04 Research // Due the week of Sept. 30, 2015

Hi Everyone!

For homework this week, you will be completing a Works Cited page!

1. Find at least 6 sources (internet web pages, videos, newspaper articles, books, people to interview, etc) that relate specifically to your topic (the topic you wrote your proposal and outline on).  
1. Scan over each source carefully to make sure it will actually help you accomplish the three reasons in your thesis. No need to spend the time citing sources that won't help you!
2. IE: If your thesis is: "Cats are the best animal because they are friendly, cute, and helpful," the following sources wouldn't be useful if they said:
1. Alligators are the best animal. 
2. Cats are the best animal because they are funny.
2. Go to Easybib.com and input all of the needed information that you can find. 
1. Easybib.com will try to input some of the information for you, but usually can't find everything so you need to find pieces like the publisher or the year of publication.
2. Make sure you click the box that says to include the URL in the citation.
3. Make your Works Cited Page in the format you see at the bottom of this post--listing the sources alphabetically using their first letter.
4. Post this page on Google Drive in our class folder.

For sources, keep in mind the following criteria:

1. No Wikipedia or other crowdsourced website (Answers.com, WikiAnswers.com, etc)
2. Make sure it seems well-designed and well-written.
3. Well-known sources are not required, but tend to be more reliable than non-well-known sources (New York Times vs. Bob's Cool News Blog)

03 Persuasive Outline // Due the week of September 23, 2015

Hi Everyone!

This week in class, we reviewed the persuasive essay outline, which looks like this:

1. Introduction
1. Attention-grabber
2. Thesis = Opinion because Reason1, Reason2, and Reason3
2. Paragraph about R1
1. Info
2. Details
3. Evidence
3. Paragraph about R2
1. Info
2. Details
3. Evidence
4. Paragraph about R3
1. Info 
2. Details
3. Evidence
5. Conclusion

For homework, you will write one of these for the topic you chose for your persuasive article. 

Keep in mind:

• You do not need to write out your attention-grabber yet; you can just write "attention-grabber." Same with the conclusion.
• Everything else should be written out.

• For the info, details, and evidence, you can make up evidence as a place-holder for evidence you intend to find once we move onto the research portion of this assignment (next week). 
• For example, if my R1 is:
• Cats are better than dogs because cats are safer than dogs.
• Cats have injured 0 people in the last year, whereas dogs have injured 246.
• Dr. John Doe says, "I see dog bites come in all the time. They're pretty frequent and bad. But I've never seen someone come in from a cat attack."
•  A little boy in the news had a cat save him from a dog attack
• The details above were all things I made up, to save time, but I beileve I'll be able to find research that is at least similar to the above facts when I start my research, so at least now I have ideas of where I want to go with this.
• If you would like to get started on research now, feel free to do so!

• For the details/evidence section, consider the three types of evidence:
• Logos: Logical
• Statistics
• Facts
• Pathos: Personal
• Emotional stories
• Ethos: Expert opinion
• Quotes from experts

So the checklist for the homework is:

• Does it have a well-thought out thesis?
• Each Reason should be able to support a paragraph.
• Does each body paragraph correlate to one of the three Reasons from the thesis?
• Does each body paragraph have at least 3-5 pieces of evidence that I intend to find online?
• Is it typed and posted to Google Drive?

**Normally there will be more homework--but this is a key foundational part and I don't want to rush through it. 

02 Article Proposal // Due the week of September 16, 2015

Hi Everyone!

This week, your homework is to write an article proposal of about 1/2 to 1 page!

An article proposal is 1-2 large pargraphs in which you describe an article (essay) you would like to write for the next assignment. We write proposals before we write the actual article so that your group can check to make sure your article will apply to both the blog topic and the assignment criteria--before you actually spend all of the time writing it!

In your proposal, you will want to include information like:

• What information will go into your proposal?
• Why is this information important?
• Why will your readers enjoy reading your article?
• What research will you have to do to write your article?
• Where will you find this research?
• How long will your article probably be? (At least 2 typed, double-spaced pages for our class)
• Etc

This week, write a proposal for some sort of persuasive essay (that will have research to support it). Remember: a persuasive essay picks an opinion and supports it. A persuasive essay is not a "How to make a sandwich" or an "All about cats" type of essay. If you need more clarification, email me on Engrade! 

When coming up with a topic, be sure to consider your blog subjects. For example: (Feel free to pick the opposing side of these--or your own topic)

• Science blog article opinion might be:
• The US should try to make a colony on Mars
• Everyone should invest in making electric cars
• Smoking is bad for your health
• History blog article opinion might be:
• The US should have gone to war with Germany sooner in WWII
• The Renaissance was the most influential time period in all of history
• Abraham Lincoln was the best president of the United states
• Life of a Middle School opinions could be:
• Everyone should go to our school!
• Middle schoolers should not have smart phones
• Field trips are just as important in middle school as they are in elementary school

Be sure to put your proposals on Google Drive for next week, and email me on Engrade if you have any questions!

01 Pre-Test Essay Writing! // Due the week of Sept. 7, 2015

Hi Everyone!

This week, the homework is to write an essay, but don't let that stress you out too much :)

An essay, for now, is simply a written response to a question. Try to organize it into paragraphs and use the skills you have learned in Writing 1 (wherever that may have been taken). I just want to see what you do or don't know so I can know where to begin with my teaching.

So, in response to one of the three prompts/questions below, spend around 1.5-3 hours writing or write until you feel like you have a finished product about which you feel like you worked your hardest (whichever comes first).

IMPORTANT: You are completely free to make up information for this essay! If you want to say that 92% of kids would drop out of school without art class, go for it!

Be sure to write your essay on Google Drive** and put it into your class folder:

Writing 2 >> Projects: Wednesday/Thursday/Friday >> 01 Pre-Test Essay

and title it with your last name, first name, and writing assignment name (Pre-Test Essay).

If you prefer to write your essay on paper first and then type it up, that is quite alright; just try not to let the extra copying time eat into your 1-2 hours of writing :)

Only pick ONE of the following prompts:

• Pick your favorite subject in school (Math? Art? Lunch? Recess?) and argue why you think this class deserves to be offered in schools—or maybe even why it is the most important subject in school.

• Should schools have more field trips throughout the year to places like museums/zoos/farms/offices/etc? Pick a yes or no answer and explain why or why not?

• Some argue that playing sports in middle school and high school gets in the way of academics (class work) and therefore should not be allowed. Do you believe this is true or not true? Defend your answer in writing.