Close Read

Revised blog or the less cryptic version.

First, we reviewed our vocabulary today and crowned new vocabulary champions: Joe, Gia, Anna, and Noah. The quiz, which I must say is quite a hodgepodge of styles, is tomorrow. I highly recommend studying your vocabulary tonight.

Second, a surprise rhetorical toolbox quiz testing your identification of rhetorical devices and persuasive appeals. If you were absent, you will need to make this up before or after school. The quiz's duration is under 10 minutes.

Third, we talked about close reading, why we are doing this technique, and how this can help clarify texts. Every time you receive a passage, whether for rhetorical analysis or multiple choice, you should have a pen in hand for close reading. Start with the prompt and break down its elements: the essay's requirements, authorial or audience background, and milieu. Then, dive into the text. As we close read the passage today, patterns began to emerge in paragraphs one and two - juxtaposition of diction, repetition of address, analogies, pathos, and ethos. If you close read from the start of the passage, you will notice these patterns more quickly and prepare yourself for the actual writing of the essay.

Make sure you finish the close read of the passage this evening and bring the packet, or what we will call rangefinders, back for further usage tomorrow. Prompt meetings on Friday! I'm not sure why the majority of the class groaned at the thought of individual meetings...