Lesson 2

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

• • Antigone, Sophocles (translated by Robert Fagles), Penguin Books, 1984

• • “Is it a Crime for a U.S. Citizen to Vote?,” Susan B. Anthony, Public Domain, 1873

• • Excerpts from “The Story of Antigone: A Play, a Text, a Myth for All Times,” Dr. Evelyne Ender and Dr. David Steiner, Odell Education, 2020

Materials

Tools

• Excerpts from “The Story of Antigone: A Play, a Text, a Myth for All Times”

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Evaluating Arguments Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• “Is It a Crime for a U.S. Citizen to Vote?”

Reference Guides

• Literacy Toolbox Reference Guide

Question Sets

• Antigone: Section 3 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• Delineating Arguments Tool

• Evaluating Arguments Tool

• Mentor Sentence Journal

• Antigone: Section 3 Question Set

Activity 1: Discuss – Write

We will make thematic connections between an essay excerpt, Antigone, and the beginning of Susan B. Anthony’s speech, “Is It a Crime for a United States Citizen to Vote?”

Share your response to your homework question with a partner and then add any additional thoughts in your Learning Log:

1. Which of the themes referenced in the Connections section of the Ender essay most relate to both Antigone and Anthony’s speech? Provide evidence from each text to support your thinking and writing.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will continue to read excerpts from Susan B. Anthony’s speech in order to understand the structure and elements of an argument and make comparisons among the ideas in Antigone and the speech.

Step 1

Work with a partner to read Paragraphs 7-12 of Anthony’s speech.

Use your teacher’s model, annotations from Paragraphs 2 through 6, and your Delineating Arguments Tool to help you understand the structure of her argument as well as what types of appeals she is using to influence her audience. When you have finished reading these paragraphs, add text evidence to your Delineating Arguments Tool.

Below are some guiding questions to support your reading and thinking:

1. Anthony states that "whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it." What are "these ends" to which she refers?

2. Why does Anthony refer to "one-half of the people of this nation" in her argument? What is her position about women and citizenship?

3. What claims is Anthony making in these paragraphs, and what types of evidence is she relying on to influence her audience? What are the counterclaims that others could make in opposition to her claims?

4. What is Anthony saying about gender roles? How do these ideas connect to the ideas of gender roles in Antigone? Choose lines from the speech to support your thinking.

5. Anthony cites the Preamble of the Constitution in Paragraph 9. How does this support her claim?

6. In paragraph 10, Anthony states that it was "we, the people, not we white male citizens, nor yet we, male citizens; but we the whole people who formed this Union…to give the blessings of liberty…to the whole people, women as well as men." Describe her appeals in this paragraph and explain their significance as well as effectiveness.

7. Regarding these paragraphs of the speech, what ideas would Antigone and Anthony agree on? Mark the text evidence from the speech that supports your thinking.

Step 2

Work independently to read, annotate, and use your Delineating Arguments Tool to read Paragraphs 11-30, so that you can use Anthony’s model to structure your argument in the Culminating Task with strong claims, evidence, and considering counterclaims.

Step 3

Susan B. Anthony’s speech is quite lengthy, and for our purposes, a portion has been omitted as indicated by the three-dot ellipsis (…) following Paragraph 30. Paragraphs 31-62 are from the end of Anthony’s speech.

Read Paragraphs 30-62 with a partner. Take turns reading aloud to each other. Mark claims, evidence, counterclaims, and appeals from the speech. Highlight all the instances of the term appeal as well as any time Anthony states, "We ask."

1. What do you notice about your highlighted portions of the speech?

2. What is Anthony’s call to action from this portion of her speech?

3. How do you think the women in the audience might have reacted to her speech? What about the men? Why?

4. What are some counterarguments that an audience might make in response to Anthony’s speech? Jot down two or three ideas you have and share those with a partner.

Add any new text evidence or ideas to your Delineating Arguments Tool from this portion of the text.

Rate yourself from one (worst) to five (best) regarding how you feel about the following:

• Understanding the speech

• Making connections between the speech and the play

• Elements of an effective argument

• The Section Diagnostic prompt and requirements

Activity 3: Listen – Read – Discuss

We will evaluate the arguments in the excerpts of Susan B. Anthony’s speech, and we will continue to make connections between the speech and the play.

Step 1

We used the Delineating Argument Tool to analyze how Susan B. Anthony constructed her argumentative speech, using elements of her purpose, perspective, position, claims, evidence, and counterclaims. She considered her audience, setting, and political timelines to create her speech while using founding documents as the basis of her claim and call to action.

Your teacher is now going to model a tool that is used after the Delineating Arguments Tool so that you can decide for yourself how effective Anthony’s argument was.

Using the Evaluating Arguments Tool, follow along as your teacher models their thinking from Paragraphs 2 through 6 of Anthony’s speech.

Step 2

Work with a partner and your Evaluating Arguments Tool to add text-based observations from Paragraphs 7-25 of the speech. Consider the questions below as you work to evaluate Anthony’s argument, structure of her speech, and her appeals.

1. How strong do you think Anthony’s speech is, and why?

2. What are some lines from her speech that you think the 1873 audience might question?

3. If women could not vote legally until 1920, what do you think could have strengthened her argument?

4. Are you and your partner agreeing on the strengths and weaknesses of the elements on the tool? Why or why not?

Step 3

Work with Paragraphs 26-62 independently to evaluate and add text-based observations to your graphic organizer. As you complete your Evaluating Arguments Tool, consider the following:

1. Where in the text were you, as the reader, most impacted?

2. Overall, how would you evaluate the effectiveness of Anthony’s speech?

Step 4

Engage in a think-pair-share with a partner or small group to discuss some connecting questions:

1. Think about the Central Question: To whom or what do we owe our loyalty? What would Anthony’s response be to that question, and what text evidence helps support your thinking?

2. Imagine that Susan B. Anthony, Antigone, and Creon have a discussion about Polynices and his burial. Write out a few sentences of what important points each person might make.

3. Return to the strongest language that each of the three has used to make their argument. In your Learning Log, jot down a few lines that resonate with you that can serve as mentor sentences of strong language and appeals.

Activity 4: Read – Write – Discuss

We will study mentor sentences from Susan B. Anthony’s speech in order to see how an author makes specific choices in her language to affect her audience.

Step 1

Reading like a writer involves studying how an author writes and determining why the author makes specific writing choices at the paragraph and sentence level. Understanding what those writing choices mean and deconstructing how the author made those choices can help you emulate those choices in your own writing practice and diversify your range of writing strategies. As you read the texts in this unit, use your Mentor Sentence Journal to compile sentences that stand out to you. These sentences might be interesting, or they might represent a strong example of a particular language use concept you have learned. You can use these sentences, as well as those from other units, to build a writer’s toolbox, wherein you have a number of techniques at your disposal to use when writing.

We will study mentor sentences from Susan B. Anthony’s speech in order to see how one author makes specific choices in her language to affect her audience.

Step 2

Examine the following mentor sentences:

1. In Paragraph 7, read the sentence that begins, "The women, dissatisfied as they are."

   1. What are two or three examples of diction, choice of words, and phrases in her sentence that contribute to the tone of her speech? What do you notice about the syntax, the arrangement of her words and phrases, in the same sentence?

2. In Paragraph 10, read the sentence that begins "It was we, the people."

   1. How does the syntax contribute to her voice?

   2. How do you think the audience might have reacted?

   3. How does this sentence affect your understanding of her meaning and speech?

3. Read Paragraph 12.

   1. How does the diction she uses in this paragraph support her appeal?

   2. Choose two or three examples of diction that stand out to you and explain how they support her overall message.

4. Read Paragraph 62 and mimic her language as if you are Antigone writing the same message to Creon, but changing the circumstances.

   1. What do you notice about the language and this call to action?

   2. Does changing it from Anthony in 1873 to Antigone in 441 BCE impact the meaning?

   3. Read your sentence to others so you can hear different points of view.

Step 3

Record one of these or another sentence from the speech in your Mentor Sentence Journal.

Use your analysis of the mentor sentences to craft a new sentence that you have written, mimicking what the author does in terms of style, grammar, structure, or punctuation.

Discuss your response to the following question with a partner:

1. How did studying these sentences expand your understanding of the text and author?

As you continue to read the texts in this unit, use your Mentor Sentence Journal to identify sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned. You can use these sentences to build a writer’s toolbox, wherein you have a number of techniques at your disposal to use when writing.