Expository Text (persuasive piece as either opinion article or spoken word poem)
START by reading the assigned task and rubric
STEP 1: Complete all the freewriting / brainstorming activities - you will hand these in as part of your rough work
STEP 1: Complete all the freewriting / brainstorming activities - you will hand these in as part of your rough work
- Listen to Baz Luhrman's "Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)" and write your own freewrite on the life advice you could dispense
- Watch Anne Lamott's TED talk "12 Truths I learned from Life and Writing". List the 12 truths you know for sure.
- From both of these lists of values or things you think are important in life, make a list of personality traits you have that are reflected in these values. Ex from these talks: wise, honest, spiritual, adaptable, persevering, non-judgmental
- Like Popeye, now write "I am what I am" - be unapologetic what are you and also what are you not, ex. I am friendly but I am not naive, I work hard and play hard, I am unapologetic about my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, accept no substitutes... Remember to balance out the sillier with the more serious, and to use a compare-contrast structure - I am... but I am not...
- Make a list of I am ... I am not using the qualities about yourself that you listed. The "I am not" part needs to go against the social stereotypes of the I am - not be the literal opposite. Remember what we said about privilege, marginalization, bias and stereotypes, how most of society sees certain people and qualities. Ex. I am childfree, I am not un-nurturing; I am a teen, I am not lazy; I am a girl, I am not a sex object; I am a teenage boy, I am not sexist; I am optimistic, I am not delusional; I am generous, I am not naive - an so on....
- Make a list of random objects, natural objects / phenomena ex. butterfly, plastic bag, earthquake, pebble, shooting star, freckle, snowflake, tulip...
- Decide which I am, I am not you are going to use for your whole project. Now choose one of the qualities either the I am or the I am not - and create a metaphor vignette with one of the objects from your list. ex. Mothering is like a plastic bag suffocating you from the inside, sucking all your air, your life, your ___ so another can breathe.
- Extend that metaphor to a short paragraph thinking of all the qualities of your object and your quality and which ways they compare. You should be able to use this or parts of it in your final project.
- Read the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. Think about your piece, and create a refrain / chorus like "still I rise" that you could use. Already "I am, I am not" is part of this, as well as "I am what I am", but now think of something else, ex I breathe my own air; I listen to my own heart as it beats; no matter what they say; can't make me... etc. This refrain is something that you can change slightly in different parts of your piece as you go - like Angelou does.
- List things, situations, examples, experiences, that most frustrate you about society's view of what you have chosen - the stereotypes, and how you fight against them - look at how Angelou did this - lots of different ways a Black woman could offend society's norms and expectations
STEP 2: Write the first draft
You can go for either the article or the poem or decide later after you've drafted what you want to say.
You are following the non-fiction structure of introduction, body, conclusion that we are already familiar with.
This is handwritten.
For the body, with a compare-contrast structure, you can approach the body in one of two ways:
1. discuss everything about one side 1. compare & contrast the pros and cons of one idea / example
2. discuss everything about the other side 2. compare & contrast the pros and cons of idea / example #2
3. compare and contrast these ideas 3. compare & contrast the pros and cons of idea / example #3
Ms. Bussey's web article example is done using way # 1 - we can see that she first looks at selflessness, martyrdom or traditional motherhood and power, second she contrasts this with her view and experience, that she doesn't want to lose herself, and third she looks at how there can be a balance between the ideals of the past / society and her realities.
Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" is done using way #2 in which the body is organized by ideas: her voice, her attitude/confidence, and her sexuality - three components/aspects/qualities Black women are told to tone down; in each stanza or group of stanzas depending, she contrasts what society says or doesn't like - addressing you, (you as society or specific other person) and then answers back with what she will do or what she does personally that so offends you - and she does this in a way that shows she won't stop.
You can go for either the article or the poem or decide later after you've drafted what you want to say.
You are following the non-fiction structure of introduction, body, conclusion that we are already familiar with.
This is handwritten.
For the body, with a compare-contrast structure, you can approach the body in one of two ways:
1. discuss everything about one side 1. compare & contrast the pros and cons of one idea / example
2. discuss everything about the other side 2. compare & contrast the pros and cons of idea / example #2
3. compare and contrast these ideas 3. compare & contrast the pros and cons of idea / example #3
Ms. Bussey's web article example is done using way # 1 - we can see that she first looks at selflessness, martyrdom or traditional motherhood and power, second she contrasts this with her view and experience, that she doesn't want to lose herself, and third she looks at how there can be a balance between the ideals of the past / society and her realities.
Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" is done using way #2 in which the body is organized by ideas: her voice, her attitude/confidence, and her sexuality - three components/aspects/qualities Black women are told to tone down; in each stanza or group of stanzas depending, she contrasts what society says or doesn't like - addressing you, (you as society or specific other person) and then answers back with what she will do or what she does personally that so offends you - and she does this in a way that shows she won't stop.
STEP 3: Type it up in the Teams assignment, and research and add your hyperlinks to sources
In this step you are also revising as you go to ensure you have all the rhetorical appeals and literary techniques required.
In this step you are also revising as you go to ensure you have all the rhetorical appeals and literary techniques required.