today, and all week, we are researching for our persuasive essays and speeches.  For homework, you are expected to continue researching at home.  To do this, save your bookmarks, write down your facts, and email bookmarks back and forth to yourself.

Below are the benchmarks that you must meet by the end of Friday's class.

Places to start:

www.nytimes.com

cnn.com

bbc.com

msnbc.com

bostonglobe.com

time.com

usatoday.com

npr.org

seacoastonline.com

and if you are really stuck...go to news.google.com That's a search engine for news sites. 

Giant List of Topics

Remember, you should have chosen your favorite topic, and two backups!

Persuasive Speech Topics

Choosing a topic:

       You need to choose a topic that you have a strong opinion about.  Look at the questions below:  is there one you can definitely say yes or no to, and feel strongly about?   

       I strongly recommend picking one of the topics from this list.  Some are harder to research than others.  If you propose a topic not on this list, it must:

·     Have been debated in the public recently (last 3 years)

·     Have been reported in the news (local or national) recently

·     Have been approved by Mr. Stowell (don’t ask him until you have found at least one article on it)

Two news sites that I recommend to get started:

www.nytimes.com                                      www.seacoastonline.com

If you print an article from anywhere else, that news site needs to be approved by me, FIRST! 

Other news organizations:

·       BBC.com

·       The Boston Globe

·       CNN.com

Topics

·      Should the town of Stratham pass the teachers’ contract?

·      Should the second floor of the school be completed?

·      Should we eliminate summer vacation?

·      Should we eliminate standardized testing? (NWEA, NECAP)

·      Should New Hampshire repeal the death penalty?

·      Should we be vegetarians?

·      Should the government have more gun restrictions?  31-bullet clip?

·      Should the government do more to prevent illegal downloading?

·      Should the government do more to prevent homelessness, or is it not that big of an issue?

·      Should the hacker groups Wikileaks and Anonymous be arrested?

·      Should the government do more to prevent illegal immigration, or is it too expensive?

·      Should the government have more restrictions on genetically modified food?

·      Are we doing enough to prevent childhood obesity in America?

·      Does homework our school gives cause more harm than good for students?

·      Should we close all nuclear power plants in the U.S.?

·      Should the U.S. have more trade restrictions with China?

·      Should the U.S. immediately withdraw troops from Afghanistan?

·      Is too much of our nation's budget spent on defense?

·      Should we have levels in the middle school?

·      Should the U.S.  modify or repeal N.C.L.B. legislation?

·      Should the U.S. drill in the Alaskan wildlife preserve for oil?

·      Do there need to be more restrictions on oil drilling in the U.S.?

·      Should the U.S. do more to prevent global warming?

·      Should economic sanctions be lifted from Cuba?

·      Should the president do more to close the Guantanomo Bay detention center?

·      Should major agriculture-producing countries stop producing crops for biofuel?

·      Is the Obama administration taking appropriate actions to reverse the recession?

·      Should the U.S. apply more pressure on China for human-rights issues?

·      Should the U.S. do more to coerce China to grant Tibet independence?

·      Should the U.S. put more pressure on Israel to have a peace agreement with Palestine?

·      Is the Obama administration doing enough to protect the environment?

·      Are our schools doing enough to prevent bullying?

·      Should our school start time be later?

·      Should N.H. keep the law allowing gay marriage?  (be careful to keep it fact-based, not opinion)

·      Should we keep the new health care legislation?  "Obama-care"?

·      Should American citizens boycott the sale of S.U.V.'s?

·      Should American citizens boycott Walmart?

·      Should plastic bags be banned in grocery stores?

·      Is the U.S. doing enough to reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons worldwide?  (We just signed a new treaty with Russia)

·      Should people be allowed to own exotic/dangerous pets?

·      Are we, as a nation, doing well enough to educate our students?

·      Is the “Occupy Wall Street” movement a good thing?

·      Should we reelect President Obama?

Persuasive Essay and Speech

Today in class, we discussed some different possible topics and gave an overall view of the Persuasive Speech.

Some helpful facts about the Persuasive Essay:

• Everyone writes a 5-6+ paragraph essay (intro, 3 body paragraphs, rebuttal, and conclusion
• You need to have at least one supporting fact in each of your body paragraphs and rebuttal
• Every fact needs to be embedded, and PQE'd.
• Every fact you use must come from a source that's pre-approved by Mr. Stowell
• EBSCO sources are pre-approved.
• For every other source, you must print out the "About Us" page and be ready to defend to me that they are a legitimate news source.
• Three sources used minimum.
• Each source needs to have a proper works cited entry...use EasyBib!
• Everything needs to be in M.L.A. format...duh.
• You need to use transitions, and have topic sentences that match up with your thesis! 

...And about the speech:

• It needs to be partially memorized, but you may have flashcards, with anything on those flashcards.
• You may have visual aides to put on the projector, but they need to be put into a PowerPoint, have their link included, and you must make verbal references to them in the speech.
• Visual aides do not have to be included, but they do increase (if used properly) the persuasiveness of your speech.
• The speech evaluates your tone, volume, use of facial expressions and body language, as well as eye-contact and overall persuasiveness.
• The speech does not need to be word-for-word like your essay, but can be.
• The speech grade is separate from the essay grade.