Book+Talk+Form

Book Talk Form - Print off and use as needed.

Date of Presentation Select an appropriate book. It may be either fiction or non-fiction. If you have a question about whether or not it qualifies as a book talk book, please ask me. Read it throughout the month, complete this worksheet, and prepare a short presentation (about 5 minutes) for class. Make sure you bring the book with you for your presentation (if possible). Book Title_ Author___ Publisher/Year Published___ Outline a brief summary of the story (include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution).
 * Book Talk ** Name

List at least two themes you think are important in the book (such as family, friendship, grief, loyalty, bullying, death, etc.…) 1. 2. Present a __favorite passage__ or two from the book (include page numbers) and your __personal connections__ to the book. Please read your chosen passage/passages to the class during your presentation.

Give this book //a thumbs up// or a //thumbs down// and explain your reasons for this choice. D C

How

It All

Works!

Here's the information to help you figure this out!

You need to be responsible enough to work on your writing several times each week. A list of project assignments for each section of writing can be found below. On the due date (check assignments and due dates page) for each section you'll need to have that portion posted on the wiki:


 * 1) Plan argument 1 - Find your assigned debate partner and flip a coin to decide who will present positive and who will present negative. Grab a topic issue from Mrs. Nielson, and prepare your supports and evidence and look at refutation possibilities. This all needs to be written (5 paragraphs).
 * 2) Present your argument in class at a specified time, making points and counter points. Use refutations as needed.
 * 3) Plan argument 2 (using the same steps as were in plan 1, but with a new parner, topic, and position)
 * 4) Present your argument in class at a specified time, making points and counter points. Use refutations as needed.
 * 5) Write a short (1 paragraph) personal reflection about the experience.

Your pages should be titled Argument 1 and Argument 2, with clear issues and positions. Use some form of an outline or graphic organizer to develop your points of argument and refutation. You can gather material here and keep site addresses available on this page.

Here's a great site to visit to see student examples of a character analysis essay:

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The page should say Sample Student Essays; scroll down untill you come to the section labeled Argumentative. There are several examples to look at. Choose for or against to see the points being made.


 * It's always a good idea to use an ideas organizer/graphis. Here are some ideas and sites that might be helpful: **

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To help you debate your position in class use the following information:

** Debate Etiquette **


 * Always be kind and respectful toward your competitors.
 * Don't trash talk any competitor ever.
 * Check if someone is speaking before walking into a round.
 * Applaud for your competitors.
 * Be gracious and ALWAYS be a good sport.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And look at these, as well:


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Questions or challenges should not be personal or insulting.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Don’t get mad — get even through use of logic.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Use formal language. Slang, name-calling or cursing makes you appear unintelligent and ill-prepared.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Choose your experts and sources wisely. One young woman who has had an abortion is not an expert on the subject.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Take time to read or quote the literature exactly.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Don’t sound patronizing or condescending. It doesn’t come across well.

Each presenter must persuade the audience that their argument is superior. To do this they must present sound logical arguments, and present them in an interesting and persuasive speaking style, and must structure and prioritise their arguments.

= //** Here is imformation I think may prove to be invaluable to you, not just in this class, but other class levels as well, including college! **// =

= All Argumentative stances will have the following, in one form or another: =


 * Premise: ** a reason offered as support for another claim


 * Conclusion: ** the claim being supported by a premise or premises


 * Argument: ** a conclusion together with the premises that support it

So, to take the oldest example in logic, one that Aristotle used in teaching at his Academy:


 * 1) All men are mortal.
 * 2) Socrates was a man.
 * 3) Therefore Socrates is mortal.

The three lines taken together constitute an argument. Line 3 is the conclusion. Lines 1 and 2 are premises. Now, there are a few important things to remember about arguments. First, arguments can be either really short (like the one about Socrates) or they can be really long (most op-eds are extended arguments; lots of books are really long extended arguments). But really long arguments will usually be broken down into series of shorter ones.

Before we can analyze arguments, we have to identify them. That, in turn, means identifying the premises and the conclusions. There are several strategies for doing so. The easiest is to examine the text for clues.



Unfortunately, not all arguments will contain these helpful indicators, which mean that we need some backup strategies. Another useful tool is paraphrasing, or taking a complicated argument and rewriting it to help us see what the claims really are. And finally, a really useful method is what one could call the 3-year-old approach. Read a sentence and ask, as 3-year-olds are inclined to do, “Why should I believe that?” Look at the rest of the passage and see if you can find anything that looks like an answer to the why question. If you find an answer, then the answer is a premise and the original claim (the sentence about which you asked why) is a conclusion. Repeat the process for each claim.

There is, unfortunately, one small complication. Not all arguments have all of the claims stated explicitly. Sometimes there are implied premises or conclusions. Consider the following argument:

You spilled it. Whoever makes the mess cleans up the mess.

What is clearly implied here is the conclusion: You clean up the mess. Now consider the following argument:

You should not eat that greasy hamburger. It is loaded with fat.

Again, there is something implied, but this time, what's implied is a premise: You should not eat anything that is loaded with fat.

Finally, it is important to remember that sometimes arguments can have more than one conclusion. Look at the following argument:

Since yesterday's editorial cartoon succeeded in making the mayor look silly, the cartoonist must have finally regained his touch. And the mayor probably won't be reelected.

This argument can be thought of as having two different arguments in it. We can analyze it in the following way:


 * Premise ** : Yesterday's editorial cartoon succeeded in making the mayor look silly.


 * Conclusion ** : The cartoonist has finally regained his touch.

And


 * Premise: ** Yesterday's editorial cartoon succeeded in making the mayor look silly.


 * Conclusion: ** The mayor probably won't be reelected.