"Sinners" Rhetorical Analysis

Today, we began a rhetorical analysis of the sermon. Click here to download the sermon. Your job is to write a paragraph of 8-10 sentences explaining how Edwards appeals to his audience's fear while delivering the sermon. You can use all of your class notes to successfully complete this assignment. It is due on Tuesday when you walk in to class. Late assignments - even if they're just five minutes late - get 20 points taken off.

Things to consider before you write:

• What were the Puritans afraid of?
• What did they value? How did they live their lives?
• What could the preacher possibly have said that would have made them afraid?

Things to consider as you write:

• Consider using different synonyms for fear.
• Consider varying your analytical verbs. Instead of saying "this quote shows," try one of the verbs in the image below. For example:
• Edwards reveals...
• Edwards' repetition of the word "quote" emphasizes...
• Edwards illustrates hell by including details such as....
• Remember to use arrows, not bombs. Choose small quotes with powerful, important language.

MLA Review

Block Day: Rhetoric Notes and Continued Rhetorical Analysis of "Sinners"

We started Wednesday/Thursday by finishing our emotional appeals graphic organizer. Click here to read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathon Edwards.

Then, we took some notes about Rhetoric. Some of this information is new, some is not. Below is the presentation from class. We went through the powerpoint and took notes on this handout.



After completing the notes, we went back into the text of "Sinners" and found examples of every rhetorical device from the notes. If you didn't finish finding all the rhetorical devices, you need to do this before class on Friday.

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

Today, we read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathon Edwards. This document is an excerpt of the 6-hour sermon he delivered in July of 1741.

We read the sermon and started a rhetorical analysis. Edwards' whole purpose for writing and delivering this sermon was to scare his fellow Puritans into reforming their ways and being stricter with their religion. To scare them, he repeatedly calls them "sinners" and discusses the various ways in which he believes God is going to condemn them to an eternity in hell. It's pretty bleak, to be honest.

Appealing to your audience's emotions is one way to get your point across, and Edwards did this by appealing to their fear, pity, and guilt. We used this emotional appeals worksheet to find examples of Edwards' use of emotional appeals, which we also call pathos.

Puritan Background Notes and "Upon the Burning of our House" by Anne Bradstreet

Today, we started studying Puritan literature.  As we start to learn about the Puritans and their literature, you will see that they were very religious. As a consequence of that, you'll notice that our academic vocabulary for this unit will be a bit different than we're used to. We are studying the Puritans, and because religion is something they valued, you will notice we're going to be using a lot of religion-related words. Under normal circumstances, we do not usually discuss religion at school. In English III, we study American literature, and some of the first English-speaking people to populate North America were the Puritans.

Here are the notes from today:



Click here to download the student notes for this presentation.

After we took notes, we read "Upon the Burning of Our House" by Anne Bradstreet and we paraphrased it together.

Homework: Answer the question on the back of the poem handout. Read the poem and think: What did the Puritans value? Cite 2-3 short pieces of text evidence in your answer.

Due when you walk into class on Tuesday.

Vocabulary Quiz #1

We took vocabulary quiz #1 today. If you were absent today, come to tutoring to make up this quiz.

Test Review Answers

Click the link to see the answers to the test review: Test Review Answers

Academic Writing Unit Test Review

To download a copy of the test review, click here. I will be posting the test review answers at 3pm today!

Vocabulary Unit 1

Today, we started our first vocabulary unit. The quiz will be on Friday, August 23, 2019. The quiz will have 15 questions. Here is the format of the quiz:

• 10 questions - sentences where you pick the correct vocabulary word from the word bank (multiple choice)
• 3 questions - write synonyms for three of the given words (not multiple choice; you have to remember the synonym)
• 2 questions - write a sentence for two of the given words (not multiple choice)

Consider using the Quizlet for Unit 1 to study the words!

Here are the vocabulary notes from Monday's class:

MLA "Bobby Hill" Essay Annotations

In class Friday and Monday, we looked at some sample MLA essays. All of these are essays that were turned in to the English III team over the last few years. I changed all of the student names to "Bobby Hill" out of regard for student privacy. Click the link below to click through a folder of all of the corrected/annotated Bobby Hill essays. Consider reviewing these before the test on block day this week:

Annotated Bobby Hill Essays

Introduction to MLA and APA Formatting

In the last blog post, I posted the information for MLA formatting.  On block day of this week, we reviewed MLA formatting, and then we looked at some of the differences between MLA and APA formatting. All of your English classes use MLA formatting, whereas the social sciences (like psychology) use APA formatting. Therefore, I want to expose you to both formats, but I will only be testing you on the MLA format.

To understand the differences between MLA and APA, we watched the following video and took notes. Click here to download today's handout. The handout goes right along with the video in the same order.

Here's the video:

After the video notes, there's a Scavenger Hunt to complete with the Purdue Owl website. The written directions on the handout should contain all the information you need to complete this assignment.

Academic Writing Notes

We're starting this year by studying academic writing. The first topic in this unit is understanding the difference between formal and informal writing and knowing when to use them.

Here's the handout: Academic Writing Notes and Practice

The first part of the handout requires you to watch a short clip and take notes about the differences between formal and informal writing. Click here to watch the video.

The next pages contain several practices on the topic. There's a list of informal words (like wanna and gonna) and you're supposed to write down a formal version of these words.

For example:

• wanna = want to
• brung = brought

After that, there are some practice emails to write in formal writing. Remember that if you are writing an email to an adult female and you don't know whether or not she is married, you can address her as "Ms." in writing.

Here are the notes you need to finish the MLA Formatting pages:

Welcome to English III!

Welcome to my class! Today in class, you received the class syllabus with my rules, expectations, and procedures, and a calendar for the first quarter. You also received a letter to your parents/guardians with a copy of the honesty contract attached to it.

If you need extra copies of any of these documents, click the hyperlinks to download a copy.

Here's the presentation we looked at today during class:



Things you can do to get set up for a successful year:

1. Sign up for Remind messages. Directions are in the class syllabus document.
2. Enroll in my TurnItIn.com classroom. Directions are in the class syllabus document.
3. Read the whole syllabus and honesty contract. Sign the honesty contract; have your parent/guardian sign the honesty contract. Turn in the honesty contract with signatures for your first daily grade! Signatures are due on Friday.

I am excited to have you guys as my students! Welcome to a wonderful year of English III!