Steve Jobs: How to Live Before You Die

A Word Cloud of Steve Job's Commencement Speech

Today's Goal: A first look at a speech by Steve Jobs, and SOAPSTone with a partner.

The Plan:

1. Read!
   
2. In your English Journal: Using the Word Cloud above, make a prediction about Steve Jobs' speech, and the message he is going to give his audience. Write a few sentences that includes your prediction, and WHY you are making that prediction.
   
3. Watch his speech. You can find it on TED.com if you're absent. CLICK HERE for the Steve Jobs Commencement Speech TEXT. Make a copy for yourself so you can annotate it. I'm not giving you the paper copy of this one.
   
4. Fill out this Google Form with a partner (you only need to submit one between the two of you.)
   
5. Possibly talk about a rhetorical precis.

If you play your cards right, you do not have homework, BUT I have some news about your essays that will involve some work if you choose to take the offer I present to you.

Rhetorical Appeals in Michelle Obama's TED Talk

This is a word cloud of Michelle Obama's speech (that we watched yesterday). The biggest words are the words she says most often. What can you learn from looking at the most commonly used words in a speech?

Today's Goal: Use Michelle Obama's speech to look specifically at rhetorical devices and appeals, and how they work together to help support an argument.

The Plan (probably in this order):

1. Read (as usual!)
2. Return to Michelle Obama's speech to learn more about how she uses rhetorical devices and appeals to support her argument.
3. Some writing
4. A second look at the Act I, Scene ii excerpt from last Friday

WRITING PROMPTS (IN YOUR ENGLISH JOURNAL):

FIRST, write about the Michelle Obama TED Talk Response:

What devices does Mrs. Obama use to express her argument/message that young women are strong, independent, and capable of becoming educated leaders of the world? How do those devices enhance ethos/logos/pathos? (For example, if she uses an anecdote, and that anecdote enhances her ethos, how does that happen? How do you know?)

THEN, return to the Act 1, Scene ii excerpt from Julius Caesar and reread it.

What new understandings did you gain from reading it again? What devices and appeals did you notice that you had not noticed before? What do you think Brutus is prepared to do for his country and how do you know this?

Homework:

• Vocab Root Practice due tomorrow
• Read your book
• Complete the writing assignment in your English Journal if you did not do it or finish it today in class. (Tomorrow I'm going to ask you to self-grade your English Journal, so be prepared for that.)

Michelle Obama TED Talk

Today's Goal: Use SOAPSTone to analyze Michelle Obama's TED Talk, and identify devices and appeals that support her argument.

The Plan:

1. Watch the TED Talk
2. SOAPSTone
3. Rewatch the TED Talk, paying closer attention (and annotating her text) to the devices and appeals that Mrs. Obama employs to enhance her message.

HOMEWORK:

• Vocab CAD/CID/CAS due Wednesday. CLICK HERE for the Vocab Slides
• You have one more night (tonight) to get your homework from the weekend done. Then, it becomes a zero. (Click here for that form)