Toulmin Model Arguement

Kati Haycock expresses her opinion to the looming question of, "How to raise the status of teachers?" She explains that schools and administrations need to improve teacher training. I agree. Teachers must be better prepared for their position in order to become more respected by our society and in order for more upcoming employees to pursue the field of education. Many teachers today obtain their lessons directly from the textbook, along with the homework worksheets and assignments. This causes their lessons to be repetitive, not interesting to the students, and not beneficial to the teacher. If teachers were required to be better educated in their field, they would have a wider variety of unique information to share with their students to keep them interested in class. Also, requiring teachers to be better educated would benefit them in other aspects of life. In my own school, it is obvious that the teachers who have earned their masters degree are more prepared for teaching and helping their students be successful than those who have just earned the minimum requirements. These teachers don't necessarily make their subject "fun" and easy, but the students seem to enjoy it because they feel like they are actually learning something instead of wasting their time on information they may forget. Although it may be true that many other steps will be required in order for teachers to earn respect from our society, teachers being required to be better educated than they are now would be a major step.

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald's reflective and hopeless tones portray his idea that Americans continue to push against the current of life and nature, thinking they are bettering the world, but in turn hurting it by destroying its origins.

Fitzgerald uses optimistic diction to describe the old, natural world while he describes the modern times with pessimism. Before the moon brings light to the old times, the narrator sees the current world as "shadowy" and dark with "hardly any lights." As the "inessential houses" of the modern America become hidden, "a fresh, green breast" is seen, the "greatest of all human dreams." Fitzgerald is bringing to light his opinion that all of the new advances that made the 20s the "Roaring Twenties" have destroyed it rather than helped with the building up of the country. He sees the old, traditional world as a very beautiful work and shows that he cannot see this special world until the characteristics of the modern world are gone, or "melt[ed] away."

Fitzgerald wraps up his point with important syntax in the last two paragraphs of the passage. He uses ellipses and dashes which in writing serve as a break in thought or in the case of ellipses, repetition or a never ending thought. Being sucked into the idea he is disagreeing with, Fitzgerald begins describing how "we" will "run faster, stretch out our arms farther," continue doing things we are convinced will help and benefit our country. However, with his very last sentence, Fitzgerald reminds the reader that no matter how much Americans may keep doing in an attempt to help the country, they will continue to be pushed back and held in place without success, just like the boats that continue to go against the current, but make it nowhere.

By using effective diction and syntax, Fitzgerald very clearly expresses his opinion that Americans will continue trying to add to their country in an attempt to benefit and make it better, much like a sailor pushing against the current and convincing himself that he is making process because of his art work, but in the end, staying idle and in one place.

3rd Quarter Reading

I read 3 books, the equilvalent of 6 books.

• The Pact by Jodi Picoult-416 pages


• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury-148 pages (classic)


• The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult-385 pages

I really enjoyed reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury because it challenged me more than the other books I read this nine weeks. Guy Montag, the main character, is a fireman. Not the kind of fireman we have today, but a fireman that starts fires in order to keeps books out of the possession of regular people. When one lady is so attached to her books she chooses to burn with them, Montag becomes interested in why these books are so important. He begins secretly collecting and reading books but eventually gets caught by the head fireman. Now, Montag must choose between living in the dark like everyone else or rebelling in order to find out what's being hidden. Fahrenheit 451 used imagery very often to describe different events in the book and also different words that forced me to stretch my vocabulary. Also, the storyline centered around censorship, a characteristic of some Utopias.