Week 4 was the week that the students posted their final drafts of their traditional argument. Everyone is exploring how to open their essays with a 'pow' and have catchy titles that will grab the reader's interest.
Many need to work on narrowing their topics to fit the scope of the 700-750 word limit and take a unique angle so that their voices come through.
I was pleased that everyone took a strong rhetorical stance and defended his or her point of view. Nancy did a creative paper on why drinking bottled beer is better than canned beer, her main argument resting on the widget that is in canned beers that is responsible for the head.
In Week 5, we had a group work assignment on two contrasting views of the torture to extract information from potential terrorists. A poll was conducted on the kinds of torture that the American government should have the right to use in interrogations with possible terrorists (from truth serums to whippings, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, to waterboarding). It was eye opening to see how the opinions differed among the students. It is great to have the poll anonymous so that the students could feel free to express their opinions.
The lesson concluded with a humorous look at torture and four of the six groups came up with tickling as being torturous. The class brainstormed three reasons why tickling can be torturous. I think that students are feeling more comfortable about taking risks and going out of the box.
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