Advanced Placement English 3



Advanced Placement English 3

Columnist Project

During third quarter, you will be required to choose a partner in your class and together, follow a columnist in a newspaper or magazine. A columnist can be chosen only once per class period—on a first come, first serve basis. You must collect five current (dated January 1, 2015 or later) columns by your author. At the end of this assignment sheet, you will find a list of websites for newspapers and columnists that write for them. All can be accessed in school or at home. You may simply do a search for the name of the specific author or you can check the Editorials or Op-Ed pages of newspapers or magazines. Archives can also be searched, but many publications require payment for articles older than one or two weeks. Therefore, do not let this go until the due date. If you choose a columnist not on the list, please see me to have your choice approved.

The assignment has four parts. Parts I-III are to be done as individuals and will be due on Wednesday, March 11. Each annotated article should have its response stapled to the back; the essay should be stapled separately. You will have six separately stapled items: five articles and one essay. Part IV will be done with a partner. These presentations will begin on Monday, February 2; you will be able to sign up at a later date.

You will need to have a folder on the due date in which to place your five articles and essay.

• Part I. ANNOTATION (50 pts)

Each article must be annotated. Annotate by highlighting, adding notes in parentheses, or colored ink, etc. Use abbreviations and phrases freely. Print or save a clean copy of each article for use during your presentation. Annotate for the following:

o Speaker’s tone

o Rhetorical strategies

o Organizational shifts

o Appeals to logic, ethics, and/or emotion

• Part II. RESPONSE (50 pts)

Type a one-page response (approximately) to each article that includes the following:

o A brief summary of the author’s main point

o The most salient strategies employed by the author

o The article’s effect on you

**Your first annotated article and one-page response are due on Friday, January 23. If we see that you are struggling, we can give you some guidance. We will not check the next four articles and responses; they are due with the final assignment.

• Part III. ESSAY (50 pts)

Write an essay that delineates the following:

o The author’s general focus in columns (e.g. politics, family, arts, sports)

o Two to three of the author’s most often used stylistic devices

o An analysis of the effect of those devices

**The suggested format of this final essay is as follows:

1. Length should be between 2-3 pages and follow MLA format.

2. Works Cited page should include all five articles—in proper MLA format.

3. You should freely refer to the columns as a whole in the body of your essay, for example “the Jan. 14th article about the state of the economy” or “Dog Days.” Presume your reader is looking at your five articles and has read them. Be sure to include specific examples in the body of your essay as you discuss various stylistic devices. We want to be sure you can gracefully incorporate quotations AND that you can reinforce your ideas with textual evidence.

4. This is a formal essay, so you should write in the third person. Remember that this is not an opinion piece; you are simply asked to judge the author’s writing style as either convincing or ineffectual and explain why.

• Part IV. PRESENTATION (25 pts individual; 25 pts group—total 50 pts)

With your partner, you will plan a 50-minute class discussion in order to share

your writer with the class. This activity will meet the course goals of inspiring a high level of critical thinking skills and providing students the opportunity to present in front of a group. Both critical thinking and presenting in front of others are essentially life skills, and this activity will give students an opportunity to exercise both.

Step 1 With your partner, choose ONE column written by your selected author. Run enough copies for your entire class, including the teacher.

Step 2 Read your column carefully and critically. Annotate it. Really STUDY it! After all, you are going to be the expert in front of your peers.

Step 3 Decide which rhetorical strategies and devices apply to the column

Be prepared to point them out and discuss their use and effectiveness with the class.

Step 4 Make a plan to lead/facilitate a class discussion of the article and the rhetorical strategies the author uses to achieve his/her purpose. You must include a PowerPoint presentation as part of your lesson. Plan for a 50-minute class period.

Grades will be given for both individuals and partners. Up to 25 points will be awarded for your participation during OTHER STUDENTS’ presentations. Another 50 points will be awarded for YOUR PRESENTATION—25 points for the pair and 25 points for YOUR part of the presentation. In other words, you are graded as a team as well as individually.

Columnists

The New York Times – (Click on Opinion, then Columnists)

Frank Bruni Gail Collins Maureen Dowd Thomas Friedman Nicholas Kristof Paul Krugman

Charles Blow David Brooks

The Washington Post – (You must register, but it’s free! Under Opinion, scroll down to find list of columnists)

Anne Applebaum Petula Dvorak Kathleen Parker

Michael Gerson Eugene Robinson George Will

The Kansas City Star – (Click on Opinion, then Columnists)

Mary Sanchez

Miami Herald –

Leonard Pitts, Jr.

The Los Angeles Times—

Meghan Daum

The Boston Globe – globe (Click on Opinion)

Derrick Jackson Jeff Jacoby

Scott Lehigh Joan Vennochi

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