Independent Reading: Books that Make an Argument (or Explore an Issue)

Independent reading discussion

Entry Ticket

In a Google Doc entitled "[Name of your book] Discussion" take 10 minutes to answer these questions:

* What argument(s) does your book make? Or, what issue(s) does it explore?

* How does the book make the argument or explore the issue? 

* What thoughts and/or questions do you have in response to the presentation of the argument or exploration of the issue?  

Then, in a group with students who read the same or similar books, you'll brainstorm connections and ask questions that will lead to constructing and expressing understandings in a Socratic Seminar.

Finally, in the Google Doc we'll reflect on new ideas, understandings, knowledge, questions, connections, and inquiry.

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Assignment

Independent Reading:

Books that use research to develop an argument and books that explore contemporary issues by speculating about the future

Choose a book to read on your own while we're practicing for the AP exam.
Use it to practice rhetorical analysis.

Book-length Researched Argument
Gloucester
The Last Fish Tale by Mark Kurlansky
Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town by Elyssa East

Food and Environment
Slow Food Nation by Carlo Petrini
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Technology and Culture
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier

Present Shock by Douglas Ruskoff

Economy and Commerce 
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naoimi Klein 
Power, Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government--and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead by David Rothkopf




Sports and Culture
Moneyball by Michael Lewis
How Soccer Explains the World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer
 
Thinking, Learning, Creativity
Imagine by Jonah Lehrer
Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking by Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander
  
Other researched nonfiction of interest to previous students
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain [Here's a link to an interview with Cain about how teachers can better engage introverts.]


Speculative Fiction Critiquing Aspects of Modern Culture
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1984 by George Orwell
Oryx and Crake or The Haidmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
any fiction by George Saunders

Quotation response journal (10+ entries) will be due the Monday after the AP exam (May 22).
In the comment box let me know when you have selected a text.

Quotations must be substantial, which means they must, even when read out of context, be worthy of analysis and reflection. 

The ten quotations must be selected from the beginning, middle, and end of the text (or from each section of the text or from each section of the narrative structure or from each part of the argument). 

The ten responses, collectively but not necessarily individually, should include rhetorical analysis, argument, and synthesis; should make connections between the passage and the book as a whole, between the passage and your own observations, experiences, and/or other reading and learning; should be written with the clarity, sophistication, and command of language appropriate for an AP student or college undergraduate underclassman.

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You may propose another way of demonstrating your understanding of and engagement with the book you have chosen. Proposals must be made by 5/20.