Lost Tools of Writing, Level I - II Transition: Pursuing Justice in Literature

Students will begin the year reviewing and refining the thinking and writing skills they have learned in The Lost Tools of Writing Level I. They will be assigned weekly reading and pre-writing or essay homework and will make brief posts in class discussion threads. We will read portions of books in class and spend time conversing about these stories together. Students will examine actions taken by characters, contemplating why a character made a specific decision and whether that choice was a good choice. Transitioning to Level II, students will hone the persuasive writing skills they developed in Level I and practice reasoning on a deeper level. Having learned to ask whether a character should have taken a certain action, they will now consider whether that character should be admonished, or even punished, for that action. Students will continue to use the Five Common Topics of Invention to delve into the stories we explore together. In addition, they will be introduced to the Special Topics of the Judicial Address, which aim for Justice by examining Evidence, Laws, Motive, Virtue, and Vice. Students will continue to order their thoughts through Arrangement and express them powerfully through rhetorical devices in Elocution. They will weigh competing goods to uncover truth and persuade a specific judge, who disagrees with their position, of the justice of their cause.

Learning Objectives:

Students will increase their ability to read texts closely, comprehending the overall story.-
Students will hone the skill of attending to details in stories and in their writing.-
Students will write eight compositions, beginning with persuasive essays and ending with judicial addresses.-
Students will regularly utilize the Five Common Topics of Invention as they consider what to write.-
Students will learn the Special Topics of the Judicial Address.-
Students will organize their thoughts well in essay/address outlines during Arrangement.-
Students will master rhetorical schemes and tropes in Elocution.-
Students will leave class with a greater love of story.-
Literature:
Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare (Folger Shakespeare Library) ISBN 978-0743482745 -
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens ISBN 978-0141439600-
Watership Down, by Richard Adams ISBN 978-0743277709-
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis ISBN-
Antigone, by Sophocles (translated by Robert Fagles) ISBN 978-0140444254-
Arsenic and Old Lace, by Joseph Kesselring ISBN 978-0822200659-
The Lost Tools of Writing Level One Student Workbook-
The Lost Tools of Writing Level Two Student Workbook, 2nd Edition-