CommonLit: An Online Library of Free Texts

Jennifer Gonzalez Boss the Editor-in-Chief at Cult of Pedagogy suggest that "to truly develop our student`s skills, we need to have them read a variety of well-written, challenging material". CommonLit appears to help teachers to find free literary and informational texts.
Let´s take a look at this Online Library. Click here: https://www.commonlit.org/

Portfolio Entry # 12 - Jeremy Irons Talks about the Death Penalty

     The renowned British born actor, Jeremy Irons, delivers a speech against Death Penalty in a clip to support non-governmental organization, Amnesty International. He outlines some arguments and counter-arguments concerning the main issue.

     Irons explains that death penalty does not help to reduce delinquency nor does it guarantee social harmony and peace. Apart from that, convicted very often comes from low social classes and vulnerable groups, proving that it could not be a matter of justice or not, it could be an economic problem. Capital punishment usually penalize those who cannot afford legal counsel.

     However, even when criminals from different social classes were found equally guilty, the main concern that Irons points out is that death penalty is irreversible. Retrospective pardon is useless when a person is dead, whereas an erroneous verdict can be amended when the convict is alive.

     Jeremy Irons also asserts that death penalty violate two basic human rights: right to life and freedom from torture. Capital punishment not only represses both moral principles but also turns the society into a criminal. Thus, society becomes as unrighteous as the convicted.

     The right to life is inalienable. It cannot be given and it cannot be taken away by anyone. Therefore, capital punishment should be considered an offense to the whole of humankind, not only agains the criminals.

     Finally, Irons reminds us that ciminals are still human beings, no matter how horrendous their crime  was. Thieves, killers, rapists, drug dealers, terrorists are human beings with human rights.

Resource: 

•  Amnesty International UK (2007, May 7) Jeremy Irons Talks about the Death Penalty. [Video file] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVMho2cP1NE

Lennon Not Dead

Portfolio Entry # 11 - Letter from Yoko Ono Lennon to the Parole Board

In 2000, Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon in 1980, requested freedom from the New York State Division of Parole. As part of the parole release decision-making process, the Board of Parole considers “any statement made by a victim or representative of the victim”[1]. For this reason Yoko Ono Lennon, the widow of the late former Beatle, wrote a letter to the Parole Board in which she expressed her standpoint about that petition. The five most important ideas Yoko Ono communicated were as follows.

First, John Lennon was an ordinary man who became both a great artist and a remarkable person. Second, the loss of Lennon was an irreparable damage, not only for his family and friends but also for the entire world. Third, Yoko Ono could transform her affliction into action, in order to exalt Lennon´s memory. Fourth, the death of John Lennon was unfair and incomprehensible. He was a good man, a beloved husband and father, an artist full of projects and had not the opportunity of defend himself. Fifth, the release of Mark Chapman could be a dangerous decision for the rest of the society and for himself, too. John Lennon´s family and friends, fans and the entire society could experiment a feeling of inequity due to the freedom of a criminal. As a result, they could react in a violent way, trying to take the law into their own hands.

On 3th October 2000, parole was denied to John Lennon´s killer, Mark David Chapman.

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[1] Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (2010). New York State Parole Handbook (p. Section Two, Point 22). New York State. Available at: http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Parole_Handbook.html#h2_22

Resource:

• Letter to the Parole Board. Yoko Ono Lennon. (2000). Rolling Stones, (853), Page 105.

Portfolio Entry # 10 - A PODCAST on Argumentative Writing

Summary

A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing Podcast

            Jennifer Gonzalez Boss is the Editor-in-Chef at Cult of Pedagogy, an online magazine for teachers. In her podcast A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing Gonzalez shares with the readers, mostly educators of different areas and levels, the strategies she uses in order to teach how to write this type of essays. We can realize that she considers writing as a process that can be learned, taught, practiced and improved. Besides, we can appreciate the importance she gives to the use of examples and good  pieces of writing to acquire this skill. Finally, even when she recognizes that real writers do not use the five-paragraph essay model rigidly, she believes that students need a model; they need to understand the basic structure of  argumentative writing. 

            Gonzalez presents a gradual plan for teaching argumentative or persuasive essays. First, she provides students with some quantity of appropriate, real world writing on the target genre. Reading abundant and varied good examples helps students to appreciate how writers do it in real world. Furthermore, she analyzes the material with the students so that they can notice the diverse strategies writers use. Gonzalez called this process “reading (the texts) as writers”.

            In the second step, students practice the strategy of arguing orally, which is something they already do regularly. Thereby they start thinking consciously of ideas and evidence that support, defend and sustain their opinion. It is remarkable that the first steps are concerning to reading and speaking instead of writing. In this way, Gonzalez shows that writing is a process that starts before one sits in front of a blank page.

            Students start writing at the third step, practicing how to write a thesis statement. At this point, Gonzalez expresses that she provides students with material that helps to support their opinion rather than making students do the research. She believes that it is important to practice one skill at a time, so that they can concentrate on thinking how to use the material wisely.

            Steps four and five involve the writing task itself. The teacher explains exactly what students have to write, shows the rubric they are going to be scored and gives them a limited number of topics to choose. She helps and guides them along the writing process allowing them to learn at their own pace. During this process she uses different strategies, for instance writing her own essay with them in order to show them that even decent writers as her have difficulties at writing times.

Step six deals with some skills students need to build up, for example how to present the evidence wisely that supports their opinions, how to introduce a quotation or how to use linking words effectively. After several corrections, students finally submit their piece of writing.

Gonzalez exposes in this 33:27 minutes podcast the strategies that have helped her students to write competently. Besides, she proves that writing is a complex process that should be gone through at the student´s own pace. Furthermore, Gonzalez reveals that the pre writing task is an essential step in order to provide a solid base for  successful writing.

      

Resource:

The Cult of Pedagogy, (2016). Episode 36. [podcast] A Step-by-Step Plan for Teaching Argumentative Writing. Available at: http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/persuasive-writing/ [Accessed 2 Sep. 2016].

Portfolio Entry # 9 - How to Write an Effective Essay by David Taylor

Formulas for Five-Paragraph Essay

Created with Padlet

Resource: 

• David Taylor (2012, May 27). How to Write an Effective Essay: Formulas for Five-Paragraph Essay [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwjmMtTVO1g