identify themes and apply this knowledge when composing a thesis

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part 1

Main Post #1: Choose one reading and one visual text from the options below and answer the following questions. (250 word minimum). Pose a question for your classmates to grapple with.

Written Text Answer Three Questions:

Visual Text Answer Three Questions:

  • What is the main idea or thesis?
  • Describe the conflict or tension
  • How do the elements in the image support the main message?

For Your Peer Responses: In no less than 150 words, respond meaningfully to two other peers’ main posts on two different days, different from the day of your main post.

Written Options:

  1. Mother Tongue, Amy Tan pp. 697 – 703
  2. The Clinic, Jeff Gremmels (PDF) PDF – Alternative Formats

Sample of Written Response (based on Rebel Music, p.81)

In Rebel Music, Felsenfeld (2010) shares his coming of age as a musician and composer. The story is his journey as a rebel and surprising discovery and passion for classical music. The main idea or thesis is what is means to be different. Unlike other teenagers who listened to punk, goth, heavy metal music, he finds something that really sets him apart. The climax comes when he heard “something really wild” that changes his life: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The resolution was his decision to become a composer of contemporary classical music.

He describes how his life in Orange Country, California takes an unexpected turn by using compare and contrast. He compares the lush landscape of his childhood neighborhood to the arid or desert-like life without high art and culture.

“The O.C. was billed as the ideal suburban community, but when you are raised in ta palm-tree lined Shangri-La,… it is hard to grasp what is missing. Now, I realize: even though we had enough water to keep the manicured leans just so, I was experiencing a personal drought, an arid lack of culture of all kinds, especially music” (Felsenfeld, 2010, p. 81).

Felsenfeld, D. (2010). Rebel Music. In Bullock, R. Daly Goggin, M. (Eds.) The Norton field guide to writing with readings 5th Ed. (pp. 81 – 84), New York: WW Norton.

Visual Options:
Ocean

Ocean Photo


Vegetarian Ad

vegetarian

Part 2

Attached Files:

Assignment Click for more options

Learning Objectives: Compose, define, describe and organize elements of a narrative.

In preparation for your Narrative Essay (due Week Two), you will begin the writing process by exploring an idea (pre-writing), focusing the idea on a single event, creating an outline, and drafting the introduction paragraph. Recommended reading pages 83 -84 in Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings.

Complete all three tasks

  1. Read pp,331 – 339 and choose one of the following pre-writing activities: Free writing, Listing, Clustering, Cubing or Questioning. If you don’t have book yet, Google pre-writing activities and choose one. If you choose to handwrite your activity, take a photograph with your phone and attach it along with your submission.
  2. Create an Outline (Follow graphic below) It should be one sentence for each step.
  3. Compose an introductory paragraph and highlight or underline the main idea

Outline Graphic Guide

Outline Graphic Guide. Introduction, Body #1, Body #2: Conflict, Body #3: Resolution, Conclusion

Choose one of the following topics:

  • What personal goal or achievement are you most proud of? Share the story of the moment you reached that goal.
  • What one event brought you closer to your family? Describe that day.
  • Was there an event in your life where you made a mistake or misjudged a situation? Describe how the event occurred and what you learned from it.
  • You may also choose one of the topics on pages 84 – 85 in the Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings.

Background:

A narrative should share a larger lesson with the audience beyond simply retelling an event. A strong narrative focuses on a single event or conflict and builds from introduction to body to a resolution. Descriptive language brings the reader into the experience; consider carefully how you describe each scene. Show—don’t tell. Telling informs the reader by stating facts. “She was angry.” Show describes a scene. “She grabbed the wilted flowers and threw them in his face.” Telling repeats a list or series of actions, often without stopping to describe what happened. Showing shares concrete sensory details to capture the scene in which the event takes place.

part 3

Respond to the prompts below in no less than 250 words. Be sure to use as many sensory details as possible.

  1. Using first person point of view – “I” – describe your favorite holiday.
  2. Using second person point of view – “you” – describe a place that everyone should visit at least once.
  3. Using third person point of view –“he or she”– describe a person you admire. or a person you dislike (this can be fictional)