Bellringer: Oct 7 Find your new seat! Answer the writing prompt on the paper. Be ready to turn in the paper. Have your three-ring Binders for English out and open. RED ZONE – put your devices away in your bags.

Where in the world was I? The weekend of Sept. 19/20, I became ill. I had a bad infection. I went to school on Sept. 21 but had to leave. I went to the doctor who put me in the hospital to treat the infection. I left the hospital on Sept. 26 and have been recovering. I’m fine now, and that’s all the detail I’m going into. I’ve been in contact with the substitutes and Ms. Miller. Some of you have been wonderful. Some of you have to re-read Kipling’s poem “If” and learn from it. That’s all I have to say on the matter.

IN your notebooks - Check to see that you have three separate sections. (Works in progress, writing, graded assignments. Works in progress: Course description Theme notes Rites of passage notes (yellow paper) Tone handouts (2 of them) Poetry notes (2 of them) Poetry (1 page) Outliers handouts (two packets of readings, 2 pages of note questions) “Dyaspora” reading and reading notes. What else?

Writing Some may have the poetry analysis handouts and scoring guide. I should have the actual essay by now, but I don’t for most of you. You have until Friday to turn it in with the scoring guide attached. I will subtract a letter grade if you don’t turn it in with the scoring guide and rough draft attached. Anything else?

Graded assignments Graded Vignette (with the rough draft and directions attached) Bellringer/Ticket out from Sept 9 Other grades have been from items that I have to keep here. (“If” quiz, pre-test from the state)

Keep your notebooks out on your desk. I will be walking around, grading your notebooks on a scale of 5/10 – you have a notebook and it is a horrible mess 8/10 – you have a notebook but it doesn’t have the three dividers and seems to be missing items 10/10 – yep, you seem to be in good standing.

Reviewing class work. Outliers We want to look at how using narratives in nonfiction function in developing the main idea? Think about WHAT the main idea is. Think about WHO is the audience. Think about WHY use narratives.

Main Idea of Outliers Most of you got that it takes innate talent, opportunity, and arbitrary advantage to become a superstar in your field. The arbitrary advantage is what can lead you to get in the 10,000 hours of practice before making it big. That’s the idea behind the pattern with the birth years or with the location where you lived/went to school.

Audience – you need to take some notes. There are three types of audience: hostile, wavering, supportive.  If you have a hostile audience – they don’t like you or your argument, you have to plan to appeal to their logic and you have to stress your credibility (logos and ethos) Does Malcolm Gladwell have a hostile audience? No – if they didn’t like him or his argument, they wouldn’t buy his book.

Audience - continued Wavering audiences – they are neutral; neither for your argument or against your argument. You need them to trust you through your credibility (ethos), your logic (logos) and some emotional appeals (pathos). Use these in equal parts. Some of Gladwell’s audience would be wavering. They are interested in the topic, but might not believe him yet. They might be interested in him from his previous books and articles, but are waiting to see if they believe him on for this argument.

Audience - continued Supportive audiences already like you and generally believe that you know what you are talking about. You don’t want to lose them by being illogical; however, you can use a lot more pathos with this audience (emotion!) Gladwell’s audience is mainly supportive. They already know him from previously published and successful books, The Tipping Point and Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking. He was also a popular columnist for various magazines and newspapers. They trust he knows what he’s talking about and look forward to his new insights into how things in life work.

Knowing your audience and appealing to them is key! 1. Why focus his argument with people born in the 1950s or earlier? (Who reads books on social sciences and who reads magazines like the New Yorker) 2. Why introduce someone who most people wouldn’t have heard about as the first example? (Most people outside the computer industry wouldn’t have known about Bill Joy. They mainly know about the computers through marketing in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.) 1. Why insert a section about top-notch musicians in the middle of Bill Joy’s story? (Most people know about musicians and practice. You all had music in elementary school!) 2. Why follow up with the legendary Beatles and Bill Gates? (instead of spending more time on Steve Jobs or some of the other examples in section 6?)

Structuring your argument is key too! 1. Where does Gladwell insert his thesis (his claim, his argument, his main point!) 2. What immediately follows this claim? (that’s right! Section 2 with the top-notch musicians) 1. Why stick section 2 in the middle of Bill Joy’s story? (think about what information follows in section 3, the second part of Joy’s story) 2. Why leave the field of computers and head to the Beatles in section 4?

So, let’s outline this piece – do this in your notes; you’ll be writing in one moment. Section 1: Section 2: Section 3: Section 4: Section 5: Section 6:

So, how does Gladwell structure his argument to prove his point? Write the answer to this prompt on a piece of paper. If you score better on this than on your Outliers quiz, I’ll replace the grade. DO NOT SUMMARIZE the text. I know what it says. I’m interested in how you think he organizes it to fully prove his point. Use the information on audiences to help you.

Exit Ticket On the back of the bellringer paper, answer this question: What do YOU need to do to get back on track for this class? Use your grade sheet to help you. If you sent something via computer, list those assignments too and tell me where they are.