My semester is in full swing and is exhausting so far. During the day I student teach with an 10th grade ELD teacher at Mission High School, and in the evenings I go to class at UC Berkeley. My weekends are mostly spent doing homework and preparing lesson plans. Luckily, I love it, or I'd have crapped out already.
Today, I'm planning for next week. My intermediate students will be learning about thesis statements, and before I planned the details of the lesson, I wanted to make sure I was clear on where the process of developing a thesis statement and its supporting evidence fits into the larger concept of writing and learning to write.
This is what I've come up with so far. I drew from the canons of rhetoric described at
Silva Rhetoricae (which is a fantastic site, by the way) and added my own thoughts about what fits in where.
RHETORIC
EFFECTIVE WRITING
Invention: What do I want to say?
Topic
Thesis statements
Supporting Points
Arrangement: In what order will I say it?
Logical ordering of evidence
Transposition
Placement of rhetorical devices
Style: How will I express my ideas?
Audience
Tone
Figures of speech
Appeals
Grammar
Diction
Memory: How well do I know my topic? Can I discuss its intricacies? Can I extrapolate on various points? Do I know what others think about it? Can I present my argument in other media? Can I present my argument in other contexts?
Delivery: How do I present my finished work?
These canons of rhetoric cannot be considered merely linearly. They inform one another and require repeated circling back.
For example, I cannot narrow down what I am going to say (invention) until I understand the topic. Understanding the topic is an aspect of memory work. Similarly, in determining what I am going to say, I must consider my audience, as certain arguments are more relevant to certain audiences.
