Syntax and pop songs

It's time to look at the lyrics of some of your favorite songs!

1. Think of a few songs you really like - current, classic rock, whatever - as long as there are lyrics!
2. Do an internet search for the lyrics. Choose one song to use.
3. Copy the lyrics into a new post on your blog.
4. Open up this document. Complete the chart based on the lyrics for your song.
5. In the same blog post as the lyrics, write a rhetorical analysis of the song! What are the different rhetorical techniques the song uses? What is their effect on the feel and meaning of the song? Based on this look at the language, what are you now noticing in the song that you might have missed the first time around?
6. When you are done, spend some time reading what songs other people put onto their blogs, and feel free to comment.
7. *Something cool - if you want to insert a YouTube clip of your song into your post, us the little movie clapboard icon - it's right up there two to the right of "link" - that way we can listen to your song while reading what you had to say about it!

Short short stories

Today you will be working with a small group or partner.  Read the story I assigned to your group, and take a few minutes to discuss it. Try to get a sense of what the story is about, and what some potential layers of meaning are.
Then, you will work together to form an analysis of the syntax of the story:

1. How does the author use sentence lengths?  Are they varied or similar throughout the story? Why?  What is the effect of these types of sentences?
2. How does the author use different types of sentences: imperative, interrogative, exclamatory, or declarative?  Why? What is the effect of these types of sentences?
3. Does the author use repetition, either of words or images?  Why?  What is the effect?
4. What other techniques does the author use?  How is this story told?
5. Overall, what is the story about, and how does the construction of the syntax of the story help convey that meaning?

Put your answers in a blog post on the blog of one person in your group.

We will share these at the end of class.

story 1

story 2

story 3

story 4

story 5

story 6

New tool - Socrative

We'll start today by heading over to Socrative.com

Click 'sign in as student' then go to my classroom: 856036

I'll take it from there!

Syntax - analyzing a story

Greetings!

I will not be in class today - I had to leave school early to go to a conference in New York.

Today you will be trying out some analysis using the ideas about syntax I introduced yesterday.  Here again is a link to the handout with an overview of what syntax means: Syntax handout 

Take a few minutes to review it.

Next you will be reading a short story by Edgar Allan Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart (at the end of the file there is an instruction to write an essay - do not write that one - instead, write the one below)

While you are reading it, look for these aspects of syntax:

1. Sentence Length - when is Poe using short (5 -10 words), medium (10 - 15 words), or long sentences (15+ words)?  What is the effect of these different sentence lengths?
2. Sentence Structures - when is Poe using repetition, or other forms that aren't typical?
3. Different types of sentences: When does Poe use these?

• Declarative = makes a statement.    EX:  The king is sick.
• Imperative  = gives a command.  EX:  Bow to the king. 
• Interrogative = asks a question. EX: What’s the matter with the king?
• Exclamatory = makes an exclamation. The king is dead! 

In a document on Google Drive that you share with me, write an analysis of the syntax of "The Tell-Tale Heart."  Which different types of sentences does Poe use in the story? How do they affect your thoughts and feelings about the story and what happens in it? What effect do these different types of sentences have on the meaning of the story?  Your essay should be 1-2 paragraphs - about a page of writing.  Make sure to refer to specific parts of the story in your analysis, using quotations where they help make your point.

Syntax - telling a story

Crazy things always happened when Ray was the driver back in high school. One night we were heading to the mall - or maybe we were coming home. We had to drive a lot of back roads in order to get there - past farms and fields.  The roads were dark but we knew them well. There was one area where the road makes a sudden left then right - a big S curve out in the corn fields. Ray of course knew it was coming but started to drive faster. We started screaming. "Ray! What are you doing!? Slow down!" Ray started laughing maniacally, widening his eyes, waving his head back and forth like a man possessed. We kept screaming. Ray kept driving faster. Just as we got to the turn, we braced for what we were sure was going to be the car flipping over. Instead, Ray drove straight. At full speed. Into the corn field. We plowed over corn stalks, Ray laughing hysterically, before finally coming to a stop.  Moments earlier we were sure we were going to die, but now we all got out of the car and stood looking at the road off in the distance, and a the flattened path of corn behind the car.

Syntax

Greetings!
Today we'll start a new point of focus: syntax.
What is it? What does it mean?

We started today by telling some stories - emotional stories.

After we hear a few, think about how they told the story - what types of sentences did they use?
Were they:

• slow and deliberate
• fragmented and incomplete
• rushed and disorganized
• very long and uninterrupted
• a steady, walking pace
• hesitant; starting and stopping
• brief and abrupt

Next we'll look at this sheet to help us think about those stories and how they are structured: Syntax handout