Course Calendar – Dr. Eric Drown

Office Hours are the time when I’m available in my office to answer your questions and provide extra help. You don’t need an appointment to visit me in office hours. Just drop in.

My office hours for Spring 2019 are Tuesdays from 10-11, Wednesdays from 2:30-3, and Thursdays from 11-12.

Writing Fellow Michaela Godzick is available for consultations. Contact her and book her time using this link.

This unit’s essential question: What would it take for there to be an end to racism and the social inequities justified by it?

Course Grade Estimator

W. May 1

In class

Last day of class.

Take the Knowledge About Reading and Writing Test

M. April 29

In class

Knowledge About Reading & Writing Test Prep
Finalize Paper – Don’t give away 5% of your final grade: Get MLA formatting correct. Be sure to share GDoc or WordDoc with me so that I can see your properly formatted paper.

Homework (due Tuesday, April 30 at 11:59 pm)

Prepare for the Knowledge About Reading and Writing Test
Finish your paper

F. April 26

In class

Take the Knowledge About Reading and Writing Pre-Test

Homework

Make significant progress on or finish your paper in which you describe how an anti-racist movement here at UNE might target and change a problematic social habit.

W. April 24

In class

Anti-Racist Movement Planning

Read and take notes on Saahil Desai’s “The First Reparations Attempts at an American College Comes from It’s Students.”

Homework (due Thursday, April 25 at 11:59 pm)

M. April 22

In class

Idea development | Movement planning | Research

Homework (due Tuesday, April 23 at 11:59 pm)

Rewrite or revise your essay on what it would take to start and grow an anti-racism movement here at UNE. A reader of your piece should be able to use it to begin the work of mobilizing people for social change. Bullet-points (followed by explanation) might not be out of place in a piece like this. They’ll need to know:

Which of UNE’s social habits you’re targeting for change and why.
Which specific strong ties (people and groups) you’ll work to obligate you to help and why you think you need them.
Which new social habits your movement will promote.
What strategies you’ll use to habituate UNE to the new habits (think about Pastor Warren and his church and the advice Kyle Korver gives).
How exactly you’ll spread your ideas and habits beyond your core group.
What challenges you expect to face and how you’ll overcome them.

F. April 19

In class

Quiz: Write for 15 minutes on the following question.

In your view, is the kind of work on himself that Korver seems to be doing enough, by itself, to reduce the social inequities justified by racism, even if most of us who are raced white did similar work on ourselves? What else, besides this self-work, might need to happen? Use concepts and examples from Duhigg and Korver to support your answers.

Homework (due Sunday, April 21 at 11:59 pm)

Using your understanding of how social movements start, grow, and endure (from Duhigg) and your analysis of Kyle Korver’s awakening to anti-racist activism, write a 600 word informal essay explaining what it would take to start and grow an anti-racist movement here at UNE, considering the implications of the fact that UNE is a “mostly white space.” In your essay, explain the social habits your movement might have to overcome in order to gain momentum beyond its core members and how your movement might approach that work. Also, discuss the existing social habits, strong ties, and weak ties you yourself have on campus (with people and organizations) that your movement might draw on to start doing anti-racist work here at UNE.

W. April 17

In class

Take this quiz (don’t submit it until instructed to do so)
What does it take for movements to produce lasting social change?

Homework (due Thursday, April 18 at 11:59 pm)

Print, read & annotate Kyle Korver’s “Privileged” in connection with what Duhigg says about how social change movements depend on strong ties, weak ties, and social habits. Gather material to help you answer the following questions:
- Where in Korver’s essay do you see strong ties at work? Weak ties?
- What social habits is Korver working to shed? Which is he working to acquire?
- How is he going about doing this habit-changing work? In what ways are his strong and weak ties helping him in his work to change?
- How would sociologist Doug McAdam (discussed in Duhigg) explain Korver’s first reaction to the news that NYC police had arrested his teammate, Thabo Sefolosha, and broken his leg?
Write for 45 minutes to answer the questions in the bullet-point above. Support your answers with well-framed quotes drawn from Duhigg and Korver.

M. April 15

In class

Proofreading, finalizing paper
How does social change happen?

Homework (due Tuesday, April 16 at 11:59 pm)

Print, read and annotate Charles Duhigg, “From Civil Rights to Megachurches” (how movements happen).
Study for closed-book reading quiz on Wednesday:
- Be able to define these concepts and explain how each contributes to social change: strong ties, weak ties, social habits
- Be able to explain how social change movements start, grow, and endure
Using ideas from Duhigg, write for 30 minutes about why social change movements fail (and why people persist in their ways even when they want change).

F. April 12

In class

Take this quiz. 15 minutes
Writing Day

Homework (due Sunday, April 14 at 11:59 pm)

Finish assessing and revising your paper in Google Docs or Word. By the end of Sunday night, I’m expecting to see:
- A correctly formatted MLA manuscript
- A full-length introduction that introduces readers to the part of the conversation (about how people think about whiteness and blackness) you’re writing about and presents a claim about the different ways whiteness and blackness are “real”
- An organized sequence of body paragraphs that follow one from the other with a clearly-discernible purpose
- Paragraphs controlled by claim-based topic sentences
- Sentences and paragraphs connected to one another via pointing words, pivotal words, transition phrases, repeated key words
- Well-chosen and well-framed quotations from concept sources and evidence sources
- A conclusion that synthesizes your line of thought and explains why what you wrote matters and what the implications of your line of thought are for either ending racism or explaining the persistence of racism.

This unit’s essential questions: In what sense is “race” real?

This unit’s supporting questions: What are the origins and current functions of racism? What sets of words and phrases, ideas, images, beliefs, and patterns of thought do people use to think and talk about race? How do those linguistic and thought patterns shape the behaviors of people and institutions?

W. April 10

In class

Make a copy of this Google doc and use it to assess the informal essay comparing the words, ideas, and beliefs used Whiteness Project participants to discuss race to those used by Blackness Project participants. What changes will you need to make to turn it into a more formal essay? Share it with me.
Consider:
- Your use, framing, and interpretation of quotes used from the films.
- Your use of concepts and ideas from Yoshino, Olson, Hochschild, and “The Invention of Race” to analyze and interpret the beliefs, ideas and experience of WP & BP participants.
- How well a reader would be able to make sense of each paragraph of your essay. Look for mechanisms of internal coherence, gaps in logic or explanation, clear topic sentences that make claims.
- How well the introduction functions to introduce your reader to the conversation, the part you’re focusing on, and the idea or question that gives focus to your paper.
- How well the conclusion presents the evolution of your thought since the start of our conversations on race in the US.
- How well your paper answers the essential questions of this unit.

Homework (due Thursday, April 11 at 11:59 pm)

Work in a new document for at least 90 minutes revising your informal essay (submitted on Monday) to transform it into a more formal essay that better addresses the questions in the prompt. I’m looking for real improvement. Points of emphasis for Thursday:

MLA manuscript formatting. Use this template to help you set up your manuscript properly.
Introduction
Logical paragraph sequences connected to one another with conceptual transitions
Internal paragraph coherence: topic sentence, transitions/pivotal words, sentences connected to one another and the topic sentence
Evidence usage/quote framing
Concept usage

M. April 8

In class

5 point Engagement Grade Bonus opportunity: Please help me test my Metacognitive Learning Log. Make a duplicate of the log. Then choose a class other than ENG 123 to use it in. Share the form with yourself. Each day record the out-of-class learning activities you’re complete to learn and master the knowledge, skills, procedures or attitudes of that class. Each Monday, export your responses to a spreadsheet and share the sheet with me. Review the effectiveness of your learning activities and make adjustments to improve your performance.
Group work towards essay due Tuesday night.

Homework (due Tuesday, April 9 at 11:59 pm)

Write a 600 word informal essay that draws a comparison between the Whiteness Project and the Blackness Project and offers an interpretive theory about the similarities and differences you find. Be sure to address these three questions:
- To what degree do participants in the Whiteness Project and participants in the Blackness Project agree about the ways race figures in their lives? In what ways do they experience race in their lives?
  - Cite specific voices as representative of trends in your answer, don’t aggregate them and over-generalize. Incorporate interpretive concepts from Yoshino, Olson, Coates, or Hochschild to help you work with the data from the Blackness Project.
- What views do participants in the Whiteness Project and participants in the Blackness Project have about how institutions of power take action with regard to race in our society?
  - Cite specific voices as representative of trends in your answer, don’t aggregate them and over-generalize. Incorporate interpretive concepts from Yoshino, Olson, Coates, or Hochschild to help you work with the data from the Blackness Project.
- What can we learn about the persistence of racism by comparing the range of solutions to the problems of racism and racialized inequality offered by the participants in these two projects? Which 2 or 3 solutions make the most sense to you based on your experience and what you’ve learned from our readings this semester?

F. April 5

In class

Close reading of “How Professionals of Color Say They Counter Bias at Work” – Assumptions–>Behavior–>Counter-behavior–>Concepts
Prompt analysis & planning

Homework (due Sunday, April 7 at 11:59 pm)

Write and post an informal paper of 600 words or more in which you discuss the “materials to think with” we built this week (spreadsheet on blackness & the NY Times article how professionals of color experience bias at work in order to meet the expectations detailed in the bullet point lists below.

What is the “deep story” of the people speaking in the Blackness Project film? What do the speakers in the film and the professionals of color interviewed in the New York Times piece want viewers to understand about their experience of being raced and how race – despite being an invented concept – nevertheless shapes their realities? (Model your paragraphs on this bullet point on the ones Hochschild wrote about the Deep Story of white Louisianans).
To connect your work to our essential questions, explain the Blackness Project speakers’ beliefs about the privileges and costs of being raced black as well as their attitudes towards institutions of power (for example, governments, police forces, businesses, media, schools…). Also what range of solutions do participants in the Blackness Project offer to the twin problems of racism and racialized social inequalities?
Be sure to document and explain the most important or revealing sets of words and phrases, ideas, images, beliefs, and patterns of thought people in the Blackness Project and professionals of color use to think and talk about race.
PRO TIPS:
- Draw your examples of how people talk about blackness from the Blackness Project film and the professions of color quoted in the NY Times article.
- Introduce, quote and use concepts from Yoshino/Winnicott, Olson, Hochschild, and/or Coates to explain and interpret what people say and believe.
- Be sure to use well-framed quotes to incorporate the words, concepts, stories and views of other writers or speakers in your essay.

W. April 3

In class

Data gathering

Homework (due Thursday, April 4 at 11:59 pm)

View the second half of The Blackness Project (54:23) with the aim of collecting examples of the words, phrases, ideas, images, beliefs and patterns of thought the people in the film use to talk about race. Remember, we’re looking for patterns, the repeated ways of thinking and talking about race that help shape the views of the people in the film. Whenever possible, keep track of who is saying what.
- Footage of police violence: 39:45-41:30. I think it’s important to be witness to these events. I encourage you not to look away, but leave it to your discretion.
Print, read, and annotate “How Professionals of Color Say They Counter Bias at Work.”

M. April 1

In class

Paper clean up
Introduction to The Blackness Project

Homework (due Tuesday, April 2 at 11:59 pm)

Download and view the first half of The Blackness Project (up to minute 27) with the aim of collecting examples of the words, phrases, ideas, images, beliefs and patterns of thought the people in the film use to talk about race. Remember, we’re looking for patterns, the repeated ways of thinking and talking about race that help shape the views of the people in the film.
- Pay particular attention the Blackness Project speakers’ beliefs about the privileges and costs of being raced black as well as their attitudes towards institutions of power (for example, governments, police forces, businesses, media, schools…).
Enter your samples on the Discourses of Race – Blackness Project spreadsheet. Whenever possible, keep track of who is saying what. This portrait gallery can help you identify the speakers in The Blackness Project.

F. March 29

In class

Discourses, Deep Stories, Discussion
- Explore the discussions on whitenessproject.org

Homework (due Sunday, March 31 at 11:59 pm)

Write and post an informal paper of 600 words or more in which you discuss the “materials to think with” we built this week (spreadsheet on whiteness & DQs from Hochschild reading) and last week (“End of Race” DQs, “Invention of Race” DQs, and Catalogue of Racist Ideas).

What is/are the Deep Story(ies) of the people interviewed in the Whiteness Project. There may be more than one. Model your paragraphs on these Deep Stories on the ones Hochschild wrote.
To connect your work to our essential questions, focus your work on people’s beliefs about the privileges and costs of being raced white as well as their attitudes towards institutional efforts to mitigate the lifespan, economic, and cultural inequalities produced over time by racism (these efforts take the form of affirmative action programs, scholarships, and other benefits earmarked for historically subordinated populations). Also, what range of solutions do participants in the Whiteness Project offer to the twin problems of racism and racialized social inequalities?
Pro Tips:
- Draw your examples of what people believe from the Whiteness Project films and the people in the Hochschild article.
- Quote, define, and use concepts from Yoshino/Winnicott, Olson, and Hochschild to explain and interpret what people say and believe.
- Be sure to document and explain the most important or revealing sets of words and phrases, ideas, images, beliefs, and patterns of thought people in the Whiteness Project and white Louisianans use to think and talk about race.
- Be sure to use well-framed quotes to incorporate the words, concepts, stories and views of other writers or speakers in your essay.

W. March 27

In class

Whiteness Project Data Gathering & Cleaning

Homework (due Thursday, March 28 at 11:59 pm)

Print this: “I Spent 5 Years With Some of Trump’s Biggest Fans”

Read “I Spent 5 Years With Some of Trump’s Biggest Fans” by Arlie Russel Hochschild. Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Subnations, Deep Story, The Deep Story of the Right/Personal Protectionism, Attitudes towards Work,Welfare, Money and Other Values, Masculinity, The Gap Between Male Lives at the Top and the Bottom.
Essay 4 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in three of the four bullet points below. IMPORTANT: Everyone needs to compose an answer to bullet point 3 that connects the Deep Story of Personal Protectionism to the Whiteness Project videos.
- What are the key beliefs in the Deep Story of the Right/Personal Protectionism? This is a right there question, asking you to summarize the Deep Story.
- How do economics shape the feelings and thinking of the people Hochschild profiles, especially their feelings and thinking about race, immigration, welfare, and other political issues?
- Do you recognize any elements of the “Deep Story of Personal Protectionism” in the Whiteness Project videos we’ve been analyzing? If so, describe and explain at least two of them, being sure to indicate who is saying what and how prevalent each element is in our spreadsheet. Are there any other “Deep Stories” at play in the Whiteness Project videos? If so, what would you call them?
- How does the gap between male lives at the top and male lives at the bottom relate to the idea (from “The Invention of Race”) that US slavery depended on a multi-class coalition of whiteness?

M. March 25

In class

Catalogue of Racist Ideas Used to Justify Slavery, Exploitation & Violence – from “The Invention of Race”
Introduction to The Whiteness Project & the Discourses of Race

Homework (due Tuesday, March 26 at 11:59 pm)

Visit http://www.whitenessproject.org/ where you will find 1 minute video interviews with a variety of people talking about race. Our goal as we listen to these interviews is to collect examples of the words, phrases, ideas, images, beliefs and patterns of thought the people in them use to talk about race. In order to discover the discourses (note the plural) of race, we need to attend to the patterns of thought and speech that people use to think and talk about race. Here’s what to do
- Quickly watch all 6 of the videos assigned to you to get a sense of what everyone is saying.
- Then watch each video again, this time more slowly, listening for 2 or 3 interesting quotes to add to our collection of quotes. You’ll want to be especially sure to collect ideas, phrases, beliefs, images that are repeated from person to person. Keep track of who is saying what. Pay particular attention to what people say about the privileges and costs of being raced white as well as their attitudes towards institutional efforts to mitigate the lifespan, economic, and cultural inequalities produced over time by racism.
- Type the quote (not a paraphrase) into an open cell on our Discourses of Race–Whiteness Project spreadsheet. If the quote you chose is already in the spreadsheet, choose another quote from the same video and add it to the sheet. Due on Tuesday, March 26 by 11: 59 pm.
- For each video assigned, describe the general tone and demeanor of the person speaking. Pay attention to the speaker’s tone of voice, body language, eye lines and movements, and other nonverbal forms of communication. Use the following word banks to help you: Here is a word bank of terms that you might use to describe tone and demeanor. Here is another one. A person may display more than one tone or demeanor at a time, so use as many descriptive words that seem to apply.

F. March 22

In class

Chunking/Close Reading

Homework (some due by Sunday, March 24 at 11:59 pm, photos due by March 25)

Print the transcript to annotate while listening to John Biewen’s radio special “The Invention of Race” (53 minutes).
Listen to “The Invention of Race” looking for material to think with. Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: The Construction of Race as a Justification for Slavery, The Catalogue of Racist Ideas/Images, The “Innovations” of American Slavery, Whiteness as a Coalition-Building Concept, Writing Whiteness and Blackness into Law, Racism as Power, The Myth that “Everyone Back Then Thought Like That”
Using summary, paraphrase and quotations, write for 30 minutes explaining to a reader who hasn’t listened to “The Invention of Race” three things you learned from the podcast that you found interesting, surprising or revealing. How do these things you learned shape your thinking on our essential questions for this unit. Post on your ePortfolio by Sunday, March 24 by 11:59 pm.
Post photos of your annotations of the transcript on your Reading Log page before class on Monday, March 25.

W. March 20

In class

Chunking/Structural Analysis

Homework (due Thursday, March 21 at 11:59 pm)

Read paras. 25-55 of “The End of Race: Hawaii and the Mixing of Peoples” Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Institutional Structures of Everyday Life, Affiliations, Partition, Community of Descent, The Social Effects of Intermarriage, Social Distinctions
Essay 4 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in two of the four bullet points below.
- To what degree has Hawaii’s intermarriage and neighborhood integration resulted in “ethnic and racial harmony” (251). Find, describe and explain the “materials to think with” that Olson uses to answer this question.
- Why is it difficult to answer accurately “Exactly who is a Native Hawaiian?” Why does the answer to the question matter – both in everyday life in Hawaii and to us as we think about the realities of social identities?
- If the concept of race has no genetic basis, why does it persist in society? What economic, political and/or cultural functions does it play that keep it alive? This is a Text+ME question.
- What is a “community of descent?” In what ways is a “community of descent” different from an “ethnic group” or “racial group?” Pull together and explain material from Olson’s text to define these terms and explain why Olson thinks the concept of “community of descent” is a useful way to think about mixed ancestry.
Post photos of your annotations on your Reading Log page before class on Friday, March 22.

M. March 18

In class

Review your P3 feedback. Identify two or three learning outcomes to improve during P4. Review the rubrics for those learning outcomes. Write a post in which you formulate a concrete plan with specific action steps to raise your performance in those learning outcomes.
Let’s Write and discuss: Considering what you’ve learned so far this semester about identities, in what sense is “race” real? What would it take for there to be an end to racism? These are the essential questions essay four addresses. Use this activity to activate what you may already know or think about these questions or to ask additional questions of your own.

Homework (due Tuesday, Mar. 19 by 11:59 pm; Reading Log photos before class on Wednesday)

Visit the Readings and Materials page. It’s password protected. You have the password in your notebook, it’s printed in the syllabus, and is somewhere in your email from last time. Print “The End of Race: Hawaii and the Mixing of Peoples” by Steve Olson.
Read paras. 1-24 of “The End of Race: Hawaii and the Mixing of Peoples.” Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Ethnic Thinking, “Pure” Ancestry, Mixed Ancestry, Plantation Village/Camp Town
Essay 4 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in two of the three bullet points below. Post your answers to your ePortfolio no later than 11:59 on Tuesday night.
- What vision of the future have academics and scholars pinned on Hawaii’s high-rate of intermarriage? On what facts and hopes have they based this vision? In Olson’s view, how likely is their vision of a racially-mixed future to be accurate?
- What are the two central beliefs of “ethnic thinking?” Describe and explain the mistaken ideas about the relationship among race, biology, and culture that provide the foundation for ethnic thinking?
- What are the implications for “ethnic thinking” of recent genetic research showing that “every group is a mixture of many previous groups, a fleeting collection of genetic variants drawn from a shared genetic legacy” (253)?
Post photos of your annotations on your Reading Log page before class on Wednesday.

F. March 8

In class

Edit, polish, proofread.

Have a great, safe, spring break!

W. March 6 – Peer Review

In class

Joey – Franco – Sarge | Kuomar – Ryan D. – Ray | Daria – Julian – Hannah | Grace – Alivia – Doyle

Peer review: Choose two or three places in the paper that you think can be improved and describe the purpose and content of the paragraph you’re commenting on, then evaluate how well it fulfills the purpose (NY | NTG | OK | G | EX), next diagnose problems/explain your evaluation, then make concrete, specific suggestions for improvement.
Mark places where a reader who hasn’t been participating in our conversations would be confused or need further materials to think with and more explanation and explain what you think might help clear things up.
Write at least one naysaying comment, where you could imagine someone with a different viewpoint disagreeing with something the writer says.

Homework (due Th. March 7 at 11:59 pm)

Revise your paper:
- Improve your introduction to better orient your reader to the essential question and how the Coates and Rose material will work as material to think with. End your intro with a controlling claim about how social identities shape our individual circumstances.
- Add a new paragraph in which you compare some aspect of both Coates’s and Rose’s experiences to find both similarities and differences that help you add to your answer to the essential question.
- Consider your peer’s comments (and mine if you posted on Monday) and make changes to improve existing paragraphs.
- Improve your conclusion – make sure your reader knows what your answers to the essential question are. Then explain why your answer matters.
- Share your paper with me via Office 365 or Google Docs. We’ll edit and post the final version on ePortfolio in class.

M. March 4 – No Class (Snow) P3 Paper Draft Due Moved to T. March 5

Homework (due Tu. Mar. 5)

Work for 90 minutes on your paper.
- Use transitions and pivotal words to connect sentences together
- Use repeated key words and pointing words to build coherence within paragraphs. See They Say/I Say “Connecting the Parts”
- Find more to say about a quoted or paraphrased passage already in your paper.

F. March 1

In class

Write 2 paragraphs – one TREAC on the discussion question you didn’t answer yesterday, and one paragraph that builds on the TREAC that uses what you wrote as material to think with about this unit’s essential question.

You’ll end up going into Drafting Weekend with a tightly connected 2-paragraph sequence that moves from the more concrete and specific ideas in Coates’s and Rose’s pieces to more generalized and abstract statements about the ways social identities shape one or more of these: our personal identities, our minds, our relationships, our lives, our life paths, our prospects, our sense of America and the American Dream.

Repeat this process to write the body sections of your draft this weekend.

This unit’s essential questions: In what variety of ways do our social identities shape our personal identities, our minds, our relationships, our lives, our life paths, our prospects, our sense of America and the American Dream?

Homework (nutshell draft due Saturday, March 2 at 11:59 pm, complete draft due Sunday, March 3 at 11:59 pm)

Friday or Saturday – work for least 90 single-tasking minutes: On Google Docs or the online version of Word, write a 600 word (“nutshell”) version of your paper. Use Coates’s and Roses’s memoirs as material to think with to construct answers to this unit’s essential question. The bulk of your paper should be TREAC paragraphs in which you convey some smaller part of the conversation (using summary, paraphrase and direct quoting) and (using your prewriting, quote file, word bank, and class discussions) put in your oar. This draft can have a two- or three-sentence introduction. Include at least two quotations. Use at least two concepts from this list to make sense of the material you integrate from Coates and Rose. At least one must be from Coates and Rose. Make at least one comparison between Coates’s experiences and Rose’s. Be sure to write a five- or six-sentence conclusion in which you explain what you’ve learned so far and why it matters. Don’t write in long blocks of unbroken text; use paragraphs from the beginning. Share your nutshell draft with me and post it on a new post on your ePortfolio by 11:59 pm on Saturday, March 2.
On Sunday, – work for least 90 single-tasking minutes: re-read your nutshell draft and look for ways to improve and expand it. I’ll look for at least 500 new words in your complete draft.
- Mark places in your essay where you think a reader who hasn’t been participating in our conversation would be confused or need more explanation.
- Make at least two margin comments where you imagine what a naysayer (someone who disagrees with what you or any of the other participants in the conversation) might say. Leave these comments in your document.
- Substantially revise your essay by adding new paragraphs to it and improving already-written paragraphs. These revisions should address readers’ needs for more clarity and “materials to think with” as well as inserting and responding to the naysayers you imagined. I expect to see significant changes to just about every existing paragraph.
- Beef up your introduction by introducing readers to the larger conversation (and the participants) about how our social identities shape our lives that your paper is a smaller part of and articulating your own viewpoint on the conversation.
- Improve the entrance and exit to your quotations (see the Integrating Ideas Rubric for strategies.
- Improve the connections between paragraphs using the repeated key word strategy described in Ch. 8 of They Say/I Say.
- Add transitions/pivotal words to sentences to enable your reader to understand how your sentences are meant to work together.
- Revisit your conclusion. Ensure that readers walk away with a clear sense of your viewpoint on the part of the conversation you wrote about and why it matters. Your reader should also understand how your essay has moved the conversation forward.
- Give your paper an engaging title, add an MLA Works Cited block to the end.
- Copy-and-paste your paper into an ePortfolio post. Check it for paragraphing. Then publish it no later than Sunday, March 3 at 11:59.

W. February 27

In class

Close reading; verbal TREAC

Homework (due Thursday, February 28 at 11:59 pm)

Read “I Just Wanna Be Average” from “Students will float to the mark you set” (26) to the end of the article. Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Vocational Education, Average, Masculinity (Working Class).
Essay 3 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in one of the two bullet points below.
- Re-read pp. 27-29, where Mike Rose tells us what he learned about people from his Voc. Ed. buddies. What did he learn? What does Rose think Ken Harvey meant when he said, “I just wanna be average” (28). What insights about school, learning, identity, and covering (Yoshino) does Rose derive from his reflection on Harvey? Use what you know about Ta-Nehisi Coates’s discussion of schooling to speculate what Rose might say differently if Ken Harvey were black and Rose was looking through the lens of Coates’s insights.
- What important things does Rose learn from Jack MacFarland in the classroom that unlocks the door to the upper-middle-class for him? To what degree was what Rose learned in the classroom from MacFarland available to Coates in his classrooms? Why else is MacFarland so important to Rose’s success? Did young Ta-Nehisi Coates have similar figures in his life? What’s different about the kind of mentorship each young man received?
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Thursday, February 28 at 11:59 pm.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Friday.

M. February 25

In class

Meet Professor Grumbling

Homework (due Tuesday, February 26 at 11:59 pm)

Read “I Just Wanna Be Average” from “Some people who manage to write their way out the working class” (p. 18) to “Students will float to the mark you set” (26). Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Reading and Writing, Education, South LA Veterans, Placement, Violence, Ethnicity, Average
Essay 3 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in one of the three bullet points below.
- Rose starts this segment of the article describing his early school years refuting the idea that “the classroom” could be an “oasis of possibilities” for a working class kid working their way out. He describes how often he mentally withdrew from the activities of the classroom. On page 19, he realizes “how consistently [he] defended [himself] against the lessons [he] couldn’t understand and the people and events of South LA that were too strange to view head on.” People usually defend themselves from something they feel threatened by. Read between the lines: What do you think Rose means by this? What was it he couldn’t understand, what was so strange about the people and events of South LA such that he felt the need to defend himself by not “viewing [them] head-on” (p. 18). This is a Text+Me question.
- Re-read pp. 19-22 about the chemistry set and young Rose’s love of reading. What does this section say about how reading and exploration figured in to his boyhood sense of self and his sense of a future? Compare and contrast Rose’s feelings about reading to Coates’s and the future opened up for Rose to the future opened up for Coates. This is a pull-it-together question.
- In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes that the “laws of school” were aimed at something vague and then goes on to reveal precisely what the laws of school for black boys and girls were for. What are the “laws” of Rose’s Catholic school? What are the laws aiming to teach? To what degree are they teaching similar things as the laws at the schools Coates attended? What’s different?
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Tuesday, February 26 at 11:59 pm.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Wednesday.

F. February 22

In class

Meet Professor Cripps – Close reading.

Homework (due Sunday, February 24 at 11:59 pm)

Visit the Readings and Materials page. It’s password protected. You have the password in your notebook, it’s printed in the syllabus, and is somewhere in your email from last time. Print “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose.
Read “I Just Wanna Be Average” from p. 11 up to “Some people who manage to write their way out of the working class” (p. 18). Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Immigration, Work, Opportunity, Family, Home, Neighborhoods, Violence, Masculinity (White), The Streets, Toughness.
Essay 3 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in one of the first two bullet points below. Everyone should answer the third bullet point.
- Pull together some material from the first four or five pages of the reading and describe Mike Rose’s parents’ immigration experience and adult working life. Then explain how Rose’s parents’ experience are similar to and different from that of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s parents, aunts, and uncles.
- What should we make of Rose’s description on pp. 13-18 of his family house and the mixed-race, mixed-ethnicity South Los Angeles neighborhood he grew up in? Try to capture both Rose’s emotional feelings about the places he grew up and the objective dangers he very causally suggests he faced there. Compare Rose’s experiences of his home and neighborhood to Coates’s.
- At the end of this long segment on his parents immigration and work experiences and his boyhood growing up in a mixed-race, mixed-ethnicity neighborhood in South Los Angeles, Rose writes that he “developed a picture of human existence that rendered it short and brutish or sad and aimless or long and quiet…. When, years later, I was introduced to humanistic psychologists…, with their visions of self actualization…., it all sounded like a glorious fairy tale, a magical account of a world full of possibility, full of hope and empowerment. Sinbad and Cinderella couldn’t have been more fanciful” (p. 18).
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Sunday, February 24 at 11:59 pm.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Monday.

W. February 20

In class

Close reading – working verbally with passages: pointing, explaining, connecting, interpreting.

PRO TIP: When you read and write, minimize distractions, put away your phone, turn off notifications, and close all unrelated tabs and windows.

Homework (due Thursday, February 21 at 11:59 pm)

Read from “The streets were not my only problem” (p. 25) to “Perhaps we should return to Mecca” (p. 39). Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: The Laws of the School, Educated Children, Childhood, Curiosity/Compliance, Futures, The Relationship between Fear and the Dream, The Function of Reading-Writing-Questioning, Nonviolence and Violence, Malcolm X, The Missing Thing.
Essay 3 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in two of the three bullet points below.
- Coates writes that “laws of school” were “aimed at something distant and vague” (p. 25). Pull together material from throughout the section of the reading to explain what precisely (and there’s more than one thing) the laws of schools were aimed at.
- Why is schoolboy Coates upset about studying the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement every February in school? Why did he much prefer his own study of Malcolm X in hip hop lyrics, books, speech tapes, and other materials? You’ll need to pull together and connect material from pp. 30-37 to answer this question fully.
- Coates emphasizes the role reading and writing played in his life in at least two different places in this segment. Pull together that material and explain Coates’s commitment to reading and writing. What adult figures were important to him as he learned to read and write for his own purposes?
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Thursday, February 21 at 11:59 pm.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Friday.

M. February 18

In class

Richard Wright, “Between the World and Me
Close reading practice – focused freewriting

Homework (due Tuesday, February 19 at 11:59 pm)

Read from “To be black in the Baltimore of my youth” (p. 17) to “The streets were not my only problem” (p. 25). Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: Nakedness, Masculinity (Black and White), The Other World, Survival, Clash with the Street, The Language and Geography of the Neighborhoods, The Cognitive Load of the Streets/Toughness.
Essay 3 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in one of the first two bullet points below. Everyone should attempt to answer the third bullet point. Each answer must be at least 250 words and include a quotation.
- On pp. 14-16, Coates writes about the fear that has permeated his life since he was a boy. Using direct quotes, summary and paraphrase, characterize that fear and try to explain how the actions and logic of the boys outside the 7-11 (pp. 18-21) are related to that fear. What’s different about the experiences of the “little white boys” Coates describes on pp. 20-21.
- What are some of the “rules of the street” in the Baltimore of Coates’s youth? What does “toughness” mean in that context? What’s the price of toughness? How are those rules a response to the American Dream? This is a Text+Me question.
- Speculate, to what degree might Coates’s son’s experiences in his neighborhood be similar or different to Coates’s? This is a Text+Me question.
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Tuesday, February 19 at 11:59 pm.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Wednesday.

F. February 15

In Class

Need screenshots of peer review comments in your reflection so that I can provide feedback on that learning outcome.
Recap: What have we learned about identity so far from our reading of “The Toast Story,” “Identities are Lies We Can’t Live Without,” and the Yoshino article?
Let’s write and discuss: In what variety of ways do our social identities shape our personal identities, our minds, our relationships, our lives, our life paths, our prospects, our sense of America and the American Dream? These are the essential questions essay three addresses. Use this activity to activate what you may already know or think about these questions or to ask additional questions of your own.

PRO TIP: Take some notes during discussion.

Homework (due Sunday, February 17 at 11:59 pm)

Visit the Readings and Materials page. It’s password protected. You have the password in your notebook, on the syllabus, and somewhere in your email from last time. Print the excerpt from Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. (“Ta-Nehisi” is pronounced Tah-Nuh-Hah-See – no one syllable is accented).
Read up to “To be black in the Baltimore of my youth” (p. 17). Annotate as you go. Add four chunky quotes to your Quote File and 3 concept words to your Word Bank. You’re looking for materials (concepts, examples, perspectives, stories) to think about our essential questions with. Pay particular attention to the following concepts: The New People, The American Dream/Dreamers, Race/Racism, The Body, Fear/Violence.
Essay 3 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions in two of the following bullet points:
- How does Coates portray the American Dream? What does he mean when he says that, for him, “The Dream…wars with the known world” (p. 11)? You’ll need to pull together quotes from multiple locations in the reading to answer this question fully.
- What evidence does Coates give for his assertion that the American Dream is built on the destruction of black bodies? You’ll need to pull together quotes from multiple locations in the reading to answer this question fully.
- On p. 7, Coates writes this: “But race is the child of racism, not the father.” The “but” signals to us that he means this statement to respond to another view on race. To what belief is he responding with this statement? What does he mean when he says “race is the child of racism, not the father?” How does this statement respond to the other belief in the previous? Why does Coates need readers to understand this statement?[You’ll need to summarize, unpack and explain the paragraph just before the “but” to answer the first part of the question]
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Sunday, February 17 at 11:59 pm. Be sure to categorize your post as Homework.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Monday.

W. February 13

In the event that class is canceled or delayed due to weather, be advised that the homework due in preparation for today’s class is still due on Tues. Feb. 12 at 11:59 pm. Additionally, you must complete the final reflection essay on the Critique the Work of Others Learning Outcome. Follow this link for detailed instructions. Post your Peer Review/Critique Work reflection no later than Thursday, Feb. 14 at 11:59 pm.

If you don’t have pictures of your annotations and peer review comments and links to sample quotes in your reflections, please add them this week.

M. February 11 – HW due Feb. 12 @ 11:59 pm

Research shows that reflection is one of the most important parts of learning. It consolidates what you have learned, helps you retain the knowledge, improves performance on later attempts, and enables transfer to other situations. Please give these reflection activities the care they (and you) deserve.

In class

Following the instructions posted here, write an informal but substantive reflection essay about what our first two projects reveal about your abilities to integrate your ideas with those of others.

Homework (due Tues. Feb. 12 at 11:59 pm) even if weather cancels or delays our class.

Following the instructions posted here, write an informal but substantive reflection essay about what our first two projects reveal about your abilities to effectively manage your writing process.
If you didn’t complete the Reading Process reflection essay, follow the instructions on the prompt and complete it.

F. February 8 – Finished Paper 2 Due

In class

Edit, proofread, polish, publish
MLA Citation for Yoshino exercise

Homework (due by Sunday, Feb. 10 at 11:59 pm)

Spend at least 60 minutes writing an essay reflecting on your reading process. Click on this link for my expectations and important details. Please don’t try to write this reflective essay without reading the directions.

W. February 6

In class

Writing day

PRO TIP: When you read and write, minimize distractions, put away your phone, turn off notifications, and close all unrelated tabs and windows.

Homework (due Thursday, February 7 at 11:59 pm)

Consider the comments you received on your paper. Revise your paper. I’m looking for substantial improvement in idea development, source usage, and clarity structure from the complete draft you turned in on Monday. Among the changes I expect to see are:
- new “materials to think with” (quotes, concepts, stories, examples)
- improved context-setting for quotes and paraphrases
- improved signal phrases and verbs, improved voice markers
- expanded or revised explanations/discussion of quotes or examples
- new connections between ideas or ideas and examples
- new points of view introduced
- new naysayers acknowledge and answered
- a clearer sense of your viewpoint in the conversation
- an MLA-style Works Cited page
- a title that works to shape a reader’s entry to your paper
Post your finished paper on a new post on your ePortfolio by Thursday, February 7 at 11:59 pm. Be sure to click the Papers category for your post.

M. February 4 – P2 Draft Due

In class

Share your paper with editing privileges to your reviewers and Eric
Peer review: Evaluate each paragraph as a whole. Choose two per page and comment on them. In your comment:
- First, describe its purpose, then, evaluate how well it fulfills the purpose (NTG | OK | G | EX),
- Next, diagnose problems,
- Then, make concrete, specific suggestions (see bullet points below).
- Please don’t focus on sentence-level concerns or grammar unless the meaning of a sentence is so unclear that you can’t figure it out.
Comment in places where a reader who hasn’t been participating in our conversations would be confused or need further materials to think with and more explanation. Make specific suggestions about how to improve those parts of the paper, including making recommendations for quotes, helping to clarify terms or explanations, offering examples of your own, or helping the writer develop their thinking.
Write at least one naysaying comment, where you could imagine someone with a different viewpoint disagreeing with something the writer says. Explain what that person would say and why.

Homework (due T. Feb. 5 by 11:59 pm)

Write comments on papers using the Define Purpose, Evaluate, Suggest formula described above and introduced in class.
- Franco–> Alex–> Ray –> Sarge
- Joey–Julian–Hannah
- Ryan D.–Daria–BK
- Doyle–Grace–Alivia
If you’re a person who, for whatever reason, doesn’t have much of a draft, you must email your peer review partner to let them know, and you must have at least 600 words to them by Tuesday morning at 9 am.
If your UNE email is locked out, please use a non-UNE email to send your paper to your partner. Your partner will send it back. You’ll need to visit the IT Help Desk on the fourth floor of Decary Hall for trouble-shooting.

F. February 1

In class

Clarify: Liberty Paradigm of Civil Rights v. Equality Paradigm of Civil Rights.
TREAC
Re-read pp. 486-488 of Yoshino, where he argues that the law cannot (and should not) be the primary means by which individuals are protected from forced demands for covering (pp. 486-7). Write a stand-alone TREAC paragraph in which you set up and answer the following question: In what everyday activity does Yoshino place his faith instead? Why? (Re-read pp. 487-488 if you’re stuck).

This unit’s essential questions: In what kinds of circumstances would a person need (or want) to hide a part of their identity? What might hiding a part of their identity do to and for a person – both in those particular circumstances and over time? What might a society gain and lose when a person (or type of person) covers a part of their identity over time? What can we do to protect the civil rights of people facing societal demands to cover?

Homework (Nutshell draft due on Saturday, February 2 at 11:59 pm; complete draft* due Sunday, February 3 at 11:59 am)

Prompt: Write a paper in which you convey some of the conversation we (and Yoshino) have been having about covering and contribute to it. Our conversation has been built around these essential questions: In what kinds of circumstances would a person need (or want) to hide a part of their identity? What might hiding a part of their identity do to and for a person – both in those particular circumstances and over time? What might a society gain and lose when a person (or type of person) covers a part of their identity over time?

When you write, minimize distractions, put away your phone, turn off notifications, and close all unrelated tabs and windows.

Write a 600 word (“nutshell”) version of your paper. The bulk of your paper should be TREAC paragraphs in which you convey some smaller part of the conversation (using summary, paraphrase and direct quoting) and (using your prewriting, quote file, word bank, and class discussions) put in your oar. This draft can have a two- or three-sentence introduction. Be sure to write a five- or six-sentence conclusion in which you explain what you’ve learned so far and why it matters. Don’t write in long blocks of unbroken text; use paragraphs and incorporate quotations from the beginning. Post your nutshell draft on a new post on your ePortfolio on Saturday, February 2 by 11:59 pm.
On Sunday, re-read your nutshell draft and look for ways to improve and expand it. I’ll look for at least 500 new words in your complete draft*. Here’s how to figure out where to add new material:
- Mark places in your essay where you think a reader who hasn’t been participating in our conversation would be confused or need more explanation.
- Make at least two margin comments where you imagine what a naysayer (someone who disagrees with what you or Yoshino or Winnicott or any of the other participants in the conversation) might say.
- Substantially revise your essay by adding new paragraphs to it and improving already-written paragraphs. These revisions should address readers’ needs for more clarity and “materials to think with” as well as inserting and responding to the naysayers you imagined.
- Beef up your introduction by introducing readers to the larger conversation (and the participants) about identity and covering that your paper is a smaller part of and articulating your own viewpoint on the conversation.
- Revisit your conclusion. Ensure that readers walk away with a clear sense of your viewpoint on the part of the conversation you wrote about and why it matters.
Give your paper an engaging title, add an MLA Works Cited block to the end.
Copy-and-paste your paper into an ePortfolio post. Check it for paragraphing. Then publish it no later than Sunday, Feb. 3 at 11:59 am.

W. January 30

In class

Discuss – Question – Clarify – Apply

PRO TIP: Take some notes during discussion.

Homework (4 tasks – 3 due Th. Jan. 31 at 11:59 pm; 1 due before class on F. Feb. 1)

Preview the discussion questions below. Then read and annotate paragraphs 20-42 of “The New Civil Rights.” You’re looking for materials (concepts, stories, examples, viewpoints) to use to think about the essential questions about identity that we’ve been asking. Pay particular attention to the concepts of Liberty Claims to Civil Rights (aka The Liberty Paradigm) and Equality Claims to Civil Rights (aka The Equality Paradigm), the relationship between the two Civil Rights Paradigms and the True (Authentic) Self and the False Self, and the limits of the law as a means for addressing forced demands for covering. As you’re reading, add at least four chunky quotes to your Quote File (remember to keep track of who says what and which article your quotes are coming from). Add three important concept words to your Word Bank.
Essay 2 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct a substantial response to the prompt below. You’ll need to pull together material from multiple points in the essay and draw on your knowledge of the world to construct a substantive answer. The key concepts listed above in item 1 should appear in your answer. Word count: 250 words or more.
1. Use paraphrase and explain quotes from Yoshino to define the liberty paradigm of civil rights and the equality paradigm of civil rights. Then tell us which paradigm Yoshino believes will protect the True Self better and explain his reasoning. Name a group in society who face societal demands to cover their True Selves and – in a separate chunky paragraph – explain how, in your view, their civil rights might best be protected.
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Thursday, February 1 at 11:59 pm.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Friday.

M. January 28

In class

Let’s Write and Discuss: In what kinds of circumstances would a person need (or want) to hide a part of their identity? What might hiding a part of their identity do to and for a person – both in those particular circumstances and over time? What might a society gain and lose when a person (or type of person) covers a part of their identity over time?
- These are the essential questions essay two addresses. Use this activity to activate what you may already know or think about these questions or to ask additional questions of your own.
[Give the password to the Readings and Materials page – via whiteboard and email]
Strategies for Previewing a Reading

WRITING PRO TIP: When you read and write, minimize distractions, put away your phone, turn off notifications, and close all unrelated tabs and windows.

Homework (6 tasks – 4 due Tuesday., Jan. 29 at 11:59 pm; 2 due before class on Wednesday, Jan. 30)

Visit the Readings and Materials page. It’s password protected. I gave you the password in class today, printed it in the syllabus, and sent it to you by email. Print out “Preface and the New Civil Rights” by Kenji Yoshino.
Read the questions in homework item 3 (below), then preview the central ideas of the article by reading the profile of Kenji Yoshino and taking note of the Tags (concepts) in play in the reading. Then, read and annotate the “Preface” and paragraphs 1-19 of “The New Civil Rights.” You’re looking for materials (concepts, stories, examples, viewpoints) to use to think about the essential questions about identity that we’ve been asking and about the Let’s Write Question from Jan. 28. Pay particular attention to the concepts of Covering, True Selfs and False Selfs, Assimilation and Stigmatized/Disfavored Identity. As you’re reading, add at least four chunky quotes to your Quote File (remember to keep track of who says what and which article your quotes are coming from). Add three important concept words to your Word Bank.
Essay 2 prewriting activity: Using your annotations, your Quote File, your Word bank, your reading, and your smarts, construct substantial answers to the questions below. You’ll need to “pull together” material from different paragraphs and add material from your own experiences in order to answer them.
1. What is “Covering“? For what reasons do people cover, in Yoshino’s view? Construct an extended definition of the concept of covering by explaining quoted and paraphrased material from Yoshino’s text. Then, offer your own example of covering. Compare Yoshino’s view of covering to the one you wrote about in class.
2. According to D. W. Winnicott (discussed in Yoshino), what is the True Self? What is the False Self? Explain the “one positive function” of the False Self in your own words and using an example of your own. Use and explain quotes from Yoshino to present the range of relationships between a person’s True Self and False Self.
Post the answers to your questions on a new post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Tuesday, January 29 at 11:59 pm. Be sure to click the Homework category before you publish.
Post representative pictures of your annotations on a new post under your Reading Log menu before class time on Wednesday. Be sure to click the Reading Log category before you publish.
If your ePortfolio menus aren’t correct. Use this video to correct them before class time on Wednesday.

F. January 25 – Paper 1 Due Monday Jan. 28

In class

Let’s Talk and Take Notes: What does Appiah mean when he says “identity is a lie?” What does he mean when he says “we can’t live without [identity?]
Annotate/Discuss Paper 1 Prompt

Homework

Homework (complete draft due Saturday, Jan. 26 at 11:59 pm ; revised essay due Sunday, Jan. 27 at 11:59 pm)

This unit’s essential questions: What is an identity? What do identities do for us? Why do they matter?

You’ll write this essay in two separate sittings separated by at least 12 hours. (The essay prompt comes after the my description on the process I expect you to use to write this paper.)

First Sitting – published no later than Saturday night

In the first sitting, write a complete draft* of your paper, select the Paper category, and publish it as a post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Saturday, January 26 at 11:59 pm. Don’t worry about how good your work is at this stage. Instead, the goal is to get a bunch of words on the page quickly: get your ideas down, draw on your prewriting, class activities and discussion, and your Quote File and Word Bank (work with directly quoted material from the readings). Don’t get stuck trying to write an introduction first. Use the Let’s Write Questions from Jan. 18 as prompts to get started quickly. Please use paragraphs in your writing from the start; don’t write in one long unbroken block of text. See my expectations for quotes below.

*Complete drafts have an introduction that introduces your reader to the conversation about identity we (and the writers we’ve been reading) have been having, stakes out a part of that conversation as the topic of the essay, and establishes your initial point of view on the conversation. a middle in which you convey relevant parts of the conversation to your readers, put in your own oar, and move the conversation forward, and a “what I learned” ending that explains to readers how your thinking has developed through this project and what you current landing point on the topic is. Quotations from the readings should integrated into this draft. Publish your complete draft as a post (NOT PAGE) on your ePortfolio no later than Saturday, January 26 at 11:59 pm

Second Sitting on Sunday

In the second sitting, improve your essay by adding some new paragraphs and improving the substance of existing ones. By the time you’re done revising, this piece of writing should flow like an essay, not read like separate/disconnected answers to the three essential questions driving this essay topic.

PRO TIP: Before you start your second sitting, show your complete draft to a classmate and ask for some feedback about where they’re confused about your point or in need of more examples and explanations. Ask them for suggestions for materials to add to your paper.

Before you publish, give your essay an engaging title and add an MLA-style Works Cited block to the end of your essay. Publish your revised essay (as a post) on your ePortfolio on Sunday, January 27, no later than 11:59 pm.

Publishing procedures: When you publish your draft and revised versions of your paper, copy-and-paste them from your word processor into your ePortfolio. You will need to add paragraph breaks if they don’t come through with your copy-and-paste.

This unit’s essential questions: What is an identity? What do identities do for us? Why do they matter?

Essay Prompt

Here’s the essay prompt:

Using the “materials to think with” you gathered from our Personal and Social Identity Wheel exercises, our class discussion, your Quote File and Word Bank, your freewriting, and examples, concepts, and quotes from the readings, write an exploratory essay of at least 750 words (but feel free to go as long as you need). This essay should convey your best, most current thinking (as influenced by your reading and discussion) on the questions in the Let’s Write prompt for F. Jan. 18.

Be sure to fulfill my expectations for quoting in this paper – described just below.

Expectations for Quoting

Here are my expectations for quoting in this paper:

Minimum quotes: 2. Maximum: 4.
You must incorporate at least one well-framed chunky quote from each reading.
At least one quote must introduce a new idea or concept that you use to make a point.
At least one quote must provide example material for readers to think with.
All quotes must be well-integrated, by which I mean that:
- you use summary, paraphrase and your own ideas to create a meaningful context in which the quote is clearly relevant
- you use signal phrases with well-chosen signal verbs other than says, writes, states
- you embed quotes in sentences of your own
- you follow each quotation with at least two of the following moves: spotlighting important words, concepts or points, explaining, translating, analyzing, interpreting, connecting, questioning, criticizing, connecting
- they lead to a point of your own that moves the conversation about identity forward

W. January 23

In class

Angela Davis! Today at 12:30 (free lunch starts at 12) – Alfond Sports Forum 283 A/B. All classes are cancelled during this talk. Go! We’ll be using Dr. Davis’s talk later this semester.
Let’s Talk and Take Notes: What should we learn about identity, what it does, and/or why it matters from Giulietta Carelli’s experiences?
Social Identity Wheel activity

Print this: “Why Identity is a Lie We Can’t Live Without“

This unit’s essential questions: What is an identity? What do identities do for us? Why do they matter?

Homework (3 tasks – 1 due by midnight tonight, others due as indicated below)

Due Wednesday, Jan. 23 by 11:59 pm. Print Sean Illing’s interview with philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah,”Why Identity is a Lie We Can’t Live Without.” Read and annotate it with the aim of gathering “materials to think with” (concepts and examples primarily) to revisit and write about the questions in the Let’s Write prompt for F. Jan. 18. Pay particular attention to the concepts of Fixed Identity, Multiple Overlapping Identities, Identity Groups, Identity Politics, and Communities of Strangers. Add at least 4 chunky quotes from the interview your Quote File. Post photos of your annotations on a post titled with the date under your Reading Log menu.
- PRO TIP: Consider talking with one another about this reading outside of class to improve your understanding and generate ideas about how it might help you construct your answers to the questions about identity we’re pursuing.
Appiah’s name is pronounce Kwah-May Anthony Ah-Pea-Ah.
Due Thursday, Jan. 24 by 5 pm. Find at least 3 concept words from “Why Identity is a Lie We Can’t Live Without” that seem important to you. Collect them in a subheading of your document called Word Bank. Use whatever resources you need to define each word in a way that seems best to represent how it’s being used in its original context.
- PRO TIP: Be sure to keep track of who says what and which article each quote or concept word comes from using subheadings, comments, or some other method.
Due: Thursday, Jan. 24 by 11:59 pm. Essay 2 Prewriting Activity: The more substantial your prewriting work is at this point, the more material you’ll have to work with as you draft the paper that’s coming up. So, give this activity your best brain, dedicated single-tasking time, and your best effort.
Minimize distractions, put away your phone, turn off notifications, close all unrelated tabs and windows, set a timer and write continuously for 60 minutes; write freely (without restraint, doubt or judgment) about the “materials to think [about identity} with” you found in “Why Identity is a Lie We Can’t Live Without.” This isn’t an essay; it’s a chance to think on paper in a substantial way about the materials out of which you might construct answers to the questions about identity posed on January 18.

During your freewriting time, describe and speculate about at least three concepts, examples, or insights from “Why Identity is a Lie We Can’t Live Without” that you think will be important to you as you try to construct your answers. Go beyond pointing at or naming your materials to think with and tell us enough about the concept or example so that we can see it through your ideas and understand why you think its important.

Here are some additional prompts to keep you writing for the full 60 minutes: Explain what questions might arise from thinking about your material and try to answer them. Write about a particularly interesting, surprising, useful, or hard-to-understand quote. Make connections between the concepts and examples you’re working with and try to explain what those connections teach you about identity. Connect the concepts and examples from the reading to examples drawn from your own experiences or those you know or from something you’ve read elsewhere and try to articulate what you learn about identity as a result. While this writing doesn’t need to be well-formed, clean or pretty, it does need to demonstrate your best efforts to make sense of the materials you have to think with. Post the results of this prewriting activity on your ePortfolio.

F. January 18

In class

Let’s write – What is an identity? What do identities do for us? Why do they matter? These are the essential questions essay one addresses. Use this activity to activate what you may already know or think about these questions or to ask additional questions of your own.
Personal Identity Wheel activity
Let’s discuss to prep for the essay – Take notes during class discussions; keep track of who said what
- What do we already know about identity?
- What other words might be useful for us to use constructing answers to these questions?
- What kinds of materials do we need to think better about these questions?

PRO TIP: Take some notes during discussion.

HOMEWORK PRO TIP: Read all homework assignment prompts carefully from beginning to end. Do your best to approach your homework with the mindset that every activity contributes to your growth and development as a reader and writer.

Purposeful practice produces results. Mindless practice – doing the homework just to get it done – does not. Worse, mindless practice keeps you from producing the materials that you will use to write your paper and prevents you from developing the reading and writing skills you need for college, career, and civic success.

This unit’s essential questions: What is an identity? What do identities do for us? Why do they matter?

Print this: “A Toast Story”

Homework (4 tasks – 1 due Jan. 18 by 5 pm, 1 film to see tonight, Jan. 18, 2 others at different times over the next several days – be sure preview all of the homework today and plan your work times)

Due: Friday, Jan. 18 by 5 pm. Create a Google doc or Office 365 document. Call it Quote File & Word Bank. Share it with me.
Due: Friday, Jan. 18 at 6 pm. Go have a free dinner at The Hang (Campus Center) and watch Black Power Mix Tape, 1967-1975 to learn more about next week’s MLK Keynote Speaker, Dr. Angela Davis and the Black Power Movement. The event starts at 6 pm.
Due: Sunday, Jan. 20 by 11:59 pm. Print, read and annotate “A Toast Story” with the aim of gathering “materials to think with” (concepts and examples primarily) to revisit and write about the questions in the Let’s Write prompt for F. Jan. 18. Add at least 4 chunky, relevant quotes to your Quote File by retyping them.
Due: Sunday, Jan. 20 by 11:59 pm.Post photos of your annotated pages of “A Toast Story” on a post titled “A Toast Story” Notes. IMPORTANT: Be sure to click the Reading Log category when you publish your photos so they’ll show up on your Reading Log submenu. Here’s a photo to show you what I mean. If you haven’t yet created the Reading Log category/menu item, use this video to do so.
- PRO TIP: Consider talking with one another about this reading outside of class to improve your understanding and generate ideas about how it might help you construct your answers to the questions about identity we’re pursuing.
Due: Tuesday, Jan. 22 by 11:59 pm. Essay 1 Prewriting Activity: The more substantial your prewriting work is at this point, the more material you’ll have to work with as you draft the paper that’s coming up. So, give this activity your best brain, dedicated single-tasking time, and your best effort. Minimize distractions, put away your phone, turn off notifications, close all unrelated tabs and windows, set a timer and write continuously for 60 minutes; write freely (without restraint, doubt or judgment) about the “materials to think [about identity] with” you found in “A Toast Story.” This isn’t an essay; it’s a chance to think on paper in a substantial way about the materials out of which you might construct answers to the questions about identity posed on January 18. Keep reading!
- During your freewriting time, describe and speculate about at least three concepts, examples, or insights from the article that you think will be important to you as you try to construct your answers. Go beyond pointing at or naming your materials to think with and tell us enough about the concept or example so that we can see it through your ideas and understand why you think its important.
- Here are some additional prompts to keep you writing for the full 60 minutes: Explain what questions might arise from thinking about your material and try to answer them. Write about a particularly interesting, surprising, useful, or hard-to-understand quote. Make connections between the concepts and examples you’re working with and try to explain what those connections teach you about identity. Connect the concepts and examples from the reading to examples drawn from your own experiences or those you know or from something you’ve read elsewhere and try to articulate what you learn about identity as a result. While this writing doesn’t need to be well-formed, clean or pretty, it does need to demonstrate your best efforts to make sense of the materials you have to think with. Post the results of this prewriting activity on your ePortfolio. Be sure to categorize it using the “Homework” category so that it shows up under your Homework menu item.

This unit’s essential questions: What is an identity? What do identities do for us? Why do they matter?

W. January 16

In class

Welcome back
What’s your name?
- Who named you? How? Why?
- What does your name mean? To you? To others?
- How many names do you have? How many do you use? With whom? In what settings?
- Are you named after anyone?
- How do you feel about your name?
- Do you ever wish you had a different name?
- To whom does your name connect you? Disconnect you from?

Homework (3 tasks, 2 due Th. Jan. 17, 1 due F. Jan. 18)

Read some name stories to get a feel for them.
Write the stories of your name – 400 words or more. If you feel comfortable doing so, include one or two pictures of yourself in your post. Publish your name story as a new POST (not PAGE) on your ePortfolio. Be sure to categorize this post as “Homework” in the Category box on the right of your post. Due on Th. Jan. 17 by 11:59 pm.
Follow the process in the video below to set up your ePortfolio for ENG 123. Due by class time on Friday. When you’re done, your ePortfolio should look quite a bit like this one.
- Pull any and all ENG 122 materials in your menu from last semester under the ENG 122 menu item, thereby creating a drop-down menu.

How to Build Your UNEportfolio Menu Structure