St. Johns County School District



Part I: Pre-reading Questions Explain your typical day: How much leisure (relaxing or free) time do you have and how do you spend it? If you had additional free time, how would you spend it? Make a list of the activities you would do: Read the information about the author Anna Quindlen on Page 579. What is/was refreshing about Quindlen’s perspective as a writer at the time that she wrote her columns? Part II: Focus for During Reading Review the information about Argument on Page 579. Complete the following chart as you progress through Anna Quindlen’s article “Doing Nothing Is Something.”Main Claim: We need to allow children to have downtime in the summer. Reason 1: Children are oversheduled.Evidence for Reason 1: A suburb set aside one night free of homework, athletic practices, and after-school events. Reason 2: Evidence for Reason 2:Reason 3: Evidence for Reason 3:Read the information on “Fact” and “Opinion” on Page 579. Keep a chart of Facts and Opinions as they are presented in Quindlen’s “Doing Nothing Is Something.” List at least three of each.Facts present – Copy the textOpinions present – Copy the text1.2.3.1.2.3. During Reading Questions:List moods that are created by the picture on Page 580: What is the effect of the author beginning with the short, abrupt statement: “How boring it was”? You can tell that this essay was written a while ago – “Palm handhelds will be sold in Toys ‘R’ Us.” What would replace the “Palm handhelds” today? What point is Quindlen making when she says these would be sold in a toy store?The fact that “parents have arranged to schedule times for unscheduled time” is an example of irony (Irony is when the opposite of what is expected occurs). What other ironies (or even paradoxes – seemingly contradictory phrases that still express a truth) do you find in the text? Find at least two. Find examples of each of the following in the text:Persuasive TechniqueQuoteImpact/PurposeRhetorical QuestionEthos (Reminder: Ethical appeal or speaker’s credibility)Logos (Logical)Pathos (Emotional)Part III: Post Reading Examine Support: How does the Victor Hugo quotation in lines 173 – 175 support Quindlen’s claim? Be specific.Make Judgments: Quindlen notes that children today are enrolled in soccer leagues, acting classes, music camps, and sports camps – pursuits that may be quite enjoyable. Explain whether you agree with her that such activities do not qualify as “leisure”. Provide your own reasons to support your opinion. Vocabulary in Context. Look back at the terms that are defined throughout the text. Then, complete the exercise on Page 584. Write your answers below:Vocabulary in Context – WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Write your own EDITORIAL. Write a three to five paragraph editorial in which you argue that children reap greater benefits from participating in structured activities. This assignment requires you to write the OPPOSITE side from what Quindlen said! Remember that an Editorial should be an Argument – which a main claim (“children reap greater benefits from participating in structured activities) and with several reasons (generally, your topic sentences/sub claims which are at the beginning of your body paragraphs) as well as support for your reasons (facts, figures, statistics, anecdotes or personal stories, etc.). In addition, utilize persuasive techniques – ethos, logos, pathos; loaded language; rhetorical questions; parallelism; etc. You may plan your editorial below. Then, write the full editorial. PLAN: ReasonsSupport Address CounterargumentsThe Editorial (Note: You may write on your own lined paper and attach it here if you prefer.) ................
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