Class 10

Class 10EWRT 2

AGENDAEssay #1 Due (3-4 pages)

Teams

Introduce Essay #2: GOVERNMENT Due Nov 1

Discussion: Lao-Tzu "Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching” (19-31). Bio, Rhetorical Strategies, Questions for Critical Reading

Suggestions for Writing: Group discussion

Vocabulary

ESSAY #1You may turn in a hard copy

today.

You may send it electronically by Saturday at noon. [email protected]

I will send you a confirmation receipt by email.

A Game of Points1. For essays 2-5, we will use teams to earn participation

points. Your teams can be made up of 3 or 4 people.

2. The teams will remain the same through the discussion of material for one essay.

3. You must change at least half of your team after each essay.

4. You may never have a new team comprised of more than 50% of any prior team.

The first essay consists of three class discussions: Oct 25 Lao-Tzu; Oct 30, Machiavelli, and Nov 1, which is the application of the two philosophers’ ideas to A Game of Thrones.

Points will be earned for correct answers to questions, meaningful contributions to the discussion, and provocative questions. Each team will track their own points, but cheating leads to death (or loss of 25 participation points).

Answers, comments, and questions must be posed in a manner that promotes learning. Those who speak out of turn or with maliciousness will not receive points for their teams.

At the end of each class, you will turn in a point sheet with the names of everyone in your group and your accumulated points for the day. It is your responsibility to make the sheet, track the points, and turn it in.

Sit with your team members in class to facilitate ease of group discussions

If you are not on a team, please stand.

One established team has only three players. If you want another player, please choose now.

The rest of you, please get into teams of three or four.

Please make sure you are sitting with your team members.

The game starts today, so make sure one of your team members is tracking points.

Make sure your name is on the point sheet.

Essay #2: GOVERNMENT

Essay #2 will be in response to either the excerpt from Lao-Tzu, Machiavelli, or both.

Choose your topic from "Suggestions for Writing" on pages 32-33, prompts 1-6, or on pages 50-51 prompts 1-5.

It should be a least one page long but not longer than two pages (excluding a works cited page).

It should be formatted MLA style.

It is due November 1 (next Thursday)

Lao-Tzu"Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching”

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Who was Lao-Tzu?

Three Lao Tzus?

The first Lao Tzu was a man named Li Erh or Li Tan, who came from the village of Ch'üjen in the southern Chinese state of Ch'u. Li Erh served as historian in charge of the official records in the Chinese imperial capital of Loyang. He was a peer of the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 B.C.E. ), and he is reported to have given an interview to Confucius when he came to Loyang seeking information on the Chou ritual.

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According to a third account, the original Lao Tzu lived 129 years after the death of Confucius. This man went by the name of Tan, the historian of Chou.

Another man identified as the founder of Taoism was Lao Lai Tzu, who also came from Ch'u. He is said to be a person of the same age as Confucius and is credited with a fifteen-chapter book explaining the teachings of the Taoist school. Nothing more is known about the second Lao Tzu

Actually, it is impossible to prove the historical accuracy of any of these accounts. Lao Tzu is not really a person's name and is only a complimentary name meaning "old man." It was common in this period to refer to respected philosophers and teachers with words meaning "old" or "mature." It is possible that a man who assumed the pseudonym Lao Tzu was a historical person, but the term Lao Tzu also was used as a substitute title to the supreme Taoist classic, Tao te ching (Classic of the Way and the Power).

What are the rhetorical strategies of Lao-Tzu?

Rhetorical StrategiesFormat: resembles poetry, which suggests that

the reader must read metaphorically as well as literally.

Aphorism (A compressed statement weighty with meaning).

Paradox (a self-contradictory statement): forces the reader to consider several sides of an issue. The resulting confusion yields a wider range of possibilities than would arise from a self-evident statement. (It encourages critical analysis).

The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone

Questions for Critical Reading

Meet with your teams for 5-7 minutes to discuss these questions before we answer them together.

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Essay #2

Suggestions for WritingPages 31-32

• Meet in your teams to discuss prompt questions 1-6.

• If we don’t finish this in class, please do so on your own at home.

VocabularyExam 4: Thursday, November 1

Vocabulary

Ad hominem: "against the man"; attacking the arguer rather than the argument or issue.

Appeal to tradition: a proposal that something should continue because it has traditionally existed or been done that way.

Argument: a process of reasoning and advancing proof about issues on which conflicting views may be held; also, a statement or statements providing support for a claim.

Authority: a respectable, reliable source of evidence.

Begging the question: the arguer proves his conclusion while assuming it to already be true. The premise for his argument is based on the truth of his conclusion. In other words, the argument assumes to be true what it is supposed to be proving.

Claim: the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer is trying to prove.

Credibility: the audience's belief in the arguer's trustworthiness

Deduction: reasoning by which we establish that a conclusion must be true because the statements on which it is based are true

Ethos: the qualities of character, intelligence, and goodwill in an argument that contribute to an audience's acceptance of the claim.

Euphemism: a pleasant or flattering expression used in place of one that is less agreeable but possibly more accurate.

Evidence: facts or opinions that support an issue or claim; may consist of statistics, reports of personal experience, or views of experts.

Fallacy: an error of reasoning based on faulty use of evidence or incorrect inference.

False analogy: assuming without sufficient proof that if objects or processes are similar in some ways, then they are similar in other ways as well;

HomeworkRead A World of Ideas: Government:

Machiavelli "The Qualities of the Prince" pages 35-50

Post #19 Questions (TBD based on teams) for Critical Reading : (page 50)

Post #20 QHQ Machiavelli

Study Vocabulary

Consider Essay #2: Which of the prompts about Lao-Tzu would you choose?