Funding sponsored by:
www.qad.com
Bullfighting -- Art, Sport, or Animal Cruelty?
Click here to view the project resources.
Project Description: While reading The Sun Also Rises, students research bullfighting and write a persuasive paper answering the question of whether it is an art, a sport, or animal cruelty. In the process, students examine credibility of sources and learn how to target their syntax and diction to appeal to a chosen audience.
How it works: As students are reading The Sun Also Rises, a novel by Ernest Hemingway that prominently features bullfighting, they go online to research bullfighting. Students examine information and arguments presented on the web, and they view a 60 Minutes segment about a family of bullfighters. Using an interactive worksheet, they copy and paste their research while making judgments about the arguments they find and the credibility of their sources. Once their research is complete, the students use a discussion board to share their thoughts as they participate in an online Socratic seminar. After they have solidified their arguments and chosen their target audiences, students type their papers and submit them to each other for peer review. Finally, students type final drafts of their papers to share with the class and turn in for evaluation.
Assessment: Students earn credit for correctly completing the interactive worksheet. The discussion board is a formative assessment that shows the teacher whether the students are forming thoughtful, supportable claims. Students provide peer feedback using the peer response questions. The final paper is evaluated using a rubric that addresses seven key features of the paper.
Standards:
Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
- 2.3 Verify and clarify facts presented in other types of expository texts by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents.
- 2.4 Make warranted and reasonable assertions about the author s arguments by using elements of the text to defend and clarify interpretations.
- 2.5 Analyze an author s implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs about a subject.
Expository Critique
- 2.6 Critique the power, validity, and truthfulness of arguments set forth in public documents; their appeal to both friendly and hostile audiences; and the extent to which the arguments anticipate and address reader concerns and counterclaims (e.g., appeal to reason, to authority, to pathos and emotion).
Writing Strategies
- 1.3 Structure ideas and arguments in a sustained, persuasive, and sophisticated way and support them with precise and relevant examples.
Research and Technology
- 1.6 Develop presentations by using clear research questions and creative and critical research strategies (e.g., field studies, oral histories, interviews, experiments, electronic sources).
- 1.7 Use systematic strategies to organize and record information
Evaluation and Revision - 1.9 Revise text to highlight the individual voice, improve sentence variety and style, and enhance subtlety of meaning and tone in ways that are consistent with the purpose, audience, and genre.
Estimated Number of Class Periods for Students To Complete Unit: 5 Class Periods or more.
What you need: Personal computer with Internet connection -- research
TurnItIn.com -- discussion board (can substitute edublogs.org or some other free blog source)
TurnItIn.com -- peermark (can substitute Microsoft Word comment function)
Software or Materials Used: Microsoft Word
Keywords: English, language arts, Hemingway, persuasive, essay, American literature, bullfighting
The Students: This project was designed for senior college prep. English students, but it could be used in American literature classes and is suitable for students in grades 10 to 12. The project allows for differentiated instruction in that more advanced students can choose more sophisticated audiences for their essays while less skilled writers can target younger audiences.
Overall Value: Students enjoy learning about bullfighting, which can be a highly controversial subject. Since many people are passionate on both sides of the argument, it is easy for students to detect bias in the sources they research. Discussion boards and online peer responses can be done anonymously freeing students to give fuller and more honest feedback. Choosing their own target audiences for their papers increases student buy-in. Providing an interactive worksheet for research gives students a tool they can use and modify in the future when they write research papers in college.
Subject Area: English
Grade Levels: Grades 10 - 12
Tips for the Teacher: Have fun! Enjoy the children. Try something new. Embrace adventure. Hug the ones you love.
