1. Bellringer Oct. 9 Which letter indicates the error in the following sentence. If there is no error, select E. Wynton Marsalis (a)emerged as one of the great trumpeters (b) of the late twentieth century, (c) winning Grammy awards for both his jazz (d) and even classical works. (e) No error

2. You are ready to begin drafting the second part of the Unit Project Lesson 2 - Letters H-M: You must have: 1 - narrative entry which tells the story of the hobby or sport in which you have put in the most hours. (Ability?) 1 - narrative entry in which you describe an opportunity which you jumped on or maybe didn’t and wished you had. (opportunity) 1 - narrative entry about a time in your life when something lucky happened. Keep it school appropriate. (perhaps an Arbitrary Advantage?) 3 - entries which each focus on a different factor discussed in Freakonomics. Compare and contrast your opinion with the authors’ opinion on why this factor does or does not matter for success. These are NOT narratives but are exposition. (psst – you might begin with #5 of the Freakonomics activity packet)

3. Writing LESSON 2 Essay Thesis – What is your opinion about which essay makes its point more effectively? Are they both effectively made? Your thesis will state this opinion. You introduction needs to have both the titles and the authors’ names written in a sentence. For example: Both Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Dubner and Levitt’s Freakonomics chapters focus on what creates success. While Gladwell uses narratives to support his claim, Dubner and Levitt compare and contrast different factors without giving specific examples of people who fit this criteria. Each method of organization has its good points and its weaknesses. Overall, Gladwell’s chapter offers fewer questions and opportunities to disagree with the claim because his evidence is so specific. Of the two chapters, more people will tend to disagree with Freakonomics based on their own experiences growing up.

4. Let’s look in the textbook at introductions R30 – what goes into a good introduction. What can I add to mine? Both Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Dubner and Levitt’s Freakonomics chapters focus on what creates success. While Gladwell uses narratives to support his claim, Dubner and Levitt compare and contrast different factors without giving specific examples of people who fit this criteria. Each method of organization has its good points and its weaknesses. Overall, Gladwell’s chapter offers fewer questions and opportunities to disagree with the claim because his evidence is so specific. Of the two chapters, more people will tend to disagree with Freakonomics based on their own experiences growing up.

5. Paragraphs: Each one must have a topic sentence which has something to do with your thesis. Based on my introduction, what should my first paragraph be about? Both Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Dubner and Levitt’s Freakonomics chapters focus on what creates success. While Gladwell uses narratives to support his claim, Dubner and Levitt compare and contrast different factors without giving specific examples of people who fit this criteria. Each method of organization has its good points and its weaknesses. Overall, Gladwell’s chapter offers fewer questions and opportunities to disagree with the claim because his evidence is so specific. Of the two chapters, more people will tend to disagree with Freakonomics based on their own experiences growing up.

6. Using evidence: R33 My first paragraph should compare the claims: I need to state the claims for each and give one or two examples which show that these are the claims from the chapters. I then need to explain the connection between the example and the The claims in both chapters are well supported, but we are more likely to believe the claim to which we do not have to compare ourselves. Gladwell’s claim is that in order to be wildly successful, you need to have a combination of ability, the opportunity to prepare for about 10,000 hours, and some arbitrary advantage (a lucky break). He proves this claim by focusing on the three examples of the Beatles, Bill Joy, and Bill Gates and demonstrates how each fits his pattern. Dubner and Levitt’s claim is that it doesn’t matter what a parent does for a child to help raise him or her, in order to have a child be successful early in school, the parent must already have the qualities of success. They prove this by examining data from the ECLS (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study) and by comparing the eight factors of parents which did have an influence on a child’s performance with eight factors which did not seem to have a measurable influence. Because we are used to hearing about successful people doing something to create their success, it is easy to accept Gladwell’s claim and difficult to accept Dubner and Levitt’s claim which implies that there is nothing we can DO to create success in our children. Instead we had to prepare for it before we had children which many people don’t think about at the time.

7. Conclusions: R33 Concluding paragraphs must leave your reader with a strong impression. Merely repeating the prompt or repeating your thesis word for word is ineffective. Discuss the implications of what you have just written about. Leave us thinking about why it is important that we consider your ideas. In conclusion, most of us will not become outliers in our areas of talents. Why not? Then there wouldn’t be outliers – there would just be normal. However, what the two chapters say together is that it is important to prepare for future success. It doesn’t just happen because we are nice people who know how to keep ourselves clean and presentable. People who want to become parents to successful kids should first plan on being successful – that includes buying and reading books. If you want your kids to become the next Beatles or Bill Gates, you’d better start preparing yourself now, before kids are even a thought in your head. You’re going to have to figure out what their ability is, how you’ll get them to prepare with a good coach, and where their lucky break is going to be. So, it might not help them in K-5 success, but eventually, what you do will pay off. You just have to do it now.

8. Organization: R37-38 These pages show to two different ways to compare and contrast in an essay. Do the way shown on page R37. In my experience of 18 years of teaching, the better essays complete a point by point comparison. They are more cohesive and they prove their thesis better. Usually kids forget to write the paragraph which brings it all together when the do the subject by subject.

9. Final Copies are DUE: Oct 15 th. You will submit the following: Final copy Rough draft Essay directions Notes for Outliers Notes for Freakonomics Freakonomics 5 activities

10. Ticket out If we do writing workshop again, what would be more useful for you to improve your writing? Keep in mind – there is only one of me so long conferences about your writing won’t work. : )