Homework
Periods 1 and 2 English 9 - Revisit and add to the Human Rights questions you started last night. Use the knowledge you gained in class to add more depth to your previous responses.
Period 4 English 10 - Tomorrow we will begin Part 3 of Things Fall Apart. Come prepared!
Periods 1 and 2 English 9 - Revisit and add to the Human Rights questions you started last night. Use the knowledge you gained in class to add more depth to your previous responses.
Period 4 English 10 - Tomorrow we will begin Part 3 of Things Fall Apart. Come prepared!
In Class
English 9
Today, students shared the passages they found in chapters 22-24 with their table groups. Each table group then selected the three passages that provided the best evidence of a human characteristic, a violation of a human characteristic, and/or a human characteristic that was protected, enhanced, or developed. Students wrote their passages on the board and then each table group explained their passages to the class while I wrote notes from their explanations on the board. These notes included phrases like inequalities in education and cultural identity as well as words like discrimination, expression, and kindness.
Students also read Eleanor Roosevelt's comments on the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and then worked with their table group to answer four questions about Mrs. Roosevelt's comments. Here is what the students received:
Read the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:
Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The Great Question, 1958
Now, with you table group, discuss the following questions. Each table must have a response for each question and be ready to share their response with the class.
After the discussion (period 2 had a particularly interesting discussion) we read each of the 30 articles from the simplified version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here is that document:
English 9
Today, students shared the passages they found in chapters 22-24 with their table groups. Each table group then selected the three passages that provided the best evidence of a human characteristic, a violation of a human characteristic, and/or a human characteristic that was protected, enhanced, or developed. Students wrote their passages on the board and then each table group explained their passages to the class while I wrote notes from their explanations on the board. These notes included phrases like inequalities in education and cultural identity as well as words like discrimination, expression, and kindness.
Students also read Eleanor Roosevelt's comments on the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and then worked with their table group to answer four questions about Mrs. Roosevelt's comments. Here is what the students received:
Read the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:
Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The Great Question, 1958
Now, with you table group, discuss the following questions. Each table must have a response for each question and be ready to share their response with the class.
- What do you think Eleanor Roosevelt means by "universal rights"?
- Some people feel that universal values or standards of behavior are impossible. What do you think?
- Why do you think the UN chose the word universal instead of the word international when naming the UDHR?
- Paraphrase the final sentence of the quotation. What does it say about individual responsibility for human rights? What do you think Eleanor Roosevelt means by "concerned citizen action to uphold" rights close to home?
After the discussion (period 2 had a particularly interesting discussion) we read each of the 30 articles from the simplified version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here is that document:
udhr_simplified_version.docx |
English 10
The goal for class today was for students to write a rhetorical precis on the Charles Napoleon de Cardi article they read and annotated in class yesterday.
To do this students, worked within their groups to create subtitles for the article. Once each table group came up with their subtitles they wrote them on the board and explained their rationale behind their choice. Next, students worked independently to identify what de Cardi is trying to tell his readers through the article. With the subtitles and identified purpose in hand, students then wrote the rhetorical precis. Because this was the first time most students had written a precis, we took it slow and followed some very specific sentence frames. Here they are:
Rhetorical Precís Sentence One:
“In (name of author)’s (type of work – magazine, book, poem, etc.) (title of work), (name of author)
(rhetorical verb such as: asserts, argues, claims, suggests, …) that (description of author’s thesis/argument).”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Two:
“(Pronoun: He/She/They/The author) supports this (noun version of rhetorical verb – see Sentence One) by (explain the types of evidence the author uses in order of your ¶ chunks).”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Three:
“(Author’s last name)’s purpose (explain your opinion of the author’s purpose).”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Four:
“(Pronoun referring to author) writes in a (adjective describing tone) tone for (identify the target audience).”
Here is an example of rhetorical precis that follows this sentence frame:
Rhetorical Precís Sentence One:
“In Charles Napoleon de Cardi’s article The Demise of an African Businessman: A Short Description of the Natives of the Niger Coast Protectorate, de Cardi asserts that European influence on African society had a negative impact.
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Two:
“He supports this assertion by showing the rise of a slave to a successful businessman, the conflicts palm oil trade created among this successful businessman and his people, and the eventual exile of this businessman from his homeland because he did not meet the demands of the European traders.
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Three:
“De Cardi’s purpose is to create awareness of the exploitation of people within international trade.”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Four:
“He writes in an informative tone for consumers of international products and resources.”
The completed rhetorical precis is written in the form of a paragraph. Here it is:
In Charles Napoleon de Cardi’s article The Demise of an African Businessman: A Short Description of the Natives of the Niger Coast Protectorate, de Cardi asserts that European influence on African society had a negative impact. He supports this assertion by showing the rise of a slave to a successful businessman, the conflicts palm oil trade created among this successful businessman and his people, and the eventual exile of this businessman from his homeland because he did not meet the demands of the European traders. De Cardi’s purpose is to create awareness of the exploitation of people within international trade. He writes in an informative tone for consumers of international products and resources.
The goal for class today was for students to write a rhetorical precis on the Charles Napoleon de Cardi article they read and annotated in class yesterday.
To do this students, worked within their groups to create subtitles for the article. Once each table group came up with their subtitles they wrote them on the board and explained their rationale behind their choice. Next, students worked independently to identify what de Cardi is trying to tell his readers through the article. With the subtitles and identified purpose in hand, students then wrote the rhetorical precis. Because this was the first time most students had written a precis, we took it slow and followed some very specific sentence frames. Here they are:
Rhetorical Precís Sentence One:
“In (name of author)’s (type of work – magazine, book, poem, etc.) (title of work), (name of author)
(rhetorical verb such as: asserts, argues, claims, suggests, …) that (description of author’s thesis/argument).”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Two:
“(Pronoun: He/She/They/The author) supports this (noun version of rhetorical verb – see Sentence One) by (explain the types of evidence the author uses in order of your ¶ chunks).”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Three:
“(Author’s last name)’s purpose (explain your opinion of the author’s purpose).”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Four:
“(Pronoun referring to author) writes in a (adjective describing tone) tone for (identify the target audience).”
Here is an example of rhetorical precis that follows this sentence frame:
Rhetorical Precís Sentence One:
“In Charles Napoleon de Cardi’s article The Demise of an African Businessman: A Short Description of the Natives of the Niger Coast Protectorate, de Cardi asserts that European influence on African society had a negative impact.
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Two:
“He supports this assertion by showing the rise of a slave to a successful businessman, the conflicts palm oil trade created among this successful businessman and his people, and the eventual exile of this businessman from his homeland because he did not meet the demands of the European traders.
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Three:
“De Cardi’s purpose is to create awareness of the exploitation of people within international trade.”
Rhetorical Precís Sentence Four:
“He writes in an informative tone for consumers of international products and resources.”
The completed rhetorical precis is written in the form of a paragraph. Here it is:
In Charles Napoleon de Cardi’s article The Demise of an African Businessman: A Short Description of the Natives of the Niger Coast Protectorate, de Cardi asserts that European influence on African society had a negative impact. He supports this assertion by showing the rise of a slave to a successful businessman, the conflicts palm oil trade created among this successful businessman and his people, and the eventual exile of this businessman from his homeland because he did not meet the demands of the European traders. De Cardi’s purpose is to create awareness of the exploitation of people within international trade. He writes in an informative tone for consumers of international products and resources.