Frederick Douglass “Learning to Read and Write” Rhetorical Précis Breakdown

Purpose of a Rhetorical Précis A rhetorical précis demonstrates your understanding of a reading. The task of the writer is to find just the right words and descriptions within a given structure to demonstrate his/her understanding of the passage. An Effective Précis: Is structured Is accurate Demonstrates sophisticated language

Content of Your Précis Here are the Detractors (Score Reducers): Generalizations and cliché’s Evident in all sentences Over-simplifying what is complex Misspelling the author’s name There’s no excuse Referring to the author’s first name You are not that close to the author Cheerleading Overly optimistic Don’t always see the brighter side of things. You are given a specific task to do.

Nothing will detract more from your ideas than errors in: GRAMMAR SPELLING SENTENCE STRUCTURE PHRASING

Sentence by sentence, what was effective and ineffective? With sentence one, most students identified the author and passage well. With sentence two, almost all students traced Douglass’s support in chronological order. With sentence three, successful students used the sentence frame effectively, while the less successful used the frame incorrectly or missed the point of this sentence. With sentence four, many students focused on tone and audience.

A Note About Describing TONE Informative Argumentative Analytical Descriptive These are modes, methods, and ways of writing, not tones. Tone – the author’s attitude toward a subject

A Note About Audience Why would ex-slaves not be the audience for Douglass’s work?

Frederick Douglass “Learning to Read and Write” Multiple Choice Quiz

Test-Taking Strategies Write in the margins Write quick notes to record the main idea of each paragraph Connect – What do all the paragraphs have in common? You now know the main idea of the entire passage. Read questions. Label each question as a Main Idea (you have to know the main idea to answer these questions) or Detail (asks about the meaning of specific words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs) question Use the process of elimination to narrow your choices (0 - 20%, 1 - 25%, 2 - 33%, 3 - 50%)

Rhetorical Précis Where do we go from here?

What did you communicate about your analytical skills? If you scored a 14 or higher Structure (that clause, in order to) Accurate (enough) analysis of author’s content and style If you scored below 14 Did not stick to structure Ineffective sentence two Not specific when describing author’s support Misread of Douglass’s message Incorrectly identified tone

The Plan Moving Forward Those whose scored a 14 or higher Continue to use insight to critically think about the reading Work on identifying the specific rhetorical strategy (appeal, device, figurative language, syntax) used in each piece of support Integrate that into sentence two Those whose scored below 14 Have to do everything on the left, and Succumb to the structure Determine the main idea of the passage, accurately Fix your spelling, grammar, sentence structure, phrasing Stop speaking generally (clichés) and use specific details from the passage to explain

AP Language Success Determining your success in this class, ask yourself Can I read effectively? Can I communicate my message effectively? How insightful am I? How well do I complete assignments? With care? Last minute? How often do I read? How often do I look up the definitions of words I do not know?

Next Quiz Thursday, March 5, 2014 New passage Multiple choice questions and rhetorical précis