English/Communication II Honors

A Tale of Two Cities Debate Verbal Essay Assignment

For your final assessment for A Tale of Two Cities, you will be constructing a debate with your lens group members where you will be arguing why your specific lens is more important and relevant to the novel as a whole in comparison to another groups lens. You will essentially be writing an essay as a group in the form of a speech/debate. You will be forming your debate keeping the opposing lens in mind: Death v. Revenge Relationships v. Mob Law v. Duty Class v. Choices Overview of Verbal Essay Assignment: As a group, you will be responsible for one part of a four-part debate that includes a minimum of four pieces of textual evidence from A Tale of Two Cities. You must include a minimum of two pieces of evidence in your Argumentative Point and a minimum of one piece of evidence in your Counterargument Point; your fourth piece of evidence could be used as an Attention-Grabber or elsewhere in your debate (this is up to you). Here is the outline of the essay in more detail: Outline of Essay Structure: 1. An Introduction that includes the following: a) An Attention-Getter; b) A Presentation of Main Point(s) (Reason(s) that back your Claim); c) A Presentation of Counterargument/Refutation (What the other side of the argument says, and why their position is wrong); d) A Thesis Statement (Claim) An Argument for your side that includes the following: a) A Topic Sentence (Reason) that clearly backs your Thesis Statement (Claim) and provides the basis for the rest of your paragraphs information; b) At least two pieces of Evidence (Quotes) that back your Reason and Claim; i) Each quote must be preceded by an explanation of Context the Who, What, Where, and/or When of the speaker and/or situation in which the quote occurs ii) Each quote must be followed by an explanation of Significance, which explains how the quote backs the Reason(s) presented and/or how the quote ties in to your overall to overall Claim; c) Transition that wraps up the current thought and/or leads into the next one A Counter-Argument paragraph that includes the following: a) Presentation of the other sides argument (not an endorsement of the other side; merely state what the other side believes), b) A Refutation of the other sides position, which attacks weaknesses in their argument and also returns to the idea that your central Claim is correct c) Must include at least one piece of Evidence (Quote), either in the Presentation of Counterargument or Refutation portions of the paragraph A Conclusion that includes the following: a) Re-statement of your overall Thesis Statement (Claim) b) Re-statement of your Main Point(s) (Reasons) c) Closing Thoughts: Discuss the implications of your Claim - What implications might the ideas youve discussed in this paper have for the reader? What considerations should be made about cultural expectations, human nature, relationships, fate, mankinds place in the universe, etc.? Leave the reader thinking about Big Picture ideas at the end of your essay if possible.

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ROLES

Sign your name next to your role/responsibility on the sign-up sheet in class today
Student 1: Introduction/Conclusion Student 2: Present Argument and evidence Student 3: Support Argument and provide evidence #2 Student 4: Prepare for counterargument
The schedule for the debate is as follows: Roles: Mini Outline: Discussion Post: Evidence: Final Outline: Due today, Monday, March 19 Due today, Monday, March 19 Due today, Monday, March 19 on Blackboard by 11 PM Due Tuesday, March 20 Work on in class Due Friday, March 23

DISCUSSION POST: In your group discussion, each group member should provide an explanation for how your symbol and scene represent your lens and explain how this is an important, reoccurring symbol throughout the novel so far based on the picture you turned in on Friday in class.