Please Do Now

1. Please Do Now Make sure your HW is out on your desk. DO NOT PUT IT IN THE BIN TODAY. 2. CLEAR YOUR DESK except for your Do Now, HW, Agenda and a pen/pencil. 3. When the bell rings immediately go to level 0 and begin your do now.

2. SUPPORT MUCHIN ATHLETICS by buying a Cross Country Super Fan shirt! $15 due to Ms. Mason by FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH.

3. Agenda • Please Do Now (10) • Grammar Lesson: Introductory and concluding sentences (15) • Thesis Statements and Paragraphs (10) • Writer’s Workshop (15) • Review Vocab (15) • Summarize (5)

4. Introductory and Concluding Sentences • Introductory Sentences • Context – background information • Primer – leads into the main topic • Concluding Sentences • Summarizer – review what has already been stated • Extension – elaborates on what has already been said • Both introductory and concluding sentences should always CONNECT back to the rest of the paragraph or passage.

5. Thesis Paragraphs start broad…. Context (background information) Thesis Statement and become narrow.

6. Sample Thesis Paragraph 1 The American Dream is the belief that through hard work, any one in America can make a successful living for his/her family. While there are millions of real life examples of this occurring, there are also millions of them not. In Arthur Miller’s play The Death of a Salesman, the main character, Willie Loman, struggles to find success and happiness in his average life. He is quoted as saying, “a small man can be just as exhausted as a great man.” Loman’s life experiences proves this to be true, as in his quest for the American Dream, he battles a rocky relationship with his son, becomes unemployed and incurs a substantial amount of debt, and upon realizing that he will not reach the American Dream, chooses death in order to allow his sons to reach it instead.

7. Sample Thesis Paragraph 2 Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbirdis one of the most celebrated novels of our generation. Its commentary on race relations in reconstruction era America led the way for other writers and artists to expose the injustices that were still occurring, despite what people called equality. However, through all of the social issues brought up by the novel, what could be overlooked are the character lessons intertwined within the plot. One of the most prevalent lessons is that of perseverance. In the novel, the main character, Atticus Finch comments that “it’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Through his perseverance in fighting a trail that seemed unwinnable, pushing through threats on him and his family, and continuing to believe in his core values despite all the asperity surrounding him, Finch proves his own words to be true.

8. Sample Thesis Paragraph 3 In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the audience is taken through the journey of a friendship during America’s dust bowl era, as two characters, George and Lenny escape the loneliness of farming in the Salinas Valley by becoming good friends with the shared dream of having their own farm one day. However, all of this turns sour when Lenny accidentally kills the wife of their boss. Because he doesn’t want to put the innocent Lenny through the ordeal of being punished and killed by their boss, George decides to kill Lenny himself. Slim, a seemingly inconsequential character, tells George afterwards, “never you mind. A guy got to sometimes.” This quote is insincere because it does not take into account the strength of George and Lenny’s friendship, assumes that there were no other alternatives for George, and is spoken by a character that does not recognize the depth of George and Lenny’s relationship.

9. Vocabulary List #2 1. adjudicate2. centennial3. countenance4. disgruntle5. equilibrium6. expedite7. gird8. gratuitous9. illusory10. implacable11. luminary12. manifesto13. mesmerize14. precedent15. spurious