Monday, September 20

Before class, make sure you’ve READ & WATCHED:

  • My Announcement.
  • Mary Wollstonecraft’s “Dedicatory Letter” (don’t worry, you only need to read the three pages under the heading “Dedicatory Letter” not all 111 pages) to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. (Confused about where to start reading? See visual of where to start reading below.)
  • Watch or read the transcript of Stella Young’s TedTalk.
Start reading “A Dedicatory Letter” when the screen looks like this!

During class, we’ll DISCUSS the following:

  • After reading Wollstonecraft’s letter and reading/watching Young’s speech, consider the following:
    • What is Wollstonecraft’s discourse community? What is Young’s?
    • What’s the issue each of these women are sharing about their discourse community?
    • Who is the intended audience for each work?
    • How are the letter and speech similar? How are they different?
    • Which did you feel more connected with? Why?

After class, students will WRITE: 

  • Create a post under the category Introductory Work, titled Full Name, Wollstonecraft & Young. Please do the following:
    • Write two paragraphs in a single post, one paragraph about Wollstonecraft’s letter, the second paragraph about Young’s speech:

Paragraph 1: Wollstonecraft

  • Why is Wollstonecraft writing this letter? What is the issue she identifies?
    • Explain why Wollstonecraft sees the issue as a problem.
    • After reading this letter, how would you identify Wollstonecraft’s discourse community? Does the recipient seem to be a part of this group or outside of it? 

Paragraph 2: Young

  • Why is Young writing/presenting this speech? What is the issue she identifies?
    • Explain why Young sees the issue as a problem.
    • After reading this letter, how would you identify Young’s discourse community? Does the recipient seem to be a part of this group or outside of it? 
  • Respond to the Discussion Question “Wollstonecraft & Young’s Writing Strategies”: Describe one of Wollstonecraft and one of Young’s writing strategies that gets your attention. Explain what she is doing and why it caught your attention. Just hit “reply” for this assignment–you don’t have to make a new post!(Remember: for the Unit 1 Assignment, you will be writing your own speech or letter.)
  • Both assignments are due by class time on Wednesday, September 22. Feel free to use the notes you took on the shared Google doc in class on Monday to assist you.

Wednesday, September 22

 During class, we’ll review and DISCUSS parts of the following RESOURCE:

 During and after class, students will WRITE:

Brainstorming Discourse Communities and Research

  • Create a Post, titled Full Name, Brainstorming DC & Research and posted under Introductory Work, in which you do the following (approximately 200-250 words):
    • By now you’ve identified discourse communities to which you belong as well as certain issues and/or problems specific to those groups. Pick one problem that you have identified as specific to a certain discourse community and spend 30 minutes doing research about this problem. Set a timer to keep you on task! As you do research, here are some things to look for and note:
      • Who is already involved in attempting to make the problem visible to outsiders? What are their positions, views, and strategies as they bring this problem to light?
      • Who needs to know about this problem? Why would you want to tell this audience about the problem? List ideas and information that would be persuasive in helping your audience understand that this particular issue is a problem. (Use the “Effective Persuasion” presentation as you make this list.)
      • Aside from doing internet or library research, you may interview (over the phone or via email is fine) anyone involved with or affected by this problem. Find three or four relevant and reliable sources: keep track of your sources and take detailed notes on what you find.
      • Publish this post by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, September 22.