JAR Prompts

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"Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting." -Robert Frost

In your JAR, I don't want you to vote. I want you to think. Issues are complex; your thinking about them should be complex; your writing about them should be complex. If that means rough, messy writing at times, so be it. That's what revision is for. You do not have to use these prompts, but you may if you are not sure how to respond. The best strategy is to choose one prompt and write an entire page on it. Don't write a paragraph on every reading for the week; your response will lack focus and depth. If you want to write coherently and concisely about all of the essays, then respond to the "synthesis" response for the week. Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 Your JAR responses should be about 1 page long, typed, double spaced. You should respond to one or more of the readings for the week that the JAR response is due. The JAR response should be posted to the discussion board by 8 p.m. Tuesday night, so I can review them before Wednesday's class. Feel free to read and respond to each other's postings. I hope that the JAR responses will get you thinking and "talking" to each other (whether in person or through the discussion board). You will get some opportunity to respond in class, as well. Week 1 "Milkshake Babies" - The author's thesis is that racial issues should be discussed more in schools in order to prevent bigotry and promote tolerance and understanding. Implicit in this argument is the assumption that racial difference matters and affects people's everyday lives. In your experience, how does racial difference affect education? Is there a problem, as the author argues? Will the proposed solution work? Support your argument with reasons and evidence. Three student essays about the SAT - Compare and contrast the three essays' effectiveness. How effective are the authors' arguments in your opinon? What makes one more or less effective than the other? What would you have done differently? menu Week 2 Handouts on technology in education - Compare the authors' claims, reasons, and support. Who has the best/worst supported claims? Support your claims with evidence from the texts. Hughes - Respond to one of the "Writing Before Reading" or "Questions for Discussion" or "Explorations" prompts before and after the Hughes selection in Writing Lives (p. 293, 294). Ch. 11 - Pathos/Ethos/Logos - Find an editorial (in the Dispatch or the Lantern, or even one online) and analyze the appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos. Which appeal is the most predominant, and why do you think that is? Are they appeals affective; why or why not? Synthesis - How do pathos, ethos, and logos interact in a persuasive essay? Which is most/least important? How do they support/reinforce each other? Give examples and cite textual evidence from the week's readings to support your claims. menu Week 3 Edmundson - Respond to one of the "Questions for Discussion" or "Explorations" or "Formal Writing Assignments" prompts after the Edmundson essay in Writing Lives (p. 235, 236). Ch. 11 - Fallacies - Find a political text (commentary, speech, advertisement, etc.) that contains at least one fallacy and analyze this text. What is the text's purpose? Who is the intended audience? Why was this fallacy employed (was it intentional)? How does discovering this fallacy affect your response to this text? Synthesis - Would you ever use an intentional fallacy? That is, would you ever intentionally write an argument that contained a fallacy or inconsistent reasoning? If so, for what purpose? menu Week 4 Gore - Why does Gore raise and discuss two arguments against his own position? What effect does their inclusion have on your reading of this side of the debate? Gelerntner - Gore is writing as a vice president furthering an education agenda. What is Gelerntner's perspective? How can he speak with authority on his subject? With whom do you think Gelernter's argument will be most effective and why? Synthesis - Compare and contrast the ways in which Gore and Gelerntner address and/or refute opposing arguments. Whose refutation is the most effective and why? Whose is the least effective and why? menu Week 5 Barthel - What is Barthel's main point? Argue for or against her main point using examples of your own choosing (preferably advertising, but TV or movies will work, too). O'Neill - Find an ad that uses a stereotype or cultural myth. Analyze that ad. Is the ad justified in using the sterotype or myth? Why or why not? Web page analysis - Find a web page and analyze it based upon the guidelines in the ABGW. menu Week 6 Engle - menu Week 7 "Ishmael" - What strategies does this essay use to gain and hold your attention and how effective are those strategies? "Oyasin" - How would you characterize the structure of this essay? How effective is the structure the author has chosen? Would a different structure work in the telling of this story? "Music Audition" - How does this essay use "showing" passages? How does it use "telling" passages? If you had to rewrite this essay, where would you replace "telling" passages with "showing" ones? Auster - Auster's essay is titled "Why Write?" What is your answer to that question? If it is different than Auster's essay, what do you think accounts for that difference? Synthesis - What makes a narrative essay different from a persuasive essay and an analysis essay? How are they all similar? menu Week 8 Eighner - Newman - Synthesis - What is the connection between Eighner's and Newman's essays? What is the common theme to which they both speak? What are the similarities and differences in their positions on this theme or issue? Week 9 - no JAR due menu Week 10 O'Brien - Brueggeman - Earley - Synthesis - How are the three selections (O'Brien, Bruggeman, and Earley) related? To what issue are they all responding, and how do they respond to each other?