• 11th Grade AP Language and Composition

    1 book; 1 other reading assignment; 2 writing assignments

    1. Read Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, And Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs

    Click here for assignment details

     

     2. Newspaper Assignment:

    Current events reading from a variety of reputable newspapers or news magazines such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Economist, Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Guardian, The Washington Post, or The Atlantic. You are welcome to read these sources online or in print. If you do not receive any of these publications at your home, you can find them at your town libraries. In addition, you can access The Boston Globe through the Masco library webpage: https://www.masconomet.org/Page/258 (Passwords: Click HERE).

    Click here for assignment details

     

    Stop by or email the High School Library to pick up your book.

    The Public Libraries have some Masco-owned books that you can keep for as long as you need them. They also have access to the news on their website. Give them a call and support your local library! 

    Topsfield Public Library 978-887-1528

    Boxford Public Library 978-887-6352

    Middleton Public Library 978-774-8132

  • 1. REQUIRED

     Thank You  
     
    Thank You For Arguing By Jay Heinrichs
    Thank You for Arguing is your master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill. 
     
    The time-tested secrets this book discloses include Cicero’s three-step strategy for moving an audience to action—as well as Honest Abe’s Shameless Trick of lowering an audience’s expectations by pretending to be unpolished. But it’s also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians’ use of “code” language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of popular-culture dodges—including The Yoda Technique, The Belushi Paradigm, and The Eddie Haskell Ploy. 

    Whether you’re an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments on the page, at the podium, or over a beer,Thank You for Arguing is for you. Written by one of today’s most popular language mavens, it’s warm, witty, erudite, and truly enlightening. It not only teaches you how to recognize a paralipsis and a chiasmus when you hear them, but also how to wield such handy and persuasive weapons the next time you really, really want to get your own way. 
     
    "[Listeners] who want to terrify underlings into submission will learn from Heinrichs that speaking softly while letting your eyes betray cold fury does the trick handily."
    -Publishers Weekly