Your revision of the essay on American policing will be due in class on Friday, January 10. Please make sure to follow the items on the checklist and carefully review the comments I left on your first draft.

While we have some work to do, I was impressed with a lot of the first drafts, which contained excellent use of evidence and analysis. Let’s make the papers great on the second draft!

Revisions must be printed, stapled to your first draft, and attached to the completed checklist.

The revision guide is available here.

Our fourth process essay will be a synthesis persuasive essay about racism in American law enforcement.

Your final draft will be due on December 20, the last day of school before break.

Key Resources

We’ll be working on the essay in parts over the next two weeks so please come prepared with resources and materials every day.

From an essay I wrote in 2014:

Our kids need to be reminded, early and often, that to effectively write an argument is to stake out new ground. To challenge the reader and even threaten her worldview. Tomorrow, when I tell my students (in the nicest possible way) that their papers bored me, I suspect most will, at least privately, acknowledge that they bored themselves writing them. It may take just a few more moments to stake out a position that’s not right in the center of a topic or to expertly craft a single phrase or sentence in a way no reader could forget, but that’s what teaching writing demands.

 

Our next unit in Honors English II will be reading and writing associated with Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. You can find resources for the novel and the essay we’ll be writing on its page.

A reminder about the last two days before Thanksgiving.

On Monday, you will take the Latin Roots 10 quiz. On Tuesday, you will take the No Red Ink FANBOYS quiz. Practice for the latter is available here for Period 1 and here for Period 6.

After each quiz is completed, you will have time in class to work on the Things Fall Apart open-book test. If you’ve misplaced the questions for that, they are available on the web site.

If you’re gone Monday-Tuesday, please try to complete the test before we come back from break.

Revisions of the Homegoing write are due Monday for Period 1 and Tuesday for Period 6. Please remember that revisions need to be typed, attached to the brief draft, and have your changes bolded.

Enjoy the break!