November 18, 2015

We started with 20 minutes of independent reading time. While reading, we kept an eye out for new words or words used in interesting ways. My word was moron, which means a stupid person. in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden says, "All morons hate it when you call them a moron" (Salinger 44). I already knew what the word meant, but I couldn't figure out why he kept using it! For whatever reason, it's the character's favorite insult.

Students had about 10-15 minutes to discuss the Anna Quindlen Commencement Speech in their groups, then we examined the speech as a class, sharing examples of parallelism, repetition, analogy, and allusion. We analyzed the different rhetorical devices in the speech, discovering how parallel structures and repetition of words can lead to a better understanding of a speech's message.

Before you leave for the break, turn in your Retellings notebook!

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